“‘… with Hippogriffia in chaos and its neighbours unwilling to help what they see as a bourgeois regime; time will only tell whether they keep alight their regional beacon of harmony and liberty. Experts are citing the activities of leftist Riverland and Equestrian expatriates as the primary cause of the rebellion, much like those that are thought to have been behind revolutions similarly sparked across northern Zebrica. Hundreds of confirmed casualties-‘“

“That’s quite enough, thank you.” Arclight managed with his head firmly planted in one of his hooves, he would rather not have been reminded of his many failures right now.

“Sorry boss, just keeping you up to date like you asked.” A very nervous agency worker responded.

“I’m caught up now, make yourself scarce. I’m going to go and get a coffee.”

Paper Crane nodded and practically sprinted out of his boss’ office. It had been a very bad idea to bring this to him so early in the day, even if he had asked to be informed as soon as possible. The earth pony groaned and stood up, tired in spite of his long sleep and substantial breakfast which he didn’t normally have time for. Just a wonderful start to his day.

Soon enough he was out of the agency wing and into one of the senatorial side rooms that contained a café. Why they had decided to attach the headquarters of the OHS the building that housed the federation’s upper house of representatives was anypony’s guess, but it made getting a decent coffee easier. That at least he was thankful for.

With brew in hoof and a copy of the day’s newspaper that Paper had been reading from just a few minutes prior, he could take in the news in peace. The article that he’d been rattling off from hadn’t much more to say. Government in tatters, leadership divided and military split whilst the masses marched through the streets, intent getting rid of all three of the former institutions. There were a few names listed as participating expatriates, but one in particular caught his eye: Caramel Haze. He’d been one of the original revolutionaries from a decade-and-a-half ago that had encouraged his coup. How in Tartarus had he ended up in Hippogriffia?

“Alright, sixteen-million bits; accounting for inflation.”

“Mmm. That’s more like it, you have a deal. Have your ponies call my ponies and we’ll slip this privatisation past River, she’ll be none the wiser.”

He didn’t have time to think about what some old revolutionary was doing, it seemed. If he hadn’t been holding up the paper and inadvertently obscuring his face from these two senators they might not have been speaking so liberally about their abuse of power. Arclight lowered the tabloid and stared intently at the pair of them, who noticed him quickly. One almost dropped his beverage, whatever it was, but the other seemed unphased and sauntered towards him. Goldhoof. The agency suspected that he had been doing shady business using his position for some time now, but as of yet they hadn’t been able to pin him for anything with sufficient evidence. This would be quite an interesting conversation.

“Director Arclight, a pleasure as always. I take it that you heard our conversation?” The unicorn asked with his usually present self-confidence.

The pony in question got up to shake his hoof with a scowl that could melt ice, “Goldhoof, I can’t say I feel the same way. I take it that you don’t think this conversation will land you and your friend here with a prison sentence for abuse of senatorial power and undermining the authority of both the executive and legislative bodies?”

The businesspony’s companion was practically cowering, but his smile only grew.

“I’m certain it won’t. Unfortunately for you, if you decide to take this conversation to court then the judiciary will be heavily biased in my favour; much like the jury and public opinion. I have provided tens of thousands of jobs, perhaps even hundreds of thousands single-hoofedly. You on the other hoof have gotten far more than that killed, ruined the economy for neigh-on a decade and most importantly undermined the authority of the very same courts which you disrespected by acting with absolute power during your time in office. I have no reason to fear a stallion with the reputation of a murderer who has no more evidence than his own tainted word against my well-respected defence. Your job is ensuring that outsiders do not interfere with my job; we both know what happened when you tried doing more than that. Stay down Arclight and thank whatever damnable deity you worship that you managed to get your old position back.”

And that was that. He trotted off with his business partner as leisurely as he had trotted in, leaving the director stunned and absolutely furious. He gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath about how he was going to wring that pony’s neck out some day as he went back to sit down and finish his coffee.

What annoyed him most wasn’t the disrespect, but the fact that he was right. He couldn’t punish these politicians for so brazenly flaunting the law and what should have been political convention. Goldhoof would never be held accountable for his actions, nor would any of the other senators for that matter; congress was mildly more reprehensible, but any political commentator knew that the real power in the federation rested in the hooves of the senate and their economic interests. River was just a figurehead who had to make things look nice for the rest of the world whilst congress tried to keep everypony else in the federation from grabbing a gun and revolting. Unsurpisingly, the senators also owned most of the media outlets which meant that those with anything to say about them were simply paid not to. Reliable sources of rivbits like that in an economic climate like this was more than enough to keep them quiet. Even if the agency tried to take him down quietly, there would inevitably be fabricated laundry aired by some paid whistle-blower that could derail the operation completely for months.

The federation was run by those with the money and there was nothing he could do about that, much as he hated it.

Well, unless he…

“Sir? Am I interrupting anything?” Paper Crane asked, seemingly terrified.

For a moment Arclight looked as though he was about to commit first degree murder, but his expression changed in an instant once he knew who was speaking. “No, not at all. What have you got for me kid?” The director asked, burying that idea for later.

“Communique from the KG, Benito specifically.” He managed, breathing heavily in relief.

Finally, something that wasn’t fucking awful to think about. The earth pony took a minute or so to read it and another minute to scan it for anything that he’d missed. He wasn’t surprised to learn that the faithful hound would be retiring, given his age; but he hadn’t expected to be called for a semi-secret state visit. The proposal about the buyback should obviously be put into effect immediately, that they could do without his presence here. He trusted his subordinates to do whatever they could to prevent the nationalists getting more of a hoofhold than they already had.

“Pass this buyback thing on to anypony on the board, Stainless or Softtrot would be best if you can find them. I’ll write back to Griffenheim.” He gave out after some silent deliberation.

The young stallion took notes and nodded before asking, “You’re going, sir?”

“Absolutely. The empire is the only ally that the agency really has these days Paper; they’re the only folks besides us that give half a rivbit about the common riverpony.”

Paper looked away from his boss with a confused frown, before huffing and nodding his head slowly after realising that he was probably right.

~*~

He didn’t want to tell her, but he had to. These days it felt as though they were all each other had. He’d lost everything almost a decade ago; his friends, his family and most of his co-workers too. Now the director had to watch as everypony in the Riverlands tore his best friend to pieces right before his eyes. She was headed the same way he's been those years ago. From what little time they’d had together to talk, he had gathered that things at home were looking about as terrible as things in the office. Sometimes even Pumpkin Swirl, her cousin, would sneak a scowl at her relative; probably convinced by her economist ‘friends’ that the president was running the country into the ground rather than doing her best to save it.

“Arc, please I… I’m barely holding things together as they are. Please don’t leave me right now, here with all these… Tartarus, what should I even call them…”

Politicians, demons… Same thing, really; at least in his experience.

River seemed close to crying. He’d seen it before, but not like this. Never anything like this. He twitched a little, knowing that even though he wanted to stay and keep her sane he had to leave; it was a necessary evil. He looked solemnly at his long-time friend, a mess in her chair, and wondered how many times he’d missed seeing her pale blue coat ruffled like this. He didn’t know how to deal with it, professionally or personally. No kids, no partner and few real friends… He'd had effectively zero experience with this kind of thing for years. But he had to do something, anything at all was better than this; he could hardly make it worse.

He blinked and steadied himself before trotting around the desk and gently putting a hoof on her shoulder. Now the poor mare was truly sobbing, but she looked up nonetheless with her defeated blue eyes.

In all his years he’d never expected needing to hug the president, but what else was he supposed to do? Arclight leaned forward and put about half of his weight on her and the office chair, awkwardly holding on to River Swirl; his milk-chocolate fur with its occasional grey hairs rubbing up against hers. He grimaced, expecting the unicorn to push him away; but she didn’t.

It took a moment or two to adjust, another few more for both of them to find a position that was slightly more comfortable. They just stayed there for a minute, maybe more; neither of them were checking the time. She had put her hooves over his shoulders and continued to cry into his fur, only just managing not to poke his eyes out with her horn.

“I’m only going to be gone for a few days, maybe less than that. I’ll be back before you even realise I’ve left; alright? You know how much we need to maintain relations with the empire and with Grover.” The earth pony said softly.

He could feel her nod slowly and her hold loosened, so he let his hooves fall slowly back to the floor. Arclight hadn’t seen before, but an incredible number of the papers stacked up on her desk were leaflets, pamphlets and other pieces of public outcry. He’d heard that the businessponies might have been making her life particularly difficult and given the headlines of the papers that they owned it was hard to argue that point. Something else he would have thrown to a judge if he could have.

“I… I understand… Just come back soon okay? Call me and… You know. Tartarus, I… I never thought I would have to rely on you like this. I’m so sorry Arc,” She managed, with a few more emphatic nods.

He smiled through his pitying look. “It’s alright. It’s the least I can do. We know each other well enough by now, I’d be a pretty shit friend if I couldn’t do anything to help.”

She forced a smile and chuckled slightly at that, he was still full of surprises after all these years.

“River… Do you think it would be different this time? You know, if I… Did what you asked me to? I could, we both know that I could; they’d leave kicking and screaming, but they would leave with threat of force. Would it be worth it?”

The unicorn sat, wide eyed. “I… I don’t know.”

“Do you want to try?”

“Yes. Goodness yes, I… I just want to stop; resigning takes months and I… I don’t know if I can take this for much longer Arc. I can't… I don't want to be here.”

Once again she was barely holding back the tears welling up in her eyes, outlining the bags under them as she sniffled. He gestured to the phone on her desk and she nodded, raising a hoof to her face to hide it and wipe away the growing tears. He hoofed in a couple of numbers and held the device to his ear.

“Paper? Yeah, it’s me. Sorry to bug you again kid, but this is important. More important than your meeting in two minutes yeah. I need you to pull some archive files for me. Phoenix Project, or Phoenix Programme; one of the two. Yes, that’s the one. I’m sure. Thanks, I’ll come and find you in thirty.” The earth pony gave out, setting the phone down again and sighing.

They both looked at each other, then the clock, then each other again before River finally spoke; her voice was shaky, partly out of relief and partly out of sadness.

“Thank you,” She managed, nigh-on silently.

Arclight nodded solemnly, “I’ll do whatever I can, for everypony.”

~*~

Nightmare trotted slowly through the halls of the palace in Vesapolis. It might have been quaint, even pretty if it wasn’t still adorned with Chrysalis’ green and black décor from before the war. If it was worth the bits, and it most certainly was not, the alicorn would’ve had the place renovated years ago; after all it was legally her palace now.

Four queens and one empress, the latter of which being her of course. For a while they had considered letting another of the Vesali bloodline take the throne so that the bugs out here could operate under a rule that they at least wouldn’t see as entirely foreign; but that idea had vanished after it became clear how little the average changeling cared about who ruled them, as long as it wasn’t Chrysalis. She could hardly blame them for that. Millions dead at the hoof of that madmare, all for them to be conquered by those she sought to conquer herself. Some thought that her views were substantiated by the loss in the war and the brutal casualties, but most were content to acknowledge Nightmare’s client state as legitimate so long as no more bugs had to die.

Empress of Equestria, the Crystal Empire and of the changelings. Quite the set of titles, really. That had been the idea of and the conclusion reached by the imperial advisory council; she had placed herself on the throne of Vesapolis after the war and thereby the rest of the hives by extension. The seat of Chrysalis’ power became hers and the other four queens bowed before her might and magic, whilst serving as regional governors for their client state. They bickered amongst themselves for her favour, which only served to make ruling the place easier and occasionally lined their pockets if they had gone to enough effort. A perfect system, really.

Helvia of Ditrysium, Aurantia of Lyctida, Argynnis of Vraks and Yaria of Soryth would serve her as well they did Chrysalis or else face a punishment similar to hers. That was, of course, a long and agonising death. A fate they all understandably wanted to avoid.

“Your majesty.”

Two guards, one changeling and one thestral stood beside the door to the royal banquet hall; as they did at any other time when Nightmare Moon was coming to visit. They lowered their heads before she threw open the doors with a powerful but controlled usage of telekinesis.

The chamber, assumedly filled with chatter and friendly competition before the empress had sauntered in, was now silent. The queens left their seats to bow, only returning to the table once Nightmare was close enough to be seen as in a cordial mood. They were well dressed, each bearing their regional outfits; for her part she had arrived in a unique piece of royal attire, forgoing her usual headpiece in favour of a more formal three-piece suit in her colours.

“Good day to you four, I trust that all the arrangements I requested have been made and that the economic plans we have instituted are baring fruits?” The empress began, placing her forehooves on the table and scanning each of their faces with a fanged smile.

Argynnis immediately responded, the most headstrong of the council. “Yes your highness. The output of the industrial centres in Vraks has trebled since your last visit; though my distant cousins here have not seen such growth, we have all seen successes.”

“But your stocks of grain have gradually dwindled, haven’t they? Ditrysium remains the most well balanced and stable of all provinces between us, notwithstanding Vesapolis of course.” Helvia volleyed back quickly, picking at her companion’s achievement.

Yaria butted in before Aurantia could so much as speak a word with fire in her eyes, “Which is why your growth is the slowest. Soryth has never seen its dockyards busier, nor its cities bustling to quite the extent that they are now; you have-“

Nightmare groaned emphatically stood up to walk slowly around the table. They weren’t idiots, their aptitude for governance proved as much, but without Chrysalis they were nothing more than siblings trying to get one up over each other to please their betters. Pathetic and irritating despite their usefulness.

“Have you all met the targets which I have provided for you?” She asked, circling behind the insect queens as she spoke.

“We have, your majesty. Hoofily.” Aurantia gave out as she was yet to speak.

“Good. I care little for your petty squabbles and family feuds, your duty is to serve me and so long as you can do that you may keep your heads. When you cannot, there will be no second chances; I will find willing replacements for all of you within days if need be. What happened to your last empress will likewise happen to you, which is to say nothing of what my husband may have in store for you should he find need of a changeling in his research.”

Silence. They had all been forced to watch Chrysalis meeting her end. Her wings had been endlessly punctured and ripped, chitin torn off in select places which made one wince, her horn had been snapped and filed down slowly whilst her hooves were stained and bloody from the forced labour and the torture. None of them could forget that image, nor the execution.

They all remembered being there, forced to watch.

Death by drowning in the cleanest water that could be purified, just so that they could all watch her suffer one last time. She had barely even struggled, assumedly unable to thanks to all the other injuries, only moving when she had been actively choking to death on the liquid flooding her lungs and writhing in the weighted seat for a few seconds. Then she was gone, dead and inert; a final influx of terror and agony before silence.

What Sombra might do was anyling’s guess, but none of them wanted to find out. They all remembered the carnage that his mindless minions had caused during the great war. Their most experienced and battle-hardened soldiers were terrified of his armies, because they felt no fear and knew no remorse. No prisoners were ever taken and every single pony that crossed their border would fight until every bone in their body was broken and their mind could no longer function. Torture and death might be worse than being his puppet and being a passenger to whatever acts he made them perform, but both were fates that the four queens wanted to avoid.

Nightmare waited a moment before getting their attention again, “Look at that flag.”

She pointed upward and their eyes followed. The flag of Equestria-Crystalia.

“That flag is more important than those of your pitiful houses. You serve my empire and you serve me before yourselves. Do that well and I shall reward you for your service, waste too much time trying to usurp one another and I shall see you receive a fate worse than you can possibly imagine. Failure is something I cannot tolerate and I will not allow your rivalries to stand in the way of progress for my empire. Do I make myself absolutely clear?”

“Yes, your majesty.” They replied in unison.

Author's Note

Hey hey hey, we do a little trolling.
20k words now and climbing slowly, not a huge feat but I'm proud of it nonetheless; I've never written something this long before.

Hope you all enjoyed as usual and that the flag tickled your fancy.