Morning for Amethyst
The new year had begun and a couple days after the new year began, it was that day again. It was the day that ponies would head to Canterlot to file their candidacy for public offices and like she had on that day four and eight years ago, she was up early. Things were different this time though, not only did Amethyst live in a brick house in the new end of town, things had become much more than a mere friendship between her and Sea Swirl, the two were now married and unlike it had been in prior election cycles, Sea Swirl was just as enthusiastic about the political cycle as Amethyst was.
When they got up, Amethyst asked, "So sweetie, are you coming up with me to file?"
Unlike it was in the past, Sea Swirl replied, "Of course, I can't wait for you to begin your journey to win a third term!"
Amethyst chuckled, "Now, now Sea Swirl, what did you tell me last time and the time before that? Her chuckle became more of a full blown laugh, "I can't go acting like victory is guaranteed!"
Sea Swirl gave her a sheepish smile and giggled, "Never once did I expect you to be the one to say that!"
Amethyst replied, "Well times change." She then headed towards the exit and continued, "How about we get going, get me filed and then I'll take us out for breakfast."
"That sounds wonderful!" exclaimed Sea Swirl.
As the two headed towards the train station, the two looked at their surroundings and Ponyville had grown a lot just in the past two years. Things had grown so much that the town had grown into what would be classified as a small city. Ponyville now had three schools with an actual business district and like the big cities back east, Ponyville had streets. Seeing the result of all that progress made Amethyst happy and because of that, Sea Swirl too was happy. What made Sea Swirl happier is that she brought in more money than she did in the past as she owned their old house and used it as a rental.
When they arrived at the train station, a delay was announced but it did not upset the two as the princess was not even seeing anypony yet so there was no risk of them missing the 5 P.M. deadline.
The Traditionalist's Secret Weapon
That morning Twilight and her friends had an earlier meeting than normal at Twilight's castle upon Applejack's request. Twilight couldn't help but wonder why it was so important but was up early to be ready for her guests. Applejack was the first to arrive and was greeted immediately, "Applejack, why is it so important that we all meet so early? What could be going on?"
Applejack replied, "You'll find out when everypony gets here."
Twilight pointed her wing and motioned for her to get in. Over the next thirty minutes, their other friends arrived and once all had arrived, they headed into the throne room and took their respective seats. Once they were all seated, Applejack began, "Alright y'all, as you know today is the day for ponies to file to run for mayor and I think this is important."
They all remembered how things did not go well for some of them in past elections. They remembered how Pinkie and Rainbow proved that they were in no way fit to run the town and how four years ago that Applejack too proved the same. Twilight asked, "Alright, what is important about it?"
Applejack replied, "Well Ah think we need to get somepony to run for us traditionalists. We have to save our town before it is too late! If we give Amethyst four more years, we WILL become just like Las Pegasus, if not even bigger."
Rainbow was clearly annoyed by her statement, "Not this again! Look, I'm doing much better off and besides, Ponyville is way cooler than it used to be!"
Starlight too was present and said, "I don't know. Ponyville is really prosperous now and I don't see ponies voting against prosperity."
Applejack looked towards Twilight and asked, "What do you think Twilight?"
Twilight had a feeling as to what she was going to ask and immediately objected, "Applejack, I'm not going to run for mayor and besides, I am a princess and it would be a conflict of interest."
She then turned to Starlight and got a similar response, "I'm sorry Applejack but I'm not going to run. Ponyville is doing very well off and I for one enjoy the year-round nice weather."
Applejack then turned to the other unicorn, "Rarity, Ah don't know what you think about things but would you consider running?"
Rarity asked, "Why me?"
Applejack replied, "With the way the town is now, around two-thirds of the population are unicorns and Ah know that a non-unicorn probably won't stand a chance. If you ran and put forth a more traditionalist platform, maybe you could win and restore the Ponyville we all loved."
While Rarity would never admit it to other unicorns, she did kind of miss the old traditions and did regret voting for Amethyst in the past elections but was unsure, "Applejack darling, Ponyville is more prosperous and my profits are much higher. I do know that if I was to run, Amethyst would do to me what she did to Iron Will, claim that I'm biting the hooves that are causing me to have more profits."
Applejack asked, "But Rarity, don't you miss the Ponyville of old? Don't you miss the times when festivals drew in the whole town, don't you miss traditional Winter Wrap Ups and don't you miss not being a city?"
Rarity replied, "Well I'll admit that I do but...." Applejack began to give her puppy dog eyes and she continued, "oh alright, I'll run."
Applejack replied, "Good and I can be your campaign adviser."
Some of her other friends also agreed to help but three would not. Rainbow grunted in frustration, "You go for it but I want no part of it. Ponyville is cool now and I want it to stay that way."
Starlight too agreed, "I'm sorry Applejack but I'm not going against prosperity and ponies do seem really happy these days."
Twilight finished, "And like I've said, it would be a conflict of interest for me and besides, Ponyville is prosperous and I don't want to be responsible for maybe ruining that."
The three left, leaving Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Applejack said, "Alright y'all, Ah better get going and once Ah get back, we can start to make plans to win the town over."
Her advisers nodded and Rarity headed out the door. Rarity did miss the Ponyville of old and did regret voting for Amethyst but still couldn't help but wonder how well she would be received. She knew that all the unicorns in town supported Amethyst but then realized that the main reason they did was because she was a unicorn. She thought to herself, "Alright Rarity, if we all want our traditions back, you have to do this."
When she got to the train station, she saw that Amethyst and Sea Swirl were both there. She knew why they were there but then something began to cross her mind, Amethyst being involved in a same sex marriage. She knew that Ponyville was doing well economically but then began to think this might be a referendum on how progressive the creatures of the city truly were. She began to think that maybe, just maybe Amethyst's unorthodox marriage could turn the community against her.
A Great and Powerful Decision
It was not long after Amethyst began her second term and after she met Starlight that Trixie had decided to declare Ponyville as her permanent residence. While Trixie had never really cared about the news, something seemed to be calling her to the local news stand, something seemed to tell her that it was important.
When Trixie arrived, she saw that the main headline on the front of the paper was that it was filing day for municipal offices. She decided to buy a paper and began to read through the article. When she read that all she would have to do is go up to Canterlot and file. She exclaimed, "Well it is time for change in Ponyville, a Great and Powerful Change!"
She then decided to go and tell her closest friend about her decision and perhaps see if she would accompany her. She rushed towards Twilight's castle and bumped into the one pony she wanted to see most. She hugged her and exclaimed, "Guess what Starlight, the Great and Powerful Trixie is going to run for mayor!"
Starlight gasped, "What, you're going to run for mayor?"
"Yes!" Trixie continued, "You want to come up to Canterlot with me? Do you want to see your best friend file?"
Starlight had nothing on her schedule that day so despite her thinking that her friend was wasting her time even trying, she agreed, "Alright, let's get going. Just remember though, you're going to be going up against Amethyst Star and she is incredibly popular."
Trixie grunted, "Pfft. After everypony sees what the Great and Powerful Trixie wants to do, they'll pick her over that power hungry Amethyst. Besides, who wouldn't want free magic shows!"
Starlight gave her friend a slight laugh as the two headed towards the train station. While Starlight did care deeply about Trixie and supported her in everything she did, she couldn't help but wonder if Trixie even knew what she wanted to do. Deep down she thought that maybe Trixie just wanted to be mayor so she could claim she was running a community that was quickly growing into an economic powerhouse.
The Dental Candidate
There was another pony, Colgate, who was aware of what day it was and decided that she should run. While she was doing better than ever, she knew about how Amethyst ran things and given how big of surpluses Ponyville had been running, she felt that maybe the city could start taking risks, risks that could give Ponyville huge amounts of leverage over others.
She gave herself a smile, "You know something Colgate, you are a lot like Amethyst. You love economic growth, you want to keep old traditions from returning, you want to continue to increase the unicorn population and you love the year round nice weather. Your only difference is that you want to become a creditor city, you want to buy debts and then hold them over fiscally irresponsible towns!"
She got up, headed to the door and said, "Alright, now to get to the train station and do what it takes to win."
As Colgate headed towards the train station, she knew that she would likely run into who would soon be her opponent. One thing she did not know was that Amethyst would not be her lone opponent.