Flash Sentry, newly-elected Doge of Venice, stood outside the gates of the palace of that great city, looking to all the assembled citizens, all of whom looked to him with eagerness and hope. Beside him were his closest allies, and after taking a deep breath, he finally spoke aloud his first words as the leader of this small, but serene nation. "People of Venice! We are but a handful of tiny islands in the Adriatic. Founded by those fleeing the disasters of the mainland. But through our sheer will to carry on and do great things, we have forged this shining city. A beacon of prosperity, of progress, and of freedom. Gone are the days of tyrants and petty monarchs that our ancestors once chafed under. Instead, our republic shall serve as an example to all! He stretched out his hoof, towards the horizon. "Go forth! For a day shall come when every port of the Mediterranean and beyond shall see our ships and our merchants! For we are Venetians, and the sea is our true treasure!" A cheer erupted in the crowds, as did a cacophony of applause. Flash smiled to the enthusiasm of his people, then looked to the stallion at his side. "Shipmaster Rockhoof, if we're to see this dream through, we'll need ships. And lots of them."

Solaris, draped in all the purple finery of a Byzantine Emperor, smiled as he looked down to the vast crowds of the city of Constantinople, looking to them from the balcony of his imperial home. He took a moment to appreciate the adoration with which they looked to him, then spoke in that authoritative and booming voice one of his station was expected to have. "People of the Empire! Hear me well! Long has our great domain been in decline. Gone are the days of Justinian and his dreams of reunifying the old empire. But this decline is not the end for us! For we are Romans! We made civilization! And on my word we shall endure, we shall expand, and we shall remind all upon the great Mediterranean why our forebears ruled from coast to coast. One day, we shall look up to see the flag of the eagle soaring mightily across all lands as it did in the days of the Caesars!"

A cheer rose up to greet his words, pleasing him mightily. But that enjoyment was short-lived as the eldest of his two daughters, who had been standing beside him through all that, coughed deliberately to get his attention before whispering in his ear. "Um, that's all well and good, Father. But I'd like to remind you that we're currently have word of a dozen plots against you at this very moment from your various vassals."

"Not to mention several murmurs of rebellions for a number of provinces," Luna added.

"As well as talk of plague coming in from the east," Celestia continued.

"And let's not forget the fact that we're still technically at war both in the east and in the north?" Luna finished.

But Solaris simply frowned to them. "Glory now, trifles later."

"Sir," Rockhoof spoke to his leader. "I'm happy to report that construction on the new hospital you commissioned has been completed. And we're already seeing a number of those with signs of the illness being treated."

Leaning back into the chair of his office, Flash breathed a sigh of relief. "Good to hear. I was worried when all this talk of plague came in. But thankfully our citizens rose to the challenge to get it fixed." He tapped his chin. "You know, I should show them thanks." He turned to the mare beside him. "Miss Berrytwist..."

The maroon aide narrowed her eyes to him. "I prefer 'Supreme Mistress Tempest' if it's all the same to you, Doge."

"...Um...alright then, Supreme Mistress. We have quite a few barrels of cider down here in our storerooms. Let it be known that I will be hosting a garden party for all the labourers who built the hospital. Oh, and let them know that the doctors should attend too. And their families, should they wish."

Tempest raised an eyebrow. "For...surveillance?"

"What?" Flash asked, surprised. "We're just throwing them a party to show them how grateful they are for all they've done for the city."

"...I don't follow."

"So...how bad is it?" Solaris asked.

Sighing, Celestia stepped forward, bring out some parchment and reading it out. "Well, in no particular order, we have an uprising in some of our Anatolian provinces, we've lost southern Italy after our unsuccessful war against the Lombards, the Abbasid Caliphate is ready to move against us to claim the territory closest to Antioch, we're at and all-time low with our relationship to the Pope..." She flipped a page. "Oh, and we're also broke."

"...No money at all?" Solaris said with concern.

"Nothing at all," Luna concurred.

The older stallion stroked his beard. "Well, that is a pickle. Still, no problem that can't be fixed."

Celestia facehoofed herself. "Father, with all due respect, I think that's a bit too hopeful, even by my standards. One problem we could fix, maybe. But everything all at once? We'd need a miracle to get things back to how they were at the time of your ascension to the throne!"

Solaris merely chuckled to that. "Oh, my dear daughter. One problem is already fixed." He gestured to her. "Behold! Our treasury problem is officially death with."

Celestia blinked, and soon both she and Luna were looking at the parchment. Instantly, they took on stunned looks, seeing that what was once a zero was now quite a bit more than that." But...but how?!" Celestia asked with disbelief.

Then, slowly, Luna looked to her imperial parent with suspicion. "Father...did you just use the games 'get more money' console command?"

After a moment of silence wherein he looked just a touch guilty, Solaris merely shrugged. "Hey, a wise leader always uses whatever means necessary to avoid a crisis in their nation, right?" Seeing the simultaneous facehoofs his daughters showed, he frowned again. "...What?"

"...Vikings?" Flash asked.

Tempest nodded solemnly. "I fear so, Doge. They came in from the north and started pillaging a number of villages on the coasts of Francia. They say Northumbria got hit pretty badly too."

Flash sighed. "Horrendous." He looked up to her. "Send some gold to the people in those areas, they need all the help they can get to try and rebuild their homes."

Tempest looked to him warily. "Are you...certain we can afford that, my Doge?"

Here, Flash smiled. "I promise you, we can." He offered her some parchment, then looked on with some satisfaction as her eyes widened to the sight of the numbers upon it. "Well, that's what we get when we don't spend our money on fighting wars all the time."

After taking all that in, Tempest put the parchment down, looking again to her leader. "This is all well and good, Sir. But I must remind you that we still have bands of these northern pirates causing havoc for the rest of Europe. What do you intend to do if they should look to the vast wealth of our city and decide they want a piece of it?"

Flash opened his mouth to speak, only to be halted when Rockhoof entered his office, looking like he had urgent business to attend to. "Sir! Apologies for the intrusion! But we just had a small raiding party of Vikings spotted beyond our ports!"

Tempest gave her leader a quick I-told-you-so look, but stayed silent as the latter looked to his shipmaster. "What happened?"

Rockhoof, for a moment, just scratched the side of his head. "Well...they tried getting to our city, but, well, all those defences and walls you invested in sort of stopped them from ever making any progress here, so...they just turned around and left?"

Tempest seemed utterly astounded by that, but said nothing as Flash looked to her with a genuine smile. "To answer your question, Supreme Mistress...that was what I intended to do."

"Viking raid...Viking raid...Viking raid..." Celestia sighed, as was her frequent pattern by this point. "Aaaaaand they've just raided Athens. Well, that's just grand, isn't it? I mean they're practically at our doorstep now!"

Luna patted her on the shoulder. "There, there, sister. I'm sure Father is coming up with a plan to deal with them as we speak." She saw the incredulous look her elder sibling gave her, then slumped her shoulders. "And only now that I've said that out loud do I realise my folly."

With a great bang, the doors of their chambers opened up as their father strode into the room like he owned the place. To the sisters' terror, however, he was accompanied by what appeared to be a number of Viking warriors, each armed with very sharp-looking axes. "Father!" Celestia called out with alarm.

But Solaris merely bellowed with laughter. "Fear not, my daughter! These fine fellows are not our enemies, but our friends!"

"...What?" the older sister asked emotionlessly.

"You see," Solaris began. "After realising that we had little defence against these guys, I thought to myself, why not hire them? And so, you see before you, the Varangian Guard! They shall be my personal escorts. Oh, and also yours, if you wish."

Blinking slowly, Celestia stepped forward. "You saw the problem of Vikings raiding the coastlines of our nation?"

"Yes," Solaris answered.

"Killing our people and stealing our treasures?" Celestia continued.

"Correct."

"And your big plan to deal with them was to give them a job?! And thus result in them getting even more gold from us? As well as direct access to the very leaders of the nation they've been fighting against?!"

Solaris paused here, looking to the incredibly dangerous guards he now had by his side, then turned again to face his daughter. "...What's your point?"

The result was a facehoof so loud it would likely be heard from the furthest corners of the world. Thankfully, Luna, who also seemed tired by her father's antics, seemed to have a cooler head on her right now, stepping forward and looking to him with curiosity. "And...how exactly did you pay for them? Our empire is ninety percent gone and their raids took more or less everything we had le..." She halted herself, exhaling deeply before looking to her father with disappointment. "You used the money cheat again, didn't you?"

To that, Solaris pouted like a child who'd just been told he couldn't have a second helping of dessert. "What's the point of having the means to control the entirety of the world if I'm not allowed to use it?!"

Slowly, Luna looked to Celestia. "Okay, next time...we'll just stick to Pong."

I considered "Kings and Crusades" as an alternative title for this chapter, to better show which Paradox game I was basing it on. But then I realised that the chapter featured neither kings nor crusades, so I decided against it