//------------------------------//
// Senate Recording: 8/12/532 A.U. 
// Story: Ms. Shimmer Goes to Castellot 
// by RangerOfRhudaur 
//------------------------------//

On this day, the 12th of First Fall in the 532nd year after the Unification of the Kingdom of Homestria, the House of Lairds rejected the proposal by Minister of Science Professor Glistering Radiance to establish a task force to address the developing situation in Cloudsdale state. The proposal was rejected 57-63, Lady Inkheart commenting that the issue was not of sufficient urgency to warrant federal override of Cloudsdale's autonomy and that the proposal in question failed to adequately consider the threat of the Unmarked movement.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

"Sunset," Radiance gently spoke up. "I know that you're a smart girl, so I'm pretty sure you know that banging your head on the wall like that isn't a good idea."

"Then why," she asked, slumping over against the wall of her office. "did I take this job?"

Minister of the Treasury Blue Chip had officially hired her on the 9th, and she'd spent the last three days briefing the science department about what she knew, supervising experiments on magic, and getting virtually nothing else done. Any action she suggested that went outside the bounds of the science department ran into a brick wall of inaction, got shredded by technicalities and loopholes, and then set on fire by people whose greatest talents seemed to be obstruction and the ability to not see or hear what they didn't want to. It was astonishing, really; the likes of Lady Inkheart weren't trying to stop her out of genuine opposition or malice, they were trying to for political considerations or out of sheer inertia. It was fascinating, much like an earthquake, petty Mannish concerns trying to uphold their significance in the face of something that cared little either for those concerns or those who voiced them. She was trying to throw people living in a valley behind a groaning dam life preservers, and they were throwing them back because they didn't like the color.

"Is this how the government regularly functions?" she sighed, lifting her face from its resting place. "Is this really the institution Homestria trusts to lead it? If so, a lot of those jokes of Granny Smith's suddenly make a lot more sense. 'Fill out these forms, in triplicate, then scan them and upload them to our website.' Why not just have the forms on the website in the first place?"

"Some things could stand to be brought up to date," Radiance admitted. "but the government isn't as bad as you make it sound."

Sunset looked back at her, incredulous. "I've read through the Senate Records," she replied. "Literally, one piece of legislation has been passed in the last week. In that same time, at least fifty bills have been either rejected, filibustered until they were withdrawn, or rerouted to subcommittees. And the reasons some of those bills were defeated are ridiculous; 'The Cloudsdale Task Force Act doesn't offer adequate protections to the capitol city of Castellot from the Unmarked political movement,' of course it doesn't! That's not its job! You might as well say that tax collectors don't provide adequate protection, or doctors! Does Lady Inkheart just not like passing bills, is that it? Is the Senate's job to produce legislation that never gets passed?" She began pacing heatedly. "This is exactly why old me wanted to be a tyrant," she rambled. "Things need to get done, and if everyone gets to decide what should be done, that ends up being nothing but arguing, everyone unable to agree on doing anything except fighting about what should be done. Hay, there'd probably be a few who don't agree about that! I understand the appeal of democracy, I do, but it misses something really important; there are only a few people in government because government works better with fewer people. Requiring people to agree makes it hard to get stuff done, and the point of government is to be able to do stuff that people usually can't. Democracy's chaotic, but the whole point of government is to make sure that there's order in the citizens' lives." She sighed, then ran her fingers through her frizzled hair. "I'm half-considering trying to convince the princess to seize power," she mumbled.

"If you did try, good luck," Radiance smiled, putting a comforting hand on Sunset's shoulder. "She's happy right where she is. But I'm not the best person to explain why doing that would be a bad idea. Fortunately, I know who is." Pressing a few buttons on Sunset's desk intercom, she asked, "Chip, it's Radiance. Think you could give Miss Shimmer a bit of a rundown on democracy really quick?"

"Sure," crackled back the Treasury Minister's answer. "I'll head down there as soon as I get Half-Crown to take over. Er, there's some whiteboard still open, right?"

"Plenty of space for you to draw your pictures," Radiance chuckled as she glanced up at Sunset's only half-filled board. "Alright, we'll see you soon." Sighing and shaking her head in amusement, she stepped back from the intercom, then pointed at Sunset. "You'll want to get comfortable," she warned. "Chip can get quite into this."

"Quite into what?" Sunset asked, sitting down and turning to face her office's writable wall. "Seizures of power? Conspiracies? Political jokes?"

"Democracy," Chip panted, standing in the doorway.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Sunset asked, vaguely concerned. "Your office is at least fifteen minutes away."

"Not," Chip panted, stepping inside and closing the door. "as the democrat's feet fly. However," she wiped her brow. "this democrat isn't as spry as she used to be, and needs a minute to catch her breath."

"Take your time," Sunset frowned. "You didn't have to run here, you know. This could've waited."

"Not for me," Chip shook her head as she regained her breath. "And not for the kingdom, either. Someone as bright as you not liking democracy when Starlight's on the rise? No. Can't risk you falling in with her."

"But what she's proposing is democracy," Sunset protested. "Democracy taken to the extreme, yes, but still democracy."

Chip stared back at her, jaw agape, then turned to Radiance. "Good thing you called me when you did," she said. "This is serious. Well," she cleared her throat and rolled her sleeves up further. "looks like it's time for you to get a crash course in politics, Miss Shimmer. Hold on to your seat; this is going to be quite the ride."