A guard knocked softly on the door to Tsarina Corona’s bedchamber. “Lady Corona. The soldiers have been prepared and await your orders.” Corona, who had been preparing herself in a mirror, placed her crown upon her head. Blowing a few strands of hair from her face, she smiled wickedly. “Excellent.” She opened the door with her magic and addressed the guard. “Who will be my opponent this day?” The guard bowed deeply and then replied. “Queen Chrysalis and the Changeling armies attack from the north, while Celestia prepares her forces to the west.” Corona pouted. “Is that all?” The guard glanced around nervously. “Um…well, we could add Luna, if you wish.” Corona hopped with glee. “Excellent!” Before the guard could leave, she added, “Ooh! Ooh! Make sure Discord is there, too!” The guard stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned back to his liege. “Y-your Majesty… Discord has no soldiers… It’s impossible.” “BLAST IT ALL, I WANT DISCORD, AND YOU SHALL FETCH HIM FOR ME!” She pawed at the ground as she thought for a moment. Suddenly, she straightened as a spark emanated from her horn making a snapping sound. “I’ve got it! His soldiers can be bits! Gather 100 bits and place them on the board, and retrieve my Discord figurine!” The guard left immediately to fetch 100 bits while Corona strolled to the main hall, where her game board had already been set up. As the guard had said, a figurine of Celestia stood on the Equestria part of the board, surrounded by tiny equine figurines representing 10, 5, and 1 units. Chrysalis’ figurine was at the far end of the board (she was always the hardest to play because you had to conquer so many fields before you even encountered another player), and the figurine representing herself was stationed closest to her, on Stalliongrad. She smiled at the pair of ponies stationed at the other ends of the table, her advisor Wise Star, and her handmaiden Evening Breeze. “Shall we get started while the guard fetches Princess Luna and Discord?” She levitated a pair of dice with her magic and rolled them. Double Sixes. It was going to be a good day.
Tremalion watched over operations at the Storm Plant in Cloudsdale, it was one of the less glamorous jobs of being King of Storms, but he needed to do so. The pegasi had become increasingly reliant on his and Heculius' guidance and control of weather, only increasing their role, and at the same time robbing them of time to spend in their own lands, the External Kingdom or Land of Storms. As Equestria grew more demanding of Tremalion's and Heculius' attention, the External Kingdom grew more and more independent as more powers were hoofed to the Grand Council by sheer necessity. Tremalion sighed and moved across the factory floor.
Rashall waited at terminal B on the cloud docking station and defensive fortress known as Bastion for a few more minutes just simply enjoying the view from the massive station. Bastion was much like Cloudsdale though with a more defensive purpose in mind rather than weather. The station also served as a docking and repair and refit station for all three cloud fleets or any other cloud vessels. Today Rashall and his first company along with 2nd and 5th companies to go back to Nekar. The reason being that some inhabitants in the city of Dust wished to come into the Shadowed Forest, thus Rashall had given word of a transport, his flagship, and two others to help move the wanderers to their new home. Apparently Dust's population had grown for some unkown reason and Rashall wanted to find out why.
Celestia walked down the Hall of Memories, where the glass panels showed the history of Equestria, from Equestria's first years (Tremalion had requested that the true first years be shown) all the way to modern day. So much history it was hard to think that she had lived through it all, but it paled in comparison to the External Kingdoms equivalent; it was filled with war and hardship, yet peace and prosperity at the same time. Celestia took a deep breath and moved farther down the Hall, which slowly recounted Equestria's history.
Millennium had just woken up so wasn't in the best of moods but luckily it was the day of the free haven festival so he was extremely relaxed and wasn't being bothered with international affairs. He put his gold and blue sapphire crown on walked out into hope city the capital of haven. "ah the free haven festival the pinnacle of havens festivals, in fact I think I might have a go at that new sport being showcased, what was it called oh yes dodgeball, now where's my knights we've got matches to win".
Luna walked into the Hall of Memories, "Sister? Art thou there?" she called down the hall, "The time for the sun to set is drawing nigh!" "I shall be there in a moment." Celesta called from the other end of the hall, soon appearing next to Luna. "Sister, how many times have we-I mean-I told thou to not walk the Hall so much?" Celestia sighed, "Sorry Luna, I just feel a connection to the place. Now, let's go make room for the Moon shall we?" Heculius watched as his sparring partner rushed towards him in a calm manner, waiting right as he reached Heculius to suddenly duck out of the way and letting his opponent to slam into the wall, who backed away, looking very dizzy and out of it. Heculius chuckled, "Better luck next time, go see Light Showers before the concussion you likely have gets worse." "Ahuh." the stallion said weakly before stumbling his way to the infirmary, leaving Heculius alone.
Eclipse walked down the frozen hallways of the corridors of the morning sun. He motioned hooves around to different ponies as if giving them orders, before he came to the end of the hallways. He used his magic to open two massive golden doors at the end and looked out to all of Equestria, or at least, the northern part. "Note to self. Make next castle on a mountain..."
"No, please, I insist I can do it myself!" Princess Cadance waved away the royal guard standing in front of her. "But princess, Shining Armor requested we come and help-" Cadance waved him away again. "I can perform my own hobbies on my own!" The guard attempted to protest again, but Cadance magically pushed him and his associates out the door. When they were gone, she dropped her serious demeanor and giggled to herself. She'd have to get Shining back for thinking that she can't work on her own! Turning around, she got a good look at the blocks and schematics in front of her. Actually...I can't do this...oops! she admitted to herself. Pushing open a nearby window, she let the cool breeze flow into the small room. She stepped into the window and stared out at the entirety of Canterlot. Looked like she'd have to find something else to do while her husband was working.
Tremalion glided back into Canterlot as the Sun set. Tremalion shuddered every time he saw the sun being raised or lowered, mainly due to Celestia's, well she wasn't called Celestia when it happened, first Raising. The sheer power of that incident was incredible, and probably one of the few times in that era that he actually admired her. Heculius stood on his balcony that allowed him to see Equestria, all of it for the most part. He loved being up here, so calm, so peaceful, so, "SQUACK!" a bird smacked Heculius right on his face right as he was going into meditation, "CURSE YOU BIRD!" Heculius yelled as he wrapped the bird in a shroud of calmness and it slowly fell asleep. Magically tossing the bird off the balcony, he went back to meditation.
"Ah ha! Celestia, you fool, your gambit was for naught!" Corona moved her 50 units into place, surrounding Celestia's capitol. Queen Chrysalis was still a ways off, and Luna was already defeated. Only Discord posed an immediate threat, as several of his "units" were on her eastern and southern flanks, effectively cutting her off from her capitol. "We shall see, Your Majesty." The dice had favored Evening Breeze so far, with Corona only rallying in the past few turns (in fact, it was Evening Breeze who had eliminated Dream Weaver, Luna's player. T'was the ultimate betrayal!) Breeze rolled her dice, but they did not favor her this time, and she lost several units in the attack. Suddenly, a nearby guard cleared his throat. "Ahem. Your Majesty?" "Go away," Corona replied, a wicked grin on her face. "I'm busy crushing Canterlot." The guard, who was quite used to Lady Corona's antics, was undeterred. "You Majesty, there's a matter that demands your urgent attention." Corona sighed in frustration. "Ugh, fine! What is it?" "I think you should see for yourself." Corona turned to the rest of the group before leaving and addressed Evening Breeze. "If you lose, you may take over for me. Tell me how the game ends, please." With that, she followed the guard into the throne room.
Aries' eyes popped open. 'another dream of failure... hopefully Equestria is in an era where I will not be called on to protect people, all that pressure...' her thoughts drifted into her remembering how she had earned her cutie mark when she stepped in the middle of a hoof fight to protect her close friend from grade school. And then the time Chrysalis attacked Canterlot and she was helpless as could be. 'Luckily Shining Armor's younger sister and her friends knew what they were doing.' Then she though about the day when her parents sent her off to learn magic under Princess Celestia, for she would need magic in order to protect everypony. She felt like a failure to herself. It wasn't that she couldn't protect them, she was just hesitant, harming other ponies was bad, and evil or not she didn't want to hurt another pony. 'I can't let the ponies of Equestria see me so down though, that might put them down, I need to wear a smile, and if something bad comes along, well we'll cross that bridge when we get there.' She got up out of bed and prepared herself to face the stress of everyday life.
Tremalion landed next to a meditating Heculius, "Another fine night Sister has created, correct brother?" Heculius asked. "Yes Brother." Tremalion replied. "Something troubling you brother?" Heculius asked concerned. "You know what I'm concerned about." was all Tremalion replied with. Celestia found herself in the Gardens of the Palace after lowering the sun, she had come for a very certain reason. "Hello again dear friend." she said to a dome of beutiful white flowers, the Tomb of Hibiscus, one of her few true friends during the time before Equestria, "It's nice to see you again." by know, she was just doing what she always did when she came to his tomb in this remote corner of the Garden that no pony has ever entered as far as she knew. She recounted what she did that day, remembered their time together, laughed and talked just like he was there. And just like every other time, she left with tears in her eyes. Hibiscus' death was probably the one thing that gave her the raw energy to make herself an Alicorn.
Princess Cadance pushed open the doors to the main throne room, only to find it barren and empy. "Auntie Celestia?" She said aloud. Her voice echoed throughout the room like a thousand mini Cadances were walking through. Steps amplified by the square demeaner of the throne room, she trotted in and took a look around. Aren't there always guards in here? she thought. I'm pretty sure neither princess ever left this place unguarded... Cadance simply shrugged and turned around. She was sure Celestia and Luna had a perfectly good reason for leaving it. Actually, that was something she could do! Cadance trotted back out the door, gingerly closing it with her magic. Walking down the stairs, she made her way to the front doors of the castle to go find Celestia.
Princess Aries walked down the hallway to the west tower, then ascended the flight of stairs to the top, from which she kept an eye on they area near the castle. She looked at the sun and thought about what the world would do if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna weren't there to raise the sun and moon every day. She shuddered and pushed the thought away. She observed the people below as they carried on worry free lives. She envies them, not to have to worry about threats to your town, to let the superiors handle it. What a relaxing thought. 'What I wouldn't give to live a life like that... Oh well, sitting here all day will do no good, I should go the the main palace grounds and see whats going on today.' With that Aries descended the tower stairs and headed toward the main palace grounds.
Eclipse smiled before teleporting himself to a room filled with Unicorns. Each one in a desk with a name plate. Eclipse walked to the largest desk and sat down. There is a sign on the desk saying Prince Solar Eclipse. The door to the room says Magic arcanus class. Eclipse pointed to a blackboard behind him. Using his magic to move some chalk, Eclipse wrote on the board, Different spells and effects on artifacts. "Class. Open your books to page 1204. Chapter 5. Read on to page 1209. Chapter 14." The class did as he said and Eclipse sat there, waiting.
"alright men, you know why I have called the four of you up. In the centre of town there is a new sport known as dodgeball being showcased. There is also a tournament of that happening so Let's go we have some dodgeball to do". With that said the four knights followed millenium and entred the arena. the whistle was blown and the match began (now just imagine a alicorn, a group of knights in full armour playing dodgeball really seriously)
(I do not believe that is possible.) Celestia was making her way back to the Palace when she came apon Princess Cadence, "Ah hello Cadence." Celestia said smiling to her, "How have you been?" "I believe that you may have some trouble when you return to the Land of Storms Tremalion." said the highly intelligent floating blue mass of energy next to Tremaliom called OPIAT. "What kind of trouble?" Tremalion asked it in all seriousness. "Political. The ponies of the Kingdom are becoming quite annoyed with your ever growing leaves. They of course, are still fine with their current state with Equestria, but..." the AI drifted off. "Yes I understand." Tremalion said.
Millennium came back battered and bruised with dodgeball marks all other his body, the knights also had dents in their armour. "okay guys what made you think that wearing a full suit of armour where you have little to no agility would be a good Israel dodge flying rubber balls it's not called get hit ball it's called dodgeball for a reason". The knights then went off and millennium headed to the milkshake store and got himself a vanilla milkshake and chocolate cake. "normally my nephew in law shining armour would come join in the celebrations to bad his two busy with cadence".
(Hold it there, there is no way for you to be a royal AND uncle of Shining Armor. Maybe as an In-law, but not so directly.) Tremalion flew back to the External Kingdom under the cover of the night, flying back home to Stor City, the nation's capital. Tremalion landed in the courtyard of his castle, where several ponies stood in a solid circle around him, "We're tired of your leaving for Equestria, King Tremalion." one said.
