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// The Debate Part 0: Carmel's speech 
// Story: My Little Civil Activist: Equality is Magic 
// by GrouchoMarxDisciple 
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"Bravo!? Bravo! Come here! I didn't hire you to slack off. I need your advice."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Now, refresh my memory please. I was under the impression you said she wasn't a threat."

"I know that, ma'am."

"But now Cloudsdale is lost, due to her direct action."

"I know, ma'am. But, if you look at the grand scheme of things..."

"The grand scheme of things? The grand scheme of things? You want to talk about the grand scheme of things? You know as well as I that the political landscape can be radically changed by the smallest nudge. One newspaper article, one missed beat, one eccentric action and all a politician's hard work is unraveled. Now, add in one of the brightest minds in Equestria, who also happens to be one of the most powerful and influential voices, and set her directly against my political platform. Suddenly, I lose a major demographic of the voting populace, and have two others hanging by a thread."

"It's true. We did underestimate her. But all is not lost, Ma'am. You could always pull out plan B..."

"Plan B?"

"You know. The way we came up with. How we can force her to stay neutral."

"But... I usually don't resort to such... underhanded tactics. My races are always squeaky-clean. Democracy is of the utmost-"

"Save it for the constituency. It's time to act, now or never. Do you really want to get re-elected? Do you have the guts to go as far as you need?"

"I- I..."

"Then all you gotta do is remove our favorite librarian from the equation."

"... You're right. I'll go talk to her immediately."

---

"My friends, our time has come!"

The crowd erupted into cheers. The speech had just started, and already Carmel's rhetoric and turn-of-phrase was exciting the masses, and masses they certainly were. Unlike Carmel's previous rally, Twilight noted, the vast amount of listeners this time seemed much more uninhibited, much more free from social bounds, and much more in agreement. And there were more of them.

The city hall had never been this busy, not since Twilight had moved to Ponyville. Not even Winter Wrap-up got this kind of turnout. At least I can know, and know for certain, Twilight thought, that Ponyville cares about its politics.

The crowd began dying down as Carmel motioned to speak again. "We have waited years for this day. Many of us have waited our entire lives. Some have had to live with being told we weren't special, we weren't great. We were told time and time again that we would never go anywhere. We would never do anything. That for all intents and purposes, we were only useful as menial labor. And because of the unjust laws we are stuck under, solely based on our gender and location, so far those ponies have been right." Here he paused. Carmel looked out at his crowd from where he was standing on the steps of City Hall. He nodded at them.

"They have crushed our wills, piece by piece, until we had nothing more to dream about. They told us to stay home, to ignore our dreams. Our hopes. We were told we weren't smart enough to think for ourselves. That we are inferior."

He paused. The audience seemed to pause with him. The courtyard was silent.

"But not anymore. Today, we show the world that we are a force to be reckoned with." His tone began to rise. "We prove to the masses that we are worth listening to. Today is the day we cement in the history books as the day that Stallions are given a platform on which to voice our grief. Today is the day our grandchildren will talk about, the day they will say was the day of victory. Today is that day, when we can finally walk with our heads high, knowing full well we are not inferior, that we are not mindless. Today is the day we will rise, and never be taken down again! Brothers, today is our day of triumph!"

Despite his megaphone, Carmel's voice was very difficult to hear over the sound of the escalating audience. They ate his speech up, hinging on every word, believing with all their souls that Carmel was talking about their own personal freedom.

"My fellow Ponyvillians, I wish to personally thank each and every pony who refused to show up to weather duty. Thanks to the pressure you put on the weather team, we were able to reach the captain, and through her the Cloudsdale Council. We have seen one strain of bigotry crack, and I have full confidence that if we continue to apply pressure, the others will follow suit."

"It is time for the affluent of this town to realize that we are not simply going to lay down and take whatever they throw at us. We will prove that the fire in our hearts is hot enough to melt the manacles of sexism. It is time to show that this level of discrimination had no place in a modern Equestria. It is time to show the elite that without us, there is no them! Now who is with me?"

Carmel basked in the agreement that the others gave. He pumped his hoof in the air, and was met by a sea of hooves performing the same gesture.

Meanwhile, Twilight was attempting to process Carmel's speech. Lost among the faces of the pre-debate crowd, her mind was free to wander. Hmm... Carmel is certainly an eloquent speaker, but I think he might be manipulating the facts a bit. The boycott gave me the platform to talk to Rainbow Dash, but I think I could have found another way to her without it... But perhaps it's for the best that he is talking like that. Supporters want to feel like they're making a difference, and really they are. It's just a matter of scope.

Her train of thought was derailed by the leader's next statement. "Now, I know some of you have asked about my name, telling me it's misspelled." He closed his eyes. "It's not. What I'm about to share, I have only told two others in my entire life. It is a very personal story, and I hope that you can understand if I get a bit choked up."

For his story, Carmel adopted a fatherly tone. "When I was a young colt, I had big dreams. I wanted to attend a famous law school in Canterlot. I wanted to meet the Princess. I wanted to make something out of myself. I dreamed of being the first Earth Pony to teach writing at the School for Gifted Unicorns."

"But, as you all can relate to, my dream was stolen from me at a young age. Both my parents were spending their entire lives trying to fight this system of injustice, fighting for my future. When my mother died, I was 14. It was devastating to my father, who dedicated his entire rest of his life to the cause. It didn't leave much time for me, but I never really blamed him."

"My mother's sister... she needed counseling after my mother died, but was too proud to go get it. She began drinking, began getting in with the wrong crowds. She had a new coltfriend every month, getting more and more unsavory as she went. When my dad was working, I stayed with her."

He exhaled, slowly. "My mother named me Caramel Candy, after the color of my coat. She always told me how handsome and smart I was, instilling in me a sense of purpose, a sense of individuality, a sense of excellence."

"It was thanks to her that I was able to survive the time at my aunt's house. Somehow, someway, my caretaker blamed my father for my mother's death. And when she looked at me, all she saw was him. She would hit me, would call me names. She always told me I had a freakishly long neck, I looked like a camel. She called me Carmel, and never failed to remind me how hideous she believed I was. Her coltfriends thought it was a riot to pick on me, and soon that became my entire existence at her house."

"The worst part is that, when I got old enough, I finally decided to report her to the authorities. I was 17, and still living under her roof most of the time. My father had spiraled further and further into his all-consuming work, trying to win this movement. Even though he was busy, he always listened to me. I decided to tell him all the atrocities that were happening at my aunt's house.

"But I didn't get the chance. When I spitefully told her that she was never going to see the light of day again, after we report her, she hit me one more time,  but this time with an empty bottle, and it broke over my head. When I woke up, my head was bleeding profusely and I was dizzy and disoriented. Of course, my aunt was nowhere in sight. I needed stitches, or I was going to die.."

"I don't know how I got the strength to get to the hospital by myself. It was late, and nopony was there to answer my cries for help. Thoughts of my mother, my father, my life flashed before my eyes the entire way. I don't know how long I was on the road, but I remember making it to the door to the ER."

"When I arrived at the hospital, the nurses told me later, I was on Death's doorstep. Celestia only knows how I survived. When I told my father what happened, he was furious. He demanded a travel permit to go and search for my aunt, so she could be brought to justice."

Wiping a tear from his eye, Carmel spoke three words that completed the story.

"It was denied."

"The police put out a warrant for her, but no one really tried to find her. After a month of searching, they gave up. We were told that she was hiding too well."

"I still have dizzy spells because of her. Sometimes I'll simply fall over,  and it takes me a while to get up. I keep the name Carmel to remind me what I'm fighting against. I keep it to remind me of all the horrors happening behind closed doors, hiding behind the powerlessness of the victims. That's why I am called Carmel. My name is my own rallying cry against oppression wherever it is found."

"It is thanks to all of you that this is being changed. The debate today marks the beginning of the end of this reign of terror. We will not only prove that we are not going to be shut up anymore, but we will prove that we deserve and demand equal status, as full tax-paying citizens of Ponyville! My suffering was not in vain. The shards of that bottle ignited the flame, the very flame that will consume this miscarriage of justice."

"My friends, our struggle is won! Rejoice! The day my grandfather dreamed of is upon us! We will see this completed in our own time, and will be able to pass this liberty on to our children! We. Have. Won!"

Several blocks away, the cheering could still deafen any conversation..