//------------------------------// // Politics by Will // Story: Politics by Many Means // by RangerOfRhudaur //------------------------------// Razzaroo notified them that they'd taken Sunset as Shining knelt before the princess, a host of six hundred Guards standing tall behind him. Radiance sighed, her desperate hope that Cadance would manage to figure out some other way to hold Sunset back proving false, and sent a quick reply. "Sir Shining Armor," the princess' voice pulled her away from her phone. "Homestria is in danger, and we have reason to believe that speech alone will not be enough to rescue her from it. Are you willing to take up staff and shield to do so?" "I am," he solemnly replied. The princess bowed her head, then said, "Then with these duties, I charge you; I charge you to gather those necessary, pursue the threat, defend the realm, and defeat her enemies; I charge you to restore order to the kingdom, peace and security to her people, and harmony to those in rebellion; and, as I charged you three years ago, I charge you once more to be faithful in word and deed, to be charitable in act and thought, and to bring hope to those you know and those you come to know." "I accept these charges," Shining bowed his head. "and will do all I can to fulfill them." The princess reached inside her gown and pulled out the jeweled baton of command, the symbol of authority over Homestria's armies. "Command over the Royal Guard is given to you," she said as she offered the scepter to Shining. "I will wield it well," he promised her as he took it. "and return it as soon as I can." Then he stood up, and turned to face his host. "About turn!" he ordered, and Radiance watched as the Guards obeyed, turning around like so many gears in a machine. "Let fly the colors!" caused the banner of Homestria to snap into the air, stout oak and blue field catching the light, cloud-with-thunderbolt shining in it, and crown of stars twinkling brilliantly. "Forward march!" saw the banner borne away, the host marching away to the shores of Lake Canter where their vehicles sat, preparing to begin a long-awaited chase. The constant drum of their footsteps was overpowered by the cheering of the crowd, though Radiance herself (as well as most of those around her) only clapped politely. Eventually, the last of the Guards left the city limits, and the cheering faded away. The show of chilavrism over, the princess took her leave, and her departure lifted the plug that kept the crowd in place, sending them spiraling away back to their regular lives. Soon, it was just her and Chip, watching the empty stage of Shining's splendid departure. The treasurer sighed. "You got Razzaroo's text, too?" she asked. Radiance nodded. "I'd hoped that she'd see reason," she replied. "but I suppose I should've known better. If there's one thing my work with Miss Shimmer has taught me, it's that when she makes a decision, she sticks to it. Expecting her to behave otherwise, especially when it's regarding one of her friends..." She chuckled. "Not very scientific of me, was it?" Of course, nothing about their plan was; everything they'd seen about Sunset indicated that she had a will of iron, one which stiffened under pressure instead of bending. It would take truly compelling evidence, something Radiance doubted they had, to get her to change her mind, and if what Razzaroo said Cadance had done was true that bar had just been raised even higher. Trying to force Sunset to admit she was wrong would only make her more certain that she was right, everything Radiance had seen of her said that that would be the case; if they truly wanted to change her mind, they needed to show her that she was wrong, that she could do the most good in the capitol instead of on the march, and they lacked enough definitive evidence to show her that she was. Her work in the capitol was doing good, of course, her efforts were helping Homestria's understanding of magic grow dramatically, but they weren't bearing visible fruit yet; the first harvest was coming, Radiance knew it, but she didn't know when, and until it came all the results of Sunset's work lay out of sight. Compared with the easily-detected good that going with Captain Armor would bring (defeating Starlight, rescuing her friend), the good staying in the capitol would do seemed almost invisible. Our plan, she realized with a sickening lurch of her stomach, is a series of illogical proposals held together by deluded hope, wishful thinking, and the idea that Cadance is the answer to any emotional or communicative problem. "No," Chip shook her head, reeling Radiance out of her horror. "No, but you can't use science to solve everything. It's just a tool, like a screwdriver or a hammer; it's really useful, yes, but not in every situation. Here, I think the good dean's-sorry, principal's, hard to keep that straight-skill at dealing with-with things like this will serve us better than science would." I hope so, Radiance darkly thought as they began walking back to the palace, because science tells me that this can only end badly. Observation: Sunset had been compressing herself since the Senate Square Riot, spending less and less time with others and more and more time on projects that she refused to talk about. What they'd discovered of her actions indicated that she was trying to find a way to go with Captain Armor, trying to find or force a way through the wall separating them. Hypothesis 1: Sunset was trying to leave the capitol to go help Captain Armor bring Starlight Glimmer to justice. Hypothesis 2: Sunset was nearing her limit for compression, and would become volatile once she reached it. Hypothesis 1 had already been proved, now they simply awaited Cadance testing hypothesis 2. She hadn't proved it by the time they returned to the palace (judging by the fact that it was still standing, at least), and now they sat in one of the conference rooms, anxiously awaiting her conclusions. Some more anxiously than others, Radiance mused as she watched Chip's finger drum her arm. Every five seconds, the treasury minister took out her phone and scoured it for updates from either the principal or her protector, putting it back again with a tsk when it proved to be to no avail. Radiance herself simply sat, hands clasped, phone in front of her on the table, though she would be the first to admit that she found herself throwing glances at it as often as Chip. She remembered when she'd first met Chip, almost a decade ago now. She was a research assistant fresh from Crystallot Polytechnic, Chip the excitable auditor charged with watching her department's spending, a job she performed with relish. Though, as Radiance soon learned, that was true of all the jobs she was assigned; "If it's worth doing," the joke went, "it's worth obsessing over." Chip threw herself into any work put in front of her, studying the subject matter ravenously and practicing, as she put it, "FILO working hours." ("First In, Last Out," she'd explained at Radiance's initial blank stare. "If you were an accountant, that would be hilarious.") But enthusiasm and energy weren't always a good substitute for experience, especially when something required patience. Chip might've been able to find her way around a lab, decipher a surveyor's report, and write a balance sheet well, but she never seemed to have learned how to wait; if a problem was presented to her, either she tried to solve it or gave up, she never simply waited to see what happened, if it became easier to solve or even solved itself with the passage of time. She was energetic, and energy needed to be transferred out or stored, and Chip didn't seem to have much storage space. So like our Equestrian friend, she realized. Sunset seemed to like not doing things as much as Chip did, turning to a side project if her main one was being frustrated, or trying to overcome the frustration through sheer exertion. Between helping develop the Basic Guide to Magic, providing advice on tests and experiments, and whatever she'd been planning since the Riot, Radiance wasn't sure when she had time for sleep; if Chip practiced FILO working hours, Sunset had seemed to practice FINO ones, First In, Never Out. Is that why you're so invested in this, Chip? she thought as she looked at her anxious friend, Do you see yourself reflected in Miss Shimmer and not like what you see? And if so, are you trying to alter that reflection because you don't like seeing her make your mistakes, or because you don't like being reminded of what those mistakes are? Their phones chimed simultaneously, and simultaneously were scoured for information. All that they found, though, was a brief text from Razzaroo, telling them that Sunset was well and wanted to talk to them in a few minutes. That had no business working, Radiance thought even as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Hm," Chip hummed as she put her phone away and got up from her seat. "Looks like Cadance was the right choice. Seems she managed to solve whatever problem was troubling Miss Shimmer." Always problems and solutions with you, Radiance frowned, following the treasurer, everything nice and clean, black and white, sliced up and discrete. What about mixtures, greys, nuances? What about problems with no solution, or at least no conclusive one? What about multi-step problems? You can solve a step of them, yes, but that doesn't solve the whole thing, and acting like it does is just begging for trouble. People are puzzles, not questions, and Miss Shimmer is more puzzling than most. Cadance might have been able to help put a piece in its proper place, yes, but that doesn't mean the puzzle's solved, and acting like it does... "What are the potential consequences of misusing magic?" "Only limited by how much energy you put into it." She shivered; Cadance seemed to have gathered some evidence against Hypothesis 2, but some wasn't enough. And they needed enough to disprove it, before trouble answered their pleas. Razzaroo ushered them into Sunset's office when they arrived. Inside, Cadance stood behind the main desk, hand on Sunset's shoulder in comfort, while the office's current owner sat bolt upright, arms at right angles to her desk. Razzaroo closed the door, and tension and pressure flooded the atmosphere, crushing Radiance's voice before it could speak. Danger pressed on her, turning Sunset's office into a minefield, a place where one false step would turn her or Chip into evidence supporting Hypothesis 2. She held her tongue, waiting to see if the field gave any guidance regarding where to walk, and mentally pleaded with Chip to do the same, to hold back the match of her energy for once, hold it away from the gas surrounding them. Thankfully, the treasurer did so, and silence fell on the room. After several moments, a sigh from Sunset broke it as she said, "I'm sorry for being so short with you two about my past. Yes, you were poking your noses somewhere I wasn't comfortable with, but that doesn't make it right for me to have snapped at you like I did. You were genuinely curious and concerned, not just nosy." "It's forgiven," Radiance reassured her, flicking a quick glance at Chip to make sure she agreed. "We probably would've done the same in your position." "Would you?" Sunset snorted. "Neither of you seems to have as bad of a temper as I do, or to be the type of person who..." A gentle rub from Cadance's hand caused her voice to trail off. Taking a deep breath, she lifted it up again, saying, "I'm sorry for being so hostile to you, and I thank you for your concern. Cadance helped show me that you were, in at least some way, right to be worried about me. What I've experienced, what happened to me in the past... Burying it did no good, only led to more pain. You were trying to help me," her knuckles whitened. "and I tried to stop you, tried to..." "Forgiven, forgotten," Chip smiled. "So, it sounds like Cadance managed to help you, is that right?" "Yes and no," Sunset replied. "Yes, she did help me come to terms with my past, but only somewhat, and what she's helped me realize makes my job a lot harder. I'm not Death's archenemy, I'm not the master of doom, and that means I can't help as much as I thought I could; I'm..." She swallowed heavily. "... I'm just a regular girl, not the Chosen One. I can help teach you about magic, but I can't respond to magical problems as easily as I thought, or at least not with as much confidence. I'm not the Chosen One, I'm a mentor." "But do you feel better?" Radiance asked. "Has Cadance been able to help you emotionally?" Sunset swallowed again. "My parents died in a flash flood when I was four," she answered. "A random storm struck, the levee failed for some reason, and for little to no reason, Setting Star and Silver Blaze died." Locking haggard eyes with Radiance, she said, "Today was the first time I was able to admit that to myself. Today was the first time I really came to terms with what their deaths meant as opposed to what I wanted them to mean. Cadance helped me do so. Actually, by showing me that what I thought their deaths meant was wrong, she helped me discover myself, in a way. Not all of myself, no, discovering that is going to take time, but she helped start me on the right path. She," she sniffled. "she gave me her hand and helped me up when I didn't even realize I was on the ground. Yes, Radiance, Cadance did manage to help me emotionally." "Then that's what matters," Radiance smiled back. "So long as you're okay, it doesn't matter what challenges we have to face; it's easier to solve a hard puzzle with a clear head than an easy puzzle with a wounded one." "I'm not okay," Sunset shook her head. Turning back to Cadance, she softly smiled, gently placed a hand over the one the principal had placed on her shoulder, and murmured, "But I'm on the way to becoming it." "She'll need help, though," Cadance cautioned. "and not the kind you tried to provide me. Sneaking and spying-" "It wasn't spying," Chip protested. "Whatever we gave you was public, something anyone on the street could've gotten." "And things that I could've learned easily," Cadance retorted. "by simply talking with her. I learned more in minutes than you did in days, Chip, do you know how? By trusting Sunset and being honest with her. That's the kind of help she'll need; trust, honesty, and care, not sneaking or pseudo-spying. As simple as it may sound, Sunset will need friendship, not well-intended schemes." Wincing in shame, Radiance nodded. Chip, on the other hand, prepared to protest, but was stopped by a raised hand from Sunset. The girl swallowed, then said, "Chip, I understand why you did what you did, but listen to me; both of us did what we thought was right, trusting in secrecy and planning instead of friendship, and in the end, that's all but torn us apart. Meanwhile, Cadance trusted in friendship and, while there were some," she swallowed again. "rough points, in the end she managed to help me a lot. Look at it scientifically; one method obtained the result we wanted, the other obtained the exact opposite. I know it's hard to trust friendship, I really get that, but it works better than mistrusting it does. In order to show that," she reached into a drawer and pulled out some papers. "I'm going to be honest with you, about something that I'm going to have to ask you to be careful about who you tell. I know it sounds wrong, praising honesty right before telling you to try to keep something a secret, but it is possible; being honest doesn't mean shouting everything from the rooftops, it means providing others the information they deserve to know, an explanation that I realize doesn't sound much better, but you have to trust me that it is. We don't have time to debate metaphysics right now." "You're basically the friendshipologist, we trust you on this," Radiance smiled. Sunset weakly smiled back, then spread the papers out on the desk. Craning her neck to look over them, Radiance frowned as she realized that they were the invoices Chip had collected, a bone of contention between her and the treasurer; using documents like them to resolve what appeared to be a personal problem struck her as wrong, ethically murky at best. "You were wondering what this," Sunset asked Chip, gesturing at the papers. "was for, right?" "Yeah," curiosity glittered in Chip's eyes. "It was strange, to say the least. You barely ask for anything, and what you do's pretty mundane, then after the Riot you start asking for more, and not all of it simple. Gemsteel, pure lithumite... what're luxuries like these doing with iron and construction workers?" "Something to do with those blueprints you brought from CHS," Radiance guessed, flinching as Sunset's gaze snapped to her. "I wasn't spying, I was just letting that messenger you sent out to get them in and caught a glimpse of them by accident. I promise." Sunset relaxed somewhat, and replied, "Okay, I believe you. And you're right, those materials are meant for something based on those blueprints. Something," she reached inside a hidden panel in her desk, pulling a rolled up paper out. "based on this." She spread it out over the invoices, swallowing them up in a sea of blue, white marks marking the plans for... for... "I have no idea what this is," Radiance confessed after a moment. "I do," Cadance murmured. "I've seen it made, once before. But not with the materials you're using, Sunset." "The one you saw," Sunset replied quietly. "wasn't made to power itself with magic." "A magic gadget," Chip beamed. "That's what you're going to use that stuff for, magically enhanced technology." "Really?" Radiance raised a brow, pleasantly surprised. "You've managed to figure out how to get magic and electricity to work together?" "It wasn't that hard," Sunset hid her face. "And I didn't discover it myself, I read a lot of research about it back in Equestria. It took a bit of fine-tuning because of how magic works on this side of the mirror, but that was only about 10% of the work." "Big or small, a breakthrough's a breakthrough," Chip said. "I can just see it, Sunset Shimmer presenting Homestria's first example of magical technology. Don't worry, Sunset, we'll keep our lips zipped." "This isn't what I want you to keep quiet about," Sunset whispered. Radiance blinked, then frowned; the girl before her looked reluctant, anxious. No, not anxious; afraid. Sunset was afraid of telling them what she needed them to keep their silence about. Or perhaps, she thought with a frown as she looked at the indecipherable blueprints, she's afraid of what it is that she has to tell us. "You can do this, Sunset," Cadance whispered to the girl. "I believe in you." Sunset nodded back, then took a deep breath and released it. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, putting a finger to her lips. "Before I tell you," she said hesitantly. "I need you two to promise me, Pinkie Promise me, that you'll keep this quiet. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I can't afford to trust anyone with this, it's too dangerous. If even a whisper of what I'm planning gets out, things could get very bad very, very fast. Do you understand?" Frowning, Radiance nodded. What in the world could you be talking about, Sunset? Why are you so scared of doing what you were hired to do? "I promise not to unduly inform anyone about what you tell us," she offered in reassurance. "cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." No distant voice answered the pledge Sunset had taught her and Chip over one of her few breaks, nor did its inventor appear to warn them of the consequences of breaking their promise as she did when they were first told of it (they still had no idea how she'd managed to get in). Chip repeated the promise, then leaned in, Sunset's wariness only stoking her curiosity. While Radiance wouldn't deny that she was curious as well, and she perhaps might have leaned in a bit along with Chip, Sunset's wariness inspired caution in her as opposed to suppressing it in Chip; science was about experimentation, yes, but part of experimentation was ensuring that safety was maximized, and every hair on her body was telling Radiance that what Sunset was about to say was soaked with peril. The girl herself swallowed one last time, then leaned in and pulled the heads of her audience together, gathering them around the fire of her words. After that, she paused for a moment, clearly gathering her courage to speak. She almost faltered, preparing to break away, but then turned around and caught sight of the principal. Seeing Cadance seemed to restore her courage, and, jaw set, she turned back to Radiance and Chip. "This isn't just going to be Homestria's first magical technology," she whispered. "It's also going to be its last."