Ponyville, April 2014
“Spike, take a letter,” Twilight Sparkle said. Her dragon assistant obliged and picked up a quill.
“Dear Princess Celestia. After many months of reading and studying, I have finished learning the spell to raise the sun. I await your further instruction. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike the dragon blew green flames at the parchment, which burned and floated out the window towards Canterlot on the mountaintop above.
“I wonder how long it will take for her to wri--*buuuurp!*”
A fiery scroll emerged from Spike’s mouth before he could finish his sentence. He opened it and read aloud,
“Dear Twilight. Glad to know you’ve progressed so quickly! It took me a full eight months to learn this, and it only took you six. How would you like to try your luck with setting the sun this evening? I’ll meet you in my throne room at seven P.M. sharp. Don’t be late! Sincerely, Princess Celestia.”
“She wants me to set the sun? TONIGHT?” Twilight gasped. “But, what if I don’t get it right? And it’s five PM! I’d better hurry if I want to make it to Canterlot on time!”
“You’ll do fine, Twilight,” Spike reassured.
“Thanks, Spike. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
*****
Twilight Sparkle walked out onto the grand balcony of the castle, where she met the Princess.
Celestia said, “Now, Twilight, see if you can put what you’ve learned into practice.” She motioned towards the sun on the western horizon.
Twilight nodded. She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips, deep in concentration as her horn glowed. She gritted her teeth and clenched in pain as the sun slowly inched closer to the horizon.
Finally, after a few minutes, Twilight Sparkle had lowered the sun.
“Good job, my faithful student. Now we can go inside and have a lesson.”
Twilight started to walk but fell to the floor. Celestia walked over to Twilight and levitated the lavender alicorn with her magic, a yellow glow surrounding her. She carried Twilight off towards her private meeting room.
“Wenningsly, would you go get Twilight Sparkle a jug of water?” Celestia asked the pegasus at her meeting room.
“Certainly, your highness.” the guard said as he ran off.
The meeting room was empty save for the Princess and her student. In the center of the room was a long rectangular table with several chairs at it. In the rear of the room by the door there stood two potted trees.
Celestia set Twilight down in a chair at the end of the table as the Pegasus returned with a tray in his mouth. The tray contained a gallon pitcher of water and a small paper cup. He set it down on the table in front of Twilight, bowed, and left the room, closing the door behind him. The three were now alone in the room.
Twilight levitated the pitcher up and poured water into the cup, which she downed in one gulp. She poured another cup and gulped that one down. Then she just skipped the paper cup and poured the pitcher directly into her mouth and quaffed the entire thing.
“Yes, the job of raising and setting the sun will cause you to become quite dehydrated. I would suggest drinking plenty of liquids from now on,” Celestia advised.
“Thanks, Princess, I will.”
“Now, are you awake enough to listen to what I have to tell you?”
“Yes,” Twilight answered.
“Now that we are alone, Twilight, I can finally instruct you on how to lead and rule a kingdom. As a ruler, you have a duty to serve the citizens of this nation as their Princess. So pay close attention. There are five key commandments you must follow to be an effective ruler, if you want to both stay in power and maintain peace and harmony in Equestria.
“The first commandment is to be popular and well-liked. This is where your friendship studies will come in handy. Many rulers around this globe have been overthrown by their subjects because they were tyrants or iron-hoofed in their rule. So make sure that your laws and rules are popular with your subjects, or you will find your head under the guillotine of revolutionaries.
“The second commandment is to be efficient. By this, I mean to not waste taxpayer dollars. You already manage your own time very well, now you must manage the time and resources of the kingdom well, too. If there is a better way of doing things, trim out the fat. Run the government like a business, except instead of making a profit your goal is to stay in power, stay popular, and maintain peace.”
“On to commandment three, which has two parts to it. The third commandment is to:
A. Be proactive and try to prevent crises, but when one happens…
B. never let it go to waste.
“When the inevitable crisis does happen, ponies will be a lot more receptive to anything you want to do in the face of it, so that you can then follow the first part of this commandment and prevent future crises. Remember when you used a forbidden mind control spell to enchant your doll and I had to step in and intervene?”
Twilight blushed and tilted her head down. “Yeah, I’m still sorry about that, by the way. I completely overreacted.”
“Don’t be sorry; it’s in the past. You were concerned and I needed to address it. But remember how much more receptive your friends were when I told them that they should all write me letters instead of just you? Indeed, crisis management is a very important skill.”
“Commandment four is to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Why do you think that I had you reform and befriend Discord? Even though I do not think he will ever be a truly good person in the way you and I are, I do think that he would respond better to having us reach out to him than he would if I simply kept him imprisoned in stone. Which he has escaped from before, and could’ve again. So why not have his release be on my terms, when I was fully expecting and prepared for it? Now he knows what the consequences of any further rebellion on his part are, and he is free as long as he no longer causes chaos.”
“Another example is Prince Blueblood, the dean of my School For Gifted Unicorns. He has always shown a desire for power, and he resents the fact that you were made a princess and ruler of Equestria and he is stuck managing my school, a job which he has recently resigned from. But I satiated his desire for power for years by giving him an administrative position full of tedious paperwork so that he would hopefully have his hooves full and be too busy to challenge my authority.
“And that brings me to commandment five. Do you know why I run a school for gifted unicorns and not a school for gifted pegasi or earth ponies?” Celestia asked.
“I… um, I never really thought about it,” Twilight answered.
“Because commandment five, the final and the most important commandment to staying in power is this: be suspicious of the unicorns.”
“Okay Princess Celestia, I’ll bear that in—wait, what?”
Twilight blinked a few times and shook her head.
“I’m sorry Princess Celestia, I’ve had a really long day and I’m exhausted from lowering the sun, but did you just say that I need to watch out for unicorns?”
“Exactly.”
Twilight paused for a moment, and then finally responded. “What do you mean? I’m a unicorn!”
“No, you are an alicorn,” Celestia corrected her. “And I have never distrusted you, Twilight Sparkle. I don’t distrust individuals unless an individual gives me a reason to distrust him. I just distrust the unicorn race in general, and it has probably saved Equestria from civil war, and saved me from losing the throne. Of course, unicorns are no different in terms of their propensity to cause trouble, and the average unicorn is just as pure-hearted and good as the average pegasus or earth pony. However, they differ in their ability to cause trouble if they so desire, which warrants my different treatment of them.”
“But why?” Twilight asked, “What’s the trouble with unicorns?”
“I’ll explain that by using a hypothetical thought experiment. Though Equestria has mostly been at peace throughout its entire history, there have sometimes been ponies who have sought to cause trouble, start wars, and even dethrone me on a few occasions. So say that a cadre of ten of the strongest, most powerful members each of the earth pony, pegasi, and unicorn races set out to bring disharmony to the land and enslave its citizens as Sombra did to the Crystal Empire. To do this, they would need to overthrow me, first.
"Let’s take rifles and guns out of the equation and assume each race is just using whatever their natural abilities are in their bid to dethrone me. We’ll start with the ten earth ponies. What do you suppose would happen?”
“Um, they’d probably not get very far,” Twilight guessed.
“Right. Oh, they’d cause some trouble, there’s no doubt about that. They could knock over buildings, derail trains, trample ponies to death, cause a few earthquakes, and if they were skilled enough as herders they might even be able to rally one or two dragons to their side. But eventually they would be taken out. I’d deploy some snipers onto the rooftops, I’d have our magicians protect my palace with force fields which would be difficult for even strong earth ponies to break. They may be able to breach the force fields with their great strength, but it would take several minutes and I would of course have guards posted everywhere. I have run preparedness drills for such a thing with my guards and I am confident that we could suppress the rebellion in about a day.
“Now, let’s move on to the ten pegasi. Since the sonic rainboom is an ability only Rainbow Dash can use, and the stare is just Fluttershy, let’s exclude those from our example. So what do you suppose would happen?”
“You might have a bigger problem on your hooves,” Twilight said.
“Correct. Ten of the most powerful pegasi could probably cause a few F5 tornadoes, destroy plenty of buildings with lightning bolts, cause floods, snowstorms, blizzards, drought, wildfires, etcetera. They could also fly and would evade capture easily.
“But eventually, the Wonderbolts would capture them after a few days. We would watch the sky and track their movements and eventually, they would have to sleep. We would take them out one by one with snipers in the clouds. Again, I have run drills and have determined that we could suppress such a thing in about two or three days at the most.
“Now, on to the unicorns. What could the ten most powerful unicorns in Equestria do if they were unified against me?” Celestia asked.
Twilight seriously considered the question. She thought about all of the spells she had at her own disposal. If the next-most-powerful unicorn was even half as powerful as her, Celestia would be in for a bad time.
“Well Princess, they might actually have a chance of succeeding in their plot,” Twilight answered.
“Correct. Think of all of the various spells they would have at their disposal: invisibility, mind control, telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, dark magic, force fields, fire spells, energy blasts, and of course control over the moon and sun… the list goes on and on. Unicorns are the most versatile race. Each unicorn wouldn’t necessarily need to know each spell either, each unicorn could specialize in a particular spell and they could cooperate as a group.
“With their telekinesis they could easily derail trains, knock over buildings, and do the same sorts of physical destruction that the earth ponies could, maybe a bit less.
“They could be anywhere at any time, assuming they had access to invisibility, and would be nearly undetectable. The unicorns could easily evade capture, for they could teleport away whenever they found themselves surrounded. Teleportation would put them beyond detection, unlike the other two types of ponies who we can constantly track, for they could have teleported anywhere within a few-mile radius or larger depending on their skill in teleportation.
“They could protect themselves from bullets with force fields, and respond in kind with energy blasts. Though energy blasts are not nearly as lethal as bullets, they still do have the potential to sometimes kill and definitely to maim.
“They could enchant some wooden cottage with the ‘want it, need it’ spell, lure dozens of ponies in and set it alight. You remember the massacre which occurred at my school a decade ago. And, assuming that my snipers or army somehow managed to kill one of them, one of his partners could use a time-travel spell to go back and ensure it never even happened. Though the laws of physics prevent a unicorn from using such a spell more than once in his entire life, it would still be a problem and they would essentially have up to ten ‘do-overs,’ or ‘extra lives’ if you will, depending on how many of this band of rebels had the power to cast a time-travel spell.
“If they could figure out how to move the sun and the moon, then we would really be in trouble. They could essentially hold the entire planet hostage to their demands.
“As for breaching my castle and killing me or Luna, it would be easy. They could simply cast a counter-spell against the protective force field and enter by force. It would not take them very long, and they could avoid detection with invisibility.
“So as this example hopefully illustrates, unicorns are capable of waging quite asymmetrical guerilla-style warfare which I would be hard-pressed to respond to. All of the drills I have done with my guard have indicated mixed results. Though I am confident in my ability to respond to earth pony threats and pegasi threats and any combination of the two, I am less certain if I could effectively suppress a unicorn rebellion. The drills and war games I have conducted for this contingency have been catastrophic at worst and inconclusive at best.
“If you need any more proof than this thought experiment, consider this. King Sombra overthrew the entire Crystal Empire 1,300 years ago by himself, and he was just one unicorn going against an army of hundreds and a civilian population of thousands. He had a few sympathizers, but he obtained power mostly by himself.”
Celestia finished her lecture and waited for Twilight to respond.
“Well Princess, I guess I can see your point. I understand why you think that unicorns are more dangerous than the other two pony races. But what do you mean by ‘be suspicious of the unicorns?’ What actions in particular would I take?” Twilight asked.
“Simply apply the other Four Commandments to them more judiciously. I started this conversation by asking you why I have a School For Gifted Unicorns, and Commandment Four should provide you the answer: so that I may keep an eye on who exactly the most powerful unicorns are, and ensure that I know exactly who are the only legal users of the powerful spells such as time travel or invisibility that I just mentioned. Keep your enemies close.”
“Why not just ban the spells outright?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“And have those few who crave magical power, such as yourself or Blueblood or Trixie, resent me for it? Have them perhaps learn how to cast the spells on their own, without the scrolls? The way I have done it at least provides them with a legal outlet which I can track.
“Commandment Three answers both how and why I have locked up scrolls with some of these powerful spells I just mentioned such as time travel, mind control, dark magic and control over the heavens. When King Sombra came to power over the Crystal Empire, I took advantage of this crisis and prevented further crises by restricting these spells. That’s when Luna and I began raising the sun and moon. I also took over Starswirl’s School For Gifted Unicorns and made it my own, and made it a test for anypony who wanted to be able to legally use these spells. I structured it in such a way that only a very few students would ever make it to the top and actually graduate. What Blueblood sees as 'obstructionist' conduct on my part is actually deliberate.
"Those who did graduate from my school and were able to use the spells, like you, would hopefully be loyalists to me after years in my very own school. They would also, like you, be potential candidates to succeed me in the case of an illness, and be able to use those powers to effectively rule.”
“So that’s why you had me learn all those dark magic spells!” Twilight said.
“Correct,” Celestia answered. She continued, “I also have prevented unicorn threats in other, subtler ways. I have taken steps to ensure that the feared group of a dozen or more unicorns never forms in the first place by limiting gatherings of large numbers of unicorns such as cities. Do you think that it is a coincidence that there are no unicorns-only cities, when both the pegasi and earth ponies have their own cities of Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus; Fillydelphia and Appaloosa, respectively?
“As you know, I must approve all land grants for new cities. Do you honestly think in all my years of ruling I have never gotten a request from a group of unicorns to form their own city? I have, but I have always had reasons to say no. ‘Oh, that’s where some endangered fox lives.’ ‘I already have another request for a city in that location.’ ‘You want to call your city WHAT now?’ And the unicorns are none the wiser. And this is all to prevent any sufficiently large group of unicorns from gathering in any one place."
“The only unicorn-majority city is Canterlot, though it is not unicorn-exclusive, as I ordered it to be integrated years ago when I took over Starswirl’s school and moved the capital from the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters in Everfree. And of course Canterlot is where I live so that I can keep an eye on the many unicorns who live here. I also follow Commandment One, to be popular, by throwing social events such as the Grand Galloping Gala to please the mostly-unicorn elite of Canterlot.
“I simply do not trust the unicorns as a race, and my position in power would be a lot more secure if the unicorns were gone. This isn’t a slight against unicorns' morality, merely their power; if earth ponies or pegasi were as powerful as unicorns then I’d have the same sorts of policies in place for them. But they are not, and so I don’t.”
“Another tactic that I use: I discourage the use of magic itself in any way that I can without being overt about it. Every unicorn who discovers that his special talent is actually embroidery or cooking or painting instead of magic is one less potential threat to my rule, after all.
“Why is there a ‘Best Young Flyers’ competition but no ‘Best Young Magicians’ competition? Because I would never even think to start it. Why are there free, public flight schools for young pegasi, but no free, public magic schools for unicorns? Every time that somepony on the Board of Education brings up teaching magic in schools, I simply argue that magic is too dangerous to teach in schools to young fillies and colts, and that curriculum such as reading, writing, and arithmetic should take precedence.”
“But magic isn’t dangerous,” said Twilight.
“Yes, but it can be, and that’s the point,” the Princess responded.
She continued, “Why has Useful Magic Made Simple has been so popular lately? Blueblood is teaching magical spells such as teleportation, telepathy, dowsing, and other spells which any unicorn fifth-grader could learn, but were never taught in any public school, only in some private schools and my own personal magic school. Everypony has been led over the years to believe that these spells are hard when in reality they are very easy. The common fallacy is that if it’s not taught in school, it must be challenging. Not so. The book is essentially remedial magic. But of course, since the book is popular with unicorns and I don’t want to be unpopular, I do not attempt to ban it or in any way go after it due to Commandment One.”
“But I thought you said that Commandment Five was the most important?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Ah, now you are catching on! The commandments complement each other and must be weighed against each other. Though banning Blueblood’s book may serve Commandment Five slightly, it would do terrible damage to my objective of Commandment One. So I leave it alone and accept the fact that his book will become more popular and maybe more unicorns will discover that they can use far more magic than they ever thought possible. After I’m dead, that may be a problem that you have to deal with if they ever decide to rebel against you.”
“Well, okay. I just never realized that you… actually discriminated against unicorns like that,” Twilight said.
“It’s a well-kept secret, and I always make sure that my motivations are hidden or obscured by other motivations. I know it is a lot to take in, and I know that as a former unicorn you still feel an attachment to your race, but you must learn to abandon this sentiment if you want to maintain power, peace, and security. Unicorns are no more likely to be evil than the other two races, it's just that their ability to do so is greater, so they warrant greater scrutiny. You don’t have to hate unicorns, because the vast majority of them are good ponies, just like most pegasi and earth ponies are. I don’t hate unicorns. In fact, some of my closest confidants and allies are unicorns, and I entrust several high-level positions to unicorns, such as administration of my school or key guard and military positions. You’ll notice that most of my guards are unicorns or pegasi, which is principally due to their power.
“No, hate of unicorns is not what you should do. Just keep a closer eye on them, and tailor your policies such that you don’t ever allow them to accumulate any threatening degree of power. Because as illustrated earlier with my group of ten rebels example, unicorns are a lot more threatening in terms of their per-capita ability to cause destruction than either pegasi or earth ponies.”
Twilight sat back in her chair, eyes gazing off into the distance, contemplating everything that she had just heard. Was one of the requirements for staying in power and keeping Equestria united really for her to treat unicorns with a degree of mistrust? It didn’t seem possible.
But Twilight was all about logic, and Celestia’s arguments for her policies did make logical sense to her. It was true that if any particular group of ponies posed a threat, unicorns would be the most destructive and serious of these threats. Twilight could certainly see why Celestia had locked up dangerous spells and prohibited their use, or why she had taken over the job of raising the sun and moon. But did the perceived threat from unicorns really justify stifling education or preventing cities from being built?
Celestia interrupted Twilight’s thoughts, “I’ve said a whole lot this evening, and I believe you might need some time to digest what I have told you. We will continue this discussion in the morning at sunrise. By the way, do you wish to try your horn at raising the sun tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Twilight said.
“That’s my faithful student! Now let’s go off to bed. You can sleep in my guest chambers this evening so that you don’t have to fly all the way back to Ponyville.”
The two walked back towards the door to the meeting room, when all of a sudden a white flash lit up the room, emanating from one of the two potted trees.
Suddenly, in place of the tree stood a great beast with the tail of a dragon, head of a goat, claw of an eagle and paw of a lion. He towered over the two ponies and blocked their way to the door.
“My, my,” the draconeqqus Discord snickered, “What an interesting conversation that was!”