By the Moon
Chapter 40: Chapter 40 The Memories Part 12
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Early morning sunlight streamed through the Throne room windows as I took my place on my dark oak throne, fresh from my trip into the settlement to order my new scabbard.
Now that the Moon had been purified, Ponies no longer had to fear the night. So I finally could do what felt natural to me my whole life. I stayed up at night, and slept during the day. Not many Ponies joined me, besides the Sarosians. So I was forced to wait for stores to open in the morning when I needed something.
It was mainly for this reason, that Court was held first thing in the morning. It was the only time Tia and I were awake at the same time.
I was just getting settled in the throne, reaching for the top scroll of things I needed to look at, when Tia and her entourage entered. A verifiable swarm of servants and butlers surrounded their Noble employers, who in turn surrounded the distinctive figure of Tia.
"Morning." I greeted my sister as she took her place in her white birch throne.
"Morning Lu." she replied.
"Sleep well?" I asked.
"Not very. I kept dreaming of some sort of brown dragon with a goat's head. It was awful." she responded.
"Hm." I hummed in thought. "Maybe you should attend my lessons with Elder Nightingale. Her dream magic is actually very enlightening."
"The Sarosian?" Tia glanced over, looking like she was being given the choice between biting a lemon or drinking castor oil. "Uh... No thank you Lu, I appreciate the offer but I must decline."
"Suit yourself." I sighed as I opened the scroll.
A servant brought Tia an ornate trolley with a steaming teapot.
"Again?" I asked without looking. "Are you sure it's wise to indulge in such expensive goods daily?"
The Castle's coffers hadn't ever been full, but they seemed to be draining rather quickly.
"You should try it Lu. I find it very relaxing."
Not for that absurd price.
"No thank you." I said instead.
"Come on Lu! There's more than enough for two Ponies in a single teapot!" she urged.
"Maybe some oth-"
"Morning court is now in session!" exclaimed the crier. "First item on the agenda!" the stallion looked down at his list. "Budget for securing the City of Everfree!"
I glanced down at the scroll I had opened. It was a proposal for building a wall around the settlement, making the Castle Everfree itself the city keep.
But the amount of gold it estimated...
I cast a look out of the corner of my eye, looking to see if Tia had anything to say before I did.
She was busy with a servant, who was pouring a cup of tea.
"All those with proposals, step forward. You will present your cases to the court." I called out.
Several Nobles stepped forward and formed a line in front of the thrones.
"Uh... You start." I said, pointing at the leftmost Pony. "Go down the line."
"Thank you your Majesty." she bowed. "I'd like to Propose, that-"
She was interrupted by the door to the throne room opening.
"Who dares-?!" Cried a particularly obstinate Noble by the name of Duke Gold Standard.
To both my joy and my annoyance, Starswirl the Bearded stormed into the room, his cloak flying behind him.
"Cease your prattling!" he shouted. "We have much more dire things to discuss!"
"Ah, good morning Master Starswirl!" Tia greeted warmly. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait Master. We've got quite a few important things to discuss and whatever you wish to discuss will have to wait its turn."
I rolled my eyes.
Even now, after years of knowing the stallion, she still thought he'd go through the set bureaucracy.
"Fie!" He shouted instead. "We have no time to lose! Can't any of you feel it?!" He looked around the room.
Most of the Nobles simply glanced at each other shrugged.
"Gah! Tell me, my students! Tell me you feel it!" the aging wizard turned towards us.
It was my turn to share a glance with Tia.
Her eyes were just as clueless as I felt.
"Could you... Elaborate?" I asked after a moment.
"Not even you could-? Gah!" the old stallion ignited his horn, and a pocket in the air opened. He pulled out one of his alchemical instruments, it was spinning wildly. "This is a alchemical armillary sphere! I was using it to perform a complex alchemy ritual! But half way through my calculations, it started to do this!" He waved it around for all to see. "Don't you see?! There's something seriously wrong with the aura of the world!"
"... It doesn't do that normally?" asked a Noble whose name I didn't bother to remember.
"-Doesn't do that-?!" Starswirl stammered. "No! It doesn't 'do that'! I set it down, adjust a few weights, and it slowly spins to a correct position! It doesn't spin- Just look!" He set the armillary sphere down, and physically stopped the thing from spinning with his hooves.
It almost immediately started to spin wildly out of control again.
"It doesn't matter how much I adjust it!" He stopped the sphere again, adjusted a few weights randomly along its bands and let go again.
It still went haywire.
"And it isn't the only one! My tower is so loud right now I couldn't stay even if I wanted to!" He ignited his horn again, opening the same portal, but this time, he left it open so we could all hear.
It sounded like absolute chaos on the other side.
With so many whistles, tings, clanks, and other sounds of instruments going wild, it wasn't surprising the old stallion couldn't stand to be in his own laboratory.
That was actually very concerning.
"... Do you have any theories on what is causing this disruption?" Tia asked after a moment.
A dark chuckle echoed throughout the throne room.
A chill went down my spine as the sound danced through my ears.
"It's rude to talk about someone behind their back you know..." came a mockingly joyous voice.