Her Empire

The next seven days came and went with little excitement or interest.  I had my usual schedule to follow, every day, all day.    It consisted of tutors, meals, studying, appearing before the general public, meeting suitors, but no other event in those seven days will compare to Thursday.  On Thursday, Mother and I are going to be more closer than we've ever been before.

Today, the day before the execution, I decided to see what I could find on royally sanctioned executions.  After asking the advisors, who gave me shallow, please-get-away-from-me answers, I decided to hit the library.  My best bet was the Western Library located in the west wing of the castle, for the head librarian there never held any information back from me.  She would say that a growing girl needs information like a man needs battle.  Needless to say, she was an invaluable resource during puberty.

{oO0Oo}

I walked into the grand library with one goal in mind.  The library was very suited for the castle.  The large, ornate bookshelves were hand-crafted from obsidian and stood many feet high.  The room wasn't wired with the Magical Charge, so the room was illuminated by sunlight and torches burning with a green flame.  Piles of unstacked books stood by the shelves, waiting to be replaced with their comrades in a literary war. The main desk stood resolute in the centre of it all.  It was small and wooden, and the only illumination it had was a small desk lamp.

"Hello?", I called into the vast library, "Ms. Sparkle?"  A loud crash of falling books drew my attention to one of the dimly lit parts of the library.  A slender figure ran out of the shadow brushing dust off of her shoulder.  "Oh!  Princess Krystal!  Can I help you find anything?", Ms. Sparkle asked.

"Please Twilight, I told you to call me Krystal.", I reassured the frantic woman.

"Yes, I know, but courtesy is something that needs to be avidly practised.", Twilight replied.

Twilight was a kind, intelligent woman.  She was small and demure, but had a vast quantity of magic to back her small frame up.  She stood at a decent five-foot three, and easily weighed under 120 pounds.  She was wearing her signature violet sweater and a magenta skirt that fell well past her knees.  Her hair was navy blue and had a bright pink and dark purple streak running through it's length.  Today, her hair was accompanied by a small black bow.  The Corruption was kind to her, only changing her eyes from purple to green.

"Then I'll call you Ms. Sparkle!", I said to her.  "Absolutely not!  Please don't compliment me with such high praise!  I am lucky enough to be here serving you despite my past sins opposing her highness!  The Corruption has made my life so much better!  I mean without it, would I have met you?", she kindly shouted.

I frowned sadly at her reply.  The Corruption wasn't one of my favourite of my mother's tactics.  Sure it staved chaos and built our dying empire up, but it made the great people blind.  I've heard the heroic tales of the former Elements of Harmony, how they saved Equestria on multiple occasions, but these were just tales now-a-days.  Four of the six former Elements were caught by The Corruption, and the were "reconditioned to think that everything that they've done till now was one big sin.  I loved Twilight Sparkle like a sister, but I would've loved to see what she used to be like.

"Princess?  Did I offend you, I'm so sorry!", Twilight franticly stated.

"No, no, no!  Don't worry!  I was just thinking is all.", I soothed.

"Always a great thing!  So, can I help you find anything?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you had anything on royally sanctioned executions?"

"But of course!  Follow me!"  She led me down a row of the larger bookcases, filled to the brim of ancient changeling lore.  Some of the book looked older than Celestia herself (even though the worship of her was considered taboo and illegal).  The tomes were in shambles, some of them even had some sort of mould growing on them.

Twilight stopped abruptly and used her magic to grab one of the books off of the shelf.  She turned to me and handed the tome to me.  "Here, Royal Changeling Ceremonies, this should have what you need.  Anything else?", she asked.  "No, this is good for now.", I said

I took the large book over to one of the reading tables, and set the three kilogram monster down.  I took a seat in front of it, and lifted the worn black cover.  The first page was the table of contents, and it had several intresting concepts listed on it:  Meeting Suitors, Coronation, Knighting, Drakon Slaying, Royal Marriage(With preface by Mi Amore Cadenza), and even Sword Fighting.  I found my desired topic half-way down the page.  "Executions: The Process", I read aloud, "Page 756."

I turned to the late page in the book and skimmed it over.  Thankfully the processes were in a numbered list.  "One.  Guilty persons are escorted to the block.  Two. royal overseer(s) is introduced.  Three.  Executioner enters."  I gulped at the last few steps.  "Four.  Guilty persons are blindfolded.  Five.  Overseer(s) orders firing squads to enter.  Six.  Friring squads take posts.  Seven.  Guilty persons are shot twice in the head.  Eight.  Bodies are taken to preservation chambers and sent back to their respective armies.", I finished aloud.

"So, learn anything?", Twilight asked from across the library.

"Y-yeah.  Is this how it really goes?", I asked back

"Mmhmm, I've been to a few.  It's best if you watch without thinking too much.  Can I tell you anything else before you leave?"

I looked at her and mutterd, "I've been meaning to ask you this.  Tell me about Father."

{<^/>}

Prisons in this damn empire were too nice.  Their cells were large and spacious, with several beds in each of them.  The food was semi-decent and none of the guards talked to anybody.  I was sitting on my cot breathing heavily into my muzzle.  The guards insisted on putting one on EVERY Drakon that entered the prison.  They were so convinced that I would burn down the place and escape, and then what, get caught again?  'Cause an escaped Drakon prisoner wasn't their top priority.

"'Ey Spike, ya think we got this fancy part 'cause we're gonna die?", one of my squad mates asked.  "Man, I think so", another squad mate answered.  I remained silent, still breathing heavily into the forsaken muzzle.  "Why so quiet?", someone else asked.  I just shot him a glare, stopping further questions in his throat.  "Dumb-ass!  Why do you think?  He's eighteen and gonna be killed in front the public for their entertainment!", another mate replied.

I didn't care about getting shot.  "Hey fucker, I'm a Drakon, dying doesn't really work on me!", I snapped at him, my voice being distorted by the speakers on the muzzle.

"Still, won't it, like, feel like shit?"

"Irrelevant.  We failed the mission.  Our job was to see what we could learn about his whore princess, but no, we got caught half-way to that fucking castle!"

Flames rode on the words, and because of the muzzle, they singed my face.  I didn't want any of their crap now.  What mattered was what was to come, and honestly, it was going to be a living Tartarus.

THE NEXT DAY:12:30

{oO0Oo}

I couldn't wait for the execution.  My excitement was a strange brew of fear and giddiness, all together making my shake from anticipation.  Mother and I were waiting behind a large purple curtain, awaiting our introduction.  I was in a long, black silk dress, as was Mother.  My hair flowed naturally onto my shoulders, and a grey headband held it in place.  I wore a light layer of make-up, just some eye-shadow and lipstick.  Around my neck, I wore a black choker with an emerald in the centre.

It was going to take a minute or two until the introduction, so I thought I would bring up the information I learned from Twilight yesterday.  "So mother," I began.

"Yes Krystal", she replied.

"Why doesn't anybody know Father's name?"

She seized up and looked at me.  "Why do you need to know?", she replied.  She looked nervous and....ashamed?  "Well, I was informed of what he looked like, but not his name.  Do you even know it?", I asked.  She took a long sigh and looked at me with a small smile.  "His name was Sh-"

"NOW INTRODUCING QUEEN CHRYSALIS AND HER HEIR, PRINCESS KRYSTAL!", a loudspeaker announced.  The purple curtain pulled away and revealed the large crowd gathered in the courtyard.  Mother and I walked forward towards two identical obsidian thrones on the balcony.  We took our seats, and Mother began her entry speech.

"Fellow citizens!  We are gathered here today to see that these mongrels and scum are given the punishment that they deserve.  Death is not a subject that should be taken lightly, but under the right circumstances, must be used as the proper asset.  These six men will be sent back to their creator and their rebel army!  Enter: The executioners!"

The six, black armoured men entered the courtyard carrying their automatic gauss cannons.  They stood in front of the six prisoners, but one particular prisoner looked......different.

He had green, spiked hair and green eyes to match.  He was muscular, tan, young-looking, and very ...attractive.  I swooned a little from the mere sight of him, despite the muzzle over his mouth, but something hit me right there.

"He.....he's just a boy!"