Diplomacy!
As the large caravan climbed up one final hill on the path, they finally laid eyes upon the so-called Earth Villa, capital of the earth ponies and their current destination. And it currently was quite the large caravan.
They had managed to add another three villages’ worth of ponies to their group as they pushed forward with all due speed. Thankfully, two villages’ worth of refugees telling all and sundry about the threat to the north was more than enough for the very practical minded villagers to pack their things with all due haste and swiftly depart alongside the group.
The knowledge that the little beasties were not only hot on their heels, but were already flanking the lands of the Three Tribes, as they moved eastward to strike at the cloud fortress of the pegasi, had pushed the group into a forced march that had continued straight through the night and well into the following day. Pushing harder than Ganondorf had thought the ponies capable of, they had taken turns having short naps on the carriages, where the little ones and the elderly were being kept full time, when needed and simply kept pushing forward.
The earth ponies’ apparently inborn talent towards resilience and endurance proved its weight in gold as they endured the distance eating stride Sure Shot had set for far longer than most professional military outfits Ganondorf could care to name, and he was including his own military forces on that list.
Suffice to say, the Wielder of Power was pleasantly surprised and slightly impressed by his new sort-of kin.
“We made it,” Forest let out with a small sigh of relief, while the earth ponies picked up the pace, a burst of energy entering their tired bodies upon seeing their destination.
“So this is the Earth Villa, huh?” Ganondorf mused out loud as he took in the earth ponies’ capital.
There was a large central hub of various buildings, ranging from one to three stories in height, which clearly housed both the government and the greater merchant guilds of the town, not to mention the more well off citizens, of course. And all around that central hub were lots and lots of farmsteads, and Ganondorf really meant lots. Orchards and vineyards, fields and plantations, all spread out as far as the eye could see. If there had been any doubt that the earth ponies were the breadbasket of the Three Tribes, this so-called Earth Villa put said doubts to rest.
“Indeed, and luckily their harvest seems to not have been as severely impacted as the other villages so far, and appears to be well under way,” Sure Shot pointed out with a firm nod as she gazed all around the advancing caravan, searching for any problems that could arise with keen hard eyes. “If the standard procedures have been applied, they have to have at least three times the amount of grains, fruits and other foodstuffs currently on the fields already stored away.”
“That will be useful,” the large earth pony readily agreed, already calculating the numbers that would feed and for how long as Ganondorf considered the very real possibility of having to fight off a siege in the not so distant future. “Sadly, the same can’t be said about the Villa proper.”
“W-what? What do you mean?” Forest hesitatingly asked as she shook her head free of tiredness and gave her full attention to Ganondorf’s words.
“This place may well be a gold mine as far as supplies go, but in regards to the defensiveness of the settlement,” the Dark Lord grunted with a clear hint of distaste on his words as he analyzed the ‘capital’ of the earth ponies with all his considerable military experience, and found it wanting. “Even attempting to make a defense here would be a waste of effort and resources.”
Forest looked a little scandalized and Sure Shot looked like she had bitten a lemon upon hearing his words, but thankfully both mares chose to not interrupt him with useless exclamations of shock or other such useless acts and seemed to be actually willing to listen.
Which was good, great even, what with how Ganondorf’s patience had been growing thin as of late. Mostly due to a certain Curse’s ineffectual attempts to gain any leeway so that it could try and influence him. Seriously, for all its power the damned thing had all the subtlety and intelligence of a rampaging dodongo. Blasting hate and anger every which way and not even thinking that Ganondorf would actually notice that the emotions weren’t his in the first place!
“This place is basically defenseless! Whatever idiot built this settlement didn’t even bother with making a wall circling the town proper!” he scoffed, his words carrying a little more bite to them than he had initially intended. The idiotic emotions may not be his, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel them at least somewhat. Taking a deep breath, he continued in a calmer manner. “When adding the lack of defensive works to the sprawling nature of the town, defending this place becomes even more inadvisable than it was to defend your home village.”
“I fear that defense was never in the list of priorities when the Earth Villa was built,” Old Oak blithely commented as he approached alongside Zelda, a hint of tiredness clear in his voice. “Considering how far away from the borders it is located, and how neither the pegasi nor the unicorns would stand to allow another race to endanger their main source of food, and how little said defense would actually be of use if there was a need to repel either tribe should they ever turn against us, the original builders considered any defensive battlements to be superfluous.”
“Wonderful, that’s just perfect,” Ganondorf drawled, voice thick with sarcasm as he cracked his neck in order to loosen the muscles. “So what’s the plan, Old Timer?”
“The Earth Villa may be next to defenseless, especially against a flight capable, magically natured threat such as the wraiths,” the elder firmly stated without a moment’s hesitation, causing both Forest and Sure Shot to give him worried looks. “But there is another settlement but a half day’s ride from here that is everything but defenseless, sporting extensive defensive works that were built specifically against airborne threats that can control the weather.”
“Unicornia,” Sure Shot exclaimed in sudden realization. “You are talking about the horn-heads’ capital!”
“Precisely,” the grey-coated stallion said with a firm nod. “The unicorn’s capital city is more than large enough to easily accommodate both their own citizens and ours. When taking into account the city’s defenses, the supplies we can acquire here, and the ease of moving them thanks to Link’s bags, we can use Unicornia as a stronghold to weather the storm until we can find a way to properly combat the wraiths’ hordes.”
“Huh, not too shabby,” Ganondorf declared even as the last few ponies of the caravan passed by and their own group started to move after them. It was a basic plan, but at the very least that would keep the three of them from having to worry about the non-combatants and allow them to try and find the pink flame from the little Princess’ dream.
“Yes. Though now comes the hard part, I’m afraid,” Old Oak gloomily said with a very tired sight. “While Chancellor Puddinghead is a very level headed pony, convincing the rest of the senate that evacuating the capital is not only necessary, but must be done with all due haste, will not be an easy task, even with his aid.”
“Senate?” The large earth pony asked Zelda with a hint of curiosity, knowing that the Wielder of Wisdom probably knew something about whatever it was that the old timer was talking about due to her little reading binge earlier on the week. The little Princess’ need to know everything about all things in existence proved its usefulness once again, as she swiftly answered.
“The earth ponies follow a representative democratic form of rule, in which elected officials, known as senators, serve for a predetermined number of years, and work to create their laws,” the white-coated unicorn dutifully answered, gaze focused inwards as she probably remembered word for word one of Old Oak’s books. “They also choose by popular vote amidst their number someone to act as a leader, known as a chancellor, who serves for the duration of a mandate and may be re-elected later.”
“Huh, how quaint,” the Dark Lord idly commented while briefly considering this very odd form of government. From what little he had heard it sounded convoluted at best. But what did he know? If the earth ponies made it work, then more power to them.
As he kept walking towards the Earth Villa, Ganondorf pondered how swiftly such a form of government would act when faced with the current crisis. He really didn’t know enough to say anything about it, but from personal experience he knew that the more people there were in positions of power the longer it took to get things done. And as the thought of wasting hours, or perhaps even days, waiting for them to act, all while the green wonder hogged all the fun as the wraiths attacked Pegasopolis, crossed his mind, Ganondorf decided that that wasn’t exactly acceptable.
So, as they neared the Villa proper, Ganondorf idly mused if perhaps there wasn’t any way to expedite things a little.
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Bolt let out a very annoyed and tired sigh as the clamor of angry voices and shouted discussions resounded within the hallowed halls of the council chamber.
Once upon a time he had seen the leaders of the Armada in a near reverential light. He remembered as a young colt how their teachers had talked in length and great detail how the High Commander and the Four Colonels were basically the epitome of their tribe. How they were what all that a young pegasus should strive to be, bold and brave in the face of their enemies, steadfast and just when alongside their allies, undaunted and resolute in the face of adversity. They were the leaders of their tribe, chosen amidst their numbers by skill and capability above all else. The greatest of their greats!
Suffice to say that seeing four of their five leaders squabbling with each other as if they were a bunch of foals, all the while a very real and dangerous threat kept advancing upon the pony lands, had caused that image to crack somewhat.
“Ancestors protect us,” he mumbled in a near whisper while briefly closing his eyes and massaging his brow in a vain attempt to alleviate the headache he was suffering. “This is madness!”
“This is politics,” Link nonchalantly replied with a shrug of his wings. How the green-coated pony could still act so calmly when about half the chamber continued to stare at him almost non-stop since the fact he is a Storm Caller came to light was beyond the corporal. By the great winds, the looks some of the weather ponies under Colonel Spring Shower’s command were giving Link would make a dragon suddenly decide he had urgent prior commitments somewhere else! And yet, the green pegasus continued to act completely unaffected by the whole situation!
Well, perhaps not completely unaffected. Bolt corrected as he saw Link briefly move his wings in an apparently completely natural and casual manner, which nonetheless made it so that the saddlebags he was wearing were now at an optimal position for easy reach. Saddlebags that Bolt knew somehow contained the green pegasus’ sword.
That and a very light narrowing of his eyes were the only signs that Link wasn’t as unaffected by the situation as he let on.
Shaking his head lightly as he let out another sigh as Winter Gale, Thunderstrike, and Shake Spear started to shout over each other at the same time. When all was said and done Bolt felt extremely disillusioned with how things could’ve devolved so fast.
By all that was sacred! The azure-coated pony was quite certain that the only reason open conflict hadn’t explosively started yet was due to the ancient tradition that no fighting of any kind was allowed inside these chambers!
“Seriously, what are Colonel Winter Gale and his troops thinking,” one of Shake Spear’s aids angrily commented with a few other pegasi while he rubbed his wings to ward off the chill that had fallen upon the room. “Everypony knows there is no fighting allowed within these halls! What he and his troops think they will accomplish with this cheap intimidation tactic is beyond me!”
As several other ponies angrily voiced their agreement, Bolt realized that the temperature had truly dropped significantly since the start of the talks hours ago. He also couldn’t help but agree that he didn’t see the point for such a blatant and ineffectual attempt at intimidation.
Yes, Winter Gale and his personal troops were fearsome fighters. Their mastery over their weather magic easily allowed them to rain down ice and frost upon their enemies to great effect, something that had spelled the end of more than a few enemies of the Armada.
But when the ones you were trying to intimidate knew that you wouldn’t attack no matter how much posturing you were doing, most of the intimidation factor fell flat and instead turned into annoyance. For all his faults Colonel Winter Gale was a firm believer in the traditions of the Armada, everypony knew he would never break them in such a crude manner, so why he was allowing his troops to lower the temperature in a very ineffectual theatrical display was beyond Wonder Bolt. Especially since doing so came so close to skirting the sacred rules laid down by their forefathers! It made absolutely no sense whatsoev-!
And suddenly, like a lightning bolt amidst a clear blue sky, it hit him.
All Pegasi knew that breaking the truce here was folly. All of them!
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So why would Colonel Winter Gale so brazenly skirt those sacred rules and attempt to do just that? What could he possibly win by so openly flaunting an apparent disrespect for one of their most ancient traditions? All that would do was anger everypony and push those who were still neutral away from his camp! It was simply idiotic! And, say what you will about any other of their character flaws, but none of the colonels got to their position by being idiots!
Ignoring all thoughts about protocols or station, Wonder Bolt surged forth past the pegasi all around him. Ignoring their shouts and curses he swiftly forced his way onwards, urgency clear in his every move. He knew with a sinking feeling on his gut what the steadily dropping temperature meant, and time was of the essence!
Ignoring the fact that what he was doing was tantamount to political and social suicide, Bolt pushed forward until he was past the ring of ponies circling the center of the chambers and standing right next to a very surprised looking Shake Spear. Ignoring the dozens upon dozens of angry eyes glaring down upon him, or the anger filled calls demanding his immediate removal from the chambers, he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Sound to quarters!” he bellowed as loudly as he could.
A deafening silence filled the chambers as his shouted command reverberated within the cloud-walls. Technically speaking he had every right to give voice to this command, for it was the only command that any pegasus could voice regardless of rank. Should any pegasi realize there was a danger to either their squad or allied forces, he had both the right and the duty to alert and call their brothers to arms.
Sure, misusing said command would mean that a court martial would be the least of the caller’s worries, but the option was there.
“Corporal, what do you think you are doing?!” Colonel Shake Spear hissed, the look on his face making it clear he was wondering if the corporal had lost his mind.
Firming his resolve, and praying to all his ancestors that his gut feeling was right and this wasn’t the biggest, and quite possible last, mistake he would ever commit in this life, Wonder Bolt resolutely looked the colonel straight in the eyes and refused to be cowed.
“Sir, the temperature has been steadily dropping more and more for several minutes now-” he started to say, only for Shake Spear to cut him off with a very aggravated hoof movement.
“Well, yes, but while extremely rude on Colonel Winter Gale and his troops’ part, that’s hardly a-” the cream-coated colonel started to say, only for Bolt to be the one to suddenly cut him off.
“No, think!” the corporal berated the colonel, to the shocked gasps of nearly the entirety of the room. Trying to not think about the possible consequences of his actions, Bolt firmly continued. “No colonel would ever sink so low as to violate the truce these hallowed halls impose! Nor would they be so sloppy as to allow their troops to act without his say so or allow his own talent to run wild and accidentally cause this!”
Quite a few murmurs started to sound as he said those words, as the crowd wondered what he was talking about then if he wasn’t about to try and undermine Winter Gale and his faction. Even the ice-blue colonel himself was giving Bolt a frosty but slightly inquisitive look.
“Don’t you see? Winter Gale and his troops aren’t the ones lowering the temperature! Which can only mean one thing; the wraiths are getting closer to Pegasopolis!” he declared to all and sundry as he turned his frantic gaze towards the four colonels.
Shake Spear’s eyes had widened at the corporal’s words, clearly seeing what Bolt had seen. But the same could not be said about the others. Spring Shower had a slightly confused look in her eyes, while Thunderstrike was openly scoffing. All the while Winter Gale kept staring with an inscrutable expression at the azure-coated stallion, his hard cold eyes not showing any hint of what he was thinking.
The other pegasi in the room started to voice their protests or ask questions once again, the volume of the crowd growing once more with each moment that passed, much to Bolt’s inner despair, before a loud firm voice bellowed right next to him.
“Sound to quarters!” Shake Spear voiced the command once again in a shout so loud as to vibrate the air itself. The colonel gazed at the unruly crowd with hard steely eyes that dared anypony to contradict his words. “Arm yourselves, brothers and sisters! Form your squadrons and prepare the defenses! On the double!”
Shocked gasps and worried murmurs started to fill the chambers as Winter Gale took a step forward and flared his wings as he looked Shake Spear straight in the eyes. “Spear, what exactly are y-“
“Colonel Winter Gale,” Shake Spear brusquely cut off his fellow colonel as he took several steps forward until he was standing right in front of Winter Gale. “I have never liked you, and I’m quite sure that the feeling is entirely mutual.”
Whatever Bolt thought Colonel Shake Spear was going to say, that was most definitely not it. It was a thought clearly shared by most ponies in the room, who were trading perplexed looks with each other. But before anypony could say anything else, Shake Spear continued undaunted.
“And yet, I know for a fact that, in your own way, you have always strived for the betterment of the Armada. That you have always fought for what you think is best for our tribe. And I’m equally sure you know that I am the same,” now even more confused, the crowd waited with bated breath, listening to every word the flamboyant colonel spoke to his cold-eyed fellow colonel. “As such, hear my words and understand their urgency!
“Pegasopolis itself may well be about to be attacked! Yes, the possibility exists that it may be a false alarm, but considering the cost of it being true and we do nothing, should we really risk inaction?” Shake Spear loudly asked the colonel and the room at large, wings flared at his sides in defiance. “To do nothing as a new foe that dares challenge us for our position as rulers of the skies remains unopposed? A foe bold enough to strike at us in our very seat of power?”
With every word the colonel spoke, Bolt felt a sense of defiance and virtuous anger nest itself on his chest, a feeling that going by the looks of the crowd, quite a few pegasi shared with him.
“Will we allow the chance that this attack is real to go unanswered? Will we allow ourselves to be caught unawares as we air our grievances within these halls? Or will we meet this foe upon our battlements with blades drawn? What say you, my fellow colonel? I, for one, know what my answer is!”
A long moment of silence followed the cream-coated colonel’s speech, as Winter Gale stared at Shake Spear with hard narrowed eyes. His gaze carried within it all the warmth of the winds of his name, and yet Shake Spear did not falter, meeting his fellow colonel’s stare with equal intensity.
All the ponies in the room held their breath as Winter Gale turned his hard eyes towards Link and Bolt and scrutinized them for a brief moment, as if searching for something. Before, with a barely perceptible nod, the ice-blue pegasus returned his gaze towards Shake Spear and broke the silence.
“Sound to quarters,” he commanded as his wings flared at his sides, his voice barely louder than normal and yet still filling the silent room completely. “Gather all the troops and occupy the battlements. If these creatures exist, then let them see the folly of attacking the home of the pegasi!”
Roars of agreement and defiance filled the chambers as orders started to be shouted and the crowd swiftly started to leave towards the barracks and armories. But amidst the controlled chaos Shake Spear and Winter Gale remained perfectly still as they kept staring deep into each other’s eyes.
“You better be right, Spear,” Winter Gale said as a parting remark as he turned around and started to leave. His true feelings were once again hidden behind a visage that could’ve been sculpted out of ice, for all the warmth it showed.
“Truly, Gale, I sincerely hope that I’m wrong,” was Shake Spear’s reply, as he started to trot towards Bolt, Link, and the rest of his officers, the colonel’s eyes as hard and sharp as a drawn blade.
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“This is completely idiotic,” Ganondorf spat out in clear disgust from where he and Zelda sat at the very edge of the earth ponies’ central hall, watching as over two dozen of the so-called ‘senators’ discussed what to do with the information Old Oak had brought them. Or even if said information was real for that matter, despite having five villages’ worth of refugees currently in their city.
The old timer actually had a decent plan as they approached his tribe’s leadership. Apparently having more than enough connections to get an audience straight away, and assuring them that he personally knew Chancellor Puddinghead, and that their leader was a very pragmatic and down to earth sort that would listen to their words.
Only said chancellor was apparently currently in Unicornia, demanding explanations out of the unicorns for the sudden change in the day and night cycle. Bad luck, that.
Which left this bunch of morons in charge, who clearly would have trouble with agreeing which direction was north, much less that they needed to evacuate their capital, and it needed to be done yesterday. It brought Old Oak’s plan to a grinding halt before it could even start, as the elder was forced to waste valuable time attempting to convince the idiots of the validity of the threat to the north.
“We’ve got to make them rethink their position,” Zelda muttered in a near whisper, her eyes narrowed as her mind worked at the problem at hand.
The Wielder of Power knew that the Wielder of Wisdom was a shrewd politician, being sharp as a razor and knowing all the tricks of the game. Give her half a chance and she would have the majority of these idiots agreeing to her plans in short order while thinking that it was their idea all along. But sadly, the spiral protrusion upon her head had cut that avenue off as well, since allowing a unicorn to speak at the earth senate was apparently tantamount to sacrilege or some such nonsense.
“Thinking twice with no brain isn’t any better than thinking once, Princess,” he dryly informed her as a particularly fat earth pony wearing far too much jewelry started to shout about how there was no such thing as wraiths to the north.
Truly, they had been at this mess for less than twenty minutes, and Ganondorf could swiftly feel his patience disappearing while his anger rose in equal measure. And for once he knew that those feelings were entirely his own and had nothing to do with the curse’s attempts to influence him.
He really, really wished that he could say he was surprised by this whole mess. But that would be a complete lie. Stupidity was a universal constant, after all. And, if left unchecked, it had the worrying tendency of accumulating at important positions, or other such places where it really shouldn’t be allowed to be even near to.
As he took in, with a very annoyed look on his eyes, how two other senators started to shout over each other, about a subject that had nothing to do with the current topic of discussion or even the whole crisis in general, Ganondorf felt the last of his patience snap.
“I’ll handle this,” he bluntly told the little princess, already marching forward with a scowl on his muzzle.
Completely ignoring Zelda’s panicked exclamations, he started to shove his way to the middle of the room, any pony that was not swift enough in getting out of his way being unceremoniously pushed aside to make way for the Wielder of Power. Uncaring for whose feelings he was hurting he trotted onwards, charging past anything in his path while paying no mind to Zelda’s final shout to think about what he was doing. The last part made him snort in a mix of amusement and frustration.
That had always been a problem with the little princess. She was simply far too darned nice!
Zelda was a superb ruler, far better than him, in fact. His ego wasn’t anywhere nearly as fragile for him to not recognize that. She cared for her subjects and always strived to give them all that she thought they deserved from their kingdom. Always ready to work harder, to compromise, and to sacrifice for the betterment of the faceless masses. And that had simply been something he had never had the patience or inclination to do.
For, while the Wielder of Wisdom had always favored the velvet glove as her form of governing the masses, the Wielder of Power instead had always preferred the iron fist.
He knew that by the definition of most beings he would be classified as a tyrant. Oh sure, he was actually quite fair and just towards those under his rule, never asking more than they could give and always rewarding his subjects’ efforts with the appropriate rewards, but still a tyrant nonetheless. And quite frankly, Ganondorf had no problem accepting the title.
He was who he was, and made no attempts to hide that. The Dark Lord had made peace with his myriad character flaws centuries ago, accepted them and moved on.
Ignoring the affronted looks and biting questions thrown his way by several ponies about what he thought he was doing, Ganondorf forced his way past the useless nitwits that dared call themselves the ruling body of the earth ponies and kept moving towards the very center of the room, his pace calm and unhurried as he shoved past both guards and senators alike with ease.
Nowadays he could see that both paths had positives and negatives. That both the path of the enlightened monarch that the Princess sought to tread and of the dauntless overlord he had chosen to walk for himself had upsides and downsides in various areas. But there was one specific area where his own path greatly surpassed anything that Zelda’s more benevolent and peaceful path could ever hope to produce.
Standing at the very center of the room, under the curious gaze of Old Oak and the other ponies he knew, the furious gaze of the idiotic senators and their guards, and the utterly exasperated look from a now very resigned looking princess, Ganondorf took a deep breath and spoke.
“Shut up!” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he brought down his right hoof against the ground with enough force to completely shatter the slabs of stone that made up the pavement and cause more than one earth pony to lose their balance and fall down due to the small quake his actions had caused.
Speed.
When all was said and done in the end, when it came the time to make up a decision, his path was infinitely faster than the Princess’ and that was an undeniable fact, due to the simple fact that he didn’t need to spend countless hours convincing clueless idiots that the actions needed to ensure their continued survival were, in fact, necessary.
“How dar-” the fat pony he noted before started to say as the two closest guards got back to their hooves and started to rush towards him, only for Ganondorf to both silence him and freeze the two guards in their places with a look.
Yanking one of the cowed guards’ unsheathed blades straight out of his hoof, Ganondorf crushed the sorry excuse for a sword into scrap metal with contemptuous ease. The loud ringing sound of snapping metal filled the now deathly silent room, while he leveled all the weight his steely gaze could deliver at these ‘senators’.
“Good, so you can understand simple instructions, excellent,” the Wielder of Power conversationally said as he swept his gaze around the now thoroughly intimidated hall. He briefly saw that Zelda was face-hoofing near the back, but he also noted that the Wielder of Wisdom was most definitely not attempting to stop him, which, from the mare, was tantamount to tacit approval.
Letting that happy little fact translate into his smile growing to show a few more teeth, Ganondorf continued to talk to his now very attentive audience. “Here is what is going to happen:
“All of you who want to keep breathing for the foreseeable future are to gather all the essential supplies you can find, arm and armor all those who know how to wield said arms without hurting themselves due to sheer stupidity, and proceed to evacuate this town as swiftly as possible, heading towards Unicornia. Oh, and do send word to all settlements to do the same. Do you understand these instructions?”
“You can’t jus-”
A fine coating of dust and debris washed over the once again prone ponies as the dissenter found himself suddenly with nothing to say. Calmly removing his hoof from the now quite sizable crater that was now all that remained of the center of the room, Ganondorf gifted the senate with his best glare.
“Now listen, and listen well!” he quietly said as most of the ponies cowered underneath the gaze of his golden glare. “For reasons that quite frankly I can’t be bothered to ponder about, I do want your species to continue to exist for the moment. And as such you have the great honor of having my aid in ensuring your continued survival! And fortunately for you, your acceptance of such a situation is not necessary!”
“So you will follow our commands, do as Old Oak said, and do the sensible thing once in your pathetic existences and not try to prevent us from saving your lives! Or I will personally ensure that you shall do so! Kicking and screaming if it is what it takes!”
And as he laid down the law upon the idiotic senators, Old Oak, Forest Blossom and Sure Shot looked as if they didn’t know if they should be scandalized or fascinated by the whole process. Meanwhile, Zelda was gently shaking her head, her hoof still firmly pressed against her brow.
Though, as he continued to put some semblance of order to this pathetic excuse of a ruling body, Ganondorf couldn’t help but notice that there was a very faint upwards tugging at the corners of the Princess’ mouth, as if she was currently suppressing a smile.