//------------------------------//
// 5 - Hopes and Bets 
// Story: Queen of Equestria 
// by BlackWater 
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Home sweet home,” Applejack smiled in relief as she stepped hoof back onto the familiar soil of Sweet Apple Acres. If felt like it had been an age since she had been home and the autumn colors only reinforced that. Being a part of Twilight’s hive was great and all but nothing felt quite as right as home and her first family who resided there.
In a twist of surprise, it was not Apple Bloom who was first to shoot out of the old house door she was approaching. Instead, it was Big Mac. Behind him, walking slower but not any less happy, was Granny Smith. Applejack was no psychic but it didn’t take mind powers to tell how happy her brother was to see her.
“Welcome home, sis,” Big Mac hugged her quick. Not quick enough for the mare to miss the tear in his eye, though. If nopony else knew he was a softy, then she sure did.
Applejack hugged him back. “Missed y’all, Big Mac,” she replied with her own ache of the heart. “There’s no place like home,” she decided to add and then let him go to embrace Granny.
“And no company like kin,” the old mare remarked as she returned the gesture. Her tone seemed more steady but no less pleased.
“Not to mention the smell o’ that sweet apple air!” Applejack released Granny and breathed deep. “No place else like that in all Equestria. Where’s Apple Bl-”
The answer came before the question but after an “oof” from Applejack at a sudden weight on her back.
“Huggin’ the best sister ever!” the growing girl shouted and squeezed AJ’s neck from behind. It wasn’t as easy anymore to land on her back this way since she was not as tiny as she once was.
“Alright, sugarcube,” Applejack giggled and swung the young teen filly off and around in front of her. “Oh my stars!”
“What? What is it?!” Apple Bloom hopped in excitement mixed with some curiosity and confusion.
“Did somepony grow up while I was away?” Applejack joked after putting a hoof to the top of her not-quite-as-little sister’s head. “I’d say you’re twice your size.”
“Don’t go soundin’ like Uncle Apple Strudel now,” Apple Bloom pouted and pushed her big sister’s hoof off. “I don’t want some old mare-”
Granny Smith’s brow raised suspiciously.
“-I mean, let’s go get lunch inside!” Apple Bloom strategically saved herself and started pushing Applejack through the front door.
Big Mac chuckled deep and followed in after Granny.
They soon got settled in the fireplace-warmed living room and Winona-warmed family sofa after a hearty lunch. The family talked for hours even though Granny offered her a nap after the train ride. Applejack was no fainting dramatic, however, and could have bucked apples for half a day after getting home. Granny knew this too, but was forced by a habit of hospitality. So the elderly mare found herself defending her grandfilly’s extended stay away from home from the mare’s own self-criticism.
“I didn’t mean to make y’all short of hooves so long. Honest,” Applejack bowed her head.
“You’ve just been doin’ what you’ve always been doin’. Keepin’ Equestria safe,” Granny Smith reminded her grandfilly.
“Eeyup,” the brother agreed proudly.
“But things ain’t been goin’ right,” Applejack tried to keep herself from a frown. “It’s been more trouble than a knot o’ snakes in a muddy pen out there.”
“Is it true?!” Apple Bloom hugged her sister with a worried expression. “Is King Sombra really back?”
Remembering all she had told her family about the happenings in the Crystal Empire, she now wished she hadn’t. They would only worry for it. “Don’t you fret, Apple Bloom. Your big sister’s got it all under control.”
AJ raised her eyes and caught Big Mac’s gaze. She could tell there was a “nope” hanging back behind his lips and he failed to voice it only to not let the others worry more than they had already. There was an understanding between them and for that she was grateful all over again.
“It’s not just us lookin’ for him either,” Applejack encourage her sister. “Hundreds of them tough guards are turnin’ up every rock and root in Equestria,” she added a wink.
“Well while they’ll be doin’ that,” Granny spoke up, “maybe you’ll get to the relaxin’. Some fresh apple pie and mail will do you some good, filly.”
“Mail?” Applejack quirked a brow in confusion.
Apple Bloom seem to have been adequately distracted by that because the worry slid clean off her face. She darted into the kitchen with Big Mac behind her. He returned to give her the plate of pie and she did so with a letter in her mouth.
Applejack accepted both with a nod of thanks and looked at the address. Why in all of Equestria would she be relaxing with a piece of mail? Only things she ever got were advertisements, flowery spa invitations from Rarity, and notices of sales on used patio furniture. Who in Equestria would be happy over used furniture? A voice in the hivemind answered ecstatically.
The name on the front of the envelope made her pause. “Well now,” she got a deep smile back and took a bite of the slice of pie. “Must’ve been last of school that I got a letter from Rara...”









“It is necessary to abolish the standing Unified Court of the District of Las Pegasus,” Double Haul slid the scroll to Twilight on the other side of the table.
The day was sunnier than the last for certain. After the thunderous downpour of the previous day, rain had temporarily ceased until the district pegasi teams could gather the resources to continue the water cycle. They were, of course, not the only pegasi burdened with painful overtime due to Cloudsdale’s loss.
However, the sunshine would have been necessary anyways, given the political situation of the city. The public was no less engaged today than it was the last. Everypony was on the street, including those who worked special jobs providing for the basic needs of food, water, and daily necessities required by all. This was made possible only by the release of special aid ordered by the Queen of Equestria herself.
Rainbow Dash glided over 30th West Street again. This time she noticed something new in the crowds. The signs that many ponies had been holding the previous day were gone by at least half. The nature of the masses had changed. They were not trying to press forward to the square in protest. Well a few were, but not most. Instead, they were...talking with each other.
Twilight was proud of them but still cautious of the freshness of it that still tempted trouble. The city ponies were engaging in ideas, getting to know their fellow ponies quite possibly for the first time ever. Tensions were easing as the weather was put back in action while the pegasi families received critical relief for homeless or injured kin from Cloudsdale. Even the non-pegasi began to realize how much more they had in common with their fellow citizens – rather than how much they differed.
Chrysalis had gone out earlier than they had and so had informed Twilight previously about the new city council proposal. The queen knew what was in the scroll before it was presented to her. This was perhaps the most risky territory. More so than yesterday. The muggy scent of the air from the recent rains didn’t brighten her hopes for the outcome, nor did the sun that she herself had raised in the morning.
She took a deep breath. It felt more like a show than an act of government. The table was in the road. They were surrounded by the general public on all sides, who had agreed via public discourse late last night that the new government was not allowed to act in closed doors. It had to be in the open at the public square, which this road was up against. They’d have been in the square center if not for the rest of the public assemblies and government groups taking up the spots.
Twilight held a hoof up to shade a glare coming from the sun and looked over the scroll briefly out of show so the ponies watching saw that she did indeed look at it. “This does not only include the abolition of the standing judiciary but also permanent elimination of the presently empty position of all seats of local executive office.”
Double Haul, a muscular stallion of a strange sort wearing glasses and a dusty apron, nodded. He had clearly just walked out of his job at the nearby packing warehouse. He was, however, the current democratically elected official to present the public proposal. The very nature of government had been clearly rethought by the ponies of Las Pegasus. If the hopeful smiles all around here were any indication, they were quite proud of what they had come up with in only about eighteen hours.
Eighteen hours where most had slept little and some not at all. The tiredness in the crowds was, however, held back fiercely by a joy and resolve that Twilight had never seen before in her life.
A wagon mechanic watching at the front of the crowd looked like she was about to cry in happiness. At last she felt she had a voice.
A young teen pegasi was at her side, body patched with scars and bandages from wounds not yet healed – a refugee of Cloudsdale leaning on her aunt.
Twilight continued. “Initiation of a new Citizen’s Court of the District of Las Pegasus with a zero-wait accountability and replacement capability. And the power to overturn any and all precedence set by the Unified Court of the District of Las Pegasus. Including but not limited to: the verdicts pertaining to imprisonment of two thousand, one hundred, seventy-two ponies convicted of fraud, theft, drug possession, criminal trespass, assault, and obstruction of justice.”
Double Haul read from his own scroll that listed details he couldn’t remember so quickly. They had been put into vivid detail by the public assemblies and in turn by their chosen investigators. “All crimes determined by public investigators to be false verdicts enacted by a corrupt court and charged initially by a corrupt police department for the purpose of jailing political opposition.”
A sweets baker, sitting from exhaustion, was not able to leave before he heard what he had wanted so badly for years. To see his wife again – an activist who had been jailed for demonstrating for an end of the criminalization of the homeless.
A Royal Guard retiree, obvious from his stance and manecut maintained out of mere habit, had his head high in pride. He had served to protect a democracy he had only realized had eroded away. With the city all around him, he knew it was coming back.
A fire fighter twisted her mane in anticipation. Her father was jailed for trying to expose the old government’s fraud and abuse. His release was on the line.
“Elimination of the Unified Police Department of the District of Las Pegasus. Fair trial of all staff thereof in relation to allegations of corruption to be explored by the Citizen’s Court of the District of Las Pegasus. Initiation of the new Community Policing Network of the District of Las Pegasus.”
A thin dark stallion looked to his father, who smiled back with visible tears. They would no longer have to fear the sounds of the sirens blaring and hungry for fresh victims to fill prison cells with those who lacked only money and not innocence.
An ex-police officer bowed his head in disbelief. He never thought he’d see a day of accountability like this where he would finally be vindicated in quitting the department out of his own integrity. Not standing to abuse the innocent he had sworn to serve and protect.
“I understand there are quite a few additional proposals related directly or indirectly to the details listed here,” Twilight added as she rolled the scroll out some more. It was quite long, but by no shock considering nearly every public service of the city was being restructured. “Especially pertaining to the district prison facility, doctor’s offices, new food distribution centers, and housing projects.”
“Yes, Ms. Sparkle,” Double Haul nodded but did not bow. He knew who he was speaking to but there was no intimidation in his eyes. It was as if he saw her as an equal. Another pony and not some superior.
Twilight smiled at him. She probably just looked like a typical royal smiling to a crowd, but she honestly did like this stallion she was dealing with. She could see why he had been chosen and his lack of any privileged position or connections was exactly the reason why she was seeing such trust in the faces of the crowd. There were likely even ponies there that knew him personally and certainly those who related to his brash lack of political nuance. He was just a pony. Any pony.
That was what encouraged Twilight. That was why she knew this was working.
Heartened by this and not helping to hold back a gleeful victory she felt inside, she grabbed the stamp on the table that had her cutie mark within the design of her royal seal. The ink pad depressed when she put the stamp to it and rose the wet seal. With a turn to the crowd and a wide grin, she spoke.
“Ponies of Las Pegasus, it is my honor as the Queen of Equestria, to put my seal upon these proposals decided upon by public discourse and enacted by your new spirit of local governance. For good or bad, may the results and any possible revisions reflect the will and desire of you – the common citizen of Las Pegasus!”
THUD!
She pressed the heavy seal upon the scroll and the masses cheered.









“Replicate?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight skeptically back in the privacy of their room. “We don’t even know if it will work.”
“The effectiveness, foremost, should not be the deciding factor of the style of governance,” Twilight tutted and drank her cup of tea served by Soir Soleil, one of her white mare maids. “If one is to be the least bit serious about actual democracy. Otherwise effectiveness becomes an excuse for dictatorship. And besides, I offered my own advice to them based on the scientific evidence we have gathered over centuries. Las Pegasus may not have had many of these service styles in the past, but other cities have done so at local levels with comparable testing variables. The results are well documented with control groups and outliers accounted for. Did you not review that information within our mind?”
Rainbow blew a raspberry and sat on the big bed with her forelegs crossed. “Just because I can comb your egghead doesn’t mean I’m going to faun over the dullest parts of it.”
Somepony’s feelin’ a lil’ sassy, Applejack joked over the hivemind.
I love Twilight, Rainbow replied coolly. That doesn’t mean I have to be into everything she is. I respect what makes us different and love her for it.
Oh my Celestia, Rarity said in awe from the cold of the Crystal Empire and the soft overcoat she wore. I think our little Dashie is all grown up – speaking so maturely like that.
I am awesome, Rainbow slid her forehoof through her mane and posed. And I don’t see why I can’t be awesome and a good future wife to my Twily at the same time. Awesome doesn’t have to mean I’m rough and tumble, Rarity.
Twilight blushed but felt a peace inside too. Rainbow was reconciling her unapologetic confidence with the softer personality she always wanted. And she did this in spite of the loss of Cloudsdale, which had hit her worse than any other in their hive. Twilight supposed right then that perhaps that was what indeed made the mare so admirable. She had a strong heart.
And then Rainbow couldn’t help adding the jab. Though you would know all about rough and tumble, wouldn’t you, Rarity? What with all those late nights with your Spikey Wikey~
Twilight could feel the heat of the blush over the hivemind. She felt bad for the poor fashionista, a little embarrassed because it involved her son, but also glad because both of them were happy.
We haven’t done anything like that, Spike defended his mare. And then goofed it up by adding “yet.”
Spike! the white unicorn complained.
It wouldn’t be a problem if we did, though, Spike defended again, this time himself from his mare.
Hey, hey, hey, cuuuuuz, Pinkie Pie droned out over the mind to Applejack.
The farmpony groaned, feeling some sillyness coming on. It was practically guarantied any time Pinkie Pie referred to her in that manner. Yes, Pinkie?
Wanna bet?
On what? AJ would have been suspicious but that was how she had started and so the point was moot.
Whether Rarity or Rainbow gets the bumpies in the nighties first!
Applejack chuckled with her deep and rich country tone, confusing her family at the dinner table with her. Now I might just put some bits on that.
“What?!” Rainbow blurted aloud and jumped off the bed.
Meanwhile, Rarity threw down her hat on the snow in offense. Well I never-!
Fifty on RD buckin’ the apples first, Applejack smirked. She knew Rarity would lose her little prim fashionista temper over that and the thought of riling her made the farmgirl giddy.
You dirty-
Naw, Pinkie waved a hoof they couldn’t see. One hundred fifty. And Rarity will totally go firsties. She’d never let an insult like that go for long and Dashie gets cold hooves at the last second anyways.
Do not! Rainbow stomped angrily in place.
You’re on, AJ agreed.
Spike tried to keep his own thought on the matter hidden. Please let Pinkie Pie win. Please let Pinkie Pie win. Please let Pinkie Pie win.