This is written from King Whirlwind's point of view.
Aka and I sat regally upon a large thrones in the Hall of the Thrones. A long, dark blue carpet stretched from our throne platform to the doors, over the beautiful white marble floor.
Soldiers, sparkling in the finest of the palace’s armour, lined the walls, ready to welcome our honoured guest.
Suddenly a trumpets sounded. I gasped and looked up eagerly. Two unicorn soldiers opened the doors with their magic, and somepony walked in. The trumpets played for a couple more seconds, and Aka and I got up and went to the bottom of the platform to greet them.
Led by two white Pegasus guards in lovely golden armour came Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They smiled as they saw our faces, and walked very elegantly towards us. Both of their manes flowed behind them, and I looked in awe at Princess Luna’s. It was almost see-through.
“Queen Aka! King Whirlwind!” exclaimed Princess Celestia, and we greeted one another in a bow. I kissed both Princess’s hooves politely.
“Oh, it’s been so long!” said Aka, smiled widely at Celestia. “I can’t wait for the dinner. It will be spectacular.”
“Oh, and I can’t wait for our tour around the Empire! Can you, Luna?” replied the Sun Princess. Luna nodded.
“And we can hardly wait to greet thou’s children. It will be such a delight!” said Luna, speaking in her old-fashioned way that I’d heard of.
“We promise that this dinner will meet all your expectations, Princesses, and we are honoured to have you here to stay.” I said. “Our maids are excited to show you to your luxury suite in the tower.” Suddenly two extremely eager-looking unicorn mares charged over, practically bouncing. They bowed to the Equestrian leaders, and led them to the door.
All of a sudden the trumpets blew out again, and two more Equestrian soldiers walked in. Behind them walked a lovely pink alicorn and her white unicorn husband.
“Princess Cadence! Shining Armour!” I said, as the two happily walked towards us. We bowed and they bowed too.
“Hello, your highnesses!” said Prince Shining Armour politely, kissing Aka’s hoof.
“Hello to you too! It’s wonderful to finally meet you two, now that the Crystal Empire’s returned.” I said, in return kissing Princess Cadence’s hoof.
“Oh, I’ve always wanted to come here!” exclaimed Cadence, looking around the palace. “It’s beautiful, and Celestia says the citizens are lovely.”
“You will get to meet them, visiting the Empire’s towns. I’ve heard you two are very popular, they’d adore meeting you.” Smiled Aka.
“Would you like to escort Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour to their chambers?” I asked two more maids, who just as eagerly reacted to my call and rushed over.
The maids led the two away, and Cadence began talking to them.
Once again, the trumpets sounded. I looked to see who had arrived. A couple of soldiers came in. They were different, though. Longer faces, shorter manes, and their bodies were covered in stripes. The royals arriving were King Kaizari and Queen Malaika of faraway country, Clopswana. They were both very tall, covered in stripes and decorated with golden rings, jewellery and pretty woven rugs upon their backs.
“Greetings Queen Aka! Hello King Whirlwind!” exclaimed Malaika happily in her delightful accent. We bowed.
“Hello! We’re very glad you could arrive today.” Said Aka to the zebras. “It’s wonderful we can celebrate our peace.”
“Thank you very much, we are so delighted that we may be honoured in visiting your lovely kingdom for the next week.” Said Kaizari.
“Maids! May you escort King and Queen Kaizari and Malaika?” called Aka. Yet another pair of maids, a Pegasus and an Earth pony, came and happily led the royal couple away. Just on time, and trumpets were blew again.
We both looked over and saw who was walking in. No zebras. No ponies. But grey, insect-winged, blue-eyed creatures wearing shiny, beautiful lapis-lazuli armour.
Changelings. They marched in, holding their spears in their hooves full of holes. Behind them came the rulers of the little-known good changeling kingdom, Motatio Realm. A different kind of changelings than the ones that attacked Canterlot a few years before; these were good and fed off love in a different way.
In walked Empress Vespula and Emperor Apis. They had tall, slender figures, large, holed wings and jagged horns. The two eerie yet beautiful creatures approached us with smiles.
“Finest greetings, your highnesses!” exclaimed Apis happily, bowing along with his wife. We politely bowed back.
“Same to you too!” I replied, and we all smiled.
“A very big honour to come to your lovely dinner and tour of the Empire, and we just know this kingdom will be full of the wonderful love we can bring back to our subjects.” Put in Vespula. I lifted up her hoof and kissed it.
“And we will love to have you here. It makes us all so happy that we can provide your kingdom with the feed it needs upon this visit.” Agreed Aka.
Before I could even call them, some more maids charged over, waiting for the chance to serve royalty. I smiled and lifted my hoof to show them, and the maids delightedly led them across the hall.
“We’ll see you at the dinner!” called Apis over his shoulder. I waved.
“OK, Whirlwind, the others will be arriving later. We’ll go and see to the dinner preparations.” Said my wife, kissing my cheek. I smiled and followed her to the other door leading to the corridor.
We silently walked up it, then climbed the tall stairs to the next floor of the centre of the palace. At the other end of the hallway was a big door, and we went over to it and knocked.
The door was opened and we walked in. A maid, with her mane ruffled and glasses lop-sided, came up to us with a genuine smile.
“Hello, your highnesses!” she said, bowing down. “Have you come to check the preparations?”
“Yes, indeed we have!” replied Aka kindly to her. I looked around and saw the beautiful royal dinner hall. This hall was only used for very formal occasions, we didn’t even eat here on a regular basis. It was very big, the huge oak wood table stretched across to the other side. Upon it was a blue rug, and servants were rushing around setting the table to absolute perfection. There were tall candles in silver candle holders, sparkling cutlery and fine china plates and bowls. I knew the food would be divine, and it was being prepared in the kitchens. All around the roof hung beautiful banners. Flags of all the countries hung around the ceiling on silver poles, with the Jewel Empire’s flag the biggest on the opposite wall.
Gorgeous throne-like chairs sat around, and servants were placing pretty name-tags to show who sat where.
I nodded to the maid and we went over to the other door, going through.
This room was the ballroom where we would hold our dance. Big, circular and shiny marble like most of the palace. Once again the kingdom’s flags hung about the room. Over on the other side was a platform, already set up with instruments. A couple of ponies were already there, testing out their music. One of them waved to us and we returned it.
There were some statues all around too, each cleverly representing the kingdoms.
We turned and left the room. Tonight was going to be absolutely perfect. And it wasn’t just the kingdom’s peace we were celebrating. There was another surprise too…
* * *
“King Whirlwind, Aka wants you down in the Hall of the Thrones.” Said a guard as he approached me. “The Saddle Arabian Prince and Princess are arriving in a few minutes.”
“Oh, thank you.” I said to him with a smile, and he bowed. I walked up the corridor after coming back from the kitchens. The meals in there looked absolutely splendid. I couldn’t wait to eat.
Within a few minutes I finally reached the hall, where I stood silently beside my wife.
And I was just on time too. The trumpets yelled out and we stood to attention, just as a few soldiers walked in.
Arabian horses. Elegant, tall, black, dressed in their armour and decorative bridles. They marched up, coming to a halt.
Behind them came the Prince and Princess of Saddle Arabia. Apparently the King and Queen were away, which was a terrible shame, and we didn’t want the delegates. That wouldn’t be a very ‘royal’ dinner.
But they were perfect none the less. The Prince was extremely handsome, jet-black with dark brown mane and brilliant green eyes. The Princess was a shiny silvery colour, with flowing dark pink mane. She was decorated with many exotic items that matched her colours in perfection.
“Prince Ameer! Princess Sabwa!” I exclaimed joyfully, as the lovely couple approached us. The Princess was very beautiful. I kissed her hoof.
“It’s wonderful you could join us!” said Aka.
“Oh, we are honoured to come here this week.” Said Prince Ameer, nodding his head in a bow. “But it is a shame that Father and Mother couldn’t be here. They would’ve loved to see you again.”
“Don’t worry, you two will be perfect. I’m sure that this is a wonderful opportunity for your lovely wife to see another kingdom.” I said kindly.
“Oh, yes, I don’t travel often.” Blushed Sabwa. I knew that she had only recently married the Prince.
“You’ll be travelling all over the Empire this week!” informed Aka. “You will get to meet our subjects.”
“Now, how about you two get settled in your room. Our maids will be happy to help.” I said, just as some maids came over. They looked at the Princess in awe. Obviously they’d never seen somepony from Saddle Arabia.
“Wait, didn’t you mention in your letter that some more of you were coming?” asked Aka, just as they were about to leave the hall.
“Oh, yes!” replied Ameer, walking back over as Sabwa started conversing with the maids. “You see, our finest knight, Sir. Askari, has a daughter who has been absolutely desperate to come here and meet the prince and princesses. Their carriage will be arriving soon, and we were wondering if they could stay and attend the dinner?” asked the Prince.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “That would be lovely! I’ll let the servants know soon.” I said, and Ameer smiled and walked back to the maids and his wife.
Suddenly the trumpets sounded, again, and in came two more ponies. The first was a brown Arabian stallion, and behind him was his daughter.
But upon her pink head was… a horn? Last I checked, only ponies had horns. And she had slightly large feet and a smaller muzzle.
“Hello! You must be King Whirlwind and Queen Aka, yes?” said Askari, bowing to us.
“Yes! Hello, Sir. Askari. And this is your daughter?” asked Aka.
“Yes! This is Lady Gamila, my lovely daughter. She’s been wanting to come here for a long time.” Replied the knight, looking at Gamila who blushed and looked at the floor. I was just about to ask about her differences between her and the other horses, when he replied for me. “Yes, her mother in a unicorn.” He smiled.
“Well, we’ll just get you a room, shall we?” asked Aka. “Maids! Turns out we do have a job for you. Please take Sir. Askari and Lady Gamila up to a spare suite near Sabwa and Ameer’s room.” Two maids, who had begun to sadly slide to the door, popped to attention and ran to us. They smiled at Aka and led the two away.
