Baltimare is on the brink: the City Council is at daggers, quite literally, and the two parties seem to be unwilling to settle their differences as the looming shadow of economic collapse threatens the city.
Baltimare had been regarded as the City of Light and Harmony, where the ideals of any ponies were regarded equally with the rest. "Had." Now, Baltimare is in its darkest days. The liberal Blue Party is ready to fight the center-right White Party to bring back the power of the middle-class and is even championing a "Cutie Mark Discovery Tutorship" bill. The economy is collapsing and both parties are at a loss of what to do. Council sessions are now just 12 hour long debates that get nowhere. With a month to go until the expected expiration of government regulation on the economy, only a few ponies seem willing to stand and compromise. Some of them don't even live in Baltimare.
Things were looking hectic in the Ponytico stage. Papers were scattered all over the ground as ponies rushed past, desperately working on their various jobs. Three engineers stood at the catwalk with the spotlights and were aiming them down at different angles at the table. Other ponies rushed past, stopping occasionally to ask a question or provide information before rushing on. The chair where the broadcaster sat in was overturned and nopony bothered to pick it up.
"Live in 5 minutes, ponies. Let's get ready then, or all of you are getting your pay cut! I'm sure the City Council would love the extra bits."
The other ponies jumped at the voice of the producer and moved as though they were doused with cold water and then gave an electric shock. He looked around solemnly at the mess and sighed. He then took at good look at the stage and noticed one important detail... or lack of.
"Hey, where's Skyros?" asked the producer impatiently.
"Last time I saw him, he was in the dressing room," panted a work-stallion, as he rushed off with the papers from the ground.
"In the dressing room-, he's still there? He was there 5 minutes ago. He's on in 4, no 3!"
The producer rushed off in a huff, clearly frustrated. He stomped through the hallway and knocked others aside in anger. By the time he reached the end and turned to the dressing room, he was livid.
"Skyros? Get out here right now!" he yelled.
No reply.
"Skyros? You are on in 2 minutes. Get your plot out here right now or I will personally kick it from here to the Daily Broadcast! You know how you hate liberals."
Finally, the door opened and a head stuck out. He had a light blue mane with a red mane halfway died into white. His cutie mark was of a quill. His eyes drooped as though he had just waken up from a nap, which he indeed just did.
"Oh, 'sup, Mr. 'Visor. Yeah, I'm working on it. Just give me a minute."
However, the producer drew up to his full height, his eyes wide with anger at the very look of Skyros' face. The surrounding ponies turned in the opposite direction and fled. They knew what was coming.
It wouldn't do it justice if that morning was called eventful, because it certainly was more than that. All in all, in a few short minutes, enough emotion and energy was released that would vaporize a normal pony into dust. Skyros' mane was finished up and his face complexion fixed with just seconds to spare. He rushed in with his suit all in a bother and sat down in the middle of the now spotless stage with the lights at the right angle and his chair turned back up. He had just enough time to fix his mouth into a winning smile when the upbeat, fanfare theme song for Ponytico played.
The screen lifted up and the audience clapped as Skyros began messing around and drawing X's on the papers in front of him in am over exaggerating manner.
The crowd settled down as Skyros fixed his papers finally and looked up.
"So, welcome back to Ponytico, your finest source for any Baltimare new's... sort of. Better than the Daily Broadcast. And let's face it, who watches that? I'm sure my coat could make you think that I'm a Blue guy, but just take a look at my mane. I'm sure nopony could tell you that I'm a Blue guy by looking at my mane. I have it specially shined as well."
The crowd smiled at this little quip. They all knew that his mane was red, but he never mentioned it. It was a little inside joke they all shared.
"So yeah, where were we? So much to say. I think it be appropriate that we first pay our respect to the lovely little spirit that passed away some time ago, Common Sense. Wait."
Skyros lifted his right hoof to his ear, as though he was getting breaking news. He looked up with a believable look of intense concentration.
"This just in, we apparently already had the service for her some time ago. Several hundred years ago in fact. Along with Honesty, Bravery, and Kindness. Aw dang it! I wanted to have the service for them. Not those ponies who couldn't even dig a hole straight. Of course, what's so different between them and the ponies in the Council. Only thing I've seen is that our Council members are getting in the hole themselves."
"Seriously though," he continued on. "We all know about that little rock we like to call our economy. Well, unless you've been living under a rock, you would know that it's decided to roll back down from it's mountain and probably take the dump at that cliff we like to call depression. That's assuming of course we can't find a common ground for economic policies. Don't worry though, I'm sure it'll be fine, right? I mean, the Council knows what they're doing. I mean, the Economic Management Committee contains some of the smartest ponies from the Council. I'm sure they know what they're doing right."
The scene shifted to a clip of an interview with the Head of the Committee. He looked flustered and annoyed.
"As far as we know, there is no viable solution to the economy problem..."
Skyros had a look of surprise and shock. The crowd laughed.
"Ah ha ha, ha ha ha," laughed Skyros desperately. "Funny joke there, right Head? I mean, you guys know what you're doing right."
Back to the interview: "We can't be expected, uh, to have a solution to every problem the economy presents."
Skyros looked shocked again. He started banging his head with his right hoof.
"All right, now you're just kidding with us Head. Come on, there has to be a solution right? I mean, it's the economy, not a dragon."
Back to the interview again: "We do believe that certain policies from both parties would contribute to a healthy recovery, but to that end, we don't believe that uh, at our current situation, that both parties would be willing to compromise."
Skyros jumped from his seat. "Yes, it's all clear!" He looked to the roof, as though looking at the bright sky.
"Oh Celestia, there's the answer. We get both parties to work together. And together, we shall fight the menace of the economic bear."
Skyros stood there in his illuminating position for one more second before his features deflated.
"Oh, right. Get both parties to work together... You know, I'm starting to agree with the Head here. There's just no way that we can work to save the economy. I mean, both sides are literally at daggers. If we would all just take a look at exhibit A, we shall see a rather, eh, raucous meeting of the Council."
"Exhibit A" was a video clip of the City Council. The members were all either yelling at each other or engaging in small scuffles. Small snatches of the arguments could be heard, all relating to the economic problem.
"So..., yeah. At this rate, I don't think both parties are willing to, er, work together. And let's face it, this is time where all ponies need to just get along and remember that we were once called the City of Harmony and Light. I mean, I'm sure that Speaker Baner would be so kind and willing to compromise as I am. He's not called the Great Compromiser for nothing right? I mean, he dealt with policies from education to domestic relations. And you may think of me as a rather ignorant, close-minded conservative, but we must remember also that I am just as willing to increase taxes for the rich, in exchange for lower spending, I mean, come on. Isn't that what we all want? Just a lower spending bill. Something that which we can all appreciate. Forget the lower taxes, spending cuts are all we want, right? Three cheers for Speaker Baner and his open-mindedness!"
Skyros got out a glass of water and began sipping from it. The scene shifted to an interview of Speaker Baner.
"No alternative solution can be sought out for. We must realize, that a right view on this situation is a right wing view on the policy. It's as simple as that. No spending, and no tax increases. For anypony."
Skyros spewed out his water in a fit. Again, he looked shocked as he took out a towel and wiped down the table.
"Oh come on! What do we do now? Our leader is now claimed by the simple minded thoughts of the radicals who simply want their way. Oh great, great, great, great, great, great. Well, I'm sure some Blue Party guys share the same sentiment as we practical White Party guys do. I mean, they want a better Baltimare just like we do, just in a different way."
The scene shifted to a news report. The anchormare was in the middle of a education report.
"The liberal Blue Party has just announced the drafting of a bill known as the 'Cutie Mark Tutorship' bill. The bill provides free of charge lessons for ponies over the age of 6 who do not have their cutie marks. The advocates of the bill say that the lessons would be targeted for each individual pony and their likes, in order to generate a better environment to find their hidden talents quickly and efficiently. However, the Economic Management Committee has released a summary report on the cost of such lessons, stating that all revenue would be directly taken from the income of the upper-class ponies and would still not be enough to bring lessons to all the projected ponies. Despite this economic trouble, all confirmed Blue Party Council members have put their support into this bill, along with several left-wing White Party members."
Skyros just looked down and spun around in his chair.
"Okay, okay. I get it. Nopony wants to work together. We all got our own little beliefs and dogmas and we are all seemingly not willing to give it all up. Fine. I get it. I already had enough shocking news thrown into my face. Celestia help me. This is it, right? Apparently so. I mean, we all got our own things going on. It looks as though we're just going to have to count on...oh man! That's just it. There's just me and you guys."
Skyros pointed to all the crowd members.
"No worries! I have something prepared for in the event that something like this happens, everything would be all better. Now!"
Skyros struggled with something heavy below his table. After some strenuous activity, he lifted up a heavy-looking suitcase and slammed it on the table.
"Oh this?" He cried out, noticing some of the curious looks on the ponies' faces. "No fear! This is my Tart-Cart! It's basically my Emergency Campaign Kit. You may laugh!" he added at the several ponies who smiled quizzically and chuckled. "But at times like this, it's important to understand that basically anypony can throw their hat in the ring, and they'll end up better than some ponies in our venerable Council." His tone became instantly mocking at the mention of the Council ponies.
He opened the case. Inside sat a large metal box, several magazines, a toothbrush and toothpaste bottle, and a megaphone. Skyros took out the megaphone.
"This right here, I call her the Biggie!" The sentence rang across the room and several ponies grabbed their ears in pain.
"Sorry," apologized Skyros as he took out the magazines. "But look, I have subscriptions to The White Party Manual, A Laypony's Lesson on Politics, and more!" He took out and showed each cover to the crowd. The last magazine evoked a shout of laughter from the crowd. Skyros, feigning confusion, took a look at it and dropped the magazines. The last one was a recent edition of Playpony.
"Never you mind that!" said Skyros, as he shoved it under the table and pulled an unseen lever, causing a toilet flushing sound to play.
"I keep these magazines updated, just in case I need to start campaigning the next day. It's not called my Tart-Cart for nothing." Skyros then took out the metal box. Whatever was inside it composed 90% of the suitcase's mass, because it took almost the same amount of effort to lift that box out as it did the suitcase. Skyros opened it to reveal stacks and stacks of gold bits. The crowd gasped and awed.
"Yes, yes, these are just my campaign funds. Although, in just one short month, it'll probably be gone. But don't worry, I'm not really complaining." Skyros looked around before adding in hushed tones. "They're all just chocolate bits." He smiled at the new inside joke and put the box back in.
"So," said Skyros, as he shoved the box beneath the table. "As you can see, I'll be ready for the nomination from the White Party. Just you wait. It'll come." He sat humming for a few seconds.
"Oh right, the show." Skyros seemed to have been brought back down to Equestria, rudely. "Well, anyways, so we can see that we're all in a hot mess. In just one short month, all economic policies affected by the government will go bye-bye, and you all know what'll happen out of that."
He stared mockingly at the crowd, although they did know what happened. Almost all the county workers had to be laid off. Princess Celestia had to come in and restore peace and order. It was easy for her, but the very fact that she had to come over brought shame to the entire city, especially the pegasi. So many of them left for Cloudsdale that weather duties had to be left to several unicorns who could perform weather magic.
"So you may be wondering: 'But Skyros, what about the mayor and his cabinet?' Well I'm glad you asked. You see, our little mayor is currently bound under Executive Order 9057 to not interfere with legislative matters until they are brought before his or her desk for his or her lovely and piercing pen. Of course, I never understood why that order was passed, or why it was never repealed. It's been active for two past mayors so far and it brought nothing but harm. How on Equestria is the mayor supposed to rule if all he or she does it just veto or sign legislation. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for equal power and balances, but 9057 is just ridiculous. I'm sure any sensible White Party pony would agree with me."
A buzzer rang from the back of the stage and a siren sounded.
"Oh dear, I suppose we are out of time. All right, all of you, you've been a wonderful crowd. I shall see you all soon. Remember, we can all just get out of this if we can work together... sometime later. Have a great day!"
The cover lowered as the audience clapped loudly. As soon as it touched down, the stage lights went off.
"That's a wrap!" said the producer, walking on the stage. "Good show Skyros. Get back to the dressing room and change."
"Thank you, Mr. 'Visor," said Skyros as he stood up and rushed out of the stage.
"That's Mr. Supervisor to you!" called out the producer as Skyros left, but if he heard him, he didn't respond.
Skyros rushed back to the dressing room. He sat down and began undressing. His suit, already disagreeable in the beginning of the show, now looked like a mess. He unbuttoned, took a shower, and finally sat down on his couch. Suddenly, somepony knocked on the door.
"It opens!" said Skyros.
A young mare nervously walked into the room. She had a verdigris green and a golden mane that faded to a copper color at the ends. Her horn was glowing yellow and a clipboard was floating in front of her, which was her cutie mark as well.
"Hi. Uh, Mr. Skyros?"
"Yes, yes," said Skyros as he began pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Hi. My names Lightstring. Big fan of your show. I'm, uh, a member of the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare and White Party candidate for Sector Six of Flaming District."
"Ah yes, of course," said Skyros absentmindedly as he began fixing milk and sugar in his coffee.
"Yes, well, I notice that you talk a lot about, er, inter-party compromise on your show," said Lightstring timidly.
"Do I?" asked Skyros as he began stirring.
She looked confused, but plowed on. "Well, yes, you do, and I have a petition here for a call for both parties to work together to solve the economy problem."
"Mm-hm," grunted Skyros as he began drinking, but he was interested now.
"Anyways, we, I mean to say, the Society for the Better-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean."
"Right. Well, we have been gathering signatures from both parties and we almost have enough to elicit an official response from the Council. It would be nice, no, it would be an honor, to have your signature here."
"You want me to sign your petition?"
"Yes, if you don't mind. I mean, you always talk about compromise, and you are extremely well-known. It would be great to have your signature on here. Just to show those ponies up there in the Council that you care."
Skyros still had a blank expression, but the truth was he was listening with rapture. He did want compromise and this petition seemed to do it. How else was the Council going to respond to the cliff threat. Apparently, it wasn't enough for his White Party friends in the Council to get those ponies to work together. Why not let those old dodgers get their ear drums cracked from the public's shouts?
"Why not?" asked Skyros.
"Oh thank you so much, Mr Skyros, you don't know what this means to me, to all of us at the Society!"
"Yeah, yeah," said Skyros as he picked up a pen and signed the petition.
"Thank you again Mr. Skyros. Is it okay if we use your signature to gain publicity? You know, add support?"
"Sure, go ahead, as long as you don't interfere with my show."
"Your show?" roared the producer down the hallway.
"Don't mind him," said Skyros as Lightstring looked around in alarm. "He's always like that."
"Yes, well, thank you again Mr. Skyros. For everything."
"No problem. But hold it," entreated Skyros as Lightstring made to step outside the door.
He walked up to Lightstring. Lightstring noticed his eyes were now almost sad and tired, as though he saw many ponies like her. And indeed he had. Skyros served for some time in the Council and probably saw a lot of upstart ponies like her go through the mill. She shivered almost imperceptibly.
"Is it cold?" asked Skyros. Lightstring shook her head.
"No? Then listen. If you want to be a politician, especially a White Party candidate, you gotta be more aggressive. Okay? No more of this wishy-washy nonsense. You hear me? I expect more out of my fellow compadres. I'm counting on you and your generation to bring upon the change that needs to happen. Because we all know that change needs to happen. When the time comes, I'll stand beside you if need be. But you have to be the one that brings it about, you hear me?"
Lightstring nodded. Although Skyros was known for his cynicism and insensitivity at times, his tone now was asking, expecting, almost pleading. Lightstring could tell that Skyros had tried his best and failed. His time wasted in attempting to change what made up the basic center of pony ethics and will. Lightstring could almost feel the efforts of his past fall on her shoulders.
"Yes, Mr. Skyros. Don't worry. I'll make all of you proud."
"Good, I'll see you later then."
Lightstring walked out and closed the door behind her. She sighed and then straightened. She made a mental note to herself: do what it takes to solve this problem. She turned and walked briskly down the hallway, quite in contrast to how she walked in. That change probably saved the entire city of Baltimare.
Faraway from Baltimare, in a little town known only as Gaitsville near the Great Gorges, a rather tired-looking pony woke up, despite her rest. She had a yellow coat with red curly hair and a notebook for a cutie mark. She groaned as she sat up, and scratched her back. Just two hours ago, she had written a report for the Spring and Gait newspaper and she was rather tired.
There was something that starkly contrasted her from the rest of the ponyfolk, not just in Gaitsville, but Equestria itself. A normal pony's house consisted of decorations everywhere that served as reminder and an identifier to the denizens of the house, sort of like an I.D. card inside the house. It all had to do with pride and the want to be an individual and all that rubbish. At least that's what the mare thought. And her house showed it. Not a single part of the bare wood or ceramic walls showed any pictures, souvenirs, or anything of the like. And she liked it that way. It didn't really suit her well to have her identity plastered everywhere on the wall as a pretense of her being different or unique. She had a rather negative view on society and individualism, which explained the lack of a permanent name.
The Blank Mare, as we will call her and as all the other ponyfolk call her, was originally named Red Curl, after her curly red mane, until she shed the name aside "like a snake's skin." She felt that names and the usage of them meant that a pony was accepted into society. Well that killed her, metaphorically speaking. She didn't want anything to do with society and the other ponies. The Mare felt that the other ponies were vulgar, rude, and unappreciative of others. The very idea of names was a paradox, a societal hypocrisy, ironic considering how it was supposed to be interpreted as acceptance when some other ponies refused to accept others at all.
Yet, despite her rather radical and cynical views, she was a rather normal pony at a glance. She didn't stay at home perpetually or fear other ponyfolk like the Spotty Plague. She wandered and ambled and conversed and laughed with them like any other pony. She just liked to remain nameless, like some of the monks in Roana.
Surprisingly, her beliefs and social habits weren't the result of some arbitrary enlightenment or something of the sort. The Blank Mare had a rather interesting career. She not only was a reporter and writer for the Spring and Gait, she also acted as the investigative journalist for it. While the idea of a investigative journalist for a local newspaper like the Spring and Gait seems laughable, it wasn't funny once you meet her. The Blank Mare had a knack for making some seemingly pretentious accusations and claims of faraway influential ponies, resulting in everypony laughing at her, only to realize later that she was right. Now, nopony laughs at her. Whenever the new edition of Un-blinding comes out, only the whispers and exclamations of ponies can be heard, wondering how the Blank Mare could have gotten it right again.
Such a dangerous career does have its drawbacks. And by drawbacks, they usually mean threats, letter pranks, and more. Yet it does have its fair share of good and fun as well. It was extremely amusing to watch the accused ponies bluster and splutter as they attempt to deny their charges, unsuccessfully as well. And it forced others to reform as well. Already, well-known ponies were renouncing their "past" ways and accepting more ethical grounds in their work. At least, that's what they said, but those ponies probably changed their ways anyway. Not out of guilty conscience, but out of the looming threat of the Blank Mare's quill. So far, she had brought down some very important people like Hoity Toity, for erecting an illegal monopoly over fashion products all over Equestria, several Fillydelphia officials, on the grounds of accepting bribes in exchange for tabling legislation that would harm the bribers, and the mayor of Stalliongrad, for the cruel and unusual punishment of a group of ponies engaged in a simple brawl. And now, she had:
"Baltimare City Council Speaker Baner?" asked Mist, a longtime "friend" of the Blank Mare's, as she and the Blank Mare walked down Main Street. Mist was reading the Mare's draft of the report that she was about to send to the Spring and Gait. The Blank Mare was looking straight on, thinking deeply. She had a rather dark cloak that was covering most of her body.
"That's right. I think I got him. Normally, I stay away from politics, except for those Fillydelphia guys, but this was just too good for me to pass up," said the Mare as they walked down the street.
"I don't know," said Mist as they walked. She flipped through the draft, scanning the long sentences filled with the burning passion of accusation. The Blank Mare had a flair for writing passionate articles. "This just seems a little, you know, tame compared to what you usually write."
"True. You seem to like it though," said the Mare.
"Well, I do, but the thing is is that it's pretty boring. I mean, most ponies would like to hear some real news, like that Wonderbolt report you just sent in. You did send it in right?"
"Of course. And what's not to like about it? It seems fine to me."
Mist pursed her lips and kept reading. They reached the end of Main Street and turned left down the market.
"I mean, it just seems like something not worth writing about. So what if Speaker Baner said he wouldn't support compromise? That sounds like something all politicians would say," said Mist.
"That's the thing," explained the Mare. "Baner's supposed to be the Great Compromisor or something like that. This is definitely not like what somepony like him would say. He was the one that got all the ponies in the Council to work together and built the city's reputation around that. Now he's saying the opposite: that no other solution can be pursued. Can't you see that would be great news?"
"I don't know," said Mist. "Your reputation is based around the gossip that comes around. Stuff like the Wonderbolts. Something political and dry as this is just not what the public want."
"Well, you see, I'm not so much as doing this for my readers as I am doing it for Baltimare."
"What do you mean?"
The Blank Mare stopped suddenly. Mist almost stumbled stopping.
"You know the state Baltimare is in right?" asked the Mare.
Mist solemnly nodded. Everypony had heard the news about Baltimare's declining condition. Even Canterlot had heard of it. Princess Celestia had met with the mayor multiple times to discuss the state of the economy in the city.
"Good. Then you'll see why something like this is necessary."
"I don't see how something like this would help them them though," said Mist as they started walking again.
"Well, it could force Baner to start working to compromise, like he should. Hopefully that'll give Baltimare the policies they need to get better."
"I don't understand. You turned from a normal column news author to this political crusader who helps the ponyfolk rise up."
"That's the point," said the Mare. "I started this entire thing to make sure that ponies got the right news and make them see that those high and lofty ponies are not all good. Quite the opposite in fact. I'm actually disappointed to see all these ponies interpret my work as some sort of gossip column they check every Wednesday to hear the latest news on who did what last week."
The two mares didn't say anything else as they walked down the rest of the marketplace. They closed in on the headquarters for Spring and Gait.
"Well, I'm sorry that you don't like the article. But I'm sure my readers in Baltimare will. I have to go to work now," said the Mare.
"Oh, it's not that I don't like it. It's just, well... it's targeted for ponies who like politics and government and stuff like that. It's not appealing," said Mist.
"I'm not trying to make it appealing. I'm trying to be an honest journalist who tells things like they are. Like they are supposed to be," said the Mare as she walked up the stairs.
The Blank Mare walked through the door and down the lobby, up the stairs, and to her office. Right as she was about to open the door, a hoof roughly shoved it aside.
"Excuse me," said the Mare indignantly as she looked up and at the pony who just shoved her hoof aside, who was a pegasus mare. The pegasus glared at her.
"Listen to me, and listen good, curly," said the pegasus. The Mare raised her eyebrows.
"I know you now and I know where you work, so you better change your mind on some of the things you write, or I will make you change them myself," threatened the pegasus angrily.
The Mare smiled and laughed derisively. "You and what army? You think you can stop the force of truth?"
The pegasus grimaced. "You think you're so high and mighty. But I bet you're like those ponies you write about. Corrupted and weak."
The Blank Mare glared back at the pegasus and said, "And if I were as weak as those losers, do you think I would stand up to you like this? I think I got a pretty good idea what kind of a pony you are. Or rather, what you will never amount to be. You're just some blind, sycophantic, overly fanatic Wonderbolts fan who loves whatever they say or do and just laps it up like a dog laps up water. You just love them so much that you decided to pay me a lovely warm visit to make me reconsider what we already know is the truth. You think you can scare me and make me delete the entire article? Think again, sister. I already had dozens of callers so far who've done way better than and you and you're pathetic little attempts to threaten me. At least they can string a somewhat eloquent argument against me instead of your ridiculous attempts to scare me using your supposed physical prowess that comes as a flyer apparently. And judging by your presence here, it seems like you are familiar with my writing. Well, you should know by now that I won't back down no matter what happens. You think my writing doesn't get heat? It gets so much heat that it'll burn you up into a crisp. Actually, maybe not, because your blinded passion for your little air ponies and your misguided anger and frustration must have already gotten you used to heat by now."
These words obviously hit home within the pegasus. She backed down, shocked. The Mare, however, was just getting started.
"You really think you can stop the truth? You're mistaken. You've heard about how fast a lie travels, right? How it can travel around the world before the truth can get it's boots on? Well, the lie can travel as far and as fast as it can want. But the truth is a different case. Once the truth gets its boots on, there's no stopping it. It can cut a swath into the most corrupted territories and expel even the most darkest clouds. It can bring upon mass enlightenment and destroy the most ingrained and fiery passions. It can do anything once it's out. And that's my job. To make sure that all you blind readers out there can see what the world is like. And I don't use the word "blind" to disparage. It's not your fault that you can't see. You all have been blinded since you were born. But it's my job to help guide the truth to your eyes and make them see again. So begging your pardon, miss, but I need to get on with my work. I have another article to publish and it thankfully has nothing to do with your flying pals who churn out smoke like a train engine. So step aside, or I will have to call security to remove you for wasting 5 minutes of my time and for entering premises without any substantial purpose other than to prove yourself a complete, utter, and abject idiot."
The whole building was silent by the time the Blank Mare was done. Despite the fact that this type of occurrence happened every month or so, it was always nice to hear what the Mare had to say. And the ponies inside weren't disappointed. The pegasus meanwhile was crushed. She sucked her breath in shakily and flew out in a dash. The guard opened the door as she flew out and noticed that her face was screwed up in pain, as though she was about to cry. Meanwhile, the Blank Mare opened her office door and sat down in her seat. Suddenly, the editor walked in.
"Um, Blank? You said you have another article?"
The Mare tossed her draft on the table. She looked up with a neutral face.
"Run it. And I don't care what you think. This is for the good of the city of Baltimare."
"Right, Blank. Catch you later," said the editor. He rushed out and down to the printing press.
The Blank Mare eased back in her chair. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be an employee, despite that fact that the editor was supposed to be her boss, despite the fact that she officially had no name and nopony could ever figure it out, it was not hard to see that she ran the show around the press.
It was early morning. Celestia hadn't even risen the sun yet. The streets of Ponyville were empty and clean. Not a single soul could be seen or heard as the wind blew across the quiet lanes.
The Ponyville Gazette remarked that Ponyville was a great town for ponies who wanted to just to rest without worry in the sleepy night. They weren't wrong. Most of the time.
This time however, a loud, persistent banging rang throughout the entire town. Lights switched on and ponies looked out sleepily and indignantly to find the source of the disturbance.
"Rainbow? Rainbow! Get out right now!" cried out Twilight as she banged on the door of the building that Rainbow Dash was hiding in.
"No!" came the muffled reply.
Twilight groaned explosively. With her were her friends Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Applejack looked on with concern while Pinkie Pie chuckled and snorted with laughter.
"Twilight? Ah' think it would be best to, er, let her lay down for a bit," said Applejack.
"Lay down?!" Twilight rounded on Applejack now. "She's probably in my bed right now!"
"Oh yeah, right." They looked up at the tree that was the library, where Twilight lived, and back down at the door.
"Oh come on out Dashie. It'll be all right!" said Pinkie Pie with a rather large smile.
"Oh Pinkie Pie, go away!" cried out Rainbow Dash. "All of you go away! I want to be by myself!"
Twilight looked livid. Applejack could almost see the line of smoke that appeared on her horn. She quickly stepped in.
"Um, Rainbow, this is Twilight's home. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to, um, have some alone time in her house."
No answer. Applejack nervously looked around her.
"That's it!" cried out Twilight. Without warning, she bucked the library door. Of course, it stayed shut. Instead of trying again, Twilight turned around and simply blasted the door with a beam of magic. The door was literally knocked out of its hinges and flew across to the other side of the library, knocking over dozens of books. She ran in and stood in the middle of the library, steaming.
"Rainbow! Come on out, right now!"
"Found her!" said Pinkie Pie. She was pointing to a branch over Twilight's bed. Rainbow Dash was lying on the branch, her back toward them, holding what looked like a copy of the Ponyville Gazette.
"Come on Dashie! Get out of there already! Let's go do something else fun! This place is way too musty for a party. I mean, the first time, it had to be done, 'cause of Twilight and everything, but now..."
She rambled on as Twilight climbed the stairs, fuming, closely followed by Applejack. She reached the top and yelled, "Rainbow! Get down here right now!"
When Rainbow proved still recalcitrant, Twilight seemed to have had enough. Her horn glowed as Rainbow was surrounded by an aura of magic. Twilight shifted her away from the branch and simply dropped her. Rainbow Dash didn't even respond to the intentional fall and continued staring at the Gazette. Twilight stepped up to her.
"Twilight. Ah' think you gotta let it go now. Rainbow Dash doesn't seem like herself right now," said Applejack nervously.
"Nonsense! Get up right now!"
Twilight stepped over her, grabbed the newspaper, and pulled it out of her hands. To her utmost surprise, Rainbow Dash was crying. Tears streamed out of her purple eyes as she bit her lower lip. She suddenly reached up and grabbed Twilight around the neck and pulled her in for a close, tight hug. Twilight struggled to free herself as Rainbow Dash sobbed. Applejack stood nearby, torn between amusement and sadness. She had never really seen Rainbow cry, and although she could use it to taunt Rainbow for forever, she felt remorse and pity for Rainbow. What on Equestria could have made her like this?
As Pinkie continued on and on about her most recent parties and the ponies whose birthdays were coming up and local townsponies stuck their heads in curiosity, Applejack looked at the newspaper that had slid out of Twilight's still struggling hooves. She grabbed it, jumped on Twilight's bed, and flipped to the front page. The top headline was: Wonderbolts Shamed! The sub-headlines read "The Blank Mare strikes again as she uncovers the worst conspiracy in the National Advanced Team Flying Competitions in history!"
As she read, Rainbow Dash finally let go of Twilight all of a sudden. Twilight jumped out, stumbled backward from the force, and bashed her head against the wall. She fell down dizzily. Rainbow then turned to Applejack and jumped on her for another hugging session.
"Sweetheart, get off. Ah' know you're upset, but let's talk about this."
As she said this, she struggled against Rainbow's death grip, not helped by the fact that she was strong. However, she proved more successful than Twilight did and had her pincer grip broken by the time a procession of curious ponies, Pinkie Pie, and Spike climbed up the staircase.
"Twilight!" exclaimed Spike, and he rushed over to help Twilight, who was still rather dizzy. Rainbow Dash immediately turned toward the window to prevent the crowd from seeing her tears while Applejack stood up.
"Um, could y'all leave? We have to, er, talk to Rainbow Dash about something," she awkwardly said.
"Come on everypony. Party at Sugarcube Corner! Come on!" said Pinkie Pie as she pranced all over the floor.
At this point, Twilight seemed to have recovered. She shook her head and stood up. "All right, everypony. Nothing to see here. You should all head back home."
"Yeah, but we should all head to Sugarcube Corner, because Mr. and Mrs. Cake's got a huge new recipe worked out, and..." rambled Pinkie, as the ponies all headed back out. As they headed out, Twilight used her magic to fit the door back on to cover the hole.
As soon as the doorway was covered again, Rainbow Dash immediately began tearing up again.
"Spike! Get a tissue or something," said Applejack.
"Right!" said Spike as he went downstairs.
"Okay, okay. What's this all about?" asked Twilight as she came back up the stairs again.
"This," replied Applejack, and she tossed Twilight the newspaper. Twilight stopped it in midair with her telekinesis. She read the front page and her eyebrows raised in shock.
"Rainbow..." began Twilight, but Rainbow Dash waved her down. Spike came up with a tissue and handed it to Rainbow Dash.
"Thanks," she murmured as she wiped her eyes.
Meanwhile, Twilight was perusing the article with extreme speed. Her pupils seems to speed across her eye at light speed as she read it, her lips curling down in disdain as she read the article.
"This is all stupid. 'Cheating,' 'defying the very ethics of pony nature,' 'just another example of extremism in pony competition,' 'demonstrating an immature desire to win.' All nonsense," she said as she folded up the newspaper.
"It's all true though," wailed Rainbow Dash. "She's got records of some hidden conversations between them, straight-up interviews with known affiliates of the team who all say they have been cheating, statements from the officials of the NATFC League, everything. She's got everypony who's important and who's trustworthy."
"This can't be right," said Twilight as she walked up to Rainbow Dash.
"It is though. Spitfire even confessed to it," said Rainbow Dash.
"She confessed to it?" asked Applejack.
Rainbow Dash nodded and sighed.
"Ah' bet this is all a load of tosh. This 'Blank Mare' character probably set these ponies up to it," said Applejack.
"Doubt it," said Twilight, looking at the article again. "It says here they have statements from a total of 5 volunteers of the team, 3 of the organizers and directors, 10 NATFC officials, 2 psychologists, 1 Canterlot official, and Spitfire herself. She has pretty much everypony she could think of that would be credible and important in a scandal like this."
"She could've tricked them," said Applejack stubbornly.
"Possibly," said Twilight. "Although I don't think that's a possibility. Bribing, blackmailing, tricking, and even manipulating them would be easily detectable with a large source as this. Besides, I'm pretty sure that it would take too long for this Mare to do."
"She probably has a whole team," reasoned Applejack.
Twilight said nothing. Applejack would probably continue on this for a long time. She was extremely dedicated to her friends, and she would definitely support Rainbow Dash at a time like this.
"Don't Applejack," said Rainbow Dash. "I've already decided it's true. Let's face it, she's got, like, 21 ponies who all say that they're guilty, and she also got Spitfire to confess as well."
"I still say they're innocent," said Applejack.
"Well, it says here that this 'Blank Mare' reporter has been successful in the past. All her accusations turn out to be true. She's gotten a lot of ponies in trouble because of her writing. I doubt that this time would be different. This time, it looks like she has a lot more sources than usual," said Twilight.
The three became silent, while Spike hovered in the background. The sun rose as they all remained motionless, each lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, a knock came on the door, which instantly feel upon the floor. The sound all brought the ponies back down to earth and Applejack and Rainbow Dash both stood up.
"Spike, could you go see who that is?" asked Twilight.
Spike rushed downstairs.
"Rainbow, you feeling all right? Need anything else?" asked Twilight.
"No, it's fine. Thanks for asking. I should go, I mean, I have some important weather duties to do. See you all later."
She walked up to the balcony to take off. Twilight and Applejack walked back down to the first floor.
"I have a priority-one letter here for a Miss Twilight Sparkle," said a mail pony, who was holding up a rather bulky looking envelope.
"Oh, thank you," said Twilight and she pulled it toward her and opened it. A rather large packet and a letter slid out.
"Good day to you, ma'am," said the mail pony, and he walked out. Spike, with difficulty, grabbed the door and placed it back over the doorway. Meanwhile, Twilight and Applejack read the letter. It went something like:
To a Miss Twilight Sparkle,
The Society for the Betterment of Baltimare is pleased to announce that we have successfully launched a petition to call for bipartisan legislation in order to solve the economic situation in our city. We are happy to announce that we have received over a 1000 signatures from ponies within the city and would like to extend the petition to member ponies existing in residential areas outside of Baltimare. If you wish to, please sign the petition and send it to the following address:
The Society for the Betterment of Baltimare Headquarters 1337 Main Street, Baltimare, 20556
We appreciate your past support for our cause and would like to extend a word of thanks to those who don't live in our city but still choose to support us. If you are looking for a travel opportunity, you may choose to visit our fair city of Baltimare for a 30% reduction on all hotel stays and participating restaurant orders.
Sincerely,
Bright Seeking, Manager of SBB
Blueberry, Treasury of SBB
Lightstring, Honorary Member of SBB
and White Party Candidate for S6, FD
"Um, Twilight, what's this?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, nothing much," said Twilight, with the air of a pony who didn't want to talk about things. She rolled up the letter and the packet and began walking upstairs, Applejack following her.
"Oh, come on Twilight. You can tell me," said Applejack.
"Applejack, it's nothing important," said Twilight.
"Oh come on, ah' can keep a secret," said Applejack.
"This coming from the pony whose Element of Harmony is Honesty," said Twilight.
"You have a point there," conceded Applejack, as Twilight flattened out the packet on her desk and began looking through it. "But think about it," she continued on. "If ah' was honest, which ah' am, and ah' tell you ah' can keep a secret, shouldn't that tell you that ah' would keep it?"
Twilight did admit that there was a point in that. And Applejack was capable of lying to the point where he prevented Pinkie Pie from knowing about the secret birthday party they had planned out for her.
"Still, it's nothing important. I just signed up to be a member of the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare, that's all," said Twilight.
"Why would you do that?" asked Applejack. "You live in Ponyville last time ah' checked."
"Yes, but I wanted to help Baltimare. You know the state it's in," said Twilight, as she read the long list of names in the petition.
"Eh... Not really," said Applejack.
Twilight sighed. "It's just in a really bad state. Ponies are actually becoming homeless there. Some don't even have enough to eat."
"Now that's just ridiculous," said Applejack. "Baltimare has a large apple orchard. My aunt Apple Fritters runs it. How could they be hungry?"
"Speaking of Apple Fritters, she is in a bit of a tight situation. You must know she is trying her best, but there's just too many ponies to feed," said Twilight.
"How do you know her?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, I've met her. I've also met with several Council members and Bright Seeking. They all must value my input," said Twilight.
"Wait, ponies from Baltimare have been coming up all that way to visit you?" asked Applejack.
"Well, yeah," said Twilight, as she closed the petition and placed it down. "They all seemed to like the stuff I come up with."
"Like what?" asked Applejack.
"Well," said Twilight as they walked back down to the first floor. "I helped organize a couple of their meets and helped come up with a year long schedule for their aims and courses. Just stuff like that."
"So all that time you've been stuck up here, you've been helping ponies off in a distant city instead of spending time with us?" inquired Applejack.
"Well, yes, but please don't think badly of me. I do still remember all of you, so no worries," said Twilight as she brought down a large book on economy. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do. I need to do more research on economy, sign that petition, research some more on the effects of light on magic, and then go to lunch with Fluttershy."
"Right," said Applejack. "See you later."
"Bye," replied Twilight, as she climbed up the stairs with her book. Applejack opened the door, which promptly fell to the ground again.
"Ah'll take care of that!" called out Applejack, as Twilight sighed.
"To tell you the truth," said Skyros. "All the ponies in the Council are as close to fighting as Equestria and the Chrysalis Kingdom are. Joining me now is Sneaky Slate, who's currently in the middle of the City Council. Slate?"
Skyros was in the middle of a weekly show. His suit was still in a mess, yet his smile made up for that as he and the crowd turned their attention to a screen that was rising up from beneath the table.
"Hey Skyros, you called?" said a fast yet quiet voice.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did Slate," said Skyros. "I was wondering: what's the situation now in the Council?"
"Oh, yes, it's still horrible," said Sneaky Slate. "I'm currently hiding in a briefcase. It's really dark in here." The crowd chuckled. "I can show you some of the action. Just give a me a second, and..."
A crack of light appeared on the screen. The fuzzy quality of a video camera was briefly seen as the camera adjusted to the sudden light source. Slate's briefcase was in the middle of the Council floor. The middle was completely empty, but on the right wing of the room, ponies with white garments were staring down at the left wing of the room, where other ponies clad in blue stood defiantly. Both sides were glaring at each other without mercy. Nopony moved or made a sound. All eyes were on each other.
"As you can see," whispered Slate. "Things are looking terrible out here. Just one sound and both sides will start cutting throats."
"I see," said Skyros. "And where's Speaker Baner?"
"Oh, the libies got him. He's up there." The camera pointed up to reveal that Baner was revolving in the center of the ceiling. He was hogtied and gagged. He struggled viciously against his bonds, but it only served to make him swing from both sides of the room.
"Charming," said Skyros. "I suppose both sides got tired of him swinging from both sides, eh?"
The crowd laughed. Slate meanwhile drew up a pin and held it to the camera.
"What do you have there?" asked Skyros.
"Oh, just a little something to cause some fun," said Slate cunningly as he held out the pin and dropped it. It hit the floor with a tiny clatter.
Immediately, all the ponies screamed and yelled and took cover, but then stood back up to see the little pin on the floor. They then started arguing loudly, rushing over to the middle of the room.
"Well," said Slate over the din. "That was fun."
"It's not over yet, by the looks of it," said Skyros. "Anyways, nice job out there Slate. I'll see you later."
"Count on it," said Slate. The lid closed and the screen became black again. The TV set lowered as Skyros turned to face the crowd.
"Ah, yep. He isn't called the Sneaky Slate for nothing. A briefcase! My word..."
Skyros paused to chuckle for a bit, before continuing on a different rant.
"Of course, as you all very well know, the election of our Council members is coming up tomorrow. I'm sure all of you will do your duty to making sure that we don't make the same mistake again."
The crowd nodded and whooped. Most of them had actually already cast their votes, in an early voter ballot set up by the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare.
"Well, as you all know, we have only a month to go until things become even worse. Taxes are expected to go higher, income pay lower, prices will increase, and much much more. That's of course if we still can't find a way to work together, which we haven't so far. "I mean, what's so hard about a bipartisan economic legislation? There are already three Blue guys in the Economic Management Committee, what on Equestria are they doing? They've all gone mad, I can tell you that. Well, maybe they're actually fighting."
The siren wailed again, signaling an end to the show. "Well, that's it for this morning. Come back next week for an interview of a certain somepony who will probably serve in the Council, and mess us over perhaps. See you all later. Have a great day!"
The crowd clapped and the screen lowered. Skyros jumped out of his seat and rushed out. The producer opened the door right as Skyros was about to reach for the handle.
"Skyros, you have a visitor. He'll meet you in 5 minutes in the dressing room."
Skyros nodded and rushed down to the dressing room and took off his suit. As he finished, the door opened and in walked a sky-blue, actual white mane stallion pegasus with a large book for his cutie mark.
"Hey, what do you know, it's Mary!" exclaimed Skyros and he jumped over to shake his hoof. The pegasus looked miffed.
"Long time no see pal!" said Skyros after shaking his hoof and inviting him in. He closed the door. "What brings you here?"
"I prefer you call me by my common name, Weather. Or at least my real name, Meriwether," said the pegasus. He had a rather distinct Trottingham accent.
"Ah, come on Mary! Lighten up! It's for old time's sake. Or at least, for my time's sake. You're still in the Council, right?"
Meriwether nodded stiffly. He was only a couple years younger than Skyros and both were quite young. The two of them in the same room was almost like a sort of childhood friendship reunion.
Meriwether was Councilpony of Sector Three of Soaring District and was very proud of his position. Despite the fact that he came from Trottingham and lived in Cloudsdale for most of his colt years, he was still very loyal to his district. He had met Skyros as a young colt when he visited family in Baltimare with his father and they became quick friends. In just a week, both ponies were strong, close friends and they would leave for hours on end. Both were proud of the fact that their coats were the same color.
When Meriwether left, they constantly sent each other letters, describing their life in their respective homes. Meriwether envied Skyros and Baltimare, which was still rich at the time, and grew to dislike his home in Cloudsdale, regarding it as an extremely arrogant and aristocratic state and left it as soon as he passed his flying test. He moved to Baltimare and met with Skyros again, discovering that he had just been voted in the City Council. Meriwether grew impressed and started studying law and politics. He already have a passion for learning and studying, evidenced by his cutie mark, and quickly grew in knowledge and popularity, as he also was extremely adept in taking care of the Baltimare weather.
By the time the elections for the Council ran again, Meriwether had built himself an impressive reputation, maintaining friendships with the current and past mayors, several Council members, and many important weather pegasi. He was a new yet successful lawyer and he helped draft a health bill that would ensure that all pegasi had healthy wings. He ran for office for Sector Three as a Blue candidate and got in after a landslide election. He served with some distinction, but quickly grew bored with politics. The only thing keeping himself in the Council room was his love for Sector Three, evidenced by his pushes to help the citizens in their work and constantly performing casework to assist his fellow pegasi. In short, he was just your average extremely successful representative who loves his district whose name was worthy enough to get in a textbook.
"Right," said Skyros. "Sit down. Tell me what's happening. There must have been some changes I missed ever since I left."
"You're mistaken," said Meriwether. "Not much has changed. Especially the ponies in there. You know there have been a total of only 6 replacements since you left, what? 2 years ago? For a total of 2 terms, only 6 seats changed."
Skyros nodded. "Its the voters. They all just blindly vote for the pony whose plot is already in office. It's all natural. It's why I quit. All for moral purposes."
"Well yes," said Meriwether. "But I don't think your point was big enough. Like I said, only 6 seats were filled by new ponies. The rest? All just a bunch of old dodgers."
"Now don't say that," said Skyros, in a chiding and teasing manner. Meriwether however, was not amused and scowled.
"You say it all the time on your show. And I'm afraid it's true."
"It's what we all say," said Skyros. "Come on, you must have something new to tell me. Oh! I know! We can start on that Cutie Mark Discovery Tutorship bill. Why do you support it? I thought you were a Cyan pony?"
The Cyan faction was the more conservative wing of the Blue Party, named because cyan was a lighter shade of blue. The left-wing liberals were called the Navy wing.
"I am. I don't even know where that ridiculous rumor about all the Blue Party guys supporting the bill even came from. It's obviously not true. The Cyan faction doesn't support it at all," said Meriwether dismissively.
"Yeah. I sure sure you and your 5 friends do make a difference," said Skyros in a belittling tone.
Meriwether raised his left eyebrow. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. It's just that, out of the entire Blue Party, there are only a few that are right-wing liberal."
"We do make a difference. The Council members do listen to us," said Meriwether defensively.
"Right," said Skyros in a sarcastic tone. "Anyways, if you don't support it, you don't oppose it either. Otherwise, how could those news stations say all of them supported the bill?"
"Well, yes, we don't actually oppose the bill."
"Shouldn't you?" asked Skyros. "I mean, the right-wing White ponies are supporting it. It would make sense that you guys should seeing that you're supposed to be more to the left of the political spectrum than those ponies. This bill screams out liberalism. Equality and freedom and what not for the middle-class."
"Well, yes, but we feel as though it will only put more strain on the ponies for little benefit."
"You mean that it will put more strain on the rich. Isn't that what all you Blue Party guys want?" asked Skyros.
Meriwether raised his eyebrows in disdain. "It's not like that Skyros. You know that. You seem to really like the straw man fallacy. We're not in favor of singling a single part of our socioeconomic class. We just like to make sure that we get the funds necessary to help our city from those who can spare it."
Skyros smiled innocently. "That's what you all say. Listen, you guys want to increase taxes to increase revenue."
"For the rich-" began Meriwether, but he didn't get far.
"Well, you see," said Skyros. "We need to control spending. That's easy. What we need right now is compromise. A combination of increased revenue and controlled spending should be what this economy needs."
"That's just it though," said Meriwether. "We're not anywhere close to beginning to compromise. We're all increasingly polarized. The Blue Party wants this bill in. The White Party guys want it dead. I'm afraid this bill just made everything much worse for us."
"Then we'll make them see that compromise is necessary," replied Skyros defiantly.
"Skyros, come on. How?" asked Meriwether insistently.
"Simple. We get our friends in the right spaces and fill the remaining one with our friends."
"Again. How?"
"Again, simple. I have my friends in the White Party. You have yours."
"Like I said, Skyros, I'm a Cyan guy. It'd would be hard to make my voice heard in the mainstream party," said Meriwether.
"Not too hard though. We need you in a position of power to make an influence."
"And where would that be exactly?"
"Simple. You're head of the Weather Commission in the Environmental Concern Committee, right?"
"Right," affirmed Meriwether. "I don't see how that would help us though. It's a subcommittee in one of the smallest committees in the entire Council. Even if I were to move up, it wouldn't help our cause that much."
"You're forgetting something. Whoever is head of the Environmental Concern Committee is the Environment representative in the Economic Management Committee."
"Not necessarily," said Meriwether. "As long as the Environmental representative in the EMC is still voted in office, he or she can stay as long as he or she wants until he or she is voted out of office. I thought you knew that."
"What about the fact that the current representative is old and lazy? He's bound to be voted out. Or at least, kicked out or demoted by the EMC."
"The elections are tomorrow. The results will come in by the end of the day. Most ponies have already filled out their ballots already. How will I move into the Head of the ECC by the end of tomorrow?" asked Meriwether.
"That's where I come in. I have my friends. I'll have them recommend you in position by the time he is voted out."
"And what if he isn't?"
"By Celestia, are you a pessimist or what?" asked Skyros. "Try and look at the good side of things please. I'll have my friends kick him out if he does stay in. There, happy?"
"You talk about your friends as if they own the EMC," said Meriwether accusingly.
"Well, they kind of do," said Skyros. "I have three guys in the EMC who are willing to do what I ask them."
"So, why can't you ask them to compromise?"
"I have. Multiple times. It's your Navy guys in the Council who are messing everything up. Listen, we'll get to that later. Anyways, once you are representative to the EMC, you're in the most powerful committee in the entire Council. With those other Blue guys in the committee with you, if you guys start yelling for compromise for my friends, we can get a bipartisan legislation for us in no time."
"I don't know," said Meriwether doubtfully. "There's just so many things that can go wrong. Besides, even if we do get a compromise started, who'll support it? I'm sure the center guys would support it, maybe the moderates for both partiess, but certainly not the radicals. They'll definitely want to see their way go. Even if all the moderates from the parties support the bill, whose to say the mayor would pass it?"
"The mayor will definitely pass it. She'll like to see things finally through. Besides, stop worrying. The central guys are in the bag. The moderates should be easy enough to convince. The radicals? Who cares? Taken, there're only like, 15 of them. That means that if things go well, we'll have a supermajority vote easy."
"I sure hope you're right," said Meriwether in a worried manner. "I don't want to see all our work go down the drain."
"Neither do I, Mary, but we all risk that chance once a bill is drafted. It just becomes a part of being a politician."
Meriwether still looked anxious however; enough to even not feel offended by the insult to his name again.
"Cheer up Mary," said Skyros. "Come on, there's gonna be a new restaurant opening near the headquarters of the Society. It's gonna be like a 4 star one. It's only gonna be a couple of days until they open. I'll treat you to some dinner for your new position, which I'm sure you're gonna have in the bag. So lighten up!"
"I guess you're right," said Meriwether, although he was still doubtful.
"Of course I'm right. It's why I'm in the White Party. Now come on, let's go for a walk. You need it."
Meriwether nodded. Both of the ponies stepped out of the dressing room, navigated through the building, and stepped out. Although crisis was supposed to hit in a month or so, the city still looked like a jewel. The lights from the skyscrapers shone like a bright crystal. And despite the fact that it would need some polishing, Skyros was confident that they would eventually get their city back to its original luster.
It was dark and most of the ponies in Baltimare were going to bed, in the hopes that tomorrow would be better, that the daylight would save them from the impending doom of the economic collapse. However, Precinct #29, Flaming District, Sector 6 was still open with lights streaming out of the open door and windows. Inside, ponies rushed past desperately, grabbing ballots in bundles and tossing them to others.
"Will somepony please tell me we have the ballots counted and numerically organized?!" asked the precinct manager, angrily as he came from a long visit to the bathroom.
Behind him, 10 or so ponies were feverishly counting or organizing the ballots and double-checking. Clipboards with tally marks were set next to those who were counting and those ponies were checking off a tally every ballot. The two options were Council Representative Gold Digger and SBB member Lightstring. The tally marks were adding up and both sides appeared close. One by one, each pony finished their ballots and jumped to help the rest. As the ballot pile at the end of the table shrunk, the ponies grew visibly tired, until three of them collapsed from exhaustion. Finally-
"Sir!" called out a mare from the end weakly.
The ever-so-energetic manager quickly walked up and grabbed the clipboard the mare was holding, counting the total votes for both candidates. The manager took a look at the bottom at the winner's name just as the doors burst open. Lightstring rushed in, surrounded by anxious supporters. She was wearing a campaign button on her disheveled dress and looked out of breath.
"Did-? Did we-?" asked Lightstring in a gasp.
The manager got up and tossed the clipboard at her. She caught it in the air by levitating it and took a look at the name at the bottom. The crowd nervously stood behind her, holding their breaths, not daring to say anything.
Lightstring shook as turned around, tears in her eyes, her face strained and she frowned wobbly.
"I'm sorry everypony..."
The crowd sighed and looked away, disappointed. They had spent hours standing outside to vote.
"That I have to say I'm moving to Central District, because I got in!"
The crowd appeared stunned. The manager started laughing uproariously and the crowd began chuckling as well. Soon, the precinct was filled with the noise of laughter and cheering. Two pegasi soared up, grabbed Lightstring, and held her on their backs as they all moved out, cheering and singing. The procession became louder and noisier as they all moved toward Central District, which wasn't too far away. As they got closer to the headquarters for the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare, the crowd noticed a sight that made them cheer and whoop louder than ever. At the door stood Princess Celestia herself, who smiled and walked up to Lightstring, who was set down at the front of the crowd. She immediately bowed.
"Princess Celestia? What brings you here?" asked Lightstring.
"Well, I was here for one of my routine visits of Baltimare and I decided to come check on the Society. I wholeheartedly support your movement and I must commend you ponies for being so resourceful and active."
"Oh," said Lightstring as she straightened. "Did you meet them already?"
"Oh no," said Princess Celestia. "You see, when I head you were running for representative in the Council, I decided to wait here to either comfort you or congratulate you. So, my congratulations to your successful efforts. I pray that you bring good change to this city."
"Oh, thank you Your Majesty," Lightstring said graciously.
"Lightstring!" called out a stallion. Celestia and Lightstring turned to the entrance of the headquarters to look at the entrance to the headquarters, where the voice came from. The stallion was looking concerned and anxious and rushed over. His mane was a golden-brown and his coat was a bright yellow, not the best combination he would often admit.
"Bright!" said Lightstring, rushing forward.
Princess Celestia walked forward while the crowd talked and laughed as they walked back to Sector 6.
"So-?" began the stallion, but Lightstring completed his sentence.
"I got in! I got in the Council!"
"Magnificent! Spectacular! An actual member! In the Council, oh my. Lightstring, fantastic job. Just what I'd expected."
"Are you Bright Seeking?" asked Celestia as she arrived at the doorway.
Bright Seeking bowed. "Indeed I am Princess. Come in, it does get chilly out after a while. You said you would like to talk to us?"
"Yes, that would be nice," said Princess Celestia as they walked in. As they got in the lobby, the ponies inside stomped and whooped.
"Mares and stallions. We have here our first member in the Council!" cried out Bright Seeking.
The ponies inside cheered and stomped louder.
"And please don't forget to welcome our very own Princess Celestia!" cried out Bright Seeking as everypony bowed. Celestia smiled graciously and bowed back.
"Now, gather around everypony. I have some rather important news, then Celestia, me, and Lightstring will discuss some important matters. "As you all very well know, we have sent out the petition nation wide now, so every supporter of ours outside the city will get a chance to sign the bill. However, I have received news from a Council member that he intends to propose a bipartisan compromise bill to save our economy."
The crowd got excited and started muttering.
"Doubtless, our influence has helped bring upon this change. However, we must continue to act, no matter what! The future of Baltimare is in our hands as well as the Council members' hands. We must all act together, no matter whether we are conservative, liberal, or moderate. We must all learn to act for our own betterment of our fair city."
The ponies started cheering again, including Lightstring. Celestia looked around. Everypony was so happy, excited, and dedicated. Everything about the Society was good. It's leaders, it's members, even the headquarters looked nice. Celestia had to admit that these ponies probably beat those in the affluent Canterlot Advancement Society. All you had to do was look at their faces: they screamed conviction and loyalty. Whoever said Baltimare was not the City of Light and Harmony anymore was sorely wrong in Celestia's opinion. Looking at the Council wasn't enough. You had to look at the citizens in the city itself.
"Your Majesty," said Bright Seeking.
He waved her forward toward a room at the end of the lobby. The ponies grew contented and began talking among themselves. Lightstring was just about to join the two when:
"Heard you made it," said a familiar voice.
Lightstring turned around and got a pleasant surprise. Skyros and a pegasus were walking toward her.
"Yes, I did. I'm you're White mare for Section 6."
Skyros smiled while the pegasus looked around.
"Marvelous," said the pegasus. "I never really thought your headquarters would be this nice."
"Well, thank you," said Lightstring.
"So Lightstring, I'm sure you heard by now that my fellow Blue Council member Meriwether here is planning to start a bipartisan economic legislation."
"That's the one? He's it?" asked Lightstring
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Meriwether indignantly.
"Nothing," said Lightstring quickly. "It's just that-"
"Hey, not to fast Meriwether. Lighten up. You aren't really well known," said Skyros.
"Well, I'm not now, unless you actually got that Environment representative position for me."
"Wait, so you were electioneering?" asked Lightstring accusingly.
"What? No! I mean, not necessarily," said Skyros defensively.
Lightstring raised her eyebrows in mockery. Skyros was at a loss of words.
Meriwether cleared his throat. "At any rate, Lightstring, I'm going to need all your help in making sure that this bill is drafted first of all and then passed. If it's going to be bipartisan, I'm going to need the support of both parties of course. What faction are you incidently?"
"Moderate," said Lightstring, still looking at Skyros.
"Right. That ought to tie up the moderate vote in the White Party somewhat. All we need is- Are you two even listening?" Meriwether added frustratingly. Lightstring was glaring at Skyros harder than ever and he refused to meet her gaze.
Meriwether sighed in a frustrated manner. "I guess we'll have it all worked out in the end. Lightstring, I should like to meet with you and the rest of the Society if possible."
"Right," said Lightstring, who finally decided to take a break from staring Skyros down to flames. "I'll call for you when there's a good time."
"Excellent. This has to be done in a week or so. We'll hit the bottom in just a month from now, so I need all efforts concentrated on this matter. Right, come along Skyros, we need to head home."
Meriwether turned and began walking out, but stopped when he realized that Skyros wasn't following him. He turned around and saw him staring off deeply into space.
"Skyros!" yelled Meriwether.
Skyros shook his head and looked up. "Oh, right, coming!" he said. Skyros rushed to Meriwether's side. As they left, he turned around and waved good-bye. Meriwether was utterly confused.
"What was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" asked Skyros.
"Your behaviour. Back there. You acted like you were hit in the head or something."
"What? Oh, well, you know. Would you like being accused of electioneering?" Skyros asked.
"No, I wouldn't, but it's not that. I can tell it's not about that. Skyros, is there something you'd like to tell me? You were acting weirdly back there. You were quiet, almost timid. The Skyros I know definitely is not like that. I certainly don't need my main White Party liaison going in a diddly!"
"No," said Skyros, a little too quickly. "Nothing. It's all fine." He turned away and started humming.
Meriwether raised his eyebrows. "Skyros, if you're not feeling all right, if there's something you'd like to tell me, then-"
"Meriwether, stop worrying," said Skyros. "It's perfectly all right. I'm in control."
Meriwether shook his head and the two walked off in silence.
Lightstring meanwhile turned around to face Bright Seeking, who was looking at her with a sly smile.
"Having fun?" he asked. Lightstring smiled shyly.
"He seems like a nice stallion," said Bright Seeking. "You thinking about a very special pony?"
Lightstring looked shocked. "No! I mean, maybe, but you know, now's not the time..."
Bright Seeking raised his eyebrows and smiled again. "Come on, Princess Celestia says she wants to talk to us."
The two walked into a small, brightly lit room off to the side of the building. Faraway, they could hear the chatter of the ponies who were staying behind. Everypony sounded cheerful, exuberant about their victory, but the mood in the room was more solemn. Princess Celestia trotted into the room a moment later and the three began talking in low voices, despite the fact that nopony was likely to listen and their voices probably couldn't have been heard over the loud conversations.
"It's certainly going to be a close one Princess," said Bright Seeking. "Even if we were to enact a successful bipartisan economic legislation, we would still have to wait for months before we could see any noticeable effects."
"But we can't just say that to feel sorry for ourselves or something," said Lightstring. "We should act quickly before things get even worse. And they get worse each day."
"I agree with Representative Lightstring," said Princess Celestia. "The National Equestria Economic Committee has calculated that if things continue to go down in Baltimare, the surrounding areas could become affected. The very last thing we need right now."
"But we're working on that," said Lightstring. "We've already begun a limitation on outside trade and I hear we're planning to slowly squeeze that hole shut. That way, other areas won't become...infected with our economic troubles."
"But a protective embargo that's not self-protective? Who's ever heard of that. Besides, it's completely nonsensical. Cutting off trade will hurt our economy even more. We just can't afford that," said Bright Seeking.
"Exactly," said Princess Celestia. "Which is why we need to work to get an economic bill passed quickly."
"Can't you say something Princess? Make the Council ponies see we need compromise?"
Princess Celestia thought for a moment and shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't. All cities in Equestria have semi-autonomous governments. I can't necessarily come in and mess around with them. Besides, ponies need to come up with the solution themselves, so that these things won't happen again."
Lightstring nodded, but Bright Seeking became agitated. "But Your Majesty, even we aren't capable of moving huge distances in working on a compromise. Even with our connections to both parties, we probably don't have enough support to help pass a bill, not to mention we can't even agree what the bill should have."
Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment and began thinking. They were right: both parties were at a draw right now and were not ready to compromise. Quite the opposite in fact, with this Cutie Mark Tutorship bill. Even with their influence, the most the Society could do was make the ponies see that they need compromise. The actual drafting of the bill would be done by the politicians. And how were the ponies supposed to agree what would go on the bill? And who would actually support it? All these questions needed to be answered, and unfortunately, she couldn't be the once to answer them. But there was one pony who might. And she might be able to get a lesson out it. Yes, she'd be the one. She was a great organizer and an efficient worker who excelled at getting ponies to work together. Celestia already began to feel more confident as she opened her eyes again.
"Okay. I think I know somepony who might be able to help you, or at least help you get enough ponies from the Council to support you. She's also been studying economy for some time, so she might be able to help you draft the bill."
"Who?" asked Lightstring and Bright Seeking at the same time.
"Twilight Sparkle. She's an extremely intelligent, knowledgeable, and hard-working pony who is capable of making friends with anypony. She's even been helping me understand the true power of friendship. She'd be excellent in helping you work out a solution."
"Twilight Sparkle..." said Bright Seeking, as though he heard the name before.
"Twilight, yes, remember Bright? She's an outside member of our Society. She helped us organize several parades and events for us. She lives in, where? Ponyville?" said Lightstring.
Celestia nodded. "I'm glad you remember her. In fact, I'm quite surprised to hear that she'd already been a help to your Society. I only know that she joined your organization some time ago."
"Oh, she's been a great help. Always giving us advice and such and planning our meets and things. She even organized us a calender for our goals," said Lightstring.
"But who will she be working for?" asked Bright Seeking.
"You, of course," said Celestia. "I'm sure that if you organized your supporters and gathered the Councilors that support you, you and Twilight would be capable of coming up with a great plan."
"Well, we have me and Skyros," said Lightstring. "That'll tie up the White Party for us. We also have a Blue Party pony called Meriwether. He should also be of some help."
"Not enough," said Bright Seeking stoutly. "We need more supporters."
"What about that writer? What's her name? The Blank Mare?" asked Lightstring.
"She? How's she going to help us?" asked Bright Seeking.
"Well, from what I heard, she's an extremely good writer and has a knack for investigative journalism. She's also not corrupt, at least, not that we know," said Celestia.
"But why do we need her? So what if she can write? So can a lot of ponies within our Society," said Skyros.
"Well," said Lightstring. "She just did a report of how Speaker Baner, who's supposed to be the 'Great Compromiser,' just totally went off his rhetoric."
Bright Seeking rolled his eyes, but Celestia seemed interested. "She does sound like she would help our cause."
"We'll consider her, but I think Twilight is an excellent choice," said Lightstring.
"How do we know that she'll be an asset to this society?" asked Bright Seeking.
"Well, she's a student of mine. Very successful as well. She's extremely intelligent and hard-working like I said and like you probably have seen already. She loves to learn and probably understands more about economy than I do now. And she's extremely likable once you get to know her. She'll be perfect for the work here. I can guarantee it," said Celestia.
Bright Seeking seemed convinced, and simply nodded. Meanwhile, the sound of the ponies talking diminished as everypony began walking home.
"It's late, and I don't want to keep you two. I know tomorrow's your big day Lightstring and I know you have some work to do Bright Seeking. I also have to return to Canterlot and inform Twilight about her trip," said Celestia.
She winked and the two nodded. Bright Seeking turned, opened the door, and waved the two out. They all walked through the now empty lobby and out the door.
"Good luck, you two. I know you'll do wonderfully," said Princess Celestia. She lifted her wings and took off silently into the night.
Bright Seeking and Lightstring were left alone in the middle of the bright street.
"Well, I wish you luck Lightstring. You should head home and get some rest," said Bright Seeking.
"Right, I'll see you later Bright," she said. She waved down a taxi cart and jumped on.
The ride home was short, yet not uneventful. Lightstring was slowly beginning to dawn on the fact that tomorrow, she would enter the Council as a new representative, that she would be facing likely incomprehensibly low odds in getting even her own party to work together, and that there wouldn't be even a foundation to start on. She wondered whether she would be up to the task, yet she was fairly certain that pretty much nopony was. And she wasn't that far off.
Meriwether was fast asleep in Sector Three, Soaring District, in his small yet comfy flat. His wings twitched as he dreamed about flying back at home in Cloudsdale among his pegasi friends, learning about the weather, and practicing for their imminent flight test. The wind in his mane. The cold whipping on his feathers in his wing. It all felt strangely good.
Suddenly, a knocking brought him back to his cloud bed in Baltimare. He opened his eyes and felt a quick wave of shame and disdain fill him. It had been a long time since he left Cloudsdale, but the fact that it entered his dreams? That was just horrible. Meriwether had spent a long time trying to forget about that place, since he still pretty much hated every last cloudy pillar and walkway of the place. Still, he couldn't feel kind of guilty that he left. It was his home, at least, it was supposed to be his home.
The knocking persisted, so Meriwether got up looked at his clock. 5 o'clock in the morning. Who would call at that time? He still had time to get to the Council. He got up and walked toward the door. He opened it and saw Skyros on his porch, looking breathless yet happy.
"Skyros. What brings you here? I thought you'd be at the studio or something?" asked Meriwether.
"Not now. This is important. Besides, we don't have a show today until next week and I can skip a day of planning or so. It's not like they need me," said Skyros quickly. "Listen, we need to head to Central District. Now."
"Um, sure," said Meriwether. "Just let me get ready and-"
"No time," interjected Skyros. "This is urgent. Get dressed, get in the cart and I'll explain."
2 minutes later Meriwether ran out still buttoning his Council suit and jumped in the taxi cart with Skyros. He whistled and they were off. Meriwether began attaching his blue pin on his suit while Skyros launched into an explanation.
"Listen, so you know how I predicted that the current representative of the Environment in the EMC would be voted out, right?"
"Yes," said Meriwether while he struggled with his pin.
"Well, bad news, he was voted into office,but-" said Skyros.
"So what was the point of bringing me out here at 5 in the morning? You know Council meetings don't start until 8," asked Meriwether angrily, still attaching his stubborn pin.
"Well, I was getting there. The good news is is that he was kicked out by the EMC. Apparently my friends decided to take the initiative and fire him after the elections. He left without a fight so that's good. That leaves a big gaping hole in the leadership of the Environmental Concern Committee so my friends managed to get you in that spot as well. Speaker Baner got the order signed just half an hour ago or so. So now you're in charge of the ECC and you're the Environment representative to the EMC," said Skyros.
Meriwether looked up in shock while Skyros was speaking. "Seriously?" he asked.
"Seriously," repeated Skyros. "Being a popular ex-White Party politician has its good parts, but we need to get you in the Council quickly so you can set your affairs up."
Meriwether nodded and turned his attention back to the pin, which was still presenting difficulty. Skyros watched him for a moment before he grabbed it himself.
"Come on Mary, jeez, you've been in the Council for four years and you still have trouble with this?" asked Skyros in exasperation as he poked the pin for Meriwether.
Meriwether looked sheepish as the cart pulled in front of the Council building. The two got out and walked in. The smell of oak and cherry wood filled Skyros as he breathed in.
"Ah... Feels like old times. I forgot they had oak in here," said Skyros as they walked up a set of stairs to the Committee offices. The two walked to the ECC door and were about to enter when:
"Skyros! It's been far too long!" said a deep and unctuous voice.
They turned around to see Speaker Baner himself walking toward them. Meriwether appeared slightly unnerved, so Skyros spoke up.
"Baner, how's it going? Hope you don't mind the little joke we played on you in the show," said Skyros with a wily smile.
"Not at all boy! Part of the show of course. And you are right, I have been leaning toward both sides for far too long. I've decided to take a more aggressive, conservative view of things now, as they should be."
Skyros forced a laugh, but inside he felt let down. Baner was now as stubborn as a donkey. Meriwether looked at Skyros sideways nervously.
"Right, well, I'm sorry Mr. Baner, but I'm afraid my partner here and I can't talk. We have to, ah, set everything up for him. He's now the Head of the ECC now, so he'll need to set everything up," said Skyros with an unmistakable but not unkindly air of finality.
"Yes, of course," said Speaker Baner with an oily tone. He looked at the pin on Meriwether's suit and smiled disdainfully at the blue color on it. "I'll be seeing you then, Mr. Skyros. Do come time to time. There's much to catch up with."
"Bet on it!" called out Skyros as he turned and left. Skyros turned to Meriwether and smiled amusingly at the queasy look on his face.
"Something the matter? Haven't met the Great Compromiser himself face to face yet?" Skyros asked teasingly.
Meriwether shook his head and looked toward the door to his office.
"Don't listen to him. He's gone bonkers now, I can tell you that. Listen, we don't need him. We just need the support of the people and our fellow and trustworthy Council ponies, not those boors, you hear?" said Skyros encouragingly.
He fished out some keys from his pocket and opened the door for Meriwether. They stepped in the empty office. Meriwether took a look at the blank desk and the small, black chair.
"I don't know whether I can do this, Skyros. It's only a few weeks from now until the crash. The lame-duck period for those who have been voted out will only last for 6 days from now. How will we move quickly enough?" asked Meriwether nervously.
"We'll take care of it. We always have. Now come on, we need to move your stuff from your desk in the Council room and up here," said Skyros.
Meriwether nodded and the two walked out the office and set out for the Council room. Meriwether couldn't help but feel like they were transported back a year ago, when Skyros was still a Council pony. Walking down the hallways just reminded him of those enjoyable and tiring days.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Twilight awoke from a quiet hooting from just over her eyes. She peeled her face off from the book she was reading, An Analysis of Pony Economics, and took a look around. It was still dark, but the sun was rising. Twilight had spent all of last night reading at her desk. She got up from her couch that she was reading on and stretched for a moment, then looked up to see the bright eyes of Owlowicious.
"Aw, thanks Owlowicious," said Twilight. Owlowicious hooted again and flew up higher into the tree to find a nice, cool, dark place to sleep.
Things had gotten quieter since the article about the Wonderbolts came in a week ago. Rainbow Dash was her old, prideful, self-confident self again, albeit the fact that she didn't talk much about flying anymore. Twilight had spent some time researching economy, not just out of a sense of charity for Baltimare, but also just out of pure curiosity. Things were starting to go back to normal.
Nothing could have been farther then the truth. Two things happened at the same time to destroy her moment of tranquility. One of the windows burst open as a streak of rainbow went past her, whipping Twilight's hair violently past her face. Before she could have time to figure out what happened, a ball of green flames burst nearby which nearly singed her hair.
"Twilight! I'm sorry, it just happened so fast, I didn't even have time to-" said Spike.
"Twilight, you have to see this, just came in. So I heard from Applejack that-" began Rainbow Dash.
"Quiet!" she cried out. The two snapped their mouths shut.
"Rainbow, you first," said Twilight.
"I heard from Applejack that you were part of some egghead community called the Society for the Better of Baltimare or something like that, and I was reading the Gazette and I found this article from the Blank Mare about this pony from the Council of Baltimare," rattled off Rainbow Dash. She tossed the paper and it landed at Twilight's feet.
"Baner's off his Rocker," she read. "Baltimare City Council Speaker Baner has just announced that he would no longer be playing his role as the Great Compromiser in the efforts to solve this year's Baltimare fiscal dilemma..."
Twilight began reading at top speed. Her brow began to furrow as she read more and more of the article. One part stood out to her.
"At the end of the day, it signifies that even the best ponies have their worst brought out of them during these difficult times, but it doesn't excuse them from letting it take over their best efforts to serve the people that they represent. We ponies need to understand that our politicians are elected to solve problems, not create or exasberate them. The polarization of the political parties in Baltimare because of this problem should be fought, not encouraged. I'm sad to report that no pony seems to be willing to do their duty as politicians, instead of playing government as a simple, lowly, sectionalist, sport."
"Well, that's just great," said Twilight. She rolled up the newspaper. Now things were really bad. If Speaker Baner himself would no longer wish to compromse, then who would?
"Twilight, um, you have a letter from the Princess," reminded Spike.
"Oh, right, yes," said Twilight.
Spike slit the seal, unrolled the letter, and began reading out loud.
To my faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
I'm afraid that Baltimare's situation has become worse than we thought. I know that you are a loyal supporter of the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare, and you've been researching on economy. Bright Seeking and Representative Lightstring have asked me whether you would like to come to Baltimare to assist them, and I would like to pass on the question. It would be great for the citizens of Baltimare if you could go and assist the Society in their efforts, as you have done in the past. If you would like to bring some of your friends, that would be great, but not too many. The Society is offering to pay for your stay and we would not like to overtax them.
Please consider the offer,
Princess Celestia
Twilight thought for a moment. This would a great opportunity. She could go to Baltimare, help the Society, maybe work on the legislation, and get everypony to work together. It all seemed for a good cause, and it could be fun as well. Although, who would she bring?
"Rainbow, would you like to-" began Twilight, but Rainbow started laughing after holding her mirth when Spike finished.
"Wait, so let me get this straight. You signed up for an egghead community like this from a city far away and you actually helped them? This is gold, this is too good." Rainbow started laughing again.
"So let me guess, you wouldn't like to go," said Twilight.
"Are you kidding me?" Rainbow Dash sat up. "Of course I'll go."
Twilight stood perplexed. "I thought you just said-"
"Yeah, I know. I'm going so I can see how many ponies are just like you. It'll be a house of fun." Rainbow Dash couldn't contain herself and fell down laughing. Suddenly, another laughing fit started up, but not from Rainbow Dash. She sat up, confused. Spike, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash all looked up, where Pinkie Pie was laughing and snorting as well.
"House of fun! Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh, that's hilarious!" she cried out. She fell from her branch but didn't cease laughing.
Twilight stood crossly in the center of the room while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started laughing again. Suddenly, the door opened, and in walked Applejack and Rarity. They were talking animatedly until they saw the event in front of them. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were still laughing. Twilight was frowning, while stealing disapproving looks at the two on the floor, and Spike's mirth was only just contained.
"Twilight. I simply needed to come and visit you," said Rarity. She walked up without looking at Rainbow and Pinkie on the floor. "I need that book on Asian fashion immediately. I have an important client from Roana who needs three dresses for an important dance at Canterlot by the end of this week."
"Right. Spike?" said Twilight.
Spike looked like he needed an excuse to move, so he quickly moved upstairs and started looking. Meanwhile, Dash had calmed down, although tears still filled her eyes, while Pinkie Pie was still laughing on the floor happily.
"What were ya'll laughing about?" asked Applejack.
"Get this," said Rainbow Dash. "You know how Twilight's part of that Society from Baltimare?"
"Yeah," said Applejack.
"Well, Princess Celestia just asked Twilight to go to Baltimare to help them do stuff. Can you believe it? It's like Egghead Convention in Baltimare or something." Dash started laughing at the very thought of it.
Rarity raised her eyebrows while Applejack appeared stoic. Rainbow Dash stopped and stared at them.
"Come on. She's going to Baltimare for some society thing. Isn't that kind of lame?"
"I think it's very nice of Twilight to help ponies in another city who need the generosity more than we do. Twilight, I want you to know that it's very delightful that you are helping those who need it," said Rarity.
"Thanks Rarity," said Twilight, still staring at Rainbow Dash.
"Ah' agree with Rarity, however surprisin' that may be," said Applejack. "While ah' still think it's kinda funny for you to help those from some faraway city, I think it's nice that you're spending your time to help others."
"Oh come on," said Rainbow Dash. "Don't you think it's lame that she's going off to some city to help a bunch of ponies who just yell and argue?"
"It's better than fawning over a bunch of pegasi who cheat their way through the system. At least those politicians aren't corrupt," said Rarity. Dash looked abashed and her cheeks flushed.
"Ah' don't think it's best to talk about the Wonderbolts right now," said Applejack.
"You know Dash, if you think it's stupid enough, you could always not come," said Twilight bluntly.
"Wait, you can bring friends?" asked Pinkie Pie. She sat up with vigor.
"Well, yeah. Probably only three though. I don't want to make the Society pay a lot," said Twilight.
"Oh, oh, pick me! Pick me!" said Pinkie Pie, and she started jumping around the room excitedly.
"I guess you could come," said Twilight. "Applejack, do you want to come?"
"Ah' guess I could," said Applejack. "It would be nice to see Aunt Fritters from Hollow Grounds."
"Great, what about you Rarity?" asked Twilight. Rarity was just taking a book from Spike, who had came down the stairs after some looking.
"I would absolutely love to go Twilight, but I'm afraid I can't. I have to learn Roana fashion in just a day and I need to get started on those dresses now!" cried out Rarity.
"Oh, well I guess Fluttershy could come," said Twilight hopefully, but Applejack shook her head.
"Her? The city is too dangerous for her. She's too shy for those streets. I say she would be best staying home," she said.
"Yeah, those streets are too dangerous for her. These streets are almost too dangerous for her!" said Rainbow Dash.
"Besides, Fluttershy will be helping me take care of Opalescence. Oh, I could ask her for assistance with the dress-making!" said Rarity, as she walked out the door with the book.
"Well, I guess two friends are better than none," said Twilight. "You two should get your things packed up and-"
"Not so fast!" said Rainbow Dash. "Just because you ponies might be eggheads doesn't mean I won't come to see the fun."
"Fine," said Twilight. "I guess that's it. You three should get your things packed up. I'll see whether there's a train going to Baltimare leaving soon."
"Got it," said Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. They all walked out the door, talking and chatting excitedly.
Early morning was exciting too for the Blank Mare. She got up, ate her breakfast, and was right about to leave her house when somepony knocked on it. She opened the door to reveal Princess Celestia herself. The Mare was shocked, but she bowed before her.
"Blank Mare, so nice to see you," said the Princess.
The Blank Mare was shocked again. Princess Celestia had seen her before? She couldn't recall a moment where she met Princess Celestia before. She never even came in to Gaitsville, if she remembered correctly.
"Um, I'm fine, I mean. Um-" said the Mare.
"You must be wondering how I know you. Well, can I come in? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."
"Um, sure, come in," said the Mare, and she opened the door to let in the Princess. The two walked to the Mare's bare living room and sat down.
"Well, you do seem to have a rather, um, simple home," said Princess Celestia.
"Oh, right, yes. I just never have the time to decorate it," said the Mare.
Princess Celestia nodded. "So, I've read your article on Speaker Baner."
"Oh, you've had?" asked the Blank Mare.
"Yes. And I must say, it's nice to see somepony who's willing to write those news. There's hardly anypony in Baltimare who thinks it's important, funnily enough," remarked Celestia.
"Have I done something wrong?" asked the Mare quickly.
"Oh, no, of course not. You've actually done a good thing. No, I'm here to ask you a favor."
"Oh, oh. Um, what is it?"
"Well, the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare is planning to make a move on bipartisan legislation. They already have a petition out and the signatures should be coming in soon. They also have a member in the Council as well, so that's good. But what they really need is a writer who would sympathize with them. I'm sure a lot of ponies in there can write, but you have a certain passion and tone in yours which they could use. You do support their efforts right?"
"Yes, of course," replied the Blank Mare.
"Excellent. I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you could help them," said Princess Celestia.
The Blank Mare was silent. Inside, she mulled over the idea of helping the Society. She did sympathize with their views and thought it was pretty frustrating to have a Council that just didn't anything except argue and argue. Plus, the part where Celestia complimented her writing must have helped her think. But the other hand, she knew that she had a lot of other things to do. The Blank Mare really couldn't just quit her job writing the "Un-blinding" for a second. She had to comb the entire country of Equestria to find any evidence of malpractice. And writing about something like helping the Society with something like this would only be worthy as a regular news thing.
"Well, Princess, I actually, um, really can't afford the time right now in order to help the Society," said the Blank Mare quietly.
"I see," said the Princess. "I really do understand you have an important job, but I can trust you to find in your heart the conviction to help these ponies. The Society really liked your article and would like to meet with you, or at least get to read one article that openly supports their actions."
Princess Celestia was really pushing it here. In fact, Bright Seeking was still rather ambivalent about letting the Blank Mare join and help, feeling that although she could be a great writer, she could also end up writing something attacking them as well. But Celestia knew that if they wanted a good writer, here she was right in front of her.
The Blank Mare stayed silent. Princess Celestia decided that it would be better to wait than to push the matter any further. She got up slowly and added, "One more thing. I know what your real name is."
The Blank Mare looked up in surprise.
Celestia nodded. "You told me. You were really young. Trust me. You were looking lonely. Really lonely, I mean, more alone than you are even now. I asked you what did you want to be when you grew up. Your exact answer was 'I want the whole world to know my name!' Well, you certainly did make a big name for yourself. But is this how you want it to be?"
The Blank Mare started to remember a fuzzy memory. She was at the corner of the playground in the Gaitsville Schoolhouse, kicking rocks at her feet. Yes, she did meet and talk to somepony, but was it Celestia?
"Your dream was to have your name out for the entire world to hear. And you succeeded, somewhat. But is this what you really want? Your name now is just an embellishment. Something that you just created to feel self-satisfied about, to feel in power. You might think names are just ugly titles that are slapped on to you when you're born. But there's more to that. You haven't really accomplished your dream. Your real accomplishment, the only time when you have truly succeeded, is when you can feel proud to say your name. And what's the difference between that name and the one you have now. 'The Blank Mare?' It's the same right? It has the same purpose: identification. It has a meaning too. Like, right now, the atmosphere of mystery that surrounds you and your career. 'The Blank Mare' might mean that you don't have an generic name. But the truth is is that you can still call it a name. It's just the same as what you had before, just a little more... unique."
The Blank Mare remained silent, looking down at her legs again. "Why?" she asked after some time.
"Why what?" asked the Princess kindly.
"Why are you telling me this,?" the Mare asked, looking up. Her eyes were starting tear up now.
"But I thought you would know," said the Princess. She stopped at the look of the Mare's face. "The point is, is that at one point, you'll have to face the real world with your real name. As it should be done. And why not start now? Fulfill your dream. Do what's right not just for Baltimare, not just for the world in fact. They don't need to know your name. Only you do."
The Blank Mare sat still. The words had hit home, somewhat. Inside, she was fighting a rising question inside of her that she had for some time successfully fought it to silence. Now, it came up, stronger than ever.
"I'll be going now. I hope the same could be said for you," said Celestia. She walked out and opened the door. The Royal Guard stood outside, guarding the area and setting up a perimeter. She felt a twinge of annoyance. She had hoped that she could have shaken them off for some time.
"Captain, let's go," she said.
The platoon commander nodded and they all walked off, the guards on the outside forming a sort of circle around the Princess.
Inside, the Blank Mare still sat in the same spot. She felt sad, frustrated, and confused. How long could she keep this up? Her act of secrecy? And it wasn't like it was secret anymore. But, she had a rhetoric to keep. She had long bashed the idea of individualism and the need for identification, like cutie marks, although she had one, which she kept hidden at all times by her black cloak. She even embraced the idea of Socialism for a moment before deciding that it was too oppressive and harmful. The Blank Mare still felt like a nameless pony. Or did she? Was her name now the only void of her identity? She had a different personality than other ponies, different looks, and different likes and dislikes. Was it really true? Is the thought of individualism actually the scourge of society, or what keeps it alive?
These thoughts roiled in her for a long time before she made her decision. She grabbed her black cloak, slipped it on her, grabbed her suitcase and stuffed her pen, paper, and other necessary items. She then walked out and head for the small train station. Luckily, she had arrived just as the train for Baltimare was about to leave. She stepped in the dingy coach and picked an empty seat, which there were many. Not a lot of ponies traveled to Baltimare anymore; they tended to move out. She sat down and looked out the window as the train started and picked up speed.
She left without leaving any notice behind her, without any note, without any kind of sign that she had bothered to tell them she had left. The Blank Mare felt that she was not only leaving her house and meager amount of belongings behind. She was also leaving behind her old self, creating a void where there was supposed to be one, but which she never had managed to create. Although she knew she might feel differently by the time she reached Baltimare, the Blank Mare thought that that was a risk worth taking. She knew that there was a whole new world out there, to which she could hardly not change. She knew that it would be time to actually discover society and true meaning of a pony, and hoped to her heart it wasn't too late.
It was early in the next day. The Ponyville train to Baltimare rode smoothly toward the east. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were in their beds sleeping soundly, Rainbow being especially loud. Twilight was reading An Analysis on Pony Economics and catching up on the essentials in Baltimare from the Ponyville Gazette, while making notes to herself. She needed as much information as possible in order to formulate a bill for the Society. Her quill stopped as she read a rather large paragraph on economics:
"Most ponies regard the ideas of fiscal liberalism and fiscal conservatism as incompatible, impossible to link. The very opposite is true actually. In the late 7th century of the exploratory age of Canterlot, the national debt was so high that the National Equestrian Banking Service decided to slash all spending while driving up taxes for all ponies. Although their plan was derived from blind desperation, it surprisingly worked. The debt was slowly brought down to a controllable range. Although the consequences of the spending cuts were somewhat severe, important expeditions and projects were cancelled and the revenue of all the ponies was scaled down by 25%, the economy of Canterlot was made more stable and slowly the city began to recover. What we must understand from this therefore, is that the combination of policies from fiscal liberalism and conservatism is not only extremely successful, but should serve as the template for modern day economic policies. Unfortunately however, it still must be understood that government cannot affect the economy on large scales. The economy has a separate path from politics and will go up and down no matter what happens. Government policies can only speed up the process of recovery or exacerbate the process of decline."
Twilight thought the paragraph over as she tapped her hoof on her face. If policies wouldn't affect the economy that much, was there any point in trying? Increasing the rate of recovery probably wouldn't have that much effect, so is it worth it to try and implement policies? She read ahead.
"Although government policies can affect the economy, what counts the most is what the ponies themselves think. The credit for all banking services is dependent on how the ponies think and regard the economy on. When the ponies think the economy is good, the economy generally does better. Ponies tend to spend more, making businesses richer and the government gets more money. When ponies think the economy is declining, they tend to spend less, which in turn destroys businesses. Therefore, government policies can, in a sense, create a sort of placebo effect where ponies think that the economy would get better, and choose to spend more. In the end, what makes the economy better is the thoughts and mindset of each of the individual ponies. Modern-day economic policies tend to favor the average spender, in the hopes that he or she will spend more."
That sounded good. Maybe if their bill was good enough, the ponies in Baltimare would make the economy the better. Twilight began paraphrasing the paragraphs for future use.
Suddenly, the train slowed down. The coaches rocked forward and Twilight almost spilled her ink well. She quickly jotted down the last bit and stuffed everything back in her bag.
" 'S time to go already?" came a muffled and tired voice.
Rainbow Dash looked up from her bed. Applejack got up and scratched her head.
"Whoo! Yay!" cried out Pinkie Pie. She jumped out excitedly and started to jump around the rather small sleeper carriage.
"Girls. Get your stuff together, we should be getting off soon," said Twilight. She levitated her bags and brought them down.
Right on cue, the magical announcements came on: "Rise and shine, everypony! This is Ponyville train #25, headed to Baltimare. We will be arriving at our destination in 10 minutes. Please take out all luggage and check to make sure that you have left nothing behind!"
Meanwhile, in a few carriages behind, the Blank Mare woke up herself. She shook her head and jumped out, grabbed her bags and walked toward the door. She looked out to see a large line of forest, which surprised her. She thought that such a large city as Baltimare would have already gotten the surrounding wood. The wind that flowed from the cracks in the door felt good and woke her up from her early-morning torpor.
The Blank Mare donned her cloak, but she stopped for a moment to think. She came so she could really connect to society. The cloak was a reminder that she had tried to do the opposite. She shrugged and put it on anyway. If pony society was welcoming enough, they would allow her to join the fold no matter what she did. In a sense, the Blank Mare was setting up a test for society, to see whether it was worth mingling with all the ponyfolk.
The train finally slowed and stopped at the Baltimare station. The doors opened magically and the Blank Mare walked out. The steam from the train mixed with the morning fog to create a lingering cloud around the station. She walked slowly, carrying her luggage and made for a terminal. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight all got out with their luggage.
"Is this Baltimare? Gosh, it's so white, I can hardly see a thing. Maybe my night-vision goggles could help!" said Pinkie Pie.
"This fog's getting really annoying. I'll take care of it!" said Rainbow Dash, and she jumped up and began circling around in a large tornado, sucking in all the moisture. Slowly the station began to clear up, while the Blank Mare and the rest of the ponies looked in shock. When the station was clear enough to see the sun, Rainbow Dash released the compressed cloud from the vortex. Unfortunately, her outbound vector wasn't the best and the cloud headed straight for the Blank Mare, which passed right through her, soaking her to the skin.
"Oh, whoops," said Rainbow Dash, while Pinkie Pie started to laugh.
The Blank Mare scowled as water started dripping from her hair. She started walking again, but Rainbow Dash blocked her way.
"Hey, wait! I'll make you dry again, just give me a second!" said Rainbow Dash.
"No, thanks, I'm good-" began the Blank Mare, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash started another tornado around her.
"Rainbow!" Twilight cried out, but Rainbow Dash didn't hear her. She finally stopped after a moment. The Blank Mare whirled around dizzily before steadying herself after a second. Although she was dry, her mane was now a messy bush.
Twilight rushed forward. "Sorry," she said, as she took out some manespray Rarity had given her before the trip, but the Blank Mare waved her down.
"It's nothing. I'm sure your friend had good intentions," she said. "Incidentally, are you a fan of the Wonderbolts?" she asked Rainbow Dash.
"I was, why?" she replied.
"Oh, your moves are somewhat, er, unique. Just like theirs. I'm sure you would've made a good Wonderbolt before they were caught," said the Blank Mare.
"What's your name?" asked Twilight, as they all started to leave the station.
The Blank Mare hesitated, but decided to go on with the "test" for society. "The Blank Mare," she answered.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash stopped in surprise,while Pinkie Pie and Applejack went on ahead, taking a look at the already visible skyscrapers.
"You're the Blank Mare?" the two asked in shock.
The Blank Mare nodded. Rainbow Dash looked positively aghast while Twilight looked at the Mare in analytic curiosity.
"But, you're so... normal!" said Rainbow Dash.
The Blank Mare laughed. "I get that a lot. Don't worry, I'm as normal physically as ponies come from."
"But," said Twilight, as they started to leave again. "But it you're the Blank Mare, I thought your entire act was secrecy. Why are you here just ambling about?"
"Well, I've decided to come and assist the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare. They said they needed a good writer. Princess Celestia even came personally to come and talk to me. I thought there would be a good amount of juicy stories here plus a good writing job, so I decided to come," said the Mare.
"You're here to help the Society? So am I! We can go together!" said Twilight.
"Sure, I guess," said the Blank Mare.
"Wait!" said Rainbow Dash. "You're going to help her? Twilight, you know what's she like. She's probably here to destroy the entire Society from within or something like that."
"Rainbow-" began Twilight, but the Blank Mare waved her down again.
"Trust me, you- er, what's your name again?" she asked.
"The one and only Rainbow Dash!" replied Rainbow. She dashed up in the air, leaving behind a streak of rainbow and did a few loops, before coming back down and creating a rainbow above her head using moisture from the air. The Blank Mare raised her eyebrow, apparently impressed.
"One and only eh?" she said.
"That's right! Won't find another pony like me!" said Rainbow Dash.
"I doubt that," said the Blank Mare, as she started walking again.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Rainbow Dash as she stopped ahead of her.
"Well, it's just that, it isn't so hard to find a pegasus who's arrogant, egotistical, and self-confident right?"
"Well, you see, it isn't so hard to find a pegasi like that. But that's what makes us so much better than the rest of you. I mean, we have good lucks, talent, and we're important to Equestria. You guys depend on us." Rainbow Dash pointed at the Blank Mare and Twilight. They looked at each other before the Blank Mare replied.
"Well, that explains the personality, but you guys all have the same talents, right? Flying? Just in different degrees, right?"
"Well, I mean..." said Rainbow Dash, but she didn't get to finish. At that moment, Applejack stuck her head out the terminal.
"Are ya'll gonna just stand there and chat or are we gonna move?" she asked.
The Blank Mare and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look of rivalry, before Rainbow Dash flew toward the terminal. Twilight and the Blank Mare followed.
At the Society, Lightstring walked through the door and right into Bright Seeking's face. She stepped back involuntarily.
"Lightstring! Thank Celestia you're here! Come on, we have a lot to do," he said. He grabbed her without waiting for a reply and pulled her to his office. Sitting inside were Meriwether and another pony, who was clutching a clipboard.
"Hi!" greeted Lightstring. Meriwether nodded while the other pony continued to stare at the paper on the clipboard filled with notes.
"Alright, enough greetings. Listen, we're in a wrap here. The lame-duck period for the 6 ponies who've been voted out ends in just 5 days from now. We have until then to try and get this bill up as well as secure the votes of those 7," said Bright Seeking in a tone of business.
"Well, that's a pretty long time, right?" asked Lightstring. Meriwether shook his head.
"Under normal circumstances, yes, but we need to get these ponies convinced as soon as possible. First, we need to come up with the bill. Meanwhile, we need to actually start talking to these ponies and convince them to vote for this bill when it comes in. Second, once the bill is formulated, we put it in the Council and we figure out the opinions of everypony so we can make adjustments. Third, once we figure out what the Council ponies think about it, we fix anything that we can and put it up for them to vote," Meriwether presented
Lightstring sucked in her breath. "That all seems complicated. Can't we just wait until I'm in and we can start working from there?"
"Well, we could," said Bright Seeking. "But there's just the fact that it would mean we would essentially be wasting time for the economy to recover. In the event that the worst happens, meaning the bill gets tabled, we'll use you as a White Party connection from here to there. I just hope that we won't have to do that."
"But, come up with an actual bill in just a day? How are we going to do that?" asked Lightstring.
"We have the basics set up," said the pony with the clipboard. He checked his notes before explaining, "The basic idea is that we will cut spending as well as increase taxes for the wealthy. That way, we can slowly take care of our debt and begin recovering. The tricky party is the specifics of the bill: how much are we going to cut spending? What should be the range of income that we would consider 'wealthy?' Statistics and other things."
"I'm sure Twilight could be of some assistance there," remarked Lightstring.
"Of course, everypony here pretty much shares that sentiment. Honestly, she should have arrived by now..." said Bright Seeking.
Right on cue, a clerk dashed up to the office. "Sirs, ma'am, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have arrived."
"Friends?" asked Bright Seeking. The four ponies got up and walked out, followed by the clerk. In the lobby stood Twilight, the Blank Mare, and the rest of the gang, who were looking around the spacious lobby. The stallion with the clipboard muttered about being needed upstairs and walked off.
"You know, this reminds me of the time ah' went to Manehatten," remarked Applejack.
Rainbow Dash flew up to one of the chandeliers and began inspecting the clear quartz pattern. She smiled and grinned at her reflection on a particularly large piece, viewing herself at different angles. The Blank Mare watched her with belittling amusement and looked down chuckling to herself. Twilight spotted the five ponies and rushed toward them.
"Miss Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" asked Bright Seeking, offering his right hoof. Twilight nodded and shook his hoof.
"Hey Twilight!" greeted Lightstring enthusiastically. The two hugged like good, close friends. Twilight had met her multiple times before while planning out some of the Society's events.
"Hello, madam," said Meriwether graciously. He extended his hoof as well and Twilight shook it.
"I don't recall you from before. Are you new?" inquired Twilight.
"Oh, no. I'm a Council member, Meriwether. You may call me Weather. I'm Head of the Environmental Concern Committee and Environment representative to the Economic Management Committee. I'm currently here acting as a sort of Blue Party liaison for the Society, but I'm technically not a member," replied Meriwether.
"Wow. It's nice that we have a Council member here," said Twilight. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie knocked her aside and stood in front of Meriwether. She leaned aggressively toward him, forcing him to lean back in surprise. Pinkie Pie stared at Meriwether as though she were examining him. Meriwether stared back at her, confused.
"Pinkie Pie!" said Twilight angrily. She glared at Pinkie Pie, who looked at Twilight back.
"What?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I was talking to him!" Twilight said.
"Sorry, but he seemed so funny! He's got a great accent," laughed Pinkie Pie, and she started jumping around the lobby.
"Sorry, she gets like that," apologized Twilight. Meriwether nodded in reply.
"Alright, enough with the greetings! We've got a job to do!" said Bright Seeking loudly. "Accra!" The clerk jumped forward.
"Take those four to the hotel nearby. Lightstring and I need to talk to Twilight Sparkle, get her briefed up."
"Wait, Mr. Seeking, we need the Blank Mare," said Twilight, pointing toward the Blank Mare, who looked on at the procession on the sidelines.
"That's her? The Blank Mare?" asked Bright Seeking. Twilight nodded.
"In that case, Blank Mare! You should come with us as well," said Bright Seeking.
The Blank Mare walked up, while Applejack tried to coerce Pinkie Pie to go with the clerk.
"Pinkie. Come on, we need to go to our hotel," said Applejack, clearly vexed. Pinkie Pie was still jumping around the room and laughing at the marble walls.
"One moment please." said Twilight to Bright Seeking. She walked up to Pinkie Pie and fired a blue, slow beam at her, which barely caught her on the flank. Pinkie Pie started to slow down.
"Whoaaa! Everything is going dark. Maybe my nightvision..." And without a slight change in facial expression, she fell to the floor and started snoring.
"Simple sleep spell. Classic," said Twilight.
Applejack grabbed Pinkie Pie and put her on her back. Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight and waved. Twilight waved back and the two followed the clerk out the door.
"Twilight, let's go, we need to catch you up on our plan," said Lightstring. She pointed at Bright Seeking's office.
"Right," answered Twilight. She and Meriwether walked into the office.
It took the better part of the morning to explain the plan to Twilight and the Blank Mare. By that time, two ponies carried up their lunches.
"Thanks," said Twilight, and accepted her hot meal. The Blank Mare just nodded as she took hers. Meriwether, who had been up since 4 in the morning, immediately started guzzling down his food.
"So," said Bright Seeking, popping a bag of chips. "Any questions Twilight?"
Twilight paused in her grass and tulip soup. "Well, there's the matter of why we need to get this bill ready in the middle of the lame-duck period after the elections. I mean, we would have a better chance of having Lightstring here and Meriwether convince their party members. We could also talk to the ponies who have been voted in."
Bright Seeking nodded. "We've been deliberating over that ever since, um, how long ago. We've been trying to come up with plans for ages and I think if we take advantage of those lame-duck Council ponies, we have a shot in getting this bill passed."
"But there's only a few ponies who got voted out, right?" asked Twilight.
"Yes, only 7 ponies have been voted out. But remember, we only 40 ponies to vote for this bill," replied Bright Seeking.
"40? Seems like a lot to me," interjected the Blank Mare.
"Well, true, but as it stands right now, we have... how many Meriwether?" asked Bright Seeking.
Meriwether looked up from his Roana prairie grass noodles. "Oh, um..." he swallowed. "We can pretty much guarantee 17 votes from the ponies in the middle. The rest, we'll take from the center-right and center-left."
"But if my information is correct," said Lightstring. "There are a total of 15 strong lefts and strong rights. That gives a space of only 5 ponies if we're going off the supermajority. Coupled with the fact that we can't guarantee every moderates' vote, how can we win this?"
Meriwether swallowed his daffodil and daisy salad. "Well, you're forgetting that Skyros has a pull over a lot of White Party guys. And I'm in the Economic Management Committee, so I pretty much have a large say now, especially on matters like this."
"And, we have at least 1 Navy and 2 right-White guys as well, so if we can convince them, that gives us more room to work with. Plus, their vote might spread to the other less stubborn ponies in their factions," added Bright Seeking.
"But how are going to convince them?" asked Twilight.
"Simple," said Bright Seeking. "We give them jobs."
"What?" asked Twilight and the Blank Mare.
"Jobs. You know, we get their vote, they get a job, so they won't have to spend time finding another line of work."
Twilight and the Blank Mare looked shocked. "But," began the Blank Mare. "That's the patronage system. It's illegal."
Meriwether shook his head from his banana. "Not necessarily. We're not promising them government jobs. Just regular, important, high-income jobs."
"But that's still illegal," said the Blank Mare. "You're still guaranteeing them a job for support. It's immoral."
Bright Seeking nodded. "I understand your viewpoint, but right now desperate times call for drastic measures. We have to do what it takes to get this bill passes as soon as possible. We can't waste a week, not even a day."
"But what if we're caught?" asked Twilight. "And what if they already have a job, or they're planning on getting a job that's better than what we can offer them?"
"I've checked," said Meriwether. "All of them don't have jobs yet. And the job spots we have are one of the best. The top, really. Managers for important buildings or companies and such and such. Trust me, they won't blink before they take the papers. I'm sure they won't risk actually getting a legitimate job interview for a just as good job and possibly get denied. And getting caught? Please. Nopony will actually bother with the legal implications of our plan. Trust me, our law enforcement is extremely lazy with business matters."
The office was silent, except for Meriwether sipping his coffee. Everypony was deep in thought.
"Right," said Bright Seeking, who was the first one to wake up. "We need to get things ready. First of all, we need to organize a team that will prepare the bill."
"That'll be me," said Lightstring.
"And me," added Twilight. "I did a little research on economy, so I know some basics of it."
Bright Seeking nodded in approval. "Alright, next, we need the ponies who'll be talking to all the moderates for both parties."
"That'll be me," said Meriwether. "And Skyros will help too."
"I could do it as well. I could threaten-" began the Blank Mare, but Bright Seeking shook his head.
"No, it won't be good if you start threatening them for their votes. We don't want to blackmail anypony. You can work on getting the public on our side. Our petition just came back and it didn't look so good."
"How was it?" asked Twilight.
"Only 51,000 signatures I'm afraid. Almost half of the population signed it."
"I'm sure that we just need time," assured Twilight.
"Maybe, but right now we don't have time," replied Bright Seeking darkly.
"So, I'm in charge of publicity?" asked the Blank Mare.
"Yes. Next, we need some ponies who will talk to the lame-duck guys and convince them to vote for the bill."
"Don't you already have them?" asked the Blank Mare.
Lightstring shook her head. "We were just thinking about that."
"Well, my friends could always help. If they're costing you guys money for their stay, they should work as well," said Twilight.
"Oh, no, we'll take care of it. Thanks anyway though Twilight. Your friends should just stay here and see the sights. Baltimare is still a beautiful city," said Lightstring.
"I think it's a brilliant idea actually," said Bright Seeking. "If we send ponies from our Society, it's going to look set up. Everypony is too businesslike here. We need to send some ponies who can actually put a smile on their face."
"Ponies here can smile," said Lightstring, hurt.
"I don't doubt that. But if we send any of our members, it'll look set up, because they're going to be attempting to accomplish a mission. It's easy to spot things like that in a conversation, and politicians can spot manipulation in a heartbeat," replied Bright Seeking. "No, Twilight's friends will do. From what I saw, they're pretty energetic,good-willed and, um, characteristic."
"Then it's settled," said Twilight. "I'll talk to my friends and get them to talk to these ponies. We have everything else worked out right?"
"Not quite yet," said Bright Seeking. "We're also conducting a random sample survey from ponies off the streets. Just to see what they think the specifics of the bill should be. We'll be spreading our members out in every direction, so we'll be pretty much all working on something."
"Sounds good then," said Twilight. "Anything else?"
Meriwether was chewing through a peppermint leaf. "Actually, your friends won't really need to talk to those lame-duck ponies."
He took out a pile of folders and tossed them on the desk. "These are portfolios you can hand to them. It has all the information they need to know on there, as well as an unofficial facsimile of the job papers, so they know we're serious."
"Great. Less of a chance for them to accidentally mess up," said Twilight.
"That should cover it then," finished Bright Seeking. "Alright everypony. We still got around 7 hours left. Lightstring, head down to the economic department offices and get started on a bill. Meriwether, you should head back to the Council and start really talking to the ponies. Call Skyros and have him talk to his friends as well. Blank Mare, you ought to start preparing an article. Nothing too fancy, just something that will tell everypony what's going on and call on their support in a straightforward way. Twilight, take these folders to your friends and then get back here. Accra will show you to the economic offices. I'll be preparing our survey agents for the upcoming survey. Sound good?"
A general sound of assent filled the room.
"Good. Now let's get out there and fix this problem," said Bright Seeking.
Suddenly, Meriwether let out a huge belch. Everypony except him started laughing, while his cheeks flushed red.
"Sorry," he apologized meekly. Everypony got up and walked out the office door, still chortling happily.
Twilight walked down to the Mareriott hotel down the street, carrying the 7 folders. She walked in the doors and across the empty lobby to the clerk, who looked glad at the sight of business again.
"Excuse me. Did three ponies check in around early morning or so? One of them was a pegasus, rainbow mane and tail?" asked Twilight.
"Ah yes," said the clerk attentively. "Let's see, yep, I remember the gal. They checked out under the bill of the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare. The pegasus is currently in room 203. The two Earth ponies are in room 312."
"Thank you," said Twilight, and she rushed up the stairs first to room 203. "Hey, Rainbow," she said as she entered. The room was a luxurious 2 pony bedroom filled with lavish chairs, a large king-sized bed filled with large and comfy pillows, a rather nice ceramic wall bathroom, and even a radio set. Despite the coziness and extravagance of the room, Rainbow Dash appeared to be disdainful and active, walking around the room in a huff.
"There you are Twilight! I was wondering when you'd get here," said Rainbow Dash. She jumped on the bed in frustration. "You will not believe how boring it was. I can't believe I didn't even bring a book or anything."
"Well lucky you," replied Twilight. "Because I brought one of Daring Do's books. Just for good measure."
"Seriously?! Oh that's awesome! Thank you so much Twilight!"
"You're welcome. Now come on, let's go meet Applejack and Pinkie Pie. We need to talk," said Twilight.
"What are those?" inquired Rainbow Dash, pointing to the folders that Twilight was floating.
"You'll see," answered Twilight simply.
2 minutes later, Twilight and Rainbow Dash entered room 312, which was basically the same as the other room except that there were three rather large single beds and the room was slightly larger to accommodate them. Applejack was sitting on the bed near the window, staring at the ceiling, while Pinkie Pie was still under the sleep spell, snoring in her bed near the bathroom.
"Ah, there you two are," Applejack said. She jumped on the floor and walked up to them.
"Hope you like the room. I need you to wake up Pinkie so I can talk to you three," said Twilight.
"I'M HERE!" shouted Pinkie Pie suddenly, sitting up like a bullet and raising her hoof as though Twilight was taking roll call.
"Right..." said Twilight. "Anyways, I need to talk to you three. This is important."
"We didn't do anything wrong by comin' here Twilight, did we?" asked Applejack worriedly.
"Not at all. In fact, I'm glad I brought you three along. Listen, I have a job for you."
Twilight explained their duty to them and placed down the folders at their feet. Rainbow Dash opened one and took at look at its contents. Applejack looked skeptical while Pinkie Pie was flashing her trademark smile.
"So let me get this straight," began Applejack. "We need to talk to these ponies and hand them these folders."
"No, you don't have to talk to them," said Twilight. "Just grab their attention and hand them their folders."
"How do we know what these duck ponies look like?" asked Applejack.
"Lame-duck ponies," corrected Twilight. "And don't worry, there's a picture of each of them in their respective folders for you to look at."
Rainbow Dash spotted the corner of one at the folder she was looking at and took it out. The picture was of a rather boring pony who looked even more apathetic than her flat hair. She wore a white pin on her Council suit.
"But how will we find 'em?" asked Applejack. "They could be all over the city for all we know."
"True. But they still attend Council meetings. You can catch them after the meetings. But not all at once, or it'll look too suspicious. It would be a good idea to have one of you girls in the Council building, one waiting outside who'll tag them until they reach a good spot, and the other finding them in their sector. Their residence is listed on the back of the photos I believe," presented Twilight.
"I can just fly to their homes after they get there," said Rainbow Dash. "I'll be the one who waits outside their house."
"Ah' can tag along them once they leave," said Applejack.
"And I can throw a party for them in the Council building. Oh, this'll be so fun!" said Pinkie Pie, jumping around at the very thought of surprising the ponies.
"Great, so it's all settled," said Twilight. "Rainbow Dash, since you can fly and all, I'll hand you three folders. Pinkie Pie and Applejack, you two take the other two."
She was rather surprised with how this was turning out. She had expected them to be a little bit opposing to the idea of working for a society they weren't even in, but here they were taking the folders and slipping out the photos, already attentive and willing to work. It put a smile on her face.
"You three can work that. I need to check with something with the clerk," said Twilight.
Rainbow Dash grunted while Applejack was staring at the address of a pony and Pinkie Pie ran to one of her bags and began opening it.
Twilight opened the door and ran back down to the clerk, who was listening to the radio.
"In other news, the notorious Blank Mare, author of the popular investigative journalist article 'Un-blinding,' has gone missing from her Gaitsville home since possibly this Wednesday. Gaitsville police are still looking for any signs of foul play, although there are no signs to suggest that she left involuntarily and her missing suitcase points to a rather quiet escape."
Twilight stopped. The Blank Mare didn't tell anypony she left? Why would she do that? Was her job too dangerous to tell anypony that she left? Maybe she didn't feel like telling anypony that she wanted to leave, because of her negativity on pony society? These questions filled her head as she walked in front of the clerk.
"How may I help you, ma'am?" he asked as he shut the radio off.
"Yes, I need to check who is residing in room 203 along with my friend, Rainbow Dash."
"Right," the clerk said. He took out the sign-in sheet and looked down.
"Hm, yes, a Miss Twilight Sparkle is in with her. Would that be you by any chance?"
"Yes, that would be," replied Twilight.
"Okay. Would you like me to change your spot?" he asked.
"Yes, please. I would like to switch spots with the Blank Mare."
"Oh, so that's what that spot meant. She just left a mark through the name spot. Let me tell you, I was pretty confused by that. So, that's her? She's actually here?"
"Yes. But please don't mention that to any other pony. I'm sure she wouldn't like the publicity," requested Twilight.
"No worries, ma'am. We have a strict customer privacy rule here. Can't break it if we value our jobs here." The clerk smiled and quickly made a little note to the side of room 203, then flipped to room 312 and made another note.
"Got it, I have you and the Blank Mare switched," he said. "Would you like help in moving your luggage?"
"No thanks, I left mine at the Society's headquarters and I'll move hers on my own," replied Twilight.
"Right. Well, enjoy the rest of your stay in our fair city of Baltimare," concluded the clerk.
"Thank you," said Twilight, as she turned and trotted up the stairs.
As she climbed up to room 312, Twilight reflected on her encounters with the Blank Mare so far. She seemed like a rather normal pony, except her name and the cloak and everything. She probably really hated pony society if she went to all the work of appearing like a mystery figure like that. But, Twilight knew that deep down, the Blank Mare probably wanted to be part of society but just couldn't find a right way yet to do it. She couldn't really explain it, but there was a rather unmistakable air that the Blank Mare had lived without the friendship that was a surrounding part of Twilight's life and was becoming rather sick of it. Twilight would know, considering the fact that she had suffered the same as well: separating herself from the rest of the ponies and attempting to live by herself in a rather secluded career. Her's was researching. The Blank Mare's, investigative journalism. Twilight could just feel that the Blank Mare was ready to break out of her cocoon of isolationism, and whether she knew it or not, whether she actually wanted it or not, the Blank Mare's shelter was going to receive its last crack and fall apart, with a little help from Rainbow Dash.
After moving the Blank Mare's luggage from room 312 with the excuse that she was to be moved temporarily to room 208, Twilight quickly galloped back to the Society and dashed through the doors.
"Accra! Could you take me to where Lightstring is?" she gasped to the clerk. She was about to get up when Lightstring came out from a hallway and spotted Twilight.
"Twilight! Where have you been? We've got some stuff worked out, come on and see!" she exclaimed.
Twilight turned and followed Lightstring down the hallway and into a conference room. 3 ponies were sitting around the large table, all with clipboards with their notes in front of them. Twilight suddenly remembered her notes and asked if she could retrieve her luggage.
"Oh, no problem! I'll go take care of it. You guys should introduce yourselves," Lightstring said as she walked out.
Twilight turned back toward the 3 ponies, who were looking awkwardly around the room.
"Um, hi. You may know me already. Twilight Sparkle," she said, extending her hoof out to the nearest pony. She took it and shook it for a moment.
"Daisy," she introduced herself.
"Hey, I have a friend in Ponyville who's named Daisy," said Twilight.
"Oh, you know her? We're cousins in fact," said Daisy.
"Awesome," said Twilight. She turned toward the other ponies. The stallion at the end reached across the table and shook her hoof. "Ray Beam, head of the Society's economic department."
"Polly Plum," said the last mare, who shook her hoof.
Lightstring arrived with Twilight's bags. "Okay everypony? All know each other? Good, because we have a lot of work to do." She sat down at the other head and invited Twilight to sit down next to her.
"Okay everypony," she began. "Mr. Beam, I believe you were going to say something before I walked out?"
"Yes. I was just about to say that even if we did increase taxes and cut spending, our debt would still be a problem," said Ray Beam in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Well, we could always cut spending more and increase taxes more," said Lightstring.
"Very true, but if we cut spending even more, I'm afraid we might have to start firing ponies. And increasing taxes would also draw negative fire," replied Ray Beam.
"What we need is other source of revenue that can fill up our debt as well," suggested Daisy.
"Well, that's true. But where and what can that other source be?" asked Ray Beam.
"I think I may know," interjected Plum in a small voice. Everypony turned to look at her.
"Um, I believe that the Equestrian Banking Service can give out emergency loans to ponies in need in times of extreme emergency. I mean like dire though. I'm not sure if we count."
"Well, if I remember correctly," followed up Twilight. "The Equestrian Banking Service can serve out larger loans more leniently in times of surplus. And I'm pretty sure they'll have a surplus. They always do. Plum may be onto something."
"Perfect. Plum, you're a genius!" exclaimed Ray Beam. Polly Plum blushed and looked away. "If we can get some money from the Equestrian Banking Service, we'll have the debt paid off in no time."
"Providing, of course, that they don't charge us," added Daisy worriedly.
"We'll worry about that later," said Lightstring. "What matters most is what happens now. So we have an extra source of revenue that will allow us to lower taxes with less extreme consequences. What else can we add?"
"Well," said Daisy. "What about that Embargo Act? That one where we shut off trade to prevent inflation from affecting other parts of the country?"
"True," remarked Lightstring. "I say we get rid of it."
"Well, that's all fine and dandy and all," said Ray Beam. "But if we can't just get rid of it now. We can't let inflation creep out from the city and infect the rest of us."
"But from what I heard," said Twilight. "The Embargo Act is hurting us more than it is helping the economies outside of here. Besides, trade would help our economy grow. I'm also inclined to believe that there's probably some illicit trade going on right now. What's the point in trying to stop it if it keeps going on?"
"So, let's put it to vote. Who wants to see it go?" asked Lightstring. She raised her hoof, along with Twilight and Daisy. Plum raised her hoof shakily a moment later.
"Alright, alright, I know when I'm defeated," Ray Beam conceded. "So we get rid of the Embargo Act?"
"Yep," replied Lightstring. She made another point on her clipboard. "That's all?"
Nopony said anything else. "Well, I guess that's all we really need. Alright everypony, I guess the only thing we need to do now is wait for the stats and we can go really to town from there," said Lightstring.
Everypony nodded and left. Twilight packed her unused notes back in her luggage and walked out and in the lobby. She sat down on a bench and took out An Analysis on Pony Economics, hoping that everypony else was doing okay.
Hours later, in the late evening, the Council doors finally opened. All the ponies staggered out, tired from the debates. Meriwether was one of the last ones out, talking feverishly to another Blue Party pony.
"Listen, I just need your promise that-"
"I'm sorry Meriwether," said the pony. "I've already given you my support and my friends', but talking to the Navy group? No way. Those ponies will never be convinced. You made your point and I think a lot of ponies got it, but really, it's all at a standstill for the Blue Party. We just need to hope that the White Party can organize more supporters for your bill."
Meriwether nodded sadly. He had just spent a good hour speaking about the upcoming compromise bill and it was drawing a lot of disheartening fire so far from the center and radical sides.
Meanwhile, a rather harried and tired White pony pushed her way out to the front of the group and was about to leave when-
"Surprise!" cried out a pink pony, stepping out from behind a pillar and throwing out confetti at her. She was wearing a party hat and she blew a kazoo right into the Council pony's face. The pony stepped back, shocked, while the rest of the Council ponies quieted down to see what was going on.
"That's not all," cried out Pinkie Pie, and she grabbed a rope and yanked it. From seemingly out of nowhere, a banner unfurled to reveal the words "Happy Duck Celebration: Gold Digger and White Quilt!" The Council pony, White Quilt, opened her mouth in shock while the other ponies started laughing. Meanwhile, Gold Digger pushed his way out to the front as well. He took one look at the banner and groaned from embarrassment. The two shared a look of deep shame and looked away blushing.
"Oh, there you are Gold!" said Pinkie Pie. She rushed up and grabbed them both in a tight hug. The two were now being slowly strangled and they struggled to release themselves.
"And now, let's party!" cried out Pinkie Pie, and she immediately burst into song.
"What bad luck, 'Cause you're a duck! So let's be a band, and here's a helping hand! No need to thank me, and there's no fee!"
She took out two folders while she sang and tossed them to Gold Digger and White Quilt, who both caught them in surprise. White Quilt looked inside and saw a sheet of paper on the right side and a packet of official-looking papers on the left. A quick look of them revealed that they were unofficial versions of a job recommendation for her for the Baltimare Clothing Regulation Agency. She took one look at them and snapped the folder shut, hoping that nopony saw her. Gold Digger was looking in his as well and shut it quickly too. They looked around to see all the ponies either leaning onto a pillar for support or rolling on the floor laughing.
"Aw, look at how much fun they're having!" remarked Pinkie Pie. However, the two lame-duck representatives left quick as a flash.
"Wait, you didn't even open your presents yet!" cried out Pinkie Pie, as the two galloped down West Street.
"Oh well," she said. "My work here is done!" Pinkie Pie jumped up, tore the banner off, and quickly jumped out the door and down the street. Meanwhile, the rest of the Council ponies seemed to have calm down. The Blue pony with Meriwether was leaning on him for support and Meriwether looked disdainfully at him.
"Oh Celestia. That was funny," the pony said as he stood up and giggled. He looked at Meriwether.
"Oh lighten up, Weather," he said as Meriwether walked away and folded his wings again. "What, did Trottingham have nothing like this?"
"I'm pretty sure Baltimare had nothing like this, until now. Listen, I need to get home. I'll see you later," Meriwether said as he walked out the door.
However, instead of taking flight and rushing off back to the Soaring District, he took a left down Central Street and walked to the Society's headquarters. Meanwhile, a tough-looking Navy pony was walking briskly down East Street. An orange mare with a cowboy hat was walking in the opposite direction, carrying a pile of books on her back. The Navy pony was deep in thought and didn't really take note of her until they crashed into each other.
"Oh, sorry sir," she said as she got up.
"No problem," said the Council pony gruffly as he stood up again. He began to help the pony pick up her things.
"Thank you kindly sir," said Applejack. She grabbed a folder, opened it and checked something inside, and placed it into the Council pony's hands. Surprised, he didn't do anything for a second, which allowed Applejack to place everything on her back again and quickly walk down the street.
The Council pony looked up again and down at the folder. He opened it to reveal an identical sheet of paper as the other folders' papers in the right hand side and a packet that was a recommendation for an executive position in the Baltimare Police Department. He looked up again and made sure nopony was watching him before he placed the folder in his bag and began walking again.
Meanwhile, a streak of rainbow crossed the sky and dived into Rising District. The pegasus landed right in front of Council pony Grapefruit as she was about to open the door to her house, which was right beside Central District. She jumped up and yelped.
"Hi, you Grapefruit?" asked the pegasus aggressively.
"Um, well, yes, I am-" she began, but the pegasus cut her off as she slammed a folder in her hooves.
"This is for you, gotta dash," said Rainbow Dash and she took off in a streak of color.
Grapefruit remained still for a second before she placed the folder at her hooves and opened it, checking its contents, before gasping in surprise. She quickly opened the door to her house, entered, and slammed the door shut.
Meanwhile, back in the Society, the survey agents were gathered around in the lobby, sharing data and comparing stats before a call rang out across the lobby.
"All right, everypony! I need one pony to gather up all the data and compile it quickly. We need to get this down now!" cried out Bright Seeking, Lightstring standing next to him with her clipboard.
"What is it?" added Bright Seeking, now talking to Lightstring.
"We have a rudimentary bill worked out," she said, holding up her clipboard. "All we need now are the statistics."
"What took you so long?" asked Bright Seeking. "You had all afternoon!"
Lightstring raised her eyebrows. "We've been getting everypony's approval in here, and stop worrying. We didn't even have the stats yet and Meriwether isn't even here yet."
At these words however, Meriwether trotted through the door and through the crowd to the two ponies.
"Hullo, you have the bill, I presume?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, no," said Lightstring. "We still need the specific statistics from everypony there." She pointed to the crowd of agents.
"I see. When can we get the bill ready then? We only have almost 4 days until the lame-duck period is over," reminded Meriwether.
"I'm keeping everypony here until we can get this bill together and up," said Bright Seeking. "We'll probably have it ready for tomorrow."
"Excellent, well at least everything's going well here, you will not believe-" began Meriwether, but he was interrupted by a shout near his ears.
"Mary! What's up? How's the Council?" asked Skyros, as he grabbed Meriwether's neck and began shaking it vigorously.
"Let go!" shouted Meriwether as he took flight suddenly, forcing Skyros' front leg to fall off from his neck.
"Ah, come on, Mary. Is it the Council?" Skyros asked he Meriwether landed again.
"It somewhat is. I've made the pre-bill speech to the Council and I don't think it's going to go well for it," said Meriwether darkly. "It's taken a moderate amount of fire from the center guys as well."
"We can work around that," said Skyros. "My friends are assuring me their support and the rest of their moderates."
"And mine," said Meriwether. "But not all of them."
"Never mind that," said Bright Seeking. "Skyros, we'll have the bill ready tomorrow. The Blank Mare says she's already prepared an article. You have a show when?"
"Well, we have it on Wednesdays," said Skyros. "So we can't do anything about that."
"Blast!" cursed Bright Seeking. "We'll just have to work with the Blank Mare then. In the meantime, try to talk to your friends more. We need to guarantee their support."
Skyros nodded. "If I may add, it would be nice to have some of our agents in the Council room when they begin deliberating on the bill."
"Why?" asked Lightstring.
"It's so we can see who supports our bill and who doesn't. That way, we can single those guys out and convince them."
"But Meriwether can do that, can't he?" asked Lightstring, turning to Meriwether. He shook his head.
"Not really. I sit at the middle, so it would be a little funny to see me craning my neck around to look at everypony. If we have somepony at the balcony, they'd have a clear view of all the Council ponies," he replied.
"But who can we send? All these ponies need some rest," said Bright Seeking.
"Why not Twilight?" asked Lightstring. "She could do."
"Alright, sounds good," said Bright Seeking. A pony rushed up to him with a large clipboard.
"Sir, I think I got it all worked out," he said, as he flipped through the papers, showing them statistics.
"Excellent. Give that data to Lightstring. Lightstring, can you-"
"On it," she said, as she took the clipboard from the pony and rushed down the economic department hallway again.
"Twilight," she said as she entered. Twilight looked up from talking to Daisy.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Could I have a word with you? Ray, take this. It has all the stats on it," Lightstring said as she tossed the clipboard down the table.
"Twilight. Listen, we need your help with the Council," said Lightstring as they walked down the hallway.
"Sure," said Twilight. "What do you need?"
"We need a sort of agent in the Council while they're in session and see which pony supports us and which doesn't. Look for their body language and facial expressions. Just mark their sector and district on a clipboard and we'll find their names."
"How will I know their sector and district?" asked Twilight.
"Simple. The 10 districts are all split apart. There are 10 tables, 6 ponies each. The pony on the left is Sector 1 of that district. The pony on the right is Sector 6 of that district. Each table has the district name on it," replied Lightstring.
"Which left and right?" asked Twilight, as she began marking the information down in her memory.
"If you look from Speaker Baner's point of view, that's his left and his right."
"Great. Can I take another pony in with me?" asked Twilight.
"Sure, but try not to make a big disturbance," said Lightstring.
"No worries, I think I'll only need one," said Twilight.
"Great, thank you very much Twilight. Anyways, you should head off to the hotel."
"What? But I thought I would be working on the bill?"
"No worries," said Lightstring. "We'll take it from here. All we need to do is just pick a good number from the list and put it in. It's going to be dull work, trust me. Besides, you need to get rested up for tomorrow. You'll be going in with the rest of the Council. I suggest looking out for Meriwether."
"Right, see you later," said Twilight. She levitated her luggage and walked out. Twilight quickly walked back to the Mareriott, where she climbed up the stairs and stopped at the second floor. Should she go first to room 203 and tell Rainbow Dash that the Blank Mare would be sleeping with her or go straight to room 312 and dump her things off? After 5 seconds of thinking past, the door to the second floor opened and Rainbow Dash jumped out.
"Twilight!" she said.
"Yes?"
Rainbow Dash walked up and suddenly punched Twilight in the head.
"Hey! What was that for?!" asked Twilight indignantly, rubbing her head.
"I'll tell you what's up!" said Rainbow Dash angrily. "Why'd you put me in the same room as her?"
She pointed down the hall where the Blank Mare was raising an eyebrow disparagingly. Twilight almost smiled but quickly suppressed the urge. However, her lips must have betrayed her for a second, because Rainbow Dash appeared to get even angrier.
"Twilight? Is there something wrong with you sleeping with me or something, because I sure as Celestia's mane got a problem with staying with her!" Rainbow Dash pointed again at the Blank Mare.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about. The clerk said that he had to change things up a bit to accommodate with some important matters," replied Twilight.
Rainbow Dash didn't buy it however, and neither did the Blank Mare. She just scoffed and walked into the room again.
"Rainbow, I'm sure that you can survive a couple of nights staying in the same room as her. Besides, what's the big deal? You girls don't hate each other already or something, right?" asked Twilight.
"No, but she's one big pain to deal with Twilight! I'm not sleeping in the same room with some pony who thinks all ponies are the same!"
"You know, that's not what I believe in," explained the Blank Mare as she stuck her head out of the room. "I'm just simply saying that no ponies should be considered better than the rest."
"So what? That's just a better way of saying it, you Socialist!" said Rainbow Dash.
"Girls!" said Twilight, shocked at the fact that Rainbow knew about Socialism. Rainbow Dash was incensed. The Blank Mare was looking at her disdainfully.
Could this plan work? Already these ponies probably couldn't stand being in the same building as each other, much less a room. They hated their very ideals, or at least Rainbow Dash did. Maybe somepony else could do. Maybe, Twilight thought, she herself should do it. Twilight was more capable and collected. She could control her temper, unlike Rainbow Dash. But Twilight knew that even though she might take a more practical path on things and she wasn't really capable of hurting the Blank Mare in a hoof-fight, Rainbow Dash was clearly a pony who could bring a rather isolated pony like the Blank Mare back into pony society. Besides, they already have a connection, however acrid it may be, and Twilight knew it may pay off more than Applejack's Southern hospitality and Pinkie Pie's sheer randomness.
"Twilight! Are you keeping me in the same room as her or not?" asked Rainbow Dash, which brought Twilight back to Equestria again.
"Well... Yes, but-" began Twilight, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash turned around and pushed past the Blank Mare in the room. Twilight was afraid that she might carry her luggage out, but Rainbow didn't come out again.
"She's just sitting on the bed, don't worry," assured the Blank Mare.
"You don't mind if she stays with you, do you?" asked Twilight anxiously.
"Not unless she decides to sneak up on me tonight with a knife," said the Blank Mare. "Don't worry, I'm staying here. I'm pretty much under your bill here, which is the Society's, so I'll do whatever you say."
"Oh don't say that," said Twilight. "They invited you here too, right?"
"Yeah, but they didn't offer to pay me," replied the Blank Mare. "I'll see you later Twilight, it's rather late."
"Okay, see you tomorrow then," said Twilight.
The Blank Mare nodded and the door closed. Twilight sighed and picked up her luggage on the floor of the landing and walked up to room 312. Inside, Pinkie Pie was laughing on her bed while Applejack was smiling as well.
"What's up with you girls?" asked Twilight, as she placed down her luggage at foot of the Blank Mare's old bed.
"Oh, she was just telling me what she did with those duck Council ponies," said Applejack.
"Oh, that reminds me, I didn't ask you how it went. So how did it go?" asked Twilight excitedly.
"We got the folders out. Ah' talked to Rainbow as well and she said she got her folders out as well," replied Applejack.
"Great! So all we have to do is just wait," said Twilight and she sprung into bed. She was just about to get in before she realized that she forgot to tell them about her Council duty tomorrow.
"Oh, by the way, Applejack," she said as she got up again. Applejack was about to climb in bed as well.
"Yeah, what's up Twilight?" Applejack asked.
"I'm going up to the Council tomorrow when Meriwether presents the bill," explained Twilight. "Would you like to come? We have a job there as well."
"Really? What is it?" asked Applejack.
"Well, we basically have to watch everypony and see who supports the bill and who doesn't by watching their movements and facial expression. Kind of like an interrogation, except we're not asking the questions."
"Gosh. You'd like me to come?" asked Applejack.
"Well, yes. It'd be nice to have somepony else there who could work with me," replied Twilight.
"Sounds good. Count me in," said Applejack.
"Great," said Twilight. "Alright girls, I guess we better turn in. We have a big day tomorrow. Well, not you Pinkie Pie, but still-"
But Pinkie Pie was snoring away, which contrasted heavily with how much energy she had 5 minutes ago. Of course, this must happen at a daily basis, Twilight reminded herself. She smiled and turned off the light.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash finished brushing her teeth and walked out. The Blank Mare was sitting on the bed on the side closest to the window and was reading something.
"Hey, Blankie! That side's mine," she said as she jumped on the bed, knocking the Blank Mare off. She got up indignantly but did not say anything. The Blank Mare moved to the other side, sat down, set the papers on the pillow, and began to read again.
"What're you reading, Blankie?" asked Rainbow Dash as she reached for her light.
"Well, I-" began the Blank Mare but at that moment the light turned off.
"Rainbow!" said the Blank Mare frustratingly while Rainbow Dash started laughing. "Fine, I suppose it is late." She looked at the clock, which read close to 11 in the night.
"By the way, could you not call me 'Blankie?' It's a terrible nickname," said the Blank Mare.
"Sure, Blanker!" replied Rainbow Dash in a sarcastic tone.
"That was even worse," replied the Blank Mare. She pulled off the covers and got in. Both immediately pulled to the very opposite ends of the bed, facing away from each other.
Some time passed before Rainbow Dash made a request. "Hey, tell me one thing though."
The Blank Mare rolled her eyes but responded. "What?"
"Why do you call yourself the Blank Mare?" Rainbow Dash asked.
The Blank Mare turned to Rainbow Dash's side. "Why do you ask?"
Rainbow Dash turned to face the Blank Mare. "I dunno. Just curious."
The Blank Mare raised her right eyebrow. "Well, I don't know. It's a name. It's meant to symbolize something, I guess. Why do they call you Rainbow Dash?"
"Like I said, I'm probably the fastest flyer in Equestria," responded Rainbow Dash. She was about to get up again before the Blank Mare forced her down with a hoof.
"Let's not have that here," she said. "I've already seen what you're capable of. Anyways, it's a name. It's supposed to symbolize something. You, probably your parents hoped that you would eventually turn out fast or something, coupled with the fact that your hair is rainbow-colored, which I'm still not sure is genetically possible. Me, I just don't like pony society that much. So I've created an empty persona, per say, so ponies can associate with the name, but only so they can identify me. I would like to stay rather far away from them."
"Well, yeah, you probably do hate society," responded Rainbow Dash. "But why this? How is it possible to think that all ponies are equal? I mean, we're all different. I mean, I fly and do amazing tricks and you, um, you can grow things."
The Blank Mare rolled her eyes again.
"I mean, that's just our physical system. We have different personalities. You're more quiet and I'm more loud. We have different interests and different likes, and well, different everything pretty much. Ponies can be free sure, but they can't be equal. I mean, I'm not saying that ponies should discriminate against others and stuff like that, but ponies aren't all equal. It's just that some ponies are more cut out for different stuff than others. Like your writing. I'll admit, I can't bear with that boring stuff, but you can. And me. Obviously you can't fly, but even those that can are still not capable of matching up with me. It's just that some ponies are better at some things and others aren't. And sometimes we may act like we're the best. I mean, I sometimes may act a teensy bit proud, but the fact is is that it's normal. Sure you may feel offended when other ponies start bragging, but you can't really just fix all that. You can't make it better because ponies just can't be equal. And becoming some sort of nun is overreacting a bit if you ask me. Sure some ponies can be really mean, but not all of them. If you're judging the entire society out of a few ponies, well, that's just wrong. Because 5 or so ponies don't make up millions."
The Blank Mare just looked at Rainbow Dash while she talked. Rainbow Dash was making sense. Maybe she herself was being ridiculous, with this whole thing. And her name and attitude. Did that mean she was acting like she was better, that she was above all this mess? But she wasn't, and yet, she sure acted like she was. The Blank Mare felt terrible. All those years thinking that ponies were all horrible and somehow combining a social life with antisocial beliefs; it all seemed rather impossibly paradoxical now.
"It's almost 11:30," said Rainbow Dash and she yawned. The Blank Mare looked up and realized she was right.
"Well, night, Blank," said Rainbow Dash and she turned over and immediately began snoring.
The Blank Mare turned over on her back but didn't fall asleep. She was still thinking.
All those years of just shunning away others and creating this name to feel better. It all felt wasted. At the time, she justified creating the name for secrecy. But the Blank Mare now realized that it was more than that. It was because she felt better than society. And wasn't that against what she believed? She thought that everypony was equal, but it turned out that, well, she believed that she was better than them in a way. The hypocrisy of it just made her sick. But there was still time.
She remembered Celestia talking to her. Her old, childish wish, to want to make her name known everywhere, it was still possible and the Blank Mare even accomplished that goal somewhat. But Celestia was right. She was building a reputation that she didn't really want. And Rainbow made her realize something even more. Her reputation was built on equality, but not only was it impossible, it was just plain hypocritical. Here she was, believing that she was above the mess of names and taunts and insults that was just part of society, but she did it to others multiple times. The ponies she shouted down in the lobby of the Spring and Gait. The ponies she wrote about in her articles. And now, Rainbow Dash. She remembered laughing at her while she was checking her reflection off from the chandeliers. Maybe now was the time to give up this ridiculous thing, and start actually interacting with others. But could her reputation as the Blank Mare survive if she rebuilt it? Could she be regarded as the same pony as before, the pony who brought down dozens of corrupt officials for the common good, the crusader of morality? Well, there was only one way to find out. And that would start now.
"Hey, Rainbow, wake up!" she whispered.
"Hm?" grunted Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow, you awake?"
"Yeah, geez, what's the matter Blank?" she asked sleepily.
"You want to know my real name?" asked the Blank Mare.
Rainbow Dash sat up, interested. "What?" she asked, now completely awake.
The Blank Mare sat up and drew herself up to the maximum height possible for her sitting position. Rainbow noticed that there was a gleam in her eyes that wasn't present before.
"So, it's true? Your real name's Red Curl?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Oh stop it Rainbow. It's morning now. You haven't lost sleep thinking about it too much, right?" said the Blank Mare.
"No, but it still gave me a shock. I really should have guessed it, with your red curly mane and all," said Rainbow Dash.
It was around 6 in the morning. They had woken up rather early and were now getting ready for the day, or at least the Blank Mare was. The clouds covered the sky and blocked out the sunlight. If you looked closely, you could still see the pegasi flying around, patching the holes in the cloud line.
"I'd just love to go out and see them work," said Rainbow Dash. "I was a weather pony in Ponyville you know."
"Really?" asked the Blank Mare absentmindedly as she straightened her mane. "Well, you do have the time. You did your job. I still have mine to do."
She walked up to her papers, but noticed that they were missing. "Hey Rainbow, have you seen my papers?"
"Oh yeah, sorry, I took them for some reading," said Rainbow Dash as she took the papers and gave them back to the Blank Mare.
"You took them for some reading?" asked the Blank Mare.
"Well, yeah, just to, you know, read. I like to read. I may not seem like much a reader, but..."
The Blank Mare smiled as she organized the papers again and realized that there was one little change.
"Did you cross out my name and replace it with Red Curl?" asked the Blank Mare.
"Well, no, you did it while sleepwalking," answered Rainbow Dash sarcastically.
"Okay, okay, I get it," said the Blank Mare, laughing. "Why'd you do it though?"
"Come on, Red Curl. It's your name. Use it!"
"Yeah, but most ponies know 'the Blank Mare.' Not Red Curl. I'll change my name slowly. Doing it suddenly seems too dramatic for me," said the Blank Mare. "Also, could you not tell Twilight and the others? I want to do it myself."
"Sure thing, Red," said Rainbow Dash.
Just as she said that, a knock came on the door. The Blank Mare walked up and opened it. Twilight and Applejack were standing outside.
"Good morning you two. Blank Mare, you're going down to the Society with your article right?" asked Twilight.
"Right," affirmed the Blank Mare.
"Rainbow, why are you smiling?" inquired Twilight, looking curiously around the Mare to look at Rainbow Dash, who was motioning toward the Blank Mare and smiling broadly. She stopped when the Blank Mare whirled to look at her.
"Oh, probably nothing," said the Blank Mare, still looking behind her back.
"You girls weren't fighting, were you?" asked Twilight in a admonishing tone.
"Oh, no, of course not. We actually got along nicely last night," replied the Blank Mare.
"Right, well, anyways," continued Twilight. "Applejack and I are going down to the Council and act as, um, spies I guess I could say. Rainbow, you're free to do whatever you want. By the way," Twilight took a book out from her bag and tossed it to Rainbow Dash. She caught it and looked at the title.
"Yes, Daring Do! Thanks Twilight!" said Rainbow. She jumped on the bed and began reading.
"Well, I guess that covers it. Come on, Blank, we should head down."
"Right," said the Blank Mare as she walked out. "Rainbow, lock the door!" she called out as she closed the door. Rainbow yelled a shout of assent, so she shut the door.
"May I see your article?" asked Twilight, as they walked down the stair. The Blank Mare hesitated for a second, then handed the papers to Twilight.
Twilight read the title and then the author before she stopped. Applejack bumped right into her, but Twilight didn't move.
"That's your real name?" Twilight asked in awe as she looked at it.
"What?" asked Applejack, as she craned to look over Twilight's head. Twilight raised the papers behind her head. Applejack took a look at the author's name.
"Red Curl? That's your name?" asked Applejack as she looked at the Blank Mare in surprise as well. The Blank Mare nodded.
"Wait, that's not your writing though," said Twilight as they began walking down again.
"Nope. That's Rainbow Dash," said the Blank Mare.
"Whoa, wait, Rainbow Dash knows your name now as well?" asked Applejack.
The Blank Mare nodded. "As you may presume, she was the first to know."
"Did you tell her, or...?" asked Twilight. The Blank Mare nodded.
"I told her," she said.
The three remained silent as they all walked down and out the hotel.
"Well, I'm going to the Society, have fun!" said the Blank Mare. The wind was beginning to pick up.
"Sure!" said Twilight, as they separated, the Blank Mare going left, Twilight and Applejack going right. The two walked for some time before they noticed a blue pegasus flying and landing right outside the Council building.
"Meriwether!" called out Twilight.
Meriwether looked behind him and saw the two rushing up to him.
"Alright, you two? Braving the storm, huh?" asked Meriwether over the now whistling wind.
"What's going on? Why are we getting such a big storm?" asked Twilight.
"Well, for one, we were late behind some rain. For two, the pegasi are probably deliberately doing this, for protesting and such."
"Well that's just great!" said Twilight over the now howling wind. A sheet of rain began to suddenly fall on them. Applejack yelped.
"Come on, get inside!" said Meriwether and the three quickly entered the Council building. Inside, a crackling fire in the lobby kept the entire place warm and cozy from the rain and wind outside.
"Great, now my suit is all wet. And it was hard to fly in this thing to begin with," said Meriwether crossly as they crossed the lobby and began walking down the hallway.
"So, where do we go?" asked Twilight.
"Oh, right. Visitors go up there," Meriwether pointed to the doors on the walls to the left and right of the large double doors at the end of the hallway.
"Don't we need permission or somethin' to go up there?" asked Applejack.
"No worries. Anypony's allowed to go up there as long as they arrive before the Council meetings start," Meriwether said. They reached the end of the hallway and Twilight opened the door on the right wall.
"I'll see you two later. I need to get the bill," said Meriwether.
"Don't you already have it?" asked Twilight as Meriwether turned to leave.
"Oh good heavens no. Otherwise it would be wet. I checked the weather schedule and decided that it would be best to have the Society send it directly to me in my office. Well, just find a seat, preferably where you can see the entire Council, and get comfortable."
"Right, thanks Meriwether," Twilight said, as she and Applejack went through the door. It lead to a narrow set of stairways that reached another door. Twilight opened that and they stepped out to a balcony that overlooked the entire Council room. Despite the fact that there were only 10 tables and 60 spots, the room still gave off an impression of immense size and power. The roof reached up to a large height and a stained glass of Princess Celestia and the sun and Princess Luna and the moon could be seen at the top. The 10 tables were all arranged in a half-circle situated in front of the seats where the Speaker of the Council, the Council scribe, the deputy mayor, and the mayor sat. The entire room was empty, which added to the atmosphere of power and grandness. Applejack was visibly awed.
"Wow. We have nothin' like this in Ponyville."
"Well, we don't have a legislature branch of Ponyville," replied Twilight. "It's just Mayor Mare."
The two picked seats that stood almost directly on top of the rostrum. The seats that were directly on top were raised and were probably for VIP's. Twilight and Applejack sat down and waited.
Almost 2 hours later, the room was packed, at least the bottom. Almost all the representatives were there. They were either chatting with one another, reading something, or just plain fooling around, killing time. Some ponies started filling the balconies, but they were only old, educated ponies who were the few out of the large population of Baltimare that cared about the government. Twilight started looking at the desks and found Meriwether sitting at the Soaring District desk, which was close to the middle. He was rustling some papers around and talking to his colleague next to him. Suddenly, the doors opened again and Speaker Baner stepped in. Following him was the Council scribe, who was levitating a stack of papers with her. Speaker Baner stepped up the rostrum and sat down in his seat. The Court scribe sat in the small seat in front of him. She took out a quill and ink well and placed them on her desk. She spread out a piece of paper on the desk and nodded to Speaker Baner.
"The sixty-first meeting of the 112 Council of Baltimare begins on December 5, After Nightmare Moon 4, the first Wednesday of said month, commencing on 8 in the morning," spoke Speaker Baner. The Court scribe began scribbling quickly.
"Per the agenda compiled by the Council Rules Committee, we shall start with the introduction of a bipartisan economic bill, produced by the Economic Management Committee and presented by Environment representative to the said committee, Meriwether."
Meriwether nervously got up and began walking down to the speech area, right in front of the rostrum. Twilight immediately checked her notebook and made sure she had everything on there.
"Mares and gentlecolts," began Meriwether. "For far too long, we've stood on the edge of economic despair, quarreling among ourselves while the looming threat has grown far bigger than we've thought possible. We must now face the problem if we are to save our great and venerable city. The Lightstring Bill combines policies from both parties and tackles the problem of debt efficiently, without harming the average taxpayer as well. I ask that all of you put aside your grudges now to realize that the fruits of our fighting have both gone into this bill and have combined sweetly."
"Look," whispered Applejack. She pointed toward Flaming District, where the two ponies from Sector 4 and 5 were talking and laughing silently. Twilight nodded and flipped to Flaming District and marked down S4 and S5 as "Oppose."
"There's one as well," murmured Twilight, as she marked down Rising District, S3, who was shaking her head visibly.
"Hey, check out that one in Central District. He's bitin' his lip," whispered Applejack. Indeed he was. He tapped his hoof to this chin as well, as though in painful thought. Twilight quickly marked him down as "Unsure."
Meriwether continued talking as Twilight and Applejack began marking down more and more ponies. Meriwether spoke slowly and clearly, hoping that Twilight and Applejack would have enough time to mark all the ponies down.
"Looks like we got some avid supporters," muttered Twilight. Three ponies from Waving District were chatting and nodding their heads vigorously.
"I hope all of you will do your important and well-deserved duty as sole legislators of the city of Baltimare," finished Meriwether. Luckily, Twilight got down most of the ponies by that point.
"Yes, your Honor," said Meriwether as he walked back.
"Very well, scribe, put it to vote."
"Yes, your Honor," said the scribe. She quickly took another sheet of paper out and dipped her quill in the ink well again.
"When I call your sector, please stand up and call out your vote," said the scribe. "We'll start with Waving District. Sector 1."
"Nay!" cried out the pony from Sector 1. The scribe wrote down "WD, S1: No."
"Okay, Sector 2," said the scribe.
"Yes," said the pony from Sector 2. The scribe wrote that down.
This continued on for some time. One by one the districts voted. All of Casting District voted no, while all of Rising District voted yes. Twilight marked down the votes with the scribe beside the sector's name, jumping backward and forward through the notebook. Finally, the last district, Shining District, was called on, and:
"And finally, Sector 6,"
"Aye!" came out the cry.
"Voting has been concluded," said the scribe. She quickly began counting the tallies. Meriwether sat up in his seat as the scribe continued counting, hoping for the best, praying to Celestia with all his might. Finally:
"Ahem! The final count for the Lightstring Economic Bill has been made. In support: 35. Opposing: 25.
Meriwether drew in a breath and sighed. That was it. It was all over. The pony next to him reached over and patted him on his back as he closed his eyes and sighed again. Twilight meanwhile shook her head. She took out the notebook and began counting. Almost all the ponies who voted "no" were opposed to the bill while Meriwether made his speech. Some of the unsure however voted "no." Twilight knew that if only they voted yes, they probably could have turned the tide toward them.
The doors finally opened and the Council ponies started leaving again. Twilight and Applejack waited outside the door leading to the balconies and spotted Meriwether talking to his Blue Party colleague. Meriwether stopped and waved at them. Twilight galloped and hugged him. Meriwether appeared shocked and his friend started laughing, while Applejack started smiling.
"I'm sorry Meriwether," she said as she let go.
"What's there to be sorry for? We fought once, we can fight again," came a familiar voice. All of them looked to see Skyros and Lightstring coming toward them.
"I saw everything," said Skyros. "I was just here telling Lightstring about the news. You got the information Twilight?"
Twilight tossed Skyros her notebook. He quickly caught it with his mouth.
"Thanks. I'll take a look at it," said Skyros, his voice muffled. He quickly galloped out the Council building and made a left.
"Can we really try again?" asked Twilight. Lightstring laughed.
"Of course! Otherwise, how will we ever succeed? Some bills get introduced and voted on dozens of times I believe," replied Lightstring. "We'll fix it, don't worry. You two should get some rest."
Twilight nodded and she and Applejack quickly left. Lightstring turned to Meriwether in the now empty lobby.
"You tried your best," she said.
He simply nodded and walked away. Lightstring watched him sadly leave and take flight. Despite the fact that Lightstring and the Society had come up with the bill, she knew that Meriwether had put a lot of work into trying to support it, only to fail.
Meanwhile, three ponies were meeting in an office in the Council building. The Head of the Infrastructure Maintenance Committee was there along with one of his colleagues and his aide. The Head was Left Step, who happened to be leader of the Navy ponies in the Blue Party. His colleague was also Navy.
"Despicable, if you ask me. Out of our entire party, 16 of them voted for this abominable bill. Outrageous!" cried out Left Step.
"I quite agree sir, quite agree," said the other pony in a rather lofty tone.
"What's even worse, is that one of our ponies voted for it. A Navy pony, voting for a bipartisan bill that's obviously just a conservative bill hidden in a shell that has "compromise" written all over it!" spat out Left Step vehemently.
The two other ponies nodded. Suddenly, a knock came on the office door. "Come in," said Left Step angrily.
The door opened, revealing the tough-looking and battered Navy pony who ran into Applejack the day before. This time however, he looked nervous, small, even timid. He had voted for the bill and it had shattered beneath his hooves. Left Step quickly fixed his angry facial expression to a dazzling, yet dangerous smile. He approached the pony lightly on his hooves, as though he were meeting his friend in a delightful field and they were prancing around.
"The stallion of the moment!" Left Step cried out exuberantly, and the other two ponies started clapping slowly with dangerous smiles on their faces as well. "So, Keg, you voted for the bill, did you not?"
Keg gulped and nodded slowly.
"Great, great, and could you care to explain what went wrong?" asked Left Step in a light but a subtly threatening tone.
Keg opened his mouth and closed it again several times before he managed to find his voice again. "I do, um, I mean, I don't understand you, sir," he said nervously.
"Well, there's the simple matter of why did you vote for this bill? Hm?" asked Left Step with a still sweet yet still vitriolic smile.
"Um, well, like Meriwether said sir, we need more compromise. We can't just sit by and watch all this happen," replied Keg timidly.
"Uh-huh. You do make good sound bites," remarked Left Step. Keg blushed. "Now, I want you to know."
Left Step leaned in on Keg's face. Keg stood his ground but bit his lip nervously and looked away.
"Now, I want you to understand that I know that you're a lame-duck representative now. And that's perfectly acceptable. Not a lot of ponies respect our views you know. But what's not acceptable is a pony who joins us with the promise of helping the middle class rise and bringing down the aristocrats and then all of a sudden he feels the need to back stab his fellow representatives." Left Step drew to an even taller height before continuing. "Is there some reason that you've decided to go against your rhetoric? Denounce who used to be your friends? Hm?"
"Sir, if I remember correctly, compromise was not something we hated," replied Keg nervously.
"Well, you seem to be blinded then by those sweet-talking conservatives," said Left Step in a pitiful tone. "Listen, that bill will do more harm than good. Trust me, I've ran the statistics, and they don't look good. But you know what else won't look good? Your reputation, if you vote for this bill when it comes back. And trust me, it will come back. So once you're out of here for good, don't expect to see the last of me. Don't even think for a moment you've seen the last of me."
Keg gulped again but then breathed slowly and surely. "Sir," he replied. "I don't think you'll be able to chase me down even though you're the Head of the IMC. It's not like I'll be working for the railroads anytime soon."
Left Step only smiled though. "Oh, really? Well, you see Keg, I have a lot more influence than you think I do. Infrastructure and transportation is everywhere if you hadn't noticed Keg. And I want to remind you that even if you do choose to not work on transportation, I can still make your life down here utterly miserable, to the point where you might just have to leave, walking. Transportation is everywhere Keg. I can make sure that all taxi carts know your face and make sure they just kick their dust right on you. I can make sure that all the railroad terminals know your face needs to be run over by a train. In short, if you want to get somewhere, you better start walking."
Now Keg was really nervous. He shook slightly as Left Step talked and there was no mistaking the look on Left Step's face: he would have no mercy in his revenge.
"Do you catch my drift, Keg?" asked Left Step.
Keg nodded slowly and swallowed again, but there was barely any saliva in his throat anymore.
"Good. You may leave," said Left Step. Keg turned and quickly made to walk out the door, but Left Step stopped him again.
"Wait." Keg stopped. Left Step walked up to him and placed his right front hoof on the wall right beside Keg and leaned on him again. This time, Keg shrunk. "I just want to remind you that when, and I mean when this bill gets back in, you make the right choice. You understand Keg?"
Keg nodded.
"Good, you're free to go. Run along now," said Left Step. Keg quickly dashed and galloped down the hallway to the stairs.
"Well, I think that went well," said Left Step brightly, as he shut the door. His aide nodded in agreement but the other pony looked skeptical.
"I don't know, he didn't really look convinced to me," he said.
"No worries," said Left Step reassuringly. "He'll think it over. And he'll make the right choice. But I think it'll be safe to have his friend talk to him. What's her face, Winding District, Sector 3?"
The aide quickly jumped and grabbed his notebook and began looking. "Um, Morning Dew," he said, looking up the pony in that spot.
"Excellent, she's Navy if I remember correctly. She'll talk some sense into him," said Left Step.
"Sir, If I remember correctly," said the other pony. "There was one more lame-duck representative in our party who voted for the bill."
"Grapefruit," added the aide, who was looking in his notebook again.
"Yes, well, she's not a concern to me. As long as we can assure that Keg doesn't vote for the bill again, we're good. The vote was 35 to 25. They need a total of 5 more votes to get the bill in, and they're not getting it from the Blue Party," said Left Step confidently.
"What about the White Party?" asked the other pony.
"No worries. I'm sure Speaker Baner is doing this right now to the other Right ponies. Trust me, he probably hates this bill just as much as I do," remarked Left Step.
The clock chimed 9 in the evening. The ponies turned to look at the clock.
"It's getting late. You two should head home. I expect that that accursed bill shall rear it's ugly and brutal head again tomorrow. This time, I'll make sure that this Meriwether actually gets a challenge," said Left Step.
The two ponies nodded and they started packing up to leave. Left Step grabbed his briefcase and walked out his office. If those ponies wanted compromise, they had to do it the right way. Whoever they were, they obviously didn't have the right view on things. And hopefully, when the bill comes up again, Left Step will make them see what the Blue Party is supposed to stand for. He smiled as he walked down the stairs and down the hallway to the doors. The Navy party would show the rest of the Council that they were stronger than they thought.
It was the very next day after the disastrous meeting in the Council. Inside the Mareriott, room 203, Rainbow Dash awoke to find the Blank Mare already up and getting ready for the day.
"Hey Red. I didn't see you get back," said Rainbow, as she stretched and yawned. She flapped her wings a couple of times while the Blank Mare straightened out her mane.
"Oh, no. I came back at around 12, while you were sleeping," replied the Blank Mare.
Rainbow Dash took a look at the clock, which was close to hitting 6 in the morning. "Why the rush?" she added sleepily while the Blank Mare grabbed a pile of papers from a nightstand.
"Well, I got to head to the Society of course. I still have my article to finish. By the way, did you hear the news?" the Blank Mare asked Rainbow Dash.
"No. You mean the law, right?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"The bill," corrected the Blank Mare. "And yeah, it wasn't passed."
Rainbow Dash yawned while the Blank Mare looked at her chidingly in the middle of flipping through her papers. Rainbow Dash opened one eye to look at her.
"What?" she asked.
The Blank Mare smiled. "Nothing, I got to head to the Society now. Have fun," she said as she grabbed a pen in her teeth and began walking out. "Lock the door," she added in a muffled voice as she prepared to leave. The Blank Mare opened the door and headed out to the stairway. Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were walking down the stairway and met with her on the second landing.
"Oh, hi Blan-, I mean, Red Curl," said Twilight. Pinkie Pie gave a prolonged gasp and ran right into the Blank Mare. She quickly backed up in surprise.
"Your name is Red Curl?!" she asked in a shocked voice.
"Oh, yeah, it is," the Blank Mare said with a nervous smile.
"Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, this is so amazing. I mean, when I met you I was all confused because-" rambled Pinkie Pie as they all started walking the rest of the way down. Twilight and the Blank Mare smiled as they made their way down. They quickly headed out and turned left, where they walked to the Society's headquarters.
"I thought you'd be headed to the Council," said the Blank Mare.
"Not right now, we need to talk to Lightstring and just discuss some things," replied Twilight. They all walked through the Society's door, where Meriwether, Skyros, and Lightstring were talking urgently. Skyros noticed the four walking toward them and waved. The four quickly walked up to them.
"Glad you could make it," said Lightstring. Twilight nodded while Pinkie Pie immediately started prancing around again.
"Are they here yet?" asked Bright Seeking, walking all of them from his office.
"Yes, sir," replied Lightstring.
"Good, because we need to discuss some things. Come on, all of you in my office," he said, and they walked into his office.
"Okay, first, we need to discuss the bill. Obviously, it didn't pass for a reason and we're going to make some changes based on that," said Bright Seeking.
"Well," said Skyros, taking out Twilight's notebook and flipping through it with his hoof. "A total of 8 mainstream Blue ponies voted against the bill." Everypony looked toward Meriwether, who started whistling.
"If we could have attracted 5 of them, we would've had it," continued Skyros.
"But what about the two White Party guys who voted against the bill?" reminded Meriwether.
"Psht, that was just a fluke. We can't guarantee everypony's vote," said Skyros.
"I could say the same for me," retorted Meriwether.
"Still," said Lightstring quickly, before Skyros had time to answer back. "8 ponies from the mainstream party is unacceptable. We need to draw some of them in the fold, or else we can't guarantee the bill being passed."
"But how?" asked the Blank Mare. "We can't just call them again and tell them they need to vote. We have 3 days until the lame-duck period is over, right?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but 3 days is probably enough to change some of those ponies' minds," said Twilight.
"Well, true," said Lightstring. "But the problem is, we just managed to reserve the bill another spot today, and barely. We can't spare the time to talk to these ponies again. And if we reschedule, the bill will probably be put into session in the 113 Council, after the lame-duck period is over."
The room as silent except for Pinkie Pie humming. Nopony knew what else to do.
"Alright, let's back up for a second," said Bright Seeking. "We need to find a way to draw some of the moderates from the Blue Party to support us. We can either talk to the ponies quickly, revise the bill, or cancel it altogether and wait until the next Council."
"I don't think we should wait," said Meriwether. "We can't waste any time on this bill. The expiring date on government policies on the economy ends in just 2 weeks from now."
"I quite agree," said Skyros. "Talking to the ponies now won't do anything as well. It probably won't change their minds and we would have just wasted time."
"So that means we'll have to revise the bill," concluded Lightstring.
"But how?" asked the Blank Mare. "What can we add that would convince the Blue Party ponies to vote for the bill while not alienating the White Party?"
Nopony knew. The room remained silent as everypony thought deeply. Suddenly, the answer came to Twilight, and even though it sounded ridiculous, it seemed like their only chance.
"What about the Cutie Mark Discovery Tutorship Bill?" she asked.
It was like she dropped a bombshell on the table. Meriwether and Skyros rose their eyebrows quizzically, Lightstring grew confused, and Bright Seeking replied with, "What?"
"Think about it," said Twilight. "We need to get more Blue Party guys in our fold. The Cutie Mark bill would definitely attract more Blue Party votes."
"But what about the White Party? All my friends would vote against the bill in a heartbeat!" replied Skyros. Meriwether nodded.
"What we need is to somehow make the bill less liberal and more in the middle," said Twilight. "That way, it would appeal to the White Party."
"Twilight may be onto something," said Lightstring. "But how could that work?"
"Well, how would the bill provide funding to the lessons?" asked Twilight.
"Through increased taxes from the rich," said Skyros.
"Then how about this: we have the lessons but we put a price on it. Say, 50 bits or so," said Twilight. Meriwether, Bright Seeking, and the Blank Mare appeared skeptical.
"Well, think about this," said Meriwether. "I'm sure that the ponies in the Blue Party mainly support the bill because it takes the money from the rich to pay for education, but the thing is is that once ponies themselves start paying, I'm pretty sure the Blue Party would stop supporting the bill."
"But wouldn't they appreciate the fact that the bill is actually being implemented? What you're saying is that the sole reason that the Blue Party made the bill was to take money from the rich for use for the less affluent classes," replied Twilight.
"Well, yes, I think they would be glad to see the bill implemented but once the ponies themselves start paying, I don't know whether they'd support it," said Meriwether.
"I don't like it," said Bright Seeking. "But I think it's the only thing we'll be able to do. Right now, there's pretty much nothing we can do that will attract more Blue Party voters, other than adding the Cutie Mark Tutorship Bill. Lightstring, can you put it in?"
"Sure," said Lightstring. "Come on Twilight, lets meet up with the rest and see what we can do."
Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie rushed out with Lightstring to the Economic department.
"Alright, Blank-, wait, would you like me to call you Red Curl?" asked Bright Seeking. The Blank Mare shrugged.
"Whichever name you'd like," she said.
"Alright, Red, do you have the article revised?" asked Bright Seeking.
The Blank Mare took out her article and placed it on the table.
"Excellent. Accra!"
Accra walked in the office. "Take this to the up to the News department and have them send it to the Baltimare Daily when it's done," instructed Bright Seeking. She nodded, levitated the papers, and quickly walked out the office.
"Skyros, can you talk to your White Party friends?" asked Bright Seeking.
Skyros nodded and quickly left the office to head outside. He turned right and briskly walked down to the Council Building. Inside, he quickly spotted a group of his friends talking and he rushed over to talk to them. One of them noticed him and called out to him.
"Skyros! Come on!" he said, waving to him.
Skyros trotted over to him and two ponies moved aside so he could join them.
"What's the news?" asked one of them seriously.
"You're not going to like this I expect, but it's the only thing we can do now," said Skyros. He told them about adding in a revised version of the Cutie Mark Discovery Tutorship Bill. A couple of them had raised eyebrows by the time he finished. Most looked unsure about the addition.
"Are you sure about this?" asked one of the ponies.
"First, I want to be sure that you'd support this," said Skyros.
"Well..." the pony replied. They all looked at each other. Since they were moderate White ponies, they didn't support the bill.
"I mean," said another pony. "As long as, you know, it doesn't really hurt the taxpayers."
"No, the lessons are optional and they require payment," said Skyros.
"I can't really see what's wrong about this. At least it doesn't require taking more money from the rich," said another pony. "You know Skyros, we still have some concerns about the entire Lightstring Bill right now."
"I know, but trust me, it's the only direction we can turn," said Skyros desperately.
"Right now, we believe that's the case, but I only wish the circumstances were better," said the pony.
"I know," said Skyros. "But after a while, they will be."
The group was silent for while. Then, one of them cleared his throat. "It's 7. We should talk to the others or something."
"Right," said another. "Skyros, you should head back or something, unless you'd like to stay and watch."
"No, it's fine, I'll leave," he said and he quickly turned around. He was just about to exit when a hoof on his back stopped him. Skyros turned around a saw a thin, small, brown coated, and rather energetic stallion behind him.
"Sneaky Slate!" Skyros exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"To help you," replied Sneaky. "Listen, I know you have influence over the mainstream White Party, but those Right wing gals are going to mess you up."
"You have a plan for that?" asked Skyros. Sneaky Slate nodded.
"This'll be grand. We can't change their vote, right?" asked Sneaky. "So what we can do, is say that they, oh I don't know, call in sick or something."
"You mean, like, force them to abstain, right?" asked Skyros.
"Right," said Sneaky. "That way, the supermajority requirement goes down and you can spare more ponies saying 'no.'"
"Great, but how do we force them to stay away?" asked Skyros.
"Simple. They're a bunch of spoiled aristocrats, right?" asked Sneaky. Skyros nodded. Most of the Right wing mares were snobs who acted like they were the top of the top, which they somewhat were.
"So I managed to sneak some spoiled cat food in their air conditioning system. Classic," said Sneaky, smiling with barely contained glee. Skyros however appeared skeptical.
"You sure that'll keep them? They're not that bad, right?" he asked.
"Well, you see them here?" Sneaky asked cunningly. Skyros looked around. He was right. None of the mares who were unicorns were wearing any peacock hats or had trimmed, elaborate dresses, which was the standard for the Casting District mares.
"You're kidding me, right?" asked Skyros, amused.
"Dead serious," said Sneaky. "Which reminds me, the first one I got immediately fell unconscious from the smell." He laughed derisively.
"You sure that's safe?" asked Skyros.
"No worries, I'm sure she came around by now," said Sneaky. "Well, anyways, I gotta go now, before they trace me somehow. Those unicorns may be snobs but they're pretty smart actually. Do I smell like cat food to you?"
"Ah, no, I think you're fine," replied Skyros with a smile. "Thanks for your, um, initiative, Sneak."
"No problem," Sneaky replied and he was out in a flash of brown.
Skyros chuckled before he took a look at the clock. 7:10. 50 more minutes until the Council convened. He decided to head back to the Society. He rushed back out and down to the Society's headquarters again. Inside, Lightstring was just handing Meriwether the bill.
"Make sure to hand it to the EMC guys, alright?" she asked him.
"No worries. I'll have it done faster than you can say 'tantivy!' Best be off." He quickly exited and trotted down the street.
Meriwether entered the Council room and quickly took his seat. His colleague leaned toward him and pointed toward the Casting District table with a puzzled look. None of the ponies had arrived yet. Meriwether just shrugged.
"Beats me. Besides, all the better for us. They're all Right White Party and they didn't vote for the bill last time," said Meriwether.
"Oh good," the pony replied. He took a look at the sheets of paper Meriwether had. "You already have a new speech?"
"Of course," Meriwether replied. "Don't want to repeat the last speech, it was boring anyway."
Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie found their spots in the balconies and sat down. Twilight took out her notebook and double-checked her revised notes, which had the districts in order now. Applejack was looking nervously over the crowd of incoming Council ponies while Pinkie Pie was smiling and giggling at random intervals.
Just a minute later, Speaker Baner and the Council scribe walked through the double doors. Speaker Baner looked flustered and walked without caution down the aisle to the rostrum. He climbed on his seat while the scribe sat down in front of her table.
"Okay, okay. Settle down," said Baner unprofessionally to the crowd of chatting ponies. "Let's get this over with."
"Okay, scribe?" Baner instructed the scribe. She nodded.
"Okay, 62 meeting of 112 Council, on December 6, After Nightmare Moon 4, commencing at 8 in the morning as usual."
The scribe rolled her eyes and began writing down on her sheet.
"Okay, first on our agenda," Speaker Baner took a look at the empty spots in Casting District. "Where's the entire set of representatives from the entire Casting District?"
Nopony seemed to know. Speaker Baner began to get frustrated.
"Never mind that," said Baner. "First, a domestic affairs concern about our counterparts in Stalliongrad," rattled off Speaker Baner.
Twilight felt a poke at the back of her head. She turned around to see Skyros and Lightstring smiling behind her. Twilight smiled as well.
"Sorry we're so late," said Lightstring, as they sat down. "We got caught off in, ah, difficult matters."
Twilight nodded and the two sat down behind her. The Domestic Affairs Committee Head was making a speech and Twilight turned and listen.
The hours went past slowly. Skyros slept on and off, Pinkie Pie was snickering and giggling at frequent and long intervals, Applejack started dozing off permanantly. Only Twilight and Lightstring where listening and Twilight was slowly beginning to lose attention in the matters, as domestic affairs passed, followed by infrastructure concerns, construction concerns, and other important issues passed and deliberated on. Finally:
"Okay," Speaker Baner looked backward at the large clock above the rostrum. "7:30. We should wrap this up," he said to himself.
"Alright, thank you Blaze," he said to a Council pony who was sitting back down. "Next up, we have, the return of the bipartisan economic bill, ah yes. Well, Meriwether, I expect you know what to do."
Meriwether nodded and stood up and walked down the aisle, this time with more confidence. Meanwhile, Keg sat shaking in his seat. His colleague, Morning Dew, leaned to him.
"Please Keg, I'm thinking of you, when I tell you that you can't vote for this bill-"
"I know!" hissed Keg. Morning Dew backed up nervously.
Meanwhile, Left Step and his fellow Navy pony were talking.
"You got this, I mean, are you really-" asked the Navy pony, but Left Step interrupted him.
"Yes, yes, I will do it. Teach this guy to try to mess with the Navy party," said Left Step, relishing with the thought of taking on Meriwether.
Meriwether got up on the speech platform and set down his papers.
"I know that all of you by now know about the Lightstring Bill, which this time we've decided to rename the Twilight-Lightstring Bill."
Twilight looked backward in shock at Lightstring, who only smiled and shushed Twilight.
"Well, last time I probably bored all of you with my speech filled with boring diction and other apathetic references to different things..." continued Meriwether. The Council ponies chuckled.
"Not this time though," said Meriwether. "This time, it'll be short. I just want to bring to your attention not only the need for compromise, which I said last time, but without any effect apparently. I also just want to let all you know, that this bill will not just serve to save us all this time. It'll save us all a second time. And a third time. And more. The fact is, you're not just saving our generations, everypony. You're saving countless others. You're setting an important precedent. You're not just voting for another vague bill to affect our short and daily lives, you're voting for history. Now, what you say here, I can assure you, will be remembered. It will be recorded..." The Council scribe raised an eyebrow. "And it will be marked within the very books that also record our founding by Lord Baltimare from Canterlot. Because you're not just a part of history now, everypony, you're making it."
The Council ponies were all nodding and generally showing assent, to the surprise of Left Step. He turned and prepared to face Meriwether, only to realize that he was stacking his papers again.
"Thank you, Meri-" began Speaker Baner, but Left Step stood up dramatically.
"Wait, Councilor Meriwether, I would like to issue a challenge to your bill," he said, as Meriwether stopped to look at him.
"Um, yes, the Council recognizes the representative of Sector 2, Gliding District," said Speaker Baner and sat back again.
"Mr. Meriwether," Left Step began. "You, I understand, claim that this bill will bring us prosperity and deficit-reductions. How, then, are you going to answer the facts then? According to a pony from the Economic Management Committee, the debt will be gone based on your bill in 10 years. 10 years. That's a long time for the average taxpayer while he or she is forced to pay more."
"Well, my friend from Sector 2, Gliding District," countered Meriwether. "If you look in the bill, it clearly states that only ponies who make more than 100,000 bits a year are going to receive a tax hike. This won't hurt the average taxpayer at all."
"Yes, but you do realize that you haven't put in tax cuts in your bill have you?" asked Left Step.
Meriwether raised his eyebrows. "Again, if you read the bill, you would clearly see that there will indeed be tax cuts for the middle class. That way, they'll have more money to purchase items."
"Yes," continued Left Step, looking down at his list again. "But you do realize that cutting our spending will put thousands of ponies who work for Baltimare at risk, right?"
"Representative, you must understand that if we don't cut spending, we will never get our debt under control. It will grow until we go bankrupt, and what then? Will Princess Celestia have to come down again? Put everything right? As you can see, representative, my other ponies supported the bill. They think the spending cuts were a good idea. Why can't you see it?" asked Meriwether.
"What about your revised version of the Cutie Mark Tutorship Bill? You have corrupted it! Turned it into some conservative, bile-drenched-" Left Step stopped at the look of the entire Council, who was looking at him with disdain and contempt.
"I think you said too much," whispered the Navy pony beside Left Step. Left Step bit his lip.
"Representative, I have no doubt that we have made some big changes," said Meriwether. "But the idea is that we bring equal education to these ponies in order for them to discover their talents. Taking the money from the rich is going too far off the line. Is that all you seem to care about the bill, representative? That it takes more from the rich? Do you seem to realize that the rich are ponies, just like we are? Do you have something against them? The entire purpose of the bill was to ensure that ponies from all classes could enjoy a clear path toward their talents, not just the upper-class. It seems all that was to you was an extra tax to them."
Left Step had no comment. He made a gurgling sound before sitting down again.
"All done?" asked Speaker Baner.
Left Step only stared blankly at his hooves. Meriwether sat down in his spot and nodded.
"Very well. Scribe, put it to vote."
"Yes, your Honor," she said. The scribe took out another sheet of paper and put it on the table.
"When I call your sector, please stand up and call out your vote," she said. "Again, we'll start with Waving District. Sector 1."
"Yes," came out the cry.
The scribe marked down the vote. "Sector 2.
"Aye!" came out the cry. The scribe marked that down. "Sector 3."
"Nay!" came out the first dissent. The scribe marked that down and continued for the other 3, which all voted "yes."
"Okay," said the scribe. "Next, Flaming District."
4 for and 2 against. Twilight was marking down the votes again and Lightstring and Skyros were looking at the tips of their hooves. Even Pinkie Pie was silent and Applejack was still sleeping, although nopony bothered to wake her up.
"Alright, next up, Gliding District."
2 for and 4 against. "Okay, next, Showering District," said the scribe.
3 for and 3 against again. Twilight nervously marked down the votes.
"Next, Lasting District." 3 for and 3 against again.
"Okay, next, Soaring District." 5 for and 1 against.
"Next, Cas- Oh, right," said the scribe, looking up at the empty table. Skyros started laughing quietly and Twilight and Lightstring looked at him curiously. Pinkie Pie started laughing soon as well.
"We'll just abstain them, shall we?" said Speaker Baner and the scribe nodded. She marked "CaD: Abstain."
"Okay, next, Rising District," she continued. All 6 for.
"Next, Central District." 5 for and 1 against.
"Finally, Shining District," said the scribe, dipping her quill into the ink well again. Twilight quickly tallied up the votes and found them at 34-14. With Casting District out, they needed only 36 votes. Could they get it here? She looked behind her where Lightstring was biting her lip and Skyros was looking nervous as well.
"This could turn bad," said Skyros. "Shining District is almost entirely Navy."
Twilight turned around and hoped to Celestia that the ponies could find it in their hearts to vote for the bill.
"Sector 1," cried out the scribe.
"Nay!" said the representative.
The scribe marked that down. "Sector 2."
"No."
Silence as the scratching of the quill filled the room. "Sector 3."
"Shining District, Sector 3 votes NO!" yelled out the representative. The scribe raised her eyebrows as she wrote down the vote.
"Sector 4."
"Nay."
"Sector 5."
No answer. Everypony, even Meriwether, who was looking down at his lap, turned to Keg, who himself was staring down, eyes closed, shaking. Morning Dew looked at him in concern.
"Sector 5? Representative, I need an answer now," said the scribe in a bored tone.
Keg drew in a shaky breath. Morning Dew patted his back encouragingly, although she still looked worried. He stood up slowly. Left Step waited with batted breath, as did his Navy colleagues. Twilight and the others looked on as well with rapture.
"Representative, you will answer now or I will abstain you," said the scribe, looking up, annoyed.
Keg drew in a another breath, still looking down. Everypony leaned in.
"No."
Left Step nodded with satisfaction and sat down again. Meriwether shook his head and sat down as well.
"No," continued Keg. Everypony stopped, confused. The scribe looked up again, puzzled as well.
"No, no, no, no, no. Screw it all. Just, no. I vote yes. Yes, yes, yes , yes, YES!"
Left Step stood up in shock. The entire Rising District stood up as well and clapped and cheered. All the supporters of the bill started clapping as well, standing up. Twilight was stunned as Lightstring and Skyros clapped and yelled. Soon, the room was full of the shouts and cheers of the ponies. Even those who didn't support the bill stood up and clapped for Keg's bravery. Two Soaring District representatives flew up and joined Keg at his table, while his Navy colleagues stood yelling and jeering at him. Left Step and his Navy co-representative stood in shock.
"Stop! Stop this instant everypony! By Celestia, Sergeant-at-arms, control this mess right now!" called out Speaker Baner.
His voice however was drowned out by the cheering crowd. There was no need to call again however, for the Sergeant and his two guards immediately entered and began attempting to restore order. Meriwether stood up laughing, while Rising District ran over to join Keg. The entire room descended into chaos. Meanwhile, Applejack finally woke up from her slumber.
"Wha-. What's happenin'?"
"STOP!" called out both the Speaker and the Sergeant. The officers managed to force some of the other districts back into their spots, while the other representatives crowded around the Shining District table, all yelling and cheering.
Twilight smiled as she stood up and immediately began casting a spell. A ball of light flew up to the top of the room and immediately began emitting a strange, eerie, high-pitched sound. Everypony stopped to look at it.
"Thank you," said Twilight, as she sat down again.
"Sergeant. Get everypony back into their pot. Rising District and Soaring District, you will refrain from moving out of your spots again or I will abstain your vote," said Speaker Baner. All the representatives returned to their spots again.
"Good, carry on scribe," he said to the scribe. She nodded.
"Okay, finally, we have Shining District, Sector 6," she said.
"AYE!" came out the call loud and clear.
The scribe marked the vote down and immediately began tallying the vote. Twilight, Lightstring, and Skyros were looking at Twilight's notebook. Her ears flopped down as she realized that they had only 35 votes. Just 1 more vote off from a supermajority. She closed her eyes. Lightstring shook her head and leaned on Skyros. He put his leg around her head and sighed.
"The final count-" began the scribe, but Speaker Baner stopped her.
"Wait. Scribe, I would like to cast a vote, please," said the Speaker.
Meriwether and Left Step stood up in shock. If the Speaker voted, it wouldn't count to the total amount of ponies, so the total would remain 54 in this case, but his vote would still count as one, so it could turn to 36-18, or 35-19.
"Your Honor," they said.
"But, Your Honor," insisted Left Step. "The Speaker votes only in times of important matters, this is-"
"Obviously an important matter," said the Speaker. "Like Councilor Meriwether said, we're making history, advancing it, not just living through it."
"In that case," said the scribe. "What is your vote, Speaker?"
The entire Council leaned in and waited. Meriwether, Twilight, Lightstring, and Skyros waited, listening with all their might, hoping for the best, hoping against hope. Baner had refused to compromise, but could this be different? Could he throw aside his partisanship?
"Speaker?" asked the scribe, turning to him. "What's your vote?"
The Speaker closed his eyes, breathed in slowly, and opened them.
"Aye, of course!" he said.
The room was silent as the scribe marked the vote down. She stood up and cleared her throat.
"The final vote for the Twilight-Lightstring Economic Bill: 36, yes. 18, no. 6 abstain."
The room was still silent as they digested the information. Then, like an engine being slowly revved up, the supporters started getting and cheering again. Meriwether sat in shock as his friends grabbed him and lifted him on their backs, cheering. Everypony started getting up, cheering. Keg stood slowly, as if he were in a dream. He smiled shakily and started laughing along with the rest of the ponies. Suddenly, a pegasi from Central District came over and gave him a hoof-bump. Several Rising District ponies returned and started cheering for him. Left Step stood up and shook his head. He began packing up his things. Twilight, Applejack, Lightstring, and Skyros started clapping and stomping as the ponies exuberantly burst out in song.
"Oh, in a time of glum, How sweetly did he come. He trounced them all, And a good hit will ya'll, He did find our fair ground.
Oh, he trounced them all, Quick as a ball! We took 'em all, And answered the call! We built it all, The office and stall! Our fair and one: Baltimare!"
"WHEEEE!" cried out Pinkie Pie. She jumped down from the balcony suddenly and landed gracefully among the still cheering ponies.
"Pinkie! What are you doing?" asked Twilight. But it was too late. Pinkie Pie raced over to the doors and opened them. The Sergeant and his officers backed up in shock as the entire crowd pushed their way through the doors. Twilight and Applejack quickly followed. Speaker Baner laughed and even the scribe smiled as she packed up her papers, quill, and ink well.
Meanwhile, the entire crowd pushed their way through the streets. To their surprise, the Council ponies met with a large crowd of Baltimare citizens. At the head were the Blank Mare, Rainbow Dash and Bright Seeking. They were smiling at the crowd and noticed Meriwether being lifted by his pegasus friends. He quickly dropped himself down in the middle of the two crowds.
"We got it!" exclaimed Meriwether to the citizens.
The ponies all cheered and the two crowds merged. Some of them even brought posters supporting the bill. Twilight and Applejack ran out and pushed through the crowd, finally arriving at the head, where Meriwether was lifted again on the top. The two laughed and Rainbow Dash flew to their side.
"Glad you could make it!" she said.
"Did you organize this?" Twilight asked her.
"Oh, somewhat," said Rainbow Dash with a smile. "I would say that the Blank Mare did the most. She sent the word out and got everypony here. Well, I delivered the letters, but still."
Twilight laughed and suddenly Pinkie Pie jumped out from between two ponies and landed at their sides.
"Oh mi gosh! This is so amazing!" She giggled and snorted.
The crowd pushed their way through the streets, moving through Central District. They were joined by even more ponies, cheering and laughing.
Speaker Baner and Left Step watched the procession from an office facing the district.
"What happened?" asked Left Step. "I thought you didn't support compromise."
"I know," replied the Speaker. "But Meriwether made me realize something. I realized that my party intentions had blinded me from my real duty: serving as a leader to the ponies of Baltimare. The same could be said for you, Left Step. We may be from opposite parties, but that doesn't stop us from working together."
Left Step didn't say anything, so Speaker Baner pushed on. "You know, I'm surprised that you managed to last this long. You represent the ponies, yet you seem to be representing yourself. I've seen a lot of ponies like you, I'm afraid."
"The ponies voted for me because they thought I was made up of the right beliefs," said Left Step.
"No, Left, they voted for you because they thought you would work best in the Council. They thought that you could bring in policies that would help them. But all you've done is just made speech after speech. Not insulting your work or anything, but your policies have constantly been rejected. Why? Because they're too radical. The ponies don't want you to say what you mean, they want you to do what they ask."
Left Step didn't say anything again. Speaker Baner sighed. "I've got to head home Left. We have one day of break and then it's the 113 Council. I understand you're going to be in. You should get as much rest as possible."
Speaker Baner pulled his bags on and left the office. Left Step stood in the office for sometime, looking down at the crowd of still celebrating ponies. He sighed, still confused and unsure of something, picked up his bags as well, and left the office, walking slowly down and out.
The streets of Central District were finally quiet by 2 in the morning. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and the Blank Mare walked back in the Mareriott. The clerk was gone, probably still returning from the celebrations, but there was somepony who made all of them gasp and bow. Princess Celestia stood in the lobby and was smiling happily.
"Welcome back. I'd imagine the celebrations were exciting," remarked Princess Celestia.
"Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?" asked Twilight.
"Well, I decided to pay another visit here to check on how things were going and I just managed to catch the beginning of the celebrations. I must say, everypony seems very excited," replied Princess Celestia.
"Well, the bill was passed! We got a compromise!" said Twilight with a large smile.
"Excellent, Twilight! Just what I expected," said Princess Celestia.
"Thank you, Princess Celestia."
"That goes for all of you as well," said Princess Celestia. "I would like to congratulate all of you."
Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared a satisfied smile. Pinkie Pie jumped up with a "Yay!" The Blank Mare nodded and smiled as well.
"Good work, everypony. Well, I'd expect you would love to stay here for another day," said Princess Celestia, "I must leave for Canterlot though. Again, good job everypony. You all should go to bed, it's really late, or in this case, really early."
Princess Celestia looked at the clock, which read around 2:15 in the morning. Everypony nodded and they all walked toward the stairs.
"Wait, Red Curl," said Celestia.
The Blank Mare stopped. Twilight and the rest continued up, talking. Princess Celestia walked up to the Blank Mare.
"I've read your article in the Baltimare Daily," began Princess Celestia. The Blank Mare appeared surprise.
"Oh, um, yeah. I mean, you must have saw my name then right?" the Blank Mare asked nervously.
Princess Celestia smiled kindly. "I'm glad you've decided to embrace your real name again. It's great that you've decided to return to who you were."
The Blank Mare nodded. "I'm not sure whether I'm ready for this though," she added timidly though.
"Don't worry, Red. The worst has passed right now. You got it out, all you have to do is wait. Although, it would be better to also start from your newspaper as well, the Spring and Gait," said Princess Celestia.
"Yeah, that's true. This is a rather bumpy start," said the Blank Mare.
"Don't worry, Red. You'll get through it. Trust me. Just push the flow yourself and you'll see everything fall into place. Trust me," assured Princess Celestia.
The Blank Mare nodded again. Princess Celestia gave her a friendly smile.
"I really must go now. Again, I'm glad to see you're reintegrating within the world again," said Princess Celestia as she walked out the door. She winked at the Blank Mare before she spread her wings and took flight through the black night. The Blank Mare watched her go before she turned, walk up the stairs, and arrived at room 203. She knocked on the door.
"Rainbow? Open up!" called out the Blank Mare. No answer. Strange. Maybe she went up to room 312, the Blank Mare thought. She quickly walked back to the stairs and went up a floor, to room 312 and knocked. No answer as well. She put her head to the door and heard somepony laughing quietly, as though she was attempting to contain her glee. The Blank Mare raised an eyebrow and tried the door, to realize that it was open. She opened the door, letting the light fall upon the seemingly empty and dark room. Curious, she stepped inside. The Blank Mare didn't get past a few paces before,
"SURPRISE!" cried out Pinkie Pie, jumping out of the bathroom and firing two pressurized tubes filled with confetti, filling the air with the many-colored bits of paper. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack jumped out from behind the closest bed and blew their kazoos.
The Blank Mare stood in shock in the room. "What's this?" she asked after several seconds of silence.
"Well, in celebration of your efforts and the fact that you've decided to use your real name again, we've decided to throw you a party," said Twilight, smiling. The Blank Mare immediately blushed.
"Oh, it's fine, girls, you really shouldn't have done this for me, I-" she began, but she didn't go far before Pinkie Pie reached into the bathroom and pulled out a cupcake with a candle in it, smiling broadly.
"You're kidding me, right?" the Blank Mare asked dubiously but beginning to smile.
"Come on Red, we've only got 1 day together pretty much and then we're gone and we won't see each other again," said Rainbow Dash. "Lighten up! Have some fun!" She flew up and grabbed the Blank Mare by her left hoof and pulled her in the room.
They spent the next hour or so partying. They all laughed and talked and joked around and watched Pinkie Pie perform a few songs. The Blank Mare had a great time, a lovely time in fact. By 3 in the morning, Applejack was so tired she dozed off in the middle of a story that the Blank Mare was telling. Twilight moved her in her bed while Pinkie Pie waved goodbye to the Blank Mare and Rainbow Dash. The two walked down to room 203 and Rainbow Dash opened the door. They didn't bother with cleaning up and simply jumped into the bed.
"You know, I get the feeling that you girls had another reason for throwing me that party," said the Blank Mare as Rainbow Dash sleepily got in the covers.
"Yeah, well, Twilight thought that if you had a party like that, you would see how great society is or something like that," said Rainbow Dash in a slurred voice. "Anyways, I gotta, I gotta..."
She didn't finish the sentence and immediately started snoring. The Blank Mare smiled and got in herself. Although she was tired, she felt wide awake at the same time as well. She had to admit that Rainbow and Twilight and the others did a great job; it was nice having friends like them. They all brought a smile to her.
Before, as the Blank Mare for real, she had shunned other ponies' advances of friendship. That wasn't to say that she hated them really, but she didn't really feel like building a friendship with them. Of course, she still talked to them, like Mist, and she even shared some fun times with them, but then, the Blank Mare thought that those times were just that, experiences. She never really appreciated those times. Now though, the Blank Mare realized that those times were not just mindless times of talking. They were times of sharing, feelings. Things that the Blank Mare had never understood or appreciated until now. Her heart seemed to expand as she realized that friendship was something magical, it helped connect everypony and helped bring meaning to life. The Blank Mare then made a vow to build herself a new name. Something which when everypony looked at, could have no idea that it was connected to the Blank Mare. And she knew where to start.
The next day was interesting enough. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash made their way out the Mareriott to just walk around when a mare with a yellow coat, green mane, and an apple fritter for a cutie mark stepped in front of them and opened her front legs.
"Applejack!" she said with a large grin.
Applejack looked at her for a second before she too smiled and hugged her. "Aunt Fritters! Ah' was wonderin' when ah' would see you!"
"Well, that starts now! Let's head on over to Hollow Grounds. I cooked up a large bunch of apple fritters and they all have your name on it! Your friends as well!" she pointed toward the other three as well, who all smiled with delight and followed Apple Fritters and Applejack down the street.
Meanwhile, in Flaming District, Sector 6, Lightstring was just waking up from the after excitement of the celebrations. She rubbed her head and sat up, just when a knock came on the door.
"It's me," said Skyros. Lightstring quickly ran to the bathroom and began smoothing her mane out. She hated being caught with a bad mane.
"Lightstring?" asked Skyros. "You in there?"
"Yeah!" she called out from the bathroom. "Just, uh, give me a sec!"
A minute later she opened the door with a passable mane and waved him in her apartment.
"What brings you here?" asked Lightstring curiously while she was busy making coffee.
"Well, I thought I would come and see you, and, uh, you know. Just chat or something," stumbled Skyros. Lightstring smiled.
"Especially about yesterday, right?" she asked. Skyros nodded.
"Well, what do you want to talk about?" asked Lightstring as she came over with two cups of tea. She gave one to Skyros and kept hers up.
"Well, I mean, we could talk about, you know, the, uh, the Council meeting, or the bill, or maybe, um..."
"You know, you stumble a lot when you're off show," said Lightstring. Skyros blushed.
"Well, you know..." he began. Lightstring thought for a moment.
"Or is it me?" she asked, now smiling cunningly.
"Well, I would assume so," said Skyros, his cheeks still flushed.
"You know, if I came on your show while you were like this," laughed Lightstring, "Would you stumble?"
"What, never! When it comes to a show, I'm all good, trust me!" Skyros proclaimed, standing up pridefully.
"Uh-huh," said Lightstring. Skyros sat back down and started drinking again. A moment passed in silence.
"You know, it was kind of quick," said Skyros.
"You mean, our meeting? In the Society?" asked Lightstring, blushing now.
"Knock knock!" came a cry. Lightstring and Skyros jumped. Lightstring walked over to the door, confused.
"Who is it?" she asked. The door opened and Sneaky Slate and Meriwether walked in. Sneaky looked happy and energetic as ever, while Meriwether appeared disdainful about something.
"You know, you can't just yell out 'knock knock' in a flat, Sneaky. It's completely rude and obnoxious," he chided.
"Yeah, yeah, you twat," said Sneaky dismissively. Meriwether shook his head.
"How are you, Meriwether?" asked Lightstring.
"Fine, I wanted to talk to you myself, Skyros, but Sneak here joined up with me and told me that you were here, so... here we are."
"That's great," said Skyros. "Did you want to say something?"
"Yes, I have something important to tell you two," replied Meriwether, pointing toward both Skyros and Lightstring.
"What's the matter?" asked Sneaky. "What's going on?"
"Sneak, I'm going to have ask you to step outside," said Meriwether.
"Not goin' anywhere 'till the boss says something," said Sneak resolutely.
"Sneak, could you please leave? Before I call the Casting District BPD headquarters."
"Whoa, whoa, okay boss. Just saying. No need to overreact or anything," said Sneaky Slate as he quickly left. Lightstring locked the door behind him.
"What was that all about?" asked Meriwether.
"Later," replied Skyros."What do you want to know?"
"Well," said Meriwether. "I was going to ask you whether this was true, although judging by the scene we're in currently, it appears so."
"Well, it's not a problem with you, right?" asked Skyros.
"Of course not," said Meriwether. "Whatever makes you two happy. Just so long as I'm best man," he added with a smile.
Skyros smiled. "Sure, old buddy. I owe that to you."
"Well, I also wanted to give you some news about me," said Meriwether. Lightstring and Skyros straightened up. "What?" they asked.
"I've been promoted to Assistant Head to the Economic Management Committee. Speaker Baner got the order signed just 3 hours ago," said Meriwether.
"Wow, congratulations Meriwether!" said Skyros. Lightstring nodded.
"Even better," Meriwether turned to Lightstring. "Lightstring, you're going to be an automatic member of the EMC as soon as you get in the 113 Council."
Lightstring opened her mouth in surprise. Skyros laughed and hugged her. Meriwether smiled.
"Well, yes, that's all fine and dandy. Well, I best be off," said Meriwether, getting up and heading for the door.
"Don't you want to stay for tea?" asked Lightstring. Meriwether shook his head sadly.
"Sorry. My friend from Cloudsdale is here and he says he needs assistance with politics. Something about joining the Cloudsdale Parliament. Anyways, I best be off," he said. He turned and Lightstring opened the door for him.
"See you, Mary. Have fun," said Skyros.
"Cheers, mate," Meriwether said as he quickly walked up the stairs to the roof. Lightstring closed the door.
In the late evening of that day, Rainbow Dash reentered room 203, tired, stuffed, but happy. She found the Blank Mare sitting on the bed, reading several letters, more at her hooves. She looked up as Rainbow Dash entered the room.
"Oh, hi Rainbow. I presume your day was excellent," she said.
"Yeah, although I think I ate a little too much apple fritter and pie," Rainbow Dash said. She suddenly belched a little. "Sorry."
The Blank Mare grunted as she began reading again.
"What're you reading there?" said Rainbow Dash, getting up and looking over her shoulder. The Blank Mare looked over her to look at Rainbow's face.
"Oh, just letters, from my contacts back in Gaitsville."
Rainbow Dash grabbed one letter and read it.
Dear Blank Mare, or Red Curl, whatever you want to be called now,
I've received your letter. I'm so glad you've made some new friends out there. If you're really considering going to Ponyville, though, I really suggest that you at least return and catch up occasionally. Unless of course, you don't consider me a friend, but just saying.
Don't let the other ponies get you down,
Mist Falls
"Wait, you're coming to Ponyville?!" asked Rainbow Dash, shocked. The Blank Mare nodded.
"That's so cool! When are you coming?"
"Tomorrow, is that too soon for you? I'll be getting off with the rest of you," said the Blank Mare.
"Wow! This'll be so awesome!" Rainbow Dash made a curious face by pushing her face with her front legs. The Blank Mare chuckled.
"Well, yeah. I've contacted my friends and let them know they can have my stuff. I don't really need that old stuff anymore," she said, tossing her letter on the bed and laying down herself.
"Wait, you're an investigative journalist for your newspaper, though. What about your job?" asked Rainbow Dash curiously.
"Oh, no worries. I got hired by the Ponyville Gazette. And I'm done with that investigating and stuff. I'm just going to be a normal writer from now on," said the Blank Mare.
"Wow," said Rainbow Dash. She sat back on the bed and thought for a second. The Blank Mare, in Ponyville!
"That reminds me," said the Blank Mare, stooping down suddenly and reaching for a letter. She came up, turned around, and handed a blue letter to Rainbow Dash. "This was supposed to be sent to you. The guys in the post office recognized me and remembered that you were with me last night, so they asked me to hand this to you while I was there." The Blank Mare smiled. Rainbow Dash took the letter curiously and read the return address. Her mouth dropped open and she sucked in her breath. "Wonderbolts Academy." She quickly turned the letter over to the back. The flap was held by a large stamp with a gold "W" on it. She quickly tore it off, slipped out the letter, and read it.
To a Miss Rainbow Dash,
Due to the unfortunate past occurrences afflicting the Wonderbolt team as a whole, we are proud to announce that you will be one of the few selected to be part of the new generation of the Wonderbolts Flying Competition Team, based on your performance thus far in our school. Advanced training sessions will begin as soon as the new year starts, so please return on time once the year begins to be a part of the continuance of the greatest flying team in the whole nation.
We hope you consider the offer,
Wonderbolts Academy
"Oh mi gosh, oh mi gosh, oh mi gosh, oh mi gosh..." rambled Rainbow Dash and the Blank Mare smiled. When this continued for 2 minutes however, the Blank Mare quickly smothered her.
"Okay, I get it, all right," she said. "Now come on, relax, and clean up. We're leaving tomorrow morning, pretty early I hope you realize. You haven't even started packing mind, you better start."
"Ha, who's talking?" said Rainbow Dash, pointing to the letters and envelopes scattered around the floor. In response, the Blank Mare pointed toward her already packed and ready luggage.
"Okay, okay," conceded Rainbow Dash, beginning to pack.
The next morning, the day was very cloudy as the pegasi prepared for another, more gentler, rainfall. The fog from some of the moisture of the clouds hung low to the ground and created a sort of blanket as Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash checked out of the hotel and quickly walked outside.
"Hey, where's Red?" asked Twilight as they walked down the street.
"She's coming," said Rainbow Dash. "Says she has to get ready though."
The four waited for some time at the street, until Rainbow Dash, who was flying above, spotted her.
"I think that's her!" she shouted to the three below. She quickly dived down back to the ground, where she got her first shock of the day. Red Curl walked toward them with nothing on. She had packed up her black coat and looked different in the middle of the street. Despite the fact that Rainbow saw her without clothes while she was sleeping, she never really paid attention. Now, Red Curl seemed simpler and more outgoing without the cloak. The other three were also goggling at her different appearance.
"Hi, everypony. What's up? Do I have something on my face?" Red Curl asked curiously.
After a moment of no response, Red Curl turned around and spotted a taxi cart coming. "Oh, taxi!" She waved her right front leg while smiling, but not from the good luck in the form of the incoming taxi. The cart slowed and stopped on the curb. The 5 quickly climbed and settled in the wooden seats.
"Baltimare Train Station, please," said Twilight. The stallions nodded and they were off.
They arrived at the train station with 15 minutes to spare. They quickly packed their luggage in the deposit spot and sat down in the waiting area. Suddenly,
"Hey, Twilight!" came a familiar voice. Twilight looked up to see Lightstring and Skyros trotting toward them. She quickly got up.
"Lightstring!" Twilight said as they go close. "And Skyros too. What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Council?"
"Me?" asked Lightstring. "No worries, it's like 7 right now, I've got time. Listen, I just want to let you know that we appreciate all your help, Twilight."
"No problem, although I think you could have gotten off without me," said Twilight.
"Trust me Twilight. We probably wouldn't have won without you. You helped the bill pass. Heck, you added into it," said Lightstring.
"Did the mayor pass it?" asked Red Curl as she walked up. Lightstring and Skyros looked at her for a second.
"Oh, yes, of course," said Lightstring, smiling and recovering from the stumble. "She got the bill yesterday and just signed it. It's all done now!"
"That's wonderful!" said Twilight. She looked at the clock above the terminal. 5 minutes until the train left.
"Listen, Lightstring, we have to go-" began Twilight, but Lightstring suddenly hugged her. Twilight stumbled, but hugged her back. Lightstring quickly let go and hugged Red Curl and the rest of them in turn. Skyros shook Twilight's hoof.
"Have a safe trip," he said. His eyes twinkled as he added, "And don't forget to write. We would all appreciate it."
"I will, but where should I mail it?" Twilight asked.
"No worries," said Red Curl. "I have the address to the Baltimare Postal Station."
"Excellent," replied Skyros. "Well, see you all later."
"Bye!"
The 5 all quickly walked to the train, which was beginning to whistle and start. Twilight and the others quickly jumped in a carriage and picked an empty compartment. They looked out to see Skyros and Lightstring on the platform, front legs around each other, using their free ones to wave good bye.
"Wait, they're together now?" asked Red Curl as the train began to start. "When did that happen?"
"They're not together yet, but I think they'll like each other enough soon," replied Twilight. The train began picking up speed, just as the rain started. Skyros and Lightstring quickly galloped back inside as the train rounded a bend and left.
Twilight and the rest of the gang spent the train ride talking and laughing, like the party two nights ago. Red Curl seemed more happy and vivid without the cloak while laughing and talking along with them. Twilight felt glad for her, that she had managed to shed off her past beliefs in exchange for the magic of friendship.
As the sky darkened, Rainbow Dash started telling them about her position in the new Wonderbolts team. Everypony yelled and stomped for her.
"That's wonderful, Rainbow!" said Twilight.
Rainbow Dash smiled while Applejack gave her a friendly sock in the front leg.
"Guess what else, though?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Our friend here, Red Curl, is coming to live with us in Ponyville!"
Twilight and the others were shocked, but started cheering and stomping for her as well. Red Curl smiled and looked down.
Finally, late at night, the train finally slowed and stopped at the Ponyville station. Everypony started stepping off with their luggage, tired, but happy.
"That reminds me," asked Twilight while Applejack yawned. "Red Curl, where are you sleeping tonight?"
Red Curl yawned as well. "Oh. Well... shoot."
Rainbow Dash chuckled. Pinkie Pie immediately stepped in. "Oh, how about you come to my place tonight! Oh it'll be so fun! We can..." And she began to ramble again.
"Well, in that case, would you like to stay at my place then?" asked Twilight. "I live in the library, so it's not too far if we walk down to Ponyville.
"Yeah, sure," said Red Curl gratefully as they walked back into town again. They walked through the quiet streets, remaining quiet, except for Pinkie Pie. They first arrived at the library.
"Okay everypony, you all should head home. I'll see you all tomorrow, right?"
Applejack and Rainbow Dash muttered assent, while Pinkie Pie pranced around, still rambling, although more quietly now.
"Twilight Sparkle," said a majestic voice from nearby. Princess Luna stepped out from a dark shadow.
"Princess Luna!" said Twilight.
"It is good to see thee again," said Princess Luna. "I bring with a me a gift imparted by Princess Celestia. She has other business to attend to this night, so she entrusted me to bequeath it to you."
Her horn glowed and some breezes and moonlight visibly coalesced into an object, solidifying and floating to the ground. Twilight quickly caught it with her telekinesis and brought it to her eye level, looking closely at it. It was a crystal of some sort, uniquely shaped, and iridescently colored.
"That, Twilight Sparkle, is a Crystal of Harmony, originating from the Crystal Kingdom. Not to be confused with the Elements of Harmony though. It is simply a crystal resembling peace and compromise, a will to work together for the betterment of ponykind," presented Princess Luna.
"Wow, thank you, Princess Luna, and tell Princess Celestia thanks for me," said Twilight.
"It is no trouble, Twilight Sparkle. It is your reward for your actions in Baltimare. The city will soon have a brighter future because of you." Princess Luna smiled and unfolded her wings.
"I must go and watch the night. Farewell, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna jumped, took off, and seemed to mold into the dark blue sky of the night.
"Wow," said Red Curl. "That was Princess Luna?"
"Yep," replied Twilight. "Better find a good spot for this. Anyways, lets get in. Alright, girls, I-"
Twilight looked to find Rainbow Dash and Applejack snoring on the ground. Pinkie Pie was smiling and giggling at them.
"Never mind," said Twilight. She quickly walked over and prodded the two.
"Huh, what?" said both of them. Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"You two should head home," said Twilight. Applejack got up and started walking back to Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash sleepily jumped and started flying slowly. Pinkie Pie gave a quick "Bye!" and was off back to Sugarcube Corner.
"I swear," said Twilight. Red Curl chuckled. Twilight opened the door and the two stepped inside. The library was surprisingly immaculate and Spike was coincidentally lying on the ground sleeping with a mop and a pail of water.
"Aw, is that a baby dragon?" asked Red Curl.
"Yes, his name's Spike," said Twilight. She quickly floated him along with the crystal and the two walked upstairs. Twilight put Spike down in his bed and the crystal underneath her's. She quickly levitated two blankets over to the second floor and brought them next to her bed.
"I'll be sleeping on the ground tonight, you take the bed," said Twilight. She got under a blanket and laid on the other one.
"Twilight, no, I'm just freeloading off of you, I should-" said Red Curl but it was too late. Twilight started snoring and Red Curl smiled and got in Twilight's bed and started sleeping.
The next morning, Red Curl awoke to find Spike up and looking for paper while Twilight was pacing down the stairs. She saw Red Curl looking at her.
"Oh, sorry, Red Curl, I hoped that we wouldn't be too loud," apologized Twilight.
"No trouble," said Red Curl. She immediately threw her bags over her shoulders. "I should see where I can find a place to live."
"Wait," said Twilight before Red Curl walked down the stairs. She turned around. "Come on, one last thing."
"Sure," said Red Curl, climbing up to the third floor with Twilight.
"Spike, you ready?"
"Ready, Twilight!" replied Spike.
"Oh, he can talk?" asked Red Curl in surprise.
"Yeah, he's about the smartest baby dragon I know," answered Twilight.
"That's because I'm the only baby dragon you know," said Spike.
Twilight quickly jabbed him in the side with her leg and laughed. "Yes, Spike can be a bit smart sometimes."
"Anyways, Spike, take a letter," said Twilight.
"Right!" said Spike, dipping the quill in a ink well and stood waiting.
"Dear Princess Celestia," beginning Twilight.
I can't really say that today I learned something about friendship. This past week, I have probably made my biggest discovery in friendship so far. What I have learned is that friendship is extremely powerful, even across the longest distances. Friends may be miles and miles away from each other, but they can still connect with the magic of friendship. No matter the distance, friendship isn't affected by distance. Friends can still connect and solve problems together, no matter how far apart they are. I've also learned that friendship is so powerful, that it can overcome even the most ingrained disharmony. No matter how challenging and difficult a problem may seem, friendship can overcome that and bring harmony and happiness to the world, no matter what it takes, because there are always those who make friendship more powerful.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Spike finished the letter, wrapped it up, and lit it on fire. The force of the flame carried it away as it burned and it suddenly burst into a bunch of sparkles, disappearing off into the Princess' study in Canterlot.
Twilight turned to Red Curl, who was surprised by the process. She walked over and hugged her.
"Thanks for everything, Red Curl."
Red Curl shook her head and grasped both front legs of Twilight with hers.
"No, Twilight. Thank you for everything. And please tell that to Rainbow that as well," said the Red Curl. "You both made me realize the importance of friendship."
The two separated. They looked at each other for some time before Red Curl turned and walked away. Twilight smiled as Red Curl opened the door. She looked behind and saw Twilight watching her. Red Curl smiled and waved good bye. Twilight waved as well.
Red Curl stepped out and walked down to the street. The streets were full now, but not uncomfortably full. Just full enough where it wasn't boring, but where you could easily stop and talk to somepony, which she felt like doing all of a sudden. Of course, good luck struck here when,
"Dear, could you possibly be Red Curl?" asked an elegant voice behind her. Red Curl turned around and saw a white coated unicorn with blue and purple curled hair. She had a poise that reminded Red Curl of some of the aristocrats she brought down in the days of "Un-blinding."
"Yes, I am," said Red Curl, turning around to face the unicorn.
"Excellent, my name is Rarity, and I'm a friend of Twilight's. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
"Hi, Rarity. Is there something you need?" Red Curl asked.
"No, rather, it's something you need. Twilight called me early morning and said that you didn't have a home after traveling here from Gaitsville. So, I've already made some accommodations. Just follow me to my humble abode," said Rarity.
"Oh, no, I can't possibly," said Red Curl, but Rarity shook her head.
"Listen, dear, we haven't had a new house constructed in absolutely ages. Trust me, you won't have to pay a bit. I'm doing this as a favor to Twilight, and for you as well," said Rarity. She lead them through the town.
As Red Curl walked through the town, she passed dozens of rustic yet homely looking houses with straw roofs. Ponies were talking and laughing in the streets. Several were doing grocery shopping from the many carts on the side. She watched as a green-coated unicorn stood up and attempt to walk on her hind legs. An Earth pony beside her said, "Honestly, Lyra, enough's enough!" Everywhere Red Curl looked, she saw ponies happily going through another day that Celestia had brought them. She smiled as she realized that she was part of them already, that soon she would be joining them in the streets laughing and talking and chatting the day away. And the thought cheered her up, which wouldn't have happened a few weeks ago. Of course, friendship was that powerful. Red Curl knew that she would treasure that thought forever.