//------------------------------//
// My Address to the Nation 
// Story: My History, Rise, Fall and Return:  Starlight's Story 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//

The Mayor's Address

The mayor and I had gotten involved in some minor chit chat when there was a knock on the door.  It was Yellow Star.  He said, "Mayor Red Hooves, Starlight, the address to the nation starts in five minutes.  The mayor gave me a nervous look and asked, "Are you as nervous as I am?"

I replied, "A little but all we have to do is keep our composure and everything will be ok."

The mayor had an idea.  He asked, "Starlight, would it be ok if I went up to the front of the balcony and spoke first and then motion for you to come out into the light once I am finished?"

I replied, "Actually I think that would be a very good plan.  Let's do this."

We headed out towards the balcony and while he headed out to the edge, I remained indoors out of everypony's sight.  He knew that this was going to be a nationally televised speech so it would address far more than city matters.

He started, 

"Citizens of Fillydelphia, citizens of Equestria, today I come to you all to address a very important matter.   For quite a long time it seems like ponies of Eastern heritage are not treated quite as well as those from the West.  This is something that I find rather troublesome.  It is a shame that many ponies of Eastern heritage can not even share their true heritage with their foals.  I even know some ponies who were lied to their whole lives, up until right before they died, about their true ancestory under the guise of 'protecting them from discrimination'.

Why is this the case?  It is the case because after Celestia and her forces conquered the Eastern side of the Equestrian continent a thousand years ago a stigma was placed upon being a pony of Eastern descent across the whole continent.   For many centuries it was perfectly legal to discriminate against Eastern Ponies when it came to jobs, home loans, student loans and so many other things.  Even until just fifty years ago, Eastern Ponies had to use separate restroom facilities and had to ride in the back of the bus.  While all these inequalities are gone now, we are still not treated the same as those from the West.  We still get passed over for promotions more frequently, especially in the Western cities.

I think it is high time that we stop being treated as second class citizens, the time has come for us to be treated as equals.  Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, if you are watching this I urge you to consider doing further investigating on places that frequently pass over ponies of Eastern heritage and increase the punishment for employers who unfairly turn down Eastern applicants and increase the punishments for banks who deny loans to ponies solely because they are Eastern Ponies."

The ponies began to stomp their hooves in delight over the message that his speech sent.  I do hope that Celestia and her fellow princesses are paying attention.  There are many more Eastern Ponies in Equestria than she thinks so it would be best for her to truly give everypony equal rights.

My Address to the Nation

The mayor looked back at me and motioned for me to step forward.  Before passing me the mic he said, "And now I would like to introduce you to a very special speaker, one who will help us tremendously in our cause.  I present to you, "Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second."

As I stepped forward the crowd went silent and they began to bow down to me.  I began, "You don't need to bow down to me, I'm no better than anypony else."

They stood up and cheered.  They knew a lot about the old legends, about how Grand Mage Starlight was and knew about the prophecy that I would be just like her.  They began to cheer and yell, "All hail Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer the Second!"

I again spoke, "And you can just call me Starlight.  I would feel much more comfortable if you did so."

The crowd began to cheer more as they realized that I seriously don't view myself as better than anypony else.  After a couple minutes of non-stop cheering I motioned with my wings for them to quiet down.

Once they had quieted down I started, 

"My fellow equines in Fillydelphia and across the nation of Equestria, I want you to know that Mayor Red Hooves has brought up many good points, but those are but a few.  I have experienced this first hand when I was a filly growing up in Canterlot.  My parents are both Eastern Unicorns and the jobs they did were the ones that go without thanks.  My mom was a gardener for Princess Celestia and my father was a stone mason.  Both of them worked hard to provide a good living for us but what really bothered me was the fact that other ponies, ponies of Western lineage that did the exact same job were paid more than my parents were.  I think it was once I got old enough to understand economics, which was at a young age, that I began to see how horrible the system in Equestria really is.  It was at that point that I believed that something must be done to change it, something must be done to level the playing field.

This happens not just in the amount that Eastern Ponies earn compared to their Western counterparts for doing the same jobs, it also relates to the ability to enter special schools.  As a filly I was very gifted, probably one of the most gifted fillies in Canterlot.  While other fillies with equal or even less talent than me were able to apply to Celestia's special school, I could not because the application fee was too high.  Now many ponies may see this as it simply targeting poor ponies but that is not the case.  It is because most Eastern Pony families are not paid nearly as much for the same work that their Western counterparts do.  Because of this, Eastern Ponies can not even apply for the special schools.  It is a way to use economics as a cover to hide what the real reason is, discrimination against ponies because of their bloodline.  I had to prove myself worthy in the public school system, which I fortunately did and was allowed to apply.

Even in schools across the whole nation, especially across the Western half of the country I understand that fillies and colts of an Eastern lineage are not helped out as much by their teachers as are the Western fillies and colts.  There is only equality here in schools along the east coast because a huge majority of us are Eastern ponies.

I feel that while we have come a long way in the last fifty years, we still have an extremely long ways to go.  Just by the way they behave though, I have a feeling that the princesses seem to think that everything is fine and dandy now.  It is not, those of us who have Eastern lineage still have to fight much harder just to get jobs and equal pay.  Why should a Western stone mason make more money than an Eastern stone mason when they do the EXACT SAME WORK?  

I urge all of you to write Celestia, go and see if you can visit her and if not her, contact Princess Twilight as she is very close to Celestia and is very easy to access.  If we are going to level the playing field, we must unite as one!  If we unite as one, we will prevail!"

The crowd began to go wild and cheer loudly as I finished my speech.  I hoped that it would send the right message while not causing anypony to want to riot.  I looked out and saw the cameras pointed towards me and I couldn't help but wonder how my message was received across Equestria.  I have a feeling that here in the East it was very well received while in the West ponies were probably booing and calling for my head.  Time will only tell and given how powerful I am now, I won't have to worry about law enforcement coming after me since I could simply throw them off of me, break out of their auras and equalize them.

The Nation's Reaction

After the speech and fielding a few questions, Mayor Red Hooves and I headed back to his office and turned on the news.  They were going in depth about what they thought both of us meant in our speeches by playing soundbites and then analyzing them.  I yelled at the TV, "Enough with the damn analysis of soundbites, report on how the nation is reacting to this!"

Red Hooves said, "Calm down Starlight, they'll get to it soon enough."

I sighed and then focused on the TV as they said that they would now get to how the nation was reacting to this.  First they interviewed a few ponies in the crowd here and they were praising both of us for speaking out about this.  Another pretty much was giddy that I had returned and another too praised us.  They then interviewed high level officials across the Eastern half of Equestria and all had very positive reactions to our speeches.

They then turned their attention to the Western cities and in some of them the reaction was rather unpleasant but an incredibly nasty reaction was discovered in Canterlot.  It was Princess Celestia who was so angry.  She went on her own rant, 

"So these Eastern Ponies think that they have it so bad huh?  Much has improved for them over the decades and yet they still complain that they want more.  Where they get these claims that Western Ponies are paid better than Eastern Ponies is beyond me but that is an outright lie.  I would never pay some ponies more for doing the same job than others.

Oh and Grand Mage Starlight Glimmer, just because you are an Alicorn now does not mean that you will not answer for your crimes.  For those of you who don't know and who are too blinded by her charisma, she has stolen many artifacts, she has broken into many buildings, she stole a friend of mine's cutie mark and has yet to return it, she murdered two cops mercilessly and she attempted to assassinate Princess Twilight.  For those of you, especially the Eastern Ponies, your precious Grand Mage is no little angel." 

I was irritated by her rant but I wasn't shocked by it.  I figured she would say something like that but what makes her rant so weak is that she does not say much of anything about the economic inequalities between ponies of the East and ponies of the West.  She spends most of her time complaining about things that I have done.  This is more proof that she is a lousy leader who would rather sling mud than provide the populous with facts.

I kept my eyes on the news throughout that day and despite what Celestia told the nation, the support for me seemed to actually increase.  Apparently their thoughts are that a liberator and freedom fighter has to take the law into her own hooves if she is to succeed.  What will be interesting will be the headlines on the newspapers.  My guess is that here in the East that the stories will be positive front page news while in many Western communities, it will likely be a short story buried somewhere in the B section of the paper.  I have a feeling that in Canterlot Red Hooves and myself will be vilified and Celestia will be glorified over her short, ridiculous rant.  

I am hoping that all ponies of Eastern descent who saw me on the TV, heard me over the radio, saw me in the paper and saw me live will have realized that I am the one to liberate them, that I am the one that prophecy has foretold and will be on my side when I take things to the next level, the level that will make Celestia choose between something she holds very dear or a large chunk of real estate.