Be kind. For everyone you meet, life is a hard battle.
The Mayor of Ponyville welcomes a new, glorious day in Ponyville. Her clerk deals with the day-to-day business of the town. After a thousand years, ponies will join together to welcome Luna's night. The celebration, and after. Bring muffins!
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Per the suggestion of earlier readers, I've collected the story into two chapters, before the celebration and after.
"Marigold" is, of course, my own name for Madam Mayor. Oddly, no character by this name appears in the MLP:FIM wiki.
Voice casting: the part of Fletcher Veterinary is played by Alan Rickman. The part of Josh Pie is played by John Goodman. The part of Bean Counter is played by Rowan Atkinson.
Songs: I cheated, of course, by writing parodies of "The Smile Song" and "The Heart Carol." They turned out pretty good, I thought.
And, yes, the story has callbacks to my earlier story, "Tonight I Shall Be Laughter," reflecting changes in the canon. The more I write about Her, the more I love Princess Luna.
*manly tears*
Would that I could thumb-up this story more than just once.
A story with no real villains, no real conflict, just a bunch of ponies who love their lives and live them joyously. Who love each other, realize this fact, and express it openly. It was wonderful watching them do that. Thank you.
Most excellent! Now to make some Peppermint Divinities.
"Teeny tiny riot". Over a dessert. I love it! It seems to perfectly capture the spirit of Ponyville.
If it weren't for the issue of getting the internal monologues conveyed to the watcher, this should be an episode.
I do think that it would be nice for Bucephalus to visit Fletcher, even if Luna doesn't go along. It's always nice to receive the praise and regards of others in the same line of work.
Oh, and, a sequel 10 years down the line with Pinkie Pie as the new mayor and Fletcher as her secretary would be put on the top of my reading priority stack.
You know, I've read better written and funnier and more touching pony fics, but I can't remember one that has been more joyful. Facedeer has it right, above: this is a wonderful story, and a real delight to read.
Fletcher Veterinary is fabulous, easily the best thing in this. I'm not sure I won't print out his verbal takedown of Counter and get it framed.
Marvellous, a triumph. Fletcher Vet for best pony.
The spirit of everything's in this story, and it all works. Also funny as anything.
This has charm in abundance.
And there is obviously some vast merit to the "Third princess" story.
Frankly, I like it a hella lot.
My Celestia, this chapter was amazing...
First off, my favorite quotes:
“Fletcher, over the years, had come to hear her offer a gosh! and a darn! and even, in extremity, a shucks!”
I like this sort of characterization. :D
“Madam Mayor then emitted a sound that Fletcher dutifully noted as Squee!”
D'aawww...
“Spike awoke to the warm, comforting smell of smoke.”
That made me laugh. XD
“Hurricane’s Apologia (Sorry about the Windigoes, Dudes) and Puddinghead’s twelve-volume Stuff I Did, So There”
That also made me laugh.
“Cinnamon and charcoal! Not many cooks can get that balance right. And is there a hint of sulfur, too? Exquisite! Yum!” He treated himself to a fourth cookie.”
And again I laughed.
The scene with the Josh Pie was incredible captivating. very fun and interesting to read.
The Derpy Mail song was so cute! And I found "Derpy's sister, Ditzy" very cool.
The Night Carol was awesome! The lyrics felt quite natural as I imagined them in my head to the original melody.
And the final scene in Marigolds house was so neat! I love how you write Princess Luna. Well done!
Once more, fantastic story! This goes down as one of my favorite fics of all time, for sure!
Sorry, everypony: a minor edit. I suddenly realized that Twist could not have been in the Unicorn Cooking Contest: she's not a unicorn! Um, duh!
So I brought in Dinky Doo as emergency relief character. Thanks, Dinky; you're a pal!
Yeah, Fletcher's owning of Counter was pure gold.
Another excellent chapter.
As others said, such... joy and wonderment here. Perfectly Ponyville!
I liked this, it fit the canon Ponyville so well, what with all the happy ponies and amusing personalities that have more depth than one might expect.
This story should have ten times the views, and ten times the 'likes'. Truly, it is a lovely and thoughtful piece.
If we ever get a "a day in the life of madam mayor" episode, this is story will be the measure to which it will be compared.
And so nice to see Cap. Bucephalus again.
I found this on my "read later" list today, and I have no memory of putting it there. It didn't seem like much of a story, but I trusted past me's judgement and started reading.
It was very worth it. You know a story is well written when all that has happened is that a character has woken up gone to the bathroom and eaten breakfast, and you're grinning widely.
I got the impression that Marigold is mayor while Fletcher runs the city, even if I never saw any proof of that. They seemed like that type of characters.
Also love the crowd reactions ("APPLAUSE?") and the songs. Overall, great story.
I just wanted to say that Marigold was an inspired choice of name for Mayor Mare.
Also Lyra probably relied on Bon Bon for confectionary lessons. That hardly seems fair!
But... this can't be! Is this truly a MLP:FiM fanfic?
A story where no giant, indestructible monsters invaded? No eldrich horrors escaped from dark dimensions and sent Equestria into a spiral of death and despair? Neither Princess going insane and becoming a bloodthirsty tyrant? The whole planet didn't spiral into some dystopian future? TWILIGHT DIDN'T MESS UP ANY SPELLS AND ACCIDENTALLY DESTROY PONYVILLE?! Ok, she blew it with the cookies, but that wasn't a spell! No pony got cancer or some other fatal illness, nor did they die from some tragic accident! There was no Scootabuse! Lyra wasn't craving hands! No movies were parodied or crossed-over! There wasn't any shipping! AND NO HUMANS APPEARED FROM RANDOM DIMENSIONAL PORTALS!!!
This CAN'T be a fanfic! This... this is madness!
*Madness? This isn't madness! THIS... IS... PONYVILLE!!*
In all, a delightful little story, very heartwarming and the very essence of the show.
My previous head-cannon personality for Mayor Mare was somewhere between Diamond Joe Quimby and Mom of "Mom's Old Fashioned X" from Futurama.
Somehow, you've fixed that...
I have mixed feelings about this story. I have to admit that the first chapter seemed long and boring to me. It may be because you completely failed to sell your characterization of Marigold to me. I'm sorry, I just felt it shallow and irritating. It may be my personal opinion or a bias of some kind, but simply put she felt silly to me; irresponsible even. Not someone you would like to have for the mayor.
On the other hand, I absolutely loved Fletcher and how caring and serious and precise he was all the time. 
Again, I can't really tell why such contrasting opinion about the characters, but it's probably thanks to this contrast that Ponyville works for now--what Marigold lacks gets filled in by Fletcher.
Either way, because I read the story on the train, where I had nothing better to do, I managed to force my way through the first chapter. I won't lie to you here--if I read the story at home I might have dropped it in the middle. But fortunately I didn't. Because the celebration itself is simply amazing. Old Pie's story--so heartwarming and moving. Derpy's song--so light and delicate (and the hidden propaganda for her being the best pony--amazing!). Fluttershy's song--it actually watered my eyes a little, it was just so full of emotion.
Really, the second chapter rocked and I'm yet again clueless why my opinions on both chapters contrast so much. 
I would love to give a more constructive feedback, but that's probably the best I can do. 
As a side note, it was great to see Bucephallus (sorry, couldn't resist
) and Crescent Cookie again. To be honest, if it weren't for them, I would completely miss the fact that it was a story by you. 
I now realize the title was a reference too, but I usually load several fics on my ebook reader and read them on the train to/from work, so the information about the author and his other fics gets buried somewhere deep in the directory tree. 
I'm not sure why, seeing as I complained that Marigold seemed silly and irresponsible. Probably because Pinkie Pie is the best pony. 
Also, I very much support Pinkie's candidacy for the Mayor of Ponyville.
To sum it up, I'm glad I managed to force my way through the first chapter (once again, I'm terribly sorry I'm not able to pinpoint why I disliked it so much, regardless of the Fletcher character I actually liked) and got to the celebration itself. It was well worth it in the end.
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I appreciate your input.
This story began in a discussion at another site: "how does Madam Mayor manage all these silly ponies, anyway?"
We don't know much about Madam Mayor, although "Winter Wrap-Up" gives some hints. She has, perhaps too much, confidence in her public speaking ability and, probably, too little organizational skill. (The Winter Wrap-Up was a mess, not just this year, but in prior years. Thank goddess for Twilight!)
So I imagined Marigold as a somewhat-hapless administrator, who struggles to keep on top of things in Ponyville.
Marigold and Fletcher, you see, complement each other. Marigold has great social skills and big ideas. Fletcher is detail-oriented but not very approachable. Marigold can rouse the populace with her speeches, but fades on details; Fletcher is very organized, but his personality is a bit off-putting.
In the first chapter, I tried to paint Marigold as somewhat inept. (She constantly quotes affirmations to herself to boost her spirits and dresses to bolster her image as "important.") And Fletcher is capable, but not very friendly. (He shows nothing but kindness to Granny Smith, but is reluctant to express this overtly.)
In the second chapter, they flip, somewhat. Marigold proposes the celebration, particularly the Sing-A-Long to Luna's Night. This would never have occurred to Fletcher. Here, you see her strength and his weakness. And, later, after the Sing-A-Long, you see that even he is reluctantly drawn into the community that loves in abstract.
Ponyville muddles along, with her well-intended but somewhat clueless Mayor, and her severe but kindly administrator. And I think that's not so bad.
And I am completely sincere when I suggest that Madam Mayor would support Pinkie Pie for mayor.
Although the rest of the Mane Six have their strengths, Pinkie is the most gregarious, and that's 9/10's of the battle.
Oh yeah, that's very nicely written.
As delightful a story as Short Cakes was, excellent story all around.
This is one few stories on FimFiction I re-read just for hell of it.
This was very enjoyable to read
A nice, simple story of ponies living their lives. It made me smile 
I think that Mayor Mare has one or two issues; nothing really severe but she's obviously feeling the stress and also seems to feel the need to be somepony she isn't. Of course, what is the life of a politician but to be a role, to be defined first by your appearance to the uninformed? Still, she's a kind pony at heart, especially when you consider her treatment of poor Derpy.
The Derpy version of "Smile, Smile" gets this story put on my favourites list. Period. End of story.
A lovely story with every pony in-character. I particularly liked the thought of Luna attending in disguise and Bean Counter not even being able to impress his own boss with his ideas. Sometimes ambition and a desire for empire blinds you.
Mayor Pinkie? Well, I suppose I can see it...
I suppose he killed the original owner with nothing more than his piercing glare?
sefisticated and well wrighten, love Derpys scene, she really was sweetly wrighten. (full review at finish)
Deep, yet short and sweet.
I am text less this is wonderful.
Excellent details here and there and yet delivered in so few word a real wonder.
no complaints or recommendation possible it ended about right too (even if a part of me wants more).
It was a great feel good slice of life (comedy elements but if it deserved the tag...well I smiled).
This is a wonderful story of the part of life we rarely see in the fandom. We get characters that we rarely talk about (such as the Mayor) with flaws but are still effective along with a great OC. We could use more of this (which thankfully you have with your Shadow Day story).
Pinkie for Mayor! Great idea I love it. I especially like how everybody at first laughs and then later comes to terms with it as possibly being a good idea (over the course of several stories).
i will remember fondly the wise words you have imparted upon my and those in my position. "My name is Butthead."
gold. pure gold
Aw, what a sweet and simple story, so charming... so why am I crying???
A true slice-of-life masterpiece. Josh continues to be one of my favorite characters in your universe, Mayor Marigold was really wonderful, and Luna and her dialogue absolutely inspired. Thank you for writing it!
Fletcher is badass in his own way. I love it.
This is wonderful! <3
Also, I love your idea of her actual name being Marigold. Can I yoink that for my headcanon please?
This is truly a stunning piece. You always manage to surprise me with how beautiful and touching your fics can be. I always think that each one I read is your best work and then I read another and think, no this is the best. Yet then I go and reread them and think the same yet again.
Fletcher I won't deny made me d'aw at the end of the first chapter. Seeing his gentle strength and kindness was wonderful and I loved his back and forth with Granny Smith.
Marigold too was adorable. I loved her child's crown in the mirror and her incredible fountain of ideas when planning. he was beautiful and so graceful and sweet with Luna as well.
My only criticism (and it's indeed minor) was with Joshua Apple's story. The lack of quotation marks around the audiences pieces kept confusing me as I wasn't sure if it was meant to be them speaking or perhaps in his head
I'm too much a slave to the English nuances.
Again, truly wonderful and Joshua's story especially was stunning. I fear I lack the vocabulary to properly express my love of this fic but hopefully this comment can suffice til I learn the method of telepathy.
“I think Pinkie Pie would be a good Mayor.”
Me!?
Thank you mayor mare!
Absolutely beautiful.
Oh maaaan. This hit me right in my eloquence. It is such a great balance of heartwarming, cheerful, and sincere!
Also, Luna disguising herself, poorly. That alone is worth the price of admission.
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"Luna in disguise" was a popular trope, prior to "Luna Eclipsed." I'm afraid I made mock of it in my story, "Tonight I Shall Be Laughter" and re-used the idea here.
Another brilliant piece. Love how you tie all of your original character protagonists from the other stories into it again.
Well done!
Filthy Rich is Saruman in disguise? Quick call the Mane 6!
I'm pretty sure Granny Smith's last name is Apple.
1949850
I just re-read it and it was just as good as it was then.
Now hopefully, Shadow Day will make its return...
Is Derpy's mail song on Youtube anywhere?
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I wish. Since it's a parody of "The Smile Song," it should be legit under fair use.
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Uh, what? ^-^' does that mean it's cool for someone to make? or nah?
721962 I never forget how much I adore this story, and so many of your works. But this one always holds a truly special place in my heart. With the so recent loss of Mr Rickman, it takes on even more meaning that I am forever hearing the characters in their chosen voices. Did you ever decide who would voice dear gentle Marigold?
6851655 Cathy Wiseluck, i assume.