Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-One

Princess Celestia strolled down the hall, exchanging quick commands and bits of information with a trailing group of advisors and government officials, quickly filling her schedule with all the royal duties she had been missing in her months abroad.

"Erm… Princess Celestia."

The procession fell silent as a lone, young royal guard appeared in their path, his elaborate helm and spiked bracers glimmering in the sun.

"Yes?" Celestia said pleasantly, as her entourage stared daggers into the young stallion.

The guard shuffled awkwardly for a moment, before stating plainly, "A Lady Kolassa to see you."

"Kolassa?" said Celestia, raising her eyebrows. "Where?"

"Just on the outskirts of the city, ma'am."

"Hmm," Celestia said wryly. "Panic in the streets?"

"Er, yeah, pretty much," said the guard.

Celestia sighed. "All right. Ugh, if the citizens of Ponyville have a reputation for panicking and stampeding, whoever came up with that never saw Canterlot in a crisis. I'll take care of it."

She marched away from the bureaucrats, leaving them without a word, only the guard at her side, trotting quickly to keep pace with her long strides.

"That was a very composed way to deliver that message, by the way," she told him. "What's your name?"

"Helm Star, Your Majesty."

"Well, remind me to talk to Shining Armor about getting you in with the in-group," she said, winking at him. "A pony who can keep their head that well is a rare commodity."

She had reached a window, and swiftly spread her wings, flying out over the city, doing her best to look as big and obvious as possible. Cries of joy and relief spread through the city at the sight of her, which escalated to cheering as she approached the outskirts, where Kolassa was waiting, standing on the mountainside and looming over the rooftops of Canterlot.

"At ease, citizens," Celestia announced, magically amplifying her voice to spread throughout the city. "I'll be out there, having a word with my good friend Lady Kolassa."

At these words, many sighs of relief rippled through the streets. Celestia flew to the outside, and received a nod of recognition once she entered Kolassa's field of vision. "Greetings, milady," she said.

"Princess," Kolassa replied graciously. "Sorry for dropping in unannounced like this, I'm… having a bit of an emergency."

Kolassa turned her face away from the city. Taking the hint, Celestia flew alongside her as she slowly began to walk around the mountain, making her way out of sight of Canterlot.

"That's quite all right," Celestia said after a few seconds of silence. "What sort of emergency?"

"I need to quietly dispose of a murderer," said Kolassa, lowering her voice. "I thought perhaps you could help me out."

"A murderer?" said Celestia, hushed in surprise.

"Yes."

Kolassa held up one of her hooves, which turned to glass. Trapped inside, Celestia could see a tall blue horse wrapped in a purple spangled robe, specifics of his appearance distorted by the glass.

"Who's that, then?" said Celestia.

"He's called Bardic," said Kolassa. "I found him while chasing a lead on some Mitgaeard cultists that came up a dead end. He's an alchemist, and he was caught sacrificing the lives of others to fuel his transformations. As sentence, he was exiled from his city. As I may have mentioned, some of the cities I preside over that an apt punishment, exile. It's never satisfied me, however. I don't see it as a suitable punishment for murder so much as carte-blanche to go commit murder someplace else."

"Hmm, indeed," said Celestia, nodding vigorously.

"I try not to interfere," Kolassa said conspiratorially. "I do see where they're coming from. After all, when you live in a city in the desert, there's not much contact with any other city. The exiled, even if they do make it to another civilized area, is somepony else's problem. But when the guilty party has the magical power that this one does, giving him not only the ability to easily traverse the desert but the motivation to continue to commit his crimes… you pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?"

"I am," Celestia said quickly. "You want this fellow more suitably placed where he can't harm anypony."

"Yes. But I don't want it known that I'm going over the heads of the legitimate authorities of my domain. I have always been more of an inspirational symbol than a genuine authority figure. So if he could be quietly locked away in your neck of the woods, I would be grateful."

"So," Celestia mused, "in lieu of banishing him or locking him in a dungeon, you're having him locked in a dungeon in the place you banished him to."

"That's correct."

"Nice. I love doing that!"

Kolassa grinned. "You have an anti-magic prison of some sort, don't you? To prevent the prisoners from using any sort of supernatural abilities?"

"Sure do," said Celestia. "Alcatrots Island, way up north. That can be arranged."

Celestia peered into Kolassa's glass hoof, trying to get a better look at Bardic. Inside was something small and white, flittering through the air from one wall to another.

"What's that tiny creature in there with him?" said Celestia.

"I don't know, it's too small for me to see," said Kolassa. "Pretty sure it's his magic familiar."

Celestia squinted. "It's some sort of tiny demon. An imp, or perhaps a mephit. I don't know, it won't sit still."

"Whatever it is, it was fully complicit in his crimes," said Kolassa, shrugging.

"And they've been put to trial and found guilty of these crimes? Legally?" said Celestia, looking Kolassa in the eye.

"Yes, they have."

"Good enough for me. It's life in Alcatrots for them—purely off the record, of course."

"Knew I could count on you, pal," Kolassa said appreciatively.

"Happy to help," said Celestia. "If I need to bury a body, I know who to call on."

"I am the best at burying things."

Concentrating hard, Celestia encased the horse and the small winged creature in a golden bubble, and they vanished.

"There!" she said. "Teleported them straight to the prison with a few… tampered-with records to ease the minds of those who work there. Out of sight, out of mind, presumably forever. Until we meet again, milady?"

With a flick of her wrist, Kolassa turned her glass hoof back into sand, and set it on the ground. "Until then, Princess. I'll try not to get too much of myself in your citizenry's eyes." With that, she turned into a massive cloud of sand and vanished.