Celestia stepped forward first. "You have us at a disadvantage. I was under the impressions that most pharaohs of Anugypt were male, with few exceptions, and well into adulthood. A firm grasp on those beneath them were also very common traits. Please, tell us what has happened?"
The pharaoh bowed towards the ponies. "I am Amenti Clawdius the Third. You likely remember my father?"
Celestia nodded at Amenti. "A gruff and formal individual, as was the usual case with your people, but we dealt fairly with him, and both our people have benefitted from it. I trust something has happened?"
Amenti's ears and whiskers fell. "He has gone to the west, as my own name implies. I am the oldest of his kittens, and he demanded I be placed on the throne before he left. I want to do what's right for my people, but everyone around me undermines me. They claim my father's ways were foolish, and work quietly to undo all the good work he's done. I... want to be a great ruler, as he was, but I can't. Every order of mine that leaves these walls is perverted."
Celestia's jaw was clenched with obvious frustration, but she nodded calmly. "I see... Do you not have any political allies?"
Amenti returned to her throne and sank heavily upon it. "The servants look upon me with kindness, but they have no power. What kind of pharaoh am I, to claim the servants as the highest of my allies?"
Silver felt the urge to be helpful rising. The feline seemed genuine in her desires and her plight, but he had no idea where to even start. He looked to Celestia, who had much more experience than he with matters of politics. "What can we do?"
Celestia glanced aside at him. "What can we do, or what should we do? I'm afraid they are not the same in this situation. Anugypt is a central location for this side of the world, and it becoming destabilized would harm many of our allies, and hamper trade severely. If we aid her to solidify her power, we could be risking doing just that. She's an idealist, I can see it. She may be what this nation needs, but it isn't what they want, and it might be a medicine they get violent over taking."
Amenti, who was listening quietly as they spoke, rolled a paw. "Does that mean I should just give up? My father said you were a dear friend of his. Please, I want to make Anugypt better!"
Silver shuffled in place uncomfortably. He wanted to comfort the cat, but he couldn't protect her from politics, and his ignorance made him powerless to even advise on the matter. Celestia shook her head. "Dear friend is speaking a bit far. We were old combatants on the field of battle, but he did play evenly, I will grant that. I hadn't realized he was even old yet."
Amenti sank in place, sighing. "He wasn't old. He fell ill and left us within days. It was so sudden..."
Aila snorted softly, "You're barely a pharaoh."
Amenti frowned at Aila. "Pharaoh enough to send you away if you don't learn your place!"
Shei moved in front of Aila before she could retort, and the two sisters retreated to the far side of the throne room.
Silver ruffled his wings restlessly. "Amenti, right?" She nodded. "What do you want us to do? We're not from here. We're not nobles of Anugypt. Getting involved... That's kind of an act of war, isn't it?"
Celestia smiled gently. "I'm happy you saw that, Silver." She brushed up against him as she advanced on Amenti. "While I feel sympathy for you, and your struggle, it is not our place to decide how another country governs itself. It's a terrible precedent, to start, and will reflect quite poorly on me and Equestria as a whole. Your country is dangerously unstable at current, and you are in a perilous place, at best. We've been assaulted no fewer than three times, to say nothing of the impediments we've had to overcome to reach you. The most responsible thing I could do would be to warn my people to stay away from Anugypt until things are far more calm."
Amenti hopped to her hindpaws from the throne. "How can it be war if I ask it? I'm in charge!"
Silver shook his head. "You're... kind of not. You admitted that much. I mean, nothing against you. You seem like a nice cat, and it's really awful how everyone else is acting, but we can't..."
Celestia nodded, cutting off Silver. "We are not the peacekeepers of the world. We can't be. Your father wrote me a letter in private, mentioning the growing tensions. I had thought I would be arriving to speak with him about them, instead I find his daughter, with precious little experience. You strike me as well-intentioned, but doomed from the start."
Amenti fell back into her throne and buried her face in her paws. "What would you have me do? I didn't ask for this position. I just want to do right by my father's memory."
Silver perked an ear. "Have you tried speaking with the opposition? Maybe they think you just can't be reasoned with, so they're going around you instead of even trying to deal with you."
Amenti looked up with an angry frown. "They're foul and wicked cats! You just admitted they attacked you several times! Why would I deal with them?"
Celestia rolled a hoof. "To start, they hold all the cards, or at least most. You have the title, and little else. I am certain they would like legitimacy."
Silver quickly bobbed his head. "Diplomacy starts with talking. If you're working on the same side, maybe some of what you want done can happen. You won't win every fight, but right now? You're losing everything."
Amenti sagged with a slow sigh. "You have given me much to consider." She pulled a rope that caused a gong to sound from high above. Two well-dressed felines entered, closing the door behind themselves. "Show our guests to their chambers and see that their every need is met."
The servants bowed low and gestured back through the door before opening them. Celestia turned to depart. "We may yet discuss more in the future. I will stay for at least the remainder of the week."
They were led through the hallways. Celestia's eyes took in the architecture. "I always felt it was a mistake, all those years ago, to build a castle instead of a palace."
Silver raised a brow. "What's the difference?"
Celestia smiled. "A castle is for defense, and a palace is for pleasure and demonstration of wealth. This nation reacts far better to the latter than the former. My ponies, on the other hoof, are comforted by the stability that my castle represents. Different people, different needs."
Aila smiled a little. "That's very observant, mistress. I agree, this dour stone bunker is an eyesore on the city."
Shei softly snorted. "It has a charm to it. The cats that made it clearly put their hearts into it..."
Silver looked out over the city as they walked past a window. "Yes, but was it the same heart that built the rest of Catro? I can't say if it's 'ugly' or not, but it doesn't match. Does Saddle Arabia have one or the other?"
Aila gestured in a direction Silver could only assume was her homeland. "We have several fine and expansive palaces, offering comfort to the workers of the kingdom, as well as entertaining those who visit, such as if Mistress were to visit."
The servants that were guiding them stopped in front of a solid-looking door. "You can stay here, your majesties. We trust your personal servants can tend to you, but if you require anything beyond what is inside, simply pull one of the ropes and we will see to your needs." They bowed low and went still.
Celestia walked past them without hesitation. "Thank you."
Copying her, Silver quickly trotted past. "Thanks."
Aila and Shei were last to enter, and the doors were closed behind them. Shei frowned a little. "I think they locked the doors behind us."
Celestia gave a soft sigh. "I expected as much. It is little matter to us, ultimately. They cannot keep two alicorns caged with a simple door." She looked to Silver. "It is beyond time you learned how to teleport. Come, we will go over it."
Silver became a little giddy, grabbing out his book of spells and following after Celestia. Learning new spells was always kind of fun, especially something as obviously useful as teleportation, to say nothing of how it could be combined with other spells to create exotic effects.
Aila followed after them, ears perked. "You already know magic then? Are you going to teach this to me?"
Celestia shook her head at Aila. "The magic we are reviewing is quite specific to unicorns." She raised a hoof and tapped her horn. "I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with Saddle Arabian magic, certainly not familiar to the point that I could teach it to you. I'll leave that to Silver to secure a mentor."
Shei tapped her sister on the shoulder. "Let's have a look around. This suite is large, even if locked. I'd like to know where everything is." The two wandered off together, leaving Celestia to begin her instruction.
She played the notes of the song over her horn slowly, giving Silver time to write down each letter. "Visualization is key. The more clearly you can capture the essence of where you will be, the more accurate it will be. Distance also plays a large role. The farther it is, the more energy it requires. Some talented unicorns, like Twilight even before she ascended, can make little jumps to within line of sight and at a short range as easily as they walk. I think some of it also relates to your mass. Larger ponies, such as ourselves, have more to move than little Twilight did long before. This becomes vital if you wish to bring somepony along with you, which we may yet be called to do."
Silver frowned a little. "Like if they try to trap us in here and we have to escape with the sisters."
"Precisely so." Celestia reached out and tapped Silver's book. "You need to memorize this spell. Having to look up such a vital emergency tool is unacceptable. Like your shield, by the time you look it up, you're likely beyond the time it'd be helpful."
Silver looked down at the paper and tried the spell across his horn, and felt the world jerk around himself. He landed with a thud and Celestia squeaked. He had teleported on top of her, her long horn just an inch from jabbing him right through the chin. He drew his snout back. "Sorry!"
Celestia gave a soft chuckle as she shook herself, encouraging him to get off. "Clear visualization, I remind. Don't play the spell without already having a destination in mind."