The day of the fall debate had finally arrived and throughout Equestria, politics were at the forefront of every single community. The anticipation for the debates was growing everywhere from Manehattan to Las Pegasus but it seemed even more so in Ponyville given who Amethyst's opponent was. The very fact that a princess would run for any kind of elected office stunned many ponies in Equestria and in the case of those who were more in line with Amethyst on her belief system, they wondered if Twilight should even be eligible to run.
Amethyst's Preparations
In Amethyst's house, it was just like it was four years ago with one exception, Sea Swirl had cooked the two a larger than normal meal. One thing she never imagined she would do was cook Amethyst something that she would normally cringe over, a steak. That morning she went to the one vendor who caters to griffons and bought her one. When she saw this she embraced her and exclaimed, "Thank you Sea Swirl! This means so much to me!"
Sea Swirl replied, "You're welcome Amethyst. I want you to have a full stomach so you'll have the most focus and can prove to the city that Twilight's royal status should not be a reason to vote for her. I want you to be so focused that you can tear Twilight to shreds!"
Amethyst again embraced her, "You know sweetie, I am so happy to have you by my side. I am so happy to have somepony by my side who loves me and supports me 100%."
Sea Swirl replied, "I'm going to be honest, it feels so much better having you close and supporting you unlike it was in the past two elections. I feel happier."
"That is wonderful sweetie." Amethyst looked up at the clock and gasped, "Well we better get to eating. I know I have everything packed up and ready to go but still, I want to get there before Twilight does. It wouldn't look good for me if she showed up first."
Sea Swirl agreed and the two began to devour her meal. She couldn't help but smile seeing that Amethyst was being her usual self. She knew that with Amethyst wanting to be quite early, that she would likely have more time to focus on one thing, swaying the voters and making Twilight look like the wrong pony for the job.
Twilight's Preparations
In her castle, Twilight was pacing back and forth. It had been two months since Celestia summoned her up to Canterlot to talk to her about her views and she still couldn't get it out of her head. She knew that she couldn't go advocating things that would harm ponies economically but at the same time, she still wasn't a fan of Ponyville becoming a place that never sleeps. What had been bothering her further were ponies walking around the whole town at all hours of the night and talking. That made her think all the more that forcing casinos to close at ten would be a good idea.
Spike saw her pacing pack and forth and asked, "Twilight, what is wrong? You seem really nervous."
Twilight replied, "Spike, I am nervous. There are some things that I want to bring up but I'm concerned about how it will be received."
"What is that?" asked Spike
"Making the casinos close at ten. Right now, ponies are walking all over town at all hours of the night and that is because they never close. Ponies even come over to the old end of town just to take a look at things after midnight. If I close the casinos at ten, hopefully they will turn in for the night and there won't be anypony out talking keeping everypony awake."
Spike suggested, "You know Twilight, that might not be the best idea. That would reduce the amount of hours some creatures work and I know that Amethyst will use that against you."
Twilight replied, "Well making them close at ten isn't as bad as making them close down entirely."
Spike asked, "And what else are you worried about?"
"My plans for putting a cap on the growth of the town." Twilight said, "Ponyville has already grown big and after watching Amethyst's interview, I know the only thing she cares about is economic growth and what bothers me more is the fact that all the businesses she has been letting lately are owned by unicorns."
Spike asked, "But didn't she say it was just a coincidence"
Twilight replied, "She did. Even if that is the truth though, I think a good mayor would reach out to business owners of all types of ponies instead of just letting them reach out to her because Amethyst knows full well that unicorns are preferring to come here and earth ponies are choosing Appaloosa and Dodge Junction."
Spike looked up at the clock and suggested, "Twilight, we really should get going. I'm betting that Amethyst is already there and for all we know, she may be on the stage waiting, smiling at and maybe even talking with the creatures that are already there."
Twilight sighed, "Yeah we better get going. I don't want ponies loving Amethyst more than they already are."
Twilight and Spike headed for the exit and while he didn't want to say anything, he couldn't help but be concerned about how the creatures would react to Twilight's plans. He knew that the regulations on the casinos would not go over well and was certain that her ideas for reaching out to non-unicorn owned businesses would not be well received by the ever increasing unicorn population and knew that Amethyst could use that against her.
Sunny's Arrival
It was early in the morning when Sunny and her crew arrived. Like it had been during her earlier visit, she had a huge smile on her face seeing everything Amethyst had done with Ponyville. She began to explore the further expanded new end of town and saw that the night club and grocery store were already in the beginning phases on construction. What made her happier was when she saw that the ponies building them were unicorns.
Another thing that she noticed in the new end of town were many, many yard signs that read, "Keep the Monarchy out of City Business: Vote Amethyst 2024."
Sunny got a huge smile on her face and said, "Don't worry Amethyst, with as many yard signs as I'm seeing, I think you've got this in the bag."
She then decided that they would head out to the northeast end of town where Amethyst said that the metal factory would be located. To get there though she would have to go through the old end of town, which was continuing to modernize as well. She was also happy to see a fair amount of signs for Amethyst but the closer to Twilight's castle she got, the more "Twilight 2024: Save Ponyville" signs she saw. She laughed, "The only thing voting for her will do is save Ponyville from continued prosperity!"
Once she headed out towards where the new factory will be located, she passed a house that would make her laugh. The place looked run down and horribly outdated compared to the rest of the city and had not only a Twilight sign in front of it, but all sorts of anti-growth and anti-prosperity signs in front of it. She began to laugh when she saw a sign that had Amethyst inside a no symbol and a message that read, "Vote out Evil." Then another she saw read, "Unicorns are evil."
She broke down laughing as she knew whose house that was, she knew it was the house of Breaking News. While she wanted to start yelling and belittling him, hoping that he was home and could agitate him before the debate but then chose against it. She thought that the network, despite not caring for Breaking News, would discipline her over such an action.
While construction had yet to begin, some of the forest had been cleared and ground had been broken. On the site was a sign that read, "Future home of UniFactories Metal Plant." She smiled when she saw this knowing that very soon yet another construction crew, most likely all unicorns, would be moving in to begin construction.
After checking out the site of the new factory, Sunny said to her crew, "I think that new restaurant with the unicorn statue is open. Let's go grab a bite to eat."
As they headed to grab a bite to eat, Sunny couldn't help but continue to smile as she saw the city continuing to modernize. She knew that chances were that the traditionalists would finally be forced to give up after their candidate, a princess, wound up getting crushed by Amethyst in the election the following month.