"So, it's true? Your real name's Red Curl?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Oh stop it Rainbow. It's morning now. You haven't lost sleep thinking about it too much, right?" said the Blank Mare.
"No, but it still gave me a shock. I really should have guessed it, with your red curly mane and all," said Rainbow Dash.
It was around 6 in the morning. They had woken up rather early and were now getting ready for the day, or at least the Blank Mare was. The clouds covered the sky and blocked out the sunlight. If you looked closely, you could still see the pegasi flying around, patching the holes in the cloud line.
"I'd just love to go out and see them work," said Rainbow Dash. "I was a weather pony in Ponyville you know."
"Really?" asked the Blank Mare absentmindedly as she straightened her mane. "Well, you do have the time. You did your job. I still have mine to do."
She walked up to her papers, but noticed that they were missing. "Hey Rainbow, have you seen my papers?"
"Oh yeah, sorry, I took them for some reading," said Rainbow Dash as she took the papers and gave them back to the Blank Mare.
"You took them for some reading?" asked the Blank Mare.
"Well, yeah, just to, you know, read. I like to read. I may not seem like much a reader, but..."
The Blank Mare smiled as she organized the papers again and realized that there was one little change.
"Did you cross out my name and replace it with Red Curl?" asked the Blank Mare.
"Well, no, you did it while sleepwalking," answered Rainbow Dash sarcastically.
"Okay, okay, I get it," said the Blank Mare, laughing. "Why'd you do it though?"
"Come on, Red Curl. It's your name. Use it!"
"Yeah, but most ponies know 'the Blank Mare.' Not Red Curl. I'll change my name slowly. Doing it suddenly seems too dramatic for me," said the Blank Mare. "Also, could you not tell Twilight and the others? I want to do it myself."
"Sure thing, Red," said Rainbow Dash.
Just as she said that, a knock came on the door. The Blank Mare walked up and opened it. Twilight and Applejack were standing outside.
"Good morning you two. Blank Mare, you're going down to the Society with your article right?" asked Twilight.
"Right," affirmed the Blank Mare.
"Rainbow, why are you smiling?" inquired Twilight, looking curiously around the Mare to look at Rainbow Dash, who was motioning toward the Blank Mare and smiling broadly. She stopped when the Blank Mare whirled to look at her.
"Oh, probably nothing," said the Blank Mare, still looking behind her back.
"You girls weren't fighting, were you?" asked Twilight in a admonishing tone.
"Oh, no, of course not. We actually got along nicely last night," replied the Blank Mare.
"Right, well, anyways," continued Twilight. "Applejack and I are going down to the Council and act as, um, spies I guess I could say. Rainbow, you're free to do whatever you want. By the way," Twilight took a book out from her bag and tossed it to Rainbow Dash. She caught it and looked at the title.
"Yes, Daring Do! Thanks Twilight!" said Rainbow. She jumped on the bed and began reading.
"Well, I guess that covers it. Come on, Blank, we should head down."
"Right," said the Blank Mare as she walked out. "Rainbow, lock the door!" she called out as she closed the door. Rainbow yelled a shout of assent, so she shut the door.
"May I see your article?" asked Twilight, as they walked down the stair. The Blank Mare hesitated for a second, then handed the papers to Twilight.
Twilight read the title and then the author before she stopped. Applejack bumped right into her, but Twilight didn't move.
"That's your real name?" Twilight asked in awe as she looked at it.
"What?" asked Applejack, as she craned to look over Twilight's head. Twilight raised the papers behind her head. Applejack took a look at the author's name.
"Red Curl? That's your name?" asked Applejack as she looked at the Blank Mare in surprise as well. The Blank Mare nodded.
"Wait, that's not your writing though," said Twilight as they began walking down again.
"Nope. That's Rainbow Dash," said the Blank Mare.
"Whoa, wait, Rainbow Dash knows your name now as well?" asked Applejack.
The Blank Mare nodded. "As you may presume, she was the first to know."
"Did you tell her, or...?" asked Twilight. The Blank Mare nodded.
"I told her," she said.
The three remained silent as they all walked down and out the hotel.
"Well, I'm going to the Society, have fun!" said the Blank Mare. The wind was beginning to pick up.
"Sure!" said Twilight, as they separated, the Blank Mare going left, Twilight and Applejack going right. The two walked for some time before they noticed a blue pegasus flying and landing right outside the Council building.
"Meriwether!" called out Twilight.
Meriwether looked behind him and saw the two rushing up to him.
"Alright, you two? Braving the storm, huh?" asked Meriwether over the now whistling wind.
"What's going on? Why are we getting such a big storm?" asked Twilight.
"Well, for one, we were late behind some rain. For two, the pegasi are probably deliberately doing this, for protesting and such."
"Well that's just great!" said Twilight over the now howling wind. A sheet of rain began to suddenly fall on them. Applejack yelped.
"Come on, get inside!" said Meriwether and the three quickly entered the Council building. Inside, a crackling fire in the lobby kept the entire place warm and cozy from the rain and wind outside.
"Great, now my suit is all wet. And it was hard to fly in this thing to begin with," said Meriwether crossly as they crossed the lobby and began walking down the hallway.
"So, where do we go?" asked Twilight.
"Oh, right. Visitors go up there," Meriwether pointed to the doors on the walls to the left and right of the large double doors at the end of the hallway.
"Don't we need permission or somethin' to go up there?" asked Applejack.
"No worries. Anypony's allowed to go up there as long as they arrive before the Council meetings start," Meriwether said. They reached the end of the hallway and Twilight opened the door on the right wall.
"I'll see you two later. I need to get the bill," said Meriwether.
"Don't you already have it?" asked Twilight as Meriwether turned to leave.
"Oh good heavens no. Otherwise it would be wet. I checked the weather schedule and decided that it would be best to have the Society send it directly to me in my office. Well, just find a seat, preferably where you can see the entire Council, and get comfortable."
"Right, thanks Meriwether," Twilight said, as she and Applejack went through the door. It lead to a narrow set of stairways that reached another door. Twilight opened that and they stepped out to a balcony that overlooked the entire Council room. Despite the fact that there were only 10 tables and 60 spots, the room still gave off an impression of immense size and power. The roof reached up to a large height and a stained glass of Princess Celestia and the sun and Princess Luna and the moon could be seen at the top. The 10 tables were all arranged in a half-circle situated in front of the seats where the Speaker of the Council, the Council scribe, the deputy mayor, and the mayor sat. The entire room was empty, which added to the atmosphere of power and grandness. Applejack was visibly awed.
"Wow. We have nothin' like this in Ponyville."
"Well, we don't have a legislature branch of Ponyville," replied Twilight. "It's just Mayor Mare."
The two picked seats that stood almost directly on top of the rostrum. The seats that were directly on top were raised and were probably for VIP's. Twilight and Applejack sat down and waited.
Almost 2 hours later, the room was packed, at least the bottom. Almost all the representatives were there. They were either chatting with one another, reading something, or just plain fooling around, killing time. Some ponies started filling the balconies, but they were only old, educated ponies who were the few out of the large population of Baltimare that cared about the government. Twilight started looking at the desks and found Meriwether sitting at the Soaring District desk, which was close to the middle. He was rustling some papers around and talking to his colleague next to him. Suddenly, the doors opened again and Speaker Baner stepped in. Following him was the Council scribe, who was levitating a stack of papers with her. Speaker Baner stepped up the rostrum and sat down in his seat. The Court scribe sat in the small seat in front of him. She took out a quill and ink well and placed them on her desk. She spread out a piece of paper on the desk and nodded to Speaker Baner.
"The sixty-first meeting of the 112 Council of Baltimare begins on December 5, After Nightmare Moon 4, the first Wednesday of said month, commencing on 8 in the morning," spoke Speaker Baner. The Court scribe began scribbling quickly.
"Per the agenda compiled by the Council Rules Committee, we shall start with the introduction of a bipartisan economic bill, produced by the Economic Management Committee and presented by Environment representative to the said committee, Meriwether."
Meriwether nervously got up and began walking down to the speech area, right in front of the rostrum. Twilight immediately checked her notebook and made sure she had everything on there.
"Mares and gentlecolts," began Meriwether. "For far too long, we've stood on the edge of economic despair, quarreling among ourselves while the looming threat has grown far bigger than we've thought possible. We must now face the problem if we are to save our great and venerable city. The Lightstring Bill combines policies from both parties and tackles the problem of debt efficiently, without harming the average taxpayer as well. I ask that all of you put aside your grudges now to realize that the fruits of our fighting have both gone into this bill and have combined sweetly."
"Look," whispered Applejack. She pointed toward Flaming District, where the two ponies from Sector 4 and 5 were talking and laughing silently. Twilight nodded and flipped to Flaming District and marked down S4 and S5 as "Oppose."
"There's one as well," murmured Twilight, as she marked down Rising District, S3, who was shaking her head visibly.
"Hey, check out that one in Central District. He's bitin' his lip," whispered Applejack. Indeed he was. He tapped his hoof to this chin as well, as though in painful thought. Twilight quickly marked him down as "Unsure."
Meriwether continued talking as Twilight and Applejack began marking down more and more ponies. Meriwether spoke slowly and clearly, hoping that Twilight and Applejack would have enough time to mark all the ponies down.
"Looks like we got some avid supporters," muttered Twilight. Three ponies from Waving District were chatting and nodding their heads vigorously.
"I hope all of you will do your important and well-deserved duty as sole legislators of the city of Baltimare," finished Meriwether. Luckily, Twilight got down most of the ponies by that point.
"Very well, finished Meriwether?" asked Speaker Baner.
"Yes, your Honor," said Meriwether as he walked back.
"Very well, scribe, put it to vote."
"Yes, your Honor," said the scribe. She quickly took another sheet of paper out and dipped her quill in the ink well again.
"When I call your sector, please stand up and call out your vote," said the scribe. "We'll start with Waving District. Sector 1."
"Nay!" cried out the pony from Sector 1. The scribe wrote down "WD, S1: No."
"Okay, Sector 2," said the scribe.
"Yes," said the pony from Sector 2. The scribe wrote that down.
This continued on for some time. One by one the districts voted. All of Casting District voted no, while all of Rising District voted yes. Twilight marked down the votes with the scribe beside the sector's name, jumping backward and forward through the notebook. Finally, the last district, Shining District, was called on, and:
"And finally, Sector 6,"
"Aye!" came out the cry.
"Voting has been concluded," said the scribe. She quickly began counting the tallies. Meriwether sat up in his seat as the scribe continued counting, hoping for the best, praying to Celestia with all his might. Finally:
"Ahem! The final count for the Lightstring Economic Bill has been made. In support: 35. Opposing: 25.
Meriwether drew in a breath and sighed. That was it. It was all over. The pony next to him reached over and patted him on his back as he closed his eyes and sighed again. Twilight meanwhile shook her head. She took out the notebook and began counting. Almost all the ponies who voted "no" were opposed to the bill while Meriwether made his speech. Some of the unsure however voted "no." Twilight knew that if only they voted yes, they probably could have turned the tide toward them.
The doors finally opened and the Council ponies started leaving again. Twilight and Applejack waited outside the door leading to the balconies and spotted Meriwether talking to his Blue Party colleague. Meriwether stopped and waved at them. Twilight galloped and hugged him. Meriwether appeared shocked and his friend started laughing, while Applejack started smiling.
"I'm sorry Meriwether," she said as she let go.
"What's there to be sorry for? We fought once, we can fight again," came a familiar voice. All of them looked to see Skyros and Lightstring coming toward them.
"I saw everything," said Skyros. "I was just here telling Lightstring about the news. You got the information Twilight?"
Twilight tossed Skyros her notebook. He quickly caught it with his mouth.
"Thanks. I'll take a look at it," said Skyros, his voice muffled. He quickly galloped out the Council building and made a left.
"Can we really try again?" asked Twilight. Lightstring laughed.
"Of course! Otherwise, how will we ever succeed? Some bills get introduced and voted on dozens of times I believe," replied Lightstring. "We'll fix it, don't worry. You two should get some rest."
Twilight nodded and she and Applejack quickly left. Lightstring turned to Meriwether in the now empty lobby.
"You tried your best," she said.
He simply nodded and walked away. Lightstring watched him sadly leave and take flight. Despite the fact that Lightstring and the Society had come up with the bill, she knew that Meriwether had put a lot of work into trying to support it, only to fail.
Meanwhile, three ponies were meeting in an office in the Council building. The Head of the Infrastructure Maintenance Committee was there along with one of his colleagues and his aide. The Head was Left Step, who happened to be leader of the Navy ponies in the Blue Party. His colleague was also Navy.
"Despicable, if you ask me. Out of our entire party, 16 of them voted for this abominable bill. Outrageous!" cried out Left Step.
"I quite agree sir, quite agree," said the other pony in a rather lofty tone.
"What's even worse, is that one of our ponies voted for it. A Navy pony, voting for a bipartisan bill that's obviously just a conservative bill hidden in a shell that has "compromise" written all over it!" spat out Left Step vehemently.
The two other ponies nodded. Suddenly, a knock came on the office door. "Come in," said Left Step angrily.
The door opened, revealing the tough-looking and battered Navy pony who ran into Applejack the day before. This time however, he looked nervous, small, even timid. He had voted for the bill and it had shattered beneath his hooves. Left Step quickly fixed his angry facial expression to a dazzling, yet dangerous smile. He approached the pony lightly on his hooves, as though he were meeting his friend in a delightful field and they were prancing around.
"The stallion of the moment!" Left Step cried out exuberantly, and the other two ponies started clapping slowly with dangerous smiles on their faces as well. "So, Keg, you voted for the bill, did you not?"
Keg gulped and nodded slowly.
"Great, great, and could you care to explain what went wrong?" asked Left Step in a light but a subtly threatening tone.
Keg opened his mouth and closed it again several times before he managed to find his voice again. "I do, um, I mean, I don't understand you, sir," he said nervously.
"Well, there's the simple matter of why did you vote for this bill? Hm?" asked Left Step with a still sweet yet still vitriolic smile.
"Um, well, like Meriwether said sir, we need more compromise. We can't just sit by and watch all this happen," replied Keg timidly.
"Uh-huh. You do make good sound bites," remarked Left Step. Keg blushed. "Now, I want you to know."
Left Step leaned in on Keg's face. Keg stood his ground but bit his lip nervously and looked away.
"Now, I want you to understand that I know that you're a lame-duck representative now. And that's perfectly acceptable. Not a lot of ponies respect our views you know. But what's not acceptable is a pony who joins us with the promise of helping the middle class rise and bringing down the aristocrats and then all of a sudden he feels the need to back stab his fellow representatives." Left Step drew to an even taller height before continuing. "Is there some reason that you've decided to go against your rhetoric? Denounce who used to be your friends? Hm?"
"Sir, if I remember correctly, compromise was not something we hated," replied Keg nervously.
"Well, you seem to be blinded then by those sweet-talking conservatives," said Left Step in a pitiful tone. "Listen, that bill will do more harm than good. Trust me, I've ran the statistics, and they don't look good. But you know what else won't look good? Your reputation, if you vote for this bill when it comes back. And trust me, it will come back. So once you're out of here for good, don't expect to see the last of me. Don't even think for a moment you've seen the last of me."
Keg gulped again but then breathed slowly and surely. "Sir," he replied. "I don't think you'll be able to chase me down even though you're the Head of the IMC. It's not like I'll be working for the railroads anytime soon."
Left Step only smiled though. "Oh, really? Well, you see Keg, I have a lot more influence than you think I do. Infrastructure and transportation is everywhere if you hadn't noticed Keg. And I want to remind you that even if you do choose to not work on transportation, I can still make your life down here utterly miserable, to the point where you might just have to leave, walking. Transportation is everywhere Keg. I can make sure that all taxi carts know your face and make sure they just kick their dust right on you. I can make sure that all the railroad terminals know your face needs to be run over by a train. In short, if you want to get somewhere, you better start walking."
Now Keg was really nervous. He shook slightly as Left Step talked and there was no mistaking the look on Left Step's face: he would have no mercy in his revenge.
"Do you catch my drift, Keg?" asked Left Step.
Keg nodded slowly and swallowed again, but there was barely any saliva in his throat anymore.
"Good. You may leave," said Left Step. Keg turned and quickly made to walk out the door, but Left Step stopped him again.
"Wait." Keg stopped. Left Step walked up to him and placed his right front hoof on the wall right beside Keg and leaned on him again. This time, Keg shrunk. "I just want to remind you that when, and I mean when this bill gets back in, you make the right choice. You understand Keg?"
Keg nodded.
"Good, you're free to go. Run along now," said Left Step. Keg quickly dashed and galloped down the hallway to the stairs.
"Well, I think that went well," said Left Step brightly, as he shut the door. His aide nodded in agreement but the other pony looked skeptical.
"I don't know, he didn't really look convinced to me," he said.
"No worries," said Left Step reassuringly. "He'll think it over. And he'll make the right choice. But I think it'll be safe to have his friend talk to him. What's her face, Winding District, Sector 3?"
The aide quickly jumped and grabbed his notebook and began looking. "Um, Morning Dew," he said, looking up the pony in that spot.
"Excellent, she's Navy if I remember correctly. She'll talk some sense into him," said Left Step.
"Sir, If I remember correctly," said the other pony. "There was one more lame-duck representative in our party who voted for the bill."
"Grapefruit," added the aide, who was looking in his notebook again.
"Yes, well, she's not a concern to me. As long as we can assure that Keg doesn't vote for the bill again, we're good. The vote was 35 to 25. They need a total of 5 more votes to get the bill in, and they're not getting it from the Blue Party," said Left Step confidently.
"What about the White Party?" asked the other pony.
"No worries. I'm sure Speaker Baner is doing this right now to the other Right ponies. Trust me, he probably hates this bill just as much as I do," remarked Left Step.
The clock chimed 9 in the evening. The ponies turned to look at the clock.
"It's getting late. You two should head home. I expect that that accursed bill shall rear it's ugly and brutal head again tomorrow. This time, I'll make sure that this Meriwether actually gets a challenge," said Left Step.
The two ponies nodded and they started packing up to leave. Left Step grabbed his briefcase and walked out his office. If those ponies wanted compromise, they had to do it the right way. Whoever they were, they obviously didn't have the right view on things. And hopefully, when the bill comes up again, Left Step will make them see what the Blue Party is supposed to stand for. He smiled as he walked down the stairs and down the hallway to the doors. The Navy party would show the rest of the Council that they were stronger than they thought.