//------------------------------//
// As the Sun Sets 
// Story: Chronicles 
// by Whiles34 
//------------------------------//

As soon as she entered her private chambers, Princess Celestia gave a long-repressed sigh.  Not only was she still exhausted from the defeat of Discord several days back (channeling the power of three Elements of Harmony was hardly easy work), but today’s ceremonies had to be performed in the Royal Canterlot Voice.  Recognizing an incoming ambassador was much more annoying than it should have been.  Thus, even though the formal negotiations haven’t even started yet, the Princess had one of her worst headaches to date.

As badly as Discord’s reign had damaged Equestria, the old pony kingdoms had also suffered greatly.  Discord – most likely for his own amusement – allowed them to keep a semblance of government, but had forced them to pay a costly tribute.  In addition, they were as much affected by the tyrant’s shifting reality as Equestria.  Now that Discord was finally overthrown, they needed to recover.  And since it was an Equestrian magician that had figured out how to contact the Princesses in the Astral Plane and had asked them to help overthrow the draconequus, the old kingdoms naturally turned to Equestria for aid.

However, the ponies of Equestria had begged the Princesses to stay and lead them, to which they reluctantly agreed.  This meant that the Princesses suddenly had to help four kingdoms recover instead of one.  When Celestia inquired into the state of the old kingdoms, she quickly discovered that they were too damaged to survive.  There was only one way forward:  Equestria and the kingdoms had to unite as a single nation.  It was now all a matter of convincing the newly arrived ambassadors.  If only they weren’t so difficult.

Commander Sleet, of the Pegasus Nation, was just as warm and friendly as her name suggested.  She had immediately taken the attitude that the Princess was an opposing general, and the other ambassadors her allies.  Thus, any request of concession was treated with contempt, like a headstrong centurion treats a request to surrender.  At least Celestia had one advantage: the pegasus Commander had been impressed by her orchestration of the defeat of Discord.

Chancellor Grahamcracker of the Principality of Earth Ponies was at least more agreeable than the pegasus.  On the other hand, she was easily distracted, flighty, and excessively cheerful.  Celestia’s advisors had warned her that in every generation of Earth Ponies, a hoofful started acting this way upon receiving their cutie mark, and that such ponies were traditionally appointed as Chancellors.  Celestia smiled slightly; despite these faults, she could probably work with this ambassador.  After all, she had appreciated the Princess’ own sense of humor, even if she was over-entheusiastic in showing it.

The worst, by far, was Duke Constellation, of the Unicorn Kingdom.  He was especially paranoid, and reacted badly to even the smallest request made by the Princess.  From what little Celestia knew of King Mithril, she suspected that the monarch most likely told his ambassador that the royal sisters had come as conquerors rather than allies.  The Princess found very few common qualities with the Duke, apart from a shared appreciation for the difficult and nuanced art of fire magic.  More importantly, the Duke was also singularly susceptible to flattery.

Despite all of this, the day hadn’t been entirely fruitless.  Skillfully using of all of her advantages, the Princess had at least got the three of them to sit at the same table with a minimum of squabbling.  It was hard work, but it was more than any of her advisors had told her to expect on the first day.  Maybe she had a knack for diplomacy.

Celestia smiled for the second time since she woke up this morning.  After the ambassadors dined, they were to introduce themselves to the Lunar Court.  Luna had always been less patient and more abrasive than her older sister.  Maybe tomorrow, they will come to appreciate the reasonable advice of the Sun Princess.