***

To those who had never seen the city before, Cloudsdale was a magnificent sight. The finely crafted cloud city was an architectural marvel, sporting the designs of the ancient pegasi juntas in the city centre that somehow blended seamlessly with more modern styles and appliances into a single aesthetically pleasing wonder. However to its inhabitants, as well as those who had seen it before the declaration of the Solaminan Empire, the city was a downtrodden shell of its former self, its lustre and vibrancy broken under the (now ironshod) hooves of Astra Solamina Maxima.

Pegasi detachments of the Royal Guard patrolled the streets in vast units that cowed all who still walked or flew through them. Aside from the ever-present eyes of the Guard, there were also the new additions to the city. The vastly expanded Wonderbolts barracks, the magical defence towers and turrets that seemed designed more to loom over the city suspiciously than protect it, the massive, shoddily built compounds that had been rapidly erected to hold the Converted population and, of course, the airship construction yard.

Built around a skeletal frame of enchanted steel, this gargantuan edifice to Solamina's power was where the war-Zeppelins and super-Zeppelins, the pride of the Equestrian Airforce, were built. It was here that the ERAS Harmonious Order, the ship that had fought at Manchester and been partially responsible for the death of the Equestrian Resistance’s legendary Grey Squadron, had been designed, refined and built at the behest of Solamina and under the careful instruction of it’s architect, Haughty Frame.

Now it was the place where Haughty Frame struggled to quickly build a replacement for his destroyed masterpiece.

“No! No! No!” he shouted to the Converted work crews, who tirelessly worked away at applying the details to the long finished superstructure of the airship's gondola. “Place the harness rail on the outside of the wall on that overhang. We need the ponies manning these stations to be able to reach over the edge”. Rubbing his left temple with a foreleg and praying his migraine wouldn't worsen, the stressed unicorn continued to shout instructions. His workers, as always, gormlessly blinked and smiled almost vacantly at what he told them before returning to work.

“You were all supposed to have finished this yesterday. We're behind schedule as it is and I can assure you that when we have to explain why we’re late AGAIN,” he emphasised the last word, speaking slowly in the hope that they would understand it even more, “you will all be paying the price with me”.

The Converted nodded somewhat dumbly again and got back to work, faster than before but with the same robotic deliberation they had always possessed. It was unnerving to the few natural born ponies in the workforce. It wasn’t that the Converted were necessarily unintelligent - usually they were as intelligent as they had been... before - they were just very… docile. Extremes of emotion never affected them, and they almost never got worried, angry or sad.

“So, everything still going as you said it would?” a cheery voice spoke behind Haughty Frame, causing the unicorn to jump in surprise. Haughty Frame whirled around to find a navy blue pegasus with an aquamarine mane and wide rimmed glasses standing behind him. Haughty realised it was just his old friend Quill Tip and took a deep breath before giving him a very dirty look.

“Sorry," the pegasus said sheepishly as he finally noticed the frazzled glare that now adorned his old friend's face. “I didn't realise you were in the zone”.

“Oh it's nothing like that,” Haughty replied, waving the apology away with a nonchalant wave of his hoof. “Just the beginning of another migraine”.

“Work getting to you?” Quill Tip quipped inappropriately, chuckling slightly as he did so.

Haughty's look soured further in response. “You have no idea,” he replied.

“Oh I'm pretty sure I do. You told me two days ago,” Quill Tip reminded him. “And I'm also pretty sure, judging by what you said then, that you've made progress. See, you've even got that statue you were telling me about attached.”

Quill Tip pointed his hoof at the enormous golden statue of depicting a fiery and graceful Solamina, rearing regally in triumph, that had finally been attached to the prow of the airship only yesterday.

“Ah that,” Haughty Frame sighed, his face turning melancholy. “I almost regret insisting on installing that. It's just that I need it for the whole thing to work. It has to be perfect. The Harmonious Order was my greatest achievement, my life's work and it still failed”.

Quill Tip wrinkled his nose at the mention of the Harmonious Order. Though he had admired his friend's accomplishment, the monstrosity of an airship had also been responsible for the death of his niece, Sharp Tip. The news of the destruction of Grey Squadron, whose names had been well known, had been plastered all over Equestrian propaganda, a handy deflection from the not-so convenient fact that the Battle of Manchester had been horribly lost. Of course Quill Tip made sure that Haughty Frame didn't see his gesture; he didn't want to give away the bad feelings he held towards his friend's previous masterpiece.

“Still. It's pretty imposing as it is. I mean look at it, I still can't believe you got the funding for this monster,” Quill Tip waved his foreleg at the gargantuan body of the airship. Haughty Frame sighed once again in response.

“Yes, but there is so much more to finish adding to it. There are the safety harnesses of course but then we have to install the balustrades, the other sculptures, the frescos and that's not even getting to the interior decorating that still needs to be done. Oh and then we have to finish painting it,” Haughty Frame said counting off the remaining details with a wave of his hoof. “Then we can finally get around to enchanting the whole thing so it doesn't get blown up like the Harmonious Order. This ship will be the grandest ever to take flight, it will dwarf dragons, millions will be stunned by its beauty and no suicidal pegasus would even dream of ever being able to sink it”. He finished his declaration with a bitter edge to his voice.

Quill Tip winced again but said nothing. However he wasn't able to keep a look of frustration off of his face.

“So when do you expect to be finished?” he asked, wanting to change the topic of the conversation.

“The frame is practically done by now. We just need to add the last of the safety fixtures”. Haughty Frame's face scrunched up. “Everything after that depends on the painters, enchanters and all of those munition factories we need to consult about ammunition. That means I have to wait for them to complete my work at their discretion.” He almost shouted “my", frustration and barely controlled rage obvious in his voice and the way he suddenly tensed when speaking.

“So next month then?” Quill Tip flippantly asked, waving his left hoof in a roundabout fashion whilst he stared off in a random direction, as if he were trying to calculate the actual time it would take.

Haughty Frame rounded on his friend, his eyes wild with rage. He stalled when he noticed the scrunched up look on Quill Tip’s face, barely contained laughter obvious. Quill Tip was baiting him. Sighing he answered with a “more or less” wave of his hoof. Haughty Frame could practically feel himself calming down, the pounding in his ears lessening, his heartbeat returning to normal. He almost hoped the headache would go away as well, but alas, it persisted.

“It doesn’t matter,” he finally said. “I’ve gone on enough about my problems anyway. How about you? How’s the family?”

“Well you know what they’re li….” Quill Tip trailed off as he looked past Haughty Frame towards the super-Zeppelin. He cocked his head as an expression of mild confusion and disapproval appeared on his face. “Um….Haughty, who’s that?” he asked, pointing past Haughty Frame.

Haughty Frame turned and almost groaned in despair at who he saw walking across the gantry towards them.

A large cluster of ponies was crossing the gantries towards them. At their head was a unicorn with a golden coat and bright crimson mane, cropped short to his head. He carried himself with confidence and had a kind smile on his face as he spoke to the ponies around him, speaking only in short but supposedly assuring sentences. As he approached them he seemed to finally notice the two of them and his face lit up. Breaking into a sedate trot he crossed over onto their balcony.

“Good day everypony” the unicorn said, a genuine smile on his face as he regarded them all. “And what a glorious day her vaunted and righteous majesty Astra Solamina Maxima has provided for us all.” As he spoke his face lit up with further joy and adulation with every word that came from his mouth.

Haughty Frame struggled not to cringe openly at the unicorn’s overblown and zealous greeting. “Why good afternoon, Sol Invictus,” he said keeping his voice sharp and curt; he didn't want to upset the unicorn or show his own displeasure to him. “And what brings you here?”

“Well, my son, if you must know I am here for a rather important job." Sol Invictus' words were casual but his tone and demeanour dripped with careful formality. “Her Majesty herself requested that I come here to visit the construction of her new flagship. She felt that such an important symbol of her radiance required my inspection. However, I myself would prefer to keep it brief. I do, after all, trust that you will have done a fine job in meeting Her expectations.”

Haughty Frame was stunned by what he heard. The Empress hadn't scheduled any official inspections in months, nearly a year even, and now she had sent a pony that anypony else would consider overly zealous and fanatical, even for a Converted. Still he did his best to keep a calm face.

“Well I am flattered that her majesty trusts me so much, of course,” he said carefully.

“Of course,” Sol Invictus replied matter of factly, the friendly smile never leaving his face.

“Well feel free to observe the construction as you wish,” Haughty Frame said. “However”, he carefully added, “please refrain from distracting the workers or wandering near to construction materials or danger spots. I imagine we would all like to avoid an accident.” He finished his warning with a false chuckle as he hoped nopony noticed how forced the entire conversation had become on his part.

Sol Invictus returned the chuckle and without another word, he and his entourage turned around and walked closer to the super-Zeppelin.

“Well at least that part went well,” Quill Tip said as Haughty Frame let out a heavy sigh.

“Yeah”, Haughty Frame replied tiredly, “it could have been much worse. There's something about that pony that just disturbs me so much.”

“Well with any luck this inspection shouldn't be that bad. I mean you're back on schedule and the ship looks magnificent, don't worry,” Quill Tip reassured his friend, walking up behind him and putting his hoof on Haughty' shoulder.

“With any luck,” Haughty Frame turned his head slightly to look at Quill Tip, his lips curling slightly into a small smile. “With any luck my work will last forever”.

Quill Tip nodded reassuringly. “That's the spirit, now come on we've got some priests to babysit,” he quipped, hoping his attempt at humour would help his friend feel better. Together, the two of them trotted off to catch up with the group of ponies staring appreciatively at the immense bulk of the super-Zeppelin before them.

Author's Notes:

This is the latest Interlude, written by my good friend RoyalPsycho, showing the state of Equestria at this time in the war.

Also - I believe with this, we just passed the 200,000 mark. BOOYAH MOTHER****ER!! Ahem. Sorry. Thank you to all those who've come with me on this journey so far, commenters and favouriters alike, and let me promise you now - the best is yet to come...