Crystal POV

Several days had passed. The stable and the events within lay far behind us, both physically and in our memory. Savage and Zitrus did not carry any long-lasting side-effects. Even better Zitrus seemed way calmer around us three. Or better, with us three being in a herd with him.

Besides, our group had noticed that the days were getting warmer and the nights shorter. This also lead to me losing my winter fur. No more fluffy Crystal until next winter, I guess.

We were about halfway to the place where Canterlot once had been. Along the way we had found a hoof full of new places that Zitrus didn't even know existed. Like an old silver mine, the Scorched Signal Radio station, and a petrified village. It was a rather depressing sight to see all the houses, trees, and even ponies frozen in their last moments.

Never the less, today we made another find. Another village, but this one seemed very much alive.

We were standing on a hill, spying on the village from a safe distance. I would have guessed there were a bit less than one thousand buildings. One of them was an extra tall one, right in the middle of the village.

“And you have no idea what this place is?”, Savage asked Zitrus as she looked over his shoulder at the map.

“No idea. It isn't mentioned here, so it was probably built after the great war. I've never heard of, or visited, it.”

He looked up and observed the buildings before he continued: “But from the look of it, these buildings look like they were built not too long ago. So,I would guess that it hasn't been around for even a year. That or they know how to keep it maintained and clean very well.”

Indeed, now that Zitrus pointed it out, I saw it too. The buildings looked new. Very new. They were also very solidly and beautifully built with polished wood, collared walls, and sometimes even marble (or at least something similar looking.)

“Should we check it out? It looks fancy”, I said with excitement.

“Yeah, that is the thing that concerns me”, Zitrus said.

“Oh pleeaaaase”, I said and made some big puppy eyes. “I thought we were here to explore.”

Zitrus gave a sight with meant so much like “fine”.

“Yay, to adventure!”, I said and jump-bounced down the hill.

“What if they don’t like alicorns?”, Blueberry threw in.

“Then we get out faster than they can draw their weapons and never come back”, Zitrus just said.

When we got closer, our thoughts were confirmed. The building did look new and fancy. Not fancy in a bad way it more looked like the owners really tried to make it look well maintained.

As we tried to enter the village, a passerby, a unicorn stallion, spotted us. His eyes went wide as there were three alicorns and an earth pony approaching.

“ALICORNS!”, he then screamed.

“Oh shit…”, Zitrus said and each of us got ready for a magical (literally) escape.

But to our surprise, the stallion did not retreat. He ran towards us and bowed down. And soon behind him, more ponies came. A lot more ponies. But all of them unarmed. They all surrounded us in a circle and bowed down.

We were so taken aback that for a moment we could just stare, dumbfounded. No matter what direction we looked, there was a pony bowing in front of us.

“What was that about not liking alicorns?”, I asked confused still not believing what was going on.

A single unicorn stallion moved through the circle, directly in front of us. He had a dark grey fur and a silver-white mane. He was taller than an average stallion. Similar in size of Zitrus. But he was stronger built. When he was only a few feet from us, he also gave a deep bow.

“Hail you, alicorns and thank you for gifting us with your presence”, he said with a loud voice and stood up again.

“Uuuuh… say what?”, I was able to get out.

“I am sorry, what is going on? Where did we end here?”, Zitrus asked confused.

The stallion gave him a pissed stare. Thanks to my mind reading abilities, I was able to tell that he was very displeased that a normal pony was standing with a group of alicorns. Even daring to speak for them. Then scepticism rose in him.

“Wait, does this earth pony keep you as prisoners?”, the stallion asked.

“What? Nonono!”, I quickly said.

Why does every pony think that?! I was able to read from Blueberries mind, who was already standing beside Zitrus protectively.

“Shouldn’t you ask if he is our prisoner?”, Savage asked.

“That we would not mind”, the stallion simply said.

Wait, what?

“Well thank you too”, Zitrus said, not even trying to hide his annoyance.

The stallion ignored Zitrus' statement: “Anyways, welcome to Alicornia. The new capital of Equestria and hopefully, soon the new home of the alicorn race.”

He pointed at the village behind him and then at himself.

“I am Stargazer, the mayor of this town. At least until an alicorn steps up to rule Alicornia. Then I will happily stand back and let the true ruler lead this city, and I shall act as counselor.”

“Not a very creative name with Alicornia”, I whispered to my sisters and Zitrus.

“So wait, you all here worship alicorns?”, Savage asked.

“Indeed!”, Stargazer said. “Alicorns once used to rule Equestria before the great war. So they shall do it again. Since your Goddess died it is your task to rule, what is rightfully yours. You are gifted with power, long life, and charisma.”

Zitrus and Blueberry shared a look. I did not need mind reading abilities to know that they think these inhabitants are crazy. Savage on the other hoof proudly raised her head.

“May our village know the names of our newly arrived princesses?”

Princess?

“I am Savage, this is Crystal, Blueberry and Zitrus Mixus”, Savage said and pointed at us with her wing as she said each pony's name.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. Please, let me show you around our beautiful place”, Stargazer offered.

We looked at each other and, after reaching a small, silent agreement, we followed Stargazer, who turned around and led the way through the village. Our gaze went from one building to the next while Stargazer explained each one

“And next to the boutique we have Fineline’s shop. She polishes gems to a new shape and sells them for more caps.”

“They tried to make this "capital" look expensive. Mostly luxury goods with outstanding architecture. Like a real capital should be in their eyes”, Zitrus whispered to us without letting Stargazer hear.

“And this is the palace. Like the previous princesses before the great war had one, our new princesses should have one too. The place where they can live and rule over Equestria.”

We stopped in front of the big building in front of the village that Stargaze pointed out. Closer up, it looked even more impressive. It was mostly white, had an historical architectural style, and definitely did not lack in space. We could not do more than just stare.

“Would you like to go inside?”, Stargazer, who was clearly filled with pride at our reaction, asked.

He lit up his horn to open the gate (which was about five times his size) and bowed to us to let us in. We did so and were greeted with an entrance area. It looked a bit empty here. I guess this room was meant to be a guard post. On the other side of the room was the next large, heavy door. Again, they did not spare on size. We did not even reach the door when Stargaze already was on our side and used his magic to open that gate too.

We entered the throne room. Compared to the entrance, this room was quite the opposite. A red carpet (which was already worth a small fortune by itself) on the floor leading to the thrones. tall windows let in a lot of sunlight. And everything was wonderfully decorated with plants. Not to mention that the room was huge. You could easy fly around in there without fear of crashing into something. And the thrones (emphasis on the plural) were majestic, tall but soft looking, chairs. Six of them, all at the other end of the room.

“We are still working on making more chairs for more alicorns. Right now, we have six done. But luckily you are only three so far”, Stargaze explained.

“Four”, I corrected.

“Yes, of course, but these chairs were made for the rulers, meaning alicorns only. And since your companion is only an earth-“

“Zitrus is our lover and nothing less! He is part of us and should be treated as such!", Blueberry said with raised voice and spread wings.

Stargazer backed away a bit and made a deep bow.

“Of course, I am sorry my princess”, he quickly apologised.

Blueberry calmed down and let the scared stallion stand up.

“Alright, let me show you the sleeping chambers. The maids should have prepared a bed.”

Once again we followed stargazer through the palace until we arrived at a wooden door. Opening it revealed a room filled with many beds. All were large enough to hold at least three alicorns. I guess they knew that alicorns often traveled in groups of three. One bed looked like it was freshly made.

“And this is the place you can stay sleep”, Stargaze explained.

“Thank you but I do not think we are going to need it. We were planning to travel further”, Zitrus said.

“Oh please, do not go already. You did not fully experience our beautiful capital and besides, it is already getting late. Why don't you at least stay the night here?", Stargazer offered.

Zitrus looked unsure to that.

“Come on Zitrus. The beds look super soft. Besides, there is nothing bad in just staying for one night”, I encouraged him.

Zitrus sighed.

“Fine.”

“Yay!”, I yelled and jumped on the bed, which was, indeed very soft. I had never been on such a soft bed. Clouds would have been nothing compared to this.

“I wish you all a pleasant night, my princesses”, Stargaze said, left the room and closed the door. But nothing without giving a bow.

“Well, what do you think about this place?”, I asked the group.

“I don’t like it. It seems so… unreal to me. This fake village, calling itself a capital, worshipping alicorns and taking them as leaders. It is so one sided. They do not question anything”, Zitrus said in concern.

Blueberry did not say anything and just kept her neutral expression. But I could tell that she was more on Zitrus side.

“Well I don’t mind it. I kind of like this place”, Savage said.

“Hmmm… I think we shouldn't try and judge it too soon. We should give it a try and judge when we leave. We could walk around a bit tomorrow”, I offered.

“Let us decide such tomorrow”, Zitrus meant, removed his saddlebag, and climbed into bed with me.

He snuggled up to my belly and rested his head on my shoulder. Blueberry and Savage joined too. Savage hugged me from behind and nuzzled my mane and Blueberry laid next to Zitrus, her large wing extending and giving us all a feathery blanket.

It must have looked rather cute how we all snuggled tight to each other while we drifted off to sleep in this comfy bed.

It was the next day, shortly before noon. It had been rather difficult to get out of this very comfortable bed while also being cuddled to the ponies you love. But as soon as we had been able to leave, we were greeted by servants who had brought us breakfast. Bread, butter, fruits and some awful black brew that Zitrus called coffee. And they all had given that for free!

We then had decided to walk around the village a bit on our own. Without Stargazer always leading us.

And it was a rather… interesting experience. Wherever we went, ponies bowed to us. Some even offered us goods.

“I think the ponies have mixed feelings about me”, Zitrus noticed. “For one part they might honour me since I have such a great connection to you three. On the other side they might dislike that I act so freely around you and even DARE to share the same spot as you. I wonder if they can guess that i woo you three..."

“Do you think they might try something stupid?”, Blueberry asked and stood protectively next to Zitrus. Her neutral expression watching the villagers.

“I don’t think so. They would not dare to act against the will of their Goddesses”, Zitrus said.

“I wouldn’t call it Goddesses. They more see us as their rulers. Their princesses”, Savage threw in.

She, out of all of us, seemed to mind the affection the least. I did not know what to think about it and was more neutral to the village. Zitrus and Blueberry were sceptical and disliked how the inhabitants acted around us. Savage, on her end, walked through the streets proudly with her head held high and demands with each step.

“Maybe, it still is too much for me. I would not be surprised if soon some ponies come to you and ask for your “royal advice””, Zitrus said.

We walked through the streets for a bit. The ponies around us kept up their act. After some minutes, Zitrus gave a heavy sigh.

“This is too much for me. I'm going back to the palace.”

“I'm coming too”, Blueberry said and stayed by Zitrus side.

“Alright, think that I'll continue with this trot for a bit. What about you Crystal?”, Savage asked me.

“I think I'll go for a bit of a flight and scan the area around the village”, I said.

“Well, see you later then”, Zitrus said.

Blueberry lit up her horn, and a moment later, she and Zitrus faded from view.

Author's Note

Yea, I had a lot of stress last week with might have ended up that this chapter is not as good written. Still, I like the idea of having a village in the wasteland who things that alicorns should be the rightful rules, just like Celestia and Luna once had been.

Thank you all for reading and feel free to give reviews. I will read them all.