It was a day like any other in Canterlot castle: carpets were being cleaned, Celestia’s midday cake was being prepared, and Cadence had just finished wrangling her hair into her preferred style. Just in time, Celestia should be headed to the private dining hall about now. If I leave now I might even be able to get there before her for once.

Cadence set her hairbrush down on her small vanity and stepped out into the hall of private rooms. There weren’t any guards around in the private hall, and even as Cadence walked through the castle she only saw a few guards posted around the most important doors. It was the quiet hour before the main parts of the palace became a public space filled with tours and petitioners, but it was still possible for her to come across some other important pony.

While Cadence didn’t inherently dislike all of the nobility in Canterlot, the vast majority of the nobles she had met had done nothing to dispense with her preconceptions about them. The high nobles flaunted their wealth and prestige before the masses with their ostentatious mansions and ornamental clothing. Their backgrounds varied, but were mostly filled with rich and famous ancestors closely tied to Equestria’s founding.

The common nobles were far more numerous than their counterparts and had far more variety in where they came from. Some were wealthy business owners, others were branch families kept by other nobles to keep their bloodlines ‘pure’, and yet others were led by successful generals and other ponies from the EDF. In any other city they would have made up the middle class, but because it was Canterlot, home of the monarchy, they were called nobles. Still, even if she was fond of some of the ponies she could run into, Cadence didn’t want to meet somepony like Blueblood and spoil her mood before breakfast.

Cadence slipped through an unlocked door and into her favorite side hall. To either side of her were paintings of ponies’ heads expanded to nearly four times the size they must have been in life and rendered in exquisite detail. This hall and the one across from it were full of similar portraits, and from what Celestia told her, some of the paintings on display were made before even the formation of Equestria.

While she was no art expert, she could appreciate the skill and care put into the pieces hung in the halls. If she focused she could sense some of the emotional energy that the artists had poured into their works. While she knew most of the portraits didn’t radiate any energy, the few that did told a story all their own that only she could see.

Perhaps sometime I should go through all of these and describe what they feel like. It would certainly be a more interesting project for my free time than studying Minotaurian etiquette and politics.

As she continued to walk down the hall, she came to a corner and stopped abruptly. Down near the end of the magically extended path, Cadence saw Celestia standing before the most recent addition to the collection. With a concerned frown now adorning her face, Cadence walked over to her teacher and guardian’s side and sat down.

She watched as the ethereal ball within Celestia’s chest swirled with greys, blues, and faint traces of green. The core wasn’t the only thing she saw either; several long spikes extended outward toward other ponies on Celestia’s mind. There were four prominent spikes that she could see right now: the usual spike that pointed to somewhere traversing the sky, one pointing to the now forbidden storage room, one pointed to her, while the final one pointed straight toward Griffonstone.

Cadence had only had her alicorn powers for a short time but already she could guess what some of them were telling her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the source of Celestia’s concern, “It’s the Griffons, isn’t it, auntie?” She knew that the emperor had been building up his forces and trying the borders for a while now, but what made her certain was how her adoptive aunt was acting. She had never seen Celestia so pensive and distant when she was in private with her.

Celestia looked down at her with a whisper of a smile, “You are correct my dearest Cadence.” The smile melted off Celestia’s face as quickly as it had appeared and settled down into an even more neutral visage. It was the face she used when mediating disputes in court, or when hearing out the petitions of the high nobles in court. It was unnerving to be on the wrong end of the princess’s indifference, but before she could comment, Celestia continued, “but it is more than just a simple provocation on the borders of our allies this time. Emperor Grover has committed to an invasion.”

Cadence gulped, her mouth suddenly dry. Celestia had just left unsaid who the young emperor had declared war on. She just told me that Grover was invading some of the Zebrican polities, but we both know that there’s still a significant portion of his army on this continent. He has his own distinct civilian policing force. He probably doesn’t need that many soldiers to staff the empire’s border fortresses, but that would mean— “we’re at war. Aren’t we.”

Celestia let her statement linger for a moment before she responded. “Yes, Equestria is once more at war.”

Cadence silently looked back up to Celestia and then over to the portrait before them. “There is going to be a meeting of the general staff of the army shortly after our morning meal. I would like for you to be there with me,” Celestia said.

It was thoughtful of her to let Cadence not show up to the meeting; she knew that Cadence didn’t like to be involved with even the idea of war. On the other hoof though, she didn’t like the idea of spending even less time with her aunt than she already was. After Sunset was dragged through the mirror, Cadence could only watch as Celestia buried herself in work to paper over her feelings. If Cadence wasn’t there to talk or spend time with her, she worried that Celestia would only pull further into herself.

“I’ll stay with you after breakfast, auntie. Ever since my primary studies finished I haven’t been able to be with you outside of the important meetings with the Boredom Brigade.”

Celestia smiled at Cadence’s jest and draped a wing over her barrel. “You’re as lively as ever my dear Cadence. Come, let’s get food into you before our meetings today. It’s never good to do important work while hungry.”

As they stepped out, Cadence took one last glance at Sunset’s face on the wall. Stay safe bacon hair, wherever you are.

***

Luna glanced at the new paper as it appeared in a golden flash atop her travel desk. Perhaps now we will receive some reinforcements Luna thought as she swiped up the scroll with a wing. She had sent a letter to her sister almost the week before asking for her help in getting ponies into the EDF, but she had heard nothing back. She had expected that letter to show up days ago.

As soon as she had learned of the griffin raids into their territory she had charged off to lead the Equestrian Defense Force in battle. She didn’t trust the noble brats to lead Equestria's armies, not when the houses were already as powerful as they otherwise were. If she wasn’t there to oversee them they would probably have already been threatening each other as opposed to the enemy. Unfortunately, the nobility composed the entirety of the officers, because they were literate. She’d have to work on changing that issue soon, as soon as this border war ended she’d use the current budget surplus to fund a few new programs.

It seemed to her as if Tia had started to pretend that she didn’t even exist some of the time, and her lapses only seemed to grow longer. Luna had even, to some extent, hoped that she would fade into the background of Equestrian life as their nation developed. She didn’t feel comfortable around other ponies. She’d once heard somepony call it paranoia, but was it paranoia if there were actually people that were out to get her? The only ponies she wasn’t concerned about were her family, and Tia was the only one that she was certain was still alive.

It had only been just over one hundred years since they had founded Equestria on the figurative ashes that Discord had left behind from his rule, and already Celestia had started to forget her. What dose that say about us — about me?

Luna turned to look down at her shadow flickering in the dim torchlight, “What do you think Moonie? Should we talk to Tia about it, or do we wait?” Her shadow didn’t answer that night, or any other night during thecampaign. Only a few short decades later, though, that would no longer be true.

***

Emperor Grover unrolled the scroll that had just been brought in and frowned. The campaign was… proceeding. They were able to maintain their talonhold on the new acquisitions on the continent and had begun to dig in. His attache to the yaks had reported that they had begun their march South and that they hadn’t encountered any resistance yet.

All of that was good news, but the collators had saved the best for last. Which, he admitted to himself, was probably just their own version of a memento mori. Although for them it is probably more a reminder that there is always a second side to the coin than a, “remember death” message.

Unfortunately, the report continued, they were losing too many ships to gain an overwhelming advantage over the Equestrians. Their shipyards had more capacity than their Equestrian competitors, but it seemed that some third party was sinking their ships with some unknown explosive magic. On top of their maritime troubles, his disgraced escapee brother had started a rebellion in the lowlands. It wasn’t a major concern at present — they hadn’t even sent a single assassin yet — but he would divert one of the new armies to the region from the frontlines nonetheless.

Grover re-rolled the scroll and steepled his talons underneath his beak. It wasn’t a disaster by any means, but it seemed that he’d be doing a little more work than he had hoped to be doing by this point. He stepped off of his throne with ease and walked over to his study, an aura of confidence radiating from him as he saluted his guards.

The slow pace of the yaks was irritating, and Glade’s popularity with the farmers was concerning, but this new enemy had caught his interest. It wasn’t just anyone who would dare to start hostilities with him.

Author's Note

Have a great Night!
No fools from me. This time.