Chapter 14: A Heart’s Warmth

Dusty could not blame Twilight for her yes/no question session, so he had answered her as honestly as he could in the end. She knew what he had done, and he knew that she respected him enough not to say anything. And that was the end of that matter, as far as either of them was concerned.

Weeks later, the entire group was on the train to Canterlot, Princess Celestia having chosen them to play major roles in the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant. Well, she had chosen the Elemental Six, anyway, and they had used their rehersal time wisely. What Dusty was doing riding with them, he did not have much of a clue.

What Dusty did know was that he had to ensure all his other affairs were taken care of before the train left Ponyville. To that end, he had continued to increase the stock of supplies over at Gearhead’s Gadgets whenever he got the chance. He had also started sneaking away to work on his Geomancy and skills in forging items for sale for the shop. He knew he could not let anyone see ‘Dusty’ doing any of this, thus the sneaking. Still, he relied on the others somewhat to help him gather supplies from the outlying regions, given the limits that he was supposed to have to his range. Only Rarity had a hint of how fast Dusty could fly, and then only when he used his Lightning or Light Forms.

It had already officially been winter for a couple days, but it had only started snowing that day. The result was that as the train chewed up the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot, there were many piles of snow, but none too deep, and even some visible grass. Some of the other foals had been wondering if it would even be a white Hearth’s Warming Eve this year. Not only did Dusty not know what to expect, but he was not worried because the Pegasus weather teams very rarely missed their mark – and when they did, they quickly worked to make up for it. This year might carry a late start, but it had started anyway.

Just as Dusty had come to expect, everypony expressed their excitement even as they approached Canterlot. Even Fluttershy was being enthousiastic, letting loose one of her quiet ‘woo-hoos.’ But Pinkie Pie was impossible to top, stuffing an entire gingerbread house into her mouth under a minute after they departed from the train. Dusty had almost forgotten that she had eaten an entire cake on her own at a party before, so he should not have been surprised.

At Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna welcomed the group themselves, and the latter took Dusty aside while Princess Celestia showed the others what space they had to work with. The rest of the pageant production team was taking in the last of the props they needed for the set-up. Most of the props and sets had been brought in earlier in the week, or constructed here in Canterlot.

Princess Luna smiled as Dusty kept taking a sharp look around. “My sister and I sent the captain and the princess out on a patrol loop. They will be returning after the performance gets started. They will be discrete.”

“Why go to such lengths?”

“They will meet again in due time, I promise. Just not yet. Anyway, we have a couple special roles for you to play tonight. Are you up for it?”

“I’m confident you’d never ask me to do something I couldn’t do. Very well,” Dusty gave a little salute. “What do you have for me?”

“Winter holds a very special place for me, and I’m sure that as a pony raised on a farm, you understand its necessity better than most of the ponies who will be in attendance. I would like you to explain it to them, in your own way. Also, the production crews could use a hoof shoring up some of the effects.”

“Will do,” Dusty said.

“In exchange, I will do you that favour later,” Luna said. “Alright. Off you go.”

As the curtain lifted and Spike guided the audience into the setting through his narration, in the catwalks above the stage, Dusty was left to ponder what he knew of Hearth’s Warming Eve and its origins. Naturally, having been sheltered until he gained better control over his powers, Gearhead had not taken part in the festivities. Regardless, as a son of the Verdant he knew the story that had been passed from generation to generation.

The story from long ago went beyond debates and arguments between the three pony tribes. At one point, there had been open war, ended by the necessity to focus on surviving as the elements grew ever harsher. The distrust between the pony tribes still existed in a far milder form, and thankfully it was all held together by the Two Sisters, but add the right ingredients at the right time and the situation could easily explode again. In a way, Gearhead was surprised that Discord had not gone for that angle when he had gotten loose, but then the colt decided that the Spirit of Chaos had probably wanted to warm up first.

Another salient point was that the Unicorn king had not, in fact, sent his daughter, Princess Platinum, to deal with Chancellor Puddinghead and General Hurricane. That bit was as much a casting choice as it was an historical error – and a belief that a mare could not be king, Dusty supposed. The history he knew had King Bulion dealing directly with his Earth Pony and Pegasus counterparts. While oversimplified, the pageant had it right that the discussions between the representatives of each tribe broke down due to the distrust that had festered between them over the months. And the freezing cold had not made anypony any happier, rather they were even less willing to deal with each other, and that seemed to have brought on a deeper cold.

Thankfully Platinum, Puddinghead, and Hurricane were not representative of their respective tribes. Even their right-hand ponies were far more willing to cooperate than their heads of state. Sadly, their voices were drowned by those of the rulers.

In those days, there was also an alliance between three of the ancient pony tribes’ houses. The first two houses were Herd Verdant of the Earth Pony tribe and the Third Conclave of Flowing Shadows, of the Unicorn tribe. The Alliance was considered young because the Azure Wing had only been founded three hundred years prevous, whereas the other two houses already had a thousand or more years of history – not that the Verdant or Shadows would hold that against the Azure.

Before they called a joint council, each of the three houses decided to focus most of their efforts on trying to end the deepening winter. The Verdant used their skills to search out soil that could still support crops. The Shadows tried to regain control over the weather and stop the snow and howling winds. The Azure sent their best flyers deep into the clouds. Ultimately, their efforts were largely fruitless, but in finding out how powerless they each were, they were more determined to cooperate to survive than ever.

The Alliance’s cooperative efforts helped them to blast right through the storm front, and into an area as yet unaffected by the strange weather. From the outside, they made efforts to probe back in to find who or what was creating the artificially-long winter. In the end, they did not find out anything useful, because the winter was suddenly driven away. The cause for this relief, the Shadow’s best spellcasters said, was due to the incredible spell that Clover the Clever discovered. Thus, there was also truth in the tale of Hearth’s Warming Eve that was used in the annual pageants. But without the Alliance funnelling food to the struggling tribesponies, they would have surely starved.

Dusty brought his thoughts back to the pageant, and focused on weaving his magic with those of the Unicorns whenever they reached a point in the story where Luna’s script noted they were a bit on the weaker side. These moments included some of the blizzards, as well as the appearances of the Windigos. Clover’s spell, on the other hoof, needed no embellishment, as Twilight, playing Clover seemed to get the necessary charge from her interactions with Applejack (playing Secretary Smart Cookie) and Fluttershy (playing Private Pansy). The three of them were the right-hoof ponies of whom the tale spoke.

Finally the curtain fell on the visual portions of the pageant, the main cast bowing, and then Dusty took the stage, standing slightly to the right under a spotlight. “While the tale of Hearth’s Warming Eve is one of friendship and of a shared heritage – the foundation of Equestria – the role of snow and winter itself remains an important one,” Dusty started. “In harsh conditions like those in the play, the cold makes the ground too hard, too hostile for the Earth Ponies to work, and then the tribes became hostile to each other. Only when winter comes on as it should can we truly appreciate the meaning behind winter, and behind every snowflake.

Dusty summoned a small swirl of snow to hover above his raised hoof. “The first snowfall signals to the earth that the time of rest has come. Under a blanket formed of millions of snowflakes, the earth recovers from being worked and walked upon all through the rest of the seasons.” He let the snow vanish, to be replaced by the image of a small plant sprouting. “Then, recovered, the earth springs forth a renewed wave of vegetation – some of which we eat, and some of which beautifies the world which we inhabit.”The flower vanished, and Dusty put his hoof down. “This is the potential that winter brings about, because all living things need rest and sleep. And it is our duty as the stewards of this world to watch over the process in its entirety. We watch in light and dark, in warmth and cold, and in all other conditions that bring about the good things of life.” Dusty bowed, saying “we of the Ponyville Company thank you for your attendance to our performance.” He strode off to stamping, thunderous applause.

“Well said,” Luna said, meeting the young Alicorn off-stage.

“Is that a tear, Auntie?”

“That is for me to know,” the younger of the two sisters said, winking. Dusty went off to rejoin the others.

“Wowie,” Pinkie said when she saw him. “I didn’t know you could speechify like that.”

“I just did what Princess Luna told me to,”

“You mean she came up with that?” Twilight asked.

“Why would she cry if she made it up?” Fluttershy asked.

“Like you wouldn’t cry if somepony else did a speech for you,” Dash said.

“Oh, I hope I don’t have to write a speech like that,”

Dusty waved off any other comments. “Luna just told me what to speak on. The words were mine.”

“Well, that was very well spoken,” Twilight said. “But when did you write it?”

“Oh, I was thinking about it all during the play,”

“While you were supporting the other spells? Are you sure you didn’t break all your limits?” Rarity asked.

“My magic’s all spent. Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Well, that was splendid,” Fluttershy said. “We’re all very proud of you.”

“Especially your casting,” Twilight said.

“Just who d’you think I am, anyway?” Dusty asked archly. The others blinked, and then broke out laughing.

Since Princess Celestia invited the group to stay the night and the following day as well, the group accepted the set of offered palace suites graciously. During previous visits, the Elemental Six had come in smaller groups. On top of that, there were many out-of-town visiters present for the pageant. While most of the more common folk would be staying in inns or with relatives, honoured guests and dignitaries were being given rooms in Canterot Castle. These guests included the entire cast and crew for the pageant.

Full accommodations inevitably meant that not everyone in the Ponyville contingent would be rooming close to each other. Princess Celestia’s usual brand of humour seemed to be in fine form, as she gave Rarity and Applejack the suit she had previously given to Rarity. Twilight and Dash got to stay in Twilight’s rooms from when she had been studying directly under the princess. Dusty and Spike bunked down in Gearhead’s usual rooms. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were sleeping in another room, somewhere between Rarity’s suit and Twilight’s room.

While strolling to his suite of rooms within the Palace, Prince Blueblood, the many-times great-nephew of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna encountered a wandering colt and a familiar purple-scaled baby dragon. Blueblood had noticed the dragon in the palace from time to time, but could not bother recalling the creature’s name. He only remembered the colt before at the pageant, but even that had been a curious show of support by Blueblood’s aunts. It was time to reconcile facts and speculation.

“Hold it, both of you,” Blueblood called. “You, colt. I don’t recall seeing you in the royal records, and I have studies my family extensively. Who are you to me?”

The pony in question turned to face Blueblood’s royal ponysonage rather more directly than he would have expected a cowed opponent to act. “A being of little importance, I would suppose,” he said, a disturbing amount of steel in his eyes for one so young. Blueblood decided then that he definitely disliked this one. Perhaps even ‘disliked strongly.’ The Unicorn prince inclined his head, presenting himself as too important to simply tell the other to go on. “My father’s cousin’s cousin’s wife’s aunt is your mother’s uncle’s cousin’s cousin’s husband’s uncle. My name’s Stardust, but I like to be called ‘Dusty.’ Nice to officially meet you, Prince Blueblood.”

As Dusty (and what an appropriate nomenclature that was!) rattled off distant relation after distant relation, Blueblood pictured the different branches of his family tree, which he had memorized from the genealogy volumes in the library. He quickly got lost trying to pick the right branch, and found that he couldn’t do it because Dusty had been just vague enough to be confusing. But Blueblood was also a student of ancient political intriques, so he did not let his confusion show on his face or in his stance. “I’ve studied the royal genealogies extensively, and can recall no ‘Stardust’ or ‘Dusty,’” he said instead. “You’re not really royalty, are you?”

“Very distantly, as I’ve indicated,” Dusty said without any hesitation. “Why concern yourself so?”

“Don’t think yourself special, foal. I take the measure of all those around me. If you’re posing as a royal and therefore false, I’ll have to report it to my aunt, the Princess Celestia. And then we’ll get to the heart of your matter.”

“Oh, the Princesses Celestia and Luna already know all about me,” Dusty said. “So you needn’t concern yourself with me. I’m just here the the pageant anyway, and will be returning to Ponyville shortly.”

“’Ponyville,’ you say? That’s extraordinary,”

“Why?”

“It seems like a whole set of ponies I don’t trust are gathering there.”

“It’s an interesting town full of interesting ponies. I’ve been attending school there.”

“Ha! You are an imposter! Worse yet, a commoner. No royal would go to any simple school.”

“He does if he’s sent there by an Alicorn Princess.” Dusty paused. “Perhaps you should visit there too sometime.”

“Never. I’d get dust all over my fabulous coat!”

“That’s odd, isn’t it, Spike?” Dusty said, turning to the dragon.

“Yeah! Princess Celestia and Luna seem to be perfectly fine whenever they visit.”

Blueblood felt his heartbeat rising, and sputtered despite himself. “What business have they there?!”

“I think they like to check in and see how everyony’s doing,” Spike said.

“Or they have some quest for us to complete,” Dusty added.

“That does happen pretty often,” Spike said. “Twilight is like Princess Celestia’s go-to mare or something!”

“Twilight Sparkle?” Blueblood felt his distaste for these two rise. Yes, that Unicorn mare had taken up much of his aunt’s time. Too much, and she was a commoner, too! Yes, Blueblood decided he hated her little dragon and her little foal friend.

“You look like you swallowed something sour. Perhaps you’d like some water?” The words jolted Blueblood out of his thoughts. He started walking stiffly toward his suite again, huffing in his mind while externally he projected as much calm as he could. He was almost out of earshot when he heard the dragon say, “I still can’t forgive him for humiliating Rarity the way he did.”

And in a flash, Blueblood remembered the pale, rude Unicorn and her very improper Earth Pony friend, the Black Sheep. Yes, he hated these ponies. But he was an expert in the political game. He had even made an appearance at an airship’s launching beside Rarity when she had become popular. He could destroy their reputations, and then they would be worthless to the Princesses. And Blueblood himself would be another step closer to the throne, should his aunts become ill-disposed. Temporarily, of course.

Inwardly, Dusty sighed, having expected something like this to happen. Ourtwardly, he kept his expression carefully neutral: an encounter with Blueblood first thing in the morning was not something that he would wish on anyone, yet here they both were – and this time Blueblood had brought back-up of a sort in Princess Celestia.

“Just as I expected,” Blueblood said. “This impertinent one is taking advantage of your royal hospitality, Dear Aunt.” Princess Celestia merely raised an eyebrow. “You are no prince of the House of the Sun and Stars,” Blueblood said. “You should not be staying here.”

“Canterlot Castle is housing many guests who have come to visit for the festivities. Why, then, do I threaten you so?” Dusty asked, careful to keep any biting or sarcastic tone from his voice, and using all his skills in sales to do so.

“You’re a male Alicorn,”

Dusty merely kept watching Blueblood, then tilted his head slightly to the side when no more was forthcoming.

“There are no male Alicorns! For that matter, there are only three, and all mares. You are a pretender, and therefore hiding something. And since you are pretending to be an Alicorn, that which you hide may be a threat to Canterlot as a whole, or even to their Royal Highnesses. I fully intend on exposing your lie. We can do it here before my aunt, or later in front of all.”

Blueblood was obviously itching for a fight, but a fight in the hallways seemed to be sheer foolishness to Dusty. Still, if there had to be a fight it was better to prevent others from seeing what happened. The last time Dusty had fought Blueblood, it had been at the Gala as Gearhead, before he had been able to use even a single spell. Maybe Blueblood had learned from that experience, but thought he could defeat Dusty because he looked inexperienced. “Are you issuing a challenge?” Dusty asked, looking past Blueblood at Princess Celestia. Still, she only nodded fractionally. Dusty sighed inwardly again.

“You want it all nice and formal, very well. I challenge you to a duel, ‘Dusty.’ Let our skills show our truths!”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I may be young, but Captain Shining Armour and Princess Cadence did give me some training. I’m unlikely to be an easy opponent.”

“I only see one foal here, and it’s you. I shan’t be shamed by some yearling just because he has wings and a horn. En garde!”

“You’re absolutely sure you want to do this? To fight in the castle halls?”

“Stop pretending you know best, colt! If you won’t take the first move, then I will!” Blueblood launched a regular magic blast directly at Dusty, who leaped into the air, flapping his wings frantically. He ended up going into a flip over the blast and hovering near the high, vaulted ceiling. “Ha! This means it’s your horn that’s false,” Blueblood crowed, and he unleashed three more blasts in rapid succession. Dusty spun left and then twisted right, still flapping his wings hard to keep airbourne. He evaded the first two blasts, but he couldn’t make the third without using his magic – and at that thought he realized he was flying normally.

But screw it: Blueblood clearly needs to be taught a lesson. Even Princess Celestia seems to think so, or she would have intervened by now. Dusty knew there were certain spells he couldn’t use, because they were ones he had used before as somepony else, or which only a certain pony would possess. But he should only need basic spells to knock Blueblood on his flank anyway. He put up a defensive barrier, and it easily absorbed the third blast. “Luck will not avail you,” Blueblood said, and he resumed shooting.

Rather than stay airbourne, Dusty quickly landed, making Blueblood waste his first four shots before the Unicorn had him in his sights again. Dusty, focusing on balancing offense and defense, was choosing not to fly at all. He enhanced his physical speed with Wind Magic, and then fired off fifteen Lightning Arrows in quick succession, rather than together. Blueblood jumped to try to evade, but each shot sizzled past a little closer, until they were scoring hits against Blueblood’s defensive barrier. The last two put cracks in the shield. Blueblood rolled up against one of the walls, and seemed to realize how fighting in a fairly narrow hallway put a stallion like him at a disadvantage.

Dusty did not ask whether Blueblood would yield, knowing that his pride would not allow such a thing. He went right to casting Lightning Axe, which he used so quickly that Blueblood did not have the time to evade. The mid-level energy blast smashed the prince’s barrier. Physically he was slammed into the wall at the intersection behind him, and the ‘lightning’ part of the spell paralyzed him temporarily.

Still keeping his Unicorn magic active, Dusty approached. He could see even from a few meters away that Blueblood remained conscious and aware, even if the shock from the attack was preventing him from moving. “You’re wrong about the number of Alicorns, by the way, including the male ones,” he said. “I’ve looked at records in the Hidden Library.” Blueblood could not help widening his eyes at the reference to the Archive that only members and students of the Flowing Shadow Conclave could access. Dusty was not a member of the Conclave, as clearly as his light-coloured coat, so he was obviously a student. “The Princesses had to come from somewhere, after all. Shall we see you at breakfast?”

“Dusty is also my student and guest,” Princess Celestia said. “I’ll leave you to collect yourself, Nephew.”

The Great Hall had been converted into one massive dining area. The palace staff had arranged the tables (and chairs) into neat columns throughout the room, with space between the occasional table for easy navigation. They had placed other tables along each wall, with servers ready to dispense food and drinks as necessary. The refreshments selection was a breakfast buffet, and indeed despite the full room, enough would seem to have been gathered and prepared so that everypony could have all they could eat – although whether that was true for Pinkie Pie was up for debate.

Since Rarity and Applejack had been in last night’s performance, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had come along, and were now sitting at one end of the Elemental Six’s table with Scootaloo. As soon as Dusty had his food, he joined the three fillies. This took awhile, given how other ponies kept approaching him to congratulate him on his very insightful epilogue to the pageant. Dusty graciously thanked them and politely excused himself. Given the full plate he was carrying on his head, the conversation-starting ponies usually allowed him to slip away.

Some minutes later, Blueblood burst into the room, eyes reddened and snorting mad. “I’ve figured it all out,” he said into the sudden silence. “That means it’s time to teach you a lesson.” Blueblood glared at Dusty where he sat. The colt was exasperated enough with Blueblood’s persecution complex that he would have slammed his head into the table if his plate wasn’t there. He settled for putting his head in his hooves for a moment.

“Are you really, truly certain that you really, truly want this?” Dusty said, looking directly back at Blueblood.

“Oh yes, and the ironic thing is that an Earth Pony gave me the key to victory. So I’ll win this challenge!”

Irony, thy name is 'Gearhead.' “This doesn’t have to come to a fight, Prince Blueblood.”

“Yes, I’m a prince. That’s why it does. That’s why I won’t let you get away from me again!” And Blueblood began to unleash a withering, continuous salvo of Wind Arrows at Dusty, who leaped into the air and flew in curving paths to evade the homing blasts.

“Shouldn’t we stop this, Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.

“Lets let Dusty handle this,” Princess Celestia said. “He knows what he is doing.”

“Yeah he does,” Dash said, grinning as Dusty pulled a loop and then a barrel roll that put him behind one wave of Arrows. He then spread his wings to put on the airbrakes, climbing at a radical rate to evade two more waves, before flipping into a powerdive that jumped his speed back up and put him back at his old altitude.

As everypony watched, Dusty enhanced his speed with Wind Magic, and led Blueblood’s blasts in an ascending spiral so that he was flying just four meters below the high, vaulted ceiling. The way the blasts curved as they followed made them look like a cascading fountain – only if they hit their target, it would hurt very badly. This seemed increasingly unlikely, however, as Dusty kept dodging the Arrows that came too close. Still, it seemed that they were following him in from all sides, and slowly closing the space available to him. On the ground, Blueblood licked his lips in anticipation of his victory.

Then Dusty was completely surrounded, the Arrows closing in. Even an Alicorn’s defensive barrier should not have a chance against such a mass of energy. Dusty, though, had a plan. He suddenly flipped tail-over-head, reversing direction and charged into the leading line. Now when he spun it was in the opposite direction from before, so he went with the offensive front. He kept up the rotation through all of the arrows, gathering them all into a blinding ball of light off of his right forehoof, which he placed below him, and then he was suddenly falling.

A moment later, Dusty’s descent increased tremendously, so that he slammed into Blueblood in a brilliant near-white flash, sending up a great cloud of black and navy blue dust. When it dissipated, wind ribbons wound all around Blueblood, attached, by the most part, to his horn. “Is this what you were trying to do to me?” Dusty asked.

Blueblood growled slightly, and shook his head. He blinked, then seemed to calm. The fight was gone from him, and by the owlish way he was glancing around, he was not entirely certain of what had happened.

“Shall we end it here, or go one-buck for all the stakes? Whoever receives the most damage or cannot continue from his opponent’s one blow loses.”

Blueblood looked left and right, and found no support at all. “I concede,” he said, and Dusty released his restrictive spells.

“And with that, the whole matter is closed,” Princess Celestia said. “Clear?”

Blueblood cringed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“You’ve much yet to learn, about being a leader, Nephew. I am assigning you to help the staff clean all this up.” The others looked around. There was dust on the food and the silverware, and the tables all around Dusty’s impact zone had been split apart. “You all may come with me,” the Princess of the Day continued, indicating the Elemental Six and their four young charges – five if you included Spike.

Later that afternoon, Dusty was looking outside through the window or a private multipurpose room, at Princess Celestia’s instructions. She had told the transformed Alicorn to teach the next pony to come through the doors everything he knew about leadership. Dusty did not have any intention of letting the princess down, no matter who his student was, although given what had happened mere hours earlier, he had some ideas as to who that would be.

When the door opened and the white Unicorn stallion sauntered in, the mature-in-heart colt was not surprised. He merely turned around and indicated a nearby pillow on which Prince Blueblood could sit. The stallion was telegraphing more curiosity than anger as he came further into the room, but stayed standing as a sign of defiance.

“The Princess?” Dusty asked, visibly casting a glance toward the sun.

“Correct,”

“For yourself to learn?”

“Correct,”

“And for myself to teach?”

“Correct,”

“Did she inform you of anything else?”

Blueblood’s answer was a sceptical look.

“Right, that’s not her style,” Dusty said, scratching the back of his head as though embarrassed.

“Correct,”

“We’re not on the most amicable terms, so lets get started, shall we? I’m to give you what knowledge I have regarding leadership. At the end our many-times great-aunts will put what you retain to the test using a method we’ve developed together.”

“Won’t your knowing the method put me at a disadvantage?”

“You will know it as well, and while you assumed it would be some type of competition, you are not incorrect in this case: we both know how much those two enjoy games. May I proceed?”

“Please do,”

“’Leadership’ is the ability to motivate others into action. With what research I have conducted so far on the subject, I recognize two types of leaders: those who use force and those who use an idea to get others to do what they want.

"If applied in an imbalanced way, it is easy to use a title and its privileges to coerce others to do what you want, therefore it is not surprising that history’s tyrants most often fall under the first category. Military leaders also use force to get their soldiers to follow them, however only those soldiers who are motivated to stay with the force will continue to follow such commanders. The rest may easily rebel or desert, and that is the worst thing that can happen in a conflict. Using a system of risks and rewards, including ideological factors, can play into whether one’s army stays or falls apart before they even meet the enemy for the first time.

"This is not to say there are not any good tyrants, nor commanders who do not inspire sufficient loyalty in their troops. There are always exceptions, and in the case of tyrants, it usually seems to be in situations where martial-level order is required for the sake of a society’s survival – dire situations like the one we just celebrated. When the Princesses took over leadership of the united Equestria, all ponies needed to know they could lead, and do so effectively. Back then, it could have easily been more expected for them to use more draconian measures to keep everypony in line, until a sort of order was established. After that, the laws they enforced could be relaxed, little by little. That is, until our time when the law inconveniences most citizens very rarely, if at all. This also allows the Princesses to be more ideological and charismatic leaders than they were at first, despite their titles and the amount of magical power they possess – unquestionably they are the most powerful beings in Equestria who are not banished or imprisoned elsewhere.”

“That’s ridiculous! Who would ever believe that anypony could be so powerful and still be banished or imprisoned?”

“What about Nightmare Moon or Discord?”

“Discord?”

“Well, he’s neither here nor there. And especially, thankfully, not ‘here.’ Lets just say that both he and Nightmare Moon tried to force their ideal worlds upon other ponies, and they got dealt with.

“Now, as to the charismatic, inspirational leaders, they do not always need to have format titles and their privileges, although they often do. What these leaders do differently from the tyrants is that they motivate their followers by inspiring them to take ownership over part of the action they will take, or the ideal they will follow. They offer minor guidance where needed in order to allow their followers to correct their mistakes, and they offer rewards to recognize those who succeed. With a large group of followers, the leaders also delegate to individuals who show promise by having the right skills and knowledge for a given job. These sub-leaders also gain a new sense of ownership in taking responsibility for a smaller section of the group. With guidance from higher up in the hierarchy, it is entirely likely the sub-leaders would duplicate some of the leader’s recognition and reward system to continue to motivate the rest of their teams. That means that another level of inspiration and motivation would then be added into the overall group.

“You can tell an inspirational leader by how seldom she or he needs to use her or his power, instead leaning away from controlling others, and instead allowing them some space to accomplish their common goal their own way. The Princesses now fall under this category, but so does another individual from the west.

“As you know, I have studied at the Hidden Library. The Conclave has a close relationship with both Azure Wing and Herd Verdant, and this has been the case since… well, since the original Hearth's Warming Eve, I guess. The Conclave even helped the Verdant build their Council Chambers, so it’s not surprising to learn they have some records pertaining to Herd Council business, which they do.

“The individual I would like to highlight is the current Patriarch of the Verdant, Redwood. All Herd Patriarchs have the ability to veto a motion to prevent it from becoming Herd Law if it seems too forceful or unfair. While this does not mean a Patriarch can force anything through, one could make the case for gaining just enough support within the Council to push a motion through as law, and this would be equal to using force to do so. While he is still young, comparatively speaking, Patriarch Redwood has not had to use his Right of Veto so far.

“Verdant Council has never been entirely cooperative according to the Conclave’s records, but neither have they been entirely discordant, since in the times when they might have been, they were small enough then that the Patriarch knew everypony, and everypony knew him. But Patriarch Redwood is the first never to have to use his veto for anything, perhaps due to the Herd’s stability. Or maybe he is the perfect leader for the Herd in these times of peace.

“That is the essence of my knowledge of leadership. Do you have any questions?”

“Yes, what is this test you’ve set up for me?”

“It’s a game of chess,” Dusty said. “Your opponent will be another leader, and you’ll have to demonstrate your leadership skills though your rapport with your ‘pieces.’ And it will be an exhibition match, so I hope you’re prepared for everything that will come with winning or losing.”

“I’m ready,” Blueblood said, “to win.”

“Lets go find out,” Dusty said.

The Great Hall had been reconfigured just for the challenge, with a regulation chess field sunken into the middle and spectating areas all around it. Ponies has been dressed up in livery to represent the pieces, except for the kings. As Dusty led Blueblood into the room, the latter could see that the ponies on the side of the field nearest to him were dressed in white, light blue, and gold – his own colours. “I hope you don’t expect me to hold back just because you were my teacher,” Blueblood said.

“I would not expect such a thing, and besides, this is a friendly competition. Also, I am not to be your opponent.” Dusty waved across the board, and Blueblood noticed Princess Luna taking up position as ‘king’ of the navy blue and black army. “She will not be holding back either,” Dusty said with a grin before turning serious. “Fortune won’t be a factor here, not against her.”

“No, not when she’s serious.” Blueblood smiled. “I’ll bring my A-game.” As Blueblood took up position, Dusty joined the rest of his friends in the stands. So I’m really going up against the Princess of Games, Blueblood thought.

“Welcome, Leaders,” Princess Celestia said. “This is a simple test of your skills. The better you can empathize with your army, the more they will be able to do, therefore if one leader opens a great enough gap in the synchronisity between king and army, he or she will become able to issue commands in real-time, rather than having to do so in turn with his or her opponent.

“All other rules are as per usual: Soldiers can only move forward one space, except on their first turn, and attack diagonally one space. Towers can move and attack straight. ‘Bolts move three spaces one direction and one space perpendicular, jumping over intervening pieces. Mages can move and attack diagonally. Queens can move and attack straight and diagonally. Kings can move and attack one space in any direction. ‘Castling,’ where the King and a Tower swap places and move together, is permitted if there are not any pieces between them, and neither have moved. Soldiers can be promoted to any piece except the King if they make it across the field to the opponent’s baseline. Promotion for the other pieces will be determined magically by how long they stay on the field, how many moves they make, and how many enemy pieces they capture. If there are no questions, let us begin. Prince Blueblood, as White you have the first move.”

“I understand, Your Highness,” Blueblood said. As he examined his field through magically-controlled monitor panels, he noticed Princess Luna talking across at the ponies playing her pieces. He did not hear what she was saying, and thought it was absurd to be talking to ponies who were playing as game pieces. Still, they seemed to be listening. Blueblood shrugged. “Lets all do our best,” he said. Then he ordered the Queen’s Soldier to advance two spaces, using his ability. The piece’s response was lacklustre, but he moved.

While Blueblood continued to move his Soldiers into a defensive chevron, Princess Luna took her Queen and Queen’s Mage out into the field as far as she could push them, supported by both of her Shadowbolts. It was only when his King’s Mage and Tower hesitated to attack that Blueblood realized the offense was also covered by some Soldiers. He wondered how they had been moved in until he realized that while his pieces were hesitating to respond to his commands, Princess Luna’s pieces were jumping into action with alacrity. They were acting in real-time!

Even as Blueblood came to this realization, the dark pieces began to capture his own, all with Princess Luna nodding and smiling as she continued to issue directions. It had to be Princess Luna’s speech at the beginning of the game that was allowing her to do this, while Blueblood’s efforts had been half-hearted at best. His own pieces must have heard the doubt in his voice, and that was a mistake! Especially considering what Dusty had said about inspirational leaders.

“White Forces, rally and repulse the enemy. Hold firm and we’ll stand beyond the shadow. Let us not go gently to defeat. Push together with all we’ve got, and we can be victorious today. I can see that desire in your eyes now, and I promise you I’ll not let you down – so fight together with me!”

The difference was startling. Suddenly Princess Luna’s forces were not moving two or three at a time. In fact, they were not moving at all. “It’s our move,” Blueblood said, loud enough for all to hear as he glanced across his screens. The blue forces had stopped moving in real-time so suddenly, more than a few of them had to be out of position. There! “King’s Wonderbolt, take Tower.”

Just like that, Princess Luna had to choose between pressing through and letting her forces get divided or losing her offensive momentum in order to save her stragglers. She raised her voice and promised her ‘pieces’ she would prevent as many of them as possible from getting captured, and Blueblood knew he had stopped her, at least until her next offensive.

Even caught off guard, Princess Luna only lost her King’s Shadowbolt and a Soldier to Blueblood’s sudden rise in charisma. He focused on that left flank and tried to force the rest of the way through. Unfortunately his early play with his Soldiers opened up a massive hole through the center and right sides of the field, and with his most powerful pieces engaged and covering each other mid-field on the left, he could not bring them back in time when Princess Luna sent her free long-ranged forces through the gaps. With only his King’s Tower able to cross the distance, he could not hold off three pieces, and he could not Castle because he had moved himself when Princess Luna put him into check earlier.

Just as Dusty and Blueblood had known, Princess Luna did not hold back at all, instead showing her full enthusiasm for the game and victory as she pushed her pieces forward, all while keeping Blueblood’s greatest strikers occupied. Checkmate was only a couple of moves away, and Blueblood worked hard just to keep his force’s morale high enough that Princess Luna could not command in real-time.

It was too little too late, Blueblood realized. If he had known how important it was to know his own force’s minds, he could have commanded them more effectively. But he did not grumble about it, since both Dusty and Princess Celestia had hinted at it. He just had not taken the hints seriously enough, and the result was that Princess Luna’s advantage snuck up on him, when it should not have been able to. It was completely Blueblood’s own fault that he had been unable to effectively command his forces, and so he took full responsibility for White’s loss. “This is on me,” Blueblood said. “But next time I promise you I’ll give you all that you deserve.”

And, despite just having lost, White cheered.

“Well done, Nephew,” Princess Luna said, embracing him. “You’ve learned well!”

“You see? I may have a rocky start, but this is not just a pretty face.”

“Indeed not,” Rarity said. “I might be able to appreciate you more if you keep learning at this rate.”

“I appreciate that, but I’ve also decided that it’s not your approval I want the most.” Blueblood turned to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. “I want to become a Commander.”

“Well done and decided,” Princess Celestia said. “You’ve begun on a long road.”

Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville came with a tradition of ‘not using magic,’ since it was Earth Ponies who had founded the town. Dusty snorted at the absurdity of it: how did they not know that they were already using magic with the mere participation of the Pegasi? That Earth Ponies naturally did not have a choice but to use their magic since it was always ‘on?’ Dusty remembered mentioning all of that in Cheerilee’s class, yet all of Ponyville seemed willing to put on blinders and make things more difficult than it had to be, and all for the sake of a tradition that was a lie.

Dusty wondered how far the town’s pride would fall if somepony simply told the truth. Oh, there were plenty of other dastardly plans that could tip the world’s balance, like spreading eternal night, but telling the truth? Without firing a shot or swinging a sword, how much devestation would it wreak?

Heck, it would be impossible to clear the skies and melt the snow within two days if they did not have Pegasus magic at their disposal. Dusty had heard Mayor Mare refer to the first Winter Wrap-Up with Twilight in town with a great deal of pride, because they had finished it on time. Even without Twilight using her vastly more powerful magic on the wintry landscape, they had still used Pegasus and Earth Pony magic to bring back the plants and animals of spring.

So it was that despite the sheer absurdity of his situation and the tradition that was part of what put him there, Dusty sought out a task he could do without calling upon either of his sets of magic, especially since they would have only worked for so long anyway. Given his size, he would not be effective carving up the ice with Pinkie or helping to clear the snow. He absolutely could not fly off and find any migratory birds, because that would be using magic.

Dusty found Rarity heading up the nest-building crew, and decided to lend a hoof for awhile. His smaller size and ability to focus helped a great deal, together with his ease with his smaller hooves.

After less than an hour, Rarity tapped him on the shoulder. “We’re well ahead of Twilight’s schedule now,” she said. “If you want to take a break to look around or help another Animal Care Team, please do feel free, Dear.”

“Alright. Wouldn’t want to get too far ahead of schedule,” Dusty said, and he went off to look for another place he could help.

Dusty found Fluttershy looking into a network of warrens with concern written clearly on her face. There was a system of bells already strung up and waiting for the moment when Fluttershy could safely wake all the animals, but just the fact that Fluttershy was concerned over something could be cause for concern.

“May I be of assistance?” Dusty asked, being sure his hooves crunched the snow so Fluttershy would hear him coming.

“Oh dear, would you?”

“I would be happy to. What’s the problem?”

“It seems that over the winter deeper pockets got opened up by water and ice. Some of the animals can’t get out, and the shifting caves even cut some of the bell lines.”

“If there’s one thing I understand, it’s rock,” Dusty said, or at least my other self does. “Let me see what I can do.” Fluttershy gave him a small, portable lamp, and Dusty went into the cave.

“Please be careful,” Fluttershy said.

“Understood,” Dusty was quick to respond. Fluttershy might be a little too much on the clingy side while he was a colt, but he liked her too much to worry her more than she already was by the fact that he was going into a cave. As a result, he made sure to shout back what he found as he found it.

The journey into the cave was fairly straightforward. Part of the reason why that was was because some of the animals that were already awake came to show Dusty to the problem area. As the cave became smaller, Dusty started to have to crawl more, folding his wings and even his ears more tightly against his body.

Soon Dusty came across the newly-opened portions. He saw where a group of critters had fallen in, and he saw where the bell line had gotten severed. It occurred to Dusty that both problems could become each other’s solution, so he guided the animals through the process of retieing the lines. Once they were back up, he helped them to climb out into the main area of the cave, using the line as a rope. With the animals rescued, he asked the ones around him to show him any other trouble areas, so that when he returned to the surface, the warren was completely clear.

It seemed that Dusty had found something that only he could do. His chosen task for the remainder of that Winter Wrap-Up was to go into those spaces that were too tight for mares and stallions to reach, and too dark and dangerous for real foals to navigate, and troubleshoot whatever problem was happening there.

Despite some minor delays in getting started, thanks largely due to Twilight’s organizational skills, Winter Wrap-Up got wrapped up even more quickly than the previous year’s attempt, setting a new town record.

Dusty still thought it was an absurd point on which to be proud: you would never catch Hoofington or the Alliance refusing to use their magic, or turning a blind eye on using necessary and passive magic, to get the job done. Next Chapter: 15. Family Jams Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 3 Minutes