The End of the Crusade

by playnwin

Chapter 5 - The Final Coda

Chapter 5 - The Final Coda

Alone, amongst a crowd of hundreds, Sweetie Belle stood, offering greetings and polite small talk. Maneuvering her way between crowds of ponies, she slipped into and out of conversations with dozens of ponies, Fancy Pants here, Hoity Toity there, even Prince Blueblood for a quick moment, making sure to greet all of the most influential ponies at the party. Hours passed, smoothly gliding between groups, likely meeting everypony at the party, and certainly meeting everypony who had been invited.

Eventually the socialite meeting dwindled, ponies leaving in pair or groups, each satisfied with the event, each imagining their climb upon the social ladder that had resulted of their night. Eventually the only pony left was Sweetie Belle, who, with a long, extended sigh, took in her surroundings, and the mess that had been left behind. Such duties of cleaning up always landed upon the host.

Luckily, the host herself rarely had to do it, as she had an extensive cleaning staff who faced this task regularly, and, in return, was paid generously for facing the extensive task of cleaning the dregs left behind by high society. Leaving behind her personal tip, a set of refined jewels, one for each pony, Sweetie Belle abdicated to her personal study, where she found peace and solace in the quiet held within.

Collapsing into a plush chair, Sweetie Belle looked over the stack of letters that had been delivered to her desk during the party. Numerous from admirers, which would be read at a later point, but rarely responded to, as Sweetie’s personal time to respond to such letters had been steadily shrinking and shrinking. Several from political advisors, which would be placed priority, upon the start of the next day. The last, a large, bound package, was labeled in a neat, precise script that Sweetie immediately recognized as belonging to her onetime mentor, Twilight Sparkle.

On the outside of the package was a note. Pulling it from the package, Sweetie Belle opened it, and read it’s message aloud to herself.

“Found this while doing some spring cleaning. I thought you should have it. --Twilight”

Frowning at its ambiguity, Sweetie Belle pulled the wrapping off of one side of the package, and turned it over. From the interior of the package came spilling out a worn journal, covered in soot and dust. Brushing it off, she flipped through a few pages, and realized that it was her journal, from when she was studying under Twilight, first learning magic and music. She reached over to set it back on her desk when a picture came tumbling out. With another frown of annoyance, Sweetie Belle exerted her magic to bring it floating up towards eye level.

When she saw the picture, a jolt of loneliness shot through Sweetie Belle. The picture had been right before The Event, where they had each gotten their cutie marks. It had also been one of the last times the Cutie Mark Crusaders had spent time together.

With a sigh, Sweetie set down the picture. Their separation had been mostly her fault. When they got their cutie marks, Sweetie Belle had been so excited, she had immediately drawn up plans to travel, expand her magical and musical skills. And, what had seemed a good idea at the time, she had left immediately. Her pilgrimage had taken her across Equestria and beyond, to Griffonia, to the Zebrican Tribes, to Saddle Arabia, and at each stop she learned a new instrument, or a new skill, or a new trick.

When she returned to Ponyville, she could do more magic tricks than Trixie, play more instruments than Octavia, but she had no friends to share it with. Scootaloo had gone off to be a Wonderbolt already, and Apple Bloom was engrossed in some technological revolution or another, and Sweetie Belle was alone.

Initially, she had moped around Rarity’s boutique, but Twilight and Fluttershy had arranged for her to perform for a local group, who had wanted the Pony Tones, who had been previously booked. Eager to do anything besides mope, which had gone on long enough, Sweetie leapt at the chance to perform. Conjuring a dozen instruments, she had enraptured the audience, who had seen such performances before only from an orchestra. Facing wild applause, Sweetie had left the stage, only to be invited to three more performances.

Each performance, she would change genre, instruments, style, everything. Each of her performances was unique, and as a result, became wildly popular. Soon she was traveling Equestria, an orchestra in Canterlot, or an army of DJs in Phillydelphia. Ponies of all statuses began to clamor for her performances. Taking a cue from Rarity’s book, she began to acquire connections in the higher lifestyle, becoming a pony everypony should know.

And soon, she was. But she never fully fit in with the upper class, could not understand their cutthroat tactics among friends. The lower classes had an especially hard time wherever there was a high concentration of upper class ponies. Growing tired of this imbalance, she had a private discussion with Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Mayor Mare. Mayor Mare’s term was nearing its end, and she had made mention of retirement. Over the course of several hours, she had explained her plan to join politics, to help the poorer ponies, and had received the three’s solicitations. With Ponyville’s top three socially important ponies supporting her, she won the election hands-down.

Serving her stint as mayor, she quickly discovered her capabilities for politics, and the social side to it. She could handle ponies well, leaving everypony feeling satisfied after a compromise. She excelled at reading ponies as well, and just generally was a successful mayor. She did, however, hating being called “Mayor Belle”.

Approaching the present, she had served two successful terms as mayor, she had moved to Canterlot, where the wealth gap was the highest, and the poor the most oppressed. This was were she was now, in the middle of a campaign to become mayor of Canterlot. Her major opponent was Prince Blueblood, who represented everything the rich stood for, had large amounts of money and influence, but didn’t have the successful political experience Sweetie Belle had. So each side was hosting parties and running campaigns, but the race was neck-to-neck, and neither side had a clear advantage. So, as of now, the race continued.

A knock on her door startled Sweetie Belle out of the light doze she had fallen into. When she looked outside the door, nopony was there. Looking down, she saw a scroll, tightly wound, held shut by a glittering red ribbon. Sweetie grinned, the was exactly one pony in Equestria this letter could have come from. Opening it up, she read the note:

“Dear Sweetie Belle,

Twilight Sparkle has invited us to lunch at the library in Ponyville, to discuss your run for Canterlot mayor. She says to be there by two in the afternoon. I’ll be there early to help set up. She says to come in the front door, as opposed to your usual back, because the back door has rusted so much it’s become inoperable.

Sincerely,

Rarity”

Glancing at the clock, she saw that she had just enough time to catch the twelve-thirty train to Ponyville, where she would arrive just in time for lunch. Sighing that luck was on her side, she grabbed her overcoat, and dashed out the door.

Author's Note:

So yeah, I can't music. So politics it is, instead. And yeah, this is pretty much a giant flashback story, except for Chapter 2. Sorry 'bout that. Anyways, please comment, and have an acceptable day!