Sun and Hearth Post-Update Blog: Chapter 4 (By the Stars) · 3:19am Feb 22nd, 2017
This is a weekly blog that I'm posting after each update to Sun and Hearth, with music, trivia, world building, and questions to answer. Make sure you're up to date on the fic first, because there are Spoilers Below.
Ending Credits:
Random Trivia!
“Unfilling” may or may not be a real word, but you know what it means.
Nothing says old timey setting like “haberdashery.”
Honey cakes. Okay, so I was selling honey at a booth at the Berlin (Maryland) Fiddler’s Convention this year with my sister. So we get our booth set up, and across from us is this tent. The tent sits there empty for a bit, and these guys come by and open the flaps. Cool. Then another twenty minutes go by. Then they show up again with some folded white pastry type boxes. Okay. Then another twenty minutes. They they show up with a huge picture of two guys with Mario Batali. Then they leave again.
There is still nothing at this booth that one might actually sell, or any indication of who they are other than (probably) people who have met Mario Batali. My sister, who has some Twilight Sparkle organization issues, is going insane at both the mystery and the inefficiency.
Then they show up with one small potted plant and set it there and leave again. The tent now contains a stack of folded boxes, a potted plant, and the picture. At this point I think they were trolling.
Finally they brought a sign and a tray of honey whiskey cakes and a case and set those up. It turns out they were some company that got some Food Network attention in NYC, and decided to relocate to Berlin, MD because reasons. They pretty much only did these honey whiskey cakes, but the were awesome.
That’s why I picked honey cakes for their first date.
World Building:
Let’s talk for a moment about what Celestia actually does, in this fic at least.
She is a princess, of course, but she and Luna operate under a charter (written by Cookie, with assistance from Clover and approved by all the founders after nopony could stand hearing about it anymore) that grants them certain powers and outlines rights for all the ponies in Equestria. Anything that isn’t either in the Princesses’ power or in violation of the rights outlined is up to the individual towns.
Celestia’s powers include:
Executive: She can act unilaterally on most international matters, including treaties, tariffs, and declarations of war. Internally she can use the guards or military to enforce her proclamations, uphold her rulings, or keep the peace. She also can distribute any unclaimed land as she sees fit and officially recognize cities and towns.
Judicial: The Princesses’ Court is the supreme court of Equestria. She can decide what cases she wants to hear and has the power to overturn legislation in cities or towns if she feels it violates the rights in the charter.
Legislative: Technically, Celestia can’t make laws, but she can issue and enforce proclamations. The major difference is that these become void if she’s removed. No city or town is responsible for enforcing them, though they can if they wish, otherwise it’s up to the guards and other military branches.
Given that her powers are limited, there’s a check on them, and she and/or Luna actually can be deposed if found in violation of the charter. The check comes from the Advisory Council.
The Advisory Council is officially two representatives from each tribe and a representative from each officially recognized city or town. There’s also a (usually) non-voting seat for an advisor selected by each princess.
The council is mostly what it says on the tin, offering opinions on behalf of their constituents. At any given time places or groups might not have bothered to appoint an advisor if there are no pressing matters up for debate.
However, the council’s official power is amending the charter, up to and including who is legally a Princess of Equestria. So, in theory, they can remove Celestia. There’s a moderately complex system of majorities needed for different things, but adding or removing a princess requires either Total Agreement (a unanimous vote) or what’s known as “Agreement With Dissent” (aka: Bloody-minded Bastard Agreement, so termed by Chancellor Puddinghead) which is a five sixth majority and the agreement of one princess or her representative advisor.
Questions to answer:
Rich and unfilling vs. less-sweet but hearty desserts. Discuss.
Would you, as a human (or earth pony,) really be comfortable playing pranks on extremely powerful unicorns?
Depends on how savory dinner was… and how hungry it left me
Always hearty desserts for me. Half the time I'm eating dessert because I'm out of dinner but still hungry..
The system of government is interesting; is it spoilers to say if we'll see more than fleeting bits in the future? Obviously there's what Celestia said about talking politics, but there are many ways this story could go yet.
It would depend on if I'm eating the dessert after dinner or as dinner.
It's happened, yes.
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I'm with Journcy here. I totally see Blazzing's point, but I find I'm rarely exactly the right amount hungry that I should be eating something after dinner and it's okay for it to be super-rich. Not that this ever stops me from trying, but I've regretted far more rich, insubstantial desserts than I have filling ones.
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Totally fair point. Things with fruit are especially prone to this with me, because... It's fruit! It's totally good for you!
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Not so much spoilers as it is hard to judge. I will say that the story deals more with principles than details of Celestia's role, but those principles are more than fleeting glimpses.
1. Both please, and a cappuccino.
2. Only if I were very certain that the unicorn would take the prank in stride.
Look mate, strange mares lying in castles eating sweets, is no basis for a system of government!
OK, seriously, I'm really getting drawn into this. Luna's comments about Cadance and Twilight made my ears prick up. And I like the mannerly little fan-dance of political philosophies between Cookie and Celestia.
Super interesting explanations of Celestia's powers. This is the kind of thing I really suck at in my headcanon. I'll have to totally not steal some of this in the future.
Um, hellooo people what are you thinking--rich and unfilling always! Because a) you can eat more of it, and b) you can eat more of it. If you want something more filling, just eat more of it! Why you would ever sacrifice richness, which is the quintessential, defining feature of dessert, for anything else is beyond me. Like trying to remove straight lines from a square. It doesn't make sense. The world is mad!
Twilight? Yes. Trixie? No.
I would totally prank unicorns. Also alicorns if I'm feeling ambitious.