Ms. Shimmer Goes to Castellot

by RangerOfRhudaur

Bureau of Science Memorandum #113 8/12/532

Dash,

Listen, I have a job for you. Something strange is going on in Cloudsdale, and I'd like you and Fluttershy to check it out. Take as many of the others as you want, but I want both you and Fluttershy to go for sure; you two are locals so I figure you should have an easier time getting in. Take stock of the situation, but try not to start any fights; I don't want you to risk your life by trying to stop whatever it is without us. Once you figure out what's going on, send word back to me and I'll see what I can do. And whatever happens, Dash, please, ask Fluttershy first if something's more likely to be 'awesome' or 'incredibly stupid'; we don't want to have a repeat of the roller rink on our hands.

Your's, Sunset Shimmer

Sunset sighed as she stared back down at her copy of the memo. She'd sent it off about a half-hour ago, giving the copy to a 'designated courier' who moderated it before typing it down electronically and sending it off to Principal Celestia to give to Rainbow. She groaned as she rubbed her knuckle into her skull; maybe Chip was right and having more people in government was a good thing, but that didn't mean simply hiring people and having them stand in the way was the best way to go about it. Idly, she mused about how to make her department and the areas it interacted with more efficient, and found several horrifyingly simple and easy ideas of ways to go about it.

She woke up to two hooves of rising water...

She shook her head; Chip's stupid digging had dredged up old, unpleasant memories, ones that she would have been only too happy to have left in the past. Setting Star, Silver Blaze, and Uncle Lightburst began dancing behind her eyes as they had when she was younger.

She shook her head; she wasn't a scared little foal anymore, the dead had no power over her now. She'd conquered her fear of water, and now she'd conquer the stupid anger that swelled up in her chest whenever someone brought up her parents. She had the strength and the will, she knew she did, now all she needed was to put in the effort. She wouldn't fail them.

Just like she hadn't failed them before?

"Shut up," she growled at herself. The old her was dead and gone, she wouldn't make the same mistakes she had then. She'd seen the light, and now she'd follow the path it showed her to make her parents proud.

Sadly, Radiance had determined that that path would involve political lessons with Chip for the next few days, meaning she would likely have to deter more attempts at digging up things that should have stayed buried. Chip should have listened to her, she should have heeded the signs, should've stopped before Sunset lost her cool.

"Politicians," she angrily snorted. "don't care about the word 'should,' even when it would be really helpful to them if they did."

***

Chip sat in her office, nervously twiddling her thumbs as she waited for her phone to ring.

Poor Miss Shimmer. She'd found a raw nerve there, one that Inkheart would find and pull on relentlessly if Sunset poked her head up. Her previous autocratic tendencies had been at least somewhat resolved, but the sheer emotional force Chip found under the subject of her parents was just as crucial to deal with; if they didn't, it could prove just as deadly to her work as her potential susceptibility to Starlight. Unfortunately, Chip doubted Sunset would be as forthcoming about her reasoning for this, and finding information from sources on this side of the mirror had already proved fruitless. No, if she wanted to help the girl and prevent her from turning into a timebomb, she needed to find another way.

Her phone rang, and she quickly picked it up.

"Hello, Principal Celestia?" she asked. "Do you still have that journal Sunset agreed to keep with you? If so, I have some questions I'd like you to ask this Princess Twilight. No, no, nothing about magic or the portal, don't worry, I remember Princess Serena's warning regarding that. No, it's more...personal. Ask her," she crossed her legs. "what she can find on Sunset Shimmer's past, especially her parents. Why? No, not curiosity. No, not because I'm trying to snoop on her," she sighed. "I'm trying to help her, Celestia. Why? Because I asked her about her parents and she almost exploded, Celestia, and I can't risk her doing that in front of others who are less friendly to her than I am. No, trying to isolate her won't work; my guess is she's already tried hiding the pain for a while, for too long. No, this boil needs to be lanced." She paused. "Very sorry," she apologized as the other woman shouted over the phone. "Poor word choice on my part. My apologies. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe. As safe as I can, anyway. What?" She sighed, holding her face in her hand. "Celestia, please see if you can't find anything about her parents; if you can't, I won't be able to help her with her savior complex. Yes, the two are connected, I'm sure of it. Positive. Her parents have something to do with her desire to save people, I know they do. I just need to find out what that connection is."

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

When your formative years were spent as the faithful student of a far-sighted autocrat, it's going to leave an impact on your political leanings. To say nothing of experience as a modern-fantasy adventurer. Sunset's used to single heroic saviors charging in and fixing everything, but that's not a workable solution on a national scale. Even Princess Celestia delegates and plays the game.

And her parents had a hoof in this attitude too, it seems. This is only going to get more bothersome for Sunset on many levels. And splitting the party as Starlight approaches could be an unwise decision... though it may still be the only way to get things done.

[Pete100]

Was there a point to this story? Or was this just supposed to be filler?

[Pete100]

10834747
Honestly, I feel like at this point she might quit.

[RangerOfRhudaur]

10836182

It's meant to be the start of Sunset's political journey, as well as give a hint at a coming arc (Rainbow, Flutters, and anyone else going to Cloudsdale).

[Pete100]

10836537
Didn’t they talk about going to cloudsdale, but decided not to go or something?

[RangerOfRhudaur]

10836554

Sorry if it was unclear, but they didn't decide anything; they're faced with two potentially disastrous problems, but they don't want to split up, leaving them deadlocked. (Do they try to stop whatever's happening in Cloudsdale, which threatens Rainbow and Fluttershy's home, or the Unmarked, which threaten's Twilight's family?) Sunset cuts through the Gordian Knot here by splitting the party up (we'll have to see how well that turns out...), but not by overriding their previous decision; they hadn't been able to make one for her to override.

[Pete100]

10836758
Ohh. Ok

[RangerOfRhudaur]

10836084

What does that mean exactly?

The 12th of First Fall is what we would call September 12th, the first month of Homestrian (and Equestrian) autumn. The days of the week are likewise differently named, though they are translated for our benefit (similar to how, in the Lord of the Rings, the months of the calendar were differently named but provided in their more familiar forms to prevent the readers from getting stuck). The Homestrian count of years is also different, much different, than our's, divided into several different Ages as opposed to being simply before or after one specific event. In this case, the current Age is considered to be the Post-Unification Age, though from the looks of it a new Age may be opening soon. Specifically, the current year is the 532nd year after the Unification of the kingdom.

Regarding the political discussion, I explained the House of Lairds (somewhat) in a blog post here. In this instance, Radiance proposed a piece of legislation which was defeated, 57 voting in support of it, 63 voting against, with one of those voting against it, Lady Inkheart, providing an explanation for her vote similar to how the U.S. Supreme Court provides opinions regarding its rulings.

Yeah, but I wouldn’t stop her.

I would; banging her head against the wall does nothing productive. I would try to help her turn that anger and frustration into productive action.

So what is her job then? Just give them information?

One of her primary jobs is to give the government information regarding magic, yes, but that's not her only role; she's more of a jack-of-all-trades, basically doing whatever magic-related thing the government needs her to do. She's been primarily providing instruction because of the political problem she's described; she's willing to help the government, but the government isn't proving as willing to actually ask for help.

Welcome to human world, Sunset.

Oh, I'm sure Equestria has its own governmental horror stories.

All I’m hearing is a lot of politics. Just point and tell me where to launch the nuke.

I'm sure we'd all like to see that; I'm equally sure we wouldn't like to see the chaos that follows. Politics are a necessary evil, though a lot of what Sunset's describing does seem unnecessary, I admit.

Get them on the track team, ASAP. He might give rainbow dash an actual run for her money.

She, actually.

I’m sorry what? What’s that supposed to mean?

Sunset doesn't seem to like democracy, which makes her vulnerable to Starlight's arguments, and Chip really doesn't seem to like that idea...

Is she?

A very good question, my friend.

Oh my.

*Rocky training montage music intensifies*

[Pete100]

10836787
Wow, that’s a lot.

How hard is she doing it?

Then why want her help?

Oh yeah. I forgot about celestia.

If it means not hearing politics, then I’ll take the chaos. Was it unnecessary?

I’ll be sure to edit that when I get the chance.

It depends on her methods.

Naw. I think we’re gonna need something more boring. Maybe some elevator music.

[RangerOfRhudaur]

10838294

Yeah, I put way too much thought into things like this.

Not that hard.

Because the princess and her advisors, especially Radiance, think that Sunset can be useful. The only problem is that those who think otherwise outnumber them, which makes doing much in a democracy almost impossible.

Eh, in my headcanon Celestia's actually an effective ruler. Sometimes, though, the bureaucracy she rules through can be a bit...cumbersome.

What if it means not hearing politics, but hearing the screams of those whom the chaos harms? Also, yes, a fair bit of it did sound unnecessary; there's a difference between moderating change to avoid breaking things and causing political paralysis.

'Revolutionaries' with non-democratic tendencies (like Starlight) have tended, throughout history, to favor, shall we say, questionable methods.

We'll see about that.

[Pete100]

10838317
It’s ok. I possibly do it when I read fanfics.

Well, as long as she’s not doing it hard she can do it for as long as she wants.

But why help them at all? They seem to be a pain in the flank.

Really?

Depends, who’s screaming? I’ll be honest, I don’t remember everything sunset said.

Questionable methods?

[RangerOfRhudaur]

10838753

But what does banging her head against the wall actually do to better the situation?

This is a theme I'm going to try to touch on more later, how being the hero sometimes means explicitly helping pain in the flanks like this; just because they're a pain in the flank doesn't mean that they don't deserve to live, which is what Sunset's trying to help them do. In addition, if they didn't deserve to live because of their actions, then Sunset's arc is meaningless; if the potential for redemption can be withheld (in this case, by denying Sunset's opponents in government the time in their lives to come around to her point of view), then redemption itself becomes meaningless, because that makes whether redemption will be granted dependent on the one granting it as opposed to the motivations of the repentant. If redemption can be denied, and thus logically who can be redeemed can be chosen (if A can choose whether or not B occurs, then it is also true that A can choose for B to occur), then redemption becomes completely extrinsic to the repentant, an action upon them by the very system of laws which they broke. Redemption is on the repentant, both in terms of obligations (don't do bad things again) and rights (you can choose to try to redeem yourself); deciding who 'deserves' to be redeemed and who doesn't makes the whole concept meaningless. *descends soapbox*

Yes, really; in my headcanon, Celestia's main flaw is her patience and willingness to let things take their course, not incompetence or malice. For example, Nightmare Moon; in my headcanon, Celestia didn't ignore Luna, she simply didn't want to make things worse by forcing her to talk before she was ready. So she waited for Luna to bring up whatever was troubling her on her own and let her deal with it in the meantime, not out of lack of care but rather out of a desire to avoid being a control-freak or a tyrant. She didn't ignore Luna, or dismiss her, and she certainly didn't mock her; her mistake was, rather, waiting too long to ask Luna what she wanted done. Celestia is, as she calls herself, the Princess Who Came Too Late.

See the paragraph preceding "*descends soapbox*" regarding my stance on "depends on who's screaming." (It would probably be the innocent anyway; the wicked would be quick to take advantage of the disappearance of those laws meant to keep them in check.) Basically, Sunset was describing the logjam the Senate appears to be, how it seems to delight in delay and doing nothing.

The usual suspects; enhanced methods of interrogation, requisition of property, reeducation of political malfeasants, disappearance of enemies...

[Pete100]

10838912
Nothing. It’s just a way to get out frustration.

That may be interesting. I would be curious to see how that goes.

The princess that came too late? That might be something she needs to work on.

Isn’t she right, though?

Yeah, I’m pretty’s sure that’s bad. Especially if she’s doing it so people will be on her side.

[Wild Stallion]

It's interesting to see people talking about politics on here, and I'm curious to see where you going with this.

But there are a few things you might consider when pursuing writing about this in the future.

Given the context of certain comments and Starlight Glimmer's history in the show, it can be vaguely inferred what the Unmarked party is about.

The problem is that it is a vague inference. Additionally, there's no real information on what's going on in Cloudsdale.

This vagueness makes it hard to figure out what solutions Sunset is proposing, and this makes it harder to form a opinion of her character.

Maybe this was intentional to avoid controversy, but it does make this story harder to follow.

Aditionally while this covers some of the basics of certain types of government, it misses others.

There's no mention of rebublics and constitutional governments, or the factors which drive them.

[RangerOfRhudaur]

11002340
Hey, thanks for the comment. Regarding republics and constitutional government, I would argue those aren't a separate kind of government so much as a subset of either democracy (rule by the many) or oligarchy (rule by the few). They do have defining characteristics, yes, but in essence they are simply variations on one or two of the themes Chip mentioned; either rule is held by all, a few, or one.

Regarding the political situation, yeah, things are a bit vague here, potentially leaving someone who reads only this confused. But, as the sequel and prequel show, this isn't supposed to be read alone; there's a lot of context that the other stories provide, stories that make the problems you pointed out not as significant.

[Wild Stallion]

11002454
There's some truth to the idea that authority is mostly delegated among various groups of individuals of differing sizes.

Their are however, social differences and principals that have a greater effect in government, then merely whoever is in charge at any given time.

It's up the people to uphold them, but rule through law is still different from entrusting people unequivocally with command power, or at least it's supposed to be.

And while the prequel and sequel contain important information, they still don't explain what Sunset's solution is supposed to be.

Still this is a interesting series, if not my usual preference. I might just wind up tracking it, depending on how good the charactersation turns out.