Twilight has come to discover that royal politics are complicated, but foreign policy is the worst. When the minotaur king decides to pay a visit, Celestia invites Twilight to be part of her first meeting with a foreign leader. This is her first big chance to impress on an international level... but the king isn't here to celebrate the Magic of Friendship, and he has more than a few choice words for the rookie princess. Twilight might just want to go back to world-saving after this.
Originally written for the write-off prompt "There's Magic in Everything." I was too late, then changed it up, and was left with... well, this. Brilliant!
Thanks to my prereader BlinkyPony along with my editors PaulAsaran and ultra1437 for all their help!
Cover art can be found here.
Looks about as good as it did when I first saw it, so, nice work.
Yes, that is supposed to be a compliment.
Also, it's occurred to me by now that I've never kept track of my favorite (or at least, "least disliked") stories, however few and far between those may be. I should probably start doing that...
~Blinkie
I quite like this, as Celestia can throw Equestria into danger all she wants to teach Twilight lessons, but she isn't allowed to throw the international community into danger to teach Twilight lessons.
Oh, lookie what we have here, a rookie trying to be princess of the year.
Yep, still rings all the right bells. Might be my bias towards... *ahem* certain episodes that makes me like this so much, though.
I thought that Solis came across as outright whiny. I mean, he had very good reasons for his demands, but he really overdid it on the sass, and I don't like him. That's not to say that he's badly written, though.
Now, the ending was downright impressive. Just enough worldbuilding to make it work, but not enough to distract from the core of the story.
Also, this story reminds a little bit of The Voice of Reason.
I liked Solis. He was actually Quite Reasonable. Much more than other leaders of other nations normally shown in fics.
5023161
Thanks for the tip, will try to cut down the whine factor for him if I ever decide to use him again.
I could not find anything wrong with what Solis said or the way he said it.
Twilight was completely in the wrong. When you are ruler, you have to put the people as a whole and the nation first. You won't like it and it'll haunt you at night, but that is the price of being a good ruler.
I think that you could really expand your writing potential by making this a full-fledged story. Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it as it is, but most of your stories are one-shots. This has the potential to be so much more, and it would be a shame to see it go to waste, especially in the hands of such a capable author.
10/10
Is that a jab towards the recent HiE fics?
Man, was this a good story, it made so much sense! Excellent as always Bob!
But what I'm wondering is, why didn't Celestia just except Solis's deal? It sounds reasonable enough. She just sends a letter anything a new threat to the world pops up and he sends in some troops. And if the Mane 6 are doing their job right, the threat should be beat by the time they even get the chance to get there, and if any of the Minotaur soldiers do something they aren't suppose to, Celestia cancels the deal. Its a pretty solid deal.
5023262
Idk.
But I would say: ok, let's see your nation have complete peace and save the world too while you're at it. Oh, what's that? You haven't saved the world once? Ok, now stop talking out your ass."
Odd that the minotaur king's name is "Sun God" (Deus Solis), and Celestia says "They worship a Sun god, or rather, the God, as they put it," and yet he feels safe yelling at her and her protege despite the fact that she controls the sun he worships. He even acknowledges this fact, so either he's far less religious than he lets on, or it's a bluff.
In the end this isn't about the Elements or the monster of the week; the King wants an excuse to mass troops on the Equestrian border which could enter Equestria any time he deems there to be a threat, and he's holding their coal supplies hostage to extort an agreement.
Celestia (or Twilight) should have responded in kind: "We accept your offer. We'll notify you of any large-scale threats that arise in Equestria and we'll allow your troops to assist in quelling whatever crisis arises." She grins and adds, "And if we hear of any threats originating in Taurian territory, we reserve the right to mobilize our armies and cross your borders to deal with the threat to our satisfaction."
As a wise ruler once said,
content6.flixster.com/question/45/06/08/4506088_std.jpg
"It would be unfortunate if I have to leave a garrison here."
5023409
You.
I like you.
Beautiful comment.
I'm always a fan of the apparent superior being knocked down a few notches, bi it physically or metaphorically.
Good job, bob.
An interesting read. I like all the little touches of world-building here. If you're considering writing a long series, this just might be a good starting point. However, this also reads like a response to stories about Equestria kicking ass all the time. In fact, it reads like a direct response to Warmongering.
Feathery appendage...oh, you mean a wing. Call it a wing then, mister smarty-pants.
This may just be me, but I don't think acting casually around someone who is very serious and uptight is a good way to foster good relations.
In terms of eye color, hazel is light brown with a greenish mixture to it. It's nowhere near black. This description makes no sense.
This is actually an excellent opportunity to add some color to the taurian culture. What counts as a symbol of authoritharian power to a minotaur? I'm guessing sun symbols, but I can only guess because nothing specific is mentioned.
This makes no sense. She welcomed him to her castle and nation. So does that mean he welcomes her back? But it isn't his castle/nation.
While I like the arguments that Solis brings to the table, his constant use of "downright" goes against his regal bearing, especially when he's described as a very serious person.
5023440
I made some corrections to the story, and thanks for the comment on how to do it! I also added a bit about minotaur symbols, which was a good tip for adding. And while I did read Warmongering and didn't particularly enjoy it, this was written about two to three days earlier, and more in response to A Letter to the Griffon Emperor on the Matter of War and How an Actual Human Vs Pony War Would Go. Both showcase either FUCK YEAH PONIES or FUCK YEAH HUMANS easily throwing down the opposite side without much thought put into the actual story itself. Basically, they're lazy, and don't really consider the real diplomacy or politics that go into wars or discussions between foreign nations. I tried to change that up with more insight to how pony and another race's relations would go down. But in any case, it was fun to write it!
Politics is always messy when it gets above pass the salt please.
As for the trains burning Minotaur sourced coal, maybe this would be one incentive for Twilight to look into turning up the light spell on a magically charged, orbetter still, energised gem, so instead of a chemical reaction throwing out thermal radiation, they get a small amount of locally sourced matter, throwing out a lot ofmagically triggered thermal radiation.
After all, nuclear power stations are just giant kettles, just like coal fired power stations.
If you have magic, trade magic items that end up necessities. then, anyone causing problems will be cutting their own line of supplies. Your problem then is keeping advanced enough throughconstant research and development. Like Japan.
The mlp trains are tiny and have no tenders, I always assumed they already ran on friendship or some other ridiculous fuel. But either way changing the threat item to anything else would still have the desired effect and is just me nitpicking a great story.
5023263
Because having foreign troops on your soil is usually not a favorable thing unless they are allies or some sort of mutual defense pact.
As for the King's other points, I'd say there are valid. I get the feeling the King just wants Equestria to think about the world outside and stop keeping world ending things secret.
5023649 Yes, but then everyone despises you.
Like Japan.
~ TOOWC
(I'm just kidding, btw)
If Celestia doesn't want to accept the deal, she could just trade with the United Undertown Nations. They'll have plenty of coal from their trade with the Taurian Kingdom, and they'd be happy to get food they can sell to the Taurian Kingdom.
I never quite understood how trade embargos are supposed to work.
I fucking love this king. This is how a proper ruler should act. Not some pissing, prancy, pink pony princess. No, he is the ruler of race, the chosen of his people. Every word he spoke was beautiful and deserves to go down in history. I would go fucking gay for this guy. He is awesome.
I'm curious how Celestia thinks other countries would be able to invade Equestria when she can just not raise the sun for them either. Are they supposed to have their own ways off controlling it?
Also seems odd that they didn't mention that Discord is on their side now.
5023906 Almost no country on Earth has, or even been, or ever truly will be truly self-sustainable. Almost every single country that's larger than a few miles has to have some kind of trade route set up in order to get raw goods, food, luxury items such as silk/cloth etc.
I'm probably not explaining it very well, but what I'm trying to say is that for a nation as large as Equestria would be, the sheer amount of logistics and manpower required in order to set up a proper self-sustaining economy would be monumental, or even impossible, thereby making trade a much more viable thing to do in order to get what they need.
5024004
Discord is on no side other than his own. Which is the best side, and most handsome. :V
5024027
And the season four finale established him as genuinely caring about his pony friends. Which would seem to preclude letting them be invaded, conquered and deposed.
5024014
I'm not saying Equestria should be self-sustaining. From what I understand, the Tauran Kingdom is planning on doing the trading they would have done with Equestria with the United Undertown Nations. If they're selling coal to the United Undertown Nations, they can't stop them from turning around and selling it to Equestria.
There is a market price for coal. It doesn't matter who sells to who. They'll all buy it and sell it at the same price.
I can clop to this
Now I know why I dislike this King. Cause we're similar.
I kind of want some comeuppance against him, solely for the more direct insults he made towards Equestria, Twilight and Celestia though despite his wanting to keep his kingdom safe.
I like this. It broached on subjects I myself wondered about. One like for you.
5024207 You perv
I read the king with a thick Scottish highland accent. It was glorious.
This Twilight is pretty dumb for a princess.
My only complaint about this story is that it's complete
Featured on 09/19/2014.
Solis was reasonable, sure. But I think this story tread dangerously close to having him win his argument by fiat rather than reasonableness. There actually were some reasonable rebuttals that Twilight could have brought up to his points, but Solis got to make his pronouncements and threats and then he dropped the mic and walked away without giving her opportunity to raise them. That's not diplomacy, that's grandstanding and bullying.
If Equestria truly needs to bolster its national military/industrial might it's to deal with Solis rather than to deal with the likes of Discord and Tirek (which as Twilight pointed out repeatedly are a sort of threat that they've got a good handle on). Does Solis really think that an army would have been the best way to deal with those guys? Armies are suited to dealing with other armies, not with gods. I guess next time a malevolent god shows up Equestria will need an army to keep the Minotaur invaders from screwing up their efforts to defeat it, so there's that.
I also question how it is that Twilight's never met a minotaur before when they have a truly vast population (50 million with an 18th century tech level is *huge*) and such close trade ties with Equestria that cutting them off will ruin the economy. We've seen way more griffons in the series than we have minotaurs, and Rarity commented "how rare!" when she found out that Rainbow Dash's friend was a griffon. But perhaps I'm getting too deep into the worldbuilding here.
5024004
Well if Unicorn magic can control it, there might be other kinds of magic in the setting, which would allow for others to control it as well. Which is my belief anyways because hearing "Well they'll just drop the sun on them" sounds stupid because that would end the planet.
King Solis is weak and his county is weak and brittle and his tactics and weak, brittle and short-sighted. How sad. This makes me smile. I make this comment not with contempt but with experience. Good job Rainbow Bob! King Solis feels like a real life political character in the vein of our "great" leaders in this world. Not all of them... but enough of them.
5024453
No goddamnit. Bad chono, baaaaaaaaad.
5024737
That occurred to me, yeah, but they probably wouldn't know they could control the sun until they'd tried it out. Which they can't really do as long as Celestia controls it. And "We're pretty sure this will work" isn't a lot of confidence for "making sure the sun keeps rising" level important things.
That said, really I don't think you should assume that Equestria's sun is a gigantic ball of super hot gases way off in space as opposed to a chiller version of the sun from Super Mario Bros 3. This is a fantastic setting, after all.
5024753
It's your fate now RainbowBob, thanks to the box reviews and your blog we are now all aware of your burning hatred for Featured on ///, I predict there be somebody writing that for every single story you write in the future that gets featured.
5024453
That's not enough. Try something like this.
There is more to this than His Majesty is saying.
If he were interested in this agreement, then he wouldn't be so antagonistic. He doesn't want one. He wants something else.
If the princesses bow, he can say that he flicked the noses of gods and got away with it. He can show that he is strong, and mighty. This will give him and his country standing. This is worth a lot. The fact that he can send in his army whenever he wants is a nice bonus and helps with a rapid strike. As for the excuse, if Celestia refuses, he may have a sufficient excuse to wage war on Equestria. If he truly can send in millions (which I doubt very much) at a moments notice then that suggests that he has been preparing for war for some time.
(PS if Equestria is denied coal then the only logical choice is for Equestria to go to war with Taurus for the coal they need. Either way, War is inevitable.)
5024768
Whelp.
Time to go drink myself into a stupor again.
5024755
Well we do know that the Sun wasn't created by Celestia at the least, she just moves it and gains a slight boost to her magic from it (Journal of the two pony sisters)
I wonder if she could even actually bring it closer to the earth... Or why the sun needs to be moved in the first place.
I always thought the political world of Equestria and surroundings intriguing, since all we know from the world is one culture that is indeed very isolated despite being in the center of a whole continent.
I like Solus as a character, though he brings up valid points his judgement of how to deal with the threats Equestria faced is painted by abscence of knowledge. Nobody could have predicted a changeling invasion, as they seemed pretty much under Celestia's radar, and she's been around for a while. Discord would have made short work of any army, and destroying Nightmare Moon might've caused the moon to go out of control and would've left them without a chance to get Celesta back. And Tirek? Really, I don't think that, in the end, a minotaur army would've done that much and even Twilight was only on par with. It was more of a gamble, because who knows what might've happened had they continued their fight.
He probably didn't think about it, seeing how boisterous he is. His way is the right way, the pony's are wrong because, you know, look at them. They're tiny horses.
The matter of religion is always intriguing, especially when you've got two actual people controlling the sun and the moon. It's a bit strange that Celestia isn't held with some sort of reverence, as she is essentially the woman who makes the sun get up in the morning, but maybe they just differentiate between the god and some puny horse. I don't know.
Also, sun not going up at the right time = instant anarchy. I love it.
This is a well-written one shot with quite a few layers to it. I'd say that it is well-paced and the characters act in accord. I liked how the politics were presented as based on emotions, seeing how easily Solus managed to upset Twilight and Celestia, while also getting more smug as the story went on. Yet, of course, valid questions were presented and it shows just how easily it is to upset whole nations just by saving the world and getting self-righteous about it.
10/10, would buy noodles again.
Also: Congratz on the feature box, your fic is now terribad.
researchismagic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Twilight_Sparkle_Hipster_Glasses-n13130614707551.png
5024824 So he's threatening to start a war with a country that utilizes high level weaponized magic, has air superiority, and well trained ground troops? Is he mad or just stupid? That, at least, is the diplomatic version.
The Wonderbolts, and hence, Equestrian air forces are pretty pathetic. The Wonderbolts, which have been alluded to as the best of the best, cannot outmaneuver a land-bound dragon. The Royal Guard was unable to repel a changeling attack with several minutes head-up. To be fair they got zerged, but a little bit of better training, decentralized shield casting, and even just slightly better weapons would have turned the tide on that one, hinting at incompetence among the higher command and truly horrible training. The Guard was stubborn and kept up the fight, I'll give them that, but they lost. They lost before the shield fell, and that's knowing the Changeling attack was a tactical nightmare.
If a quarter of Solis's boasts about the Taurian military are true, Equestria will lose the war within about three months. It will be embarrassing. A thousand years of peace has caused the Guard to be more for show than anything else.
Solis could have easily been punctured. First he complains that Celestia is too dependent upon the Elements, that they are at risk--- then he complains that Twilight doesn't sacrifice them all for a momentary battlefield advantage? And that's all it would have been; the instant after Tirek killed them, the battle would have continued... and Twilight WOULDN'T have been able to defeat him, because the only ones capable of releasing the power necessary to defeat him would have been dead. He also needs to be reminded that the magic of Equestria runs on harmony and friendship, and one of its key elements is LOYALTY. Tossing her friends under the bus would have made her lose control over the Element of Magic itself.
Someone needed to remind Solis the fate of one is shared by all. a King who sacrifices innocents for a transient gain is no king at all.
And it is very, VERY odd for a supposed priest of the Sun to be pissing off the one who lobs it through the sky like a baseball every day. I suppose that's probably the gripe point for him: It rankles him that his "deity" is, in reality, a mere bauble controlled by a frail little princess. Makes you wonder what fabulous lies he and the other priests tell the Minotaurs to keep them from flipping out and ending his theocracy-- or worse, running off to make Celestia their high priestess.
If this story were to continue, I suspect Celestia and Twilight would have to realize that Solis was deliberately pushing them, and he expects, no wants them to push back.
To start off with, Celestia should have had Luna there. Luna is a co-regent of Equestria; making her hide in her room like a naughty filly to protect Solis' hurt feelings was a blatant show of weakness. Having DISCORD there too would have put Solis even further back on his heels-- and reminded him that the Elements of Harmony were not the only forces at Equestria's beck and call.
Second, Celestia needs to line up alternatives-- and have them readily available to trot out to show Solis, or ANY diplomat, that Equestria is not totally dependent on any of them for anything. For example, how hard would it be, really, to heat the boilers in those trains with magic? Especially with a princess who has a direct tie to the Sun? It already fuels everything on the planet; it would just be a matter of skipping a few intermediary steps and transferring a microscopic smidgen of that power directly to the boilers on the trains. (Really, all of Equestria should be solar powered, for just that reason. And they wouldn't be doing anything more than tapping their own share of power--- which falls on them already--- directly from the source for greater efficiency.) In the end, Equestria's wheat, a food product, is a lot easier to trade to other races than coal, which is only useful to nations with a coal-burning infrastructure.... which would put Solis, rather than Celestia, over a barrel.
Third, Celestia needs to make it unequivocal: any attempt to put foreign troops on Equestrian soil would be regarded as an act of war, and Solis would regret it. Briefly.
Finally, after the stick, comes the carrot: concessions. Equestria DOES need better communication networking with other nations, a stronger military, more diverse and robust national defenses and weapons. If Twilight couldn't whip up a network of two-way magic mirrors, I'd eat my hat. And Solis wants a military presence in Equestria? Fine, so long as an equally sized and armed Equestrian force is allowed in his kingdom, within firing range of the Capital. That should serve as sufficient deterrent to him getting ambitious or excitable.
5023906 Badly. Setting a trade embargo--- and to a lesser degree, setting tariffs--- is basically laying siege to your own nation. You raise prices, strangle the economy, and even with tariffs are still gaining less than you lose to lost opportunities.
5024893
5024898
I like you. I've noticed a lot of people mistake "Diplomacy" for "Playing nice." Rather, diplomacy is the art of war continued by other means. Trying to get people to realize that Tia has been around for over a thousand years and she should be able to play pretty much any of the mortal rulers like a fiddle seems to be pretty hard.