Pyre - Luna
Gilzia - Celestia
Etpinego - Applejack

“Now before we call an end to this meeting are there any other points of concern that requires our attention for the night?” I inquired as I looked around the desk to my advisers while each of them dismissively shook their heads, “Then I shall thank you all for another successful night of work. You are relieved.”

Standing, each of them bowed to me before excusing themselves from my study as I continued to work on the last bits of official paperwork that still required my attention before turning over the shift. The metronomic clunking of the massive grandfather clock in the corner reverberated throughout the silence of the room setting the tempo while I continued to scribble out notes, swim my way through the sea of legal parchments that littered my desk. I let a sigh escape my lips as I reviewed over a land dispute by the neighboring Griffon Kingdom over a mere 5 kilometer strip of land along the border between our two countries. Writing my reply, I could not help but think of how much easier this would become once Equestria’s newest Crowned Princesses finally took up the official mantles of their offices. Unfortunately that was a day that was still quite a few years away. Meaning that until then I would just have to be patient.

A chime rang out through the room as I looked up at the ancient clock face, a smile spreading across my face as I confirmed that it was now indeed six o’clock in the morning. Closing up the tome that I had been reviewing I lit my horn as I allowed my magic to organize the mess into a manageable pile while the random law books and scrolls found their way back to their places on the shelves.

A door at the far side of the office opened to reveal an older brown pegasus stallion with a bushy silver moustache. Curtly, he made his way to my desk before giving a quick bow as he spoke, his voice low and rough yet holding a softness to it that I had long become accustomed to.

“Done for the night, Your Majesty?” he asked as he grabbed the pile of papers on my desk.

“Yes, Rishtex,”I replied as I rubbed the fatigue out of my eyes, “please ensure that these documents get routed to their appropriate offices."

“Of course, Ma’am,” he said yet his visage quickly grew concerned as I let out a yawn, not unlike one he would give to one of his many grandfoals no doubt even though I was many thousands of years his senior, “if it is not too prudent of me, Ma’am, but perhaps you should follow the example of Her Majesty, Queen Gilzia, and rest once in awhile.”

I found his concern for me endearing as I giggled lightly, “Thank you, Rishtex, I shall take your advice to heart, but I am afraid tis the way with the night court during the winter months. We shall just have to endure these inconveniences it until the spring equinox.”

“Of course, Ma’am, please excuse my prying.” he apologized but I waved it off.

“It is alright. Besides, a temporary reprieve actually sounds quite nice right now. Perhaps after I have seen my sister.”

“As you wish, well I shall be going by your leave, Ma’am,” he said with another bow as I excused him with a wave of my hand while he moved to get on with his work.

After Rishtex had left I rose from my seat, giving myself a good stretch, as I tried to loosen my joints that had grown stiff from sitting most of the night. Like Rishtex had mentioned, the winter months were always the longest and most tiring for the members of the Night Court. Usually leaving even myself worn out by the end of the night. An impish smile crept on my lips and a warmth flowed through my body as my wing joints finally let out a satisfying pop and a particularly devilish idea popped into my head. I could have easily rejuvenated my body with a simple spell, but lately I had become addicted to a much more gratifying remedy. One found at the hands of my herd stallion whenever he was not away on business. His strong grip working a type of magic all their own as he would slowly move them over my body inch by delicious inch. However, before I could indulge it those pleasures I still had duties that needed to be finished.

Expanding my mind ever so faintly I reached out through the bond to ascertain my sister's current whereabouts. It did not take me long before I felt her in our private dining room. Her presence willingly accepting my probe as I felt it wash over my soul like the soothing waves of the ocean, gentle and calm yet holding a crushing power within their depths. Visualizing the room in my mind I expanded my magic around me before disappearing from my office only to appear in the dining room. There I found my sister sitting quietly outside on the balcony enjoying her breakfast under the last few waning minutes of remaining moonlight.

“Quite the chilly night was it not, sister?” I asked her as she looked up at my approaching form.

“Yes, quite,” she agreed, giving me a small smile as I leaned down to give her a hug from behind and a nuzzle on her cheek, “but I always have enjoyed sitting out here on nights like tonight because your night skies always seem to shine that much brighter.”

Her words warmed my heart in the crisp night air, but I had known my sister and herdmate long enough to know that she was not being entirely honest. Looking closer, I smiled as I saw that her ears had a slight twitch to them and she was trying to keep her legs firmly pressed together under the table.

“It is good to hear that you enjoyed my work dear sister,” I told her before I whispered huskily in her ear, “but are you sure that it is not because you are having trouble with your heat?”

Gilzia frowned ever so noticeably as she looked at me from the corner of her eyes with a faint blush dusting her cheeks, “I think Eric’s influence is rubbing off on you sister.”

Giggling at the rare opportunity to see my elder sister flustered I made my way to the seat across from her.

“Perhaps,” I admitted with a smirk as I sat down, “but you have to agree that it has been a challenge to not be influenced by his more… baser emotions that are projected through our bond. Even more so as of late given our current state and the fact that we have held relief from said emotions from him.”

“Indeed,” Gilzia agreed with a restrained sigh.

It seemed that since Gilzia and I had consummated our bond with our dear stallion our heats, and the urges that usually accompanied them, had increased to where there were times when we were in close proximity to Eric that even our magical restraints were barely able to control our desires. At times forcing us to distance ourselves from him lest we found ourselves become negligent in our responsibilities. The true reasoning behind this had frustratingly remained unknown to my sister and I no doubt given the uniqueness of not only our bond but also our bondmate. Perhaps it was because the bond process had been interrupted or perhaps it had to do with his human heritage. Truly it had become a perplexing problem indeed.

“Well, we shall all have relief from that soon enough.” Gilzia said as she took another sip of her tea, “Until then we should focus on the duties at hand.”

“Agreed.”

It was another line of thought for another time.

Igniting our horns we reached out for our astral twins, moving them further along on their solar tracks. Gilzia brought forth the dawn of a new day with the rising of her sun as I tucked my moon beneath the horizon. Once our alicorn duties were complete it was time to move on to the matters of state.

Before the time of my banishment my sister and I had to spend many an hour compiling records of the proceedings that occurred in our respective courts into extensive reports to ensure that a sense of continuity was maintained. A massive waste of resources and manning in the end. However, luckily, during the time I was gone Gilzia had developed a handy little memory spell that allowed the sharing of selected memories between parties.

Closing my eyes I recalled the events from the night as I weaved them into a coherent thread of events with the spell. Once done, I opened my eyes to see a faintly glowing orb now rested in my hands, swirling with images of my experiences. Extending the orb towards Gilzia I handed them over as she activated the retrieval portion of the spell. Absorbing the memories into her own consciousness as the orb faded into nothingness. After a few moments to process the thoughts she opened her eyes and resumed eating her breakfast.

“Well it seems that last night was quite productive.” she said as she took a bite of her cake.

“Yes, it is a miracle that everything has been going as smoothly as it has been since the coronation.” I replied, “There have been the occasional roadblocks and voices of concern from certain boisterous countries but that has been manageable.”

“And what of our missing duke? How is that case coming along?” Gilzia asked, finishing the last of her baked treat as I gave a tired sigh.

“Still no new leads from the Provincial Police unfortunately. The last he was seen was in the celebration following the coronation talking to a young unicorn mare, who as well, has left no trace of her existence since then. This lack of progress, of course, has done little to calm down the request from his family for the Royal Guard’s Office of Investigations to step in and take over the case; even though that would exceed the realms of their jurisdiction. Although, I personally believe that our dear duke has been simply persuaded by another young mare who is wanting to be added to his herd. Even with his leadmare’s open resistance against it after the last time.”

It may have been extremely rare, but it was not entirely unheard of, for an older stallion to be seeked out by and swayed by the advances of a young mare. The mare, if she could conceive a foal before being found out by the stallion’s herdmembers, would get the security that came with the herd of an established stallion and the stallion would have his ego stroked at still being attractive to the younger fillies. A dastardly tactic for sure that was the horror of any mare in a herd, but twas the way with some mares. Yet may whatever deity that existed out there help any mare that had such plans for my dear Eric, or him if he tried such a thing.

“Still,” I heard Gilzia speak, drawing me out from my internal musings, “I think it might be worthwhile to at least propose the offer of the guard sharing information and resources to the Canterlot Police to help them in their investigation.”

“I concur, for all we know they may have very well left the province or even the country by now.” I agreed as another servant laid another slice of cake before my sister adding to the three others already there. She went to dig into the her treat when she paused.

“Are you not going to eat?” she said concerned, motioning to the still empty plate before me.

“Not this morning, sister,” I told her with a shake of my head, “I have already promised our herdsister that I would be having breakfast with her and her family this morning. She mentioned that there were things she wanted to discuss, and I thought it would be good to check up on how the help we provided her and the others is coming along.”

A nefarious smile spread on my lips as I saw Gilzia pause at the mention of Etpinego. Her eyes flashing with shock and jealousy in an instant, no doubt, over the fact that I would be sampling some of the young alicorn’s cooking this morning. It had become no small secret amongst the palace staff that the farm-mare’s culinary talents had quickly become an addiction for my older sister. One that she would go through no small amount of feats for just the chance to sample one of Etpinego’s apple fritters or a slice of her apple pie. I felt like gloating more as I saw a far off look come across her face and her eyes glaze over, shivering slightly as she fantasized about the gooey treats. Yet with years of practice she quickly regained her regal bearing, hoping that I had not noticed.

“Oh, you are going to see Etpinego? That is nice.” she said, feigning surprise, “I can not remember the last time I had some of her co-”

“It has been two days, sister.” I corrected her plainly as I see her scowl slightly at my interrupting her.

Knowing that her brilliant plan had been seen through she must have thought it was not worth keeping up the charade of indifference anymore as a look of hopefulness shined in her magenta-colored eyes.

“Well, do you think that maybe-” she left the question open, no doubt hoping that I would pick up on her request as I gave a sigh. Even though she was older than me sometimes Gilzia could act so child-like.

“Of course I shall bring you some pastries.”

“Oh, you do not have to if you do not want to,” Gilzia said, trying to butter me up, “just if you remember is all.”

“I think it would be hard to forget, sister.” I replied over my shoulder as I walk out of the room, but paused as another smirk rose on my lips at recalling another event that happened the night before, “Oh, there was one other thing that I forgot, Gilzia, Eric came back from his trip last night.”

“I know. I felt that his presence had returned as soon as I had awakened,” Gilzia leveled me with a serious stare as her voice picked up a warning tone, “but remember our agreement dear sister: None of us are allowed to carnally interact with Eric till tonight.”

“I remember sister,” I replied as I nonchalantly waved off her warning, but a wicked thought crossed my mind as I slyly looked at my white counterpart, “still, in my current condition I more than likely could not help myself if he was to become aroused by my presence and was to force himself upon me.”

I spread my beautiful dark wings in a showy display of my beauty, but Gilzia though was not worried in the slightest by my teases as she merely chuckled and returned to drinking her tea, “If that is what you wish to believe dear sister, but remember as the younger sister you still have much to learn about pleasing a mate.”

“We shall see about that tonight,” I haughtily replied, not deterred in the least as I immediately flared my magic and teleported from the castle.

A moment later I found myself in the front yard of the Epti family’s abode. I took a deep breath through my nose, the crisp morning air worked to clear the dizziness from my mind at having to use so much power to teleport across the vast distance. A moment later the feeling had passed and I made my way to the front door where I curtly rapped my knuckles against the worn wood.

A rustling could be heard from behind the door as I waited. The muffled sound of voices could be heard on the other side before the door cracked open to reveal a young unicorn mare dressed in a maid attire.

“Yes may I h-,” she began before recognition dawned in her eyes and she gave a deep bow, “Oh! Queen Pyre! It is you. How may I be of service to you, Your Highness?"

“Yes, my little pony, I am here to call upon the mare of the house. Is she available?” I said as she raised from the bow allowing me to get a good look at her face and a memory of where I had seen her before crossed my mind as she replied.

“Of course, Ma'am, my lady, Princess Etpinego, is currently in the kitchen with the cooks discussing breakfast.” she said as she opened the door to allow me entrance, “Please come in to wait as I go and inform her of your arrival.”

I came in as she walked further into the home and there was no doubt in my mind that she was, Hamolly Pej, the same maid from that night that I was visited by Eric in my study. I thought that I and my sister had reviewed the list of servant assignments to the young princesses thoroughly enough, but to find the maid that had shown such interest in my stallion now in the service of my herdsister served only to raise my suspicions. Then again it could have just been my raised instincts due to my heat making me feel that way towards the young mare. Still I made a mental note to discuss it with the head royal maid when I returned to Canterlot as I saw Etpinego approach me looking slightly perturbed.

“Pyre, I got some words I need to share with y’ah over this here new ‘help' y’all given me.”

My eyes narrowed slightly in concern at the young mare's lack of decorum in front of others but I let it slide as I motioned for her to lead the way.

“If there is something that you would like to talk about, Princess Etpinego, then I would be more than happy to hear your concerns in more private settings.”

Etpinego led me to a side parlor off of the main hallway, once there she closed the sliding wooden partitioner to give us some semblance of privacy before turning to me. I could clearly see the exasperation written in her features as I saw her take a calming breath and I felt the need rising within me to ensure that my herdsister was alright in her time of distress.

“Is there something that ails you dear?” I asked as I enveloped the smaller mare in my wings as I nuzzled the top of her head. Her body visibly relaxing in my hold as she breathed in my scent.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she simply stated, startling me for a moment, but she continued before I could ask for clarification, “I know I told you and Gilzia that I would give this here help of y'alls a try, but I can't do it anymore. They've done gone and tried takin’ over everything.”

“Taken over everything?” I repeated with a curious chuckle, “Do you not think you are over exaggerating a little?”

My mirth over the situation was met with a scowl by the orange mare as she removed herself out of my grasp.

“I ain't over exaggeratin’!” she gritted out forcefully, causing the voice in my head to speak up again about my herdmate’s challenging tone. “Anytime I try to do anything around here I have some dang maid or other servant buttin’ in and doin’ it for me, sayin’ it ain't no job for a princess. They won't even let me go out and work in the fields to get them ready for the planting season soon.” Etpinego was getting more upset about it by the minute as she gestured back to the kitchen, “Them fancy chefs of y'alls that came down from Canterlot tried kickin’ me out of my durn kitchen to cook whatever it is they plan on cookin' in there.”

“They are just here to help dear, Etpinego,” I reminded her, trying to calm her down as she crossed her arms and gave a snort, “you and the other new princesses have quite the learning curve that needs to be overcome. You maybe even more so than the others.”

“What tha heck is that supposed to mean?” Etpinego inquired as her glare was directed to me and I felt that voice whispering in the back of my head to my conscious again.

“I simply mean that as a former Earth pony who has had no personal experience with the talents of the other two tribes that you shall have a long and difficult road ahead of you, and I believe that it best that you should relinquish some if not most of your prior responsibilities to your servants so as to focus on your new duties.”

“I get that!,” she huffed as she walked over to a window and threw open the curtains, gesturing to the property outside, “But this orchard has been in my family, ran by generations of Epti’s, all the way back to before Ponyville even existed.”

“Etpinego, pl-,” I tried to calm her down but was cut off as my farm-mare continued to allow her more primal emotions to get the better of her as she began to flare her wings challenging me.

“My family and I know this land. We've worked this land, and buried our family along the way.”

“Etpi-,”

“NO! I want you and Gilzia to know I ain't gonna have no strangers tellin’ me that I can't work my own land or to think that they can try to change what's been workin’ fer generations.”

“ENOUGH!” I forcefully said using the royal voice to gain her compliance as my own wings flared displaying my dominance over the younger alicorn, but Etpinego refused to back down, “I would remind you Princess to remember your station and to whom it is you are speaking to. Your desire to want to work on the farm of your forebears is commendable, but no longer are you going to be just responsible for this one piece of land. Instead you are now a sovereign ruler of a nation and you must come to terms with that and start meeting the responsibilities and expectations required of you.”

I tried to calm down as I lowered my tone to a more suitable one, but I still refused to back down to my farm-mare’s challenge, “I know this is a difficult time for you, full of a lot of changes, and I am sure the burdens of this heat season and our pact must not make it any easier. But if there is an issue with your house and the way that it is ran, then I suggest you take the matter up with your housekeeper. You are now a princess of the realm and you are allowed to run your estate how you see fit, but in the end it is your estate.”

Etpinego was a strong-willed mare and I was not overly surprised when she refused to back down entirely. Yet my words clearly had an effect on her as she drooped her wings and gave a small bow.

“As you wish, Your Majesty."

It hurt me to hear the dejected tone in her voice as I made to move towards her but was interrupted by a light rapping from the parlor door.

“Yeah, what is it,” Etpinego called out, the irritation returning to her voice, as the door slid open to reveal a young maid.

“I'm sorry to intrude on your conversation, my Lady,” she greeted with a curt bow, “but you have some guest at the front door who are being quite adamant that they see you.”

Etpinego and I shared a fleeting glance to one another, confused at who it could be at such an early hour. Not wanting to divulge my presence at my herdmate's home to others not already privy to our relationship I quickly cast a spell over myself taking on the disguise of a unicorn housemaid as I fell in behind Etpinego.

Making our way out of the parlor I could see another maid standing at the door barring the entrance to the unexpected guest. Yet even though we could not see who it was they were making no shortage of effort to announce their presence as all could clearly hear the feminine voice as they berated the poor maid.

“How dare you make me wait out here in the dirt like some kind of lowly earth pony. Do you not know who I am?” The mysterious guest huffed.

“I’m sorry ma'am, but I have strict orders from my Lady not to let uninvited guest in without her approval. We have already sent for Her Highness so if you would please wait a bit more.” the poor maid pleaded.

“Not letting anyone in without her approval! Pish-posh! Clearly the princess is in desperate need of a noble mare to help her straighten up this rabble of an estate she has.”

The maid looked over her shoulder as she heard our approach, relief in her eyes to be free of this rude individual. The maid gave a bow to Etpinego as she gently shooed the maid away, a small smile tugging at the orange alicorn’s lips at the maid’s admirable job before her features returned to a neutral state. Standing behind Etpinego I saw as she opened the door further to reveal a pair of noble pegasi mares.

They both were fairly young probably not much out of fillyhood as they stood at the doorway in their fine jewelry putting on airs that they were from a very prestigious family. Yet I could not recall from which family they were from. Both of their confidence seemed to falter a little as they came face to face with the moody orange alicorn, but the one in front quickly regained her poise as she gave a curt bow.

“I bid you good morning Your Highness, and hope that all is well with you and your house on this blessed day by ou-”

“You can drop the fancy talk little missy, and just tell me what it is y’all want” the honest mare told them bluntly.

“E-excuse me?” the young mare stuttered obviously unused to such brashness as her train of thought was derailed for a moment.

“Y’er not the first pair of fancy guest to come by here tryin’ to hock somethin’ to me or my friends, and to be honest today I'm not really in the mood to listen to some wordy speech. So what is it y’ah came here fer?” Etpinego clearly stated to the young mare who while still obviously offended at being talked to in such a way quickly recomposed herself as she gave another smile.

“Very well then, Your Highness, if that is what you so desire. My friend and I would like to propose to you our desire to join your herd.” the young mare said as she and her friend bowed low to Etpinego fanning their wings in front of them in the pegasus sign of submission ready for Etpinego to inspect them.

“No.”

The filly’s head quickly shot up as she tilted her head in confusion, “Excuse me, Your Highness, did you say-”

“I said no, now if y'all will excuse me I got a lot of work to get started on today so you can show yerselves out back the way y’ah came.” Etpinego told them as she went to close the door, only to be stopped by the mare's desperate plea.

“Wait! Please princess wait!” Etpinego paused as she waited for the mare to say her peace, “If you do not wish us to join your herd then perhaps there is something else you might agree to?”

The young mare's friend who had remained strangely silent throughout the whole event decided to speak up as she took Etpinego's silence as permission to continue.

“Rumors have been spreading through many of the noble houses, Your Highness, of your relationship with the alien ambassador, Eric Broussard. More to the point they have been mainly focused on his many, shall we say, ‘talents' as a stallion.”

“What about it?”

I could already tell where these mare's were going with this and I felt my instincts rise again wanting to put the little upstarts in their place as I leaned over and whispered into Etpinego's ear.

“Princess, I believe they are referring to a stud contract."

“Exactly!” the mare confirmed happily, “during our heat you would allow your stallion to help us sate our desires and in return our families would support you and your future endeavors. So what about it Princess? Are you interested in lending him?”

“How about I speak for myself,” a deep voice came from behind the mares as a tall figure walked up the stairs startling the two. The two quickly turned to see my stallion standing there with his arms crossed. A scowl on his face as he leaned down to eye level with the two, “No sale.”

Author's Notes:

Not letting this story die that easily. If there are any glaring mistakes let me know.