//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Sphere Of Influence // Story: A Political Crisis // by Deep556 //------------------------------// After reading the Daily News, Twilight was stunned by the winning pony. A democrat would have been easy to negotiate with, but a fascist? Their greed for expanding territory and the new laws limiting the freedom of civilians would be hard to settle with. "Maybe this pony dictator is not as bad as the historical dictators", Twilight said to try to free herself from the anxiety of an incoming war. She figured she should appoint a meeting with the new leader to discuss about his future plans in advanced. So she grabbed her quill and paper to write the message. Now, what was his name again......? Dear Fasces Pride, I, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, would like to congratulate you on your succession of becoming the first ever pony dictator of Equestria! What I want to discuss with you will be held in your throne room, it will be hosted privately so no pony can panic from what will happen too early. Hoping for you to accept this message, f it's not a civil right issue, of course. Twilight gave it to Spike as she rolled up the message and tied it with a red ribbon. A few hours after Spike delivered the message. Ponies hardly knock on the door, somehow in a very friendly way. Twilight opened the door and see two national guards, heavily armored than the last regime. "The autocrat has accept your request, it was a hard time for him to decide, as the new law states that 'Only compliments and major issues can be messaged to the autocrat'. He chose to agree because your message contained a compliment and you're an alicorn" The guard said. Twilight does not know what to feel: Accepted or Offended. The guard then said, "We will now escort you to the castle, walking alone is too risky, we have not eliminated all the rights for the press conference yet". Twilight was confused at first, but it finally made sense as they walk through the one side of Ponyville, also known as the Ponyville Empire. Twilight asked one of the guards, "Can you at least give me information regarding the recent happenings of this village?" The other guard answered, "The front side of your castle are where the corrupt democrats, currently named the Republic Of Ponyville, and ruled by your soon-to-be-former friend, Applejack". Will there be a war soon?, Twilight thought to herself. The guard continued, "You probably already know name of the other side, the Ponyville Empire, what you don't know is that this side is ruled by Rarity. More information, she currently has a mission to give democratic-like clothing to her spies and find out any corrupt evidence in the Republic of Ponyville and show said evidence to the democrats. So in short, she's trying to start a revolution". Twilight started to feel uncomfortable with the content of what the guard had just said, soon-to-be-former friend, she's trying to start a revolution. Twilight also noticed that a wall has been built between the two sides, at least....... 50 feet in height. They are now in Canterlot City, almost there to the leader. Instead of the normal sights of running businesses and fashion ponies, Twilight sees, what? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are leading a massive army, both land and air. "Call them generals from now on" The guard said. They finally reached the entrance to the castle, with tables filled with massive planning battles and working officers. Twilight opened the door and finally see the autocrat they talk about, Fasces Pride. He commanded his officers immediately, "Leave the room. Give us 10 minutes in private, don't worry, I am safe". The ranking ponies started walking out of the throne room, leaving him and Twilight. "Good afternoon, princess. As I understand, you want to discuss about something. I hope it's urgent, I wasted precious time just to talk to you." Fasces Pride said in a serious manner. Twilight answered, "Well, as a big fan of your chosen ideology. I want granted knowledge of your goals in advance. I do have more rights than citizens as a princess, right?" Fasces replied, "Your position gives you access to lead an army and to start your own nation, but not full knowledge of my plans, though I can certainly give you the general ones". Twilight thought to herself, 'What if I can use the military to revolt against the state? It would be impossible, I am inside a fascist area right now! The guards are pure nationalists.'. "First general plan, as you may have seen in the Daily News, I would spread influence to Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. Second, I would make an alliance with the two nations. Last but not certainly the least, eliminate the 'communists'." "I don't see any socialist states so far." Twilight said. Fasces sighed and said, "You really must read the Daily News..." He gave Twilight three newspapers, the first one dates a few days ago: Daily News Socialist Movements Rapidly Increase Over Three Locations. Blames The Revolutionary Canterlot Party After the inauguration of Fasces Pride and his party, the National Authoritarian Equestrian Worker's Party, the socialists feared that Fasces might ban socialism in his country, therefore putting the socialists to extinct. So they started spreading propaganda to the Crystal Empire, Castle of The Two Sisters, and the Wonderbolts. The press had an interview with said socialists, they answered, "These fascists do not know how to control a failing economy, they'll make it even worse! We decided that if we show our opponents how a real economy is controlled, they'll be inspired to use our socialist tactics." Twilight then reads the second newspaper, which dates yesterday: Daily News Revolutions Start To Happen In Numerous Locations Socialist Propaganda increased qualitatively that ponies abroad do not prefer the current ruling ideology anymore. The Crystal Empire, more specifically Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, have refused to stand down to a 'minor opposition'. It gets different in the Wonderbolts, however. Some ponies are not obeying orders demanded by hierarchies anymore, instead, they trash buildings. Spitfire has no choice but to cancel training and use full force to resist the occupations. What surprises us the most is that the abandoned Castle of The Two Sisters is currently having a renovation by volunteers of the Socialist party. It is unknown who will be the leading pony in these locations, but political theorists suggest that ponies who dedicate into saving Equestria would be either forced or volunteered to lead a nation. She now reads the last newspaper, which dates today: Daily News New States Are Born Under Both Fascist And Socialist Rule The revolution was intense, the coercion was frightening, no violence was reported, happy to say, though the new ideologies have ran over almost all the hierarchies in Equestria. Starting with the Crystal Empire, or should we say, the Socialist Crystal Republic (SCR), Shining Armor is now the only pony in rule of the whole land, the status of Princess Cadance is unknown, conspiracy theorists say that she plans a revolution to bring back the monarchy. In the Wonderbolts, the revolution was too strong to go against the members of the staff, and now, the Wonderbolt Commune has full control with, surprisingly, Rainbow Dash as the leader of said nation. The friend of Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, stated that she had zero percent interest in politics. Our only guess so far is that she wanted to prove her awesomeness by ruling something. The last socialist uprise locates at the Castle of The Two Sisters, which was shortened to Communist Two Sisters. Unexpectedly, Pinkie Pie is in rule of the area, she says that socialism is an easy process of making ponies happy, because of that message, a few ponies from fascist and democratic states have moved to the newly renovated castle. From the fascist influences, only one location has been affected to turn into a nation, which is the Everfree Forest, now called the Everfree Opposition. Can you guess who it might be? If you guessed Fluttershy, you are correct! Ponies claim to have seen animals from all across Equestria to have gone into the forest after its declaration as a nation. Fluttershy announces to the ponies that if they ever harm areas where they have their independence guaranteed by the state and/or hurts even a tiny little ant, war will occur. Peace activists and literary poets have started to begin all around Equestria with their main concern of no war, just peace. We hope that these activists do their best to prevent wars that are to happen. Twilight was shocked at the news she missed, no wonder why she couldn't find her friends, they were in secret political meetings, also shocked that her friends were even interested in politics at all, the newspaper did say ponies who dedicate into saving Equestria. Fasces said, "We can stop this disaster from happening all across this realm, I can already see an opportunity in front of my eyes". Twilight has butterflies in her stomach, she could just magic her way out of this meeting, but that would make her a criminal, besides, violence isn't her thing. Fasces asked, "How would you feel if you could be my diplomat between the fascist states and the socialist and democratic states? There is a slight modification of your job, though. While you take a break from improving relations with the opposing ideologies, I need you to get as much information as possible and send it to me." Twilight answered with a little resistance to the offer, "What if I don't?" Fasces replied, "Oh, it's very simple, I can easily fix that complication..." Twilight's resistance is no longer there, if she says no, those powerful guards can do something really bad. So she responded to the offer.