//------------------------------// // Euphoria // Story: Friendship in Politics // by Shockburst //------------------------------// It was dark and most of the ponies in Baltimare were going to bed, in the hopes that tomorrow would be better, that the daylight would save them from the impending doom of the economic collapse. However, Precinct #29, Flaming District, Sector 6 was still open with lights streaming out of the open door and windows. Inside, ponies rushed past desperately, grabbing ballots in bundles and tossing them to others. "Will somepony please tell me we have the ballots counted and numerically organized?!" asked the precinct manager, angrily as he came from a long visit to the bathroom. Behind him, 10 or so ponies were feverishly counting or organizing the ballots and double-checking. Clipboards with tally marks were set next to those who were counting and those ponies were checking off a tally every ballot. The two options were Council Representative Gold Digger and SBB member Lightstring. The tally marks were adding up and both sides appeared close. One by one, each pony finished their ballots and jumped to help the rest. As the ballot pile at the end of the table shrunk, the ponies grew visibly tired, until three of them collapsed from exhaustion. Finally- "Sir!" called out a mare from the end weakly. The ever-so-energetic manager quickly walked up and grabbed the clipboard the mare was holding, counting the total votes for both candidates. The manager took a look at the bottom at the winner's name just as the doors burst open. Lightstring rushed in, surrounded by anxious supporters. She was wearing a campaign button on her disheveled dress and looked out of breath. "Did-? Did we-?" asked Lightstring in a gasp. The manager got up and tossed the clipboard at her. She caught it in the air by levitating it and took a look at the name at the bottom. The crowd nervously stood behind her, holding their breaths, not daring to say anything. Lightstring shook as turned around, tears in her eyes, her face strained and she frowned wobbly. "I'm sorry everypony..." The crowd sighed and looked away, disappointed. They had spent hours standing outside to vote. "That I have to say I'm moving to Central District, because I got in!" The crowd appeared stunned. The manager started laughing uproariously and the crowd began chuckling as well. Soon, the precinct was filled with the noise of laughter and cheering. Two pegasi soared up, grabbed Lightstring, and held her on their backs as they all moved out, cheering and singing. The procession became louder and noisier as they all moved toward Central District, which wasn't too far away. As they got closer to the headquarters for the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare, the crowd noticed a sight that made them cheer and whoop louder than ever. At the door stood Princess Celestia herself, who smiled and walked up to Lightstring, who was set down at the front of the crowd. She immediately bowed. "Princess Celestia? What brings you here?" asked Lightstring. "Well, I was here for one of my routine visits of Baltimare and I decided to come check on the Society. I wholeheartedly support your movement and I must commend you ponies for being so resourceful and active." "Oh," said Lightstring as she straightened. "Did you meet them already?" "Oh no," said Princess Celestia. "You see, when I head you were running for representative in the Council, I decided to wait here to either comfort you or congratulate you. So, my congratulations to your successful efforts. I pray that you bring good change to this city." "Oh, thank you Your Majesty," Lightstring said graciously. "Lightstring!" called out a stallion. Celestia and Lightstring turned to the entrance of the headquarters to look at the entrance to the headquarters, where the voice came from. The stallion was looking concerned and anxious and rushed over. His mane was a golden-brown and his coat was a bright yellow, not the best combination he would often admit. "Bright!" said Lightstring, rushing forward. Princess Celestia walked forward while the crowd talked and laughed as they walked back to Sector 6. "So-?" began the stallion, but Lightstring completed his sentence. "I got in! I got in the Council!" "Magnificent! Spectacular! An actual member! In the Council, oh my. Lightstring, fantastic job. Just what I'd expected." "Are you Bright Seeking?" asked Celestia as she arrived at the doorway. Bright Seeking bowed. "Indeed I am Princess. Come in, it does get chilly out after a while. You said you would like to talk to us?" "Yes, that would be nice," said Princess Celestia as they walked in. As they got in the lobby, the ponies inside stomped and whooped. "Mares and stallions. We have here our first member in the Council!" cried out Bright Seeking. The ponies inside cheered and stomped louder. "And please don't forget to welcome our very own Princess Celestia!" cried out Bright Seeking as everypony bowed. Celestia smiled graciously and bowed back. "Now, gather around everypony. I have some rather important news, then Celestia, me, and Lightstring will discuss some important matters. "As you all very well know, we have sent out the petition nation wide now, so every supporter of ours outside the city will get a chance to sign the bill. However, I have received news from a Council member that he intends to propose a bipartisan compromise bill to save our economy." The crowd got excited and started muttering. "Doubtless, our influence has helped bring upon this change. However, we must continue to act, no matter what! The future of Baltimare is in our hands as well as the Council members' hands. We must all act together, no matter whether we are conservative, liberal, or moderate. We must all learn to act for our own betterment of our fair city." The ponies started cheering again, including Lightstring. Celestia looked around. Everypony was so happy, excited, and dedicated. Everything about the Society was good. It's leaders, it's members, even the headquarters looked nice. Celestia had to admit that these ponies probably beat those in the affluent Canterlot Advancement Society. All you had to do was look at their faces: they screamed conviction and loyalty. Whoever said Baltimare was not the City of Light and Harmony anymore was sorely wrong in Celestia's opinion. Looking at the Council wasn't enough. You had to look at the citizens in the city itself. "Your Majesty," said Bright Seeking. He waved her forward toward a room at the end of the lobby. The ponies grew contented and began talking among themselves. Lightstring was just about to join the two when: "Heard you made it," said a familiar voice. Lightstring turned around and got a pleasant surprise. Skyros and a pegasus were walking toward her. "Yes, I did. I'm you're White mare for Section 6." Skyros smiled while the pegasus looked around. "Marvelous," said the pegasus. "I never really thought your headquarters would be this nice." "Well, thank you," said Lightstring. "So Lightstring, I'm sure you heard by now that my fellow Blue Council member Meriwether here is planning to start a bipartisan economic legislation." "That's the one? He's it?" asked Lightstring "And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Meriwether indignantly. "Nothing," said Lightstring quickly. "It's just that-" "Hey, not to fast Meriwether. Lighten up. You aren't really well known," said Skyros. "Well, I'm not now, unless you actually got that Environment representative position for me." "Wait, so you were electioneering?" asked Lightstring accusingly. "What? No! I mean, not necessarily," said Skyros defensively. Lightstring raised her eyebrows in mockery. Skyros was at a loss of words. Meriwether cleared his throat. "At any rate, Lightstring, I'm going to need all your help in making sure that this bill is drafted first of all and then passed. If it's going to be bipartisan, I'm going to need the support of both parties of course. What faction are you incidently?" "Moderate," said Lightstring, still looking at Skyros. "Right. That ought to tie up the moderate vote in the White Party somewhat. All we need is- Are you two even listening?" Meriwether added frustratingly. Lightstring was glaring at Skyros harder than ever and he refused to meet her gaze. Meriwether sighed in a frustrated manner. "I guess we'll have it all worked out in the end. Lightstring, I should like to meet with you and the rest of the Society if possible." "Right," said Lightstring, who finally decided to take a break from staring Skyros down to flames. "I'll call for you when there's a good time." "Excellent. This has to be done in a week or so. We'll hit the bottom in just a month from now, so I need all efforts concentrated on this matter. Right, come along Skyros, we need to head home." Meriwether turned and began walking out, but stopped when he realized that Skyros wasn't following him. He turned around and saw him staring off deeply into space. "Skyros!" yelled Meriwether. Skyros shook his head and looked up. "Oh, right, coming!" he said. Skyros rushed to Meriwether's side. As they left, he turned around and waved good-bye. Meriwether was utterly confused. "What was that?" he asked. "What was what?" asked Skyros. "Your behaviour. Back there. You acted like you were hit in the head or something." "What? Oh, well, you know. Would you like being accused of electioneering?" Skyros asked. "No, I wouldn't, but it's not that. I can tell it's not about that. Skyros, is there something you'd like to tell me? You were acting weirdly back there. You were quiet, almost timid. The Skyros I know definitely is not like that. I certainly don't need my main White Party liaison going in a diddly!" "No," said Skyros, a little too quickly. "Nothing. It's all fine." He turned away and started humming. Meriwether raised his eyebrows. "Skyros, if you're not feeling all right, if there's something you'd like to tell me, then-" "Meriwether, stop worrying," said Skyros. "It's perfectly all right. I'm in control." Meriwether shook his head and the two walked off in silence. Lightstring meanwhile turned around to face Bright Seeking, who was looking at her with a sly smile. "Having fun?" he asked. Lightstring smiled shyly. "He seems like a nice stallion," said Bright Seeking. "You thinking about a very special pony?" Lightstring looked shocked. "No! I mean, maybe, but you know, now's not the time..." Bright Seeking raised his eyebrows and smiled again. "Come on, Princess Celestia says she wants to talk to us." The two walked into a small, brightly lit room off to the side of the building. Faraway, they could hear the chatter of the ponies who were staying behind. Everypony sounded cheerful, exuberant about their victory, but the mood in the room was more solemn. Princess Celestia trotted into the room a moment later and the three began talking in low voices, despite the fact that nopony was likely to listen and their voices probably couldn't have been heard over the loud conversations. "It's certainly going to be a close one Princess," said Bright Seeking. "Even if we were to enact a successful bipartisan economic legislation, we would still have to wait for months before we could see any noticeable effects." "But we can't just say that to feel sorry for ourselves or something," said Lightstring. "We should act quickly before things get even worse. And they get worse each day." "I agree with Representative Lightstring," said Princess Celestia. "The National Equestria Economic Committee has calculated that if things continue to go down in Baltimare, the surrounding areas could become affected. The very last thing we need right now." "But we're working on that," said Lightstring. "We've already begun a limitation on outside trade and I hear we're planning to slowly squeeze that hole shut. That way, other areas won't become...infected with our economic troubles." "But a protective embargo that's not self-protective? Who's ever heard of that. Besides, it's completely nonsensical. Cutting off trade will hurt our economy even more. We just can't afford that," said Bright Seeking. "Exactly," said Princess Celestia. "Which is why we need to work to get an economic bill passed quickly." "Can't you say something Princess? Make the Council ponies see we need compromise?" Princess Celestia thought for a moment and shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't. All cities in Equestria have semi-autonomous governments. I can't necessarily come in and mess around with them. Besides, ponies need to come up with the solution themselves, so that these things won't happen again." Lightstring nodded, but Bright Seeking became agitated. "But Your Majesty, even we aren't capable of moving huge distances in working on a compromise. Even with our connections to both parties, we probably don't have enough support to help pass a bill, not to mention we can't even agree what the bill should have." Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment and began thinking. They were right: both parties were at a draw right now and were not ready to compromise. Quite the opposite in fact, with this Cutie Mark Tutorship bill. Even with their influence, the most the Society could do was make the ponies see that they need compromise. The actual drafting of the bill would be done by the politicians. And how were the ponies supposed to agree what would go on the bill? And who would actually support it? All these questions needed to be answered, and unfortunately, she couldn't be the once to answer them. But there was one pony who might. And she might be able to get a lesson out it. Yes, she'd be the one. She was a great organizer and an efficient worker who excelled at getting ponies to work together. Celestia already began to feel more confident as she opened her eyes again. "Okay. I think I know somepony who might be able to help you, or at least help you get enough ponies from the Council to support you. She's also been studying economy for some time, so she might be able to help you draft the bill." "Who?" asked Lightstring and Bright Seeking at the same time. "Twilight Sparkle. She's an extremely intelligent, knowledgeable, and hard-working pony who is capable of making friends with anypony. She's even been helping me understand the true power of friendship. She'd be excellent in helping you work out a solution." "Twilight Sparkle..." said Bright Seeking, as though he heard the name before. "Twilight, yes, remember Bright? She's an outside member of our Society. She helped us organize several parades and events for us. She lives in, where? Ponyville?" said Lightstring. Celestia nodded. "I'm glad you remember her. In fact, I'm quite surprised to hear that she'd already been a help to your Society. I only know that she joined your organization some time ago." "Oh, she's been a great help. Always giving us advice and such and planning our meets and things. She even organized us a calender for our goals," said Lightstring. "But who will she be working for?" asked Bright Seeking. "You, of course," said Celestia. "I'm sure that if you organized your supporters and gathered the Councilors that support you, you and Twilight would be capable of coming up with a great plan." "Well, we have me and Skyros," said Lightstring. "That'll tie up the White Party for us. We also have a Blue Party pony called Meriwether. He should also be of some help." "Not enough," said Bright Seeking stoutly. "We need more supporters." "What about that writer? What's her name? The Blank Mare?" asked Lightstring. "She? How's she going to help us?" asked Bright Seeking. "Well, from what I heard, she's an extremely good writer and has a knack for investigative journalism. She's also not corrupt, at least, not that we know," said Celestia. "But why do we need her? So what if she can write? So can a lot of ponies within our Society," said Skyros. "Well," said Lightstring. "She just did a report of how Speaker Baner, who's supposed to be the 'Great Compromiser,' just totally went off his rhetoric." Bright Seeking rolled his eyes, but Celestia seemed interested. "She does sound like she would help our cause." "We'll consider her, but I think Twilight is an excellent choice," said Lightstring. "How do we know that she'll be an asset to this society?" asked Bright Seeking. "Well, she's a student of mine. Very successful as well. She's extremely intelligent and hard-working like I said and like you probably have seen already. She loves to learn and probably understands more about economy than I do now. And she's extremely likable once you get to know her. She'll be perfect for the work here. I can guarantee it," said Celestia. Bright Seeking seemed convinced, and simply nodded. Meanwhile, the sound of the ponies talking diminished as everypony began walking home. "It's late, and I don't want to keep you two. I know tomorrow's your big day Lightstring and I know you have some work to do Bright Seeking. I also have to return to Canterlot and inform Twilight about her trip," said Celestia. She winked and the two nodded. Bright Seeking turned, opened the door, and waved the two out. They all walked through the now empty lobby and out the door. "Good luck, you two. I know you'll do wonderfully," said Princess Celestia. She lifted her wings and took off silently into the night. Bright Seeking and Lightstring were left alone in the middle of the bright street. "Well, I wish you luck Lightstring. You should head home and get some rest," said Bright Seeking. "Right, I'll see you later Bright," she said. She waved down a taxi cart and jumped on. The ride home was short, yet not uneventful. Lightstring was slowly beginning to dawn on the fact that tomorrow, she would enter the Council as a new representative, that she would be facing likely incomprehensibly low odds in getting even her own party to work together, and that there wouldn't be even a foundation to start on. She wondered whether she would be up to the task, yet she was fairly certain that pretty much nopony was. And she wasn't that far off.