//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Open Door Policy // Story: A Political Crisis // by Deep556 //------------------------------// "I'm very glad you accepted the job", Fasces said with a concentrated smile on his face, as if he had already brainwashed all of the alicorns. "You don't look too serious to be a diplomat, you need to be like one they have fear of. I'll personally guide you to the Ponyville Empire, my guards are too busy with our..... projects." Twilight answered with a fright, thinking that he might jail her, "Y- you don't have to follow me, I can take care of myself." Fasces insisted, "I just know that the press have a hidden base somewhere on my territory, if you go out there alone without any protection from the authority, they'll flash your face to the newspaper!" The both of them went outside of the castle and walked their way to the Ponyville Empire. While on the way, Twilight noticed some unlikely events that are happening all around her: The guards stay close to the few immigrants (Changelings and Yaks) that are here for the tourism, every time we walked past a citizen that happens to be outside, they say, "To the autocrat!" with one of their hooves up in the air. Twilight wondered, 'Isn't there a pony I know during my history class that has the same greeting to a leader like that?'. She tried her best to remember, but she lost the momentum when she caught a machine within her eye range. Looks like a flying mechanical device with a camera on top so ponies can see in that perspective. As they reached the Ponyville Empire, Twilight sees the ponies from the Ponyville Empire being thrown by apples on the other side of the wall, the ponies quickly retaliated by throwing clothes at them, not sure how that will help slow down the democrats, must be Rarity's idea. They reached a new shop that was built a few days after the separation of the village, it appears to be a tailor shop. The two walked inside the massive structure and was merely blinded by the shine of the floor and the walls. The ponies who worked in the shop realized that their leader had entered, so they quickly raised their hoof and said "To the autocrat!" to Fasces. One pony came to him and asked nervously, "What do you want that satisfies you, my autocrat? The clothes over here were just delivered today". Fasces replied, "Do you have any suit that looks like this?" He showed the tailor the photo of some pony. The pony rushed to the clothes to find something just like it. They were looking for something with only a tiny attractiveness, but a serious looking kind of suit. Found it! The pony showed it to Fasces. He compared the suit to what it looks like in the photo, he responded, "It is 90% accurate to what I see here, should be good enough. Now, give the suit to this diplomat here, she will be doing a few tasks abroad soon." The tailor gave the suit to Twilight. She went to the fitting room and wore on the suit. As soon as she came out, she looked like one of the five star generals in a book. Fasces payed for the suit and thanked the ponies for it as they soon left. Twilight questioned out of curiosity, "Aren't diplomats supposed to have business-looking suits?" Fasces answered, "As I said, you need to look serious, so that way we can have an above average reputation." Twilight still wonders the photo that Fasces had shown to the pony to get the suit accurately similar, "May I see the photo you were holding?" "I'm glad you asked, he is the main reason why I entered into politics", Fasces said as he shows Twilight a very familiar creature. For some shocking reason, Fasces has a photo of a human! This human is bald, a very militaristic looking attire, and an axe bundled by rods were in the background of the photo. "Since you are a very intelligent pony, I assume you know this political figure?" Twilight answered, "As I read from the world history books on Earth, he is Benito Mussolini, the very first fascist dictator in Europe." "Correct indeed. I'm quite surprised you know human history." Fasces said. Twilight stuttered, still in the shock, "But... How did you-.... Did you-?" Fasces laughed at the look of Twilight's worrying face, "I forgot to tell you. I was a real thief back when I was a filly, not the kind of thief that completely takes everything, the kind of one where the thief returns the stolen property after he has no interest of it. I heard a rumor from my friends that a magical mirror has been spotted being transferred from the Crystal Empire to your home. I wanted to know whether that rumor was true or not, apparently it was. Of course, as a very curious pony myself, I just had to go through." Twilight made a little joke just to remove her fear, "I bet you had a hard time standing on two legs?" Fasces said, "Indeed I was, but I eventually got used to adapt the environment that has changed right before my eyes. Anyways, there was a giant-looking castle in front of me. As I entered in, I accidentally bumped into one of the organisms, after I apologized to him, the photo fell from his pocket without notice. I picked the photo up and tried to look for a nearby library for research, took me at least 15 minutes to finally find it. After a quick scan of the few reference books, I started to like that guy. That was the time I stole a few political books and went home." Twilight questioned Fasces about the accident, "What did the guy look like? Describe everything, he could be a dangerous person." "Hmm... His skin was very white, an outfit that looks like a soldier, and a short red armband with a decorated cross." Fasces answered. The two ponies reached back to the throne room after the incredible knowledge that she has gained. From then, Fasces gave Twilight her first task, "Time to activate your mission. First destination places in the Wonderbolt Commune, I believe that their stability has a very low percentage due to their repairing of the buildings they trashed, such fools... I also believe that Rainbow Dash may fully accept any sharing of yours because of your relational status over the course of years, so I expect that the meetings to improve political perspective go very well." Twilight gave respect to the mission, "Thank you, Fasces." "You are now dismissed", Fasces said. "Oh, and beware of the press conference..." As soon as Twilight walked of Canterlot, the moment she sees no guard at all, cameras flash her from the bushes. She quickly ran to said bush, but found nothing. Suddenly, a newspaper cam out of thin air. The paper had already contained the recent photo of Twilight: Daily News Fasces Declares The Open Door Policy Fasces, the fascist dictator of the Canterlot Reich, implemented a policy to openly trade resources that they require and to improve diplomatic discussions to socialist nations to lessen the chance of war. He said to the press, "We modified this policy in a way that any influence that goes to us will be strictly secured so that it does not spread to the innocent fascists." Relating to the topic of improving diplomatic discussions, Fasces has sent the nation's first ever Canterlot ambassador, Twilight Sparkle, to do the job. With the fact that she is socially friends with the many leaders that are currently ruling the nation, the meetings are hoped to stay calm and not aggressive, at least not too aggressive to start justifying why they want war. Twilight does not know if Fasces secretly works for the press or they are just really sneaky on where they want to hide.