Prologue: Tyranny of the Mob
"I now call the 503rd meeting of the Equestrian Parliament into session," Celestia started as she slammed a gavel onto her podium, the sound reverberating through the meeting hall. Stretched before her were dozens upon dozens of desks laid out in a circular pattern. Sitting at these desks were mostly ponies, but there were a couple of creatures of other races scattered about here and there.
On her left and right, standing at podiums of their own, were Princess Cadance and Luna respectively. Celestia looked to Luna out of the corner of her eye; the other alicorn looked slightly stressed, but Celestia couldn't judge her. This was only the third of these biennial meetings she had attended since her return from the moon, and as such she wasn't quite used to handling the parliament.
Celestia shook her head and turned her attention back to the crowded room. She straightened her back and unfurled her wings as she stared down the many officials of Equestria's many provinces, nobles, and elected officials alike. Looking down at her checklist, Celestia let out a small sigh. Only sixty-seven of the desired hundred attendees.
Celestia cleared her throat and shuffled the papers on her podium as the delegates did the same until finally, everything was in order.
A pony near the front of the desks wearing a rich purple suit adorned with a ruff and monocle spoke first as he approached the podium. "The honorable representative of Ardennais would like the floor first, Your Majesty," the pony, one Duke Paard, said with a slight bow, his voice richly accented.
"The representative of Manehattan seconds this request," another pony said, this one wearing a tuxedo-like suit as he leaned forward on his desk, a smile splitting across his face. And like that, it was decided what the first topic of the night would be.
Celestia let out a sigh as she ruffled through her notes, she knew exactly what Paard was going to say before he even said it.
"I presume this is on the topic of the recent Changeling Invasion?" Celestia asked, turning to her sister once again. Luna merely stared at her, head lowered in resignation.
"But of course your majesty. We all know that we cannot put this off any longer." Paard said, "Twice, Your Majesty. Twice the changelings have attacked Equestria, defying the rights of her subjects and attempting to subjugate her people. This, I'm sure we can all agree, cannot stand."
The crowd behind him murmured as Celestia stared down the Duke.
"I am well aware of your concerns, but thanks the actions of Starlight Glimmer and several of our allies, the Queen responsible for these blatant attacks on our sovereignty has been deposed, and a new ruler has been installed, one more willing to align themselves with Equestria. As such, the issue with the Changelings has been resolved." Celestia explained with a nod of her head.
Duke Paard merely straightened his back in response.
"I disagree." The Duke stated firmly. Instantly the room erupted into gasps as the noble turned to his fellow delegates. "Yes, Queen Chrysalis has been deposed, Your Majesty. But what of the soldiers who followed her? The ones who broke into our homes in the dead of night and replaced our loved ones? The ones who rampaged through the streets of this fair city during the first invasion? Shall they escape punishment? Shall we show them that Equestria will back down and allow them to carry on without reprieve?"
Celestia blinked twice and opened her mouth to speak.
"Yes, many atrocities were indeed carried out in Canterlot by the Changelings during their first invasion, and truly I understand your apprehension in trusting them, but I speak on good authority when I say the Changelings are just as much victims of Chrysalis as us ponies. They were following orders, under threat of death, Duke Paard." Celestia said, a frown coming to her face.
The Duke turned back to her, a serious expression on his face. "Your Majesty, I ask you this. Has the phrase 'just following orders' ever been a valid excuse? "
That gave Celestia some pause. The princess stayed quiet as another pony joined Paard before the pedestal.
"Your Majesty," a senator by the name of Capital Venture said as he sauntered up next to the Duke. He was somewhat stereotypical in appearance, with slicked-back hair, and a gold-toothed smile. "I, as the representative of Manehatten, am in full agreement with Paard. Not only for the reasons the Honorable Representative of Ardennais has presented, but I have doubts that their new king is even competent enough to keep to his promises. Is it not true that he only became a king within the past year?"
Celestia hesitated. "Correct."
The parliament started to murmur again.
"And is it not true that he, for the first half of his reign struggled to deal with rogue changelings who remained loyal to Chrysalis?" Venture asked, his frown deepening.
Celestia didn't respond.
The delegates started to grumble, many of them locking eyes.
Venture continued; "This 'King' Thorax claims he managed to bring these rogues into line, but I highly doubt that. Especially if one of them was his own brother! And if he did fail to tame these rogue elements, what's to stop them from taking power again and attacking us a third time."
The crowd turned to outrage and quickly fell to disorder, the dozens of voices calling out at once gave Celestia an instant headache. Venture and Paard then both locked eyes with her, it's clear they weren't done.
"Our solution is simple, Your Majesty," Paard said, eyes narrowing slightly. "We request an immediate invasion and subjugation of the changelings. Thorax alone cannot be trusted to keep them in line and prevent a third invasion, and Equestria cannot turn a blind eye while their nation gets away scot-free for war crimes!"
Cadance suddenly slammed her gavel on her podium, straightening up. "Now hold on!" She cried, cutting off the crowd before they could let out another uproar of shouts. "Warcrimes? That is far too strong a word for what the changelings did, the attack on Canterlot-"
"Was an attack on a civilian target!" Paard cried, frowning deeply. "That by definition, as laid out by the laws of combat signed by Commander Hurricane and Princess Platinum after the Unicorn-Pegasus War a warcrime. That is not to mention their subsequent kidnapping replacement of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, preventing them from their duty of raising the sun and moon. An act that might well have scorched all life from the surface of Equis should they have not been stopped."
Celestia and Luna once again locked eyes as Cadance stammered for a moment. "But..."
"I say, we put it to a vote," Venture said, standing closer to Paard. "All in favor of the immediate invasion and subjugation of the Changelings?"
Luna suddenly spoke out, frowning deeply. "Veto'd." She said, which made the entire room freeze. Paard and Venture both turned to her wide-eyed. Silence reigned for a moment before Luna unfurled her wings, a deep frown spreading across her face. "I will not allow Equestria to be plunged into a war in which we will be the unarguable aggressor, that will be devastating to both Equestria's international reputation and her people."
"And so you support the idea of war criminals running free? Of a potential threat roaming free on Equestria's borders?" Venture replied, Luna instantly grit her teeth and growled.
"Of course not," Luna replied, "But I do not support a war!"
Suddenly a new voice spoke up, coming from a desk near the front. "While I agree a war is best avoided, I feel that the representatives of Ardennais and Manehatten are correct."
All eyes in the room were on the delegate of Ponyvile, Mayor Mare. The earth pony slowly rose from her seat and joined the two other representatives, a slight frown on her face. "While I feel Paard and Venture might be going a bit too hard in their convictions, it is without question that Thorax alone cannot be trusted to keep the changelings in line, and we cannot trust the changelings with self-governance after everything they did."
Celestia closed her eyes and deeply inhaled for a moment before turning her attention back to the Mayor.
"Then what do you suggest we do, Mayor Mare," She said simply, growing bags forming under her eyes.
"I suggest we send a litigation to the changelings to temporarily take over as Thorax's advisors to both keep him and his subjects in line," Mayor Mare stated turning back to the parliament. Several of the ponies involved nodded. Then Capital Venture stepped up.
"I disagree. Mainly on the basis of it being a temporary solution. When the litigation leaves, then there is nothing to stop the changelings from slipping back into their old ways," Venture said. "Whatever solution we present must be permanent."
Then it was Paard's turn to speak up; "What about a royal marriage between our nations? We present it under the guise of forming a stronger bond and alliance between the two nations when in reality it is Equestria putting one of our monarchs on the throne. Any heirs created from the marriage would also defacto subjugate the Changeling Empire as a personal union under Equestria." He said simply, turning to the parliament with a smug smile. Many of the senators began to mumble turning to one another and nodding.
Cadance's eyes shot open and she stood up on her hind legs, slamming her forelegs onto the podium. "Veto'd. I will not allow a purely political marriage, especially not in this day and age. Love is-" She was almost immediately interrupted.
"All opposed?" Venture asked, turning back to the crowd with a glare.
Immediately dozens of hooves shot into the air. Cadance, Celestia, and Luna all gasped, taking a step back. There was a pause before Venture turned back, a wicked smug smile spreading across his face.
"I count a two-thirds majority," he said simply. "Do we even really need to vote on whether or not the proposed marriage go through?"
Mayor Mare took a step back from Venture and Paard, her jaw dropped. She turned to look at Celestia and Luna, then back to the two representatives. Then she hung her head.
Celestia turned to Luna then back to Paard and Venture. Then back to her sister.
"We... We accept the parliament's ruling," Celestia sighed, gritting her teeth for a moment as she stared down Paard and Venture. "We will... We will immediately hold a council between the princesses once parliament finishes session to decide... to decide which among us will have the honor of wedding the changeling monarch."
No one noticed Celestia's eye twitch.
"Auntie, you can't do this!" Cadance cried. She and her two aunts were walking down a hall in Canterlot Castle out of the meeting. "Sure there is something you can do to stop this?"
Celestia turned back to Cadance with a sudden movement, baring her teeth. "And what would you suggest I do Cadance? Remove Venture from office and suffer the wrath of the millions of ponies in Manehattan who elected him into office? Execute Paard and risk a civil war with Ardennais? Become a tyrant no better than Sombra because the ponies elected by my subjects made a decision I don't like?"
Cadance stammered for a moment, turning her gaze to Luna, who took a deep inhale as she turned to her sister. "It's tyranny of the mob my dear niece. The majority made a decision, and now it's down to us to fulfill it; it is our responsibility as princesses. At the very least you are already married, so the consequences of their decision don't fall on you."
Cadance turned to Luna then back to Celestia, her lip curling in disgust. Then she lowered her head and sighed.
Celestia's eye twitched again as she turned away from Cadance and straightened her back. "We need to meet with Twilight tomorrow, then we will make our decision. Until then, I recommend we all get some sleep. Tommorrow will be... difficult."
And with that, the alicorn walked away, leaving Luna and Cadance behind.
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Does Chrysalis appear in this story?
Both of these dipshits need to get kicked in the balls repeatedly for a whole day. Regardless of their points they're doing this purely to spite the princesses. Mayor Mare's suggestion of sending advisors was more sensible especially if they were say Spike(though the fact that he's a child would be an issue) or Starlight or Sunburst.
I can't wait to read your twist on that one story I loved but completely forgot about.
Sound really good, can't wait to see what happens.
No, see, what you need to do is get a couple of changelings to come and abduct and replace Paard and Venture, so to kill this whole dilemma right at the source. Sure, in the eyes of those two representatives, that'd be effectively proving their concerns precisely correct...but that won't matter if they won't ever get the chance to tell anybody about that, now would they?
11810754
Maybe, no spoilers.
Oooh, this is gonna be good!
I can't wait for the next chapter.
Well this is already interesting, I'm gonna feel so sorry for Twilight, always risking her life saving Equestria, even the one who stoped the first changeling invasion at the Canterlot wedding, and this ends up being her reward for all she has done.
Well can't wait to see how this story leads up to that, this will be very interesting and I can't wait for future chapters.
Ngl, I kinda agree with the Equestrian Parliament here.
11811162
Really? You're saying these are all faces you can't trust?
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/1/12/Changelings_happy_with_their_new_forms_S6E26.png/revision/latest?cb=20161024163459
...no? Well, all right, I guess you'll just have to live with these faces instead then.
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/7/79/Thorax_and_changelings_listening_to_Pharynx_S7E17.png/revision/latest?cb=20170904024320
At that precise moment he accused him of treason, suspicion of being a changeling and attacking the well-being of a member of the royal family.
After all, the way he describes his relationship with the changeling is quite hostile, if things don't turn out as well as he claims they will lose at least one princess.