Chapter 3: Preparations and Nobility
Imperfect
Chapter 3: Preparations and Nobilities
“Twilight, can I come in?” A pink alicorn knocked on the dark wooden door with a purple six-pointed star on it. Cadance sighed and knocked again as she heard no answer. “Twily, it's Cadance! I wanted to talk to you!” It was early, but the Princess of Love knew that her sister-in-law was an early riser, not unlike herself. Cadance waited another minute and huffed quietly, maybe she was still sleeping? Yesterday was tiring for her and Thorax for sure, but not just them, the preparations meeting was starting in three hours, but she really needed to talk with the younger alicorn. Maybe something happened to her? Something bad? Cadance shook her head as the image of the lavender mare lying in bed without any life and a long ‘goodbye’ letter next to her invaded her mind.
“Twilight! Ready or not, I'm coming in!” she opened the door and practically ran inside, mildly panicked, but the mare wasn't there. Her bed was in a total mess, her tiara lying on the bedside cabinet, her bag unopened next to the bed’s foot. Cadance let out a sigh, but the worry entered her mind again. ‘Where is she then? Where could she be?’ Cadance trotted out of the room and closed the door. Hearing hoofsteps echoing through the corridor, she raised her head, hoping to see her sister, but, to her disappointment, it was just a maid, a light blue earth pony.
“Oh, good morning Princess Mi Amore Cadanza,” the mare smiled timidly and bowed, but kept her gaze on the alicorn, “do you need anything?”
“Princess Cadance is fine,” the alicorn replied with a smile of her own, and a little lightbulb lit up in her mind. “Tell me, please, have you seen Princess Twilight today? I need to speak with her,” she asked with a bit of hope in her voice. The maid only shook her head.
“I'm sorry, Princess, I haven't. Forgive me for my audacity, your highness, but I've heard the rumors…” she said with a small blush on her cheeks, “is princess Twilight really going to marry the King of the Changelings?”
Cadance sighed but smiled warmly. “That's true, but the official announcement will take place today at noon. Can you please not tell the others until then?”
“Of course, Princess.”
“Good. Can you ask somepony to take care of my sister’s room?” she asked, already making the list of “possible places where Twilight could go” in her mind. The mare nodded, and after saying goodbye to Cadance, ran through the corridor. The Princess of Love sighed deeply and went in the opposite direction. She could be anywhere! the Royal Library, any of her friends’ room, her parents’ room… or maybe she was talking with Celestia? One more pony came to her mind, or more accurately, a changeling. It could be worth a try, maybe Twilight was with him now… But what could she be doing with him anyway? Cadance was really surprised seeing how good her sister was taking this whole situation. So mature, with so much dignity. She sighed deeply as she made her way to the Changeling King’s room, ‘I wish I could be like her then… I was just one year older than her… and acted like a kid…’ Her flood of thoughts was stopped when she finally found herself before the door with a purple, semi-transparent wings symbol. She hesitated at first but knocked on the door.
“Umm… hello, Thorax! It's Cadance here! Can I come in?” She heard some shuffle behind the door and a few rather quiet yawns. Suddenly she jumped in the air as the short, high-pitched scream filled the air. Maybe she was already paranoid, but that was Twilight! Why she was screaming?! What was going on in there?! Did Thorax do som-
The princess opened the door in a flash, just in time to see the lavender alicorn push her husband-to-be out of the bed and cover herself in the covers. The changeling fell on his back and grunted. After a few seconds, he managed to raise his head and sit up with a hiss.
“Thorax?! What is the meaning of this?! Why am I here?! What?!” the lavender alicorn was in a total mess, her heart beating quicker despite the fact she just woke up. Said changeling just stood up and massaged his back and neck with a hoof.
“Ugh… you came here, by yourself. In the night, remember?” he said with a calm voice. He was still too sleepy to fully understand the importance of this situation, and the reason of his betrothed’s panic attack. Twilight blinked as she momentarily calmed down and looked at Thorax with a dumb expression, she was still sleepy herself.
“Oh… I… yeah, I did…” and as quickly as she became normal, she turned to her panicked self once again, “but that doesn't excuse you! Why was I in your bed? With you? Together?!” she hid her muzzle behind a corner of the cover, and flopped her ears, she was so scared! She barely remembered what they were doing last night, she was so tired… did something happen between them?!
“You just fell asleep in my arms, I-I didn't want you to wake up!” said the changeling, blushing slightly.
“S-so, you should! And you should have escorted me to my room! And at least carried me there!”
“Wha- I have never been here before, I don't know where your chamber is!” he tried to defend himself, he was not married yet, and was already becoming a henpecked husband? No way! “Besides, I fell asleep just after you, I was too tired to think! You shouldn’t have come here in the first place!” before he understood what he said and how Twilight could interpret that, he was hit with a pillow.
“Fine! I’m sorry for being a burden on you!” the sleepy alicorn stated, and jumped on the floor, almost falling down. She opened her wings to catch her balance, and looked at Thorax with sadness and disappointment, but also with anger. The changeling was surprised at first, but after a moment huffed at her.
“Fine! Then you are free to go, spoiled princess!” Twilight felt a small twinge in her heart but managed to overcome it. She huffed with a stomp of her hoof and lifted her nose up.
“Fine!” she exclaimed and turned to the door, promptly preparing to head out… but momentarily she stood in place, unable to move, as she saw who was still standing next to the opened door. “Ca-...Cadance!” Twilight’s wings shot up in the air as she jumped to her sister-in-law. “Out!” she cried and slammed the door as soon as she pushed the shocked princess outside. The young alicorn blocked the entrance with her body, pushing her back against the door when she heard a knock.
“Twiley, plea-”
“Go away!” Twilight cried, feeling like she could die right then and there from heart palpitations. Two tears fell down her cheeks, and Thorax took note of this, standing up and approaching his fiancée carefully.
“Was that Cadance?” he asked quietly, but Twilight hushed him anyway.
“Shhh! Maybe she will go away if we don’t respond to her!” she murmured to herself as she stood up and started to stamp her hooves, furiously. “Nonononono! She saw us! Together! In your bed! What will she think of us?! Is she g-going to tell the others?! Oh, they will KILL us! You especially!” she was freaking out, her voice high and trembling, her whole body was shaking. Thorax looked at her, not sure what to do. He had to calm her down, but how…? He was more conscious with every passing moment. “Maybe we can hunt her down and erase her memory? Quick, before she gets away!” the tall changeling caught her in his magic just in time before she opened the door, he sat her on the bed and gave her a pillow. “This won’t help us, Thorax! The memory spell will!” she pushed the pillow to him, and again he had to use his magic on her to keep her in place.
“Scream.”
“What?” that word threw her off balance and she blinked few times looking at him with a strange look. The changeling once again gave her the pillow and looked at her with a reassuring smile.
“Take it and scream into it. It will help you, I promise… please…?” Twilight sighed and hugged the pillow, she took a deep breath and dived her muzzle into the cozy materiał. Her worries left her as she screamed until the air had left her lungs. She was still shivering a bit, nervous again, but it was better… Thorax wanted to speak, but the lavender alicorn decided that one scream wasn’t enough, and once again pushed the pillow against her mouth followed by Thorax cowering again for a bit, looking at her. Yesterday she was so calm… and under her own control… ‘Guess she isn’t taking it so well as she wants us to believe…’ The changeling dodged another one of Twilight’s attacks, and the pillow hit the wall with a thud. “Better now…?” he found the courage to ask her. The alicorn just laid on the bed with watery eyes, completely exhausted. She could think clearer now but was still nervous as ever. And yet… Thorax’s words were still echoing in her mind… You shouldn’t have come here in the first place! Why that was so heartbreaking for her? Another tear escaped her eye. “Twilight…?”
“I shouldn’t have come here in the first place…” Thorax cowered a little, hearing his own words said by this mare with dead tone. It was mostly his fault that Twilight freaked out… How could he do something like this to her? He sighed deeply and flopped his ears.
“Twi… I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it… Our talk yesterday really helped me… And you too…” he reached a hoof out to her, but she curled up and looked in the opposite direction.
“I should be the one who needs to apologize, Thorax… You helped me… Gave me the support I needed, and I just… Yelled at you! I-I’m sorry, I was just so… sleepy, nervous, I panicked, I didn’t know if something happened between-” she cut and blushed furiously. “Oh gosh…” Thorax sat on the bed and smiled slightly.
“Between us? Twiley, please, I wouldn’t take advantage of you, never… After what your dad and brother said they would do to me if I did…” he chuckled, blushing a tad himself. The second pillow flew his way, but he couldn't dodge this one. “Auch! Violence in the family already?”
“Don’t make fun of me!” she hissed at him and wiped her eyes. She was now sitting near him, looking like a total mess… again. “You see how nervous I am right now?! I don’t want to freak out again because of nothing!” she waved her hooves in the air and felt on the bed once more. “I’m sooo… touchy! I HATE IT! I’m always so composed…! For… Most of the time… But that nervousness… It’s driving me crazy!”
“Hey, hey! Calm down, Twi, it will be okay… It was an accident,” Thorax said, looking at his future wife with a warm smile.
“But… Cadance saw us together… We shouldn’t… Ugh… She’ll probably tell the others, and we’re busted! And we didn’t even do anything! We need to slow down,” she sighed, turning on her belly and looking at him from under her fringe. Thorax blushed, as he suddenly thought how pretty Twilight looked from that angle, hiding from him under her hair…
“Oh… O-of course! You know, we shouldn’t rush into it or anything if we want this to work… I mean... “ he shook his head to clear his mind a bit. “We shouldn’t feel forced to fall in love with each other… It should come… Naturally, right?” he sighed with relief, as the mare nodded and sat up. He could now see her sparkling, beautiful violet eyes.
“Yeah, I agree…” she smiled too, forcing herself not to hug him right now. He was so easy to talk with, it seemed like he was the best solution for her nervousness, as someone who was already really close to her. Silence came between them, as they were looking into each other eyes, with small smiles, just enjoying each others’ company. Twilight suddenly realized that they forgot about one thing. She slowly got out of the bed, put herself together, and brushed her mane with a hoof. “I’ll go and talk to Cadance…”
“I think she’s already talking with someone else, it was some time since you-” Thorax started, but Twilight wasn’t listening anymore, she just dashed to the door and opened it vigorously.
“Cade-!” she cut her shout short when a certain pink alicorn fell into the room. Twilight looked at her surprised, as she stood up and closed the door behind her with a bright blush on her cheek.
“I-I wasn’t eavesdropping, I swear!” she murmured, and both Twilight and Thorax blushed too. The lavender mare put a hoof to her face, her embarrassment already went beyond any scales.
“Okaaay…” she sighed, putting a fake, too wide smile on her muzzle, her eye twitched a little. “So, you already know that nothing happened, we just.. Slept... Together… In one bed… But we did nothing, we swear! Don’t tell anypony, please!” she pleaded with tears in her eyes, as all of her calmness just flew away. Cadance came closer and hugged her sister-in-law.
“Twiley, I would never do that!” she assured her. “I know how hard it is to restrain yourself before the wedding…” Twilight heard her giggle and blushed even more.
“Princess Cadance, please… Don’t tease her, she’s a bit… Kinda... Very touchy…” Thorax asked politely, coming near the two mares. Cadance smiled and wiped Twilight’s eyes.
“Oh, I’m just joking, Twiley… I know that you’re really stressed… And nervous… I was going through the same thing, you know? With that difference, I got kidnapped by Chrysalis and almost lost my lover and-” seeing that this wasn’t helping at all she quickly changed the topic. “I’m… I’m sorry, but I heard some of your talks…”
“Sorry I pushed you out like this, I just… Freaked out, I wasn’t me!” the lavender mare exclaimed, flopped her ears down and rubbed her foreleg with another one.
“Don’t worry… I completely understand, Twi… I… I wanted to talk to you about something, but… You already had a tough day and the preparation meeting is coming…” she sighed, as she realized how bad Twilight looked now… She wasn’t the same calm and composed mare she saw yesterday… “Maybe you shouldn’t be there, you two need some good rest, away from this wedding fever…”
“No!” Twilight raised her head up to look at the older alicorn. She squinted her eyes and pouted, “we have the right to be there! I just need to… Get myself together… I’m a strong mare, I can do it,” she stomped a hoof on the floor to emphasize her decision. Cadance exchanged worried looks with Thorax and looked at her younger sister.
“Twilight… You don’t have to play a strong princess in front of us… You do have your limits too… If you think you can’t stand with-”
“But that’s what princess role is, isn’t it?!” Twilight was once again on the edge. There were too many things, too much stress around her, too much… Everything! “I need to pretend! To play! In front of you!” she poked Cadance’s chest with her hoof. “In front of him!” she pointed to Thorax next to her. “In front of my friends, Celestia, nobles, subjects...! Everybody! They are expecting me to be the strong, mature princess who is able to do everything, who can endure any situation with a calm smile!” she screamed, stomping a hoof on the floor. “I can’t! I can’t pretend that long! And the wedding is coming too soon! It’s happening too fast, I can’t-” she choked on her words and sobbed quietly. “I’m freaking out about almost everything! I hurt Thorax because I panicked, I pushed you outside the room and accused my parents of not caring about me! I’m a paranoid nasty filly, who can’t stay one minute without c-crying and screaming!” she sat on the floor and covered her face with her hooves. “I’m… I’m pathetic…”
“Enough,” Cadance said and sat down with her sister. Twilight soon felt herself being wrapped in two strong pink-violet wings. “It’s going to be all right.”
“Twilight, you are not pathetic, why would you say that?!” Thorax said as he gazed upon his future wife’s eyes. “You are afraid, just like me! I couldn’t… Nopony can demand you to stay calm and regal in this situation! This is too much for anyone! We understand perfectly…” Twilight sobbed, hiding her muzzle in Cadance’s mane as she heard her voice.
“Thorax is right, Twiley. You can’t blame yourself… You need time…”
“And we will give it to you. You will get as much as you need…”
“And you don’t have to pretend in front of US!”
“We are your friends… Your friends from Ponyville, your parents, your brother, Cadance… They are here for you… I am too…” the changeling added with a small blush, as he saw a spark of life in Twilight’s eyes. “You already did so much for me and my land… I mean…Our land… If you ever need my help or support… I will give it to you.” The lavender mare smiled slightly and sobbed.
“Th-thank you… I’m… sniff… I’m so thankful to have such wonderful f-friends… I really am…” she slowly stood up, still being wrapped in her sister’s wings. “I… I see I still need to learn much about how friendship works… I’m just…”
“Cut it out, Twi… don’t start again… We understand. You don’t have to justify yourself. We know…” the Princess of Love nuzzled Twilight’s cheek, which caused her to giggle despite the tears. “Can you excuse us, Thorax? I think she needs a hot relaxing bath…” the changeling nodded with a tired smile. “You could use one too. Of course separately…” she winked at the blushing King, and delicately pushed Twilight to the door.
“Of course, thank you for your advice, Princess,” he replied, looking at two mares who were about to leave his room. Twilight was gazing at him with a waiting look in her eyes. He smiled wider, “if you ever need a pillow to scream into, I’m here for you… princess Twilight.”
“Thank you,” she replied with a warm smile of her own. “And if you ever need to be hit with a pillow a few times, I’m here for you, King Thorax… Bye,” she waved a hoof to him. He waved back until the door closed behind the two mares, and let out a sigh as he jumped on the bed. He covered himself in a blanket and laid on his side. It was… So empty without Twilight by his side… But he shouldn’t be getting used to it. They won’t do it again soon, it was just a one-time situation… But the cover… Still smelled like her. He shook his head and tried to fell asleep. ‘One more hour won’t do any harm to anypony…’
Cadance, meanwhile, was escorting Twilight to the royal bathroom in another part of the castle. “So…” she started with a devilish smile, “...I told you that you would get along with him…”
“Cadie, pleeease!”
***
One hour later, both mares were clean, relaxed and with full bellies. They had talked about everything and nothing the whole time. Cadance wanted so much to tell her about one important thing, but she decided that she didn’t want to ruin her good mood. Not after all she did to bring Twilight back to her normal, happy self. They took a long, hot bath in the royal bathroom, and ate their breakfast there. They also received messages, cucumber muzzle masks, and had their manes done by the royal hairdresser. Twilight sighed as they were marching through the corridors.
“I really needed that, thank you, best sister-in-law ever!” Twilight chuckled and the pink alicorn did the same. “I feel more relaxed than ever.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Twiley. You deserved it after all this stress. I hope you won’t freak out again…” she added quietly, but Twilight huffed and cut in.
“Yeah, yeah, me too, can we NOT start this topic again, please?”
“Of course… Just remember one thing…” Cadance tried once again to speak.
“I’m not alone, I know. And I have your support and my friends’ and family too. Thank you, Cadance. For everything,” the princess of friendship smiled slightly, and nuzzled her former foalsitter, Cadance smiled too. They were approaching a little crowd that gathered in front of the royal meeting room. Twilight straightened her mane a bit and checked her tiara. Well, she was about to become a queen, she had to behave properly in front of… The Nobles… She greeted them each with a slight bow of her head, as the older alicorn was doing, she then saw a group of changelings near the end of the balcony.
Twilight regally excused herself to Cadance, and trotted that way, as the pink alicorn started a conversation with one of the mares. The lavender princess spotted Thorax, his brother, and a few other changelings talking passionately about something. She could see how Thorax was composed, or maybe he wanted them to think of him that way? In any case, he had no signs on his posture that something happened only a few hours earlier.
”So, you did research on the Equestrian Nobles Monarchy, right, Anteness?” She could hear Thorax’s voice as she came closer, but it seemed that no one of the changelings noticed her. Said changeling, a dark blue male without wings, nodded and showed the long scroll to the king and his brother.
“Yes, Thorax. According to actual Equestrian Law Book, the nobles had more power than princesses themselves. They meet every month to discuss new rights and other current cases. A Princess can make a proposal of making a new law or changing an existing one, but the nobles had to accept her idea before she can make it so.” Anteness explained, as Pharynx took the scroll in his magic aura, and started to read it really quickly. Thorax looked above his shoulder and glanced at the paper.
“Huh, very interesting. What about the princesses objecting to the nobles’ will?” The other smaller changeling asked. Twilight assumed by her voice that she was female. She was a bit smaller than the rest, is probably the only female changeling in the legation. She also had a long tail, and a smaller horn, which wasn’t forked like the males’ and had no crystals on her neck.
“If one of the princesses breaks the law, they can be judged like a normal pony. Also, if the princess doesn’t agree to the nobles idea, they can object to her, and ask another princess for her help.” Anteness said, which caused the third changeling, a yellow-greenish male with no horn on his head, to cringe a little.
“So, this whole talk about nobles attacking our Kingdom if Princess Twilight and Thorax didn’t agree to marry each other was real? Could they do that against Princess Celestia’s will?” he asked in a low voice and Thorax nodded sadly.
“It seemed so. Princess Celestia wanted to prevent the repressions of the Changeling Kingdom, so she proposed an alliance, but the nobles wanted it to be sealed with a marriage like it was done long ago, even before the princesses’ reign. And Twilight was the only ‘single’ princess…“ he added with a sad voice, and Pharynx huffed loudly, folding the scroll and giving it back to the smaller changeling.
“There would be no war, and no forced marriage if we just said NO and attacked them first! We shouldn’t prostrate in front of these ponies like their princesses do!” he hissed, looking in the nobles direction with fire in his eyes, but then he spotted the lavender alicorn standing near them with a curious but also scared look. Pharynx blinked his eyes, surprised, his expression changed momentarily. “Uhh, Thora-”
“Pharynx, for the hive’s sake, we talked about it!” the taller changeling growled at his brother, as he started to lose his composed mask. “We are a peaceful community now, we will do anything to keep the peace in our land, understand?!”
“Yeah, yeah, but Thora-” he started, looking at Twilight with embarrassment.
“I’m not finished yet! I let you train our army, but only for defending ourselves. We won’t attack first! Never! Besides, marrying Twilight is a-” a short gasp interrupted him when a female changeling turned back and saw said alicorn just a few steps behind them.
“P-princess Twilight Sparkle!” she bowed quickly in front of her, and the other changelings did the same. Twilight smiled, slightly bowing to them as well.
“T-twilight, I mean, Princess, I’m so sorry, we didn’t know you were here!” said Thorax, putting his ears down with an embarrassed smile.
“I did,” huffed Pharynx, as he stood up, and his older brother hissed at him with one word: Behave!
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sorry too, I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation, I just… Wanted to say hello and welcome you to Equestria,” she said with a smile, looking at the smaller changelings. “We didn’t meet earlier, did we?”
“Oh, right. Princess Twilight, let me introduce you to the first Changelings legation,” Thorax took reign as the king and cleared his throat. “This is Antennes, Femur, and Costa. Chosen from the newly formed Changeling Senate, representatives of all Changelings,” Twilight shook hooves with every one of them.
“It’s an enormous honor, Princess Twilight. We are really thankful for what you did to our land, we are looking forward to having you as our queen!” said Costa, blushing slightly, as she was talking to a royal. Twilight chuckled and smiled warmly.
“I’m really glad to hear that. It’s an honor for me as well, to become your ruler. I will do anything I can to make your lives better.”
“Well, you can’t be worse than Chrysalis, soo…” Pharynx started but was hit slightly on the hoof by his brother. “Hey!” Twilight laughed quietly, and the legation did the same.
“It’s okay, really. It’s nice to finally see you, Pharynx,” she said with a big grin on her muzzle, as she reached a hoof to him. The changeling cleared his throat and smiled devilishly.
“If we are on this whole ‘regal’ level of speaking now, Princess Twilight, it’s Prince Pharynx, the First General of The Changeling Army,” he said. Twilight blinked in surprise.
“Oh, I… Didn’t know that, I am truly sorry, Prince Pharynx,” she said with a smile, seeing the second tallest changeling gave a proud smile. “If I can ask, what were you talking about? I might have heard some of it, I’m sorry…”
“It’s no problem” assured Antennes. “We were actually hoping you could better explain it to us. Is it true that the noble council has more power than the princesses?”
“Oh, of course, I can explain, and no not completely.” She began, going into lecture mode. “The nobles write the laws and have command of the army, due to the fact that they own most of the land in Equestria, and the resources on them. Celestia has the power to annul any law that the nobility proposes, or that has been put in place, however, the nobility can put it to a vote, and if they have a supermajority in the council, they can overrule the princess. If both Celestia and Luna wish, they have the right to completely overrule the council’s wishes and do as they please, the exception is that they cannot command the army… Well, they could, but because the nobility owns most of the resources in Equestria, they could easily declare independence, and thus there would be no way to supply the army if the princesses abuse their power,” she finished.
“Ugg… I retract my statement about you not being worse than Chrysalis,” Pharynx groaned, which earned him a hit upside the head from his brother, “Ow, what was that for?!”
“Being rude,” Thorax replied in a huff, then turned to his fiancée. “Sorry about that, Twilight, it’s just that Chrysalis liked to monologue a lot, and many of us got tired of hearing her ramble.”
“Oh, I’m sorry… maybe I should just talk a little less,” her ears folded back, looking away with embarrassment. Thorax cringed at the disappointed look on her muzzle.
“No, it’s okay, you shouldn’t have to worry about it.” He rested a hoof on her shoulder, “Chrysalis only ever talked about how great she was, as long as you don’t do that, then I doubt anyone will mind. Like I said, Twilight, the changelings will love you,” he reassured. Twilight looked at him for a moment, thinking, before nodding.
“It still sounds like the nobility has more power than the princesses. What’s to stop the nobility from breaking away at any moment?” Femur asked.
“Oh, that’s easy, because the princesses are loved by most, if not all the ponies, some of them even see Celestia and Luna as Gods. If the nobility wanted to break away they would need a reason to. If Celestia and Luna took full control of the military, the nobles could distort the information to make it look like Celestia or Luna plan on creating a military state, or conquer the world through propaganda, just as an example,” she lectured.
“Sounds like your political system has a very delicate balance,” Femur stated with a curious look.
“What about your government?” Twilight asked.
“Basically, my brother and I have absolute power, our word is practically law. Though we do have a council of elected representatives who advise us,” Pharynx explained, “there is nothing to stop us from disbanding it, beyond our desire to be better than Chrysalis.”
“Currently, I have more power than my brother,” Thorax explained. “This is mostly because his power is technically only in the army, and as it is right now, we have almost no military.” The shorter royal changeling groaned.
“Don’t remind me, after Chrysalis’ militaristic reign, most changelings aren't too eager to throw themselves into combat,” he grumbled.
“Don't worry, Prince Pharynx, I’m sure our new queen will come up with a solution, I heard she is really, really smart!” Costa praised while looking expectantly at Twilight. Twilight immediately became uncomfortable.
“I… Er-well… You see… Umm…” she stumbled and started to feel the panic rise in her chest, thankfully Thorax came to her rescue.
“Costa, please,” he half-pleaded, half-scolded, “Twilight has a lot going on right now, we’ll worry about our issues later, but for now let’s just focus on the wedding and alliance,” he said while giving Twilight a side glance to see how she was fairing. She gave him a small, thankful smile, Thorax gave a tiny nod before turning back to see Costa visibly shaking, covering and looking at Thorax like he was about to punish her. He sighed, “please, not again... Costa, I’m not going to punish you, okay? I just want you to calm down, I’m not Chrysalis, I won’t hurt you.” He did his best to reassure her, trying to smile. Costa nodded but was still visibly shaking.
“Come on, Costa, let’s go get you some water,” Antennas said while leading her to a table with drinks set out on it.
“I’ll go with them to make sure she’s okay, I’ll see you later your Majesties,” Femur said, and bowed slightly, before going to join Antennas and Costa.
“I’m going to see if I can find your brother before the meeting, maybe he could give me some advice on getting the changelings to enlist,” Pharynx said to Twilight, before leaving the soon to be wedded alone. Thorax let out a long sigh of frustration.
“Most of the Changelings are like that, they are afraid of making me upset, that I might punish them. Costa was one of Chrysalis’s main targets for random punishment. You become their queen, I hope, will help them become less afraid of me… ” the changeling king explained with a sad frown.
“I just hope, I can be what they need me to be,” she replied, trying to comfort both her and her future husband.
“I’m sure you will do fine, from all the stories I’ve heard of you and what I’ve seen, I know you’ll be a good queen, and I’ll also be there to help you, as well as my brother,” he soothed, and was rewarded with a thankful smile. Just then, the doors to the room opened, and in stepped the rest of the nobility, along with Celestia before they made their way over to the table, where the wedding planning would begin.
“Well, at least I get to plan my wedding,” Twilight whispered before she made her way over to the table, with Thorax following right next to her. Seeing them make their way over to the table, Cadance joined them along with the Changeling Council. Upon seeing Twilight, however, many of the nobles looked upset, many of them having a deep frown. The only one who looked happy to see Twilight was Fancy Pants, even Celestia didn’t look too happy, though she hid it well. Once they were all seated, Celestia spoke.
“Good morning, everypony!” she said cheerfully, though it sounded somewhat forced. She then turned to one of the noble ponies, a mare, “why don’t you start us off, Golden Crest?” The golden-maned pink unicorn nodded to Celestia, before returning to facing forward and opening a folder.
“Of course, your Majesty.” she cleared her throat and used her magic to take out a few sketched papers. “We shall start with the main problem: the wedding dress for Princess Twilight Sparkle. I already asked our royal designer to sketch a few ideas, all we have to do is choose.”
“Which royal designer?” Cadance asked, noticing Twilight frowning a bit.
“The one who made the gorgeous dresses for Princess Celestia, Luna, and you, Princess Cadenza, for Princess Twilight’s coronation,” Golden Crest answered, and the lavender princess froze as she remembered those dresses. Her gown was really well made and beautiful, but the other princesses’ dresses… they were bad. Even for Twilight, who had a limited fashion sense could tell they were. She didn't have to look at these sketches to know that they were terrible. Not only that, after her coronation, Rarity had gone on a rant to her about how horrible they were, especially Luna’s dress. Twilight had fully agreed with Rarity on that one, even she could tell how horribly the colors clashed. She gulped quietly and raised her hoof. Celestia blinked slowly, looking at her with irritation in her eyes.
“Is something wrong, Princess Sparkle?” she inquired, forcing herself to smile and sound nice.
“Can I speak now?” the mare asked regally. Celestia looked over the nobles, who, eventually, nodded their heads, as did she. Twilight took a deep breath, smiling confidently. “Well, dear nobles, majesties, and changelings. With all due respect, you have your ideas for my dress, but we have them too. You may know the designer Rarity, she is a dearest friend of mine, and she recently drew a few sketches for my dress, using mine and King Thorax’s suggestions.” Twilight used her magic to teleport said sketches from Rarity’s chamber to the meeting room, then quickly used the copying spell she learned from Starlight. A few nobles gasped quietly with amazement, and Twilight smiled, feeling more confident every second. She handed them out to every creature. “We thought about using traditional, modest white dress with a few greenish details, and long a semi-transparent train, which would mimic a changeling’s tail. Necklaces with greenish crystals would finish the job. The differences between the sketches are simply the dresses’ shapes, sleeves length, etc…” she finished. The observing ponies and changeling looked at the papers. Some of them were truly impressed, but some of them looked displeased. “Of course, I don't want to discard the Royal designers’ sketches, I just thought, Rarity’s are more... Suitable,” she finished with a smile.
“Thank you, for your… Ideas and these sketches, Princess,” one of the stallions, a light-brown unicorn with beige mane and tail, said in low voice, looking at Twilight. “But I don't think that Rarity could compare to our Royal designers. She is a really high-rank designer, but these sketches are…” he looked at them with visible disgust. “Too simple. Too modest. A Queen-to-be should be seen with a big, gorgeous gown, not simple, straight, rustic, backwater dress for a village party. Of course, no offense for your taste, your Majesty, but this is a serious ceremony, and we need serious solutions...” Twilight forced herself not to huff aloud but was visibly upset by that comment.
“I actually like these sketches,” said one mare, she possessed a light orange coat, and a darker orange mane, looking through papers with an amazed look. “They are modest, yet elegant and shines, just like Princess Twilight herself. I prefer these,” she stated. The Princess of Friendship looked at her with a silent, “Thank you,” in her eyes, a few other nobles and all the changelings nodded with agreement. But then Celestia cleared her throat, taking everybody's attention.
“Yes, Rarity’s sketches are genuinely good, she is a well-known designer. But…” she started, and Twilight just knew, she will try to dump her idea. The young Princess glanced at Thorax, and he nodded at her, noticing that, as he wants to say, “you have my support, Twilight.“ “...she is also Princess Sparkle’s best friend. We shouldn't favor any one pony, especially during such a big and important ceremony...” Twilight huffed in her mind and rolled her eyes. Before she could say anything, Cadance took the lead.
“That shouldn't be a problem, dear Aunt. If we want to be sure, that my sister-in-law dress is the best we could afford and that we don't favor one designer, we could organize a little contest. We will announce it right after our meeting, and every designer is free to bring us one of their sketches for Twilight's dress. Then, without knowing their creator’s names, we will choose the best one. Is every creature okay with this?” she smiled genuinely, ignoring murderous looks that her aunt gave her. She was on Twilight's side during this conflict. Celestia frowned, but one of the nobles spoke up first.
“We don’t have time, we need to have the wedding finished in a few days. I’d rather get these bugs on a leash sooner rather than later,” the light blue stallion argued, with no regard to the changelings sitting at the table nearby. Thorax frowned deeply, and Pharynx bared his teeth, with a quiet hiss.
“I agree with Turquoise Light, Princess Cadenza, I, along with my fellow nobility, would rather do this sooner, we don’t fully trust the changelings, and would like to have this alliance formed before they try anything,” Golden Crest explained a bit more gently, though Twilight was still put off by it. The young alicorn knew that Golden was trying hard not to sound offensive, but it was clear that she held the same views as Turquoise. It started to make more sense why they were having her marry Thorax. The changelings would essentially be tied to Equestria, and with Twilight as their Queen, she could defend them in the case that the nobility wanted to try and wrongfully exploit them. I guess that’s why the marriage makes some sense, but why me? Also, if they are going to force us to marry, the least they could do is let us plan our own wedding!
“I’m sorry Twilight, but this is time sensitive, and we need to avoid wasting time,” Celestia said in an even tone, before turning back to Golden Crescent. “What’s next on the agenda?”
“Actually, if I could make a small suggestion...” Thorax spoke up, causing all the nobles to look at him with slight annoyance, but didn't stop him, so he continued. “I was wondering if you could make a few changes to the designs, so they could compliment, like for example, my attire could have pink crystals in the shape of Princess Twilight’s cutie mark, and have her dress have a few translucent pieces of fabric, like that of a changeling’s tail,” he explained. Golden Crescent gave a look of thought before she gave a nod.
“It sounds interesting, I’ll discuss it with the royal designer after the meeting,” she replied. Thorax gave a look to Twilight, basically asking, ‘did that help?’ Twilight showed her appreciation with a small smile, but in reality, she was still upset that they ignored her suggestions, but still went with Thorax’s ideas. She understood that he was trying to help, and she appreciated it very much, but that didn’t hide the fact that she was overlooked, and not even her mentor had come to her aid.
The rest of the meeting was not much better. When they began talking about decorations, once again Twilight tried to give some suggestions but was either ignored, or they outright rejected it. Cadance would try to help by trying to find some middle ground, but it was always brushed aside. Thorax had more success, though only a few times were his suggestions actually considered. That was also another thing that Twilight couldn’t understand, the nobility clearly didn’t trust changelings, so why were they listening to Thorax more than her or Cadance?! There was also the fact that Celestia seemed to be dead set on appeasing the nobility, she was even more confused when Celestia gave an idea for the dance.
“If I may make a suggestion, I had an idea for the couple’s first dance,” Celestia spoke up, getting the attention of all at the table before continuing. “I think it would be a good idea to have a mixed-race dance. In other words, for the first dance, each pony would be paired with a changeling, and vice-versa.”
“An excellent idea, your Majesty!” the orange mare exclaimed, and the others nodded. It took all of Twilight’s will not to storm off right then and there. Even worse was the response they gave to Twilight when they started talking about the food. Again, Twilight suggested that her friends, Applejack and Pinkie Pie be allowed to take part in preparing the food.
“Errr, Excuse me, Princess, do these ponies happen to be earth ponies by any chance?” Turquoise asked with raised eyebrow.
“Um… Yes, why would you ask?” Twilight responded, already not liking where this appeared to be going.
“I’m sorry, Princess, but I think it would be best that they are not apart of the wedding in any capacity. It may bring down the validity of your wedding to invite peasantry to be a part of it,” he reasoned. Twilight was appalled by this, she turned to her former mentor for some sort of support, but got none. Celestia seemed unfazed by the bigoted stallion. The purple alicorn couldn’t take it anymore, she stood up abruptly and charged out of the room.
“Twilight!” Cadance shouted, but it was no use, she had already left. Thorax stood up too and ran after her. Pharynx remained where he was, glaring daggers at the nobility. The other changelings simply stood, looking shocked by their soon to be queen, and current king runs out of the room. Cadance turned back to the nobility and her aunt. “Okay, that’s it. I’ve been letting this go on for long enough. I’m invoking my power as the Princess of Love and vetoing all of your suggestions. The wedding will be planned by me, Princess Twilight, the Elements of Harmony, and the changelings,” she said with a stamp of her hoof on the table.
“Cadance…” Celestia began.
“No, Auntie, you and I are going to have a talk about this later, but I’ve let this political wedding go on the way it has long enough. I’ve agreed to let Twilight and Thorax be married, because I have confidence that a real, romantic relationship can come out of it, but if this wedding is not a happy memory for both of them in some capacity, then it makes the chances of that relationship forming much lower, and I will not stand for it.”
“We can easily overturn your veto, Princess Cadenza,” Turquoise argued.
“I can easily pull my support form the populace, and that may not even be necessary if Twilight pulled her support, because, let me remind you, Twilight has saved Equestria a total of six times now! If ponies found out how you were treating their hero and princess, her wedding dress design would be the least of your worries,” she retorted quite firmly. “You may be in the right on how to deal with the changeling threat, but you have no right to disrespect Twilight, your princess, as you have, or our future allies!” she finished before storming out, likely to comfort her sister-in-law.
In another part of the castle, Thorax was running after Twilight, leaving shocked guards and maids behind him.
“Twilight! Please, wait! ” he shouted at her, panting slightly, but she just turned into another corridor. Before the Changeling King could ascertain where they were, Twilight shut the door to her room right before his muzzle. He sighed and knocked a few times, “Twilight? Can I come in?”
“No, go away,” came the answer. Thorax put his ear to the wooden door. Her voice was so… Stoic, so dead... He knocked one more time.
“Twilight, please, we need to talk...”
“Go and talk with the nobles, I noticed you're very good with that!” she huffed from behind the door. She sounded better now, but was still clearly upset and sounded a little sad too. Thorax blinked with confusion.
“What? That's why you ran away? Because they liked my ideas and not yours?” just after he finished his sentence the door opened suddenly, making Thorax almost fall down. He caught his balance and looked the mare in her eyes.
“No! Not only because of that! They insulted my friends! Earth ponies aren't worse than pegasi or unicorns in any regard!” she stomped her hoof down with a murderous gaze. “And how about the way they were talking to you?! Changelings are just like us, and they were treating you like nothing! Those racist fffaaaarrrg!!!” She raged and stormed back into her room. She didn't close the door, so Thorax followed after her. He looked back and forth down the hallway to make sure no one heard her outburst before closing the door.
“You should be careful or they will hear you, and abdicate you,” Thorax said jokingly, in a hope to help her mood, but seeing Twilight’s lack of a reaction made his smile disappear. “Well, can I be honest with you?”
“I guess…? About what?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Thorax looked at her with a serious expression.
“Well… I know they might have insulted your friends-”
“They DID insult my friends!” she cut in his words, putting her ears down. “What, are you defending them now? Like Celestia’s doing?! They offended your WHOLE kingdom and its citizens! I can't stand that kind of ignorance and bigotry! THAT'S why I ran awa- I left the meeting!” she exclaimed before marching over to her bed. She pulled out a luggage case from her closet, placed it on the bed, and began to fill it with the few things she brought with her. “I’m not staying here any longer, I’m going back to Ponyville, and I’m…” she trailed off as Thorax sighed.
“Twilight, you can't run away and hide in Ponyville.”
“I’m not running away!” she turned around and glared at him in defiance. Thorax just shook his head.
“I’m a changeling, running and hiding was something I did all the time, and you are doing it now,” he argued. Twilight gave a dejected sigh.
“Fine, I’m running and hiding, what do you want from me?!” she said with a pout.
“I don’t know you on a personal level all that much, but I have heard a lot about your adventures. And from these stories, one thing I’ve been able to glean is that you never run from your problems. Unless you charging down Nightmare Moon is an exaggeration?” He inquired. Twilight was now sitting on the bed looking mildly embarrassed. She was never a fan of being praised.
“No, it’s sort of true, but I teleported before I collided with her.”
“You still charged her, and might I remind you that you fought an army of we changelings.” he smiled sadly.
“But I was with my friends!” she tried to argue.
“So? You still fought us without running and hiding.”
“Yeah well…” she tried to argue, but Thorax continued.
“You also fought Tirek to a standstill!”
“But I had the power of four alicorns!” she tried to argue again, but it was a flimsy argument and she knew it. After Tirek destroyed her home, Twilight went full force at the centaur and almost won. If it weren’t for the fact that he used her friends as hostages, she probably would have beaten him. After a few more moments, Thorax continued.
“If you leave, it means you were beaten by a bunch of stuffy nobles!” he exclaimed. “The mare who fought, Nightmare Moon, Discord, an army of changelings, saved the Crystal Empire, and fought a being with all the magic in Equestria! And you’re running away from a bunch of bigoted ponies who didn’t like your wedding ideas? Come on, Twilight, you’re better than this!” he finished, hoping he somehow helped her. Twilight remained still for a moment, going over it in her mind. He was right! What was she doing? She had faced much worse, both with and without others by her side. Twilight got off the bed, walked up to the changeling king, and wrapped her hooves around his neck in a great big hug.
“Thank you, Thorax, you’re right I need to be stronger!” she affirmed. Thorax returned the hug.
“Of course, Twilight, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help?”
“OOOH, YOU TWO ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER!” a voice squealed from the door. The two turned to see Cadance standing in the doorway with a wide smile on her face.
“Cadance? What are YOU DOING HERE?!” Twilight squeaked, jumping away from Thorax, who blushed furiously just like his fiancée.
“Oh, I just came after the trail of love in the air…” Cadance giggled, which caused both of the betrothed to cower a bit. “Aww, come on! I want to tell you something very important!” Twilight’s ears perked up. Why she was so happy?
“What is it?” Thorax found the courage to ask, despite still blushing. “Has something happened during the meeting after we left?” Twilight felt guilty and ashamed as he reminded her that. We left… This should be ‘Twilight run away!’ she huffed at herself. The changeling noticed Twilight’s mood changed and after opening one of his wings, he put it on her back and hugged delicately. The lavender alicorn blinked her eyes and looked at him with a shy smile.
“Quite a lot, actually” Cadance smiled, looking at Twilight and her fiancé. “I vetoed nobility’s suggestions, stood against my aunt and declared that WE will organize the wedding!” Both Twilight and Thorax looked at her with disbelief in their eyes, their mouths gaping wide open.
“Wait… You’re kidding, right?” Thorax asked, but Cadance shook her head with her smile even wider.
“No! We have to get the elements, and your legation, Thorax, here, as soon as possible! We only have a few days and have a whole wedding to prepare!” she was feeling her heart glow, as she watched her sister-in-law’s smile getting bigger, and her eyes almost watery. Twilight just jumped to Cadance and hugged her tightly.
“Yes! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she squeaked and jumped in the air with a happy neigh. She immediately blushed and hid behind her mane. “Oh my, I’m sorry, I’m just so happy! Thank you, Cadance!” she hugged the taller alicorn one more time, and picked up a paper and quill with her magic. “I’ll write to my friends to let them know they need to get ready! When we will meet, Caddy?”
“In the meeting room, it should be empty.”
“I still can’t believe it! Thank you, Princess,” Thorax smiled, as Cadance watched in awe while Twilight was writing eight different letters at the same time, and searching for the notebook with her wedding ideas. “How did you do that? Weren’t the nobles angry at you? And… Well… What about Princess Celestia?” Cadance sighed quietly, even Twilight calmed down a bit and came closer, listening.
“Well, she didn’t take it well. But it was absurd, you should have the right to organize your wedding, even if it’s political. And…” she sighed. “I’m really sorry about the way the nobles treated you and the other changelings, Thorax,” she added sadly, putting her ears down.
“Don’t apologize for them, Cadance, it’s not your fault,” Thorax stated and smiled at the princess. She smiled too.
“I know, but I feel kinda responsible for what they do. I’ll go talk to Celestia later.”
“I’d like to talk with her too-” Twilight started, but was cut by her sister.
“No, Twily, I will do it. You have more important matters to attend to right now!” she smiled, as she again saw sparkles in the younger alicorn’s eyes.
“Oh, right! Wedding! Oh, Rarity will be on a cloud nine, when we tell her about it! She really wanted to make our suits! She and the others will be in the meeting room, in 15 minutes, I also asked Spike to find and bring the changeling legation with him!” she said, as she magically sent all of the letters. She glanced at Cadance with a genuine smile. “Thank you… Once again… I feel way better, knowing I have some control now!”
“Yes, me too. But we could use some of the previous ideas,” Thorax added, taking the lavender notebook from Twilight’s aura to his. He wrote a few sentences. “Like, the changeling-tail-like train for your dress, your cutie marks symbols… Or the dance…” he added with a slight blush. Twilight and Cadance looked at him with surprise.
“The dance? You liked this one?” the younger princess asked him, and he nodded shyly.
“Well, actually… It could be a really good idea to try to make ponies and changelings integrate with each other. I know that other ponies aren’t so radical about us like nobles are, but… I don’t think everyone loves us, despite our reforming… The dance could be an amazing ‘excuse’ for them to talk with each other and form a camaraderie,” the mares thought about for a moment before they nodded, almost in sync.
“It could be a really good idea. We’ll ask the rest of our wedding committee what they think about that. Come on, Thorax, Caddy, the meeting will start right away!” Twilight cheered as she went towards the door leaping like Pinkie Pie, so happy and excited… Cadance laughed a bit, but went towards another corridor, as they exited the room.
“Go ahead, I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes! But if I'm late, start without me, don’t worry!” she exclaimed after her sister and her husband-to-be and trotted to one particular pony’s chamber.
“Celestia, we need to talk,” Cadance said outside the sun princess’s door after she knocked on it a few times. She refrained from referring to her as Aunty Celestia to show that she was not pleased.
“Come in, Cadance,” came the alicorn’s voice through the door. With a flick of her magic, the pink alicorn opened the door and stepped into the room. Celestia was sitting at her desk, going through a stack of papers. “I don’t like being overruled, Cadance,” Celestia said with a neutral tone, not even looking at her niece.
“I don’t know what has gotten into you, Celestia, but you need to stop. I know you well enough that you care deeply for Twilight, and would do anything to make her happy... I’m a little surprised that you didn’t come to her defense when those nobles not only ignored her suggestions for her wedding but also let them insult her and her friends as they did. You just sat there and did nothing,” she finished with a stamp of her hoof. Celestia’s expression changed quickly to that of a sad frown. She put down her quill and a few papers.
“You’re right, Cadance… I’m sorry. Things have been a bit stressful lately, and my mind has been elsewhere. With Luna away dealing with a problem to the South, I’ve had my hooves full, I am just so tired and stressed… It’s really hard to control everything that’s happening here...” she explained. Cadance seemed to contemplate her words for a while before nodding.
“That explains why I haven't seen Luna in a while, but I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. I want you to say you’re sorry to Twilight before her wedding,” she stated, giving her aunt a serious look.
“Very well, Cadance. Now, excuse me, but I must get back to work. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before turning back to her aforementioned work. Cadance nodded before walking out, without a word. Celestia continued on to her work and pulled out a checklist. She checked a small box on the list after she finished the stack of papers. She then noticed the next, and final task on her list. “Oh, I have one more thing I need to do…” She opened the door and stuck her head into the hallway to make sure no one was coming. She then pulled her head back in before closing and locking the door. “I have someone important to talk to…” She gave a sneer as she walked over to a black spot on her wall. She pressed her right hoof against its smooth surface, and a click sound came from the wall as a section of said wall pulled back and to the side. Celestia entered the secret passageway, and the wall slid closed behind her, leaving the chamber empty.
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It's nice to see stuck up nobles get put in their place.
So I've barely touched this and it's already showing a ton of my pet peeves of MLP fanfiction:
1. A corrupt nobility that somehow thinks it has any ability to order Celestia around.
2. A Celestia who lets them.
3. A Celestia who willingly goes along with the plans of a corrupt nobility instead of putting her hoof down.
4. A Celestia who willingly throws Twilight under the bus of the plans of a corrupt nobility.
5. A Cadance who willingly goes along with Celestia throwing Twilight under the bus.
6. A Cadance who actually supports a forced political marriage.
7. "Because Destiny Said So" (Basically what Cadance says the reason she supported this was.)
And this is just the first section of the prologue.
I'm sorry, you can claim 'it gets better' or do rewrites that apparently don't change the basic premise in any significant way, but I'm not sure I can stomach something that pushes at least 7 of my buttons before it even gets started.
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Not much I can tell you then.
*Younger
Whelp, no need for an official announcement now, because word of this is probably going to reach all corners of the world well before noon now.
Twilight, that freaking out was probably the most reasonable thing you've done this whole story thus far.
You absolutely should be freaking out, waaaaaaaaay more than you've done thus far. I don't care how prim and proper a little princess you think you are. The situation you've been forced into would totally justify it.
Besides, suppressing the freak outs are probably only going to make them worse when they do get out. And oh they will. Freak outs always get away from you in the end.
That sound like a...reverse monarchy. Like a democracy but with none of the benefits, so not really a democracy at all.
An oligarchy. That's the term I'm looking for. Not a well balanced one, either, by the sound of things. It's starting to sound like the nobles have the last word in everything, all the time. That's...that's actually super poor governing and basically a dictatorship--hence the use of the oligarchy term. Not unless something can serve as a check and balance against the nobles, but thus far I've seen none of that.
It doesn't mesh with show-canon, either--all of the princesses clearly have more power than that, and the ability to have the last word, not the nobles. If anything, the imbalance in power should be with the princesses, not the nobles.
Last I checked, Celestia and Luna didn't have significant others. At least, none currently...publicly known. Which raises questions if true. I also suppose, at their age, it's possible they were married at some point in the past and the spouse is simply...no longer living. But seeing that would only make them single and eligible again...unless Equestria's got some funny ideas about marriage.
This sounds like an excuse trying to be a check and balance, but it's not, because ultimately, by controlling the armies, the nobility still hold the power, in the sense that if somebody stands in their way, the nobility can just have the military mow them over. The princesses can voice objections, sure, but it's basically a meaningless formality, as this whole situation demonstrates perfectly. It's actually starting to sound like a mob-boss sort of scenario. Equestria is ruled by gangsters, basically, and the princesses are just the poor saps who play their games to minimize needless bloodshed.
The changelings' form of government, a type of nicely balanced constitutional monarchy by the sound it, seems oodles better by comparison. Equestria should take notes. Lots of notes.
If nothing else, maybe Twilight can use the changelings as an example to Equestria and help spur change so to prevent stupid scenarios like this from repeating.
It's hardly balanced, and is instead very skewed in the nobility's favor. Basically, they only keep the princesses around to appease the citizens. Were it not for that one detail, it seems to me that, politically speaking, they'd have more than amble means of getting rid of them and just taking all the power for themselves. And then where would Equestria be?
The princesses just better hope that they never fall out of favor with the citizens anytime soon.
A thought: other than the fact that she's not typically into that kind of behavior...what's stopping Celestia from just striking down the whole lot of the nobility immediately with magic or something? Because I kinda doubt the nobility would have the magical skill to stop them. Especially if all four princesses decided to join in as well.
So with all that in mind, that whole song and dance routine about keeping things in balance just became even more meaningless. You're welcome.
Okay, maybe their government is not as well balanced as I indicated. Still better than whatever the heck it is that Equestria thinks its doing, though.
Whaaaaaat? And rob the nobility of their chance of showing their dominion over you by controlling you to do it their way anyway? I mean, why ever would you not want that?
Is it to tell these idiots who think themselves
lords and mastersnobility that they're all fired and will be henceforth banished and thrown in a dungeon at the place they're banished to? Otherwise, I fear you're just wasting your breath, Twilight.If you're implying that you're better suited for that serious solution, Mr. Nobility, I'm still waiting for any of you to offer an actual serious solution. Nothing you've offered from this story's start has in any actual way been serious...just very stupid, vain, selfish and self-serving, and overall power-hungry.
More song and dance, basically, an attempt to try and "bend" the rules by preventing the nobility full control of the matter while still giving the illusion that they are in full control.
You want my honest opinion? If this is the state Equestria's government is in, then it's dangerously close to self-destructing already. This whole affair might just be the thing that pushes it over the edge, in fact, and then you've got a much bigger problem than the supposed (but utterly non-existent) threat the changelings pose to you. What's even worse is that the nobility, and I suspect Celestia, are both being willfully ignorant of this fact.
I, too, am baffled, but I suspect, given everything else, it's probably a stupid reason. This seems to be the nobility's forte, stupidity, and it doesn't help that Celestia's apparently been taking stupid pills so to be able to think more on their level.
Actually, I'm starting to wonder if everybody here just has it in for Twilight. Don't know why, but at this point, seeing how much control they have over, well, everything, do they really even need a reason? Twilight can't stop them. I almost wonder if this is all just a show to prove to Twilight who's boss, and it's definitely not her, so fall in line already, dear Twilight, you can't fight us, neener, neener, neener!
I need bigger hands, so I can strangle all of these boneheads at once. Seriously, we're nearing Rita Skeeter levels of hatred from me here, and that's...that's pretty dang high.
Admittedly, though, it's also a good thing for the writer, because it means I'm getting really drawn into this to let my anger get that heated about fictional characters.
As if the fact that I've had to stop and comment on basically every other line this whole chapter hasn't demonstrated that already. 
Cadance, you should've done that five chapters ago! I know there's only three chapters, but I mean what I said!
Do I need to pull out the "let me laugh even harder" vid again? The only threat to Equestria right this moment is yourselves. The sooner you all can wake up to that, the better off you're all going to be.
Yes. "fffaaaarrrg" indeed. That precisely sums up my whole mood on all of this.
Story's still shipping for shipping's sake, but that's pretty much a side-issue now in the wake of all this...political gobbledygook. That said, despite the appearance of all my ranting and raving, I actually did mostly enjoy this chapter. I know, it's a funny way of showing it, but there it is.
Not sure how to feel about this chapter, the nobles being a problem I expected, the Evil Celestia I did not, calling it now, she's been replaced by Queen Chrystalis or something
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Hey, it also touched my pet peeve of having the Changelings portrayed as a weak pathetic group of wimps, despite having spent most of their lives as soldiers, and one year of no training does not a weak warrior race make.
But I ain't complaining. It's hecking good. (Excuse mt language.)
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The Changeling government is design somewhat similar to how the UK government runs. In reality, the Queen could disband parliament and make her word law, the only reason she doesn't do this is to remain in the good grace of her subjects.
As for Equestria's government, it's actually based on how the Polish-Lithuanian government worked. The nobility had the military and the king had the people. Now, this was because the king was technically voted in, but Celestia has always put her subjects first. Now if you notice Celestia is acting out of character and there is a reason for that, but I won't say why.
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"I'm mad and there's no way you can fix my anger because I'm not going to listen to you."
What a swell guy
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huh?
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Spiritus Arcane and his list of 7 things
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Ah! Yeah, I didn't really care too much.
Its nice that we know where Luna is
Yay, finally new chapter
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You mean the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? That doesn't exactly change anything--that government suffered from most to all of the same flaws in the end as I'm pointing out for Equestria now, so if anything, that only further validates my points. I've also found indications that the ruling monarch in their system still had access to a military, which is clearly not the case here in Equestria, and that doesn't help since the nobility seem all-too ready to abuse that right of a military if ponies don't play by their rules.
Whether you meant to or not, you've effectively portrayed an Equestria that, by all accounts, should be on the verge of tumbling into full political destabilization, and there's clear signs the very fragile and supposed "balance" of this system is starting to crumble or be abused. Most especially the nobility, who are very clearly trying to usurp more than their share of the control. The princesses and any powers they may or may not have are rendered effectively meaningless, because they ignore Twilight, gotten Celestia to fall in line as a pawn (for whatever reason), and have proceeded to bully all four of them to heed their commands from the start, all over very poor and rather invented reasons. Now the fallout of all of this is putting undue strain on the already troubled system as Twilight and Cadance are now starting to push back on a nobility that clearly doesn't want to give an inch. Throw in whatever the heck is going on with Celestia adding further strain in what really appears to be some sort of conspiracy to further undermine it all, and you've got a crumbling government about to blow. Equestria will be lucky to survive this mess intact and without a revolution to overthrow the government at this rate.
If nothing else, I hope this story will all end with Equestria's government getting a major overhaul and reinvention into a better system than this hot mess they're currently sitting in.
As for the changelings, their government is similar to that of the modern British system, but if their monarchs can really choose to overthrow any part of it at will without much contest, then it's my understanding that it's still giving its monarchs the larger portion of the power. The British monarchy may have that right to do the same as a technicality, but there's no way they could enact it without immediate challenge that would either revoke it immediately, or gridlock the government to the point that no action can be effectively taken on the matter.
Not that it matters really, because I'm not worried about the changeling government. Thorax and Pharynx have both already indicated they aren't looking to abuse the system and have the rights of their citizens in mind first and foremost, and despite its newness, it's at least stable and its intentions largely pure. Can't say the same for Equestria, here.
So, let's see... we have Celestia being a b
, nobles who think they know what's best, but don't really and have the Equestrian military under their control... against the Princess of Love, the changelings, and the Elements of Harmony. And since Discord is friends with Fluttershy, he'd be more than happy to help Twily. So, if worse comes to worse, Celestia gets dethroned, Nobles executed, Twilight and Thorax, along with a council of advisers, rule both Equestria and the Changelings, while Discord(or Luna, if she agrees Celly was wrong) raises and lowers the sun and moon. And Pharynx rules the military and marries Rainbow Dash(sorry. Another fanfic. I ended up enjoying that ship, though it wasn't the main ship. Can that happen here?) I can get behind this.
But, honestly, I think Celly is being mind controlled by Chrissy. So, on the day of the wedding, they'll have to fight Chrissy and a mind controlled Celly... leading to an end similar to "A Canterlot Wedding". Am I at least close?
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sort of close.
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On a scale of 1-10, how close?
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sorry, can't tell you.
That's racist. *ding* Sin Counter: 1
Hmmmmm.... Celestia acting cold.... talking about how she can't control everything. Makes sense. I mean, political situations like this CAN put a lot of stress on someone and...
............... *facehoof* Seriously?! You're falling for this AGAIN?! Let me guess, Chrysalis kidnapped Celestia and Luna, impersonating one of them and making an excuse as to why the other is absent. THEN, either she has a rogue group of changelings impersonating the Nobles (COnsidering they favored Thorax's, a changeling's, suggestions), or the Nobles are still ponies and she's just taking advantage of an opportunity. Maybe this marriage is all part of her plan.
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Fair enough.
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Good theory.
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That or she is gonna pull a royal Canterlot wedding, only replacing Shining Armor with Thorax, and Cadance with Twilight.
Except with less romanticness, maybe.
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Oooo, there’s another great idea!
Going through all this again, I don't buy the Chrysalis theory everyone is giving, because what on earth would Chrysalis, or any other rogue changeling or villain for that matter, gain from it?
Let's assume it is Chrysalis that's behind this for a moment. Unless Twilight wasn't supposed to play along--which wouldn't make sense because Twilight was encouraged to play along by all three other princesses, most especially Celestia, who was from the start the strongest supporter of the idea--it wouldn't help Chrysalis hardly at all, and if anything work against her, as it'd only strengthen changeling and pony relations from a high-profile political pony/changeling marriage like this, because it's still a political alliance between the two. That's the whole idea of it. So it wouldn't help her much at all.
Not unless she plans to have one of couple assassinated and pin the blame on one side or the other, and as I see it, that wouldn't help her either if that was her plan--if she pinned it on the changelings, that would only further endanger the hive from the ponies and put it all the more at risk of destruction from Equestrian retaliation. And neither that nor if she pinned it on the ponies would do much to put her back in control of the hive, which I'm sure is what she'd really want. If anything, the other changelings would only hate her more for sabotaging their chances for peace.
Giving how things are going, I'm not even convinced she could gain Equestria's political destabilization from all of this, because it's only making the ponies of influence all the more aware of how flawed their political system is, and now thanks to Cadance, is looking to fight back, which usually results in change for the better in the end, so in a way it'd only help Equestria in the long run.
It wouldn't even work as petty revenge on Twilight, because she ends up married to Thorax, and we already know that's going to go well, so it's not like it's going to hurt Twilight all that much. Inconvenience her and subvert her say in the matter, sure...at first. But it's not like its going to ruin her in the end, and in fact still has a good chance of living a good life, even if she is forced into a marriage she didn't want. Same for Thorax.
I suppose the scheme could be to seize control of Equestria behind the scenes via the nobility and some puppet governing, but this still wouldn't be the way to do it. If anything, it's just going to shoot Chrysalis in the hoof and not get her very far because it'd still never give her all the power she would want unless she did something to get both the princesses and the nobility, out of the way...and this political marriage isn't going to make either happen.
Even if we were to consider villains other than Chrysalis possibly being behind this, I still don't see what the motive would be, what they would stand to gain, from trying to force a political marriage like this. Personally, I'm more inclined to think still that this really is Celestia herself acting this way. Why, I don't know. But it'd make infinitely more sense for this to be a purely internal affair with Equestria, not some outsider trying to pull the strings for some scheme of conquest or revenge.
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Maybe, BIG MAYBE, she is getting Thorax into a position where she can brainwassh him like she did to Shinging Armor as use him as a way to take the hive back.
Nothing gets you in power faster than brainwashing the current leader.
Again, it's a BIG maybe.
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Okay...but how does the marriage fit into it? If that was her whole scheme, she wouldn't really need the excuse of an arranged marriage to pull it off, would she? If it's a case that she needs Thorax out of the hive and vulnerable, there's any number of excuses she could've used to get him in such a position. A peace summit or some such, for example. That way she could swing things to get Twilight close as well, since presumably she'd want revenge on her too. But the marriage feels like it'd leave too many loose ends open that could trip her up later down the road.
Further, if that is her plan, she clearly hasn't enacted it yet, as Thorax still seems to retain his normal style of behavior, which means characters like Twilight are getting plenty of opportunity to familiarize themselves with how Thorax normally behaves, making it all the more likely they'll notice something's wrong once Chrysalis does start brainwashing him. Further, not only is Twilight already well familiar with the signs of changeling brainwashing from last time, she was also the one who caught on and put a hitch in Chrysalis's plans the last time around as well--Chrysalis would know that and know she could easily mess things up again. And Chrysalis may be a lot of things, but she seems smart enough to know better to repeat a plan that she knows didn't work the first time around.
If anything, Twilight should be the target in such a plan, and Chrysalis still wouldn't need the whole arranged marriage front to do that. Really, she would just need to get close enough to any of these potential targets without suspicion long enough to enact the brainwashing.
At any rate, the brainwashing would really only give Chrysalis a puppet government control of the hive, and I already know she will not be content with that. This would only be a step towards taking full and direct control herself, which means she'd eventually step forward and reveal herself and the charade, which then raises the question: how does she intend to keep the subjects that likely don't want her around in line and obeying? Her past method of ruling and keeping them in check only worked if they relented to being subservient. But the whole point of them reforming was them deciding to no longer heed her rule anymore, a line of thinking they aren't just going to abandon at a drop of a hat, so how does Chrysalis plan to get them to go back?
Besides, I'd imagine Equestria's the more likely target. She's had delusions of taking it for herself from the start, and Equestria is, politically, the more powerful nation anyway. Take it successfully, and she'd already be pretty secure in her position of power. The hive wouldn't be able to resist her at that point. But she still wouldn't need this arranged marriage to do it, and in fact, it'd probably be more hindrance than help, due to the political turmoil its causing.
If Chrysalis is involved, I'd think it more likely that, whatever her scheme is, the marriage is uninvolved and not of her doing. It came up exactly as the story has already stated, and she's just forced to play along for now, possibly see if there's a way to use it to her advantage in whatever her plans are.
But I remain unconvinced that she's actually involved at all, and this isn't really all just some internal affair for Equestria. Frankly, I think that'd be the more interesting plotline anyway.
Any ETA on the next chapter? Please don't make us wait several months again lol
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tommorow.
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Awesome!
....*sigh* annnnd you fall into the trap too many fanfic writers do
dude you didnt need there to be a twist or added drama in this, the aranged mairage and the relationship drama was plenty this extra little bit of intreqge with whatever is going on with celestia steps over a line.
take a leason from the failings of one m knight shamalan....not everything needs a twist.
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I find that odd considering my entire family loves those movies, also we've been planning this for a while now. If you don't like it not much I can do for you.