The scroll lies before me. I recognize its author even before I roll it up to the text at the top. The writer of it is my mama herself. In it, she says, “I, the 10th level High Administrator, decree that the Crystal Empire may have this stream if the one High Achiever who was taken hostage by the Crystal Empire is returned alive and unharmed. Please bring the filly back to me. She has nothing to do with our administrative affairs.”
I caress the hoof seal at the end of the text. My hoof fits perfectly in the middle of hers. “Mama,” I cry out. Her words sound formal, but I can sense the love between the lines. I want to be with her, more than ever.
The path before me is marked by the remaining scrolls further down the dried-up stream. The collection of the administrative battle is already half done. I look toward the spikes over the cliff’s end at the edge of Equestrian territory, “I’ll come to you soon, mama!”
When I bring my mother’s scroll to the shack, I have a hard time departing from it, so I allow myself a moment of rest. I hug it with all four legs and lay my head on top of it, “Mama, you’ll always be my favorite Administrator.”
I finally detach from my mother’s scroll and make my way to the next one. It’s still too risky to just make a run for it. To make it safe for me to escape, I have to collect the scrolls. I have to collect them all!
I snort out of anger when I see the content of the next one. Somepony dared to disagree with my mother’s administration. How offensive! The scroll from the Equestrian side says, “I, the 9th level High Administrator, belay the statement of my subordinate. She has no authority on the matter. Furthermore, we do not negotiate with terrorists, even when hostages are involved. I regularize that the water in this stream belongs to Equestria, and we shall sacrifice everything to preserve the pacts of our ancestors.”
I’m careful to be extra careless when carrying that scroll. If my mama had her way during the Administrative battle, I would already be in her warm embrace.
The rest of the scrolls are a haze because I keep thinking of my mama. I know the scrolls are really important because they use the best words like consort, articulate, enounce, pronounce, formulate, explicate, machinate, excogitate, dilate, expatiate, expound, discourse, dissertate, relinquish, forswear, dictate, accord, modulate, enjoin, rescript, adjudge, promulgate, arbitrate, liaise, intercede and even bigger ones.
Any other time, the best words like these would light the fire in my heart, but not anymore.
My distraction doesn’t last for long, though. Before me, I see a scroll that I never thought in my wildest dream that I would ever get the honor of seeing. It’s a scroll from our beloved Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. I hesitate before daring to touch it. Carefully and with much respect, I liberate it from under the black scroll on top. When I roll it all the way to the Equestrian side of the bank under the cliff, I focus on the beautiful lavender handwriting before me, “I, the level 1 Administrator of Equestria, edict this as a matter of international dispute. No side shall prompt any further action until this matter is resolved via the border negotiation biros that shall be established from both sides for this purpose. There is no reason to rush this bureaucratic dispute. We only need to follow due process and mutual understanding shall prevail in the end. I will it so.”
I wish I was there when it happened. It must have been glorious. The procession of twenty Administrators standing in line one after another with Princess Twilight Sparkle in front, representing them all, and my mother among them in the line behind her.
After carrying the scroll to the shack and making my way back, I decide I will make a run for it as soon as I reach the last two black scrolls. However, when I get near the one before the spikes, I can’t help myself. The ending of the Administrative battle is too enticing for me to miss.
I don’t even roll up the scroll but just walk to the end of it at the Crystal Empire bank. Red letters on black papers say, “I, King Sombra, The Ultimate Supreme Administrator of the Crystal Empire, declare war with Equestria.”
I gasp. He dared to use the best word to express an evil intent! How could he‽
My body trembles. The heavy air since the morning. The smog. The heat. Could it be...
With a few hops past the spikes, I get myself to the last King Sombra’s black scroll. It says, “I proclaim victory. Go forth, my soldiers. Plunder and burn everything in your path. Leave no Equine alive. So wills the Ultimate Supreme Administrator.”
I turn around and look past the spikes toward Equestria. My town is in flames. And there are more fires. Equestria is burning.
There is a red tint on the spikes past the cliff’s edge. I dare not look directly at the victims of bureaucracy.
With bowed head, I walk along the black scroll, only looking at the base of the spikes. I count each one I pass. “One.”, “Two.”, “Three.”, “Four.”, “Five.”, “Six.”, “Seven.”, “Eight.”, “Nine.”, “...”.
I can’t bring myself to count the next spike. I feel the shivers down my spine when my hoof slides over a mushy-like texture. I look at my hoof. It is red.
With one eye, I glance above and I see a dangling foreleg. The bottom of the hoof has traces of black ink on it. The sealing hoof of the High Administrator!
I lift my own forehoof and put it in the one above. It fits inside perfectly.
Hugging the lifeless limb, I cry out, “Mama!”