Celestia sighs, her words utterly failing to calm the heated arguments among the various delegates. If anything they get more riled up, bickering like hyenas over a fresh carcass.

“So you have groomed a Princess to be just like yourself,” Gruff sneers. The griffon jabs a talon at her like a spear. “You would destroy everything the Crystal Ponies hold dear, just like you did to Griffonstone, and replace it with your own!”

“King Sombra already accomplished that,” Celestia states evenly, not rising to his provocation. “We will reclaim the culture of the Crystal Ponies, not see it given to one who would devour it.”

“That’s as rich as a vein of rubies,” Ember cuts in. “You invited the Devourer of Love into your land and let her have her way with you!”

“You can’t even keep your arguments straight!” Chrysalis jeers, joining the creatures standing with barely restrained fury. Her fangy grin mocks, matching her patronizing tone perfectly. “The Princesses care so much about Pony culture that they are willing to allow a changeling to despoil it? They are so power hungry that they conquer whatever nation they please, yet listen to you prattle on about who should rule?”

“And when you claim that our culture is as toxic as Sombra’s?” Ember belches a controlled burst of flame, a pair of wings coalescing from the smoke that rises to the ceiling. “Will you demand that we take on a Princess of our own? Or will the choice be made for us? My father, Dragon Lord Torch, will pass on the Bloodstone Sceptre in the coming years. Will you help ‘guide’ a dragon who is more to your liking?”

“Equestria has a long-standing policy of non-interference,” Celestia claims, standing regally and turning to address the rest of the creatures. “There was no invasion force sent to the Crystal Empire, merely a diplomatic envoy, no more than we would send to anynation.”

“Of course, you would never invade a sovereign country.” Gruff laughs, sharp and mocking. “Only assassinate their rulers and twist their second-in-commands to betray them!” The Storm King’s head snaps to Celestia from his lounging position. “But if they just so happen to ask you to send them a princess to rule over them?” He sneers once again, pointedly looking at Twilight. “Or are you claiming that King Sombra is the only ruler who can mind control their subjects?”

“The use of Malevolence is strictly controlled,” Twilight states evenly, despite every bone in her body shouting at her hypocrisy and half-truths. She had used the Want-It-Need-It spell, and how many other magics did she know, to say nothing of Celestia and Chrysalis? “And prohibited in all but the most extreme cases.”

“Oh?” Gruff’s eye gleams. “Extreme cases, hmm? Such as a tyrannical despot? A king not dancing to your tune?”

Prince Rutherford finally gets to his hooves, his bellow enough to silence everycreature else. “All miss point! Crystal Empire take sacred Yak stomping ground! Yaks have been stomping perfect circle for a thousand years! That ancestral Yak territory!”

“Oh, bother,” Twilight groans, holding her hooves to her head and slumping over.

“What’s that?” Applejack asks, confused. She lays down next to Twilight.

“Remember when we got to the Crystal Empire?” Most of the ponies nod uncertainly. “The entire city was lower than when it banished. That’s clear evidence the Yaks have been using it. They don’t have a clearcut case for abandonment, because the Crystal Empire didn’t mean to leave, except the ruler at the time did mean to cause the city to leave, and…”

“It’s okay, Sugarcube,” Applejack reassures, patting the lavender alicorn as she cowers behind her hooves. “Ah’m sure it’ll all work out.”

Ember takes to the air, as does Garble, to get a better vantage point to sneer at Prince Rutherford. “You think that is Yak territory? The dragons have been roosting in the Frozen North long before you showed up!”

“Hah! Yak not see dragon roost in centuries! Dragon lie!”

“Do we?” Ember bellows, shooting another gout of flame into the air. “There’s a reason we don’t come to a place as balmy as Yakyakistan any more! Dragons take their eggs to as frigid a place we can find, where only the strongest of eggs survive!”

Prince Rutherford gasps, flipping his hair up so he can better glare at Ember. “Puny dragon take that back, or Yak declare war! Raagh!”

Prince Rutherford and his yak companions shout, stomp, and generally destroy anything in hooves’ reach. The ponies flinch, ears splayed back, only the calm and unflappable presence of the elder alicorns keeping them from panicking.

“I’m surprised you listen to this nonsense,” Twilight remarks to Celestia as Doug and Chrysalis walk over. They watch the destruction, Celestia bemused and Doug with a long sigh. “This is a waste of time. No, worse, because they might actually choose something wrong, when we know the right course of action.”

“Indeed,” Chrysalis adds, scowling. “If any in the hive dissented so insolently? I would have a new husk disposer, if they were lucky.”

“What would you have me do?” Celestia asks patiently, no malice in her voice. “Each of them believes they have a claim over the land in question. Would you prefer they decide this by a contest of tooth and claw?”

“Well, no,” Twilight concedes. “Fighting should be our last resort.” One eye squints before she noticeably brightens. “You have to let them express their views. So you get them to talk it out, realize the error of their ways, and then everycreature can live in peace and harmony!”

Chrysalis snorts, Luna quickly suppresses her guffaw, while Celestia merely smiles knowingly. Chrysalis doesn’t counter Twilight’s point like she expects, instead demanding, “You think they will wear each other down and ignore Equestria’s expansion?” Behind her, the dragons, griffons, and yaks are practically on top of each other, yelling and inches away from coming to blows. “They may not state it outright, but they seek any avenue that would slow or stop our rising power.”

“Rising power?” Twilight asks, cocking her head to the side with a slight frown. “What are you talking about?”

Chrysalis regards her dubiously. “In a decade, Equestria has gone from one Princess, tied down with the concerns of her little ponies, to four. Celestia was worried enough about their reaction to not go with you to the Crystal Empire.”

“I-is that true?” Twilight stammers with an astonished look at Celestia. She gets a grim nod in return.

“I had every faith you would succeed,” Celestia replies, offering her former student a slim smile. “And you surpassed even my high expectations.”

“Regardless,” the beneficiary of such success cuts in as the two alicorns trade fond nuzzles. “In seven years there will be five more mature alicorns, each as capable as their dam. A fifth of Equestrian mares are pregnant, and I suspect next year shall be similar. We are quintupling our brood, stably! If there was an uneasy peace before? One might not think much of water, as fluid and pliant as Equestria has been, yet even basalt yields when it freezes. They grasp at any straw they can to delay us, lest they see their own influence wane in comparison.”

“You said us,” Twilight says with a smile, brushing against the changelings’ ebony withers with her own.

Chrysalis looks down, initially with disdain, at the contact. “Do not push your luck, pony.” Her dour expression slowly fades, even as Twilight fails to remove herself. “It is a useful arrangement. We would be a grub not to take advantage of it.”

“That’s right,” Twilight says, beaming. This draws a curious glance from the changeling. She merely thinks, staring up at the ceiling.

“So we can intervene now?” Doug blithely asks Celestia as Prince Rutherford comes dangerously close to stomping on Ember. She shoves him, hard enough to force the massive yak back a step. He growls, covering her with spit as the two lock limbs and try to wrest the other off their legs.

“If you wish,” Celestia responds, enjoying his quick rub of her ear as he stands.

“Do you all care nothing about the Crystal Ponies?” Doug shouts during a very short moment of silence. It’s enough to get everycreature to quiet down, if briefly, and stare at him, still on edge. “Do we care what they want?”

“They are a member of the Council,” Ember concedes, but returns just as fiery, “But we’re not going to recognize just anycreature, especially anypony, as the rightful ruler! It should be a dragon ruling! Dragons love crystals, and you have a whole city built from them!”

“You can’t eat our homes!” Amethyst Maresbury calls out, distraught. Radiant Hope matches her with pleading looks in their eyes.

“Dragons might as well eat pony homes,” Prince Rutherford bellows as Garble reluctantly passes Gruff a bag of gems. “Pony homes on sacred Yak ground!”

“Dragons do have the oldest claim,” Gruff states. He sits back and counts the gems he just got.

Doug shakes his head as he stands, drawing their attention. “Just because you have an old claim doesn’t mean it’s yours, and just because you don’t have an old claim doesn’t mean you can’t ever get it. How else would we expand, if we could never move past our place of birth? Competition is a fact of life. Conquests happen.”

He meets the Storm King’s eyes, locking him in a brief staring contest. He takes a deep breath, steeling himself and standing straight.

“But that doesn’t mean you should trample on the people, especially the innocents. Did any of the Crystal Ponies want this? No! It was their tyrant, their dictator, who decided this. Who brought this curse on all of them. When we went to the Crystal Empire? We knew it was a possibility we would face this tyrant. And when he refused to release them, and tried to enslave us as well?”

Doug shakes his head, a solemn, repeated no, pulling away from the Storm King to focus on the others. The Storm King steeples his hands under his chin, curious daggers boring into the human.

“You all know what happened next. What do we do now? I believe you are ignoring a crucial factor.” Doug turns to Radiant Hope. “Do the Crystal Ponies want you as their leader?”

“Um,” Radiant Hope starts, glancing sideways at Amethyst Maresbury. “We… didn’t exactly ask them.”

“Then, I think the answer is easy. You let them decide.” Doug receives blank stares from all around, including the ponies. “Vote on it.” Silence. “You know, democracy?”

Garble breaks the silence with a confused scratch of his head. “What is… democracy?”

Twilight pipes up, though she is just as confused. “The word itself breaks down into demo-, which means ‘the people’, and -cracy, which means ‘rule’. Rule of the people?”

“Hah!” Garble laughs, slapping his thigh. He bends over, barely able to keep standing. “How would that possibly work? You would let a weak dragon tell you what to do? No! You have the strongest and the most cunning rule, and all dragons obey!”

Doug frowns. “But what if the strongest dragon isn’t the most cunning? Just because you’re strong in one area doesn’t mean you are strong in another.”

“Careful, Doug,” Twilight cautions, giving him a look that clearly says ‘sit down and shut up’. “Dragons are thaumic in nature. The boosts their magic gives them means the strongest dragon very often is the most cunning and the most intelligent. Though cunning and intelligence doesn’t mean they will be friendly to Equestria.”

“So you would interfere!” Garble asserts with a furious gaze at Twilight, snorting thick clouds of smoke.

“But…” Doug continues, perplexed, still looking at the rest of the creatures. “None of you are democracies, or republics?”

Celestia points around the room. Each nods in agreement as she describes them. “The Griffons used to be a hereditary monarchy, though now they are closer to a military junta. Dragons are a martial dictatorship. Realm of Clouds, oligarchic with three major corporations. Changelings, a ravenous hive.” She winks at Chrysalis, who smirks back. “The Yaks, the Hippogriffs, Arimaspis, all monarchs. The Storm Realm, despotic empire.”

“More of a feudal empire,” the Storm King interjects.

“Perhaps,” Celestia concedes. She turns back to Doug. “Equestria itself is an irenic monarchy, with lower stations appointed by divine fiat. We do not elect our mayors and nobles; their stations are determined by their cutie marks.”

“Really?” Doug asks, mostly at himself. “How did I not notice this before?”

“Because we do not celebrate their succession as widely as you must?” Celestia muses, a hoof at her chin. “When Twilight ascended there was a day of feasting before ponies went back to their lives. The wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance, as well as our own, were the largest celebrations inducting new members of royalty in recent memory. And even they passed after a day.”

“Okay, so, maybe this is the next big experiment.” Doug nods to himself, then turns to address the room. “Everycreature write down a summary of their argument for why they should be voted for. Then, everypony in the Crystal Empire who has their cutie mark gets to vote by ranking their choices. Then you tally the votes, and if you don’t have a majority winner... well, there are a couple of ways you can decide, but the fairest is-”

“Stop,” Ember says, holding up her claw. He does. “Is this a scheme to get a pony in charge?”

“Scheme?” Doug’s face scrunches up. “No. It lets the Crystal Ponies decide who they want in charge, and it’ll be up to each of you to prove your case to them. If they choose a pony, it’s only because you aren’t strong enough. Voting is just a way to find the most acceptable candidate. Now, there are different kinds of acceptable, like the person with a plurality of votes, or finding a condorcet winner among a number of choices, but-”

“Hah!” Ember interrupts again, smirking as her claws rest on her hips. “If all we have to do is prove the dragons are the strongest? This will be easy!” One claw strokes at her chin as Twilight levitates her and the others pieces of paper. “Now, should we demand half of their buildings as tribute? No, too many. But we’re strong enough to deserve it! How to show them? Urgh, what’s the best way to get a flame on a piece of paper?” She stares at it, nearly pulling the paper in half as bits of fire curl out of her open maw.

“Don’t think that we will just go along with whoever you choose,” Gruff spits out, glaring at Doug.

“It’s not us choosing,” Doug states, working to keep his calm. “It’s up to the Crystal Ponies. They are the ones who will live with the choice. It could be one of us, or one of you, or whoever they choose!” He turns to Amethyst Maresbury, ignoring the disgruntled huff of the griffon. “Were there any other candidates you came across? Should we give them a chance to step forward?”

“That would be unnecessary,” Amethyst Maresbury says with a shake of her head. “Radiant Hope was the only one who volunteered.” The unicorn nods, unhappy at not being chosen outright, but a likely frontrunner being a Crystal Empire native. “We were afraid we would need to pick a ruler by lot.”

“That’s certainly one way to do it,” Doug says, keeping his grimace from showing. “Well, we can leave a spot for the Crystal Ponies to write in whoever they want, in addition to the choices ahead of them.” He raises an eyebrow as Chrysalis takes a sheet of paper. “I thought you gave up ruling.”

“I gave up being Queen,” Chrysalis states without any shame at her pedantry. “Here, I would be Empress.”

“Of course,” Doug deadpans. “On a more serious note, I heard you were communicating with your changelings back home?”

“More serious?” Chrysalis sneers at Doug. “I am completely serious. I helped save the Crystal Empire, did I not? I have just as much, if not more, reason than Cadance.” She grins, writing as much on her paper before covertly glancing back and forth.

Nocreature appears to be paying attention to her, all working on their papers. Every so often one of the Yaks rears up in frustration, slamming down and rattling quills and inkpots. Gruff shakes a talon while the other griffon does the work. Ember and Garble keep snatching the paper from each other, the whole thing quickly becoming a scribbled mess. The Storm King, having written a single line, leans back and casually watches the dragons squabble.

Chrysalis hesitates, not wanting to give away her capabilities. She whispers to Doug, “Not merely at home, but to any properly equipped changeling across Equus. Why?”

Doug crouches down, sharing her desire for secrecy. “Well, to speed this up and not need to fly a letter across Equestria. Can you do that?”

“We can.” Chrysalis looks around at what everycreature is writing. Cadance, Shining Armor, and Twilight are similarly gathered, having written more than triple the amount of anycreature else and working to pare it down. “I suppose you wish to send these papers? I can also do audio and video.”

“Nah, I don’t think we need them giving speeches,” Doug says, motioning to the others. “Just the short blurb. We would need to print out a ballot for everypony in the Crystal Empire, instructions for them to fill it out, and some way to show everycreature this is legitimate.”

“Legitimate?” Chrysalis huffs. “Are you sure you wish to go to all this trouble? It would be easier to win a brawl than an election. But, if you wish.”

It takes some time for everycreature to finish their statements. Most grumble about this being a waste of time, but they eventually turn them in to Doug. Cadance ends up being the last to finish, mostly since Twilight is still agonizing over word choices. Cadance has to peel the paper from her hooves as Shining Armor holds her back.

Chrysalis’ horn flares, and a lime green changeling pops up as a disembodied head in front of them. Chrysalis explains their intentions, then again to a gathering of crystal ponies. The concept passes easily enough. The only thing left to do now is wait for a winner.

Next Chapter: Ch. 29 - Weight of the Empire, Part Four Estimated time remaining: 27 Hours, 33 Minutes