//------------------------------//
// Equestrian Tax (edited by Cakebomb) 
// Story: Rise of an Empire, Fall of Another 
// by Kyuubi325 
//------------------------------//

Sweet Apple Acres
Ponyville
Midwestern Equestria
6:18pm
Big Macintosh sat in his room alone. He was at his desk, looking at the sheer amount of paper work it held; bills, taxes, notices, and warnings. The amaranth stallion sighed; he hated paperwork, but after his sister misfiled their taxes and his granny trying to pay them in apples (resulting in a visit from the local town hall and a harsh fine), he took it upon himself to do all the paperwork. His role in their finances had increased further since his sister started a fight with the Weather Bureau representative over the latest increase in their irrigation bill; she sent the aquamarine Pegasus to the hospital, and spent a night in a cell at the local royal guard post. He shuffled through the pile looking at an irrigation bill from the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation, labeled in big red letters “Final Notice”. It was at this point he opened a drawer on his desk, shuffling through old papers, knickknacks, and trashy novels, before pulling out his secret stash of fermented Sweet Apple Cider. He looked around to make sure that his siblings and grandmother weren’t around, before he cracked it open. He brought the amber liquid to his lips and took a swig, before pulling out an abacus. He started the long task of calculating what they could afford and what they would have to do without. Sighing, he signed countless checks and IOUs, hoping by some miracle they would get through this before it became apparent that despite there attempts to keep up appearances, Sweet Apple Acres (along with much of the Apple family) were hemorrhaging money as the costs of countless necessities were rising out of the reach of many earth ponies, who were finding themselves trapped on their own land. He continued to do the math, trying to find some way to afford his baby sister's new school supplies and books; poor Applebloom was forced to make do with threadbare saddlebags and borrowed supplies and books to do her homework. He took another swig, feeling depressed; unlike his sister he dreaded the idea of Applebloom working on the farm. His credit had been reduced to a chain on his neck, like his ever present yoke. Applejack's credit wasn’t any better, since he had to have her sign in her name just to get the money to keep the farm going, leading to her being in the same boat as him. This was even before she left for Manehattan, when she went to live with the Oranges. But he resisted every temptation to dip into Applebloom's credit. He wanted her to do something with her life besides struggling to keep their farm afloat; even during her shenanigans he encouraged her to look at all her options. In fact, their little club “The Cutie Mark Crusaders” had become popular with many other young fillies and colts as word of them spread, to the point of her getting letters asking to join from all the way to Los Pegasus. He smiled at the thought, imagining it all. But all too soon a loud knocking at his front door startled him, causing him to hide his drink back in its hiding space after taking one last swig. He headed down the stairs, and opened up the front door.
When it opened, he saw the tax stallion Brass Bit and older unicorn stallion from Canterlot.
“I trust you know why I’m here?” Brass Bit said, detached.
Big Mac simply nodded “……Yep….” He let the stallion in, and they sat at the kitchen table.
Brass sighed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find any loop holes to lower your taxes for this quarter.” He shook his head. “The loop holes I used last quarter no longer apply to Sweet Apple Acres, thanks to the budget increase and new tax laws. You have to pay.”
Big Mac shook his head, and walked back to the book case. He opened its false bottom to grab a bottle of his fermented Salted Cider, and he hoofed it to Brass.
Brass looked sadly at the soft spoken stallion as he held the Cider. He smiled, and said “Why don’t we drink it together?" Mac's mouth twists into a grin as they sit down and share the salty alcoholic beverage, forgetting their troubles for awhile.
Counsel of Nobles
Canterlot
Capital of Equestria
7:01
Fancy Pants and Blueblood walked out of the chambers. Another fruitless meeting... It didn’t matter what they told the other nobles; they wouldn't except that times were changing, and that their trade with the Zebras, while helpful in propping up many of their family businesses, wasn’t a long term solution. It didn’t help that they also shot down attempts at reforming the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation, which was currently charging ridiculous rates to pay for the pensions of both retired workers and those who lost their jobs when Gryphonia cut ties with Equestria.
Fancy looked over at the young prince. It was no secret that despite what other nobles thought of him after his fiasco with the Element of Harmony, Rarity (who he still saw as a gold digger), the worst of the hate came from the lower classes. This was compounded by the fact his family’s company, “Eastern Blue”, was currently only staying afloat thanks to the internal trade in the country, since trade with the Zebras was handled by the military. The stallion looked more downtrodden than he ever had before.
Blueblood looked up at him with bags under his eyes. “Why do we try? They either don’t care or see that we are on the edge of economic collapse with our current policies. They would rather stay their coarse that our ancestors plotted for us... My ships and caravans for the most part just sit in harbors and warehouses, as what we do get from trade with the Zebras isn’t nearly enough for the crown to justify the use of my company. They just use the military! Having our guard stallions pull carts meant for military rations! But do the other nobles see that times have changed and that we need to start tightening our belts? No... they continue to approve project after project, spending bits and resources we don’t have on new buildings and statues. They even raise taxes to try and cover the sudden decrease in revenue, ignoring the problems the lower classes are facing. For Celestias sake, The farming village of Hooferdale is now a ghost town! Nearly all the farms went bankrupt and the farmers are now in hiding somewhere because they couldn’t take being trapped on their own land!” he breaks off in a huff. breathless after the long speech.
Fancy just shakes his head; he understands Blueblood's pain. His family has been in charge of the Equestrian mint for centuries, thanks to his family line's unique ability to seemingly feel the pulse of the Equestrian economy. He had looked over countless reports of the economic situations of many different townships. Needless to say it was grim. More and more farmers were vanishing into the night rather than deal with the crippling debt that was now plaguing the economy. Many earth ponies had even gone to Celestia looking for help, but with the nobles of Equestria being so ingrained in the country’s economy there was little she could do without risking total economic collapse.
He took a deep breath before answering him. “It’s because that while our ancestors built the companies and institutions they we now own, they forsook teaching their descendants how to run them. That’s why the market is so over saturated with enchanted goods and services. They see a dip in revenue? Open more enchantries or up production! Then they try and suppress earth pony blacksmiths, who try to forge tools that can last and work without expensive enchantments. It’s that mindset that had Equestria mined dry of enchantment quality gemstones. It’s that mindset that pressured Celestia to annex the Crystal Empire and put it in the hooves of the inexperienced Cadence and Shining Armor. Rather than try to find a new way, we annexed a country that had been thrown nearly a thousand years into the future just so we could get a hold of their massive stock piles… Did you even know that Cadence was supposed to act as a diplomat and a mediator between Equestria and the Crystal Empire? She was never supposed to rule. But then the nobility caught wind of the empire's wealth. Now she rules over a single city that is a hair's breath from lynching her for us trying to make them good Equestrians.” He shakes his head “We know very little about their culture even now. So what do we do? We try to take away their identity rather than learn about them, because for the nobility it would be too hard to coexist.”
Blueblood just nodded, shocked at how much power the nobles had. Despite it being a myth that he was related to the Celestial Sisters, he still cared about them. It was shocking to hear the nobility could pressure her, but when he thought about it he remembered that Celestia told him once that her greatest fear was becoming a tyrant. At least that explains her inaction. He thought on it, when he suddenly remembered a report he had got from one his informants in the guard. ”I trust you have heard that the trade caravans with Zebrica have stopped? There hasn’t been a zebra trade caravan at the border for nearly a month! Our goods are just sitting at the old midway station in the badlands. We don’t even know what’s happening since Celestia wot risk sending a scouting party after the misunderstanding at Idbo Village.” He shook his head at the memory; when the Equestrian guard attacked a village for a cultural misunderstanding, it had ended with two deaths...a zebra foal who likely didn’t even know what was going on, and a terrified member of the guard who was buried alive by the enraged villagers. Celestia was outraged, and cut off ties before she even knew the whole story, leading to that bridge being burned. This didn't help the Zebra's living in Equestria; even before the incident, they were the topic of nasty and untrue rumors.
“I heard that the counsel has over ridden her decree. Their sending a few scouting parties to investigate.” Fancy said. The two stopped in front of Blueblood's house. “I don’t know what they're going to find. I can only hope that trade can start up again soon. Even the comparatively small trade we had with them prevented our towns and cities from collapsing in on themselves….” He waved good bye to his friend, and then walked home.