Diplomacy, Blue in Ink and Blood

by Rubidium

Regarding Debts of Gratitude

Dear Prince Blueblood,

Pharynx told me that you were in large part responsible for unraveling the recent conspiracy against me and bringing about my eventual rescue. If so, I owe you both gratitude and an apology. It should of course never have come to pass that a representative of Equestria was endangered on our soil, but given that failure I’m glad the one to face the danger was you. If there is ever anything you wish of me or the Hive, please don’t hesitate to let us know; we would be glad for the opportunity to repay you even in part.

On a more personal note, thank you for befriending Pharynx. He has trouble getting along with others sometimes, and I imagine it was very difficult for him to make the decision to trust an outsider to the Hive, however necessary circumstances made it.

I expect I will be very busy for the foreseeable future. My impostor used my position to enact a number of policies beyond the ones that brought him to your attention, and undoing such things will undoubtedly be a thornier problem than it has any right to be. And of course Pharynx is going to want to enact as many security reforms as he can manage, and I can hardly refuse him, and the Hive will have to reach some new policy for dealing with Chrysalis’s old loyalists - the current one clearly isn’t working.

But I digress. What I meant to say is this: once things have quieted down around here, however far from now that may be, I hope to visit Canterlot myself. When I do, would you permit me to call upon you? I would very much like to meet you for real.
Yours,

King Thorax

Comments

[TheDriderPony]

Still a quite fun and amusing story! Hope you do well in the contest!

[Wooden Wheel]

At first I was confused, then curious, later interested and finally intrigued.

This little story of political intrigue cleverly presented exclusively through correspondence won me over. If I believe there is a point where it falters, it is only in the fact that I think more could have been done with the plot used. The idea that the Changelings, or at least a portion of them, would want Chrysalis back, even if it's just because they don't want one of their own kept as a prisoner of Equestria, sounds pretty appealing.

[Rubidium]

11929335
Thanks for the feedback! You're absolutely right that more should have been done with the plot; I was thinking of the story as primarily about how Equestria reacts, and as a consequence I didn't spend enough time thinking about the changeling side of things.

[Scyphi]

I feel like the point where things started hitting the fan could've been conveyed a bit clearer, but other than that, this is a nice story. Always refreshing to see a take on Blueblood where he's actually pretty good at his job, and the somewhat serious, somewhat teasing, banter between him and Twilight was amusing.

[Rune Soldier Dan]

Very clever, and a good use of the dialogue-only medium. I like the little tells and over-acting in the 5th letter that Twilight instantly understands without us readers having to be told. There does feel to be a bit of a hole in exactly how Blueblood got to be the big hero (as the trail of the letters merely shows he was decently impersonated and it was Twilight who caught on and saved the day), but that didn't stop me from being interested and entertained. Blueblood as a clever diplomate is always a fun take.