‘Why is every damn mare I meet around the Royals so bucking hot?!’

Golden Dream did her best to keep Dame Dash’s eyes as she stepped into the sparring ring- could not show weakness by looking away, or show… other things by glancing at her lithe, muscled body, or her sleek, power-flying wings. Gulp. Those violet eyes narrowed slightly before flicking over Golden.

‘Hrm.’

They had gathered in the palace’s gymnasium, a sizable crystal structure deep in the palace’s understructure, set up for the palace attendants. Several servants were scattered about the gym’s equipment and pools; from what Golden could tell, the servants preferred to keep themselves in top shape. It was much larger than her family’s own practice yard, but the familiarity was comforting.

Rainbow Dash had come without Twilight Sparkle, it seemed, and without her armor or stately tabard. She had simply tossed a towel onto a nearby wall hook before getting into a stretch routine on the wrestling mat, which Golden had kept her eyes well away from while doing her own.

“Sure you’re up for this?” Rainbow asked with a playful edge to her voice, “Don’t wanna bring Sparkles in for another round of healing…”

“I believe your mare deserves a break, Dame. Are /you/ sure about this? I seem to be on a bit of a streak…”

Golden matched the knight’s cocky grin with one of her own, shaking out her mane before striding into position on the mat, giving her opponent a once over. Rainbow Dash was a lean mare; their body styles were close, though Rainbow’s muscles were built more for speed than outright power. ...not many scars at all, heh. Golden’s eyes flicked over her wing joints.

“I’ll have to show you a lotion I use- helps the first calluses from using wing-blades, quite a bit.”

Rainbow paused at that, maroon eyes widening slightly before she could grin.

“Yeah? Thanks. But niceness won’t help you win this. Ready?”

The pegasus knight settled back into a loose, predatory crouch, grinning toothily at her opponent.

‘...Princess Sparkle, you lucky mare. Damn.’

“Born ready, Dame.”

“Announcing- Junior Mage of good standing within the College of Imperial Magic, Gellar Field!”

Glazed disinterest mercifully bled away from Princess Cadence at the announcement from the herald, sitting up a little straighter in her throne. The mage was a stallion she had not met before, which was an oddity for the usually stuffy and matriarchal College; an amethyst colored, small bodied unicorn, his eyes wide and excited, and clutching a pack closely. One of her guards had followed after the mage, as per protocol, and was levitating along a small orb.

“My Princess, Gellar Field here surrendered this device to us. A view stone- no other enchantments that we can detect.”

Cadence gave her guardsmare a warm smile, nodding her thanks as she turned to look the unicorn stallion in the eyes. The princess prided herself in knowing the names and faces of each pony that they assigned to the various Imperial duties, so the lack of knowledge was a tick of annoyance- if only Archmage Galaxy had brought her full team in to meet the royals.

‘Mmrph.’

“Thank you, Captain Lance. Welcome, Magister Field, to my court. What news do you bring fr-”

“W-we did it, Your Majesty! W-we expanded the reach of the Crystal Heart!” The stallion blurted out, excitement coloring his aura- for the split second before horror darkened it.

Cadence’s ears flicked; the court was animated now, several nobles voicing their anger at the interruption. Captain Lance, not even fully at his post again, had stepped forward, eyes locked on Cadence for her order- and relaxing at her quiet chuckle and lifted wing.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t-” the stallion began to babble, but stopped, to his credit, at a look from Cadence, merely bowing his head to the floor.

“It is quite alright, Gellar Field,” Cadence answered, keeping her own excitement down as she glanced to the view stone, “Clear the court, Captain, and send for my husband and fiance. I would have us all see what our magi have done.”

Shining Armor was apparently thinking ahead; when Captain Lance returned with her family, including a sweating and bruised Golden Dream, Sunburst was in close pursuit. The Court Wizard and Crystaller of Flurry Heart was beaming in excitement, magically adjusting his glasses before taking the view stone from the princess.

“Here, your majesty?”

“Please, Sunburst. If the reach of the Heart was expanded…”

Gellar Field beamed up at the royals, eyes practically shining, “It’s glorious, your highnesses.”

View stones were best used in larger rooms; as soon as the enchantment was activated, the stone began to play a three dimensional scene above itself. One of the Empire’s titanic menhirs rose out of a slurry of dirt and seemingly melting snow, violet magic rising out and into the rapidly clearing sky. To her left, Sunburst’s horn began to glow as he worked his magic into the recorded matrix inside the view stone. His eyes widened, nearly rivalling his glasses, and his bearded jaw dropped open.

“Incredible…”

“I’m a little out of my depth here, Sunburst.”

Shining Armor had stepped next to his fellow unicorn, head tilted thoughtfully and horn lit with his own scanning spells, “Just what am I looking at?”

Cadence didn’t bother to check the spell matrices yet; she knew Shining would get a recording of it for her, and she was more focused on the changes to the landscape shown in the viewing. Sun-starved grass was poking up as the snow melted around the stone, and even as she watched, gleaming flowers were unfurling. A hidden riverbed appeared with a crackle of breaking ice, and Cadence’s eyes went wide as more and more water was exposed. Within moments, easily half a mile of open water was visible, the current sluggishly moving dwindling ice blocks further along, but seeming to pick up the pace.A thrill of possibility tingled down her spine.

‘The Empire has always had to make do with magical power for its industry, with was intensive on its unicorns, or forcing them to buy crystals en masse from Equestria. A glance at Shining got a slowly growing smile from the unicorn, and she imagined he recognized something similar. The Princess turned back to the viewstone, pondering a moment longer before looking to a still-beaming mage.

“Precisely where is this, Field?” she asked gently during a lull in Sunburst’s excited (and mathematics filled) rant, and conjured a quick-and-dirty map of northern Equestria and the Empire with a flick of her horn.

Gellar Field nodded and stepped close, peering at the map for a second to get his bearings, then lit his own horn to trace a careful line across the map. Cadence’s eyes widened slightly as she watched it expand.

“From our estimates, your Majesties, close to one hundred miles of land has been cleared by the magic. That is not including that river.”

He drew in a slow breath, “Your Majesties? The largest river in Equestria has just been uncovered. It is at least half a mile wide as far as we have surveyed, and… well, we had a hippogriff contractor with us. She reports that, with her magic… well. The river leads straight to the sea.”

Cadence’s butt hit the crystal floor with a quiet thump; her pulse thundered in her ears. Two sets of hooves were around her back in a heartbeat, and she drew in a slow breath, relieved by the scents of her husband and fiance. Shining Armor’s broad hoof curled around her barrel and squeezed slightly, and she drooped in relief as she felt him stiffen and stand taller.

“This news is most welcome, Gellar Field. Please, accept the crown’s hospitality, and await further instructions. We have much to discuss with the Princess’ council, but know that what your team has done… it changes everything. For the Crown and… heh, for the Empire.”

“Your Majesty… Cadence, if I might be so bold as to offer a take on this?”

Shining Armor had gathered both his and Golden’s parents into their private quarters once again for this meeting, though for much less relaxed reasons. Golden Dream was still stunned by the scope of it all. The Empire had been, for all intents and purposes, a city-state since its re-emergence and liberation from King Sombra. An immense city, true enough, with a population that dwarfed Canterlot’s five hundred thousand by a factor of two, and rivaled Manehatten’s constantly fluctuating ponybase, but with no real outer lands to support it. Outposts and mines in the mountains surrounding the Imperial City supplied its industry, but they actually had to keep quotas down to not overfill its warehouses. Governance was not Golden’s strong suit, but the royals had allowed her to peruse their papers, and it had even left her wincing. But now…

Golden smiled shakily over at her father and mother, then to Cadence as the royal gave him a small chuckle.

“Aurem, you don’t have to ask us to speak. You’re family now. And Love knows… heh, we need all the help we can get with this.”

Aurem’s ears lowered slightly as his face tightened, and he gave a slow nod, “So you understand the potential problems this could bring. Good. …I would not call my family industrialists by any means, but we are on the fringes, and have our feathers dipped in many pots. That river, if the initial survey is right, is both deep enough for ships to navigate, and fast enough to power water wheel based industry.”

The older stallion gave an amused snort, “With even a few estuaries to control run-off, by Luna’s Name. That land is crown-controlled at present, correct? And under Imperial borders?”

Shining nodded this time, hair slicked back in a habitual manner when the Prince-Consort was deep in ponderings, “It is, yes, at least by all the old maps, even the other side of the river for close to ten miles, all the way to the sea. But the snow is only pulled back a couple hundred meters once you get past the menhir’s range, and the cold leaks through. But that’s still two hundred miles of newly usable, arable land, and no noble house has titles to it. Those were all nullified by Sombra. …heh, and the records burned.”

“Then you must capitalize on this opportunity, your Majesties,” Aurora spoke from her seat beside her husband, eyes fixed on Cadence, “You must choose your strongest supporters, and parcel the land accordingly. Whatever you have to spend to grow the infrastructure in the new territories, spend it, don’t let Equestrian companies get their hooves in it first.”

“A crown company then,” Cadence mused thoughtfully, and Golden puffed her chest proudly at the respect in her fiance’s eyes for her mother.

Aurora had always been the controller of the House’s money, with a knack for divining use, cost, and proper risk, and the pegasus had her eyes locked on the drawn map they had been provided, as did her father- and one smirking Prince-Consort.

“I would say there is enough room there for a Duchy in its own right,” Shining mused in faux deep thought, “Then split down into three counties, numerous baronies… we’ll be able to give land to every noble in the city, even if only single fiefdoms. …don’t you agree, my lord Duke?”

Golden’s breath caught in her throat, and every Bolt in the room froze. To Aurem’s credit, he took his time before looking up to his liege-lord, eyes clouded and troubled.

“...with all due respect, my lord Prince. You… you may not understand the depth of that folly. Bolts… we cannot rule. Not to that extent, at the very least.”

Cadence shifted on her lounging cushion, and glanced from Shining to Aurem, face calm and curious, “We are not afraid of the nobility’s bigotry, Aurem.”

“You very much should be.” Aurem’s voice had roughened perceptibly, and his wing snapped out as Golden rose to her hooves, “No, let me speak, girl. …your majesties, this could kill you. Kill Golden. Our position has already nearly killed Golden dozens of times, and you cannot understand just how often I have contemplated throwing my title into the dirt to keep her safe.I cannot…”

Golden stared at her father, eyes wide and her chest feeling hollow and brittle. Aurem Wind had been a firm, but collected stallion all her life, even during times she had nearly fallen on a field of honor. Or dishonor. Now… his masque had fallen away, and bitter lines creased his face as he focused down at the map at his hooves.

“I have no army to support you. A few retainers at most, and those families that still follow the Bolt name. No allies, no-”

“None? I say, I believe you are most incorrect in that assessment.”

Duke Night Light was smirking as he stepped down from his previously silent perch, shaking his head; Velvet remained seated, but had pressed her lips together as she gazed disapprovingly at the Bolts.

“And I agree,” she spoke up, voice a little hard, “Did my son not tell your heir that they were to be married? Not /only/ in name, but in heart.”

“Precisely,” Light added, eyes locked with Wind’s as he approached the somewhat older stallion, standing only a few snouts lengths apart, “The fate of House Bolt is no longer its own. It rests with the fate of House Mi Candenza… and with that of House Sparkle. And we’re a royal house in our own right, twice over.”

The formerly mild-mannered professor grinned a grin that would have made a griffon nervous, had they happened upon it in a darkened woods.

“A strike against you is a strike against us, and against us… well. Twily can be most unruly when she’s upset. As can I.”

ALRIGHT! Woof, hello again, everypony!