Comment on Conference by CatspawDTP
Good job!
Very much just a character study piece, and works very well as such.
I would note that on the consequences of trying to manipulate someone 'for the good of the realm', Celestia may well be speaking from personal experience. She has had plenty of time to make (and lean from) mistakes. I rather imagine the first few centuries of her rule were littered with various failures of foresight before she realized that you can lead a pony to water, but you can't make him drink, before she settled on her current more 'maternal' approach.
Very much just a character study piece, and works very well as such.
I would note that on the consequences of trying to manipulate someone 'for the good of the realm', Celestia may well be speaking from personal experience. She has had plenty of time to make (and lean from) mistakes. I rather imagine the first few centuries of her rule were littered with various failures of foresight before she realized that you can lead a pony to water, but you can't make him drink, before she settled on her current more 'maternal' approach.
Indeed—it was intended to be essentially a character study and mood piece; more a vignette than a full-fledged (see what I did there?) short story.