La Principessa

by Machiavelli

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Random, Crossover
Length: 13000

Twilight Sparkles immortal writings have made her synonymous with evil nut ignorable they are not.

Twilight Sparkle was the personal student of Princess Celestia of Canterlot, a much more important job than the name suggests. What follows is the famous book on politics that Sparkle gifted to her ruler at the time. It's one of the classical and till read writings about statesmanship. Free of religious biases Sparkle advises the ruler ('Princess') about how to remain in power. She does this by use of contemporary and ancient examples to illustrate the right and wrong use of her advises, wich are partly amoral and don't seem to be free of a big dose of cynicism. Sparkle wrote this book with a political focus, but it has become a philosophical analysis of the concept of power.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-21 08:13:31 UTC

Preface

“Le poney n’est qu’un roseau,

le plus faible de la nature

mais c’est un roseau pensant”

preface

In the time of nightmare moon, discord and the elements of harmony lived the writer of La Principessa, in the time of Sparkle equestria was a busy place. It is in my opinion of the utmost importance to understand the political situation of that time when studying sparkles work.

The world is growing, the unknown lands are charted and the economy is booming, trading and industrie step out of their closed societies and spread their wings leaning on the giantic growth of monetary traffic and the birth of stockmarkets as in appleloosa. The great mountains no longer serve as the centre of world trading. Canterlot is being overshadowed by colony’s.

Even tough equestria had always been the cultural and economical lead runner in the past centuries political unification had never been realized. The country was divided into an uncountable number of big and smal principalities who rivaled and competed with eachother in every conceivable way. The positions of power where ever changing and unstable, they rested on the shoulders of figures of powerful personalities that odten made use of mercenary forces to stay in power. In chapter 25 of la principessa Sparkle speaks of ‘great changes that everypony sees around them everyday, changes where nopony had ever the slightes expectations of’.

Sparkle was the personal student and later national secretary (a job with much greater importance than the name suggests) of Princess Celestia, princess of Canterlot and sun goddess at that time. The Twilight Sparkle was born in the Sparkle family, a noble family with ties to royalty. On young age Sparkle was appointed personal student of Princess Celestia herself, a position not only of learning but also of power, this probably didn’t happen without reason, Sparkle must have had earlier connection with the ruling of the city. It would be implausible that someone without previous administrative or governance experience would be appointed to such a position.

It’s not easy describing Sparkles function as a personal student, but I’m going to try anyway. In equestria at the time a student was a research missionary of subjects of national priority, Sparkle at the time was tasked with the subject of ‘the magic of friendship’ magic at the time was a catch-all term for anything that could be potentially weaponised, ‘magic of friendship’ meaning ofcourse the study of wartime politics. Sparkles main job as a student was to write letters regarding her research, some of her letters have been preserved, wich help identify her as a true equus politicus with wich I mean someone (or ‘somepony’ as per the language use of ponykind) who on every matter they come across first approaches the political side.

In her life Sparkle makes a lot of diplomatic trips to foreign country’s by order of the princess, the first one of great importance being the one to the Griffin highlands at the start of her career. Even tough equestria and the highlands have traditionally always been on good standing with eachother Sparkle advises caution in the friendship with the highlands where Canterlot would be the weaker of the two party’s, “because” Sparkle writes at the occasion about the Griffin’s ”they are blinded by their power and what could bring them benefit and thís moment , and they anly respect somepony who is armed or willing to give.” She would make trips to the same country more often.

In Sparkles lifetime the threat of ‘prince’ blueblood (prince being the male version of a princess, used for colts in a position of relative power), related by blood to Canterlots own princess, rose at the horizon, a character in wich Sparkle, by the way, envisions most of her ideal of ‘The Princess’ personified, he was known for his ruthlessness and cruelty, he was feared everywhere.  He was protected by his mother the Grand Papal Princess Faust who was religious leader in all the known world, a protection without wich he quickly lost his postion. Sparkle was the one keeping an I on his activities, not an easy job as he was known for his lack of transparency ( a popular saying at the time was “ The Papal princess doesn’t do as she says and her son doesn’t say what he does.) Seeing as Sparkle describes him and his exploits herself very thourough I shall not go in any details.

Who would like to see the wordlviews of Sparkle in a systematic rounded set is in for a dissapointment, she was not a systematic thinker in the modern sense. She never bothered with stylising the thoughts she penned down wich paradoxically is the most the appealing thing about her writing. When studying the whole of her work one encounters principles that contradict eachother, the individual pieces however are filled with pure logic by wich the reader might not get enthralled but at least freed from biases.

When explaining Sparkles wordlviews I will try to limit myself to the most important aspects without expanding on elements that undermine the unity- wich definitely  exists – of her work. After all, this is a book about what makes Sparkle Sparkle and not about the nitpicks one could find in her work.

The two works in wich we can see the Canterlottians views the clearest are La Principessa and Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Stella Vortice barbuto. Both of these concern politics and problems that are connected to the concept of power. But while Discorsi (a very original commentary on Star Swirls first ten books) had a more theoretic essence and took a position in a distance to the subject matter in La Principessa Sparkle positions herself in the middle of the situation and tackles the subject not only with logic but with the full emotional passion of her personality.

Sparkles ideas fit right into the new thinking of that time, the citizens of equestria where after all casting of the veil of ignorance present in the dark ages in wich the Papal Princess and the after life were the centre of the universe to focus their attention to the creatures here on the ground. The pony no longer relies on a supernatural being to whom one must align themselves. No, the only meaning to a ponies life is that wich he gives it himself.

Sparkle is known as the founder of the science of statemanship, ofcourse more ponies before her had written about politics all the way back to ancient times but never before had it been approached as it’s own individual subject, without connotations to religion and ethics. Sparkle isolates the techical focus in her ‘system’ from the moral and theological aspect about what constitutes as ‘good and ‘just’. According to Sparkle, the issue with political actions is to accurately establish ones goals and to chose after technical rational delibiration the means  to accomplish this goal, what means those are doesn’t matter. An action that’s morally wrong could be politically good and the other way around. Chrysalis who brings her army to victory through cruelty and terror, is just as good as an other princess who does this through kindness and forgiveness. The saying “The end justifies the means.” That is often attributed to Sparkle did not actually originate from her, but it does fit into her amoral views.

It is understandable that the Canterlottians principally technical approach has made only the word sparkle synonymous with evil. However Sparkles views are amoral, not immoral. The means to achieve a certain political goal are in her mind not bad, she only wants to create a rational method that excludes improvisation and chance from political actions as much as possible.

Mainly on the subject of amorality and the following extreme-realistic approach is Sparkles ‘system’ so different from her predecessors. She seems aware of the novelty of her ideas, as we can read in the now famous quote from chapter 15 “Because many have preceded me I fear ponies will deem me arrogant when I  approach the subject. Even more because in my treatment of the matter at hand I diverge a lot from the standards my predecessors have eshtablished. But seeing as it is my goal to write something that is useful to whom understands, I would prefer to keep to the factual truth than to a fabricated reality. Many of them have proposed states or positions of power that they have never seen before. Because there is such a great difference between how men lives and how men should live that anypony who neglects the former in favor of the latter digs her own grave.”

I have quoted a pretty big part because this passage pronounces the two most original and characteristic principles of Sparkles political thinking: Her amorality (how men lives versus how men should live) and her realism (the factual truth versus a fabricated morality). It also betrays her naturalistic philosophy, seeing the pony as something eternal and unchanging, without inner growth and ability of self-correction, following so to speak born values and behavior. The belief that ponies act mechanically according to certain natural laws and that one if he or she could learn these laws could understand and predict the actions of ponies is one of the main foundations of Sparkles political views. She formulates this explicitely in the Discorsi. This is naturally linked to Sparkles pessimistic views, in Discorsi chapter 13 we can read “It is neccesary when founding a nation to assume dat all ponies are evil by nature.”, and “ponies only act good when forced”

Still Sparkle, as typical for thinkers of her time, believes in ponies and their potential, this belief is rooted so deep that despite her naturalism she never allows herself to fully deny the existence of free will, although one must not interpret this as the choice between good and evil, but the possebility to achieve ones goals. It’s a technical free will, not an ethical one. Sparkle solves the the contrast between these static views of naturalism and dynamic ones from free will, with the logical arguments of a philosopher handles with the metaphorical imagination of an artist. “ Fate probabely decides half of our actions but leaves the other half to us. That’s why fate is like a big river that in it’s fury floods entire field, unroots trees and topples buildings and a moments drags entire pieces of ground to leave it somewhere else: everypony flees with no way to stop it. But just because it’s like that doen’t mean you can’t prepare yourself during it’s calmer periods by the construction of safebarns and dykes, making the water less destructive.” And “I am of opinion that because Fortuna is a mare one could do better to be thorough than cautious. If you want to keep her down it’s needed to fight her and beat her. Since she submits more easely to someone who acts with harshness than gentle colts. She also prefers young colts who are less cautious and more aggressive, and dare to win her over with more brutality.” This misoginy would not be so strange if Sparkle hadn’t been a mare herself.

Apart fortuna something exists that Sparkle calls ‘virtue’, something that, ‘because it’s both intellegence and energy, allows one to see and judge all facets of a given situation immediately to, after that, act with decisiveness and iron will to benefit of herself or the state’ A Princess according to Sparkle needs to posses a lot of this virtue. It’s clear that this virtue is unrelated to the religious virtues, but fits much much better with the classical ‘virtus’ of the ancients. Sparkle believes that religion has made equestria weak.

In the histoy of ponykind very few writers have had such an enormous influence – positive and negative – and have been so meticulously studied as Sparkle. There have been libraries of books written about her,  her work has generated fierce oppostion and at the same time borderless admiration. A writer that can create reactions like that with audiences from all times can’t be called anything but universal.

Forty years after sparkles Il Principessa a religious leader in the flatlands, cardinal Regenald Hoove published Apologia ad Faustum in wich he defended the unity of the Papal regime against the fast growing reformation, in this he accused Sparkle of atheism because she had mentioned prioritizing religion less than state interest. This kicked of the official judging of some of her other works concerning the Papal power and religious morals. Ten years later all of Sparkles work was placed in the index librorum prohibtorum, a list of forbidden literature. The reformation rejected Sparkle too, condemning it as ‘traditionalist immorality’. The ant-Sparklism rooted firmly in society, she was seen as an underminer of goodness and faith, a monster that minded neither god nor law and only cared for unscrupulous enforcement of the power of princesses. The name ‘old Twilight” a nickname for the Devil in the great britain has an etymological origin in Sparkles first name. The simple fact that the Canterlottian was not immoral but amoral, not irreligious but areligious has never been noted by early anti-Sparklists.

But so far the anti-Sparklism, an interesting development happened when the intellegentsia developed an increasing hatred for the principalities. They found a new way of interpreting sparkles work, in truth, they reasoned, Sparkle had written La Principessa as a mockery of  the ruling practices of princesses, showing anyone reading her book the unscrupulous they adopt. An interesting example is that of TheGreatAndPowerful, who in her clever satire of society had Sparkle defend her work in court: "What justice and reason is there in the fact that inventors of the cursed practices I have described are seen as inviolable, while I, who has only published them for the world to see am seen as villain and an atheist?"

But enough about Sparkle herself, this is a translation of sparkles book, La Principessa. I hope you enjoy it for it’s simple truths rather than trying to see any deeper meaning. After all, Sparkles writings are a universal truth at every time period.

II About hereditary Princepalities

I’ll ignore republic rulings because I have discussed it before(1). I’ll keep to principalities, and how they can be preserved. Well, first of al I have to say that heridetary positions of power are a lot easier to preserve than new ones. The Princess only has to make sure she preserves the order maintained by her ancestors and react properly to happenings around her. Like you do! This way, assuming she has access to average energy ,she will always be able to preserve her position, unless another unusual powerful force robs her of it. And in this last case she will be able to easely reclaim it.

Like the Princess of Ferrara here in equestria, who was only able to withstand the attacks of the seaponies and the Papal Princess because she had grown together with the land(2). Because somepony who has been traditionally in power of a region has less necessaty to act violently against her subjects. And it is because of this that she is loved. So it is logical that, unless grave crimes make her infamous, she is loved automatically by her subjects. On top of that do the oldness and continuity of de rulership cause novelty and it’s reasons to be forgotten. Because one change always lays the foundation of the next.

(1) Sparkle wrote of this in her first book Discorci, in wich she mentions the earth pony system of ancient time.

(2) Sparkle means that the Princesshood of Ferrara survived despite the humiliating peace treaty Princess d’Este had to sign with the seaponies of Venice and the fact that later The Grand Papal Princess robbed her of almost all of her lands.

III on mixed types of principalities

But you see the problems are with new principalities. More importantly when it’s not entirely new but added to an existing one in wich case the totality can be called a mixed type of rule. The changes that arise come from a simple fact of nature, that ponies like to chenge Princesses when they think it will benefit them. And that’s why they pick up their weapons against her. But they’re wrong, because later they’ll notice that they are in a worse position than before. And this is caused by another by another pressing necessaty that is natural and normal, that anypony who seizes power for the first time has to act with force both with their troops as with a lot of unpopular measures that conquering entails. In this manner have you made those against who you acted with force during your coup your enemies and you are not able to keep those that have helped you achieve your position as allies. Because you can’t satisfy them as good as they had imagined and you can’t handle them with harsher methods because you still have an obligation to them. You see, no matter how many troops you command, you need the acceptance of the peasant ponies to stay in power. That’s the reason The Princess of France lost Milan, immediately after conquering it. (1) And to rob her of it Sforza only needed her own troops. Because when the ponies had opened the Gates to the Princess of Francess, feeling dissapointed in their expectations and the betterments they’d envisioned, they couldn’t bear the taxes of the new Princess anymore.

It is true however that a land that has had a revolution fr the first time and is reconquered after that is lost less easely since. Because the Princess can use the uprising as a justification, she is less scrupulous in the safekeeping of her own position: she punishes the guilty, openly announces suspicion and forticates her weaknesses. And this is the reason why, after letting Milan slip through her Hooves once, it took the entire world to fight the Princess of France after she took it a second time(2) and it was necessary to destroy her army or banish it away from equestria. Still, she lost Milan again. I already discussed why she lost it the first time, I’ll discuss why she lost it the second time too, and what measures she could have taken to prevent this.

I have noticed that these lands, that are added to the state of the conquerer, either belong to the same country and share the same language or not. In the first case it’s easy to keep them under your hoof, especially if they aren’t used to freedom. To ensure it’s possesion it’s enough to trace and kill the lineage of the previous Princess. Ponies will keep quit as long as their previous living conditions aren’t disrupted to much.

But when you conquer a land that’s different in language and customs, that’s when trouble arises. And you have to be very lucky and have access to a lot of energy to keep the conquered land. The best method would be for the Princess to live in it herself, like the Turkish ponies did in the Balkans (3). Because if somepony lives somewhere herself she witnesses herself how certain situations come into existence and she can act immediately. Otherwise she won’t hear about it until it has become to big to handle. On top of that ponies like to be able to invoke a ruling Princess that is in the neighborhood. They have more reason to love him and more reason to fear him.

The second solution, wich might be even better, is to create colonies on one or two places. It’s a nice alternative to placing troops, colonies aren’t expensive and a Princess can found and sustain them without spending to much bits. She only hurts those whose houses and lands she steals to give to the new denizens, and those only form a small fraction of the population, and because they are scattered and poor they can’t retaliate.

She who rules over a state like that also has to establish herself as the leader and protector of they neighboring countries and do as much as she can to diminish the power of powerful figures in her own state. She also should be cautious towards possible invaders that are as powerful as herself. It will be so that unsatisfied ponies will get foreign troops in your country. In the same way that pegasi have been brought into the unicorn lands by the earth ponies(4). Most of the time, when an alien force invades the country, all the ponies in the country that are less powerful will side with the invaders driven by ambition and jelousy. That’s why the foreign invader doesn’t have to do anything to please them. She only has to beware that they don’t gather too much power. She has to do everything in her power to keep them down to keep control over the province. Anypony that doesn’t heed this point will lose they conquered land quickly, and while she has it she will have many problems with it.

The old pegasi minded these things with the provinces they conquered: they founded colonies, they supported the less powerful without making them more powerful, they diminished the powerful and did not allow foreign powers to grow. I want to use the unicorn lands as an example. The donkeys and earth ponies had been approuched on friendly terms by the pegasi, the principality of Macedonia they diminished(5) and Princess Antiochus they banished(6). They pegasi did something here dat all wize ponies should do, not only think about current affairs but also those of the future. Because when you see something coming from afar you can still act, but when you wait till it has come closer the disease has become uncurable. Like tuborculosis!

This why the pegasi always prepared for trouble if they expected it, and they never neglected these troubles to prevent war. Because they knew you can’t really prevent war only postpone them to the benefit of others. And they warred with Antiochus in the unicorn lands to not have to war with her at pegasopolis. They could have prevented wars left and right, but they didn’t want to. Never did they feel anything for the sentiments of so many modern ponies that one must patientely wait for ones own fortune, they wanted to use their power and insight as much as possible. After all, time always keeps pushing forward it can make good things go bad, but bad things go good too.

But let me return to the topic of France and list wich of these things it did. The Princess of France was brought into equestria by the ambition of the Venecian sea ponies, I can’t really critique the decision of the Princess because she didn’t have any allies in equestria so she had to settle for what was offered to her. She would have been succesful too, if she hadn’t made some key mistakes. Once she had conquered Lombardia she conquered the respect of the world, Genova bowed it’s head, the Canterlottians became her friends; the Princesses of Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, Forlí, Feanza, Pesaro, Rimini, Camerino and Piombino, the cities of Lucca, Pisa and Siena all humbly offered her their alliance. And that’s when the sea ponies saw the recklessness of their actions. Because, to conquer to small cities in lombardia, they had handed two-thirds of Equestria(7) to the Princess.

You can see how easely the Princess could have her power and prestige in Equestria had she heeded the mentioned rules and if she had protected and defended her new friends. Because they where great in number and weak and scared –Some of the Papal Princess and others of Venice- they would have been forced to stay at his side. With them she could have easely safegaurded herself against the remaining powers. But instead she did the opposite! She helped the Papal princess to conquer Romagna. And she didn’t realise that this decision weakened her position, because she alienated herself from her friends and those that had put their fate in her hooves. And at the same time, she added to the power of the Great Papal Princess. And once she had made that first mistake she was forced to keep walking this path, to fight Fausts ambition and prevent her from gaining control over Tuscany she had to come to Equestria herself. It wasn’t enough for her to have helped the Papal Princess and to have antagonised her friends, she proceeded to share the Naples she so desired with the princess of Spain(8). And while she had ultimate power in Equestria for a short while she appointed another Princess to rule it to give ambitious figures and unhappy ponies somepony to whom the could complain. And instead of appointing the land of Naples to somepony loyal to her, she replaced somepony like that with another Princess who could chase hér out instead.

Greed is undoubtely a very natural and normal trait. And often when ponies show their desire for possesion they’ll only be praised, well at least not critized, for that. But when you want to possess something you can’t you’re in the wrong. If the Princess of France had wanted to have Naples she should have invaded, if she couldn’t than she should not have shared it with Spain. The princess had made five mistakes: she had detroyed the weaker powers, added to the power of an already powerful pony, brought a foreign power into the country, didn’t live their herself and failed to found any colonies.

These five mistakes wouldn’t have had that much of an effect if she didn’t make the sixed one, robbing the sea ponies of their watery terretory(9). If she hadn’t made the Papal Princess so powerful and if she hadn’t brought Spain into Equestria this would have been an essential step in limiting their power. But now the were the only thing protecting Lombardy, on one hand because they had control over Lombardy themselves and on the other hand because other forces wouldn’t want to take the area of of France to just let it immediately fall into Venetian fins. And if somepony tries to defend the French Princess by saying she only tried to prevent war by giving Romagna to Faust than I’ll respond that one should never allow problems to persist to prevent war, because you don’t prevent it you only postpone it.

The Princess lost Lombardia because she neglected the rules that toher, that conquer provinces and want to keep them, heed. This is not an exception but rather something normal and matter of course. I have spoken on this matter with High priestess Gilda(10) in Nantes when prine Blueblood took control over Romagna. She told me Equestrians do not know war, I answered the French do not know politics. Because, if they did, they would not have let the Papal Princess grow so much in power. And it has happened that the influence of the Papal Princess and Spain in Equestria has been caused by France and this has ruined them. It’s a great rule of hoof to say that anypony that helpes others to gain in power becomes disadvantaged by that herself. Because the power is achieved by intellegence or force, both very suspicious traits in the eyes of a powerful being.

(1) The Princess of France made an allience with Venice and conquered Milan. Princess Sforza fleed to Germany, but was able to return to Milan shortly after because the ponies there had rebelled against the new leadership. A few months later, the Sforza did get captured as a prisoner of war.

(2) France lost Milan for a second time, the French army, under leadership of prince de Foix, lost at Ravenna by the appearence of the Swiss troops against the Grand Papal Princess, who was supperted by Spain and Venice (the so called league of holyness. This means the provisional end of their power in the area.

(3) When the Turkish conquered Constantinopel and gave out the killing blow to the Byzantian empire, Prince Mohammed made it his residence and centre of the Ottoman empire.

(4) What Sparkle says here isn’t actually true. The pagasi marched against Princess Platinum of Macedonia to punish her for helping the feared commander Hannibal. But because she was warring with the earth ponies at the time it seemed like they had asked the pegasi for help. This resulted in the first Macedonian war.

(5) This happened in the second macedonian war, in wich Platinum the fifth was defeated by the pegasi.

(6) The eart ponies felt unjustly treated by the pegasi after the defeat of Platinum and brought Princess Antochius the third of Syria to their land, who started what is known as the Syrian war. Antochius lost.

(7) The expressions ‘ two-thirds of  Equestria’ and ‘two small cities in Lombardia’ have to be attributed to Sparkles custom to exaggerate for dramatic purposes, something she apperantely not always has done but something she picked up from friends in Ponyville in her youth. In thruth, France only conquered a very small part of Princess Faust conquered Romagna and developed a taste, she wanted to take control over Tuscany, what happened is described in more in chapter 12 where prince Blueblood is explored.

(8) This happened at the treaty of Granada, a few years later Spain took control over all of Naples.

(9) The covenent of Cambray, in wich all of the powerful Princesses ‘ganged up’ on Venice.

(10) Perhaps during her first diplomatic mission to France.

IV On why the country of Darius, that had been conquerd by the Great One, didn’t rebel after the end of the Great One against his successors.

When you consider al the troubles somepony that has to keep control of a newly conquered land has to deal with, you might wonder why the entire Eastern continent didn’t rebel when the Great One, who had conquered them over a very short period of time, died(1). The only real problems His successors had was the infighting caused by their own ambition. I want to adress that issue by saying that all countries are ruled in two ways: either the Princess is surrounded by vassals, that are in this position not by grace of the Princess but because of their ancestory. These vassals have their own lands and subjects that recognise them as their rulers and feel loyal to them. Or everypony is servile to the Princess and she has much more power, being recognised as the ruler by everypony.

Two great examples of both ways are Turky and France. The whole of Turky is ruled by one Prensesi, she divides the country in provinces, she appointes and switches up servants as regulators to her own discretion. But the Princess of France is surrounded by vassals that have ruled their lands for ages and are recognised by the inhabitants. The Princess cannot take away their privileges without endangering her own position. You will find that Turkish land is hard to conquer and easy to secure.

What makes it so hard to conquer Turky is that one can’t hope to be summoned to the country Nor will the precess be eased by a rebellion of the Prensesi’s underlings. All because of the aforementioned points. Because they’re all subjected and and duty-bound to her they are hard to bribe. And even if they would have been bribed they would be able to do little good. If the Prensesi attacks you have to prepare to encounter a single solid force. You have to trust more in your own power than discord with the enemy. And once she is defeated to such a degree that she can no longer raise an army, you only have to fear her lineage. And when that has been eradicated there is nopony left to fear, as the rest of the peasants never possesed power. So the conquer can’t rely on the people, but doesn’t have to fear them either.

In countries like France the opposite happens, you can easely enter it if you win the favor of some high-up Vassal. You will always find unsatisfied and ambitious ponies that can bring you victory. This victory will bring you a lot of hardships, you will ge tinto a conflict both with the ponies you have robbed of their power and those that have helped you. It isn’t enough to exterminate the lineage of of the previous ruler, because powerful Vassals stay and put themselve at the head of those that long for anarchy. You cannot please them and you can’t kill them, so you lose the land.

The rulership of Darius(2) was identical to that of Turky, therefore The Great One vanquished him completely and made further conflict impossible. If his successors hade been in harmony they would have been able to be at ease, there weren o problems in the country except their own. Countries like France are impossible to control like that. The numerous rebellions against pegasi conquerers are a testemony to that. As long as the memory of the vassals existed the ownership of the pegasi seemed ambigious. But when the memory finally had been erased the ownership gained a solid footing.

(1) The Great One, a figure of such historical importance he does not need introduction to any readers, conquered in seven years time the whole of Asia, after his death the empire was split between his sons.

(2) Darius the third, defeated thrice by The Great One at Guacamela. He was killed by one of his own guards.

V How to rule lands that lived by local laws before being conquered.

When you conquer a land that’s used to live free by it’s own laws, there are three ways to keep them: the first is to destroy them, the second to live in it yourself and the third is to allo wit to live with it’s own laws, in wich case you only tax the peasants and appoint a small governement that ensures the land stays allied to you. That governement knows that, because it was you that put it in power, it will only remain in power because of your benevolence, it will not rebel. A free land is easiest to control by it’s own inhabitants, if you don’t want to destroy it.

The pegasi and earthponies serve as an example for this. The earthponies gained Olive-city and created an oligarchy but still they lost both cities(1). The pegasi destroyed Cumulus in order to keep it, and they didn’t lose the city(2). They wanted to rule the eartpony lands like the eartponies ruled their conquered lands, by allowing them their own laws, but they failed, they were forced to destroy many of the cities of that province in order to stay in charge(3).There seems to ben o better way to assure ownership than total annihilation. Because if a Princess hopes to be in charge of a city that is used to being free, and she doesn’t destroy it, she will have to prepare to being destroyed herself. It can find justification for any uprising in the word freedom and in it’s former ways: things that won’t be forgotten because of benefactions or the passing of time. No matter what you do and what kind of measures you take, if the citizens of a city are not seperated or scattered they will never forget. Like how Manehattan revolted to the canterlottians after being subjected to the canterlottians for a hundred years(4).But when visiting countries or cities that are used to living under a Princess, you can see that the inhabitants, because they are used to obeying and do not have their former Princess anymore, can’t agree on who will be a new Princess and can’t live freely either. Therefore they will be less likely to pick up weapons against you, and you can win them over to your side very easely. But in republican countries we find more life, hatred and wrath. There the memory of freedom does not leave the inhabitants, wich is obvious. The safest method concerning republics is to live there yourself, or to destroy them.

(1)After the Peloponian war, the eartponies gained control over Olive-city, they founded the counsel of ‘thirty tyrants’, this reign of terror only lasted a year, after wich Thrasybulus freed the city.

(2) Cumulus was not entirely destroyed, at some parts it was merely starved out and robbed of it’s autonomy.

(3) Only two cities were destroyed but a lot of others were plundered.

(4) Manehattan, a traded provence, rebelled and freed itself, ten years later it was reconquered by Canterlot, at wich Sparkle played a not antirely unimportant part.

VI On new positions that are gained by ones own weapons and abilities.

It won’t be surprising that when I bring up countries that have a new rulership, I’ll use famous examples. Because ponies always try to be like others even tough they never achieve the same status and achievements, a Princess must walk in the path of exceptionally great ponies. She is wise to act like master archers who, when trying to hit a target, always aim above the objective, not in order to shoot that high but in order to hit the target with aid of the higher aim.

I think that a new Princess that wants to stay in power in a new principality will experience more or less problems depending on if she possesess more or less virtue as a conquerer. In order to attain this position copious amounts of luck or virtue are needed wich both can lessen the burden of rulership very much. But still those who don’t rely on luck to much will always be able to handle themselves. It also is of an advantage for a new ruler that she is forced to live in the country itself as she doesn’t posses any other lands.

But on the topic of Princesses that have become so by their own qualities rather than luck I have to mention that Mozes, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus(1) and likewise are the most excellent ponies in the field. Even tough Mozes doesn’t actually count acting on the will of a higher being. But one only has to take Cyrus as an example and others that have conquered or created a country to know they deserve our respect. When tracing the actions of their life we can see that luck only granted them the chance to shape a certain reality in a shape that pleased them. Without luck the virtues of their minds would have dimmed and without these virtues the chance would have slipped away.

For those that just lke the previously named ponies have acquired power by their qualities, it is hard to acquire power but relatively easy to keep it. The hardships they encounter at the attainment of their position mainly come from from the new laws they have to create to safeguard their position. You have to understand that there is nothing harder, less reliable in outcome and dangerous in execution than to identify yourself as the harbinger of change. She who does that receives great opposition from those that profited from the old situation and only mild support from those that might profit from the new one. This mildness stems from fear of the enemy, who are the powerful ones in the current situation and from distrust, because ponies only believe in change once they have experienced it.

That’s why it’s necessary, when studying the subject, to check if these revolutionaries operate on their own accord or if they depend on others. What I mean is: if they resort to begging for their plans or if they can use force. In the first case they will always fail. But when they use only their own ponies and are able to use violence, they rarely get into trouble. This is why all the armed prophets have succeeded and the unarmed have bit the dust. On top of the previous it is a fact that ponies are fickle: they are easy to convince but they never stay convinced. That is why most of the time, when ponies don’t believe in something anymore, they are forced to believe by violence.

Mozes, Cyrus, Theseus and Romulus wouldn’t have succeeded in having the ponies respect their laws if they had been unarmed. Like what recently happened to Luna(2), at the moment she started creating a new law system she fell because the ponies had lost their belief. After all, she didn’t possess the ways to make those that had believed keep their believe or to make the unbelieving believers. These Princesses will find great troubles in the realisation of their plans, and on the way they are threatened by all kinds of dangers, wich they have to conquer with their own qualities. But once they they have overcome these and have achieved power they are, after they have exterminated others that envy the position, finally powerful, save, honored and happy.

To these great examples I want to add a lesser example, that overlaps a bit with the first one, Hiero(3), who rose from a normal pony to Princessdom over Syracuse. She also was only offered a chance by luck, when the Syracusians encountered trouble they chose her as their chieftain. In this position she proved herself so competent they made her a Princess. She possessed such great virtue that when she was but a civilian a writer had noted: “Quod nihil illa deerat ad regnandum preater regnum.”(4) She then disbanded the former militia and created a new one; she broke former alliances and created new ones; onece she had froends and soldiers that where her own, she could trust on them with everything. So it took her a lot of trouble to come into power but relatively little to keep it.

(1) Of the by Sparkle named ponies only Cyrus is a Historical figure for certain: She founded, after having defeated the dragons, the Persian empire. Of Mozes can be said that he is half-historic and half-legendary. Romulus and Theseus are definately mythological heroes: the first would be the founder of Cloudopolis and the other is suppossed to have united all of the pegasus race through conquest.

(2) The eloquent and passionate cleric Luna founded, after the defeat of the former rulers of Canterlot, a new republic with a theocratic base. Because of her strictness on many earthly practices she encountered a lot of resistence: a resistance that ended in her being overthrown and being burned at the stake.

(3) Hiero the second, a peaceful Princess and ally of the pegasi.

(4) “That nothing lacked her Princessdom but a principality.” The writer being the historian  Justinus.

VII On positions that are achieved by luck

Normal ponies that have become a Princess by the grace of Fortuna will find little hardships in their ascend but many afterwards, trying to stay in power. It concerns those to whom the land is gifted in exchange for mony or services, like many Princess in the earthpony lands who where put there by the will of Darius to keep the cities safe and prosperous. This was also the case with empresses who gained power by buying soldiers(1).

Princesses like these are dependent on the good will and power of those that put them in that position, two things that are very fickle and unstable. The are not able to rule the land with wisdom or power; not with wisdom because they, having formerly been normal ponies, are not able to properly lead anypony; not with power because no troops are dependent on or loyal to them. A power that has come existence suddenly has, like all things in nature, not rooted properly and can be uprooted by the first storm. This rule only does not apply if those that have come in power posses the qualities to immediately take such measures to keep that what has been given to them by luck, and are somehow able to lay down the base for their power after they have gained it like others do before they come in such a position.

I want to explore these to ways to gain power with two contemporary examples, the cases of Princess Sforza and prince blueblood. Sforza became a Princess through her own power and personal strenght. What she had achieved through great hardships, she was able to keep without any. Blueblood on the other hand, owed his land to the position of his mother, and lost it due to that same position. This despite him taking any possible precaution and doing everything  an intelligent and energetic pony is required to get grip on a land that she has gained by luck and the weapons of others. If you haven’t layed the basis for your power before you gaine it is is possible to do so afterwards with great personal effort. Well, when examining the actions of the prince one comes to the conclusion he has layed strong bases for his future position. A more in-depth research doesn’t seem necessary to me seeing as I can not give better advice to a new Princess than those that are modelled after the endeavors of prince Blueblood. And if these do not bring her succes than it won’t be her fault bet hat of the cruelty of fortune.

The Papal Princess encountered many a problem in her endeavor to make her son great. In the first place she couldn’t make him  a ruler of a land not belonging to the church. And she knew that neither the sea ponies or the Princess of Milan would allow her to give him land that did belong to the church. Because ponyville and manehattan were still under the protection of Venice at the time(2). She also knew that the armies of Equestria where under control of those that feared her power wich meant she could not trust them. They where under the control of the Pants(3) and their allies. Therefore it was required for her to disrupt the political status of equestria at the time and diminish the power of these groups in order to conquer it. This was easy to her because the seaponies for their own reasons chose that time to bring the French in their country(4), the Papal Princess encouraged this by allowing Louis to divorce her previous husband and remarry for the unifying of the Principalities(5).

So Louis came into Equestria thanks to Faust and the Venitians, she was barely in Milan or the Papal Princess provided her with troops to conquer Romagna. However when blueblood(6) had conquered Romagna and wanted to keep it and have it grow two things stood in his way, the questionable loyalty of his troops and the questionable grace of his Princess, Louis. He feared that the armies of Pants, wich he had hired, would betray him and rob him of his conquests or that, if they didn’t the Princess of France would. He started doubting the loyalty of the Pants’ troops when he, after taking manehattan, attacked Bologna and saw that the were very reluctant to fight for him. The benevolence of the Princess was disproved when he, after conquering Urbino, wanted to take Tuscany because Louis stopped him. This was why he decided to cut loose from them and become independent.

First he weakened the power of Fancy Pants and his family, by bribing their supporters with nobility and great wealth. He also won them over by giving them, military and political power. Within a few weeks the love for their previous master faded away and was replaced by love for the prince. After dividing the support of the Pants’ he looked for a chance to make them completely powerless. He got his chance, and he took it. Because when Fancy Pants realised, though late, that the power of the prince meant his downfall he organised an uprising in Urbino and almost in Romagna. Wich Blueblood overcame with help of the French.

When he had secured his standing he decided, because he didn’t want to come into a conflict with France or an other country (he trusted nopony), to use guile and deception to achieve his purposes. He knew how to disguise his true intentions so the Pants’ made peace with him. This foolishness meant that they practically handed him Senegallia on a silver platter. After killing the head of the family and converting it’s supporters to his side the prince had finally laid a strong base for his power. He controlled all of Romagna after all, and he trusted in the friendship of the peasant ponies because they could enjoy a certain level of peace and prosperity tanks to him.

When the prince had taken Romagna and discovered that the rulership had been in the hooves of a weak Princess that had preferred exploiting her subjects to governing the and had created dissesnsion, with the effect of unrest, banditry and other expressions of aggression everywhere, he concluded that, to achieve peace and obedience of from the people he needed a powerful governement. He appointed Remirro de Orco, a cruel pony without any conscience, giving him full control of Romagna, his merciless order quickly reinstated peace in Romagna. After this the prince decided that such a strict rule was not needed anymore, because it would create hate omang the peasants. So he created the civil tribunal with an eminant president for the handling of justice. And , to undo the hate he had created with his actions and prove that if there had been cruelty it had not come from him but his appointed minister, he had Orco cut into pieces one moring on the  square in Cesena and put on display. By this horrid cruelty of this action the ponies were both satisfied and silenced.

But I digress, prince Blueblood had secured his power by giving himself an army of his own and getting rid of the forces that might pose a danger to him. The only thing he still had to fear was the Princess of France, because he knew that she had understood her mistake and wouldn’t allow any further warring on his part. That is why he chose the side of Spain when they occupied Geata. He did this with the intention of securing himself against France, in wich he would have succeeded if his mother hadn’t died.

His main fear was that the new Papal Princess would prove an enemy of his, and that she would try to rob him of what his mother had given him. He concluded there were four ways to deal with the problem: first to exterminate all the descendents of the previous rulers of the cities he had conquered in order to take away one way for the Papal Princess to create forces against him; secondly, to win over all the nobles of Rome using their support to restrain her; thirdly, to win over the friendship of all the possible candidates of the Paapal position; and fourthly, to amass enough power for himself to withstand the first attack should it come. He had completed three of these four precautions when his mother died, the last had been almost completed, one royal heir had survived.

When he didn’t have to fear France anymore (because France had been robbed of Naples by Spain forcing both countries to make peace with him), he attacked Pisa. Wich immediately surrendered to him, partly due to hate for Canterlot and partly due to fear. And Canterlot could do nothing against this. If the prince had succeeded in his endeavors he would have gained enough power to be independent and not reliant on the situation and armies and others but of his own qualities. But Faust died 5 years after Blueblood had started fighting and with her death his power over Romagna was crippled he was trapped between the powerful armies of France and Spain and also succumbing to the same illness his mother had conracted.

The prince possesed so much boldness and energy and he understood the art of befriending and exterminating ponies so well and he had laid such a strong base for his power that if he hadn’t had the threat of the neaby armies and if he had been in good health he could have overcome any problem. That his power was firmly based is obvious, the Romagna awaited his arrival for more than a month. He was safe in Rome, altough he was more dead than alive due to his sickness. And altough his enemies came to Rome also, they could not unite anypony against him. He had planned al the things he had to do should his mother die, but he had not suspected that after the death of his mother he himself would lay on his deathbed.

Now that I have described all the deeds of the prince, I have nothing to criticize. Actually, I would take him, as I have done before, as the best example for what to do when you have gained power by fortune and the weapons of others. The only thing oppossing the fruitation of his plans was the sickness of Faust and himself. She who sees the sense in securing a new position against her enemies, winning ponies over to her side, getting the upperhand through violence or deception, making herself loved and feared among the peasants, being obeyed and respected by her troops, exterminating those that can harm her, replacing the old order with a new one, being strict and friendly or generous and nobel, destroying unloyal troops, creating a new army and keeping the favor of mighty Princesses, she should take Blueblood as an example. REgardless of gender.

(1) Sparkle elaborates on the subject of empresses in chapter 19

(2) The Princess of Milan was Sforza at the time, she would undoubtely have protected the cities housing many of her relatives and Venice would do the same with ponyville and manehattan.

(3) The noble Pants family was very powerful, especially since they controlled practically all mercenary troops in equestria.

(4) The motives of the sea ponies and the consequences have been discussed by Sparkle in chapter 3.

(5) Louis married into the Royal family of Brittany for political purposes.

(6) The conquering of Romagna was led by blueblood, after Louis  had moved into Milan Blueblood seized, in chronological order, the cities of Imola, Forli, Pesaro, Manehattan, Urbino, Camerino, Senigallia and citta di Castello.

VIII On those that have gained power with crimes

But, because a peasant can become a Princess in two other ways, that aren’t through luck or virtue, I think I should talk about them, even though one of them will be explored more deeply in the chapter about democracies(1). These two ways are either when somepony gains Princessdom by crimes and cruel means or when a single pony gets appointed as leader by the population. The first case I will illustrate by use of an example, one from the past and one more contemporary. Because I think that is enough for someone in this position to follow these examples.

The Sicilian pony Agothocles became Princess of Syracuse after not just being a normal peasant but being an earth pony of very low status. She was daughter to a potter and has commited crimes in every part of her life. When she became a soldier she quickly rose in rank and became captain of the army of Syracuse. And when she had that position she decided to seize the highest power. She summoned the senate to talk about state matters and on her sign the soldiers killed all the politicians and influential civilians at the meeting. After their death she declared herself Princess of the city, with full alicorn benefits, and she stayed in power ever since without any resistance from the population. And even though the Carthaginians attacked her city twice she was able to defend it and even went as far as to leave only halve her soldiers at the city and attack Africa.

None of the exploits of Agothocles could be classified as favors of Fortuna. Because she did not gain her power by anyones gift, but when somepony kills allied ponies and betrays friends and knows of no respect or loyalty there can be no speak of virtue. Those ponies can gain power, but no fame. The power Agathocles showed at the overcoming of so many dangers and the conquering of so many hardships make her no less than any well known Princess. But her vicious cruelty and mercilessness don’t permit her name to be outed among those of great Princesess.

From our own time there is Rarity of Ponyville. At young age she was put under the service of prince Shim Pants(2) by the her masters of the apple-clan to gain experience in the art of war. After his death she served under his brother prince Sham and quickly rose to be his right hoof pony. But she deemd it beneath her to be in service of another pony so she plotted with citizens of Ponyville who would prefer their city to be in slavery to it being free and with the military support of Sham to take over the city of Fermo. She wrote to Applejack of the Apple-clan that, after having been away from her home for many years, she wanted to revisit Ponyville and talk about her part of the heritage. And because, as she wrote, she had worked so hard to attain glory and prestige she wanted to show the ponyvillians she hadn’t wasted her time and come to Ponyville like a Princess with a hundred soldiers.

Applejack spared no expenses for her niece and had the many ponies under her command be welcomed by the citizens of ponyville and let her stay at her own house. Rarity had, some days later after having planned out her future crimes, a great feast in those same halls inviting the apple-clan and many of the influential ponies of ponyville. During the meal Rarity began talking gabout important problems, she mentioned the power of Faust and her son Blueblood and their exploits. When Applejack answered her she suddenly jumped up and said that these where things that should be discussed in private. She, and all the important ponies of Ponyville went into a private room in wich soldiers were stationed that killed Applejack and the others.

After this carnage Rarity marched demonstrative through the streets with her troops and claimed Princesshood over the city. After she had killed all ponies that posed a threat because of their dissatisfaction she was very stable in her position and it would be hard to make her lose it, if she hadn’t let herself be tricked by Blueblood when he captured the Pants family in Senegallia as has been described. Because she also, along with her mentor in cruelt Sham was killed there.

Maybe now ponies will wonder how Agathocles and the like, after so many cases of disloyalty and cruelty, could live in their city safely and defend it against enemies for so long without repercussions of the peasantry. Because many Princesses have not been able to stay in power during peace time because of their cruelty not to speak of war time when everything is unstable. This is mainly a question of how the cruelty is applied. Cruelty used in a good way ( if you can call cruelty good) would be when used suddenly, out of necessity and when you don’t continue it but turn it into as much as possible benefit for the people. Badly used cruelty is cruelty that increases with time rather than decreasing even if the start is small. Those that apply their cruelty the right way can maintain their power, like agathocles.

It can be said that when somepony plans to seize power, she has to carefully plan out the measures she has to take and take them all at the same time. This way she doesn’t have to sustain in her cruelty and can start winning the favor of the people. She who always acts out of fear or anger always carries a knife. And the peasants will have a fresh memory of her injustice and can’t trust her. All injustices must be commited at the same time to reduce their bite. While charities should be, to get the most milage out of them, given one by one, ideally.

(1) Sparkle could be talking about chapter 9 but she probably means discorsi

(2) The brothers Shim and Sham Pants where two princes of Canterlottian mercenary troops in the war with Pisa. Shim died in the ‘signoria’ of Canterlot and Sham died three years later in the massacre of Senigallia.

IX The constitunional principality

IX The constitunional principality

The second way for a normal pony to become a Princess is by favour of fellow citizens. This requires both luck and virtue. This position is gained either with support of the normal ponies or with the support of noble families. This duality is found in every city. One group doesn’t want to be suppresed or dominated and the other groups wants to suppress and dominate them. This conflict can result in one of three things: a principality, freedom or anarchy.

A principality is either created by the normal ponies or by the nobles if one of them gets the chance to do it. When the nobles realize that the ponies can’t be controled much longer they elevate one of their own to Princesshood so they can continue their own practices under her protection. And when the lower class is fed up with the nobility they too can bring someone forward to be named Princess for their own protection. The first kind of princess will have more troubles than the latter, once she is a Princess she will find that she is surrounded by ponies of equal standing that she can’t command or dispose of as she pleases.

But she who becomes Princess by will of the normal ponies is entirely independent and there is no pony, or next to no pony that is not under her command. You can’t please the nobles without hurting anypony but the wishes of normal ponies are less offensive, since they only wish not to be opressed. On top of all this a Princess can never defend herself from angry peasants, there are too much of them, while nobles are few. But when nobles are hostile toward her she not only has to fear to be deserted by them but also to be actively opposed. Because they have more understanding in the political situation they will know whaen to save themselves and befriend a new pony rising in power that they expect to become the new Princess. A Princess can’t live without peasants but she can live without nobles, as she can make or break them and enlarge or shrink their power as she sees fit.

To clarify I’ll comment that when it comes to nobles there are two ways they can act: either they make themselves dependend on you and your power with every step you take, or they don’t. Those that bind themselves to you without becoming demanding you should honor and love while those that refuse to become dependent on you are divided in two groups.The first doing so out of fear and natural cowardice, of these you can make great use for advice, because they’ll serve you in good times and be not dangerous in harder ones. The second group, however, stays independent of you because of ambition. This indicates they think more about themselves than about you. These sort of ponies a Princess has to beware and regard as enemies, because opposition can always count on their support to overthrow you.

A Princess in power by the favour of the peasants needs to stay on their good side, wich isn’t hard because all the ask is not to be opressed. But a Princess that comes to power against the wishes of the peasants and by the favour of the nobles has to try to win the peasants over, wich is not hard if she establishes herself as their protector. Ponies that find benevolence where they expected misery feel extra obliged to their princess. A Princess can win over the peasants in many ways, but there are no rule of thumbs for this since the situation differers from case to case.

I’m only trying to say that a Princess should always try to befriend the peasants so she has something to fall back on during harder times. When Nabis was besieged by all of the earth pony forces and a powerful pegasus army(1) she was able to withstand them and preserve her city. When she was threatened she could rely on the support of the peasants, if her subjects had not loved her this would have been impossible. And don’t let anybody oppose me with the cliché that ‘anypony that relies on other ponies is building a house on quicksand’, this proverb obviously only counts for a normal citizen that imagines that her friends will help her when she encounters trouble. Those ponies will end up betrayed, like the Gracchen in Rome(2).

Often these positions are threatened when the Princess tries to turn their authority, wich they in fact are borrowing from their subjects, into absolute power. These Princesses either rule by themselves or by use of magistrates. In the latter case their position is the least stable because they’re dependent on the ponies in office, who can easely rob them of their power. And once her position becomes threatened it’s to late to take full control because the civilians and magistrates aren’t going to switch to her control in unstable times. In unstable times there will never be enough trustworthy ponies. A wise Princess can never rely on what she has seen in easier times, when ponies need the Princess. Because then everypony promises the world to her and they would die for her as long as that death is far off. But in times of adversity when the Princess needs the ponies she will find very little loyalty. A wise Princess has to think of a way to make ponies entirely dependent on her power, only then will they be loyal to you.

(1) Nabis ruled Sparta, because of her expansionism, she was always at war with the other earthpony factions, who were helped by the pegasi. Sparkle discusses her more in Discorsi.

(2) Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who were counsel members of the republic in Rome, wanted to better the life of the lower class, they had to pay for their democratic agenda with their lifes.

X How the strength of any principality should be measured

While studying a Princess an important subject of interest is if she can support her own position or if she is dependent on others, to clarify: Princesses that can support themselves have command over enough ponies or gold to build a respectable army and fend of an enemy. Anypony that has to retreat inside fortresses is, I believe always dependent on the help of others. The first case I have already discussed, in the second case the only thing left for the Princess is to fortify her city and ignore the country around it. Because if a Princess has fortified herself well and treated her subjects like I advised, any enemy will hesitate attacking her. Ponies always dislike undertakings with obvious risks, and attacking a well fortified city of wich the population doesn't hate the Princess is a risky thing.

The cities in Germany(1) have a lot of freedom, little territory and and only obey the Princess when they feel like it. They don't fear her or the other princes because they are fortified so well that it would be a task for anypony to conquer their cities, they have plenty of moats and walls and more than enough magic. And they stock a year's supplies in food for their soldiers, and as compensation for normal civilians that are kept from their trades that form the backbone of the society. Military exercises also haven't been abolished yet.

A Princess with a strong city that isn't hated can't be attacked, and if somepony would attack her she would have to leave again in shameful retreat. Because the world we live in is so dynamic somepony can't stay encamped around a city for a year, doing nothing. you could reason that ponies seeing their possessions outside the city being destroyed or looted would lose their patience and that the the siege and their own self-interest would fade their duty to their Princess from their memory. But I think that a powerful charismatic Princess can mesmer her subjects with hope that these struggles might not continue for long and fear for the cruelty of the enemy.

Also, it's needless to say that the enemy will burn and pillage the land at their arrival, when your ponies are still enthusiastic about defending their Princess, so the Princess has little to worry about because when the enthusiasm has died down the losses are already sustained and irreversible. Then they will side themselves even more with the Princess, because the think she has an obligation to them, it is in the nature of ponies to feel joint just as much by charities they commit as by charities they receive. So, all things considered, it isn't hard for a Princess to keep up the morale of her subjects at the beginning and the rest of a siege.

(1) Sparkle exhibits more admiration for Germany in her Discorsi sopra le cosa della Magna, in her Rapporto delle cose Magna and in her Discorsi

Letter to Celestia

Dear princess Celestia(1),

First off, Happy birthday! I have been thinking about a present for you for a long time. Often those wanting to come in grace with a Princess are inclined to gift her the thing they themself see as their most valuable possesion or with something they imagine hér to be pleased with. Therefore somepony can see jewels, weapons andgold, gems and other beautiful  gifts that are fit for her greatness are offered. And now at the time that I can also present to you a token of my friendship, I couldn’t find anything in my possesion that is more important to me and that I value greater than the knowledge of the deeds of powerful mares: a knowledge that I have gained by both longtime experience and reading about ancient civilizations. Al these things, wich I have studied meticulously, I have written down in this little book, that I hereby give to you.

And altough I suspect this book may be unworthy for your attention(2), I have faith that in your benevolence you will accept it. After all I don’t have any greater gift to give than the possiblity to learn on short notice the insights that have taken me so many years to gain. I didn’t dress up my speech or embelished it in any wayas people often are prone to do. I figured I wanted my work to either land no fame at all or only be appreciated because of the importance of the subject. And I hope nopony will be offended by how an unimportant unicorn dares to critically study the way princesses rule and apply rules to that way. Because if you want to draw a landscape you stand in the vally to draw a mountain and on a mountain to draw a vally, you have to be Princess to understand the ponies and the ponies to understand the Princess.

I hope you receive this gift in the same spirit as I give it. And if you will read it attentively, you would do me a great pleasure, that exists out of my hope that you will achieve the greatness that Fortuna and your own qualities place in your future. And if you from the top of your high position you let your glance slide downwards, you will notice how cruel Fortuna with neverending force and evilness opresses me.

(1) This is a letter addressed to Princess Celestia of Canterlot, who ruled over the area at the time helped in reconquering by ‘the elements of harmony’. Originally Sparkle intended the gift to be for Nightmare Moon the shortlived Tyrant who, for a short time, gained control of the country but was toppled again by Celestia.

(2) It is known that Celestia wasn’t particularly interested in Sparkles book, being much more interested in a cake recipe book that was gifted to her by another subject.

I How many kinds of Principalities there are and how they are achieved.

All states, all dominions, that excert power over ponies and have excerted power over ponies, are and were either democracies or principalities. The principalities are either heridetary, of wich the family of the Princess has been in power for a long time or new, like Milan for Princess Sforza(1), or they are added as parts of a principality of the Princess that conquers them as the case was with Napels and the Princess of Spain(2). These conquered regions are ued to either live wíth a princess or to be free. And they are conquered either by an others power or by their own power, either by luck or with power.

(1) Princess Sforza daughter of ‘prince’ Attendolo (a mercenary leader), had become because of her marriage in the principality of Milan one of the most important ponies in the city. When the previous Princess died Milan became a republic, Sforza was appointed leader of the military. However, instead of warring with the sea ponies of Venice as she was ordered to she struck a deal with the water creatures and claimed princesshood over Milan three years later. This all happened 50 years before La Principessa. Princess Sforza is a typical example of a ‘new’ Princess as Sparkle sees them.

(2) The Princess of Spain being Ferdinanda of Aragon, or the religieus Princess. She added Napels to the dominion of Spain a few years earlier after a very good treaty with the Princess of France. It was Ferdinanda that made Spain into one of the most important powers in equestria, partially because of her victiories over the zebra’s. See also chapter 21 § 1.

XI On deific power

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