Yey, we are getting into the plot.

So you're saying that Celestia Luna are not equals to come to power. So Celestia has the right to overturn any laws and punishment that Luna makes. Perhaps Luna should make a law with the Nobles have to pay more tax than the average Pony and were some ponies struggling to pay tax and wait and see if Celestia gets rid of the law.

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On paper, they are equals. Celestia would say they're equals, quite vehemently. That's why she wants Luna to have a Night Court and see her own petitioners. She 'requested' permission to undo Luna's decree, but Luna knows it's a lost cause that will just extend the argument.

In practice, they are absolutely not equal. Luna knows it, and Celestia's kind of willfully ignorant. She's just happy to have her sister back. As for Luna, she doesn't see the point of picking a fight with her sister over it.

I enjoyed this, but I do hope we get more from Jon soon. Kinda came to see his struggles.

“Another town disappeared in the north,” Celestia admitted with a heavy sigh. “The guards found it last night. Several buildings burned down, but no bodies, thankfully. Cadance is at her wit’s end trying to calm down the Crystal Empire.”

Burned buildings and no bodies. When Jon comes to town, he'll be a perfect target for blame.

Also, Wyman Manderly > Celestia.

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Hmmm, this is inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire and multiple POVs is kinda a staple of the series.
Jon's the main character here, and you'll see him from his perspective and others, but the story won't strictly follow him. I got stuff going on elsewhere that I need to cover.

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Celestia's got cake butt pretty hard, but she's not fat. She burns enough calories raising the sun. And Wyman is way more on top of the politics.
She's not going to be staring into the distance saying, "The north remembers, and the mummer's farce is almost done."

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That's what I meant. Lord Lard is all the same act but with the benefit of being absolutely terrifying.

I mean, unless Celestia starts feeding people cakes made from their own relatives. That'd be dope. And 100% in fitting with a dark Trollestia. So far though? Yup, total cake-butt.

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If you have a story that you need characters for, let me know.

Nice story!

Can't wait to see where the rest of this Fimfiction goes, keep up the good work.

Corrupt officials not getting sacked for their corruption and incompetence just because of their bloodline is the key to effective government, as we all know.
Luna is right, Celestia is way too soft on the aristocracy.

“If you strip away her titles, how can she pay back those poor Ponies?” Celestia asked. “I share your anger, I truly do, but Berry’s family has served well, and I imagine her fillies will continue to do so. Think about the long term.”

I have to agree with Celestia on this one. The simple fact that taking away her title will make her almost not involved the paying for her crime. It also brings the backing of resentment and resentment. Is a fatal flaw of any kingdom. A thousand years of experience to teach someone that versus the era Luna lived in where there was always corruption and evil people. Even though he execute probably a large amount of them, The problem was never fixed. Celestia fixed it with giving someone escaping review

Celestia in this story seriously pisses me off. She says her and Luna are both equals and she has just as much authority as what that Sun controlling twat herself does, but that is obviously not true. Seeing as how she seems to think and act like she can just reverse any decision Luna makes that she disagrees with.

Celestia really had already made up her mind about what she was going to do about the matter, and was going to do it either way. She expected Luna to just roll over and give into her and really only asked Luna for her permission on reversing her decision and dealing with Berry Bundle herself as a formality/courtesy to her sister.

Celestia is honestly treating her sister more like an inept moron and spoiled little sister pitching a fit, than her fellow Diarch that Luna deserves to be treated as. She really is acting more like an entitled older sibling that expects her sibling to just go along with whatever she says/wants, rather than an actual fellow Princess and ruler. Granted Celestia is still Luna's big sister, but she really should be trying to separate her personal and official life and affairs better on matters like that.

Luna isn't blameless and is also somewhat at fault as well, seeing as how she just rolled over so easily on the subject. Instead of her trying to point out (calmly if possible) all of Celestia's hypocrisy and pushing to get her to at least see that and Celestia has been treating Luna as her lesser. I really can respect that Luna doesn't want to potentially get into any unnecessary fights/arguments with her big sister, especially considering everything that happened between them both 1,000 years ago. But she shouldn't just sit there and let Celestia walk all over her like a lowly rug either, even if Celestia is her big sister. It's just not healthy for Luna to allow it to continue, nor is it conducive of a healthy relationship between her and Celestia.

If Luna just sucks it up and remains silent and does nothing, then nothing will ever change for her and the feelings she has on the matter will possibly begin to eat away at her and fester. We all know exactly what road that will lead her down and how well that will end, as she has already been there once before. You think Luna would have realized that fact though, and tried taking steps to attempt avoiding that same outcome but she hasn't for some reason.

Apparently Celestia really hasn't learned her lesson about treating her little sister like a petulant child having a tantrum, being so dismissive of her and ignoring most or even all of her concerns either. That idiot is basically setting things up for Luna to snap again and for Nightmare Moon 2.0 to make a special appearance; or Luna taking some sort of drastic action to try and get Celestia to pull her head out of her cake and sweet inflated, sun marked, titanic white ass.

I say Luna could compromise just a bit though, by making Berry Bundle pay back everything she stole from the citizens in her domain then she strips her entire family of all their titles. Her daughters were also probably at least partially aware of her actions and likely did absolutely nothing to try and stop her, so they deserved to be stripped of their titles as well. Even them writing a simple letter to Celestia about what their mother had been doing, would have counted in my book. As them trying to do the right thing and stop their mother from stealing from all the ponies and also committing both forgery and treason as well.

Treacherous, thieving trash like Berry Bunch really have absolutely no place holding such positions of power over others. That and as a ruler you have to make examples out of such filthy swine, to keep any other such from seeing you as a weakling to be used for their own ends as they see fit. To also discourage them from doing anything like Berry did, as they know if they do then their actions will have consequences and cost them dearly.

Apologies for the long ass and angry rant, but I seriously thought some of that really needed to be pointed out/said.

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Ah hell to the no. I got the sarcasm part of your comment, but letting corrupt AF government officials off the hook with only what is effectively slaps on the wrists as punishment is idiotic. It's seriously a really horrible policy for anyone in any reality to be following, unless they are actively trying to build a cesspool of corruption and evil.

If that really is how Celestia has been running things since Luna's banishment, then it's no wonder why they are all such entitled and arrogant assholes. Ones who actually think they can make completely unreasonable demands of their Princess like they do ("I'd like you to tear down that filthy orphanage so I can build myself swimming pool." for example), and also do whatever they want as well and that they will get away with it just because they are a noble.

Luna really was right and Celestia has been far, far too soft on and lenient with the Noble class of her country. Celestia is far too kind and soft hearted to act like she really should be and that is why I think Luna being back is such a good thing. For her to balance out her older sister's softness and leniency with a bit of hardness and sterness that is sorely needed from the looks of it.

I know Luna can come off as being overly harsh to some people and especially ponies, but she is still trying to adjust to the new and unfamiliar society with equally new and unfamiliar rules she currently finds herself in. She is a millennium behind everyone else and has only been back maybe 2 or 3 years, so she hasn't really had any time to really adjust to everything yet. Whereas Celestia has had all that time her sister was gone, to fully adjust to her changing environment and slowly change along with both her country and its people/her subjects.

Luna sadly didn't have that same sort of opportunity her big sister did though, and is most likely going to need a bit more time. More than just a couple of measly years for her to truly begin adjusting and fitting in properly anyway, especially after a millennium of being absent and missing so much change.

I'd say give Luna at least a few more years and she should begin to settle in a bit better to her new environment and she won't appear and act or feel so out of place. Luna may still have a slight tendency to lean towards being a bit old fashioned for quite a while though, as a result of everything that she went through and missed.

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Long comments there, friend!

Celestia and Luna have a dynamic not dissimilar to Robert and Stannis Baratheon, or foolish, popular sibling vs terse, responsible sibling.
Luna is a thousand years out of date, remembering an Equestria that has long since moved on and still struggling with adjusting. Celestia keeps Equestria running without "rocking the boat," so to speak. She exercises soft-power, leveraging her popularity and public disapproval to keep excesses to a minimum, when she learns about them. Luna would make a proclamation and send the Royal Guard to enforce it...and the other chapters highlight that the guards aren't very good at their jobs anymore.

And they are not equal. Celestia does not understand the Dreamscape, but Luna still has very little worldly duties. Celestia has gotten used to saying something, and having it be true. She says her sister is equal to her and ponies nod along. Luna could argue it, but she doesn't want to start a fight over an obvious truth. Equestria moved on and doesn't need her anymore. She's only there because her sister wants her to be.