My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 198: A Ruler Beyond Celestia (And Luna)?

All of a sudden, who should appear in the throne room but Discord?! The spirit was dressed up like a reporter, complete with a notepad, a pencil, and a camera. "Ooh! 'Breaking News! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna Announce Retirement: Control to Pass to Prince Shining Armor, Effective Immediately' Hold the line, ladies and gents, because this is the scoop of the century!" He proceeded to put a microphone in front of the royal sisters. "Now go ahead, tell us everything and don't skip out on the details!"

"What are you doing here, Discord?" Soarin questioned the spirit with a raised eyebrow. "This is serious."

"I know," Discord replied as he paid Soarin's comment no mind. "This is the scoop of the century! My reporter's instincts were tingling, and it looks like I was right on the money. Now go ahead, princesses, we're all ears."

Shining just pushed the microphones aside and glared at Discord. "Don't you have better things to do right now? We're talking about the first transition of power in over a millennia."

Discord just frowned as he snapped his talons and made his reporter's outfit (and the microphones) disappear. "Hey, there's no need to be rude. Just like the princess, I've sensed that harmony is changing. I could also sense that they were going to do something big because of that. But I didn't expect them to announce they were retiring. I'm just crushed they didn't think to offer the job to me. I'd do a real good job!"

Celestia tried her best to keep a straight face. "I know, Discord. And that's exactly what worries me. You're still a tad too careless with your powers to be an effective ruler. And what Equestria needs most right now is stability."

"And you think I'll provide that?" Shining questioned aloud as he looked at the princesses. "Why me? I know I've stepped in for you two before, but it's never come anywhere close to running an entire kingdom. Cadence is the one with the experience, she oversees the big details of the Crystal Empire. I'm more of a co-ruler and security head, that's where my skills lie. Besides, what about Prince Blueblood? I know he's had... 'issues' but he is still ahead of me when it comes to being next in line for the throne," Looking across to Luna he commented. "And it's not fair to you, Luna. You've only gotten back from the moon for about half a decade now. Why do you want to retire too?"

Luna sighed as she explained. "Without my sister by my side, ruling just wouldn't be the same even if it was with you or Cadence to take Celestia's place. Celestia and I, we've been apart for a thousand years already and the separation was almost unbearable. We've both agreed that this is reluctantly for the best."

"As for Cadence and Blueblood, we did consult with them first, they both declined," Celestia answered. "Princess Cadence is busy overseeing the Crystal Empire as you just stated, on top of taking care of Flurry Heart who will succeed her one day. And Prince Blueblood, I was surprised when he said no. Like you he insisted he wasn't qualified, though unlike you he revealed how he's had little in the way of actual leadership. The most he's gotten is a brief stint as head of the Gala Planning Committee. Hence the mantle of leader passes to you."

Luna was quick to add. "It's not a position you'll need to do alone, though. You're more than welcome to appoint your friends to serve as co-rulers or royal advisers. You could even make Ponyville or the Crystal Empire joint capitals, or even move the capital to there. Ponyville did briefly serve as capital when my sister and I lived in our old castle in the Everfree Forest, it could serve that role again if it has to."

Still, Shining stumbled back. "And you want me to just take over, just like this? I couldn't! I'm not prepared in the slightest!"

"You really mustn't doubt yourself, Shining. I know you're still torn up about Cozy Glow, but you should know by that now even the best of leaders and rulers can make mistakes. Nopony expects perfection all the time," Celestia declared as she trotted forward and draped a wing around the prince. "Though Luna and I will retire, we'll still be around if you need to consult with us. We'll still be in charge of raising and lowering the sun and the moon each day and night."

Luna coughed into a hoof. "Though we're working on a way to create something to let you do it for us. Sunburst is working on it right now but it's still in the experimental phase."

Celestia smiled as she ended the wing hug and stepped back a bit. "You've been hesitant to undertake assignments before, Shining Armor. Yet you've proven to be more than capable of handling them and emerging from them with more experience and wisdom. Luna and I wouldn't be asking this of you unless we had total confidence in your ability to be an effective leader."

The prince could only shake his head. "But I could never be the kind of leader or ruler you two were. You're leaving behind insanely big horseshoes to fill."

"And you will fill them well," Celestia declared in a confident yet warm tone of voice. "This much I can say with confidence, for I have foreseen this in my visions. I don't know for sure what challenges will lie ahead for you and your friends, but I'm certain Equestria will remain in good hooves with you on the throne."

"We hope you'll find the same confidence in yourself," Luna added with a smile of her own. "What do you think, Shining Armor?"

---

All eyes quickly fell on the prince as he weighed all that had been told to him. His expression was difficult to read, it didn't really convey confidence but it also didn't signify the kind of fear that might make one think he wasn't ready.

Shining's words were slow to leave his mouth. "I... I... I need... time to think about... this."

"Take all the time you need. We want you to step into your new role when you feel you are ready and not a moment sooner," Celestia nodded. "Simply notify us when you believe the time is right."

Author's Note:

Yet again, thanks to Comickook for the dialogue suggestions about Cadence and Blueblood and Shining bringing them up.

Since Princess Cadence and Prince Blueblood are Celestia's niece and nephew (most likely adopted) the original episode not even mentioning them and instead having Twilight immediately be the designated successor is a little odd. Cadence is slightly understandable in that she has the Crystal Empire, but that doesn't mean she deserved to be excluded and not consulted. And they really needed a reason for Blueblood, even if it was the general belief that Twilight would be a better successor (there are only a few instances of the first in line being passed over to be the designated successor throughout history, the most obvious being how most early U.S. presidents' successors were their Secretary of State and not their vice president since the VP was considered a mostly ceremonious job).

Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, the original draft's plans for Discord's actions in Season 9 involved him too being aware of the dying nature of the Tree of Harmony which would thus prompt him to do what he ultimately did. When that vision got cut he just showed up in "The Beginning of the End" out of the blue, and since he isn't psychic or could see things ahead of time there's no way he could've known about Celestia and Luna's retirement. So I brought that original plan back here, making him aware of the changing nature of harmony. And I can tell you now that he will NOT be Grogar in disguise here even though that was the plan all along when Season 9 was being planned out.

Speaking of Grogar, he will officially debut in the next chapter. But since Cozy Glow is not only not a villain but no longer around the ranks of the Legion of Doom will change a bit.

Comments

[kahnac]

I look forward to seeing the new additions to the Legion of Doom.:)

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up were all quite well done in all the right places. I especially liked the reasons you provided for why Luna is retiring too AND why they are passing the job to Shining and NOT Cadance or Blueblood (though, as Shining's wife, Cadance would TECHNICALLY still be a co-ruler anyway [even if it probably wouldn't come up much until Flurry is an adult]). And, yeah, I'm DEFINITELY glad it's going to be THE REAL Grogar here (as well as in Volume Ten and/or Eleven of your "What If?" series). REALLY looking forward to seeing who you have Grogar bringing in along with Tirek, Chrysalis and Sombra.

And Speaking of Sombra, maybe you could have Sombra's refusal to join be JUST AS MUCH Genre Savvy as ego (i.e. he knows all too well that NONE of the villains can be trusted and even gives good reasons WHY).

But, anyway, VERY definitely looking forward to more in any case.

[Yoshifan30]

Oh boy shining armor is going to have a panic attack