//------------------------------// // The Political Rights Debate Begins // Story: The Nineteenth Century: The Saga of Equestria // by mint20 //------------------------------// The Political Rights Debate Begins The Nineteenth Century: The Saga of Equestria (Text of the Grifoni-Equestrian Treaty of 1838) Article I: The Principality of Equestria shall extend a Loan of Sixteen and One Half Thousand Dollars to the Kingdom of Griffonia. Article II: The aforementioned Loan shall have an Interest rate of no more than One Percent, but may be less, at the discretion of the Equestrian Royal Council. The Council may change the Interest rate at any time, as long as it does not go above the aforementioned One Percent. Article III: The Principality of Equestria and the Kingdom of Griffonia extend full military access to each of each other’s militaries. Signed by King Odrynn, Ruler of the Kingdom of Griffonia, on January 21, 1838 Signed by Princess Luna, on Behalf of the Equestrian Royal Council, on January 21, 1838 (pending ratification) January 30, 1838 Canterlot, Equestria “...and you see this as a deliberate attack on your tribe,” said Luna. “No, Princess! I don’t think the Princesses are deliberately attacking the Earth Pony Tribe. Rather, I see an honest attempt to make Equestria strong. Unfortunately, that had the effect of polarizing the jobs in this nation. Nowadays, unicorns control all the jobs that matter, while us earth ponies are left to do all the hard labor,” said Silver Scroll, an earth pony intellectual, and writer of the pamphlet Earth Pony Voice. “And if we accept this to be true, then what has happened to the Pegasus Tribe?” asked Cadance. “The pegasi have been shifted into and dominate the military. Makes sense, considering the cultural and historical influence within the military.” “This has been most interesting, Silver Scroll. The Council will certainly take your grievances into account. Perhaps we can do something about it.” June 28, 1838 London, England Celestia, dressed in her full royal regalia, concealed a yawn. The coronation of Victoria as the next queen of Great Britain was hardly an exciting process, to say nothing of the fact that Celestia never really had much enthusiasm to sit through such processes. What snapped her attention back to the scene, though, was the noise of muffled gasps. Several lesser nobles had been giving homage to the new Queen, but apparently one had encountered some difficulty. That is, he had fallen down the steps and rolled all the way down. Celestia leaned forward slightly, wondering if she should make sure he was alright. Before she came to a decision, though, the man - she would later learn he was Lord Rolle - slowly got up. She saw that he was very old. As the man started back up the stairs, Celestia again wondered if she should do something to help him. The need was taken from her, however. Queen Victoria, after saying something that Celestia missed, rose from her throne, descended a few steps and met the Lord partway. The effect was immediate. Several mutterings that had begun in reaction to the Lord falling were swept away by a strong applause. Celestia joined them, clapping her front hooves together. That will definitely create a positive image with her people. The applause died down, and with it, Celestia’s interest in the proceedings. She settled back into her serene image, pretending to be paying devout attention, while, instead, her thoughts were a million miles away… The same day The same place “I am glad that you were able to make it,” said Victoria. Celestia looked the young human queen in the eye. “As a fellow ruler, I welcome you to our ‘order,’ for want of a better term. Being a monarch of a nation is both the best and worst thing that can happen to you.” “So I hear...you are not a constitutional ruler?” “No, no constitution or voting for Equestria. Rather, the four Princesses rule together, and we check each other. I understand that you have a Parliament.” “Yes. English democracy goes all the way back to 1215, and the signing of the Magna Carta, when English barons forced the king to accept certain reforms. The power of this proto-Parliament grew slowly over time, until the Parliamentarians won the English Civil War in the 1600’s. Since then, the Parliament has come to be recognized as the supreme power in the British Empire, trumping the king/queen. The human and pony spoke for a over an hour, speaking of things that actually had little overall importance; royal small talk, in essence. June 30, 1838 Ponyville, Equestria “Hey girls!” called Twilight, raising a hoof to her friends. “Twilight! It’s been ages, honey,” said Rarity. “It has,” agreed Rainbow Dash. All the other ponies nodded. “Where’s Pinkie?” asked Twilight, noticing the pink pony’s absence. “Working! Ponyville’s seen something of a population boom, and the Cakes need her help.” Twilight nodded, a little disappointed that she would not to be able to her friend. “It sure is good to be back in Ponyville, at any rate,” she said, as they walked along the streets of the small town, towards the castle that had been put there by the Tree of Harmony. “How have things been around here?” “Alright,” said Applejack, glaring at Twilight. “I have a bone to pick with you, Twilight, though. Why, in the name all things in Equestria, did you feel the need to abolish the townships?” Surprised at being put on the spot like that, Twilight got defensive. “W-well, we wanted to be able to get our westernization reforms done on time. Have you attended the Grand Equestria Pony Summit? Trying to make all those ponies do the same thing is like attempting to herd foals!” Applejack hesitated for a few moments, thinking about what Twilight had said. She then grunted and said “Fair enough,” a small smile appearing on her lips. Letting the matter drop, Twilight smiled as well. “It’s been...well, years! I’m sorry I was out of touch for so long, but I have been living in Canterlot, helping the Princesses with the westernization process. They even put me in charge of the Royal Ministry of the Sciences! But I finally managed to worm my way free. What’s been happening with you girls?” “My business is booming!” said Rarity excitedly. “The military has ordered so many uniforms, the normal manufactures have gotten absolutely swamped, and they contracted over a thousand uniforms out to me! I’ve made soooo much money, I’ve managed to hire a staff and actually open a whole chain of boutiques in Canterlot and beyond.” “That’s wonderful!” said Twilight. “I’ve been working overtime,” said Applejack. “The military has put in more orders for apples then I can even count! Business is booming here, as well. The Apple Family has racked in thousands and thousands of bits! We plan on investing more into our business, and start buying up more land to produce more apples, and we may even move into other food products. There’s even some talk of sending a few relatives abroad and starting up business beyond Equestria.” “Growing the Apple Family into the Apple Empire?” asked Twilight, teasingly. “Good for you guys.” “U-um, the military kind of...recruited me,” said Fluttershy softly. “They wanted me to join the...Ponyville Engineer Corps, as a...medic.” “A battle medic? Seems kind of strange for you, Fluttershy,” frowned Twilight. “Well...they said that you and Equestria needed me.” I need to talk to them about their recruiting methods, Twilight mentally noted. “Well, that’s...good news!” “The military head-hunted me, as well!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Apparently, I’m so awesome that they actually promoted me up a few ranks. You’re speaking to Third Lieutenant Rainbow Dash, of the Ponyville Air Cavalry. I’m responsible for overseeing weather operations that the Air Cavalry undertakes.”* “That’s awesome, Rainbow!” “Indeed, much like me.” So the conversation continued, with the five friends trading stories about all that happened over the time. After a while, the young-ish Princess noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to the right, she saw a newspaper with a large, bold headline: REGIONAL MAGISTRATE : HAVING MARRIAGE ISSUES? Twilight frowned and went over to the newspaper stand. Picking up a copy of the paper, she thought about the magistrate. Gold Star is a jealous pony. She would never allow something like this be printed. The magistrate has control over what is printed in papers. How did it get printed? “Oh, you’ve found the Foal Free Press. It’s gotten excellent recently,” said Rarity. “But...how?” muttered Twilight. “We put in a censored press policy. The magistrate would have censored it.” “I heard they found some legal loophole...something about it being a student paper.” Of course. A exemption was written into the law, granting student papers much more lenient treatment in certain circumstances. They must of managed to find a clever lawyer to help “expand” the definition of those exemptions. Without another word, Twilight paid for a copy of the paper and made a mental note to speak to the Royal Council. * Note: Rainbow Dash is responsible for weather operations within that herd only, not the entire Equestrian Army.