By the time it was nine in the morning, there were plenty of ponies waiting to catch the train to Canterlot. Among them were the mayoral candidates. The first one that Amethyst saw was Colgate and greeted her in her normal, friendly manner, "Colgate, it is so good to see you. So what are you up to today?"
Colgate knew that Amethyst likely wasn't going to like hearing it but she told her the truth, "Well I'm going up to meet with Celestia so I can file my papers to run for mayor."
This changed Amethyst's mood immediately. She got up in her face and yelled, "You're going to run for mayor?" She pointed her hoof in her face and continued, "You know something Colgate, you and I are almost exactly the same on just about everything! The only differences we have are coat color and our cutie marks!"
Colgate countered, "Not exactly. I don't think you take nearly big enough risks. With our surpluses, we could become a creditor city! We could buy other municipalites' debt and then hold it over them, especially those dirt pony towns down south. Just imagine, other communities would FEAR us, now wouldn't that be sweet?"
Amethyst caught herself before she would yell any further, especially given that they were around her constituents. In a much more calm voice she responded, "Colgate, I don't think you see the risks in that. If a community was to default on a debt we bought of theirs, we'd be out all that money. Let's leave the loaning thing to the Royal Bank of Equestria."
Colgate sighed, "Whatever, I just think we should take more risks." She then turned to Rarity and asked, "So Rarity, are you going up to file too?"
Rarity replied, "Why yes, I am. I want to save Ponyville from" she then pointed towards Amethyst and continued, "her taking it past the point of no return. I want to bring back our traditions and restore the Ponyville I knew as a filly."
Both Colgate and Amethyst broke down laughing. "Seriously," Colgate laughed "you're wanting to completely destroy years of economic progress?"
Amethyst added, "You know Rarity, if you would bother looking at what the city has become, you'd know its already too late for that! You can't run all our new residents out, you're not going to shut down the hotel and the casinos down and it will be a sunny day in Tartarus before you touch the Sky Needle, the Ponyville Department of Tourism and Economic Development will see to that!"
Rarity sighed, "When ponies find out what I want to do, they'll vote for me."
Again the two broke down laughing. While suddenly the two were just about to be political adversaries with similar mindsets, they found Rarity's very candidacy laughable. They then saw Trixie and began to snicker. Amethyst snickered, "Don't tell me you're running too!" She then became more serious and asked, "Or is it you Starlight? Are you the one running?"
Trixie immediately boasted, "It is The Great and Powerful Trixie that is running and when Trixie wins, she'll make Ponyville greater and more powerfuler than ever!"
Again the two began to laugh. When the train finally arrived, Amethyst and Sea Swirl joined hooves and got on the train, followed by the other candidates and everypony else. Once they got sat down, Sea Swirl gave her wife some advice, "Amethyst sweetie, you can't blow up like that in front of your constituents. I know Colgate is pretty much stabbing you in the back but still, you need to be the more composed pony!"
Amethyst sighed, "You're right, just like you have been in all the years I've known you. Thanks for reminding me to keep my cool."
During the rest of the trip, Amethyst and Sea Swirl sat there quietly listening in on the other candidates and their conversations, both of them began to think about how to use their discussions against them. While Trixie and Starlight were merely talking about Trixie's plans and Starlight questioning her over if she understood the first thing about governance, Colgate and Rarity's discussion would be less than civil.
Both of them couldn't help but snicker quietly as Colgate went on and on about how Rarity was a traitor unicorn siding with the "backwards dirt pony traditionalists." Rarity was not responding very well to the accusations and this immediately led Amethyst to realize something. She nudged Sea Swirl and said, "Rarity can't handle pressure very well. I could very easily knock her out in the first debate if Colgate doesn't first."
Sea Swirl then looked back and asked, "What about Trixie?"
Amethyst laughed, "Oh Trixie will probably knock herself out! Her arrogance and ineptness will be obvious within the first five minutes of the debate." Her laugh became a bit louder as she continued, "And if Sunny Flames is a moderator, both her and Rarity are toast!"
Sea Swirl then became more serious as she asked, "And what about Colgate?"
Amethyst got a lump in her throat as she began, "Colgate is going to be a tough one. Outside of her wanting to do risky things like having the city buy the debts of other municipalities and basically play the role of a bank, we are very similar. I'm not taking her lightly in the slightest. To beat her, I'm going to have to do what I do best, be transparent and hopefully find flaws in her ideas."
Sea Swirl gave her a smile, "I knew that would be your plan and that one idea of Colgate's, the very riskiness of it will be easy to destroy."
Amethyst replied, "You know, with you by my side, my chances of winning will be much higher."
Sea Swirl looked back and heard the other candidates talking about her and suggested, "Amethyst, I think we should be quiet. They're listening in and that may work against us."
"Agreed." replied Amethyst, "We can't give them any ammunition to work with."
For the rest of the train ride, the two remained quiet but continued to listen in on the other candidate's discussions. Soon though Trixie's discussion with Starlight shifted primarily to their friends along with Starlight's concerns over Rarity's ideas.