//------------------------------//
// Royal Gaze 
// Story: Beyond Me 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

I was extremely nervous when I woke up, and had to wonder just how the white swan of a pony would react when she saw me. Hopefully she’d pretend to be neutral, but I couldn’t rule out her getting upset and yelling at me again. I knew either way that she wouldn't be happy.
Golden Crest could see how anxious I was, but assumed it was from getting ready to meet the ponies he talked me up to. “You’ll be fine. If they don’t like you, they’ll let you know, but these types are normally in it for the money. They’ll take whatever young star they can get their hooves on.”
Was this really a good idea though? Intentionally trying to insert myself into things that were gonna piss Celestia off? I knew the answer was probably not, but still. I was already this far. It was a little too late to back out now, with as nice as Golden Crest was. 
He must have been reading my mind, because he said, “If you’re not up for this though, it’s okay. No fur off my back if you’re not wanting to do this. Politics is pretty intimidating, which is the reason I decided not to go into them. I’m sure you’d be a great business owner if you went that route.”
“I’m fine. Just nervous is all. Let me take a shower and get ready.”
I debated whether or not I should wear the tuxedo I just bought before deciding I should. Celestia might not like it– I wasn’t sure yet– but it wasn’t like it would affect anything. Besides, it made me happy, so long as I pushed down that feeling that I was doing what was wrong. If I could avoid thinking about these things, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Yeah, right.
But right now wasn’t the time to think about that. Instead, I stepped out with Golden Crest and Silver Spoon, watching as Twilight Sparkle followed along with us to the castle. It was just the same now as it was when I last saw it, although this time we went inside through a different entrance, one that led to a great hall and what looked like a courtroom with a bunch of other hallways branching off of it. 
Celestia was sitting high atop her throne, looking down at each pony she was talking to, wearing a gentle smile as she did. She stole a quick glance our way, and definitely saw me– I thought she looked me right in the eyes– but didn’t comment or lose her current expression. That was good. I was half expecting her to go off right then and there. 
The room had benches for ponies to sit on, and it seemed hundreds of them were already here. A quick look around showed that most had pads of paper and quills, basically writing down whatever she said. As they did, other ponies entered and made their way up to speak to her, asking her about numerous things, like law proposals or loan requests and whatever else there was. It seemed like most of these things were denied, and like she was just making decisions on the spot, either directly telling them no or saying it would be considered later and writing it down. Not once did she say yes to anyone’s request.
“Does she elect people to vote on these things?” I asked. “Or, like, appoint people or something? Or is she the sole decision maker?”
“No, she’s the one who makes all the decisions,” Golden Crest explained. “She has the authority to do that.”
“Unless you stop by Princess Luna’s new night court,” Twilight said. “But yes, she and Luna have the combined power to rule over Equestria in any way they see fit. So long as one sister isn’t directly answering no to a proposal, the other can let it be a yes and the proposal goes into effect.”
“So then how would someone get any sort of influence or persuade the princess?”
“Either they’d have to have an idea that’s good enough to make them swayed,” the purple unicorn continued “or they’d have to demonstrate the vast appeal of whatever they’re proposing.”
Wow. That sounded much less like politics and much more like ‘give me an idea and I might entertain it’. That wasn’t really something I cared very much about getting into, being a glorified advisor. It really took the wind out of my sails.
Golden Crest definitely saw the dejected look on my face, and asked, “How did you expect to be going about this? She’s the princess. You can’t really tell her what to do, only ask or try to persuade.”
Yeah, I figured that. “Is there anything else we could do?” I asked. “What else do ponies do besides asking Celestia to do things for them?”
“If she likes you, she can appoint you to her advisory council,” Twilight said. “They’re the ponies who help her try to make decisions, although she still gets the final say. That’s what ponies like Prince Blueblood and Fancy Pants do. Or if you want to, you could run to be a district representative and make requests to her on other ponies’ behalf.”
“Or I could just walk up to her and ask her what I want, too,” I said. “Why do you need a district representative if they don’t actually do anything and anypony can come up and speak to her during her court hours?”
“Not everyone has the time or energy to head out to talk to Princess Celestia. Mostly, it’s just ponies who are richer and older and have free time on their hands. Most ponies meet once a month and just tell their representative what to do.”
Yeah, this was not sounding like what I envisioned, but I couldn’t say I was surprised. An absolute monarchy was what this was, something I basically already knew. What was I expecting to see?
“If you were looking to make your own impact, you could run for mayor of Canterlot or another city. Then you can work without interference, unless Princess Celestia directs you to stop or start doing something specific.”
“You could be a business owner,” Golden Crest said. “The ponies with the most influence over Princess Celestia have businesses they run, outside of Prince Blueblood, who’s her nephew. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression that money talks.”
This was not shaping up to be what I expected at all, and that fact alone was already deterring me. Then a thought came to mind.
“What about Princess Luna. Does she operate her court the same way?”
“I’m fairly certain she does,” Twilight explained. “She only started getting back into her job of ruling over Equestria, so I’m not sure. As far as I know though, she does things the same way. It’s much less busy at night, too, I can imagine.”
Now that might have been a way in, since Princess Luna seemed to like me. Or maybe she just felt bad about hurting me, but either way, I was sure I could definitely convince her of a few changes that should’ve been made to Equestria if I went that route.
Except Celestia would be very angry if I did so, and then she’d just likely revert them back. No, if I really wanted to do this, going through the white princess directly would be the best move.
Not to mention, just the idea of going through Luna to try and get to Celestia felt terrible, like something a villain out of a story would do. I wasn’t going to use her like that, even if I wasn’t really trying to do anything bad. Just the thought of it put a frown on my face.
I was starting to realize it probably wasn’t worth it to go down this road. If politics here weren’t similar to politics in the United States, there was going to be a sharp learning curve for figuring out the exact details, even sharper than I was already facing just trying to live in this world. How people operated businesses here was already weird, but at least I already knew how to do that. Maybe that was the best idea.
Princess Celestia seemed to have other ideas though.
All of a sudden, she was standing up and gracefully swooping down from the chair on her throne, standing tall in front of Twilight, Golden Crest and I. The latter bowed his head, but Twilight only gave a friendly wave and a smile. I tried not to look so uneasy by her presence, but she didn’t seem to be here to chew me out. She was still smiling gently, although I knew that could’ve just been a front she was putting up.
“Hello Asher, Twilight, and my other little ponies,” she greeted politely as she stretched out her wings. “I would say I’m surprised by your being here, but Princess Luna informed me of your coming arrival the previous day. Needless to say, it’s wonderful to see you again.”
I wasn’t sure she actually thought that, but I didn’t comment on it, my mind more on the fact that Luna told her I was coming here. Naturally the first thought that came to mind was that she actually wanted to stir up trouble, but once again, knowing how everypony in this world operated, she probably didn’t even think about what that might mean if she said something. That didn’t make it less annoying though.
“We didn’t mean to interrupt you, Princess,” Twilight Sparkle said as Golden Crest lifted himself off the ground. “We’re not bothering you by watching your court, are we?”
“Absolutely not,” she assured her gently, putting a wing on her shoulder. “In fact, I do consider it good that you showed up here today. I was looking for the opportunity to speak to Asher when I could, and now he’s in front of me.”
I could only guess what she wanted to tell me. Probably that I was doing something wrong doing this, and that I’d have to find something else to do.
“My sister told me she discussed with you about becoming a politician, did she not?” she started. She didn’t wait for me to answer as she said, “If you truly are interested, I would be willing to offer you a position on my advisory council if you would like it. Once you turn fourteen, of course. But if it’s something you wish, I would love to offer my hoof in helping you succeed. It would be a valuable experience if you sought to be mayor or governor of any part of Equestria.”
Okay, that might have been the very last thing I expected to hear from her. What was she planning? I couldn’t imagine that it was anything good, if only because I saw firsthand how much she disliked me.
It wasn’t something Golden Crest knew about though, of course. “Well, well, well Asher,” he whistled. “I didn’t know you already had it in good with Princess Celestia. Somepony must have really talked you up.” The white princess giggled at what she heard. I guessed it was kind of ironic that he thought that.
“Um, well, sure, if you’re willing,” I agreed, a cautious tone in my voice. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way of anything important.” Nope, no way would I want to do that. In fact, just the fact that she was offering almost made me flat out say 'no'. Doing what she wanted wasn't what I was interested in.
“If you’d like, we can discuss the details this evening after day court concludes. Or if it’s preferable, I can mail out information to you. I understand that you probably have other activities to participate in outside of watching the court all day.”
“Uh, yeah, mail would be good, please.” No way was I going to leave myself alone with her again. Not yet anyway. I needed time to think about what she might have been planning.
“Thank you, uh, princess,” I finished politely. “I appreciate it.”
“It’s not any trouble in the slightest,” she told me, putting sweetness into her voice. “I must get back to the court however. I unfortunately don’t have time to stand around all day. Thank you all for stopping by to visit.” And then she stretched her wings out again, floating back up to her throne and leaving hundreds of ponies watching us. Only for a couple of seconds though. It wasn’t long before they turned their attention back to the winged unicorn.
Golden Crest congratulated me, saying that he didn’t know how I got her attention, but was proud of me anyway. He patted me on the back, and we watched the court for a couple of more minutes before leaving. I couldn’t say though how I felt about that whole exchange.
“Is she trying to keep me close to her?” I wondered silently. “What’s her plan?” I had no idea, but I hoped it wouldn’t be anything too outrageous.