Loyalties

by GJT_Productions

The First Harvest

"Wow, you three seem more excited than I thought you would be!"

"This is a much bigger crowd than we anticipated. It will make the job of spreading enlightenment much easier."

"Speaking of the crowd, I can't find the rest of your family in it..."

"Oh, we just made it here a few minutes ago. They're still trying to get to the front row seats."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The earth pony lawyer "Mr. Mule" blushes slightly while Chancellor Neighsay makes an only partly successful effort to stifle a chuckle at the elder's faux pas. An angry glare from the old stallion produces a muttered apology under Neighsay's breath and concern on Spoiled Rich's face. She was all too aware of the rumors that Neighsay had contributed to the death of Trailblazer - the preceding EEA Chancellor and the first earth pony to hold the position - but had to keep her personal thoughts on that matter to herself.

"We'll have a question and answer session before we begin with the meditative philosophy class - calm and relaxing behaviors will help neutralize 'the contagion' before it can take root in the minds of those who will suffer the worst from it." Mr. Mule explains. "Hopefully, those ponies out there won't be too curious..."

Mrs. Spoiled Rich never heard the rest of the conversation, as her attention had become fixated on the unusual behavior of Mr. Mule's assistant Chiton. Yes, she could see the otherwise unassuming young earth pony stallion was excited, but not in the way she expected him to be. He kept smacking his lips and looking up at the ceiling wistfully - only much later would she recognize he was acting as if he was preparing for a feast, not a meet-and-greet...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Mr. Mule and Neighsay were ready to go on the stage, Spoiled Rich slipped back into the general seating - full in a 60/40 ratio of unicorns to earth ponies - and then made her way to were the rest of the family were uneasily seated. She could also tell the general awkward feeling in the crowd, but overlooked it as she attributed it to nerves and curiousity.

"So we're all set with Mr. Mule and Neighsay?" Filthy Rich volunteers of his wife once she sits in her reserved seat.

"Yes, dear." Spoiled Rich replies offhandedly, as if she wasn't interested in conversation at the moment.

"Did you get information about whether we should be starting a chapter in Ponyville or not?" Filthy Rich tries again.

"Hmm? Oh no no, we can go to other towns, but we should avoid Ponyville right now. Not at least until we can get some members of the Apple clan on board. Don't want the Element Bearers getting the wrong idea about what were doing." Spoiled Rich answers, again seeming disinterested in her tone of voice.

"Excuse me, but Silver Spoon and I go to school with some of those Apple clan..." Diamond Tiara pipes up from her seat, hoping that the seeming helpfulness of the idea would at least get her thoughts taken seriously.

"Not now Diamond, you can tell us about it after everything's over." Spoiled Rich promptly shuts down, leaving her daughter and the daughter's friend in an uncomfortable silence with her thoughts.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mule, Chancellor Neighsay and Chiton were all slowly moving toward the center of the stage, prompting the buzz in the crowd to slowly die down. Diamond Tiara dared a quick look around, seeing an approximately equal mixture of intense hope and quiet skepticism among the crowd. She then looked at her friend, who clearly mirrored her own uncertainty about what was going on. With no clear answer about what to expect, both fillies returned attention to the stage.

When that happened, Mr. Mule was already making his introductory speech: "Welcome to everypony with or without a horn here. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and some of you are impatient for the 'compensation' from Princess Celestia that was promised. That's why I've decided to open up the floor for questions. Wait to be called before you start your question..."

Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn't remember much of what happened next, mostly as they had become fixated on Chiton giving hungry stares over the entire crowd. The nagging unease that bordered on fear the fillies felt at that moment would only find justification in hindsight...