La Principessa

I still haven't discussed god-like power, wich can only cause hardships before acquiring it. A Princess acquires them with power or luck but neither are required for keeping them. She can defend herself, after all, with the ability to bend reality to her whim, no matter how the Princess behaves, she is secure. These are the kinds of Princesses with lands that they don't defend and subjects that they don't govern. And even tough the lands are undefended, they aren't conquered and even tough the subjects are uncommanded they don't worry about it and aren't willing or able to overthrow her. Therefore only god-like power can bring security and happiness.

But because they depend on the power of the Grand Papal Princess I won't discuss it further. Because she knows and sees all it would be rash and presumptuous of a lowly unicorn to discuss these matters. Nonetheless I can wonder how she has acquired so much political power, not long ago the powerful ponies in Equestria, and the not even truly powerful ponies like small princes, had very little respect for the power of the Grand Papal Princess. But now even the Princess of France cowers before her, after being banned out of Equestria by her. Even tough this is all common knowledge I think it pays to go over these memories.

Before the the Princess of France came to Equestria it was ruled by the Grand Papal Princess, Venice, Naples, Milan and Canterlot. These rulers had two things to worry about; that France would invade and that one of the others would try to expand their territory. The most cautious were the Grand Papal Princess and Venice. To keep the Venetians in check the other powers had to unite, wich manifested at the defense of Ferrara(1). And to obstruct the influence of the Grand Papal Princess the others turned to the powerful families in Equestria, the Pants' and the Colonna's who always seem to be in some sort of conflict with each other. And because they seemed to be fighting in the sight of the Grand Papal Princess they kept her weak and insecure. The cause of the lack of power was the short lifespan of the Grand Papal Princess. The shifting alliance of the Papacy with each new Papal Princess made sure that no family would come out on top to facilitate the wishes of the Grand Papal Princess in Equestria. Because of all these things the power of the Grand Papal Princess was very little respected in Equestria.

Then the Blueblood became Grand Papal Princess, she, more than all ponies before her, proofed how much a Papal Princess can fortify her position with gold and soldiers. And with help from her son and exploiting the fact that the French were invading she did everything I have discussed(2). And even though it was not her goal to make her own institution great but her son, her actions did contribute to the power of the Grand Papal Princess. This was the only thing she left behind after her death and that of her son. When the next Papal Princess came into power the position suddenly turned out to be very influential: she owned all of Romagna, the noble families in Equestria were neutralized by the actions of blueblood.

(1) In the conflict between Venice and Ferrara the latter was supported by practically all the big powers in Equestria, the papal princess and the Princesses of Naples, Canterlot and Milan.

(2) See chapter 7