This story is a sequel to A Step in the March on Castellot
Politics: noun. 1) The art of working together in a systemic way to prevent anything significant from being achieved or any individual from achieving happiness; a system of governance to which prolonged exposure causes depression and despair; the act of repeatedly bludgeoning one's head against a wall and hoping for a different outcome. See also: GOVERNMENT, AUTHORITY, INSANITY.
Continuity: The Song of the Spheres
Branch: The Seekers of the Stars
Chapters (3)
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.
What does that mean exactly?
Yeah, but I wouldn’t stop her.
So what is her job then? Just give them information?
Welcome to human world, sunset.
All I’m hearing is a lot of politics. Just point and tell me where to launch the nuke.
Get that motherf*cker on the track team, ASAP. He might give rainbow dash an actual run for her money.
I’m sorry what? What’s that supposed to mean?
Is she?
Oh god.
I think my brain is gonna throw up.
Was there a point to this story? Or was this just supposed to be filler?
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Honestly, I feel like at this point she might quit.
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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).
10836537
Didn’t they talk about going to cloudsdale, but decided not to go or something?
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.
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Ohh. Ok
10836084
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.
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.
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.
Oh, I'm sure Equestria has its own governmental horror stories.
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.
She, actually.
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...
A very good question, my friend.
*Rocky training montage music intensifies*
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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...
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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.
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.
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.
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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.