Blue, part two: A shattered country

"At ease," said Lightning Dust, signalling the guards to relax. Procedures were over, she was proven to be pony, not changeling, so she proceeded into the princess' room. Very few knew of her true state of being, and even fewer were let inside.

Dust politely waited until Celestia called out to her. The once calm and proud voice of hers now rang weak and tired. Even though her life was not in danger, she exhausted herself beyond belief. Dust saw the wasteland that was left after her rampage, and thought herself lucky to be under her protection. Of sorts. Currently it was more the other way around; Celestia was resting under the guard of her and Diamond Rose's watch.

Meanwhile, the princess stared at her, slow even at blinking. Her mind was in top shape, though. She asked her for frequent updates from the outside, usually twice a day. The current council in power was very diverse; but the absolute power was still held by Celestia, and her representative, Twilight Sparkle. She technically was the governor in her absence, but refused to be called such.

After Dust finished her brief summary, Celestia laid back, staring at the ceiling. Business was as usual: there were some ponies who'd try and make profit from the end of the world, not to mention the times of hardships and misery. Dust prepared to leave, when Celestia's voice called out to her.

"Thank you."

She turned back, surprised at the sudden exclamation.

"It's, uh, no problem, I mean, I just told you what happened." She caught herself at the last moment. "...Your Majesty."

"No, I meant bringing me here," Celestia whispered. "I would have perished had you not come to my rescue."

Dust rubbed the back of her neck, shifting her gaze away.

"Well, I mean, that's my duty, right?"

Celestia gave her a sideway glance, through half-squinted eyes.

"You would be surprised how many would think otherwise in the same situation." She paused, taking a deep breath. "I wish to know more about you. Tell me about yourself, please."

Dust blinked a few times before complying. She told her princess about her childhood, teenage rivalries, and such. She felt that this wasn't the place to show herself in a better light, so she told the truth about the Wonderbolts Academy fiasco. How she endangered everypony, and was a loner until she got her own team. She told her about her comrades, the quirky Raindrops, the noble Thunderlane, and the shy Blossomforth. She told her how the Wonderbolts seemed to get back on track, evolving from flashy showponies to the organisation of the best flyers, what it was created to be.

Celestia listened intently, and Dust had the feeling she understood things which she didn't even mention.

"I have another question," said the princess, "about your predecessor. How was she? Did she do her duty?"

"Um... Well, to be honest, she was kind of a jerk. She had only victory in sight, and once tried to get rid of Soarin for Rainbow. But if you ask about skill and professionalism, she also had those. In short, I think she was a self-serving bastard, but she did her job good...Your Majesty."

"Please, by any means, feel free to drop these honorifics," Celestia said. " You have already proven that you are loyal to Equestria, and to me, there is no greater accomplisment."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Dust said. The alicorn smiled a little.

"Stubborn, are you? Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with your performance. Keep going down further this road, and maybe I'll let you call me Celestia like Twilight."

"She calls you by your name?" Dust asked, thrown off track. "...Ma'am."

Celestia actually chuckled this time.

"Oh no, she absolutely refuses to refer to me by name only. I wouldn't mind, though."

She fell back to her pillow, closing her eyes.

"I think that's enough for now. I do not know how long it will take to replenish my strength, but I will rely on you for protection until then. Have a pleasant day."

Dust nodded, and left the room, taking caution not to make a noise. To her surprise, one of the guards was sleeping.

"Attention!" she said in a slightly raised tone, "You are hereby assigned to latrine duty for the rest of the month! One of you go and fetch somepony to stand guard instead of you! And if I catch any of you snoozing on duty..."

"Won't happen again, Ma'am!" the smarter guard shouted.

Dust nodded, then took off to stride along the corridor. There must have been a better way to organise the guards, but what? She wasn't smart enough for it, she had to admit. Maybe...

She stopped in her tracks. Sure, she hadn't really socialised with Twilight Sparkle, but protecting the princess should be her top priority too, right?

Lightning Dust made way towards Twilight's office. Even though it was assigned to her some time ago, it was still full of keepsakes from some long dead official, or paper-pusher. The only thing that has seemingly changed was the small plaquette reading 'Archmage Twilight Sparkle, Lord Regent of Equestria.' Dust heard that the unicorn wasn't quite satisfied with the title.

When she reached her office, she heard some voices from the inside. Seeing no better option, she knocked loudly on the door, causing a second of silence, before a tired 'Come in!' rang out. Inside was a very bemused Twilight Sparkle, and a smugly smiling Open Book.

"As I was saying, my dear Regent, think about my proposition." Book seemed to overflow with confidence. "Surely you see that control must be asserted by nobles over the various aspects of governing this kingdom."

"I do not wish to discuss this any further."

The stallion shrugged.

"Then our discussion is over... for now."

He marched out with a victorious expression, despite all that has been said. Lightning Dust waited patiently until Twilight bothered to look up to her.

"What do you want?"

"Actually, I came to ask for your help," Dust said, withholding the urge to say something acidic, "but I can see you're quite busy right now. I'll come back later."

"Wait!" Twilight called out as she turned around, "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit... tense nowadays. What do you need help with?"

"I need help with creating a proper guard schedule. Ponies need to be alert from night to day, and the current order is quite ineffective."

Twilight levitated a paper in front of her, as well as a quill and an inkwell. She primly waited until a big drop of ink fell from the quill, then pointed it's feathery end at Dust.

"I need you to tell me the exact composition of the guard."

"Sure," Dust said. "We have five unicorns, capable of identifying shapeshifters, of whom one must always be on duty. Three earth ponies, one bat pony, and eight pegasi."

Since she wasn't any good at reading upside-down, she could only catch Twilight pen down P1 through P8 on the page, before she got confused by the frantic scribbling the unicorn produced. After a few minutes, Twilight put down her quill, and studied the paper intently. She nodded – then she took out another parchment, and repeated the whole process. Thankfully, after checking that one, she simply levitated it to the mildly bemused Dust.

"Here. This should cover the shifts in a weekly basis. I'd advise you not to let them swap their assigned shifts, but bringing in an outsider to replace one of them completely could work."

Lightning glanced at the roster. It was simple, and she could use it as soon as she got back to her office. The other side, though was full of scribbles that made no sense to her; she swore she could read 'the inverse of the logarythm of the integral of the allotted free time,' but couldn't make heads or tails of it. Oh well, she never had interest in paperwork, anyway.

"Thanks," she said. Twilight made a dismissive gesture.

"Don't mention it. In fact, you could start not mentioning it outside. I have a lot of work to do."

Having no further reason to stay, Dust excused herself and set out to find Raindrops somewhere. Hopefully they could start using the new roster soon.

She had absolutely no idea that she was the topic of a heated discussion somewhere in the city. Influential ponies, who gathered with one Purpose; wishing to control the very core of Equestria itself.

"She's becoming very close to the Princess," one said.

"You do not suppose she will be her next pupil?" another asked. The others contemplated this.

"No, I don't think so," said a confident voice, "There would be no gain for the Princess to get close to her. I propose that she is merely a distraction from the Regent."

"I could ask for her hoof in marriage for one of my sons!" an elderly voice offered.

"Oh, of course you could," the confident voice purred, "I'm sure you have a perfect success on that front so far."

"What is your plan, then?" an irritated voice asked. The confident one smiled.

"I say that we disregard Lightning Dust. She probably has no real connection to the Princess. We should focus on getting the Regent on our side, rather."

"And how do you propose we do that?" one asked.

"It's simple. We cut her ties with her past. And to that end... I suggest that we hunt down a fugitive."