Simplified

With the news of Ponyland's declaration of war being formally recognized, all three of the imperials and I sit at the dining room table, pondering our feelings and thoughts on the matter. The room is heavy with remorse, but more importantly the sense of impending dread for the souls that are to endure the tragedy of this pending conflict. "So it's official then?" Amor groans with dread.

"Not exactly the thing you'd want to hear on a casual day out." I say as I look at my phone, which is currently set to 'Do Not Disturb' mode. There's already over a hundred messages, dozens of voice mails, even my other social notifications are set ablaze with uncertainty and grief. "I don't mean to be a national supremacist in any fashion, but is there any hope that Ponyland somehow comes away with a win in any of this?"

"Father should knows the losses incurred weren't for nothing. Xerxes gave the order to attack, there's no mistaking the fault of it." Amor answers. "And just like that, they found a way to twist this into a narrative that the world could choose it's sides from."

Hestia timidly adds. "Ponyland isn't a favorable nation by any means. Even our neighbors want little to do with us. They know there's a spin. The world's been smart enough to see it for generations."

"But now the question becomes a matter of what's seen as allyship to our father?" Zenobia comments. "If the neighboring nations show neutrality, that could bring about tensions. Our armaments would be sooner aimed to them."

I shake my head at the idea of this somehow escalating further with so many casualties. "There's no way they took all those losses by just one pony, looked at that, then said 'Yeah, more of that please.' That's ridiculous."

"And knowing our history, mandatory conscription is the first thing they'll resort to as a means to bolster their numbers." Hestia mutters. "We could be looking at thousands of young colts losing their lives, all for a father's pride."

"There's no way the emperor is even close to being proud for that." I comment.

"Fuck no, he isn't." The alicorn scoffs. "But when it comes to covering for the crown heir on an international stage, you'd best believe he'd sooner put on the grandest shitshow the world's ever seen." She winces as she looks at her own legs, seeing the albino fur of her coat. "I'm the first of the imperial lineage. There may be other lessers before me, but the hunt for primus didn't start until I first drew breath, fresh from the warmth of my mother's vag. There is no greater pride for that bastard than his sons. I would know better than anyone."

Amor gasps as to take argument against her, but silences himself instead. The front door swings wide open with a frantic voice hollering into the home. "Spike!"

All of us rise in alert, seeing the griffoness barge into the room with a panic. "Gabby, what's wrong?"

"You didn't hear!? We're at war with Ponyland!"

The alertness we all had when she initially barged in is subsided, all of us just simply parking back where we were. I calmly sit down and explain to her what is taking place. "Okay, to clarify, we are not at war officially. We may have war declared on us, but we did not yet declare war in return. The parliament has to reconvene and cast a vote, and then Twilight can give the resolution and the final stamp. However, there are other avenues we can take to prevent a war from dusting up our shores. It's happened before with the Yaks, we can do it again." I reassure not only to her, but to the others. I look to my phone, hoping that it would be just as easy to clarify that to the other neighboring partners and denizens of our country. "Either way, there's a lot of ass I'm gonna have to kiss with our close associations to maintain confidence."

"They said that thousands of pilgrims were slaughtered! How does that even happen?" The griffon asks.

"An amazing lie." Zenobia grumbles.

The door swings open, this time there's hardly any announcement or fanfare, not even the patter against my tile floors to indicate an entrance. Instead, there's a flutter of light lavender wings, the feathers being the only thing I get to see before a painful smack rakes claws across my face. Zenobia rushes up to defend me as I call the creature by name. "Silverstream?"

"YOU COME BACK TO US WITH A WAR ON OUR FRONT DOORSTEP!? WHAT'S YOUR ISSUE! DID YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE CAUSED!?"

The alicorn snarls with fury as her horn starts to glow with a raging fuchsia flame. "You will apologize to him, immediately!"

"And who in Equestria are you!?" The hippogriff shows little patience for the one interceding on my behalf.

I politely grab the mare by her horn, quenching whatever spell she had in mind to conjure. "Zenobia, please."

"She just accosted you! And you'd defend that!?"

"She's my friend. And she's just concerned." I explain.

The aforementioned creature grabs at me instead, trembling as she offers a grim thought. "If I have to see Gallus go off to some foreign land, never to return, do you know what that will cause for me, for all of us!? Nothing will stay the same!" She breaks down for the moment, finally easing on her grip as she slumps back to the ground. "I'd literally stay right here, I'd stay here because this would be the moment where I feel like I would get some sort of justice."

Immediately after her, I see all of Ocellus, Ember, and Smolder walking in to see what's taken place, as well as the fresh mark on my face that shapes along the contours of Silverstream's talons. "Let me guess, you guys heard the news too." I ask them.

"Classes dismissed early when the news broke. Parents came flocking to the halls looking for their kids. Starlight and Trixie, along with Sunburst are taking care of that issue now." Ocellus informs me.

The confrontational dragoness bares her eyes directly towards Zenobia, already looking for what can be assumed a head start. "So..."

"Ember, please chill out." I plead to her.

"No, I think it's interesting that a war got started right after these three got here. It's pretty obvious that this is only stirring up because you took in Ponyland imperials." She snaps.

Silverstream once more stirs to a righteous anger. "Ponyland!?"

"Okay, I can explain─" I'm cut off with yet another question from the hippogriff.

"Then what did you do to those pilgrims!?"

"They weren't pilgrims, they were soldiers. The mention of the word 'pilgrims' is nothing more than a fucking lie told to the world by my asshole father." Zenobia elaborates.

Needless to say that the explanation doesn't soothe Silverstream's nerves any better than the threat of war. "Then you need to go clear that up! And then when you finish, you and whoever else need to go back home!"

"Amor Ambrosia and Rosa Zenobia, both of you guys should be express shipped." Ember cosigns.

"Wait, did they not mention Hestia?" Amor questions.

"None." The alicorn answers. "Father's been made aware of your defection. Eros spoke it to him directly."

The pegasus trembles, her ears falling back as she's met with a grim reality. "Then I'm definitely marked for death, there's no hope for me."

The dragon lord seems to show little compassion for the dismayed mare. "I don't care how you guys work it out, but you all need to go."

"Ember, can I just point out how bad that went the last time? I believe that was already attempted, let's see how long that was─two weeks ago!" I stress to her.

"Yeah, it went badly because Twilight made the dumbass decision to make you go. Had it been another equine, I'm willing to bet things would've gone normally."

"Don't you understand?" Amor steps in to defend his decision to defect. "Hestia just put out there that she's marked for death, by her own brother! Zenobia would probably return back home, but be seen as nothing less than a failure! And at what point would I even be considered as valuable? We're all worthless to our father! He doesn't care for us, we're just excuses, means to an end!"

"And you had to bring war to our shores!?" Silverstream argues. "I don't care what family you're from! You shouldn't dump your problems on the world and expect to live quietly behind the scenes! I don't get to do that, and neither should you!"

The prince turns his head away from the hippogriff. "I'm sorry, but I've already lost more than enough. We've lost more than enough there. If all of this is caused by us, then I will say that I'm sorry for all of it."

"Sorry doesn't stop war after it's been declared, it doesn't stop a disease coursing though our bodies, it doesn't stop death from taking whoever is touched by it, all of which are knocking at our door right now!" The hippogriff starts to hyperventilate, both Ocellus and Smolder try to help her, but she pushes them away. "I'm not coming in for work these next few days, I'm sorry, I need to be where he is because there's no other place I can be right now!"

As she storms out, I close my eyes and see yet another wave of notifications come up on my screen, nearly doubling the previous amount. "This is going to be a long day."

Meanwhile in San Fransiscolt...

A bustling metropolis with a burgeoning population, the city is often notarized for it's Golden Gateway Bridge, a popular structure that once placed the town on the map for having the longest suspension bridge in the world. While the structure has long since lost that title, the tourism of the area still thrives with many more local attractions, including a number of teams in varying professional sports calling the city home, a rich culinary collage of flavors from around the world, and also being home to some of the newest technological startups looking to design something akin to the products so often imported from the human world.

Many leaps of innovation have been sourced to the town, with it being the highest producer of domestic technological goods looking to match human quality. While many things are still in flux, the transmission technology used for the nationwide cellular service and Equestrian Wide Web are proving that in spite of it being a vastly smaller network, the systems throughout the country are still going strong. The success of the domestic technological pursuits gain more inquiry from international investors looking to be the first of their respective countries looking to jump onto the hype train.

The mixed crowds of varying creatures from all walks of life makes it easy for the three imperial princes to blend with the crowd. Their eyes wander and lurk the varying avenues, seeing the indiscriminate and unashamed appearances of bat ponies, mules, donkeys, changelings, kirin, yaks, diamond dogs, abyssanians, griffons, hippogriffs, and dragons alike.

Agamemnon turns his head in every direction, his disgust growing more and more apparent on his face. "What the hell is this place?"

"This, my lumbering cyclops of a brother, is Equestria. And for now, we are meandering through as tourists on an airship cruise. That's our cover, stick to it." Eros warns as the trio enter into a nearby shop, looking to start with some intel on what's going on in the country, as well as any possible information on the holy mother. "Remember, we need to play the part of being tolerant towards these differences. It would be wise to look and act the part of a tourist from a country not like the one we're from."

"I would be honored to die in bloodied misery." Xerxes mutters under his breath.

"Then tell me why you didn't take that offer when you could've been slaughtered along with your ship's crew?" Eros waits for his brother to answer, gaining only a vitriolic show of silence. "And there we go, as meek as a mouse. How brave."

While the elder prince snarls with anger, a pair of twin brothers approach the trio of imperials. They wear the carefully cultivated smiles of business ponies, looking to make a quick sale of their wares. "Well hello there, welcome to San Fransiscolt!" The first announces proudly.

The second one follows up while getting closer to the angered but surprised Xerxes. "I trust you fellows are in for a good time, not a long time! I can understand if you're wanting to cop a few souvenirs!"

"Sorry, my good fellows. We're not interested in that right now." Agamemnon declares.

Adamant on making a sale, the two refuses to back down, even introducing themselves. "I'm Flim, that's Flam, and you've stepped into our humble little emporium known as Flim-Flamporium! We have wares for every creature! Surely you wouldn't want to miss on such fine quality!"

Flam follows up on his brother's act. "From every walk of life, to even the goods imported from across those enchanted portals to the other world, we got it all!"

Xerxes quickly loses his patience. "We just said─"

However, he's silenced by a ring of magic shutting his muzzle closed as Eros takes the lead. "But of course, I suppose we do want a little something now that you mention it!"

The scarred prince tries to argue against this commercial intervention. "Eros, what the hell are you─"

Yet another ring of magic is summoned, silencing him as well. "Now I couldn't help but to notice you outstanding fellows had some goods from the other world. I would like to see your collection of wares in that department. Perhaps I would be interested in a sale."

The twins proudly smile at each other, knowing they've got another one on their baits for their act. "And just like that, we have yet another inspired customer!"

"If you could step this way, we can show you over to our human goods department."

While the rings around the mouths of the other princes are removed, the two unicorns guide the trio of well-cloaked alicorns behind a black curtain. As soon as they enter the area, they see nothing more than a bunch of miscellaneous items that fails to impress at the first glance. The pair start by holding up a tiny sealed plastic bottle. The one-eyed prince tilts his head with bemusement. "Uh, what does this do exactly?"

"It's a specially packaged delicacy, but with the powers to enhance your energy." Flim states.

Flam continues on his brother's pitch. "One straight shot of this stuff will give you up to five hours of unrelenting vigor."

"Burn the midnight oil during those long nights!"

"Kill that afternoon crash with one of these bad boys and increase your productivity!"

"We also have these!" Flim shifts gears, not giving the trio a chance to lose interest. He presents them with a paper package of pills.

"They say that humans last longer in bed, why not reach to that standard and give that significant other a time of their life!?"

"You could go for all night with this, but do call your local medical professional if it persists beyond four hours!"

Flam changes the gears once more, trying to keep the attention of the three imperials. "Or maybe you're not satisfied with the way your day is gone!"

"Perhaps that long trip's got you feeling a bit uptight!" Flim says as he holds Xerxes from the side.

"For the more distinguished fellow." Flam holds up a vacuum sealed bag of dried green leaves. "Put this in your pipe and smoke it! One huff─"

"One puff─"

"And it'll blow all those problems away!"

"Truly safe to consume and a healthy alternative to smoking tobacco! Proven time and time again to relax those nerves after a long trip across the ocean!"

"Seasick, airsick? You won't even care, it's that good!"

Eros show no desire for the items they've directly presented. Instead, looking to make another purchase. "So I happen to have a certain someone who seems to be lacking in sleep due to night terrors, a young nephew. Do you have anything for that?"

Flim smiles with a swindler's charm. "Ah, I see, a family guy! Lucky there's a male who positively can do all the things that make us laugh and cry!"

"We do have these imported from the human world as well." Flam cosigns, pulling out a box of bottles filled with fruit-shaped gummies.

Agamemnon appears chiefly unimpressed. "...Candy? You're selling us mere trinkets for a child's amusement?"

"Oh, careful there, good fellow! This isn't something to be snacked on in your spare time! These are gummies made to induce sleep! Great for the kids who stay up way past their bedtime!" Flam explains.

"Oh the sales we get from parents looking to put the kids off to bed so they can have their night of fun!"

"Give it a few minutes, and your nephew will be out like a light! That way you can go and have your fun out and about the town!"

It doesn't take much time for Eros to ponder on the offer. "I'll take two."

Xerxes shows ridicule of the agreement. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Well we have our guys night out to consider. Can't let our little issue get in the way of that." Eros answers before returning to the pair of unicorns. "Do you take sparklings?"

The pair look to one another with confusion. "Sparklings?"

Eros immediately clarifies himself. "Gems, do you take gems?"

"Why of course we do, they're perfectly legal tender in many nations! Do we look like a bunch of hungry dragons to you!?" Flam questions, earning a chuckle from the one-eyed prince.

"Heh, suppose not."

As the trio looks to move further, the gauss covering the eye of Agamemnon slips after getting caught on a nearby rack, revealing the unsightly scar and ripping it apart. A silence lingers in the room for a moment before the injured prince realizes what has taken place. He covers half of his face to not show the hideous scar. "Oh dear!" Flim tries to not gag at the sight of the unfriendly wound.

Quick to save his brother from the sight, Flam summons a jeweled shawl from the scarf section and quickly make another pitch to the party of three. "Uh, kind gent, how about we offer you a complimentary eye-sash! Wrap it to the side, let it glitz and glam, and you'll be the talk of the town!"

Flim follows on his brother's cue, casting aside any illness he may have felt in the moment of the reveal. "Specially designed by fashion icon Rarity Belle! She's such a doll, such a beauty! You should see that mare walk a runway! Hate to see that one go, but love to watch how that one leaves!"

After folding the shawl in a manner which the main jewel is featured over his eye, a glimmering sapphire covering half of the stallion's face, working well against his spikey, disheveled mane. "Instead of looking tough and rough, you can look chic and trendy!"

"I don't need─" Agamemnon starts to contest against the idea until a mirror is placed right in front of him. He takes notice of the appearance he's given with the improvised eye-patch. He tilts his head, as to get a better look of himself.

"Such a beautiful eye color, my charming fellow! Mares would fall for you hook, line, and sinker! We have other colors, but I would recommend this lovely shade of dark grey with the sapphire embroidery! As usual, only Rarity Belle can implement a look of sophistication and sell it for such a finance-friendly price!"

"I thought it was complimentary." Xerxes points out.

"It is!" The twins announce in unison.

"We'll take all of it." Eros says as he tosses the pair two rubies each. "Keep the change."

Not originally anticipating such an offering, Flim and Flam try to hide their excitement, but do offer compliments to the trio of imperials. "Such magnanimous stewards of principle you lot are! Please drop by if you feel the need to attain more items along your travels!"

"We'll be sure to do so." Eros says with a parting wave of the hoof from his forehead. "Have a good one, my gentle fellows."

As the bell of the shop rings to signify their exit, along with the concurrent slam of the door, the pair give each other a hoof bump of celebration as they bask in the shininess of their acquired funds. "We love a good charitable donation of the low cost of highway fiendery."

"A good sell on the sash, dear brother." Flim complements.

"I did my best to make that off-brand Suri Polomare look like the icon of riches. I just hope the hot glue doesn't wear off too quickly."

"Another good day, another 'satisfied' customer."

The two celebrate start to retire towards the back for a celebratory drink, the door swings wide open with an angry mare barging into the establishment. "Excuse me!"

Flam, already riding the high off of his impromptu sale, gladly takes the ire of the mare his way. "Why however can I help you, ma'am?"

"Those gummies you sold to my son are a fake!"

The pair look to one another, genuinely confused as to how that is the case. "Why whatever do you mean?"

"My son's been talking about seeing technicolor rocket airships on Buckland Avenue! There are no such things over our neighborhood! We come to find out that the gummies we bought from you have been fakes!" She says as she tosses the bottle of gummies at the hooves of the swindling unicorn, who's even more confused due to the fact that the gummies were supposed to be some of the more legitimate items they have in stock.

Flam picks up the bottle, inspects it further while his brother takes after the role of being customer service. "Well unfortunately, we do have a no-refund policy on goods taken from the store. It's even on our door." He points to a large orange sign that's plastered to the back of the door, facing the inside.

NO REFUNDS
on any and all goods after completion of sale and leaving 10 feet from register.

A concerned voice chimes in from behind the curtain. "Uh, Flim, come here for a sec."

The stallion nearly turns pale as his brother hails for him. He informs the former patron of his brief retirement to the back. "If you would excuse me for just a little bit." He zips out of sight and greeting his twin with the box of bottles, now with two empty slots where they've sold to the recent group of stallions. Flam points at the bottom of the box, noting the location of origin. "Oh... I didn't think to see where these were imported from. I thought these came from the shipment in Seaddle, not this off-brand location of 'Seattle'."

"Seattle, Washington... Made in USA..." He reads aloud. Flam also points on the bottle a rather telling label they've failed to read. "...Uh oh."

While Flim sees a potential lawsuit on the horizon, Flam looks at it from another perspective. His ears point upward as he rubs at his moustache. "Brother, I believe we've discovered a great way to diversify our market before those pesky class-actions start coming in."

Also seeing the opportunity, Flim shares a Cheshire-like grin with his twin. "Flam, I'm all ears."

Canterlot Castle...

The sounds of shifting parchments flutter in the background, the secretary hard at work looking over the varying documents. In the meantime, the high princess gazes down upon the map of her kingdom cast upon the floor by means of her horn illuminating a holographic spell. She walks a large circle around the hulking landmass of the continent, her eyes tilting from one strategic outpost to the next. The windows have darkened as the day has long since gone, the night is hardly quiet with many guards on post.

One such of the ranks enter into the room with courtesy of not wanting to disrupt. "Your majesty?"

"Come in, Solemn."

The captain marches towards her towering ruler, giving her an update of the country's readiness. "Defenses have been bolstered on all major cities of the coast, including fortifications made to Hoof Point."

"Very good." Twilight responds, sitting down with a bit of frustration on the mind. "Five thousand pilgrims, I don't understand, why would they make such a claim?"

"It's not likely that a singular civilian vessel would be capable of eradicating over a thousand lives before reaching our shores. Even the former captain would be with limited arsenal if anything were to go wrong. And he himself would be overwhelmed out at sea. Something's not adding up."

Inkwell, who's still managing all of the incoming documents expressing evacuation readiness, throws in an inquiry of her own. "You don't think the former captain might have some knowledge on this, do you?"

Twilight's eyes widen for a moment, thinking back to the human's response to her question upon his return. "I'm willing to bet he does. But assumptions and guesses can only get you so far." As she continues to look down at her map, she summons her phone and makes a call towards her ex. "There's only one way to find out."

It takes but a few rings before his voice chimes in on the other end. "Yo."

"Nondis." She skips all of the formalities, diving right into business. "We need to have a serious talk." She places the phone on speaker for the others to hear.

"Straightaway with it, huh? I'm with you."

"I need to know more of what and how this all got started. And you're the only lead I can go by at this point."

"You still trusting me, I don't know whether to check if the sky is falling or not." He briefly jokes before jumping right back to topic. "Twilight, you of all creatures should know why this all got started in the first place. If it wasn't for that, Stats wouldn't have called me in."

"I sent you to rescue Spike if he was alive, I didn't tell you to bring havoc to our shores."

"Believe me, that was far from the intent." He emphasizes. "I've got the time of day, so allow me to explain how this even got to where it is now. For starters, there were a pair of knuckleheads who called themselves princes. They attacked us, using firearms. Oh yeah, F.Y.I., they have guns over that way."

"So it is true..." Twilight mutters, recalling a conversation had with Ember some time during Spike's absence. "Well if you can verify that, then what all do you know about their weapon capabilities?"

"My honest opinion, it's effective for the tech average of this world. But again, it's good if you think you're going to war in the 1700's."

"And it's 2022 in your world. So that means they're a good three centuries behind."

"Behind us humans, yes. Behind Equestria, you'd be better off flipping that order around." Nondis confirms. "Just be happy they haven't discovered rifling and nitroglycerin yet. Because if they did, we'd be dealing with bolt-action and semi-automatic weapons at best, fully-automatic at worst."

"Then what do you think we should do? Obviously I can't make any demands for human weaponry, especially having a bunch of untrained ponies to use them."

The man sighs, trying to put together a plan. "That's for me to figure out at this point."

"Nondis, I need for you to be perfectly clear with me. Did you kill any of their forces? If so, how many?"

"Well if you want me to be real with you, I took about fifty more or less. And that was across two different occasions. As for the reason of the first, we were being threatened by dear old princess and her goons, who were well underway of boarding my ship. She had a few cannon aimed for us, so I opted to play the psychological edge to scare her off. The second time, we were being shot at and they were aiming their cannons for the fuel tanker that was loading our vessel, so I had to treat it as a return-fire measure. In either case, I had to do what I had to in the name of self-defense."

"That can't be it." Twilight denies. "Something else had to have happened after that."

"Well you're not wrong." The man confesses. "They chased us into the sea after that second go around, well past the boundaries of their country and deep into international waters. They even surrounded us with thirteen airships armed to the teeth. And they were by no means small arms."

"Did they fire their weapons at you?"

"Like a Texan proud of the Second Amendment."

"To go after you a third time, why would they pursue your ship like that?"

"Simply put, Spike thought it was an admirable thing to treat an injured princess inflicted with burn marks across her face and neck. Her brother didn't like that look too great because he has a thing against dragons, I guess. So he pushed at us that second time, and Spike didn't want her in the crossfire, so he took her. After that initial firefight, I warned ol' dude back at Foalsom not to pursue. And of course they did it anyways. That time, they came with full intentions to give us the smoke, while risking the death of that princess in recouperation. I can't lie and say that if things gone any less than what resulted, all but one of us wouldn't have died."

"But Spike explained they wanted Kalimba, that was the reason their trade agreement went south. I thought they wanted Kali alive."

"They did, until wifey got involved."

"Did Celestia try to address them directly?" Twilight inquires.

"Every metric of negotiation, even in Foalsom when there was an airship aiming their cannons directly at us, talking was her favorite go-to. But you can't talk sense to a brick wall, nor can you convince a bullet to stray the other way. Plus you of all others should know that with enough exertion on a magic barrier, a defensive spell will shatter with dire consequences to the caster."

"So are you implying that Celestia addressed the problem with violence?"

"I can tell you that it wasn't exactly her that retaliated."

The princess furrows her brows at the response he gives. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you remember the Equestrian Civil War." He says with a low voice.

"The Dawn of Daybreaker, she's clued me into it before her retirement. I didn't believe her when she told me."

"Nah, I don't think she's the only one that clued you on that." He replies. "Let's be real, you were told that by one other party, a certain someone who we both don't like." Her mind replays the fated day of seven years past, coming face to face with that of the necroterrorist himself before a bitter fight that ended with the death of Blue Royal's brother. "You all caught up then? Well alright, you already know what all happened."

The princess closes her eyes, not wanting to accept that her former mentor might have stirred up more than what was promised or even required. "Were there any other alternatives?"

"The two knuckleheads came at her weapons drawn. And they went for the blood of intimidation. Turns out she does that a lot better. One of them tried to shoot her too, didn't end well for him. They retreated back to their ships, and then they gave the order to fire at us. At that point, it was us or them."

"So it wasn't pilgrims, it was an air fleet." Solemn mutters.

"Bingo." Nondis confirms.

"To sully our nation's name with such fallacies, what a lie." Inkwell comments.

"Trust me, both you and wifey are responding the same way at this point. I'm just here in Austin taking inventory."

"For what?" Twilight asks.

"I'm gonna go pay old Basileus a visit, we need to have a fireside chat on how this is gonna go."

"Didn't you just get back?" Solemn questions. "How are you going to get there and back again? They'll know what your ship looks like."

"My ship, yeah. Any other ship, no." He counters.

"Say you get off as close to Ponyland as you can get, that being Prance. That land between you and their crown city is rugged and ruthless. How would you be able to traverse all of that quickly? You already don't like trains."

"You forget I have a bike." He points out, cutting on the engine and revving the gas a bit.

"But not enough gas for the journey." Twilight argues.

"Not the case anymore." He replies confidently. "I just topped off, and I got a five gallon cannister lying with the lot down below. I'm already almost through with my checklist, gas, a few snacks for the trip, a few other goods."

"Does your wife know you're doing all of this?" Inkwell asks the former captain.

"I told her first. She thinks it's a great idea, so great that she's going to either divorce me when I get back or break my legs so that I don't move for a day or two."

While the others show concern, Twilight knows that he's being sarcastic. "Just as long as she knows what you're doing. I don't want to get chewed out again because of you being hard-headed."

"My wife loves my hard head. Both of them, in fact."

The three mares roll their eyes, both annoyed that he would say that of Celestia, while also feeling uneasy from knowing that the aforementioned mare would emphatically cosign with that statement. Twilight appears to be the most annoyed of the three. "You just get back safe so that Celestia can break your legs."

"Wouldn't be the first time she broke something on me." He chuckles. "I'll take a sphere and give you updates."

Ponyville The Next Morning...

The week has gone by a quick measure overall, but with everything being as hectic as it is, I suppose the chaos is great for passing the time. It's different when you don't like something and you're forced to deal with it sitting for hours on end versus the same thing with massive time constraints and stress eating the minutes away. It's not healthy, but at least the days come and go while you do nothing but worry. Little time to think about yourself, I'd rather that.

As I finish my cycle of super hot water getting in between my scales and helping me wash away the daily gunk, I shift back down to lukewarm temps. But I'm not the only one who's enjoying the steamy warmth of the shower, a pair of talons wrap me from behind, a light but scratchy voice greets me. "Good morning."

"Hey." I greet Gabby, who's being rather touchy today. "Wow, really bold of you to just walk in while I'm taking a shower."

"At this point, I'm living like every day might be our last together." She says as she runs a claw along the middle of my chest. "Maybe you and I can make some fond memories before the world burns down."

"I've said this a million times already, the war hasn't been mutually declared yet."

She glides her way past me, but also in a serpentine motion grasps me with her hind legs, latching to my pelvis with hers. "Do you think I care about any of that right now? All I want is you to kiss me and love me."

"You're pretty straight forward today. I guess we could stir up some good trouble before you head out."

She leans into my face with a smile, her talons grasping either side of my chin as we close the distance. "Now that's a good idea." Her beak may be a bit hard to the touch, but her tongue is more than eager to make up for the comfort. She grasps me with a greedy intent, her claws quietly navigating towards my neck. She gives the collar a light tug at the front. "You know, you look really good with this on. I wish I would've thought of it sooner."

"To make me worship those legs of yours? Me personally, I'm a sucker for striped thigh-highs."

The griffon's feathers puff at the idea. "I have so many pairs of those. I was thinking more latex, form fitting attire, ball gags, riding crops, perhaps... a surprise or two." She once more yanks the collar, this time a bit harder. "For your pleasure of course."

"PEEEEET!"

The sound of Zenobia's voice breaks my immersion for the moment, but the griffon tugs at my collar once more with a bratty mannerisms of a jealous middle school girl. "Just ignore her."

Unfortunately for the both of us, her barging into the bathroom is even harder to pass over, her shrill voice calling to me with discontent as she eyes the collar on my neck being played with by someone other than her. "Pet! How dare you just jump into a shower with another hussy when you have yet to give me the time of day!" She imposes herself further by using her magic to cleanly separate Gabby from my waist. "Move aside!"

The griffon contests for me with equal measure, wrapping her talons around the alicorn's glowing horn. "Excuse you, your name isn't on the calendar yet. You can have tomorrow, he's open then."

To make matters of my morning worse. "SPIKE!" Ember barges into the room also.

"Oh here we go." I whisper to myself.

The dragoness doesn't care too much for what she grabs, yanking me by my wing and pulling hard enough to coax me by ways of triggering an old trauma of my youth. "You, me, dragon business, now!"

Poor Gabby tries to intervene. "For the last time, today's our day─"

"Dragon Lord." Ember snarls, magenta flames seething from the sides of her mouth. "Friendship Advisor. Our talks are virtually in official capacity at the moment. There is a war in pending, and I want to talk about how we're going to help make the first strike!"

As she makes the forceful demand, I try to wrestle away from her. "What? No!"

She gives my wing an even tighter tug. "War is war, Spike. I know you don't like fighting, but guess what, they took seven of our kind and presented their corpses to you in a parade."

Zenobia interjects, almost taking offense to the accusation. "Full corpses? Absolutely not, that would've made the streets smell ripe of sulfuric filth among all other unpleasant things. All they brought were the heads." The others stare back at her as though the method was somehow visually more appealing than the former. "...What, that's what happened."

"Really didn't help your cause there." Gabby points out.

I dip down and parry off Ember's claws away from me, leaving the bathroom with a towel to dry myself. As I do my best to not track water throughout the house on my way downstairs, Ember is still in my ears making her propositions. "So... Invasion plans, let's talk about it."

"For the last time, Ember, we're not putting more dragons at risk of being done in by a psychopathic family looking to up their kill count." I say as I walk past both Hestia and Amor, who walking out from their respective rooms. They pause after overhearing my comments. "No offense."

Hestia shrugs as she casually accepts the comment. "We're lesser bloods, and I'm marked for death, what's there to defend?"

Ember sees her indifference as a rally to her cause. "So even the likes of you are willing to go to war against your own country?"

"You misinterpret. What I'm saying is that I do not disagree that our family's values have been skewed in favor of violence, extorsion, and genocide. I will also show no resistance to the claim that our family's judicial outreach may have influenced a lot of the citizenry to engage in those prejudices rooted in said genocide. What I will say is that there are millions who cannot afford to go to war, as many of the costs will be drained from the citizens of lower class. And they already don't see that much daylight."

"Not that they can afford to." Amor adds. "Even our recruitment system is so heavily favored to the topside. Anyone who's influence delegates them to stay above ground is likely given an officer's position to start off with. And anyone from beneath would only look for dragons as a way to earn a stipend by the already stingy guilds who'd kill any regular for the mark they're looking to profit from. Nothing in Ponyland is just."

Ember remains steadfast in her views. "So the bottom line of your argument should be this; Yes, we martyr dragons with extreme discrimination and prejudice. No, we don't have a good reason for engaging in said practice other than for personal profit. But if our citizens cheer for your deaths, that shouldn't be a license to give them back a portion of what they cheer for."

"That's not at all what we're saying!" Amor passionately rejects the dragoness' summary. "I have no ill-will towards dragons! Hestia has no conditions for dragons to either stay or go."

"Then what's stopping the rest of your nation from indulging in that behavior?" Ember continues to grill the young siblings over the topic as I quietly make my way into the kitchen.

"The noble-blood family line." He counters.

"Like that one?" Ember thumbs over to Zenobia, who takes exception to the matter.

"For your information, I not only saved his life, but also granted him comfort in his vulnerable moments!"

"Yeah, and what was the way you greeted him at the first glance?" As the dragoness points a claw towards the princess, she remains mute as Amor purses his lips upon recalling it in his mind. The silence from the group shows a damning implication to the argumentative dragon lord. "Yeah. Thought so."

Not wanting to leave perceptions at that, Zenobia does look to explain how else their initial exchanges went about. "Alright, I admit that I was on edge by the first moment I caught glimpse of that... difference. But he and I literally slept together the first night we met. He said he had an interest in mares, so I took him on his bluff. I was convinced he was blowing smoke... Turns out he made me consider keeping him around. I merely vouched to my father that his unquestioning obedience to me would be a benefit."

"So let's get this straight, dragons are either better off serving you and your sexual fetishes, or possibly getting exterminated? Because last I checked, it was said that your brother was the one who paraded the heads of seven dragons in front of Spike." The mare's eyes wander towards Amor.

"Not that brother, you smelly creature! The other one!" She corrects her.

"I only see one of your siblings that could be your brother." She doubles down on her menacing glare. "And he's here right now."

"That's just some lesser-blood pawn. My brother is a noble blooded alicorn, his name is Rosa Xerxes."

"Either fucking way, your family has done irredeemable harm to my dragons!" She shouts. "And if you ask me, I think there should be a few heads offered in exchange of the ones you've killed. Since they're 'lesser-blood pawns', it shouldn't be a problem. Honestly, you're lucked out that you're dealing with me because Spike is the main one staying my claws on the matter. He gave me my position, so I at least answer to him in that regard. But if this was my father Lord Torch, he'd burn your entire shitty continents for less."

"Ember─" I call out, trying to get her to calm down before both she and Zenobia go exchanging words again. I sit at the table, looking to make a consensus of things. "Okay, look, I know we have our differences and whatnot, but we can make diplomatic amends here and now. Zenobia, if you can apologize for all the things that's happened till now, on behalf of Ponyland, we can try to make peace, and dispel any and all threats of war."

"That'll be hard to do." The princess halfway chuckles at the thought. "My father will already have the reason of a changeling assuming her position."

"Well luck would have it that there's a residential zebra nearby who can mix up a paste that forces changelings out of their shape-shifting forms." I bring up.

Ocellus also provides an additional point. "And furthermore, my brother has imposed a ban on assuming all royal and international figures. We're only allowed to change if it is deemed an absolute necessity."

"And yet you transformed into him." Zenobia illustrates to the changeling, citing her willingness to take my form.

The changeling shrugs in response. "I admit I've maybe broken those bans out of my own personal interests and fixations. But you'll have it on changeling's honor that there will be none to replace you."

Hestia shows her skepticism of the plan. "That sounds good and all, but there's no possible way to make this all seem legitimate."

"We can try." I propose. "I'll go by Zecora's place this afternoon. Ocellus can keep an eye on you for the time being. School's been postponed since the announcement, so there's no real need to be up and about for either her or Smolder. I'll cook up something for Amor later, but we'll start from where Ponyland might be hit the hardest."

"What are you trying to do?" Asks the pegasus princess.

"Make peace by any means, even if it can be a little dubious. There's already been enough bloodshed. We don't need more on either side, no matter how heavy the costs have been. I'm sure we can all agree on that."

The alicorn imperial appears to be incredulous with my proposed plan. "So you'll look to make me go over my father's head and try for peace?"

"If anything, this would give you an international stage, a position your father can't possibly ignore." I suggest to gain her favor. "And think about it, if he takes the credit, it'll still be your face they see first."

"I'm sorry, but I still don't see how that's possible." She says while Ocellus points her phone at her. The bright light is what grabs her attention. "What the─"

"Is that a good picture?" The changeling holds up her phone screen, revealing the rather unflattering angle of Zenobia's face.

The imperial princess blushes from embarrassment of such an angle being captured of her. It seems while she's not too concerned with her image in the eyes of strangers, a still capture is more than enough to cause her trouble. "The fuck, that's absolutely hideous! I'm both in mid-sentence and mid-blink, that is atrocious! You must dispose of that immediately!" But as she reaches for the phone, Ocellus taps the screen, causing the video to play back, the princess' words being recited back to her. "-orry, but I still don't see how that's possible... What the─"

"And there we go, point proven." Ocellus replies, happily keeping the video for herself. "In either case, that one TV channel for Equestrian broadcasting isn't the only source that ponies will be able to see you. It'll be the newspapers who'll quote your words, the radios broadcasting your voice across to millions, and with this bit of human tech being the hottest commodity in our country's borders, they'll be playing your sound bites and your video clips for days on end, just seconds after you make your appearance."

Gabby raises a paw to interject. "Uh, just want to put this out there. Promising a girl virality isn't really helpful to a country that doesn't possess the same technology."

"No, but it will be broadcast to our allies who are here. And word of mouth will eventually spread far and wide." I answer.

"I'm sure that would apply for most creatures, all except for us changelings." Ocellus explains. "Thorax doesn't allow us to have human tech. That's yet another ban I happily violate, but the word of mouth is just as crucial for us to go by."

Hestia tilts her head towards the changeling. "You do seem to get away with a lot."

"Princess' privilege." She proudly claims, looking to Zenobia. "I'm sure you understand."

The mare sits herself at the table, nodding as the idea starts to take root in her mind, providing her with all sorts of alternatives and possibilities. "Huh... I suppose that would legitimize my position as a member of the imperial family to everyone outside of Ponyland. With me being the missing princess named, I could offer sway to the opinions of others."

I lean next to her. "Please consider it, if you do this much, it would mean the world to me."

The mare smiles for a brief moment, taking a huge gasp of air before answering. "No."

I drop my head to the table in pleading defeat. "Zenobia please, I'm trying to stop a war here─"

"And I've wanted attention for the past two days, you've yet to give me that." She brutishly declares, pouting in her seat with quite the attitude. "So if you expect me to save your scaly ass again, I'm overdue for the compensation of my choosing."

Not wanting to be beat, Ember tries to make demands of her position also. "Oh you are not even going to fucking dare take her over me! You forget we already have an established alliance between us. You wouldn't dare jeopardize that for the likes of her."

While I understand it's a significant risk, I do know that she's not going to default on our alliances for the sake of one dragon. She's always been for the greater good of our kind. But that doesn't stop her from having the inspiration to try it anyway. I think of a way to sweeten the issue for her.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can have my Friday." Smolder comes in at the crucial moment, vouching alongside me. "Trust me, I'm not too excited to have her just barging in, knowing what all she's put Spike through." She also takes the moment to tug at the collar on my neck, all while addressing Zenobia directly. "And believe me, I know you're not blameless with him still wearing this thing on his neck. I've been told what it does." She releases the collar, giving me a pretty unsavory look. "Ball's in your court, big guy. Make the call."

I know she's overdue for some time, and my going back and forth has only deprived her of that. I'll have to do more to make it up on the upcoming Monday. "Okay, I'll agree to prioritize Ember on Friday."

"Thursday!" Zenobia shouts, startling everyone in the room.

The teal dragoness takes an extreme objection to the mare's proposed day. "What!?"

"I was promised a Thursday, so I'll let that be my only night of the week." She avidly claims. "However, if I agree to make this happen, I'll ask that a provision be made for me to do so."

"And what's that?" Smolder questions.

The imperial princess wastes no time in conjuring a leash of her magic, yanking me down beneath the table and forcing me to look up at her from her haunches, giving me a candid view of her from her underbelly. She runs a hoof down my cheek as she makes her demand. "I walk him down the street as my own, for the entire day."

Seeming to take the cue of Gabby's intended playbook of the evening, the griffon shows fervent displeasure and disapproval. "ARE YOU NUTS!?"

"That would completely throw everything away we're trying to get accomplished." I warn.

The disgusted reaction of the others seems to turn her off, a far-crying difference from her response to the reaction of her own family members. And she was behaving far worse then than what she is now. She quickly pivots on her idea. "You're all a bunch of pussies─IT WAS A JOKE! You know, funny, ha-ha, get a bit of a giggle, a chunk of a chortle! Sense of humor!" Nobody buys her about-face on the matter. We all know she's serious about the dragging me through town on a leash deal. But she still remains sold on what she wants in exchange. "Either or, I want you on tomorrow, every waking hour as mine, Pet. The moment you crack your eyes open will be the moment you seek me and only me. You got that, Pet?"

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know how Ember feels about my current treatment. "I know you're not going to go through with that level of disresp─"

But considering the circumstances, I'll take this over war any day. "Done."

The dragon lord grows furious with me, snarling flames and smoke with every consonant. "YOU ARE BATSHIT! A DRAGON LORD SUBJECTING HIMSELF TO A MERE PONY, FROM PONYLAND NO LESS!"

"I'm sorry, but this has to work." Yet again, I'll accept any loss if it means the gain of peace. "If I gotta play as a sub to stop a country from going to war, then I guess I'm as good as chained. There are lives on the line here, I can't ignore that... not again. I'm not failing like that again. I refuse."

Ember snarls towards Zenobia as she continues to rub at my head like her most treasured possession. "Then if you get that, I want a rematch on Friday." She goes by a more brutish approach, moving the entire table to get me to maintain eye contact. "And you better fucking find some way to win, or I'll be beating your sorry ass all day."

My poor hardwood floor is just begging to be varnished after that cruel assault. But I feel that's the least of my worries. "The things I do for peace, the things I do for peace." I wonder if Zenobia will fuck me to death and I don't have to face off against Ember again. I know I'm not going to win this time, she's got more than pissed off rage in her system, and she's gambling to let it all out on my head. Guess that's another bullet I'll be chewing on this week. "Okay, I'll take you on your rematch."

Gabby is not taking too well to Zenobia still holding me in her lap, she slides the table away a little further to intentionally walk by both Ember and Zenobia. "Well I'm glad to see that you're all coming to a diplomatic agreement, but I have to go to work." She wraps her tail around my neck and yanks me from off the mare's lap.... Funny how her tail is far stronger than I could've possibly imagined. She pulls me to the ground, sits on my chest, and plants her paw of her right hind leg against my mouth. "You have two weeks of waiting to address, my good adventurer. Make sure the board is set up for this evening, for I wish to pursue more unclaimed frontiers."

"Do you mean the gameboard or the headboard of the bed?" I muffle from behind her soft pads.

She tilts her head towards the displaced furnishing, then raising a brow before the two interlopers of our weekly rotation. It's almost as though her eyes bores holes in either of them as she gives her answer. "Worry not, my well-endowed paladin. This table will more than suffice for our desired negotiations." She leans in to give me a sloppy exchange of tongue, vengefully reminding the two of who's day it currently is on the schedule. She rises up and wipes her beak victoriously, staring and smiling brightly towards the pair, who looks just as venomously towards her as they do to one another. "Be good guests and keep my buddy warm for me. But see to it that his drink doesn't spill before my first serving."

While her innuendos are far more subtle, that one falls in line with her intent of the morning: Blatant and direct. The pink pegasus shudders in response to the griffon's carnal declaration. "Ew! I thought she was one of the nice ones, but now I find that she's just as disgusting as Zenobia."

"Hestia, you're of age, deal with it." The elder sibling chirps at the younger.

The young mare gags. "I'm going to my room. Nasty bunch of perverts."

The young prince Amor carefully holds his forelegs close against himself, his cheeks running redder by the second as Ocellus observes his withdrawn demeanor. "Oh, need a moment to unload?"

"I'd... rather a shower."

The changeling snickers as she walks even closer to the prince, immediately mimicking Twilight's voice. "You sure you don't need help with that?" The stallion's ears run a deep red as his, his legs wobble as he tries to keep himself hidden. "It's okay if you wanna let that go. It's cute that you're trying to hold out for me, but all that's gonna do is keep you ignorant to your own desires." An anxious breath of anticipation jettisons from his lips, it's probably the most I've ever seen him this eager aside from the ship. Usually he's far more disciplined, but with Twilight's voice in his ear... "Could you imagine the moment I lay in my bed, moving my tail aside to show you exactly where you can worship me the best?"

The stallion seizes up for a moment. His face appearing quite blushed as he shudders and hunches into himself. All of us jump as we see the poor guy grunt and grunt with every jolt. Ocellus watches with mouth agape as Amor whimpers as a gathering pools around his forelegs, some straying streams catching onto his leg in the process. "I can't... I can't stop it..." He grunts a few more times before his hunching stops, his spasms drawing to a close.

Amor keeps his eyes closed, not exactly reveling in the moment, but refusing to see anyone's face around him as his ears fold back with his humiliation being manifest. Even his shoulders slouch with a depressing sag. Ocellus stands by him, breathlessly giving a reply. "Wow... that was... I-I didn't─"

"Huh, so ponies do have their own version of Dragon Lust." Ember mutters.

"No, that's just incompetence." Zenobia cruelly comments.

The changeling at least offers some reprieve for his crowning achievement. "I'm gonna go get a towel, you good with that?"

"..." He refuses to answer, I think he's even holding his breath.