The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale

by StormLuna

Addressing Canterlot

Morning Discussions

The days after the attack seemed to drag as Celestia and I were recovering from our wounds but one thing few know is that Alicorns heal rather quickly so two weeks after the attack, both of us were up on our hooves and walking like normal. Both of us were tired though as the protests had continued to go on nonstop but luckily there had been no rioting since that night.

Celestia and I sat down for breakfast and began to discuss what needed to be done. I asked, "Celestia, given what happened what are we going to do? Are we going to address these protesters?"

Celestia replied, "Yes, we are going to address them after breakfast. I need to let them know that by them looting and burning out businesses, that they have made the situation much worse." Celestia got a grim look of determination on her face and continued, "I am going to have to let them know that this will not be tolerated. I am going to let them know that killing guards will not be tolerated and that attempting to assassinate us definitely will not be tolerated."

I asked, "Are you going to do an investigation as to who broke in that night and find the ponies that tried to kill us?"

Celestia replied, "I would like to but given how many ponies charged in, it would be unlikely that we could round them all up and I don't want to put any ponies that did not participate in trying to kill us in prison."

Now while I would round everypony in town up and interrogate them, Celestia, despite nearly being killed, still cared deeply about the residents of Canterlot and would not risk putting any innocent ponies on trial. She seemed to think that by simply addressing them and showing them that she wants them to stop this, that things will return to normal.

I asked, "Are you sure that simply telling them that such things won't be tolerated will be enough? Don't you think that threatening them with punishment would keep them in line?"

Celestia gave me a smile and replied, "Well I do think that telling them that breaking into the castle and trying to kill us will result in jail time, I think we should simply tell them that the rioting won't be tolerated. I think they are smart enough to know that continued rioting will result in jail time."

I sighed, "Well it is whatever you think is best. I would be a bit more harsh with them but you are the pony in charge."

While I consider Celestia to be very wise and trust her judgments, I couldn't help but think that her address wouldn't do much good. I hoped that it will likely stop the assassination attempts, but it probably will not stop the riots and loud protests at night.

Our Address to Canterlot

As Celestia and I headed towards the balcony I was curious as to who was going to go out first. I asked, "Celestia, which one of us will go out first, you or me?"

Celestia replied, "I think we should go out together but I think that I should be the one to speak first. If we do it that way, they will know that we mean business."

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I replied, "Alright, we'll do it that way."

As we headed towards the balcony I knew that we were going to be greeted with boos and criticism over our leadership skills and as we got to the edge of it, that is exactly what happened. Celestia raised her wings and lowered them in hopes of quieting them down but it did not work, the boos and the chanting of the word "TYRANTS" only got louder. Finally I decided something needed to be done. Using the loudest form of the royal Canterlot voice, I yelled, "SILENCE!"

This quieted the crowd down in a hurry as they had never heard me do that before. Once they were completely quiet I nodded at Celestia and said, "I think you should begin."

Celestia smiled and began, "Citizens of Canterlot, I know the split of Equestria and the downturn in the economy is harming you all but rioting is not going to help things. In fact, it is making things worse because now many of you are out of work and there is nowhere for you to purchase the goods you need."

A pony in the crowd yelled, "What does it matter? Our money is basically worthless with as much as prices have gone up!"

Celestia continued, "I understand that but that does not make the rioting ok. From what I understand this has not happened in other communities across West Equestria."

One of the working class ponies yelled, "Oh and how do you know this? Oh that's right, you have been up there in your palace sitting on your throne looking pretty and not having a care in the world while the rest of us have been struggling to make it by and eating the little food we do have!"

I had finally had enough. I yelled, "You know what? She has not been sitting on her throne doing nothing. She has been healing from the multiple stab wounds that some of you inflicted upon her when you killed the guards and broke into the castle! How dare you accuse her of not caring about anypony or anything!"

One of the wealthy ponies, Jet Set yelled, "Is that so? Even us upper class ponies have had to lower ourselves to living like these working class scum. You two need to give us money from the treasury so we can resume our comfortable lives."

Celestia interrupted, "Look, I am not going to put one class of ponies ahead of others. If I do open up the treasury and give the population here some help, it will be evenly distributed."

Jet Set yelled, "I do not think you should be giving them any money. They should not be able to live like us." After that both Jet Set and Upper Crust finished, "Psssh."

Fancy Pants yelled, "Princess Celestia, it has been three and a half months since the split. I would think that we would have the proper materials and food to allow us to return to our prior lifestyles."

Celestia replied, "Fancy Pants, I do not think you understand. Crops don't grow overnight, not only do we have to mine the materials but we also have to build the factories to construct the metals into various products."

I honestly don't think these Canterlot ponies understand much about the world and how things work. I think the elite ponies think that crops simply show up at the store and other products simply make themselves and the working class ponies are simply feeding off of the negativity projected by the elite.

Numerous spears were fired from the crowd as they began to chant "TYRANTS!" I was able to stop them with my magic before they hit us. I looked over at Celestia she looked terrified. A pony saw this and yelled, "You tyrant. I wish it would have been you who left rather than Luna! She would not have let this happen!"

Another pony sneered, "Just do us a favor and abdicate already, BOTH OF YOU!"

Celestia began to sob, "Is that really how you feel? Do you really hate us so much you don't us as your princesses anymore?"

A working class pony yelled, "No, we don't. I would much rather have Starlight Glimmer rule over us! At least then we could get everything we need and be prosperous again!"

The whole crowd shouted, "Here, here!"

While Celestia was sobbing louder I yelled, "You know what? You should be happy you don't live in Saddle Arabia where there is a civil war and hundreds of ponies are dying by the day. Celestia has done nothing but be kind and loving towards you and this is the thanks she gets? You should all be ashamed of yourselves!"

A wealthy pony yelled, "Well if Celestia would open up the treasury and give us elite ponies the money we are deserving of perhaps she would have our support."

Celestia was sobbing, "Like I said before, I would help all ponies equally."

All the wealthy ponies began yelling, "All of us? Those low class scum don't need anything! They're used to being poor."

This caused the working class to clash with the wealthy until I fired a bolt of energy skywards and yelled, "ENOUGH! THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. EITHER DISPERSE AND GO HOME OR THE ROYAL GUARD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU, ALL OF YOU!"

This caused them to go silent and head home. Celestia gave me an odd look and asked, "Twilight, I know you want them to calm down but I didn't want this address to end that way."

I was frustrated with Celestia at that moment. While Celestia meant the world to me, I thought her optimistic attitude was not stopping the problem. I sighed, "Celestia, had I not done that they would have probably started injuring and killing each other down there in the courtyard." I stomped my hoof and continued, "If it weren't for those bucking elite ponies thinking the world owes them everything, that clash would not have happened." I snorted and finished, "And they want us to abdicate? They think things would be so much better with Starlight Glimmer in charge? I am sickened that they would even mention such a thing."

Celestia replied, "Twilight, let's just see what happens. Perhaps they will calm down after what you did."

I said, "I doubt it. I simply think the tensions in this town are too high for them to calm down anytime soon."

For the rest of the day I was mad, very mad and Celestia could sense it. While we talked and interacted like we always do, I was becoming extremely frustrated, not just with the ponies in Canterlot but with Celestia. It seems like she doesn't even understand how mad and hateful the city has become. I know she likes to keep an optimistic outlook on everything but just like when she had to banish her sister to the moon when she tried to kill her, she needs to take a similar approach to this. Do I mean she needs to banish them all to the moon? No I do not but the lawbreakers need to start being punished. If we don't start punishing them, this chaos will only continue and chances are there will be more assassination attempts.