IMMORTALS
~1 Year ago~
"I'm sorry, Mayor Scroll, but," Celestia held the parchment in her magic, scanning the contents. "I really don't see the need for this proposal."
"Why, may I ask?"
"Mandatory Weather Team service for a year gives pegasi a taste for what they can do, not force them into slave labour." She set the proposal on the table and propped herself up on her hooves. "I've heard many stories of pegasi finding their Cutie Marks during the year, and even more of simple enjoyment."
"And how many of anger for being forced to work?"
"The hours are low, the pay decent for the work, I really don't see a problem, Mayor."
"You're not answering my question." She replied with a none-too-small amount of venom in her voice.
Celestia sighed. "Over the roughly 150 years I've had the rule in place, I have only heard 279 complaints, almost all of which I managed to convince otherwise. Statistically it's insignificant."
The Mayor sighed. "Very well, your majesty."
Celestia smiled sweetly, and then turned to the Las Pegasus Mayor. "Now, Mayor Roll, your proposal for building another casino."
"Approved?" He chuckled. "I knew you-"
Celestia cleared her throat loudly. "High, please. We need to discuss the options. Now, you said it was going to be built directly under the Las Pegasus Cloud Structure, like many of the earthbound casinos. Do you know how many casinos are on that small stretch of the Marejave Desert?"
"About five, why?"
"Mayor, you understand that a sixth casino would be bad for the other ones. But that's not my major concern."
"It isn't?"
"Your choice of theme." She held a sketch up to the Council. It depicted a large casino front, with a large neon mare on the top. The mare had large blue wings and a long horn. "In all of creation, why did you choose to base your casino-slash-strip club-slash-brothel on my younger sister?"
High Roll pulled at his collar. "Um... I-I needed somepony to base the mascot off, and Princess Luna seemed to come to mind. I can change the theme if you wish."
Celestia placed the sketch away. "I'd appreciate it, but unfortunately I cannot allow you to build another casino."
Roll's eyes widened. "What? But-"
"I set a hard limit on the number of casinos per town for a reason. You're lucky you have double that amount."
"Please, Princess, you gotta understand, one of the gangs want me to build them a casino in the theme of Luna. I have to, or they'll kill me."
Celestia scribbled down a note. Find gang in Marejave. "I'm sorry, but there's no room or income or permits. However, I now have another problem, that of that gang. The Guard will handle it." She smiled. "In the meantime you can stay in Canterlot."
Roll sighed. "Thanks, Princess."
Celestia shifted the papers in her magic. "Now... Blueblood."
"What?" Prince Blueblood responded in a completely disinterested voice.
"Your proposal. I can't do it."
"What?" He sounded much more interested, and with shock laced.
"You’re asking that Canterlot's entire budget to be used in making a statue of yourself. There are several reasons why I can't do that."
"And what would they be?"
"Firstly, the town needs money to actually survive. The Gala's money comes from the Canterlot budged. Second... Why you?"
"Why not me?"
"As far as I know, you've done little in the way of making Canterlot a better place."
"But what about-"
"No, the Blueblood Casino doesn't count as 'making Canterlot a better place'. Nor is the 'Blueblood Park'."
"But Jovia Industries' sales went up when I helped them with an advertising campaign."
"Actually, sales went down. In fact, it got so bad they had to literally destroy all the advertisements with you in them." She pressed a hoof to her forehead. "You nearly killed one of the biggest companies in Equestria. Congrats." She sighed. "Alright, next."
"But-"
"Next!" She yelled, louder than necessary. "Now, Mayor Tight, for once you have a proposal that actually sounds good. But-"
Celestia paused. She heard a dull beeping next to her ear, coming from her crown.
"Not again..."
"Your highness?"
The Princess tapped her crown, shutting the noise down. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to continue this later."
The large doors of the Council chambers opened slowly, a young deep-blue alicorn looking in cautiously. "Sister? Art thou done?"
"For the moment." She rose to her full height, preparing to leave. "Ladies and Gentlestallions, I have your rooms prepared. Captain Shining will show you to them."
Luna watched her sister trot out of the room, followed by slightly-bewildered ponies. She trotted next to her much larger sister. "Celestia, where art thou going?"
"I'll tell you next time."
~One year later~
"Mayor Payroll." Luna, standing in full regalia, greeted the rushed Mayor of Hoofington as she passed by. She turned to her sister. "Why do I have to go to this meeting?"
"Because, Luna, the government of Equestria has changed since your time away. You need to learn how the Equestrian Council works so that when I am not here you can hold the fort."
Luna groaned. "But it's so booooring..." She perked up when the Ponyville Mayor trotted by. "Mayor Scroll, how pleasant to meet you again."
"Likewise." The two shook hooves, before the Mayor continued into the chamber.
"You were saying about boring?" Celestia teased.
Luna giggled un-regally. "I forgot that the full council had Mayor Scroll here. This shall be most enjoyable."
Celestia nodded, and watched a familiar pony trot past. Her multi-coloured mane was tied into a bun, purple-tipped wings folded against her side. "Cadence, lovely to see you."
Luna looked at Cadence in confusion, turning briefly to Celestia.
"Cadence is Canterlot's Mayor now."
"What of Blueblood?"
"Blueblood was outvoted." Cadence replied matter-of-factly. "He's not happy about it."
"Naturally." Luna replied with a laugh. "Anyway, shall we head in?"
The Sun Princess nodded, and the three ponies walked into the chamber. All the ponies bowed as Celestia walked in.
Luna took her side next to Celestia, in a chair built specifically for her. The other ponies sorted themselves out quickly.
"Everypony, settle down." Celestia called out, straightening the stack of parchment. "Alright, this week we have a full house of proposals. First is Mayor Scroll."
Luna pulled the parchment to her view. "A proposal for a statue of the Spirits of Harmony to be built." She raised an eyebrow and hummed in approval.
"Have you asked the Spirits whether they want to be involved?" Celestia inquired.
"Naturally." Mayor Scroll smiled. "I even them helping in construction and design."
"Rarity is helping in design. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack in heavy lifting. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in weather patrol. Pinkie Pie is providing food and running the success party." Luna recited. "Suitable."
"Mayor, consider it approved." Celestia smiled. "Ok, with Mayor Payroll of Baltimare's request to build parkland near the apartment district."
Luna looked at the sheet, then at a map of current Baltimare. "Mayor, I cannot see where you would be building it."
"We'll be refurbishing the old buildings to the east of the centre."
"Ponies live there, Mayor." Celesta pointed out. "Where will they live if this were to happen?"
"Well, if you see the plans for the new layout, you'll see that we'll be building new apartment blocks nearby."
Luna flipped to the attachment sheets. "And how long would it take to build?"
"A month, maybe two."
"Too long." Luna replied without letting Celestia speak. Not that she seemed to mind, anyway. "It may be better to build a courtyard-like park within the centre of the town."
Payroll nodded. "I'll take that into consideration."
"Also, you might want to reinforce the older buildings, just in case." She grabbed the next proposal. "What's next?"
Celestia smiled and leaned to whisper to her sister. "Nicely handled."
"Thank you." Luna beamed internally. "Alright, we have... yet another casino request."
"This one's different." Mayor Roll announced. "One of the existing five has been shut down."
"Was it the Fast Grab Casino?" Luna questioned.
"That it was." He blinked in surprise. "How did you-?"
"They were dealing illegal weapons and had underage fillies 'working', amongst other, more minor offenses. The Royal Night Guard was called in. We shut them down."
Roll nodded. "And one of the skybound companies, Regal, wants to start a ground-based operation."
"Celestia, your thoughts?"
Celestia skimmed the page, looking thoughtful. "Regal has been one of the more successful skybound casinos in Equestria. However, I am concerned about-"
Luna's sensitive ear could pick up a dull, pulsing noise. Celestia groaned, and tapped the side of her head. "Sister-"
"I'm sorry, but I have a meeting that takes precedence over this one. Luna, will you be able to handle this while I'm away?"
"Perhaps. What is this meeting?"
"I cannot say."
"You said that you'd tell me this time."
Celestia smiled. "You have a sharp memory. I'll tell you after, then." She pushed her seat out and made her way to the door.
The table gave Luna hopeful (and somewhat unnerving) stares. Except Cadence. The Princess leant closer to Luna to whisper.
"You want to go find out what she's up to?"
"Aye, that I do."
"Then go, we can wait."
Luna sat straight and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but I have to deal with something myself." She turned to the pegasus maid, who was busy cleaning the floor nearby. "Dusty?"
Dusty looked up. "Yes, your highness?"
"Provide the Council with some snack food please. I may be a while."
Luna turned the corner, only to dive back when she caught a glimpse of an all-too-familiar multi-coloured tail. She leant out to see her sister dive into her room, and she silently glided next to the doorway.
Celestia walked up to one of the walls, pressing a hoof to it. "I really don't want to do this..." She pushed against the wall. Part of the wall broke off, sliding into the ground. The remaining parts split in two, sliding into the sides of the adjacent walls. With a heavy sigh, Celestia trotted into the gap, where several screens displayed on air appeared.
Luna walked up slowly, as Celestia tapped her hoof against a few of the screens. The floor beneath her jolted, then slowly fell. The roof followed, and just as the doors were closing Luna leapt onto it.
The platform was being guided down by an arcane device that she had never seen before. Six strips of white light straightened the craft, which was speeding up. She looked over the edge and saw a beam of bluish light pulsing down the seemingly endless shaft.
The shaft's bottomlessness stopped abruptly, opening into a rough-cut cavern with various gems spiking out. The pod was now being guided by six structural beams which held the glowing strips of light. Near the bottom of the cavern was a large steel ring, in the middle of which was a shifting blue and black mass. It was horizontal to the ground, and they were falling directly too it.
Shortly the pod slowed down, just as the guiding strips disappeared. Instead, three glowing beams from the other side of the ring shot up and steadied the platform as it slid into the sort-of liquid.
As Luna slid into the shifting whatever-it-was, she felt a shudder roll through her. She opened her eyes to the most unusual sight she had ever seen.
The night sky, an inky black. Instead of stars, however, a few unusual stellar objects were in various places around the sky. What was even odder was that the pod was gliding down onto a large circular platform with eight podiums around it. Aside from the portal she had fallen through, as well as the seven others near the other podiums, there was no roof. This was, effectively, an open-air platform in a weird universe.
The pod landed with a slight, soft jerk. Glass doors opened up, and Celestia took a step out. Luna spotted six more pods pushing through some of the other portals. The seventh pulsed a yellow colour, throwing out a bizarre but all-too-familiar creature.
Celestia stepped up to her podium and cleared her throat. "Princess Celestia of Equestria, Equus, Equian Universe, present."
Another creature stepped out of one of the other pods and walked up to another on two legs. "Creator, Earth, Sapiens Universe, present."
A shadowed humanoid with gold-metallic hands and feet walked out to a podium next to Creator. "Reaver, Earth, Sapiens Universe, present."
A robed humanoid followed, carrying a large scythe. "Grimoir Reaper, Earth, Sapiens-Demonic Alt Universe, present."
A bizarre and somewhat humanoid creature stepped out to its podium. "Gy'Thak, Raiklan, Kodoran Sub-Universe, present."
A giant floating metal helmet with a glowing yellow visor hovered up. "Tovacodgiva Terigros, Terigdava, Myclean-Terig Pocket Universe, present."
Another humanoid, wearing black armour with glowing red parts, strided up. "King Onova Vanella, Myclea, Myclean-Terig Pocket Universe, present."
The last figure, the one blasted out of the portal, dusted his mismatched body and casually strolled up. "Discord, Equus, why am I bothering with all of this formality?"
In the centre of the ring, a glowing blue sphere emerged. It spoke with a voice that was everywhere except where it was. "Formality is mandatory for the greeting."
Discord rolled his eyes. "Discord, Candyland, My own universe within the collective unconscious, absent."
"Mandatory formality." The orb replied stoically as Discord cracked up laughing.
"Well, it's sort of true." He chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eye. "But I couldn't resist the joke. Oh, if only I could see your face..."
"Great Being," Terigros spoke, the spines floating behind him moving slightly. "Why do you invite this joke of a Spirit to our Council?"
"His attendance is required, even while trapped in Harmony-induced physical paralysis." The orb replied. "He is indeed trapped within the collective unconscious."
"Then how is he here?" Reaver pointed a lava-veined gold claw at Discord, who was sipping the glass of a glass of chocolate milk.
"It would take too long to explain."
"Fine, whatever."
Celestia cleared her throat. "Great Being, what is the purpose of bringing us here today?"
"I am checking how your parts of your universes are moving forward. Creator, your report is first."
"He always favours him." Gy'Thak muttered to Onova, who nodded.
Creator cleared his throat. "So far, humanity has developed a huge amount of technological advancements in the past year. However, their continued use of their only planet's resources is quickly becoming a problem."
"Reaver, your report."
"All I can say is that the afterworld is running smoothly. As usual. Haven't had any adventurer mishaps since I stopped calling myself Hades."
"Grimoir, your report."
"Death toll is slowing down a bit. Also, my daughter seems to be getting better at demon-hunting. Oh, and I think a witch is starting to get close to her team. Home problems, no need to concern yourself."
"Gy'Thak, your report."
"I think that the Kodoran are slowly-but-surely pulling an interdimensional jump-drive together. I'll make sure it only goes to certain dimensions."
"Terigros, your report."
"One of the Terig battlecruisers has jumped into another universe and crashed. Unfortunately, the war between us and the Mycleans is not ceasing." He turned to glare at the armoured figure. "Not that I want to stop it."
"Onova, your-"
"Much the same." He replied, glaring at his nemesis.
"Boys, please." Celestia jumped in. "Kill each other in your own universe, alright."
"Oh, we will." Terigros leaned closer to his opponent, who was at maximum half his height. "Trust me."
"Celestia, your report." The Great Being ordered.
"Equestria's magic and technological development is going steadily. My protégé and her friends have also managed to defeat Discord when he was going out of control."
"Oh come on, Celestia, loosen up a bit." Discord bit into some popcorn. "You don't have to be so grim around me. It's quite boring."
"Discord, you were altering the very fabric of reality that my mother fought to create."
"Only because I hadn't done that in eons."
"Discord, you were born in the Equian universe to be a balance to the harmony of your work partner. It is not a reason to abuse your powers." The Great Being gave the feeling of a glare.
"But what's the point of having such wonderful disharmonic powers if I can't try its limits every now and then?"
"37 years, Discord." Celestia groaned. "That's not 'every now and then'."
"Pray tell, what is 'every now and then', according to your oh-so-mighty wisdom?"
"One day every few years. You were given that order in person."
"By your mother, Celestia. And once she died it became redundant, leaving me free."
Celestia growled. Terigros cleared his non-existent throat. "Great Being, can we please remove Discord from the Council? Nay, existence?"
"Tovacodgiva, Discord is integral to the Equian Universe's natural balance. His mere presence allows chaos to occur."
"And it'd be utterly boring here without me." Discord added with a toothy grin. "Besides, Celly needs someone to keep her company."
"Once Luna is ready to know about this-" Celestia started, before being cut off by Discord's laughter. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing, just that she already knows."
"What?" Celestia glared at him. "I haven't even told her yet!"
"But curiosity got the better of her, and she's right over there." He pointed to Luna, who up until then was hiding on top of the pod. He gave a wave. "Hello, Luna!"
All the immortals turned to face Luna.
"Celestia, what is the meaning of this?" The Great Being spoke, slowly shifting into a pulsing yellow orb-cloud-thing. All the blue glowing parts on the ring changed to a yellow colour.
"She- I- Uh-!" Celestia started, before being cut off by The Great Being changing instantly to a flaming red ball of fire.
"Enough! You have brought another creature from your universe into our Council!"
"But she's immortal!" Celestia pleaded. "I was going to tell you I was going-"
"Quiet!" The Great Being slowly drifted towards her. "First, I will punish her severely for her intrusion, and then you for allowing her to appear!"
"Discord, you bastard!" Celestia cried.
Discord, surprisingly, wasn't laughing. In fact, he looked stunned. "I- Um- What?"
"You told him that she was here! You're sentencing her to death!"
"Oh blast."
Celestia turned to Luna. "Luna, run!"
Luna looked at the pod beneath her, and flipped into the pod. The glass doors closed as she entered, silencing the world around her. She watched the screens pop up, and pressed what she thought was appropriate. The pod lurched up, slow-moving to start but gaining more speed than she thought possible. The whole pod filled with The Great Being's red glow as it slowly drifted up to it. Within seconds the pod shot through the portal, returning her to the normal world. The glowing beam pushing the pod up was now red, as were the very edges of the guiding beams that soared past her. Some force was pushing her to the floor, which she knew was a very bad thing. An instant later the pod crashed into the roof, knocking her clean up into the roof and stunning her. She heard glass breaking, and when gravity affected her normally she barely felt something cut into her leg.
She partially crawled out of the pod, which was jammed into the roof on an angle. The screens were flickering, one altogether shut off. She froze as the pod slid out of its hole slightly.
"Oh feathers."
The craft broke free, pulling her with it. As the pod fell freely, bouncing off the walls with a quick grind of metal, she managed to spot shards of glass floating freely, a few stained red.
The pod cleared into the cavern, falling way too fast to survive. She sparked her horn to life, preparing a teleportation spell. She pulled herself free of the falling craft as it plunged into the swirling portal mass. She reappeared with the floor above her.
She slingshotted upwards from the ground to the roof of the cavern, trying everything she could to slow herself down. It wasn't enough though, she slammed one of her back legs into the cavern roof with a horrible crack. Despite being in horrible pain she glided down onto the cavern floor, directly under the portal. She looked at her leg, which was bending in a way she knew wasn't the way it should.
Her mind slipped out of consciousness from the sheer pain.
She first woke to an infernal beeping. It was pulsing like the throbbing of her headache, as well as her leg. Her brain instantly made the connection of 'heart-rate monitor'.
She cracked her eyes open. Next to her was Celestia, resting her head beside her foreleg.
"Tia?"
Celestia opened her eyes slowly. "Luna...?"
"Can I have some painkillers, my head hurts like mad."
Celestia gave a sad chuckle. "That's not my call. Good to see you're ok, though."
"Well enough, I suppose." She looked at a small burn on Celestia's chest. "What happened?"
Celestia looked around to make sure they were alone. "The Great Being, after you ran, licked my fur with a part of his weird fire body. He said that was my punishment. He's decided to leave you be."
"Thank God for that." Luna sighed. "So, who were they all?"
"The Council of Immortals." Celestia stated. "Basically they're a bunch of creatures like us, ageless and god-like." She smiled. "And next year you have a seat."
"What?"
"Grimoir is busy dealing with his daughter's problems. He said you can have his spot."
"Yay." Luna replied weakly. "Hey, Tia?"
"Yes, sister?"
"I'm hungry."