Noon had come over Ponyville. The sun was high overhead, but fortunately it was too early in the year to for the heat to become too oppressive. The result was a comfortably sunny day without a cloud in the sky. Ponies were outside enjoying the weather; they played in the field, swam in the pond, or went on a relaxing walk. It was a perfect day.
But the only way Trixie could enjoy this fantastic day was from the library's outdoor balcony. She stared at a completely blank page of parchment, complimented by a completely full jar of ink. This was to be the notes for the speech she had to give in a mere six hours, but nothing came to her. She looked at the town's clock tower in the distance. Fifteen minutes had passed, and she didn't have a thing to show for it.
Trixie glared at the useless parchment, as if it was to blame for its blankness. She groaned and banged her head on the wooden floor. She felt a blunt pain in her horn, and her head quickly snapped back up. She cried out in frustration when she realized that she had gored the paper. It fell over her face and obstructed her vision. She levitated it with her magic and set if back on the table. With a quick spell the gaping hole in it disappeared.
But the parchment still remained wordless. She sighed and hung her head, prepared to abandon the task and take it up again later. But the best ideas always come when one doesn't search for them, and it was in that moment that Trixie looked back up at the paper, a fresh idea for a starting point coming into her mind. She chuckled smugly to herself and dipped her quill into the ink jar. With a flourish of the feather, she put the sharp tip onto the pages. But she had barely written down the word "the" when the door to the balcony suddenly flew open, startling her. In her reaction, she knocked over the jar and spilled the ink on the page.
"Trixie!" Spike called. "Applejack and Rarity are here."
"Ugh," Trixie groaned to herself. She didn't mind Applejack and Rarity, but right now she wanted time to focus on her speech. "Alright, send them up."
Within the minute, Applejack and Rarity had joined Trixie on the balcony.
"Hey there, Trixie!" Applejack said.
"I see you are hard at work on your speech," Rarity said less than seriously, glancing behind Trixie at the ruined parchment.
Trixie grimaced at the sheet. "I was trying, but a certain little dragon made me lose my concentration."
Rarity waggled her hoof. "Oh, don't mind Spike," she said. "He only means well."
"Regardless, his well-meaning ruined my process," Trixie griped.
"Aw, don't be so sour," Applejack told her lightheartedly. "Did ya have any idea 'bout where to start, at least?"
Trixie sighed and looked at the parchment desperately. "I, uh, was just thinking to make it clear that I really and genuinely want to help."
"Anything else?" Rarity asked.
"Should there be anything else?" Trixie asked guiltily.
"Ya need to let folks inside yer mind," Applejack explained. "They wanna know exactly what yer thinkin'."
Rarity jumped into the explanation. "But more importantly, they want to know about what you're thinking of doing for them. Your intentions must be made crystal clear."
"But what intentions are those?" Trixie spat with frustration. "I've been staring at this stupid paper and I can't think of a single thing."
Rarity out her hoof to her chin in thought. "Well, I don't imagine that you know much of Ponyville's inner working."
"No, not really," Trixie said annoyedly.
"What we're sayin' is that we do," Applejack told her. She put a hoof on Trixie's shoulder. "If ya need somepony to help ya out with things to talk about, then we'll be there!"
"That's right," Rarity affirmed. "Applejack and I are the only ones of our friends who have lived in Ponyville all our lives, so naturally we know a lot about it."
"Exactly!" Applejack declared. "Mayor Mare comes to Sweet Apple Acres all the time fer various things, so she and Ah talk about all sorts o' stuff."
"Like what?" Trixie asked, leaning forward eagerly. She was desperate for content worthy of a mayoral candidate speech.
"First things first," Rarity said. She took hold of Trixie's parchment with a levitation spell and held it up. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn lit ablaze with an azure glow, and after a brief moment the large ink stain vanished. Rarity smiled with satisfaction. "Stain removing spell," she revealed. "I picked it up from a book here in the library. Really comes in a pinch when you work with clothes." She laid it back flat on the floor and used her magic once again to pick up the quill. "Now then, let us get started."
For the next few hours, the three of them poured over Trixie's speech and made sure it was ready for presentation. Applejack and Rarity provided Trixie with invaluable information, which she was quick to take notes on. One sheet of parchment quickly turned to two, and then to three.
Trixie was surprised to find herself laughing with her two new friends through the afternoon. She snapped significantly less and was in a much better mood than she had been in for years. She was actually having fun, which was something she had gone without for longer than she liked to admit.
The three ponies had finally gotten together a solid speech for Trixie to give with only an hour until she had to deliver it. Applejack and Rarity wished Trixie good luck and told her that they'd be in the front row of the audience.
After grabbing a bite to eat from the library's kitchen, Trixie headed out to Town Hall with her notes in hoof. She hated to admit it to herself, but the closer she got to the gathering of ponies, the more anxious she became. A knot began to form in her stomach, but she decided that this was not the time for weakness. She knew that there were ponies who would wouldn't mind preying on such lack of strength. So Trixie swallowed it and trotted forward boldly.
Trixie went around to the back entrance of Town Hall to avoid the crowd. Attending the mayoral campaigning events certainly wasn't necessary or an obligation, but most everypony liked to attend regardless. As a result, nearly all of of Ponyville was being packed into the building, and indeed there was talk of enlarging it to accommodate the slowly growing population.
Trixie quietly crept in through the back door, which led behind the stage curtains. Waiting back there was Mayor Mare and the only pony that could have made her stomach churn.
"Hello, Trixie," Grass Roots growled, but he did so with a disgustingly phony smile to throw off the mayor.
He did so with flying colors. "Oh, great, Trixie's here!" Mayor Mare exclaimed. At least she wasn't being sarcastic about it. She beckoned Trixie over to her conspiratorially and leaned in towards her, so Grass Roots could not hear her words. "Look, Trixie, I know you had a rough patch with us last year," she whispered. "Believe me, the whole ordeal had me quite shaken up!"
"Where are you going with this?" Trixie whispered viciously.
"Sorry. I wanted to tell you that despite the past, you have my support. I think you'll make a great candidate."
Trixie's expression immediately softened. "You do?"
"I do," said the mayor, nodding at Trixie encouragingly. She stepped back from Trixie and spoke so that both candidates could hear her. "Now, I will go out and introduce you two once more. Grass Roots, you'll being going first."
"Yes, ma'am," Roots said.
With a smile, Mayor Mare stepped in front of the curtain. Her muffled yet amplified voice began speaking moments later.
With the two of them alone, Grass Roots wasted no time in turning to Trixie. "So, will your speech consist of you relinquishing your position as candidate?"
"As a matter of fact, I just spent hours putting together a speech that will kick yours to the curb!" Trixie retaliated without missing a beat.
Grass Roots smirked. "That pride will be your downfall someday, Trixie."
"We'll see," Trixie sniffed. "Just stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours."
"We'll see," Roots said mockingly. Just then, they heard his name called out by Mayor Mare. "See you on the other side." He turned and walked through the curtain.
Mayor mayor didn't come out through the curtain. She must have been waiting on the side of the stage. Trixie got as close as she could to the curtain and attempted to listen to her opponent without thinking of some sort of way to blast him to smithereens.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlecolts," Roots said. "I hope you all are doing well." The audience responded with the cheerful stamping of hooves. "Before I dive into this thing, I want to take some time for you all to get to know me a little better."
Trixie highly doubted that anypony would ever get to know the real him.
"I grew up on the edge of Vanhoover, far to the northwest. My family owned a small business as clockmakers. It was a humble shop, and we were never blessed with many bits, but we were happy. As Earth ponies, my parents made the clocks by hoof, which made work a bit slow. But I tell you that they were the most beautiful clocks you had ever seen!
"Now, when I became older, my parents began to teach me the art of clockmaking. My older brother had already begun to show significant talent in it and began to help the family business. They figured it was time for me to learn as well. Suffice to say, I was not as good as they had hoped." Roots threw in a wry chuckle. "As a matter of fact, I was pretty terrible. No matter how many blocks of wood I sat down with, I could not recreate the incredible detail that the rest of my family could. I spent months trying to figure out what it was I was called to do. But one fateful day—"
Trixie nearly gagged. Just how corny was this stallion?
"I was nominated to run as the president of my school. That decision changed everything for me. Finally, I had found something that I was good at. I won the election by a landslide, and I had entered the world of politics. I began to study it day and night, and I couldn't get enough of it. I told myself that I would be able to lead ponies with excellence.
"After I finished school I spent a few years working jobs in Vanhoover, getting all the bits that I could. I had a plan, and that plan started with a small town called Ponyville." Trixie heard the crowd stamp and whistle with patriotic enthusiasm. "And that brings me to the story of my name, Grass Roots. It's something many ponies have asked me about, and rightfully so. Grassroots is actually a type of politics that I read about. It's a movement started with small, local politics that can eventually build up to something bigger, which is something I hope to do one day. I'm not sure how my parents named me so perfectly. It's an mystery that seems to plague many ponies."
The townsponies got a kick out of that one. Trixie did have to admit that he had a point.
"But I assure you," Roots continued, "that right now my attention is devoted completely and wholly to Ponyville and to each one of you." The crowd definitely responded well to that. Trixie could tell that the ponies were practically falling for him, especially the mares.
Roots waited until the crown settled. "I believe that one of the strongest suits of a small town is the fact that everypony knows everypony. We are a tight-knit community. And that is why I am making the grand theme for my campaign to focus on the individual. Each of us play an important role in how Ponyville operates, and I believe that should be celebrated! What I want for Ponyville is for everypony known, recognized, and valued." The stamping of hooves ensued. Ponies were eating his words up.
Roots's voice fell silent for a moment. Trixie wondered what he was trying to build up towards. "In light of that," he continued, "I wanted to conclude by saying a word about my opponent, Ms. Lulamoon." Trixie's heart nearly stopped. Immediately anger burned inside her belly. He was about to tear her down in front of everypony. The audience had stopped cold and was waiting for him to resume. "I want to give her the second chance that she deserves."
Trixie was certain this time that her heart ceased beating.
"I, personally, did not know Trixie during her two previous sojourns in Ponyville," Roots explained, "so I cannot hold anything against her. I understand that she is running for mayor because she wants to prove herself to you all. Now, I cannot tell you all what to do, however, I believe that if I'm going to be running on a platform that supports the individual, I am going to include Trixie in it."
Trixie listened wide-eyed as the ponies in the audience whispered amongst themselves. They were just as confused as Trixie was. No, Trixie thought to herself, nopony was as confused as she was.
"I will conclude with that," Roots said. "Thank you all for your time, and I look forward to serving all of you in the coming future."
Despite their mystification, the audience stomped their hooves excitedly and cheered. Amid the din Trixie heard Roots's hoofsteps approaching the curtain. She quickly backed up to avoid being bowled over by his huge frame. The curtain swung aside and Grass Roots stepped through. He stopped briefly only to nod at Trixie with nary a word not expression. Trixie did not respond, mostly because she had no idea how. But one thing she was certain of: she was not convinced by his words. So far she had no reason to trust him, and even though his words were congenial she was not about to start. Trixie had never been one to give others the benefit of the doubt if she thought they didn't deserve it.
Trixie didn't dare to say anything to Grass Roots, so she spent a few extremely and painfully awkward moments with him behind the curtain until Mayor Mare finally called her name.
Trixie stepped out onto the stage, where a podium, a microphone, and a large group of hesitant ponies sat waiting for her. A few of them clopped their hooves on the floorboards, but not enough did it to make her feel welcome.
Four ponies in particular had shown their appreciation: Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. They smiled up at her encouragingly, and suddenly it didn't even matter to Trixie what everypony else thought of her, as long as they were there.
Trixie also couldn't help but notice Rainbow Dash standing with her friends, though she had not shown the enthusiasm that they did. This didn't surprise Trixie in the least. She would have to talk with her as soon as possible.
For right now though, she needed to focus on what she needed to say. She stepped up to the podium, cleared her throat, and began. "Hello, everypony," she said. "I have said before that I know most of you are unsure of how to welcome me. I hardly deserve a welcome. But for me, this is turning a new page. I want to start something new for all of us.
"A year ago, just before returning to Ponyville for the second time, I found myself at my lowest point. I wanted revenge for being humiliated, and I paid a great price for it. I used an object called the Alicorn Amulet, which began to corrupt my mind the more I used it. After several days of using it, all of my mind was bent on using its power for the wrong reasons. However, it would be uncalled for if I were to blame the Amulet for what I did. I know I only have myself to blame.
Trixie bit her lip and paused momentarily to see how her crowd would react. They remained quiet, though she was certain that she had their attention. "I returned to Ponyville nearly three days ago, uncertain of how to approach you all. Somehow, though, my name was placed on the open ballot, and I was somewhat dragged into running for mayor without any idea what I was doing." Trixie noticed that ruffled a few pegasus feathers and regretted wording that sentence the way she did. She quickly elaborated.
"I wasn't sure what I was doing. All I knew is that somehow I had to make things right. So to the pony who wrote down my name for me, thank you! I don't know what your plan was, but if it was to embarrass me or anything like that, then you've failed. Instead, you've given me an opportunity show Ponyville that I'm not who I was.
"I don't pretend that I'm suddenly perfect. I have a lot to learn, and I'm going to admit to you all that it might take me a while. But even though I want to change, I know exactly what I've gotten myself into. Being the mayor means that I have to take care of each one of you, and that's what I'm going to do, if you will have me." Allowing her eyes to scan over the audience, she saw that ponies were giving each other looks of hesitant approval.
Trixie kept herself on a roll. She didn't know what Grass Roots was planning to do by giving her a boost, but she was going to milk it for all it was worth. "So here is the theme of my campaign," she declared. "Servitude! From now own, I am a servant to each and every one of you. If you need something, then I will do everything I can to get it. If I need to be a protector, then I'll be one. Whatever you all need to be, I'll be it." She didn't get exuberant cheers as Roots had gotten, but her audience murmured hopefully to each other. She would take it.
"Thank you all for allowing me to speak," she said, wrapping up her speech. "I look forward to growing with you and our incredible Ponyville." And with those words she retreated to the back of the stage with respectable applause.