//------------------------------// // Chapter 25b // Story: Cry for Eternity // by asylum1388 //------------------------------// Four days later... The castle’s staff labored throughout the next few days, changing the Throne Room from a mostly empty hall to a massive meeting room. The throne itself had been removed and replaced with a massive plush cushion along with a desk, both of them large enough to comfortably seat Twilight and Luna side-by-side. The rest of the hall had been filled with dozens of smaller desks, each long enough to fit ten ponies. Hundreds of quills, bottles of ink, and pads of paper had been set out, ready for use. Meanwhile, the kitchen staff had brought in help from the best restaurants in Canterlot and was hard at work preparing enough food for the delegates to debate non-stop for days on end. And to top it all off, the invitees had traveled overnight, fetched by the Royal Guard in a fleet of carriages borrowed from Canterlot’s wealthy elite. For better or for worse, Twilight’s summit was about to begin. She and Luna rose at the crack of dawn, met up with Spike who was just arriving from his week in Ponyville, and dined together in a silence broken only with a few sparse encouraging words from Luna. Afterwards, they arrived at the throne room and the Princesses took their seats while Spike stood by the main door to check in ponies as they arrived. Fortunately, it wasn’t very long before the first delegates appeared. A small group of Unicorns Twilight recognized wandered in, professors at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. A few of them waved to Twilight as they strode towards the front of the room and sat at one of the desks in the front-left. Twilight waved back and smiled to herself. She knew these ponies well, a few of them had been her teachers at one point. She knew that no matter what happened, she could count on them to be amiable to any reasonable solution. The next group of ponies to enter was a group of younger Pegasi who glanced at the Unicorns wearily before sitting on the opposite side of the hall. They were followed by a foursome of Unicorn nobles who sat down at desk near the professors, but didn’t say a word to them. Twilight was in the midst of exchanging glares with one of the nobles when Luna nudged her side and nodded towards the door. Entering was Fancy Pants, side-by-side with Rarity. It took a conscious effort on Twilight’s part not to leave her seat and fly over to her friend, but she managed to stay put as Rarity made her way to the front of the room. The Unicorn approached Twilight with her head held high and bowed formally. Twilight gave her a formal nod, but as soon as Rarity stood back up, Twilight lept up and pulled her into a tight hug causing Rarity to yelp in surprise. “I can’t believe you’re here! I didn’t know you were attending!” she squealed. “But of course! I’m married to the most influential Unicorn in Equestria. How could I not be here?” Rarity snickered. “Do not discount your own level of influence, Rarity, I am well-versed into today’s gossip. You have become the biggest name in Equestrian fashion,” Luna laughed, hugging the fashionista herself. She turned to Fancy Pants afterwards and nodded to him politely. “Still, I am glad you both are here. It’s good to know that there will be at least a few friendly faces out there.” “We left Unique with Fleur for the week and made arrangements to stay at the Castle and help whenever and however we can. We may be here to represent the Unicorns, but we support you two,” Fancy Pants said quietly, so only the four of them could hear. “If you need anything from us, just let us know.” “Thank you. That’s really helpful,” Twilight smiled. “What are friends for?” Rarity replied with a dismissal wave of her hoof. “Now we should probably find our seats before we get accused to trying to butter you up.” At that, the couple sat down at the closest table as more ponies walked in, ignoring the dirty looks they were receiving from Pegasus and Unicorn alike. Twilight and Luna returned to their cushion and waited silently as the hall continued to fill up. “No Earth Ponies yet. This is troubling,” Luna muttered aside. “I know!” Twilight groaned. “We need all thr-” She was interrupted as a loud rumble shook the hall. The doors exploded open as a blur shot through and collided with Twilight, sending her tumbling backwards. She landed hard on her back, finding her vision filled with a pair of fuschia eyes and an obnoxious grin. “Darn it, Rainbow!” “Sorry, Twilight. I haven’t done that in so long that I couldn’t resist,” Rainbow chuckled. She helped Twilight to her hooves and gave her a quick hug. “So I take the Wonderbolts were invited?” Twilight asked with a smirk, gesturing to Rainbow’s uniform. “You know it!” Rainbow said before flipping her mane back striking a pose. “Spitfire wasn’t too happy. She wants the Wonderbolts to stay out of politics. Normally she goes to this type of thing herself and stays quiet, but she decided I should go instead. She said that sending me in her place is supposed to send a message.” “By sending you, she’s telling all of Equestria in no uncertain terms that the Wonderbolts support Luna and I above all else,” Twilight stated. Rainbow grinned and winked. “That’s the idea.” “So is AJ coming too?” Twilight asked hopefully. “We have you and Rarity already, and she’s pretty important in the Earth Pony community.” “Nah, she’s too fat to travel right now,” Rainbow chortled. “Turns out she’s having twins this time. She’s in Ponyville watching the foals, Mac came in her place.” “Eeyup.” He walked up behind her and brushed his lips against Rainbow’s cheek before turning to Twilight with a smile. “Mornin’ Miss Twilight. Miss Luna.” “Did I hear you right?” Luna interjected. “Applejack is not only pregnant with twins and caring for her own foals, but also foalsitting your three? Eight foals against one very pregnant mare. Were it anypony else, I’d say she was in over her head.” “She’ll be fine, but Ah’ve got news. ‘M not sure if it’s good though,” Big Mac muttered. “I guess there’ve been problems between Earth Ponies ‘n Zebras on a lot of other farms, so Ah guess a few Zebras got invited.” Twilight and Luna exchanged frowns quickly before turning back to their two friends. “Well, if the Zebras want to come, I’m certainly not going to say no, but this is supposed to be a national summit. If they show up to negotiate, they’ll have to do it as Equestrians, not as Zebrican immigrants. This is too important to allow international politics to leak in.” “That sounds fair to me,” Mac said with a shrug. He glanced suspiciously over his shoulder for a moment before leaning in closer and whispering, “To be honest, Ah’m ashamed it’s come to this. Earth ponies ‘n Zebras aren’t all that different, ‘n Earth Ponies are supposed to be known for our hospitality. Whatever the problem is, it shouldn’t have come up in the first place, let alone require official action to resolve.” “Regardless, Twilight and I will try to resolve it in a manner that allows all parties to leave with their honor intact,” Luna said assuringly. “Thanks,” Mac said, bowing his head to Luna. At that, he and Rainbow Dash descended the staircase separating separating the Princesses from the rest of the hall and sat down with Rarity and Fancy Pants. Finally, just minutes before the scheduled start, the doors flew open and a large group of Earth Ponies entered, followed by a dozen or so Zebra. Most immediately found their seats while a few of each approached Twilight and Luna with Spike in tow. “Your highnesses, I understand if may be confused as to why we might be here,” one of the Zebras started. “We’ve been told. You’re welcome to stay, but keep in mind that there might not be much we can do about the problems your people are having,” Twilight said apologetically. “There’s a lot of Earth Ponies in Equestria and nowhere near as many Zebra. You’ll be allowed to make your case and we’ll do everything we can to treat you fairly, but we must take care of our citizens first.” “I understand,” the Zebra grumbled. “I suppose that’s fair.” “Even so, we will not be able to discuss the issues you bring just yet. The first item of business must be what brought us together in the first place, thus the Unicorns and Pegasi will command our attention first,” Luna said firmly. The small group bowed and found their own seats in the full hall. As soon as they left, Spike sidled up to Twilight and leaned in to speak quietly. “Okay, I’ve got a list of everypony here and even managed to find out who’s going to be negotiating for each, uh, faction.” “Well done, Spike!” Luna said. She beckoned for them to follow and led them a short distance away so the three could huddle together. “So who are the leaders?” “First off, the Unicorns are being represented by Vice Headmaster Booklearn from Celestia’s School and Mayor Blue Moon from Manehattan,” he read from his list. “I guess Countess Fireblossom was supposed to represent them instead of Blue Moon, but somepony figured that wouldn’t be a good idea after that argument you two had with her last month.” “I’d hardly call my screaming at her after she publicly disparaged my sister ‘an argument’, but yes, replacing her was a good plan on the Unicorns part,” Luna grumbled. “Yeah... anyway, the Earth Ponies are being represented by Chancellor Brighteye and Lady Saffron Orange,” Spike continued before being interrupted again. “Orange? One of Applejack and Big Mac’s relatives?” Twilight asked, leaning towards him to read over his shoulder. “Sort of,” Spike grunted pushing her back to her original seated position with a glare. “She married into the Oranges. Still, she’s got enough political clout where she was able to convince plenty of ponies to nominate her for the job.” "Okay, and for the Pegasi we have Cumulus, he's COO for the Cloudsdale weather factory. We also have Serpent's Wit, chairpony of the Feathered Freedom Society," Spike grunted. "Wait, what?" Twilight squeaked, snatching the list away from Spike to read it for herself. "Why are separatists negotiating for the Pegasi?" Luna asked, reading over Twilight's shoulder. "The Cloudsdale Post ran a rather hyperbolic article earlier this week discussing possible outcomes of this gathering," a voice said from behind them. The three turned around as Edifying Scroll sauntered up to their desk with a very large coffee dispenser and a stack of mugs and plopped down next to where Luna had been sitting. She helped herself to the first cup and sighed. "As you'd expect from them, it presented the opinions of their editors as objective facts and outlined the worst-case scenarios as the most likely ones." "And I take it that our aggravating little friend then used the panic it incited to worm his way into the position of negotiator," Luna grumbled, receiving an affirmative nod from Edifying Scroll. "I won't say that we shouldn't be worried, but he'll likely behave himself unless he wishes to lose the few moderates in his support base," Edifying Scroll muttered. Luna glared into the far corner of the room where Serpent's Wit sat along with a few other separatists. "Even so, I expect him to make some form of power grab over the next few days. We should be careful not to give him anything to use against us." “Agreed.” “You know, I’m sort of surprised to see you here, Scroll,” Twilight murmured, trotting up to her and pouring her own mug. “I heard you were making a lot of money in Manehattan as a consultant.” “I don’t have very many friends, and right now two of them are struggling to keep my country together. I’m here to help them do that,” Edifying Scroll grunted. “The bits will be there when I get back.” “Well, we are certainly glad to have you,” Luna replied with a respectful nod. “Shall we begin?” “I think so,” Twilight muttered. She gave a nod to the guards as she and Luna took their seats; The Throne Room doors were closed and the hall fell silent. “Welcome, everypony,” Twilight proclaimed, standing up and spreading her wings for her oration. “I’m fairly certain you all know why we’re here, so I will keep this brief. We have come down with three rules for this summit, which will be followed. Rule number one: while the castle has the facilities to feed all of you for weeks, we’re not going to lock you in here. Provided you are not needed at the time, you may enter and leave the castle at your leisure. That being said, you are forbidden from disclosing any ongoing negotiations until after a deal has been reached or the negotiations have been permanently abandoned. We will be assigning Royal Guards to any who wish to leave. They will be there for both your protection, and to enforce this rule. Failure to comply will have consequences.” Twilight paused to allow the crowd to react. As she expected, most of those assembled burst into whispers that died down momentarily. “I feel as if rule number two goes without saying, but there will be no violence, nor instigations of violence tolerated,” Luna said curtly. “Instigators will be arrested and given the maximum punishment allowed by law. Rule three is simple as well; any backroom-deals are prohibited. This is not the time to advance your personal interests, you are here to represent your people.” “And at that, I’d like to get started,” Twilight said with a short nod. “Princess Twilight, there has been a troubling development that I believe changes the tone of these negotiations, giving our opponents an unfair advantage,” an older Pegasus mare called out. “They’re not your ‘opponents’, they’re your countryponies, Sprinkle. Please remember that we’re here to better Equestria, not to compete with each other,” Twilight sighed, gazing down at her. “But I’m listening.” “It’s come to my attention that Skystreaker offered his atmospheric research to Moonbeam yesterday. He is giving away the only bit of leverage we had! I deman-” “No. If Skystreaker wants to give Moonbeam his data, that’s his right. I’m sure the Unicorns will be fair; they know how important it is that we all get along,” Twilight sighed, hoping that time would prove her correct. “Now, can we get started or does somepony have something else to complain about?” Before anypony could say anything else, Luna cleared her throat loudly and glared down at the assembled crowd. “Now, as I’m sure Princess Twilight was trying to say before she was so rudely interrupted, the first issue on our agenda is the situation revolving around Moonbeam’s invention. For those of you who don’t know, Ms. Moonbeam lost her husband a few years ago to an out-of-control blizzard. Since then she has been working to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again by inventing a machine capable of allowing a Unicorn to break up blizzards remotely. As you can imagine, the Pegasus community is quite concerned about this device and the detrimental effect it could have on employment in the weather industry. We’ve asked the involved parties to draft possible solutions to ensure that the much-needed machine gets developed without placing too much burden on the Pegasi.” “Since the Pegasi have the most to lose, I think it’s only fair that we let one of them go first,” Twilight said next. “Any volunteers?” “I’ll go!” a Pegasus that Twilight didn’t recognize shouted quickly. He lept into the air with a thick scroll in his hooves and flew towards Twilight with a few flaps of his wings, landing in front of the Princesses with a bow. He quickly unraveled the scroll, spreading it across the ground and began to read. “We, the Pegasus community, must commend Moonbeam on her potentially lifesaving efforts, but cannot abide the damage it may cause to us and our foals. As such, we call on her to modify her device so that it may be used by Pegasi and would like to add the following sugg-” “Impossible,” a gruff male voice interrupted from the back of the hall. Every head in the hall turned to look at the Earth Pony who didn’t even bother glancing up from the book he was reading. “I’ve done some work on Moonbeam’s project. It requires very precise magic to function. Only a Unicorn could operate it.” “Well that’s not true, Solid Stone!” another Pegasus bellowed at him. “What about Grey Matter and Emerald Green’s project? If they could store the right spells to use the machines in gemstones, then a Pegasus could operate the machine!” “No that-” “That might work,” Grey Matter replied from across the room. “Can I see some of the data?” A nearby Pegasus held up a ledger and Grey Matter levitated it over to himself. He scanned the first few pages and began jotting down calculations on a sheet of paper. A few minutes later he gave a satisfied nod. “Okay, I’ll need some time to get the exact numbers, but the associated cost to provide the crystals should be somewhere in the neighborhood of... Oh...” His face fell as he plugged the final numbers into his formulae and he glanced up sheepishly from his work. “F-four million bits a year per weather team.” The room was silent for nearly a full minute before anypony spoke. “Unacceptable. We don’t have that kind of money to spare and I doubt the national budget can spare enough to outfit even half of Equestria’s weather teams,” an elderly Pegasus grumbled. “It doesn’t-” “Well maybe we can set up a taskforce that can quickly respond to such events!” Sprinkle Medley yelled out. “That way we won’t need to outfit each weather team. We could just-” “No!” Solid Stone screamed, slamming his hoof down on the table in front of him. “You aren’t listening, it’s flat-out impossible. The magic these machines use is very complex. You couldn’t just have any old Unicorn step in and operate it, they’d need to be very skilled with magic, have months of training with the machine, and have intricate knowledge of how weather functions. The idea that anypony could just walk in off the street and be able to operate one of Moonbeam’s devices with stored spells is nothing short of ludicrous! It’d be like a foal trying to pick a lock with a hammer.” The room went completely silent as Solid Stone’s shout echoed throughout the hall. Many of the assembled ponies shifted uncomfortably in their seats, gazing up at their Princesses for guidance. “I suppose that that settles the matter,” Luna stated just loud enough for everypony in the hall to hear. She glanced down at the young Pegasus who had put forward the idea and smiled at the furiously blushing stallion. “Do not be discouraged. Yours was a clever plan and not without merit. It is that type of creative thinking this summit needs.” He nodded gloomily and backed away just as another Pegasus stepped forward. Twilight nodded for the newcomer to speak. “Your Highnesses, I am Bean Counter, the head accountant for the Maredrid weather team, and I am concerned about what I just heard. My team is already struggling to work within our budget constraints and I know that we’re not the only ones. Even if we were to team up with some of our neighboring teams, there’s no way we could afford to maintain one of these machines and hire a trained Unicorn to operate it,” he said curtly. “If it were just a matter of scraping together the money for the device, that’d be one thing, but this is an entirely different problem.” “What is it you are proposing?” Luna asked when he finished speaking. “I really hate to say this, and I mean I really hate it, but we’re going to need more money from the Royal budget,” he grumbled. “That isn’t really within the scope of this summit, I think,” Edifying Scroll replied quickly, “but if you wouldn’t mind getting together with Moonbeam and getting me some concrete numbers, I’ll gladly look it over, see where we can pull some funds from the budget, and make sure it gets to the right ponies.” “That- I would really appreciate that,” Bean Counter stammered. “Thank you, ma’am.” As he found his way back to his seat, Edifying Scroll sat back and shot Twilight a satisfied smirk. Barely resisting the urge to laugh, Twilight waited a few minutes for the discussions that had popped up to die down, then called out for the next speaker. A young Unicorn stood up, levitating a thin packet of papers over her head. Twilight gave her a nod and she stepped forward. “Good morning, everypony. My name is High Hopes. I’m a senior at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and I have a really simple idea, but I think it will work,” she said cheerfully. “What we need to do is increase the money available to Pegasi through Equestria’s low-income assistance prog-” “No! Absolutely not. That’s your solution to everything, just throw resources at it!” a middle-aged Unicorn stallion interrupted loudly. “I’m sick of watching Equestria’s budget get wasted on worthless causes!” “You’re a selfish little rat, Trigger, you know that?” an elderly Unicorn mare bellowed back as dozens of ponies raised their voices in protest. “Whenever somepony needs help it’s always ‘too expensive’ or ‘not worth it’, but you’re always the first one in line when we’re handing out investments. Your mother taught you better than that. She’d be ashamed of you!” “Well excuse me if I’m just trying to keep our treasury from being drained by those feathered leeches-” A blast of thunder shook the hall, silencing the brewing riot, and all eyes turned to its source: Luna. She held a passive expression, but her eyes betrayed her fury. She opened her mouth and spoke threateningly slow. “Guards, please remove Trigger from the castle, and escort him from the city. As of now, he is banished from my presence and my home for the rest of his miserable life. If he ever sets foot in Canterlot again, he and his racist mouth are to be imprisoned. Abuela Brown, while I appreciate your sentiments, please refrain from interrupting in the future and allow myself or Twilight to handle any outbursts.” Nopony spoke as Trigger was dragged out of the hall for fear of further raising Luna’s ire, and she allowed the silence to hang for a minute before glancing down at the young mare whose proposal had started the incident. “Your initiative is commendable, but a bit... lacking.” “L-lacking?” the young pony stammered, seemingly hurt by Luna’s words. “What she means is that it’s a good idea, and we’re probably going to implement it, but it’s not enough. We can’t just put most of the Pegasus population on welfare and say we’re done,” Twilight explained quickly, shooting Luna a quick glare. “Yes, that is indeed what I meant. I apologize for my poor choice of words,” Luna continued when she got the hint. Lighting up her horn, she pulled the papers away from High Hopes and levitated them up to herself to read them over. “These numbers are... sound. You have certainly done your research. May I keep this? I would like to use it as a base for future legislation, if you don’t mind.” “Y-yes. Of course, Your Highness.” She passed them over to Spike and said, “Would you mind having somepony write a copy or two of this for me? Please and thank you?” “Sure thing!” he exclaimed, snatching the papers out of the air and trotting off. Luna smiled and turned back to the conference. “Who is next?” “Us, Your Highness! Give us a moment,” a Unicorn called out from the center of the room before dropping back into the heated discussion she was having with the Pegasus across from her. Twilight let them continue their hushed back-and-forth for several minutes before clearing her throat, causing them to both jump and glance up at her. They exchanged a pair of nervous stared before the Pegasus stood up and took a deep breath. “Greetings, everypony. I am Raincaller, and before I begin, I’d like to mention that I am a weather pony, as were my parents and their parents, as far back as I can trace; at least nine generations. I’m telling all of you this so you understand how serious I am,” the Pegasus said somberly. She paused, grinding her teeth for a moment and took another deep breath. “The problem is our education system. Since we first started using the system of organized schools, a good portion of the time have Pegasi spent in class has been geared towards preparing them to work in the weather industry. It’s caused no shortage of problems, but we’ve been stubbornly holding onto the old educational model for decades.” She paused again, blinking back tears and glancing around the deathly silent room guiltily. “I-I think it’s time we changed that. I think it’s time we admit to ourselves that this and other new technologies are making the old ways no longer viable. We need to reform our education system. We need to end this focus on the weather, and encourage our foals to refocus their efforts into other industries.” She was barely able to get her full speech out before the hall exploded into angry shouts and the arguments began again. Twilight covered her ears, and sure enough, an ear-shattering thundercrack rattled the hall again. “Enough! If you don’t like an idea, then ask to speak and offer a rebuttal,” Twilight scolded as soon as the echoes died. “Princess, the Pegasi have maintained the weather all on our own for thousands of years!” an older Pegasus called out. “You can’t be suggesting we just spit in the face of all of our traditions.” “As I have said many times before, traditions are a valuable part of our culture, but we cannot allow them to hold us back,” Luna interrupted. “At one time it was tradition for nobles to act as judge and jury for criminal matters in their lands, now we have the courts for that and they have proven to be far more fair. Let us be honest with ourselves, some traditions are not worth keeping.” Nopony dared respond to her, but the tension in the room was palpable as most of the assembled Pegasi glared at her. One of the few who weren’t stood up, wringing her hooves nervously. “B-but, Princess Luna, what are we supposed to do?” “Anything we want!” Rainbow Dash responded quickly. She took off into the air and spun around, hovering at the front of the hall to address the entire assembly. “Raincaller is right; we’re going to have to change, there’s no way around it, but taking care of Equestria’s weather isn’t what makes the pegasi great. We are! There’s already a lot of other things that we can do better than Unicorns or Earth Ponies just because we have wings. Imagine what we could do if we were given the opportunity and education to branch out!“ “Like what?” a stallion’s voice grumbled from somewhere in the crowd. “A lot of stuff. You all know how I work with my husband during the off season and let me tell you that there’s a ton of jobs I can get done faster than any Earth Pony could. In the time it takes one of the others to water a field by hoof, I can water twelve with a cloud and still have time for a nap. And it’s not like the whole weather industry’s going to change overnight. Clouds and rainbows will still need to be made, and no machine’s going to be able to do everything we do,” she retorted. Her attempt at a rousing speech received only empty stares and she groaned loudly. “We can do this, everypony! We just have to get creative.” “Well maybe you’re content working in the dirt,” a voice came from the back corner, “but the rest of us real Pegasi aren’t going to settle for such ‘lofty’ dreams.” “‘Real’ Pegasi? Just what the heck is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow snarled, glaring in the direction of the voice. A stallion rose out of the group of separatists and sneered at her. “I mean that you’re a fake! You just love to sit in the admiration of your fans and like to present yourself as a Pegasus, but did you even bother to sit with us today? No! You spurned your people to sit with that Canterlot hussy!” Rainbow shot in his direction and arrived an instant before a group of Royal Guards. Nearby ponies fled from the melee as tables were knocked over and chairs broken before the guards managed to pull the two angry Pegasi apart. They quickly escorted Rainbow back to her seat while dragging the offender out. “I want to thank you Princess!” Serpent's Wit cackled. “Allowing Rainbow Dash to stay when she has blatantly broken your rules, while throwing out my compatriot for merely speaking his mind? I couldn’t invent a story this good. In fact, one of my assistants is writing to Quick Quill as we speak! This’ll be on the front page of the Cloudsdale Post for a week.” “Is that what you think? Tell me, didn’t Quick Quill promote his daughter, Firebrand, to assistant head editor last week?” Rarity asked him suddenly. “Don’t answer. The question was rhetorical and your voice grates on my last nerve. My point is that she comes into my Canterlot store once a week to browse my newest items. Even when she doesn’t buy anything, she usually stays for hours just to trade gossip with my employees. I very much doubt she’ll be too happy when she hears the vile thing that was just said about me.” Serpent's Wit choked on his laughter and grimaced as if he had just tasted something horrible. “S-she and her father are loyal patriots. They will-” “Patriots? Firebrand is a patriot, certainly, however, both you and her father are weasely little nationalists,” Rarity scoffed. “And while we’re on the subject, did you know she came into my shop the very day that my Rainbow Wonder collection came out? Did you know she not only bought one of everything, but actually bought two headpieces because she wanted to have Rainbow Dash sign one? I’m sure she’ll be very shocked to find out that her favorite athlete isn’t a ‘real’ Pegasus.” “Rarity, enough,” Luna scolded. She glared down at Serpent's Wit and sneered. “Your friend made a completely uncalled for verbal attack against one of Equestria’s most esteemed citizens, and he did so knowing full well how Rainbow Dash would react to such a blatant attack on one of her closest friends. I am not going to punish her for reacting to a deliberate provocation that I suspect you were behind.” Serpent's Wit glared at her, stammering angrily before turning around and stomping out of the hall. The rest of the separatists exchanged uncertain glances and most of them stood up, following him out. Twilight watched them go helplessly, but held her composure. “Maybe we should take a break?” Spike asked worriedly. “Yeah. I’ll go talk to the separatists. You three head out back and take a breather,” Edifying Scroll sighed, standing up and trotting off after Raincaller. “Okay, we’re breaking for fifteen minutes!” Twilight yelled to the hall, not bothering to see who was listening. She immediately stood up and dragged herself out to one of the secluded hallways leading out from the back of the Throne Room with Spike and Luna close behind. As soon as they sat down, Twilight leaned against Luna and let out a frustrated groan. After a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke. “Two ponies dragged away by guards, a hooffight, and a mass walk-out. This isn’t going well.” “It isn’t going poorly either. We’ve had several legitimate discussions, one of which included enthusiastic participation from all three types of pony,” Luna replied, resting her chin on Twilight’s head and putting a hoof around her withers. “Though I admit that even I did not think Serpent's Wit would make his move this early.” “Yeah, and we’ve only been at this for like an hour!” Spike said. “We’ve still got a few days left. We’ve got plenty of time.” “I know, I can’t help but feel stressed,” Twilight whined. “After all these years, I should be used to this kind of pressure, but I hate it!” “One can be used to something and still hate it. I feel that way about ponies still being afraid to look me in the eye,” Luna murmured. She was pensively silent for a moment, then chuckled and nuzzled Twilight’s ear before standing up with a smile. “Come on. We have work to do.” Twilight moaned and frowned at Luna, but got up anyway. She heaved a resigned sigh and leaned into the elder Princess, lips puckered. Luna let out a single snort of laughter, gave Twilight the kiss she sought, then ushered her and Spike back out to the Throne Room. They sat down and before long, Edifying Scroll led a small group of Pegasi in. They returned to their seats as Scroll made a beeline to the Princesses and sat down. “Well, I got about half of them back,” she said smugly. “How?” Spike asked. “They were really mad!” “Simple: I showed them the door. I reminded them that these talks would continue with or without them and that the only thing they’d accomplish by leaving is to surrender their say. That was enough to make some of them break ranks,” she sniggered with an innocent shrug. “Apparently many of them felt that bad-mouthing a Wonderbolt was going too far. All it took was a little extra push for the cracks in their armor to split wide open.” “You are devious,” Luna muttered. “Thank you!” Edifying Scroll quipped with a twisted smirk. “Now can we get back to this? You know how much I hate waiting around.” “Yeah I do,” Twilight muttered. She raised a hoof in the hair and discussion in the hall stopped. “As Rainbow Dash was saying before she was so rudely interrupted,” Luna started, “one machine will not render the pegasi obsolete. There are still plenty of functions that our technology is nowhere near capable of doing; creating structures from clouds, for instance, or mixing a perfect rainbow. The only thing at stake are jobs, not the cultural identity of the pegasi.” “Well spoken, Princess Luna,” Twilight said with a nod. “Let us continue looking for a solution. We were discussing revamping Pegasi education, and I would like to share my thoughts.” She stood up, spreading her wings for maximum effect, and allowed herself a deep breath, putting on the display of the confident, sanguine royal she had gotten so good at. “At the moment, I am confident in saying that the education system in place in Unicorn-majority towns is one of the best in the world. Even ignoring magical studies, students in cities like Manehattan, Canterlot, and Pranceton enjoy a much more balanced education than that in other cities. I think the best path forward from here would be to nationalize a similar system. Provinces with Earth Pony majorities have been moving in this direction for years, and the results have been promising so far.” “And just how do you plan on doing that, Princess?” Edifying Scroll said loudly. Twilight pursed her lips to keep from giggling at the blatant support she was being given and continued. “I have one main idea: to redirect teaching incentives. Many of you probably remember that I implemented a program shortly after I became Princess that offered financial incentives to teachers who were willing to move to low-income areas to help boost impoverished foals. While it’s worked marvelously, much of the programs funding went to towns with a lot of Earth Ponies as they tended to be the poorest. With the success of the program, I’d like to restructure it slightly so a bit more funding goes to the Pegasi. Hopefully this’ll enable the next generation of Pegasi to find more opportunities outside of the weather industry.” She paused and gave a slight nod to indicate that she was finished speaking and the buzz of side conversations started up again. Within thirty seconds an Earth Pony stood up excitedly. “Your Highness, why not take it farther?” Twilight frowned slightly, unsure of what he meant. “Go on.” “Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is the top university in Equestria, and it’s Unicorn-only, and two of the next three have more Unicorn students than anything else. That needs to change,” he explained. “Are you suggesting that I open Celestia’s school to the public?” Twilight asked slowly. “Of course not!” he groaned, shaking his head vigorously. “The entire point of that school is to train powerful Unicorns, and we got you from it, so it obviously works. But Pranceton and Manehattan Uni aren’t like that. They’re just regular schools that have a lot of Unicorns. If you leaned on them a bit to offer scholarships to Pegasi who wanted to major in something that wasn’t weather-related, a lot more of them could afford to go. If that works, you could convince more colleges to do it.” “That might work,” Twilight muttered, more to herself than to the speaker. “Why stop there?” a Pegasus from the back of the room interjected. “Canterlot College isn’t even a mile from the School for Gifted Unicorns, and it’s widely considered to be second-rate. Why not have the two schools form a partnership where their professors teach at both? That way Celestia’s School could keep its focus on magic, while the general education it provides would be available to anypony!” The room went silent as Twilight turned the Pegasus’ idea over in her head. She glanced over at the Vice Headmaster and he met her gaze, immediately understanding her unspoken question. “I’m... not explicitly against the idea, but there would be a lot of resistance among the staff. Even if you could get them all on board, it wouldn’t be a seamless transition,” he said slowly. “But it can be done?” He nodded. “Yes, but that would leave the school with a staffing shortage. Without hiring additional personnel we would be completely unable to handle the sudden influx of students in addition to our current pupils. In fact, that can be said about Manehattan, Pranceton and just about any university.” “So you’ll need more teachers available?” Twilight asked. “And more money to pay them, yes,” he said with another nod. “I would gladly work towards this initiative and I’ll try to convince the other schools to do so as well, but I have to look out for my current students before I worry about hypothetical ones.” “That’s great and all, but what about Pegasi currently employed in the industry?” Cumulus interrupted. “I fully support caring for the next generation of Pegasi, but Moonbeam’s device is threatening livelihoods now! Unemployment among weather ponies is already near ten percent. We literally can’t afford any more layoffs.” “That’s not entirely true,” a Unicorn called from across the room. She stood up so all could see her and continued, “The device won’t be ready for use for another two to four years, and it’ll probably take another ten to see widespread use after that. You do make a good point though, unless a lot of Pegasi retire in the next ten years, there could be problems.” “I think we’re all forgetting something,” Edifying Scroll said loudly. “This device won’t be replacing very many Pegasi. A few dozen at most.” “Yeah, but trust me, once we can break up blizzards, it won’t be much of a jump to a machine that can break up any type of storm, and it’ll just keep going from there,” Booklearn replied. “Then we’ll just be right back here having this same conversation.” “Could we possibly do something similar to what you plan to do with the schools, but with jobs?” Cumulus asked hopefully. “Mayor Blue Moon, could that be done? Provide incentives to hire Pegasi who lose their jobs in the weather industry?” “I really don’t know,” Blue Moon muttered after a short, thoughtful silence. “That’s asking for a lot. Even if I supported that, which I’m not sure I do, I can’t think of a way to implement it.” “I think we have reached a good point to break up into groups!” Luna announced with a smile. She glanced to the pair of Unicorn negotiators and the remaining Pegasus representative in turn. “You all know what you want, and now you all know what the others want. This is the perfect time to discuss amongst yourselves alternative solutions and what you would consider acceptable ways forward.” “I agree,” Edifying Scroll grunted. “We should break again so the negotiators can discuss the options with those they are representing. Unicorns, discuss what you would need in exchange for your aid, Pegasi, decide on what concessions you are willing to make. Once everypony is ready, you can state your requests and we can figure out how we’re going to move forward.” The assembled Unicorn and Pegasi all stood up and separated to opposite ends of the room, gathering around their respective negotiators. Rainbow Dash hung near the back of the Pegasus group while Rarity glided through the crowd of Unicorns to seat herself right next to Mayor Blue Moon. The Earth Ponies and Zebra sat in their small crowds scattered around the hall for a short while before slowly congregating into a group of their own. Twilight reached under her desk, found Luna’s hoof, and grabbed it, squeezing nervously as the delegates talked. The Princesses sat in silence. Twenty minutes passed before the crowd of Pegasi broke up and they spread throughout the hall once more, drifting into smaller groups that talked quietly among themselves, yet conspicuously avoiding the group of Unicorns. The Earth Ponies broke up not long after, distributing themselves amongst the Pegasi. Twilight managed to sit still for another two minutes before standing up and starting to head towards the Unicorns, but was stopped by Luna. “No, Twilight, let them be,” she murmured. “But-” “Now is not the time. They need to work this out themselves,” Luna said softly, but firmly. “Even if you don’t speak a word, your listening in could make them feel as if they are backed into a corner and they may lash out.” Twilight opened her mouth, but couldn’t find an argument and sat back down. She continued waiting silently, not hearing the quiet conversations Luna, Spike, and Edifying Scroll held and barely acknowledging the courtier who brought the four of them soup. Finally, after two and a half hours, the Unicorns separated, and the Mayor nodded to Twilight. “What did you decide on?” she asked, unable to keep her trepidation from her voice. “Princess, we want to help, we really do, but you’re asking too much of us,” Blue Moon said, glancing at Rarity with a wince. “Taking more Pegasi into our schools is something we can deal with, but asking us to pass over qualified Unicorns in favor of under-qualified, or even unqualified Pegasi is further than we’re willing to go. It’ll raise unemployment among Unicorns and kill productivity in our companies while we retrain the Pegasi.” “Okay, we’ll go back to that then, but you’re willing to go through with the education plan?” Twilight asked. “If you secure us additional funding so we’re not left out to dry,” Professor Booklearn replied. “We’d also like legal protections against lawsuits resulting from us revoking scholarships we grant to Pegasi. We currently hold scholarship students to the highest standard and don’t hesitate to revoke the scholarships of Unicorns who fail to meet those standards. If Pegasi want scholarships, then it’s only fair that we hold them to the same standard and the last thing we need is to get sued over it.” “I would have to object to that. Pegasus student will be coming in at a disadvantage. You can’t hold them to the same standards as Unicorn students!” a Pegasus mare yelled. “We can and we will,” Booklearn growled. “We provide our students will all the resources they need to succeed, including unlimited access to tutoring. If you want to include such things as a requirement we must fulfill to receive the extra funding, then go right ahead, but we will not allow lazy students to continue receiving what is essentially a gift. We will not lower our standards. Not for you, not for anypony.” “We shall see some appropriate legislation drafted,” Luna interjected quickly. “Funding will be allocated to Unicorn-run universities, but will come with conditions. The funding must be used only to expand their facilities to accommodate a higher number of students and to offer scholarships to Pegasi. To ensure that the funding is being properly used, they must submit to yearly audits. In return, their right to expel Pegasi students who don’t put in the effort required of them will be protected by law. I would also put forward that universities be required to offer remedial courses to incoming Pegasi so they may start school on even footing with their Unicorn peers. Does this sound fair to everypony?” She was met with a few discontent murmurs of agreement and smiled, bowing her head. “Thank you. I realize that it may not be an ideal situation for either side, but if things were ideal, then we would not need to be here in the first place.” “Hold, there’s more,” Booklearn said quickly. “If this is going to work, then the pegasi will need to immediately overhaul their primary and secondary schools to bring them more in-line with ours, rather than gradually do it over the next decade as I assume they were planning to. Less focus on weather and flying, more focus on general studies. In return, we offer our resources and our ponies to help them accomplish this task.” “That is not an unreasonable request,” Luna replied with a nod, “Cumulus, would you agree to these terms?” “It won’t go over well, but if it gets us what we need, then we’ll agree to it,” Cumulus grunted with a nod. “Good. I’m glad that’s settled,” Twilight said. She turned her attention back to Mayor Blue Moon. “You’re absolutely sure that there’s nothing you can do about hiring more Pegasi?” “I don’t have the luxury of budging on this issue and it’s not just to protect my job. Even if I agree to your demands over the objections of my people, the citizens of Manehattan will likely recall me and elect somepony who would oppose you,” Blue Moon stated sharply. “We may have a solution to your little problem,” Lady Saffron called out. She waited until every pair of eyes in the room were on her before turning in the Mayor’s direction with a smug grin. “Rainbow Dash is right about one thing: Earth Ponies love having Pegasi to work on their farms. We would gladly take them if we could, but that would leave us with a labor excess and frankly we can’t afford that any more than you can.” She gave an exaggerated sigh and a pout. “Whatever shall we do?” Blue Moon groaned and rested his forehead in a hoof. “I don’t have any patience left today to play your coy games. Just tell me what you want in plain language.” Saffron recoiled at the hostile reaction. She shook her head and spoke again in a business-like tone. “As Princess Twilight mentioned before, her plan to bring quality education to poorer Earth Pony communities has worked marvelously. The foals who were still in primary school at the beginning of the program are just now reaching adulthood and graduating from tertiary schools. They are ready and eager to enter the workforce in non-traditional jobs, and, most importantly, they are qualified to do so. You start hiring them, and we’ll start hiring pegasi.” Blue Moon stared at her for a brief moment before giving a reluctant smile. “I think we can work with that, on one condition.” Lady Orange frowned and nodded for him to continue. “We hold our workers to the same standards that we hold our students. We’ll hire them on the condition that we’re protected from lawsuits resulting from the firing of Earth Ponies who give us unsatisfactory performances.” “Add a provision allowing Earth Ponies equal access to Unicorn-based labor unions and you have a deal,” Lady Orange replied with a grin. “I’m almost insulted that you’d think we wouldn’t give them that anyway, but if you need a legal guarantee, then by all means,” Blue Moon grunted. He looked back up to Twilight and nodded. “I think we have finished, Your Highness.” “Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but won’t that increase unemployment among unicorns?” Cumulus asked. “We are going through an economic boom at the moment and can absorb a labor influx,” Blue Moon said, shaking his head. “My concern was with the qualifications of the incoming workers, not their numbers. In fact if they are sufficiently skilled enough, and come from a place of different thinking, they might even create new innovations and thus more jobs for both Unicorns and Earth ponies alike. Princess Twilight was behind the increasing education quality for these Earth Ponies, if they meet her lofty standards, then they certainly meet my own.” “I have been following their progress closely and am confident in their abilities,” Twilight replied with a nod. “So how many bills do we need to draft? Three?” “Five,” Edifying Scroll interjected. “One to provide extra funding for universities and outline what said funding is allowed to be used on, a second to outline a streamlined path for out of work weather ponies to find work on farms, a third to reform pegasi schools, a fourth to encourage Unicorns to hire Earth Ponies, and the last to outline the rights and responsibilities of newly-hired Earth Ponies.” “Five new laws? I’d be much more comfortable with combining them all into one. If the bill requiring us to hire Pegasi passes but either of the last two don’t, Earth Ponies are going to be in a bad position,” Chancellor Brighteye said, speaking for the first time that day. “Combining the bills like that would be a legislative nightmare,” Edifying Scroll replied. “Can’t you just give Twilight and L- errr, Princess Twilight and Princess Luna the power to veto the bills if they don’t all pass?” Spike asked. The entire room stared at him for an explanation and he blushed. “What I mean is if each bill has language in it requiring the Princesses to sign it before it’s passed, then they can just refused to sign any of them until all of them have been passed.” “That’s a great idea, Spike!” Twilight gushed. “That’s what we’ll do. The bills will be drafted during the next legislative session, and Luna and I give our words as Princesses that we won’t sign any of the bills until we have every last one on our desks. Does that sound fair to everypony?” A buzz of agreement rang through the room and Twilight grinned broadly. “Good! Spike, get your notes to the Prime Minister and tell him to get working on it right away.” He scurried away, notes in claw as she turned back to the crowd. “Thank you, all, for your cooperation. it really gives me hope for the future. Chancellor, your people have been waiting patiently all day. We can now address your dispute with the Zebra.” “Actually, Princess Twilight, that won’t be necessary. We were able to work it out on our own while the Unicorns deliberated,” Chancellor Brighteye said proudly. “It turns out that all we really needed to resolve our differences was a chance to sit down and talk.” Twilight couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s great! It’s still your turn though, is there another issue you’d like to bring forward?” “Yes, actually,” he said, passing several scrolls to a nearby guard to bring to Twilight. “This started as a minor property dispute between three Earth Ponies, but sort of blew up and now involves two entire towns; one with a population of mostly Unicorn, the other mostly Earth Ponies. Some of the arguments have become racially charged recently, and I’d like to get this resolved before it gets worse.” “Okay! Let’s see what we can do!”