Chapter 7
Politics
The next year and a half went by quickly; I was busy all the time with the RoE. I offered my cave as our new headquarters for the earth division; the old hut was getting a bit cramped and nearly all of Ponyville was now part of the RoE with the exception of Applejack and a few others.
The cave was actually bigger than I thought, the passages went for miles underground, as it turns out this is where Ursa Majors lived until the Empire captured them and turned them into weapons of war. The cave was now buzzing with activity, messages coming in from all the resistance cells across Equestria and in the occupied countries, there were about thirty cells in total with about 500 members. Some sought refuge from the Empire, some wanted to communicate with their friends in the sectors and some like myself wanted to fight; but we were kept in check by the politicians.
Mayor Mare was now in charge of the Earth Resistance Cell, the Pegasus Resistance Cell leader was Cherry Bomb and the Unicorns Resistance Cell’s (which had the least members) leader was Rarity. Typical unicorns, as long as they are alright they won’t bother to help anypony.
That night a big meeting was under way, using unicorn magic we would be able to see and talk to the leaders of the Resistance cells. In the cave was a large open area perfect for an ops room. We had built offices, living quarters and barracks in the cave from whatever we could use, whether it was from Ponyville or the Everfree forest, we used it. In the middle of the large open space down some wooden stairs was a large white table with about twenty chairs around it and it was lit up by a strong spot light overhead. All the chairs were reserved for high ranking members of the Earth cell who were going to be arriving any minute.
I was already in my seat, Resistance leader: Cart Wheel was written on a little plaque in front of my seat. I cannot believe I kept this lie up for so long, hiding the fact that you are a Pegasus in an earth pony only zone was hard, not being able to fly was murder for somepony like me. The solid wooden doors opened at the top of the staircase.
“Ah, Cart wheel, you’re already here?”
“You know me Mayor, I like to be early”
Mayor Mare smiled and started her way down the stairs, there was nopony else behind her. I looked over to the clocks on the walls, Equestria, Russhire, Gallopmore, Saddleburgh, Fillypines, Le Mare, Zercoria, Cloudsdale and Unicornia. 11:50am in Equestria, Mayor Mare was early herself. She sat down on the chair opposite me that was reserved for Nurse Red Heart.
“So, Cart Wheel, what do you want to become of this organisation?” She asked whilst cleaning her glasses with a cloth.
“Well... creating peace would be nice” I said as a joke, but she did not take it that way.
“Peace? I thought you wanted to fight against the Empire, that’s all you have been saying and doing since I first met you.”
I took a pause to think on what to say. I leaned forward in my chair
“You have to fight for freedom, you can’t just wish for it. Actions speak louder than words, Mayor; I thought you of all ponies would know that”
Our discussion was interrupted by the doors opening and the sound of delegates chattering and walking down the wooden stairs. The Mayor glared at me, got up out of the chair and walked to hers at the top of the table.
The unicorns had trouble getting the feed from the Pegasus cell leader, being up in the clouds must have been too far away for the unicorn magic to reach, I chuckled to myself. The feed from the cell leaders was projected on the map of Equestria that we had nailed to the wall of the cave making a good smooth surface. Cherry Bomb came into view and called out.
“Hello? Anypony there?”
“Yes we can all see and hear you Cherry Bomb. Now, can we please get a move on? I’m dying from boredom here” said Rarity
“O-Okay... err Mayor Mare, you have the floor”
“Thank you Cherry. Fillies and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to discuss what to do next. We now have enough strength to wage war or create peace, even if some are not willing to seek peace as an option.”
I knew the Mayor was referring to me, but I just kept reading some documents on the table.
“We must look at all possibilities, I feel that negotiating with Celestia and the Empire is the best option”
I nearly fell off my chair “Negotiating?!”
“I agree. None of us want another rebellion that's going to fail” said Rarity
Rarity. If you wanted a stereotypical Pony to represent the unicorns that was her, slightly aloof and domineering. She was nice at the Graduation party but she had changed. We all had.
“As do I” said Cherry Bomb
“Very well then, negotiation it is then.” said the mayor sorting out her papers on the table, it looked like she was looking for one particular piece of paper but could not find it.
“Ah, here it is. Ahem. I have taken the liberty of making you all a copy of this. You will find it on page 24 of your booklet. I will give you a moment to read it”
Everypony around our table and the tables of the other cells all had a brown folder in front of them “Republic of Equestria meeting guide: issue 3” stamped with classified and eyes only on the right hand side. Typical political red tape, list of who is present, targets met, improvement suggestions and other nonsense. Page 24 was just writing all written in very small print in order to fit as much in as possible. “A moment to read it? More like an hour.”
“I like the third idea” said Rarity
“As do I. But isn’t it a bit risky?” said Cherry Bomb
“How do you mean?” Rarity replied
“All members of the RoE to sign a petition that is to be given to Celestia. This is to show how many of us there are and to persuade Celestia into peace talks. We might as walk to Canterlot in chains.” Cherry Bomb was not playing around anymore; this was serious. I had to say something.
“I agree with Cherry Bomb, this petition could get us all banished for treason! Or worse.”
The room went quiet; all ponies were looking at me or at the mayor.
“Thank you for that Cart Wheel. Tell me, how do you know that will happen?” said the mayor putting her forelegs on the table as if she was praying to Faust.
“How do you know that your petition will persuade Celestia to peace talks?” I replied.
The idea of the petition was put to a vote. If 51% of a cell was against the petition, the leader would have to vote no regardless of their own viewpoint. Democracy can be unfair sometimes. The votes from the cells were in. Filthy Rich cleared his throat. He began to read the parchments that had just arrived via dragon breath.
“Earth Cell: 65% for negotiations. Pegasus Cell: 15% for negotiations. And the Unicorn cell: 97% for negotiations.”
“Well that settles it then, all ponies in the earth cell are required to put their mark on the parchment that will be outside my office tomorrow. And I will be checking to see if all of you have signed it.”
The mayor’s glare was fixed on me. I came to the conclusion that she didn’t like me very much. As if I cared, I had more important things to worry about.