//------------------------------//
// Chaos in Canterlot 
// Story: The Decline and Fall of West Equestria:  Twilight's Tale 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//

A Discussion With Celestia

As I was flying west towards Canterlot, there was a nice cool breeze blowing in my face that calmed me down.  That calmness would not last long as once I began to fly over Canterlot, I heard ponies screaming, yelling and calling me names that are usually reserved for the likes of Tirek and Chrysalis.  I sped as quickly as I could to Celestia's castle and went in through the balcony.  As soon as I got in I was greeted by Celestia, "Twilight, I am so happy to see that you got here safely."

I replied, "Thanks.  From the way you sounded in that scroll, I was expecting spears to be fired at me."

Celestia said, "Well you're lucky.  We have had a couple royal guards injured by mobs here recently.  Luckily nopony has tried to do anything to me yet."

I replied, "Well they probably know better.  They know what the punishment would be, that is if the royal guard didn't kill them first."

Celestia sighed, "Well I wouldn't kill them."  She paused for a minute and continued, "Enough with all this negative talk.  It's lunch time and I'm hungry."

I smiled, "I am hungry too.  Let's get something to eat." 

Once we got to the dining hall we began to talk about more serious things.  Before our meal arrived I wanted to now what was so serious that Celestia had to mention it in the scroll.  I asked, "Celestia, what bad has been going on that you were talking about?"

Celestia asked, "Here or elsewhere?"

I replied, "Well from the way things sound there are problems in more places than just Canterlot.  So what has been going on elsewhere?"

Celestia hung her head and began, "Remember how Starlight told my sister than if she went with her that she would help her conquer The Equine Empire?"

I replied, "Yes."

Celestia continued, "Well from what I understand that has happened.   The ponies over there were so dissatisfied with their king and queen that their military didn't even put up a fight.  Now Luna is queen over there, she is building up a strong military and East Equestria has a good, strong ally."

I put my hooves over my face and asked, "And what about here?"

Celestia replied, "Well the protests are getting angrier, ponies always seemed to be gathered down in the courtyard, even at night and like I said earlier, some of these mobs have injured guardsponies recently."

I asked, "How are civilians able to injure our guardsponies?"

Celestia replied, "The quickest, strongest and most agile of them will sneak up behind them and smash rocks either in their face or wrestle them to the ground and break their legs."

I hung my head low and sighed in disgust.  I never imagined that the ponies in Canterlot would engage in the activities that Celestia told me about.  I never imagined that there would be non-stop protests and I certainly never expected royal guards to be attacked and injured.  I asked, "Celestia, what are we going to do about this?"

Celestia replied, "After lunch, we are going to address them.  I know you aren't as popular as you used to be but perhaps you can talk some sense into them."

I replied, "Alright."





Addressing an Angry Crowd

After lunch Celestia and I headed out to the balcony and were immediately greeted with boos, insults and sarcastic comments about the economy.  While I was nervous, Celestia nudged me and told me to address them first.  I stepped to the front of the balcony and began, 

"Citizens of Canterlot, I know things aren't exactly how we would want them to be right now but protesting, booing Celestia and myself and hurling insults will not make things better any quicker.  We have sent crews out to look for natural resources and we have planted hay in the areas where it will easily grow but nothing can happen overnight.  Please understand that I sympathize with all of you but you have to give things time."

The crowd began to boo and ponies began yelling that I didn't understand their problems, that I didn't care, that I knew nothing of what was going on and that I was a liar.  I started crying and backed up towards Celestia.  When the crowd saw this they began mocking my cries "waah-waah-waah."

Celestia put her wing around me and said, "It's ok Twilight.  I'll talk with them and make sure that they know not to direct any anger towards you."

I smiled as Celestia headed to the front of the balcony.  The crowd's boos grew louder and they began to chant "TYRANT" over and over.  Even Celestia raising and lowering her wings did not get them to completely quiet down.  Eventually they did get quiet enough Celestia felt comfortable addressing them.  She began,

"Citizens of Canterlot.  I want you to know that what Twilight is saying is true and I want you to know that she is not the one to direct your hate and anger towards.   Also like what Twilight said, mining for natural resources and harvesting crops does not happen overnight.  We still have to mine enough materials to build things of our own here to start with so for now we will still have to import."

A pony in the crowd shouted, "But you promised that things would get better!  You promised that things would return to normal!"

Celestia replied, "I did but I didn't mean that it would happen overnight."  While I have seen Celestia lose her cool in certain situations, such as with Starlight, I had never seen her get angry in front of a crowd.  She became more agitated as she continued, "Look, like I have said we are doing the best we can but angry mobs are not going to move things along quicker.  All it is doing is causing undue stress among yourselves and creating disharmony."  She began to cry in anger, "And it is the harmony among us ponies that keeps things stable and for the most part keeps evil at bay!"

A pony in the crowd shouted, "Well this harmony sure didn't stop Tirek now did it?"

Another pony yelled, "And it sure didn't stop Chrysalis from attacking either."

A third pony yelled, "Or Nightmare Moon OR Discord."

Celestia had calmed herself down by this point and replied, "No it did not but what I mean to say is that it keeps uprisings from taking place and for the most part keeps the populous happy and now that harmony is gone and look what is happening."

Fancy Pants, who has had to really cut back yelled, "Well if Twilight Sparkle would have had more power and not gotten captured by Starlight Glimmer, we wouldn't be in this mess now would we?"

Celestia yelled, "How dare you bring Twilight into this!  This is not her fault."

I watched in shock as she turned her back to the crowd and stormed inside.  I followed her in and found her sobbing angrily.  I asked, "Princess Celestia, what is wrong?"

Celestia pulled me close and sobbed, "Didn't you see what is happening out there?  They hate me and they hate you.  I honestly don't know how much longer we will be able to hold on."

I replied, "Celestia, we are very powerful and can hold them back plus we have the royal guard to protect us as well."

Celestia laid her head on the table and replied, "I don't know about that anymore Twilight.  The fact that they are injuring royal guards really worries me.  The strongest of them may be able to take the guard by surprise and breach the castle entrance."

I asked, "Is there anything that I can do?"

Celestia replied, "Yeah, could you stay up here tonight?  I would feel better if you stayed up here with me."

I asked, "Would I be sleeping in my old room?"

Celestia replied, "No, I want you sleeping in Luna's old room.  It is right next to mine and if one of us needs the other, we can easily help each other."

I replied, "Alright, I will stay as long as you need me to."

This caused Celestia to give me a smile but I was really nervous.  Celestia is very powerful and would never ask somepony else to stay with her in the event she needs her.  With the increasing anger among the citizens and the fact that royal guardsponies are actually getting injured by civilians causes me a great amount of concern.  The thing that worries me most is what if some of them injured or killed members of the royal guard, got into the castle and attempted to kill Celestia or myself.  All I knew is that it would be a very long night.