“Your highness surely you can see the wisdom in this action, after all it will benefit many of your residence once construction has concluded.”

“I see,” said Twilight as she stared down at the stallion from her seat, “and tell me, did you bring up these same points when you spoke to Princess Luna two days ago when you saw her?”

“Well…yes, but she said that it would be up to you so it would be better if I brought my idea to you.”

“I see,” said Twilight, before her eyes narrowed as she spoke. “Tell me Hard Ways, do you think I am stupid.”

“Um…your highness whatever do you mean?”

Twilight smirked, “First and foremost, the majority of The Everfree Forest is protected by the Equestrian Wildlife Conservation Act, in fact the only portion of the forest that is not covered by the act is the portion which surrounds the very castle which you stand within, which is currently being used to expand the Town of Ponyville. Speaking of Ponyville, The Everfree Forest falls within its jurisdiction, which means Mayor Mare must also give approval of this plan of yours, not just myself or Princess Luna.”

Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I was also told by Princess Luna that when you were informed of this very fact, you told her to simply go over the mayor’s head and give you approval anyway, which she informed you would be against the law, to which you said and I quote “Laws are only for peasants so that they can be properly controlled by there betters, not to be used as chains to limit the nobility,” which has got to be one of the most disturbing sentences I have ever heard uttered by a member of the nobility.”

“Now see here you little…”

“I am not finished,” said Twilight, “I also have it on good authority Hard Ways that the last project of this nature you managed to slip past The Princess’s scrutiny caused massive environmental harm to the woods outside of Baltimare, which took years to recover, and lead to you being banned not only from the city, but from ever doing such projects again.”

Hard Ways was visibly sweating now, but Twilight still wasn’t done, for she had one more point to make. “I also know that this ban was hoofed out by Princess Celestia herself, which leads me to assume that you are but the latest in a long line of noble’s who are trying their level best to overturn every single decision made by the Princess since her time as sole ruler of Equestria, under some puffed up excuse that her compromised mental state when it came to her mate also affected her decision making on other areas as well.”

“But it cannot be denied that when it comes to her mate the former princess was woefully bankrupt of any sense of morality…”

“But that was only one instance, her mate never factored into any of the laws that you and your fellows have been calling into question, therefore her decision making was never compromised as it was where she was concerned. What you and the other nobles need to get through your thick skulls is that just because Princess Celestia has been banished for three thousand years does not mean you have the go ahead to tear down every law she has passed for the last thousand, for your predecessors already did that when Princess Luna was banished, and it lead to detrimental effects that we are still recovering from to this day! So no Hard Ways, I will not be repealing the ban preventing you from conducting mining projects, thus I will also not be approving your permit to mine in the Everfree Forest. Good day sir.”

“…You will rue this Princess, rue it I say!” yelled Hard Ways as he left the throne room, and once he was gone Twilight sighed deeply before turning to one of the guards beside her and speaking.

“Steel Wing, is it to much to ask that they come to me with real problems, rather then trying to get around Luna so that they can overturn some law?”

“That would be asking a lot of them princess,” said Steel Wing with a smirk, “but that is why you, Princess Luna, and others hold the rank that you do, so that you can keep them in line.”

“I just wish that it wasn’t such a demanding job,” said Twilight, “are there any other?”

“No your highness.”

“Then I think I am going to go cuddle with my wife, and then get some reorganizing done.”

With that said she teleported out of the room to her personal chambers, but when she looked around she saw Rainbow nowhere in sight.

However she did find her daughter Majesty in the living room, her back on the couch and a unicorn stallion looming over her, kissing her deeply.

“Ehem!” said Twilight with a disgruntled look, causing Majesty’s eyes to widen in terror as she threw the stallion off her, who looked up before screaming at the sight of Twilight and teleported away, causing Majesty to groan as she turned over and planted her face into one of the couch cushions.

“Majesty I thought we talked about this, I get you are wanting to experiment till you find your soul mate, but you have your own place, I am tired of finding you in various compromising positions with your latest conquest.”

“But mom,” said Majesty, “I was a fucking teenager when Celestia and Luna found me, and back then I could never be as open and honest with who I was like now, its not my fault that I like to get frisky!”

“I would still prefer you to do it in you own place rather then my home, but we can talk more on that later, for now do you have any idea where your mother is?”

“Last I saw she was heading to the guards training area, for a new group of guards just arrived for her special training.”

“Of course she is,” said Twilight with a sigh, “well I better go make sure she isn’t terrifying them too much, after all she just got her washout rate down last month, and I would like to keep it down.”

*

“My spells aren't doing crap this is dumb!” yelled a mare as she kept up a torrent of blasts, which were either being dodged around or deflected by their target, who was flying around overhead to keep away from the ground bound combatants.

“Just keep doing what your doing Feather Gale,” said her commander, the stallion glaring at the target as he spoke, “we just need more time.”

“HOW MUCH FUCKING TIME,” yelled a pegasus next to him, who was using a shield to try his best to block the incoming blasts sent by there target.

Before the commander could speak, a rumble of thunder sounded, and then a bolt of lighting flew down from the sky and struck the target, blinding everyone for a moment, though once here vision cleared they saw a massive cloud of smoke where there target had been.

“Good shot,” said a voice from within the cloud, before is was dispersed, revealing a cyan blue alicorn, her rainbow mane and tail crackling with electricity from the bolt of lighting which they had used to try and do her in. “But word of advise, never try and use the weather against a weather pony, especially one who was head of an entire towns weather division.”

With that, she unleashed the energy she had been withholding into a massive bubble of static electricity, hitting all of her attackers and paralyzing them, but before the ones who were above her could fall all the way to the ground, a magic aura surrounded them and lowered them gently to the ground, before a grizzled looking unicorn mare walked onto the field and spoke.

“Alright, this exercise is over, medics see to the wounded, High Commander Dash, your wife is outside and she looks really pissed, so please deal with that.”

“Great,” said Rainbow as she took off for the front gate, seeing Twilight standing outside with a very disgruntled look and swooping down, wrapping her up in her great big wings and then kissing her on the lips before smiling at her. “Hey honey, whats up?”

“Give me a minute and I’ll remember,” said Twilight as she leaned in for another kiss, and then another, and then a few more before finally escaping her wings and regaining her disgruntled look. “Ok, now did you or did you not know that our daughter was getting busy with a stallion in our chambers in the castle?”

“I didn’t even know she had come to visit,” said Rainbow, “but before I go talk to her, do you remember what he looked like, for I still have some energy I need to work of and he sounds like a valid target.”

“I don’t no,” said Twilight, “but I can think of a few other things we could do to work off that energy of yours.”

“I bet you could,” said Rainbow with a smirk, before her horn lit up and they both teleported away, leaving the guard outside to sigh in relief.

*

“I CANNOT BELIEVE THEM!!!” roared Luna as she entered her mothers chambers.

“Luna, inside voice,” said Faust as she concentrated on her work, paint splattered haphazardly over her coat as the painting she was working on slowly took shape.

“I am sorry mother, but I really thought the nobility would have given up after all this time, but it is coming up on a whole year since my sisters banishment and they are still making attempts at undoing every single law she has ever had a hoof in since my own banishment over a thousand years ago.”

Faust sighed, but her smile never left her face. “They feel emboldened dear daughter, after all the last time such a thing happened, their ancestors were able to make sweeping reforms which upended many of the laws you had set in place thousands of years ago, laws your sister had to spend hundreds of years to try and bring back, and still not all of them have been re-certified. You have the benefit of knowing such a thing has happened before, thus you must be ever vigilant, for it will take time for them to realize that they cannot succeed this time around.”

“Well, that does explain why certain things felt so…stagnant upon my return, while other thinks felt like they had slid backwards. But enough about the nobles, after all I believe you called me here for something important, I just happened to run afoul of a noble on my way to meet you, and I will admit I bottle up my reaction till I got here.”

“That’s perfectly alright Luna, as for why I called you here, in about a months time, the ascendancy council will be arriving her…to meet with and judge the new alicorns that have joined our ranks.”

“I see,” said Luna with a glare, “and let me guess, you actually received this news shortly after Twilight and the others Ascended, and have only now just plucked up the courage to tell me.”

“…you know me too well sometimes.”

“I remember my childhood quite clearly still,” said Luna, “and the many questions you would either not touch for weeks or leave to Celestia to explain the answers to me, it is a wonder she knew enough to tell in your place.”

“Well to be fair you were just so cute back then I didn’t want to shatter your innocence any sooner then I had to, so every time you would come to me with a question like that I would freeze up.”

“Well frankly it was annoying,” said Luna, before sighing sitting down on a couch. “So, will it be the entire council, or will it just be the members of the Circle?”

“The Circle,” said Faust, “the rest of the council is busy with other matters, especially those who govern Tartarus, for they are still trying to undo the damage your mate did when she created the Windigo swarm.”

“Well that’s good at least,” said Luna, “but thanks for letting me know, I’ll pass word to the staff tomorrow, especially if Gale Mesh if coming, though at least we’ll be able to see Zecora again, seeing as she has a seat on the Circle.”

“Indeed,” said Faust, “and also Umbranox will be there as well, so we will have at least two allies.”

“What about…mother?” said Luna.

Faust actually sighed at this, “Chrysalis is still being denied her seat back amongst the Circle, apparently Gale is trying to rule that she should be removed from the Council entirely…like we are.”

“I still do not understand why we are, I mean I understand why your mother never took a seat, after all she very much liked the hooves off approach when it came to anything, but surely at least you are deserving of a seat.”

“We have talked about this before Luna,” said Faust, “however with so many new alicorns now in existence…I think it may be time for me to have one.”

“I would have to agree,” said Luna, “well mother, its been lovely, but I have to go and get ready for the night, say high to mother for me when you see her.”

“Will do,” said Faust as Luna left, smiling as the door closed before putting the final touch on her painting, which burst into light before forming into a beautiful barn owl, which began nuzzling her affectionately and caused her to giggle.

“Hello dear friend…welcome to the real world.”

Author's Note

First chapter in the Ascendancy Council is here, and I hope you can all join me for the wild ride to come, till the next chapter guys, please feel free to drop any questions or comments you have on by, I love hearing from you guys.

P.S.
I hope you guys don't mind the bit about nobles trying to upend laws passed by Celestia, but to me it makes sense that the nobility would start trying to do everything they could to upend anything they didn't like now that Celestia is gone for the next three thousand years.