“Good show!” the Storm King exclaims, cheering with a few thunks of staff against floor. “Marvelous! Now, I believe I have a party to get to! That pizza won’t eat itself!”

He gives a cheeky grin and cocky salute before vaulting over his seat and out the door. Tempest Shadow follows close behind, still indignant about the turn of events. Garble bickers with Gruff, mostly about how unfair it is the dragons weren’t able to extort the Equestrians while the griffons were, as the two delegates leave with their fellows. The rest of the creatures trickle out in twos and threes, off to send home messages about what occurred or just relax before the next meeting.

Sky Beak waits at the door and stares at Doug long enough for the human to recognize it. He then turns and walks out without a backwards glance, leaving Doug grim and wondering how to get Celestia away from the pack of ponies hugging the downed changeling.

As it turns out, a tap on the withers is all it takes. A curious Celestia follows Doug to a more isolated area of the auditorium, not that they are hiding anything - it’s just quieter, not having to listen to Fluttershy fuss over Chrysalis, or Applejack and Rainbow Dash debate the easiest method of moving such a large mass, or Twilight Sparkle twilighting about the next issue concerning the alicorns.

“Yes, my love?” Celestia asks as they come to a stop, concerned but not uneasy.

Doug wants to cross his arms but doesn’t, keeping his hands clasped at his waist. “How much do you know about the hippogriffs?”

“I know a great deal about the hippogriffs, and at the same time not enough,” Celestia answers, regarding Doug closely and noting his apprehension. “I take it you are not looking for facts found in the Encyclopedia Equitannica?”

“Correct,” Doug replies brusquely. “More your reasoning behind, let’s say, how they got to their current situation.”

“Hmm.” Celestia stares off into the distance for a long moment, focusing on nothing.

Back on the stage, a groggy Chrysalis slowly comes to.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Shining Armor greets Chrysalis as she awakens. “Feeling better?”

“Urgh,” Chrysalis moans, rubbing at her head with an emerald-clad hoof. “I didn’t change color, did I?” A fangy grin spreads as she sees her ebony chitin, brushing off her stallion’s help to get to her hooves. “White is just so…” She frowns at Rarity’s venomous glare. “Overdone?”

That prompts a chuckle from the fashionista. “You will find no argument from me there, darling. Though it does tend to go with everything.”

“I thought that was black,” Chrysalis retorts, admiring her coloration. Luna enthusiastically nods along.

“Oh, yes,” Rarity agrees. She winks at Luna. “Black and white do go very well together.”

“Oh, please,” Rainbow Dash butts in. “Next you’ll tell me that zebras are the height of fashion.”

“Or skunks,” Fluttershy adds. She beams as everypony edges away from her. “They’re really cuddly, and always looking for a hug!”

“Ah like polka dots and plaid,” Applejack says. “Especially together!” She sighs as Rarity covers her face with a hoof. “What?”

“Let’s go,” Shining Armor entreats, flicking his mane at the eldest alicorn. “It’s story time!”

“I love story time!” Twilight exclaims, giddily clapping her hooves together. “Oh, come on,” she says defensively as the others chuckle. “You all love story time too!”

Celestia snaps back to reality as her Sister approaches, acknowledging her with a curt nod. The rest of the ponies, curious as well, gather and sit in a loose semicircle. A translucent golden bubble surrounds them, filling their ears with a soft hiss.

“You were asking about the hippogriffs,” Celestia begins in a matter-of-fact lecturing tone. Behind it, partially concealed, is mild disdain. “Historically, the hippogriffs have been neither our staunchest allies nor our bitterest enemies. That would be the Crystal Empire under the rule of Princess Amore, before Sombra’s rise of power, and the dragons of six centuries ago, respectively.”

“The d-dragons?” Spike stammers, glancing at Twilight as she nuzzles him. The action doesn’t stop her from taking notes. “You don’t think they might… attack, do you?”

Celestia shakes her head. “Not under Dragon Lord Torch, not unless we provoke him directly. We ancients still have some modicum of respect for each other. Of their new crop?” She sighs remorsefully. “I cannot say for sure. I fear I have kept my eyes focused inward, on ensuring that threats to Equestria were… minimized.”

“Then how,” Chrysalis asks, ignoring the grumbles from the ponies at interrupting, “was I able to infiltrate so far and wide?”

Celestia regards the changeling with a grim stare. “To be honest,” she says with a deep sigh. “You escaped my notice by slipping beneath my notice. I wrongly anticipated that you would attempt to replace high-ranking officials and nobles. I did not have the resources to pursue why, say, in nine-ninety-three there were forty-six ponies emigrating from Trottingham to greener pastures, yet forty-eight arrived.”

“Ah,” Chrysalis says. A thin smile spreads. “You investigated and found the cracks afterwards.”

Celestia nods. “And once you had infiltrators in the proper positions, even those discrepancies disappeared. My reports, the thousand reports I sift through every day, inaccurately depicted the situation, leaving me blind or worse.” She waves a hoof, stifling Chrysalis’ opening mouth. “I do not condemn you for your actions. It was a brilliant bit of misdirection; had I thought to, I might have done the same.”

Chrysalis sits back, preening. The other ponies sit unsure, wanting to glare at the changeling but not with Celestia admitting that she would have acted similarly.

Celestia turns back to Doug, redness seeping into her eyes. “You can see, I am sure, the difficulty inherent in managing such a complex and interconnected situation. How much worse would it be if I considered everycreature else? And how would I know what is going on, since they are not required to send reports to my desk?” She whips a hoof to point at Chrysalis. “Should I conscript our four thousand newly hatched infiltrators and send them to every corner of Equus?”

“Hey!” Chrysalis says, only for her objection to be cast to the side.

“Or should I have become a Queen?” The multicolor glow of Celestia’s mane fades to a monochrome orange, flames of red licking behind blackened pupils. She stands tall, seemingly towering to the vaulted ceiling, glowing like the sun and leaving all else bathed in searing light. She laughs, a bright and piercing sound that spreads like wildfire. “Not dark, but as blazing and illuminating as the sun!”

And in the next moment the oranges and reds saturating the room fade to normal. The alabaster alicorn returns to her normal coloration as limbs the ponies didn’t know were locked loosen. She sighs, heavy and mournful.

“You ask what I might have done. But you do not ask what it would require for me to do it.” Celestia offers the changeling a soft smile. “But I do not have perfect knowledge, nor the ability to interfere without unanticipated consequence.” She seems to diminish as her fury leaves her body. “Perhaps it is not a failing to be neither omniscient nor omnipotent. Is it wrong to have that as one’s goal? For it is Raikou’s as well.” She indicates Twilight. “And what student does not seek to surpass her teacher?”

“I would never-” Twilight starts before a raised alabaster hoof silences her.

“Do not lie so readily, my most faithful student,” Celestia chastises. “Or if what you spoke was true, then as your mentor I have failed to kindle your aspirations.” She bows her head. “And for that, I am truly sorry.”

“You didn’t,” Twilight says, gulping as she realizes her error. Her head matches Celestia’s in a contrite bow. “I will strive, to the best of my ability, to excel in every way I can.”

“That’s the Twilight I know and love,” Celestia says, raising her head with a smile. She turns back to Doug. “Do you wish to second-guess my actions?”

Doug grimaces. “Well, before you told Twilight off for a harmless lie, I might have said no.”

“No lie is harmless,” Celestia counters quickly, no malice in her correction.

“My point is,” Doug says with a huff, though he acknowledges her point with a wave of his hand, “that nopony, nocreature, is perfect. Sometimes we make mistakes, and we reevaluate decisions we made to try to detect those mistakes. We look for gaps in our logic, or places we should investigate more thoroughly. I think that you may have made a mistake with how the hippogriffs were treated. I’m not sure, of course.” He pauses to look her in the eye. “So I’ll ask again. Or perhaps more specifically. Why did you allow the Storm King to invade Mount Aris, and what have you done to check his ambitions?”

A wry smile crosses Celestia’s muzzle. “Thank you for not asserting that I have done nothing. But to answer that I must ask two things. What are the Storm King’s ambitions?”

Doug frowns. “Well, you said that he wants power. To become the most powerful creature, I assume.”

“And?” Celestia prompts.

Doug scratches at his chin. “He’s willing to conquer places to get that power.”

“Is that wrong?” Celestia asks, tilting her head to the side. “Must the borders of the map remain unchanged in perpetuity?”

“All these questions!” Doug grins at Celestia. “If I didn’t like the Socratic method so much, I might be more perturbed at you evading the question.” He winks at her, earning a quick incline of her head. “But I believe there can be a thing as a ‘just war’, or revolutions, or even expansion into uncharted realms. But for an individual to gain power, not merely influence?” Doug glances at Celestia. “He’s not magical like you, so he has to train his body and gather or steal magical artifacts to make up that difference.”

“Indeed,” Celestia agrees. “Though he seems to have little interest in ruling; he has installed vassals in the smaller towns along the southern coast and seems more than happy to have the Council choose replacements for the places he topples. No, he ensures that others acknowledge his superiority.”

“Is that what happened with Mount Aris?” Doug demands. “He was just proving his superiority to the hippogriffs?”

“Perhaps,” Celestia concedes. “It was no secret that he desired the Seasky Pearl. How much of his allegations of piracy are true? I have already professed my ignorance of the situation, and perhaps that is something that should change. The question then becomes ‘how shall we do that?’ Should we turn the Storm King to stone and shatter him, and reignite the volcanoes of the Storm Realm? That would solve the problem of not knowing their intentions.”

“Um,” Doug says, shifting nervously. “That seems extreme.”

Celestia merely regards him more intently. “But how do we know the hippogriffs are blameless?” She taps a hoof against her muzzle. “Should we boil the oceans in case they are not?”

“P-please stop,” Fluttershy begs between sobs from behind her mane.

Celestia drops her head as Applejack rubs a comforting hoof along the yellow pegasus’ back. “I am sorry, dearest Fluttershy. I would only recommend those actions were I to believe the individuals in question were irredeemable. And, judging by your reactions, you do not believe such. So the answer must lie between nothing and genocide.” She motions upward. “Do you believe we should mobilize our troops and smash the Storm King’s armada?”

“If he was attacking somewhere,” Doug answers. After a moment he adds, “Unjustly.”

“Ah, you strike at the heart of the matter,” Celestia says, a hint of a grin perking up the corners of her mouth. “For we must determine if a cause is just or not.”

“If we don’t know enough,” Doug continues. “We need to find more information.”

“Precisely. For example, there has always been a faction of the hippogriffs that prefer the sea, the aptly named Sea Ponies. Others wish to once again live above the waves. As you can no doubt guess, Sky Beak is a leading member of that group.” Once again, Celestia drops her head and sighs. “I am not sure the relative extent of the two groups, as their politics is as murky as the depths under which they live. But I believe Sky Beak to be part of a minority, perhaps a plurality, but not enough to sway their queen.”

“So we would need proof of the Storm King’s atrocities,” Doug says, nodding to himself. Celestia’s smile widens. He stands, rolling his shoulders and flexing his arms. “Well, I have felt cooped up in here. Anypony fancy a run through the city?”

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy says anxiously, rubbing one hoof against the other. She looks pleadingly at Celestia. “We don’t have to, do we?”

Celestia returns a warm smile. Next to her Luna looks ready to nod off. “You may stay with us, if you wish. I do believe we could use the rest.”

Everypony else leaps to their hooves, eager to get outside.

Next Chapter: Ch. 22 - Spirited Response, Part Two Estimated time remaining: 28 Hours, 47 Minutes