The town of Ponyville was in an uproar. Trixie Lulamoon was running as the new mayor, and shortly after the campaign starter event it soon became clear that many were not pleased. Surely she would never win! Most of Ponyville thought that she had dug her own grave by signing up.
But then there were rumors that said Trixie hadn't even signed up herself and that someone else had done it, but of course no one had fessed up. Hardly anypony believed that though. She said that she wanted to help, but may were certain that it was another foolish play for power that could never work.
Trixie, however, for the rest of the afternoon, decided to seclude herself from the townsponies and focus on what she was about to do. The drama would come later. That, and she had no idea what running for mayor was like.
Fortunately, the Elements of Harmony, sans Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, had been through a few elections, knew how they progressed, and were more than willing to help. Rarity in particular was familiar with the process and was eager to help Trixie. They met in the library that evening and began to draw out a solid plan.
Applejack knocked on the door of the library, since it had already closed for the day. Spike was running it while Twilight was away, and it was he who answered the door.
"Hey Applejack!" he said. He peeked behind her and saw the other three of his friends. "Oh, you're all coming here?"
"Yep," Applejack said. "And we got somepony else with us, too." She tried not to look guilty about it.
"Who?" Spike asked suspiciously. They all stepped aside, revealing Trixie. Spike's jaw fell open. "Trixie is with you guys?!" Spike exclaimed.
"Haven't you heard, Spike?" Rarity asked. "Trixie is running for mayor!"
Spike looked dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes and blinked up at his friends. "Did I fall asleep for several years? What's the date?"
Pinkie Pie giggled. "No, silly! Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it!"
While she caught Spike up to speed, in a most dramatic fashion, the others filed in and began their work. Fluttershy found a drawing board that Twilight like to use for taking temporary notes.
"So, everypony, we all are going to be very busy for the next two weeks," Rarity began. "The town thinks that this is an impossible task, but I say to Tartarus with them! With all of our combined efforts, we can get Trixie elected, or at the very least get her seen by Ponyville as a worthy citizen.
While Rarity paused, Trixie took the opportunity to put in a few words. "Look, saying things like this has never been easy for me, so you all better listen well!" The others looked slightly taken aback by Trixie's suddenly exclamation, so she quickly continued. "I just wanted to say thank you. For everything. If anypony deserves this, it isn't me."
"We're all just happy to be a friend to someone," Fluttershy said with a sweet smile.
"Listen here, sugarcube," Applejack said, throwing her foreleg around the unicorn, "we've all made mistakes. Everypony does."
"But I nearly overran Ponyville in a power-crazed revenge plot."
Applejack blinked. "Granted, yer mistake was a wee bigger than most, but that don't mean you don't deserve forgiveness."
"Absolutely!" Fluttershy declared. "Even just returning here shows that you're sincere."
"Okay, okay, that's enough mushy stuff for one night," Trixie said sharply, though anypony could see that she was blushing. She cleared her throat. "Now, let's have that schedule for the next two weeks."
"Right," Rarity agreed. "We have much to do and little time to prepare for it all. For starters, we have the first speeches, which are tomorrow night."
"And what am I going to be speaking about?" Trixie asked.
"The candidates will be making their plans for Ponyville known to the public," Rarity replied. "You can talk about what needs to be improved, what you think is already good, and some of your general ideas. The public wants to know what you plan to do for them."
"I think I can manage that," Trixie said, stroking her chin with her hoof.
Fluttershy gulped. "You're going to stand in front of all those ponies with a speech prepared in only a day?"
Trixie waved her hoof dismissively. "It's no big deal," she said. "Public speaking comes naturally to someone like moi."
"Me too!" Pinkie said in agreement. She had wrapped things up with Spike, who was now sitting with them and listening intently. "Whatcha gonna talk about? I have plenty to say! If you need help with things that you wanna say, just come to Pinkie! I have more than enough words for two ponies!"
"We know that, Pinkie," Applejack said dryly. Pinkie playfully stuck her tongue out at her.
"I think I'll find something to talk about," Trixie said. "What's next?"
"The next few days is simply focusing on advertising," Rarity explained. "This is usually where ponies start to make the decision about who they want to vote for. Simply put, you want to make a good impression."
"Everypony already knows about me," Trixie said. They were beginning to notice that Trixie's confidence was once again bordering on pride.
Rarity decided not to say anything, yet. She instead continued. "Now, after that will be the dinner party."
"Dinner party?" Trixie gulped.
"Oh yes," Rarity replied. "Many of the big ponies from Canterlot come for that."
"Canterlot?" Trixie repeated nervously.
Finally something was making her falter. Rarity tried not to smile. "They come to see who is worth funding and supporting. This is the turning point of the election. One candidate can be leading the campaigning by a mile, but if somepony else impresses the Canterlot supporters, he or she will take the lead. That's a guarantee."
Trixie knew she had never been good in social situations. She pushed the looming anxiety to the back of her mind and decided to deal with it a later on. She cleared her throat and chuckled nervously. "A dinner party? Ha! I've only been to a million dinners. How different can this one be?"
The others exchanged glances. It wasn't hard to see through her facade, but they decided to remain quiet.
"Right, anyway," Rarity continued, "so now that brings us to the big debate."
"I'm guessing it's what it says on the tin, right?" Trixie asked. "Arguing with somepony shouldn't be too hard."
"It will be if you don't know what you're talking about," Rarity replied sternly. "At this point it's safe to say Grass Roots will dance circles around you."
"He will not!" Trixie shouted indignantly. "I can dance circles round anypony with my eyes shut!"
"Keep that talk up and yer dance will make you trip over yer own hooves," Applejack reprimanded.
Trixie huffed. "Well, I never..!"
"Now Trixie, she's only trying to help," Fluttershy said gently.
Trixie gritted her teeth, but there was something about Fluttershy's voice that calmed her down.
"Moving on!" Rarity quickly interjected. The last thing they needed right now was an argument breaking out. "A few days after the debate comes the carnival."
"Carnival?" Trixie asked flatly.
"Courtesy of Sweet Apple Acres," Applejack said with a proud smile.
"Um, what's the point of a carnival?" Trixie asked sharply. She had never been one for frivolous and pointless activities.
"For FUN!" exclaimed Pinkie.
Fluttershy elaborated. "Well, it is fun, but it gives candidates a chance to really get to know the citizens of Ponyville, and vise versa. After all, most of the citizens will only know the candidates by their campaigning. They get to see you as a real and regular pony."
Trixie grimaced inwardly. That was the last thing that she wanted everypony to see was her regular self.
"And of course, this is the second turning of the tides," Rarity added. "You must make yourself likable, or else potential supporters will turn away."
Trixie knew she had to fess up at least a little bit. "Well, I think I might, um, need a slight amount of help with that."
Once again, the others decided not to say anything. There would be a time to work on Trixie's demeanor and attitude, but it wasn't now.
"We'll be there when you need us," Rarity assured her. "Now, there is one final speech the night before election day. That's a candidate's last chance to hit home with the voters."
Trixie was adding all of these things to her mental rolodex, going over each point that Rarity had driven home. There was the speech tomorrow, the dinner, the debate, the carnival, and then the final speech. All of it covered two weeks, with advertising in between. It was going to be a long half of a month.
"So, before each event we can get together and brainstorm!" Pinkie declared. Trixie could have sworn she heard thunder rumbling from outside on the word "brainstorm." She rolled her eyes and told herself she was hearing things.
"I agree!" Applejack said. "If we all put our heads together, we can take on that Grass Roots fella!"
"If only we had Twilight to help us think," Fluttershy said despondently. "She's always so good at these kinds of things."
"I can send her letters!" Spike said, making his first contribution. He hardly understood politics, but talking to Twilight was second nature.
"Twilight?" Trixie asked a bit more excitedly than she had planned. But this was Princess Twilight Sparkle they were talking about. Nopony was as good a leader as her, besides from the other princesses.
"Yes, I'm sure Twilight would be thrilled to help," Rarity said. "This is right up her alley."
"I can take a letter tomorrow morning," Spike said. "It's getting kinda late, and she might not even be awake."
Applejack put her hoof to her mouth and yawned. "It is gettin' kinda late, y'all. Maybe we should call it a night."
"I agree," Fluttershy said. "My animals start to get restless without me this late."
"Did you ever find that bird you were looking for, Fluttershy?" asked Spike.
Fluttershy hung her head. "No," she said sadly. "I can't find it anywhere!"
"I'm sure it'll turn up," Pinkie said soothingly. "If anypony knows how to find animals, it's you!"
"Thanks, Pinkie," Fluttershy said with a blush. "It's too late in the day to look now, though. I'm going back to my cottage. Are you coming, Trixie?"
After all the excitement of the day, sleep had been the last thing on Trixie's mind. "Um..."
But Spike came in with an offer. "You can stay here if you like, Trixie," he said, albeit a bit nervously. "It's pretty spacious here, and I'm sure there's loads of books on how to run in an election."
"Tempting," Trixie said thoughtfully. "Very well, I will stay in the library. Prepare a space for me."
Spike rolled his eyes while Trixie wasn't looking at her lack of manners. However he went upstairs and began making the guest bed.
Everypony said goodnight to each other and began to file out of the tree library. Trixie told Fluttershy she would be coming over soon to pick up her wagon.
Twenty minutes later, after Spike showed her where everything was (the immaculate attention to detail over the library's organization unnerved her a bit), she left for Fluttershy's cottage. Trixie assured her that she wouldn't be disturbing her or her animals.
It was a very quiet night, much like last night had been. Was it only this morning that she was wandering on the outskirts if Ponyille, wondering how she was ever going to get her second chance? Now, in less than 24 hours, she was already a candidate for the mayor of the town. When she thought of it that way, the overwhelming nature of the situation made her a bit dizzy.
She stepped into the short trail leading to Fluttershy's cottage. The rhythmic sound of her hooves scuffling on the ground relaxed her. But after a couple steps, it was clear that her hooves weren't the only ones using the path.
"Hello Trixie."
Trixie whirled around, her horn ablaze threateningly with magenta light. "Who's there?!"
The glow of the aura casted itself on Grass Roots. He quickly shuffled backwards and held a hoof out in surrender. "Whoa whoa whoa!" he said quickly. "I just came to talk!"
Trixie relaxed her defensive stance, but she allowed her horn to shine for the sake of light. It was very dark on the pathway. "What do you want?"
"Somepony is a bit touchy tonight," Roots said. He had the tall to approach her. Trixie was not in any way afraid of the stallion, but it was almost alarming how large he was.
"So what if I'm a bit touchy!" Trixie said. She had been trying her best to be nice to her new friends, but she did not want to expend energy on Roots.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Roots said. Trixie didn't buy his sympathy for a moment. "I only wanted to pass on some advice."
"I already have advisors," Trixie said, sticking her muzzle up in the air. "And I bet they're better than yours."
Roots chuckled. "If you say so," he said. "But I think this is the best advice for you, and your friends certainly aren't going to give it to you."
"Spit it out then," Trixie said tiredly.
"Drop out."
Trixie was stunned. His curtness caught her off guard, and the words themselves floored her even more. "What did you say?" she asked with a dry mouth.
"Drop out," he repeated. "You're in over your head, and quite frankly this race will sap you dry."
Trixie narrowed her eyes dangerously. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm giving you a fair warning. I've worked hard to get here, and you haven't done anything. If you continue to run, you're going to be flattened."
"Is that so?" Now he had her intimidated, but there was no way she was going to show it.
"It is so. I'm busy and I've hardly any time to deal with somepony who doesn't know what she's doing. So I suggest you remove yourself as quickly and quietly as you can before you get hurt."
Trixie seethed at his words. She marched up to the stallion and glared at him, her muzzle inches from his. He didn't back down. "Now you listen me, Grass Roots!" She practically spat his name. "I wouldn't back out of this race if Celestia herself was running. So what I suggest is that you watch out for me! I may be the dark pony in this race, but nopony messes with the Great and Powerful Trixie and gets away with it!" She didn't even give him a chance to reply. She promptly turned around and continued towards Fluttershy's cottage.
From behind her, Roots chuckled darkly. "You're making a mistake, Trixie!" he called to her. "And by the time you realize it it'll be too late."