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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Ever the gentlestallion Silver, holding the door for the lady!
Looks like they may be in for routing a corrupt adviser or two!
This question has been burning in me for a while.
Silver is an alicorn, thus he is genetically all three tribes. So when he studs out does that not mean that there is a chance of a lunar earth pony being born? I don't recall that being brought up.
6063178 Nopony has brought it up, and it's technically possible, though Luna's implied that each lunar branch is a big deal to create, but she never had an alicorn stud to work with before, so she could be proven quite wrong.
"Shei" stepped out from the kitchen.
Replace "greeting" with "welcoming."
And three "large-looking" baastians.
I have a feeling that Pharaoh is really a prisoner in her own kingdom.
Harts Fire
6063777 Not too many typos today, yay!
6063797 One more:
As her pawhands (should that really be "pawhands"?) "wrung" nervously a moment.
Silver and company are invited to the pharaoh's palace (I see it as more of a palace than a castle), as they deal with ever more blatant attempts on their lives. Having finally gotten to the main reason that they were invited to Anugypt in the first place, this is where the story truly begins...
It was slightly amusing to see how Shei and Aila were reacting so differently to the idea of visiting the pharaoh's palace, with Shei being giddy and Aila seeming to be stuck in a perpetual sulk. The two sisters seem to be dichotomizing more and more as the story progresses. Still, I was glad to see Silver insisting on taking them along, since they almost certainly would not have survived very long if they were left alone.
Likewise, Silver's heart-to-heart with Celestia was not only sweet, but struck me as being very honest. It's natural for Silver to still harbor some resentment towards Celestia for how she treated him before - though perhaps a tad ironic, given that he's completely and utterly unable/unwilling to release that anger in any tangible fashion - even as he tries to let it go and learn to love and trust her. Insofar as Celestia goes, I'm very much enjoying her portrayal here, as I think it's doing a fantastic job of showcasing her mixture of uncertainty, attraction, residual guilt, and protectiveness that she feels towards her new husband.
It's notable that the next attempt on Celestia's life (and Silver's, though I presume it was targeting Celestia) came at the castle. This seems to suggest that the one behind these assassination attempts is someone that works within the royal palace...though that's not a certainty (even the amount of money offered to kill Celestia doesn't mean anything conclusively, since there must be nobles, rich merchants, etc.), since it could have been a bribe or sabotage, etc.
What I'm more curious about is what the goal of these attempts on Celestia's life is. Does the party behind this not realize that killing her means that the sun won't move? Notwithstanding Luna, there's no other alternative to keep the heavens spinning, and if that happens then the entire world is likely to be in very big trouble, unless the unicorns go back to moving the sun again (which is viable, since I don't think that The Journal of the Two Sisters is a reliable resource)...or unless the perpetrator thinks that they have some sort of viable alternative, particularly since another country being in sole possession of moving the sun would shift the balance of power radically.
But with all of that said, we've now come to the main thrust of the story, which is the national - and international - intrigue into which Silver and Celestia are about to insert themselves. It's here that my expectations for this fic, and the degree to which I'll be passing judgment on its plot progression, rise considerably.
The fact of the matter is, the political problem in Anugypt that Silver and Celestia are there to solve needs to be presented in two different contexts. The first is simply "what is the problem?" The second is "what is the problem to Equestria?" These are very different questions, despite how similar they sound, and they're going to need to be laid out in very different ways.
While the first question clearly relates to some sort of power struggle, I hope that it's not going to be laid out in black-and-white terms. Indeed, we've already been given an initial premise that could, if played correctly, highlight the ambiguity that I hope is here. That premise is with regards to Pharaoh Clawdius herself (as a note, I suspect that name is a regnal name, since it's male and the pharaoh is female), who in a single scene has managed to already present herself as a weak ruler.
That might sound like a harsh indictment, but it's not wrong. Simply put, she can't seem to open her mouth without giving up the ball. Look at her scene in this chapter - upon meeting a foreign monarch, one that she's never met before and has no personal relationship with, almost the very first words out of her mouth are to admit that she's weak, politically speaking, and to beg for help. All of this in front of servants, no less! She has immediately opened relations by admitting that she's in a bad position and needs foreign assistance. This does not speak well for her ability to wield political power.
As it stands, this isn't that surprising; children tend to make poor politicians. More broadly, this is why dynastic systems of government tend to fall apart - one weak ruler can bring the entire thing down, especially if the parent is incapacitated before the child is ready to assume power (not to mention issues of infighting between siblings or other family members that want to attain the throne for themselves). In this case, however, Clawdius seems old enough to where she shouldn't be making rookie mistakes like this.
While we don't know who the opposition - and there could be multiple camps - is that's opposing her rule, it seems clear that there must be some functionary that's running things, since she's not. This could lead to an awkward situation, since it's entirely possible that for any good intentions that she may have, Clawdius could very well be a weak ruler that could lead to instability, which would doubtlessly be far worse for Anugypt.
This brings us to the second point that was raised above, which is what Equestria wants from this problem being resolved. This is not a minor question, because how nations relate depends upon the interests of those nations, rather than on personal whims. While I suppose Celestia could be there to act as a mediator or neutral party to try and oversee something like peace talks, it's far and away more likely that her country has some sort of existing relationship with Anugypt (why else would they have an ambassador for their country, after all?), and what that is - and what they want to promote - is going to shape how Celestia and Silver approach this situation.
(By the by, if there's an Anugyptian ambassador in Equestria, shouldn't Equestria have their own ambassador in Anugypt?)
That could be great dramatic fodder if done right. As sexy as it is to think of Silver banging the pharaoh, it's far sexier - at least to me - to consider issues where any personal desire that Silver might have to help her is weighed against the idea that solidifying her rule would actually be detrimental to Equestria. Obviously, this wouldn't be something that Clawdius would do intentionally - if she's already reduced to practically begging for help, she should be willing to offer terms that are so generous as to be grotesque - but it might simply be that her presence on the throne could lead to a situation that Equestria wants to avoid. If she's intent on instituting a domestic agenda of reforms that would cause instability in the region, for example, then that would be hard to swallow, even if Silver and Celestia personally approved of it.
Or perhaps her government is simply running out of money, and she needs to beg for a loan to try and prevent her country from going bankrupt (as opposed to some other faction that has a less ethical, but more pragmatic, means of guaranteeing the domestic economy, such as by formally instituting slavery...which would be hard for Silver to speak out against, since he's taken two slaves himself). While Silver and Celestia would doubtlessly not approve of slavery being instituted, a loan would be taking a big risk for their country if they don't think that Clawdius could repay it within so many years (interest included)...if she can even remain on the throne that long.
At the end of the day, Anugypt has a problem that's almost certainly going to be complex and multifaceted, composed of various political, economic, and cultural concerns that reflect attitudes among the populace, or at least some portion(s) of the populace. The question is how orthogonal those concerns are to the concerns of Equestria, which is where Silver and Celestia are going to need to approach them from.
6064138 I love your input on this! You've pried into angles that I likely would not have thought of, and will try to keep these angles in mind when I work on tomorrow's chapter. Silver and Celestia are gently assembling a fine bridge between themselves. They've decided on both sides that they want it to work, but hurt feelings and sore pasts don't vanish. I think both are being mature about working through their problems instead of trying to ignore them or pretend they aren't significant. They are maturing, together, as a bonded pair.
Meanwhile Shei and Aila are adapting to things in very different ways. Shei's thrilled at her sudden faerytale life, being swept off her hooves by a powerful foreign king and queen? This is amazing! Aila's waiting for the trouble to crash into this, and it already is, with a price on her head and bring dragged away from her inn.
6064138
Doubt the thing is gonna fit.
A thought occurred a while ago, and I'm only just getting around to addressing it. With the alicorn circle, is Twilight now married to her brother and sister-in-law?
6396242 Tangentially.
Pharaoh
Pharaoh
impress
…this wording seems out-of-character for Silver
Pharaoh
sharp-looking
Pharaoh
Princess of the Sun
Pharaoh
should be a "no" before longer, yes?
Aww you just want to throw Clawdius a ball...of spiked wool!
6935385 Tweaked!
"Help me, Silver, you're my only hope!"
Welp... I hope Night doesn't mind a young cat-person in the herd!
*snorts then softly laughs*
I just watched the movie Trolls a few days ago and it had a young king.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/trolls/images/0/0e/King_Gristle_carrying_young_Prince_Gristle.png/revision/latest?cb=20170215152803