It would be dawn soon, yet it felt as though the night would stretch on forever. Gosling stood on the battlements, exhausted, and taking a bit of a break. The cooing of pigeons could be heard below, they too knew the dawn was coming, and they waited for the rising of the sun. Passenger pigeons, playthings of the nobles, who used them for pigeon racing. Now the birds were being used for communications once more, and the many pigeon races, one of the favourite pastimes of the nobles, had kept the birds in shape for service.
Already, the birds were being enchanted, just like in the days of yesteryear, with aversion spells, protection spells, augmentations for speed, and attunements that allowed them to fly to the location desired with pinpoint precision. For whatever reason, the nobles of Canterlot had kept these practices alive and well. Their pigeons, once the pride of the Equestrian Empire, had been the primary means of communications, along with the pegasus pony express routes, both civilian and military.
In his guard training, Gosling had taken a history course detailing the service of the birds. He understood their purpose, their function, and there was a part of him that was pleased to see them return to service. The signal corps once had its own massive flock of pigeons, but with the coming of the telegraph, the birds had been retired, and with them, many jobs involving the birds had vanished.
It had been the end of an era, the retirement of the birds and the entire logistics wing dedicated to supporting them, in very much the same way that the invention of the train had changed everything. Gosling reflected upon all of these changes as he looked up at the stars, struggling to keep his eyes open and remain awake. He was witnessing yet another massive change, and when the sun rose, it would shine upon a very different Equestria.
The scent of coffee and tea tickled his nose. Below him, many of the nobles and citizens of Canterlot prepared for the coming morning. Seeing all of these ponies working for the common good made Gosling happy and gave him hope. There was quite a buzz below as Princess Cadance was expected soon.
Princess Luna would be departing soon for Manehattan, Gosling didn’t know what was up, but he knew that something big had happened. He knew that he would find out in time. As for Celestia, she was sleeping. She needed sleep, she needed rest, even with the crisis going on. Truth be told, Gosling needed sleep as well. He was waiting for the dawn, and when it came, he would go to bed, but he had promised to remain with the nobles throughout the night.
They were his army, and he owed them that.
Hearing hooves on the stone, Gosling turned his head and saw a weary looking Shining Armor approaching. He wasn’t wearing his armor, but he was wearing a cloak draped over his back for warmth. Gosling gave him a nod as he approached.
“So, Shining, any news?”
Eyelids sagging, ears drooping, Shining Armor came to a halt beside Gosling. He yawned, shook his head, and flicked his tail. He drew in a deep breath and then replied, “A major battle was fought in Manehattan. Princess Luna is going to deal with the aftermath.” He shook his head, looking sad. “From my understanding, Luna lost some ponies she knows. I don’t know them, but she seemed quite shaken by the news. Four unicorns did battle with one of Mister Mariner’s agents. Luna said they died with a stiff upper lip.”
“Four on one? And they still lost?” Gosling’s ears stood up.
Shining Armor let out a sigh. “There was help. Mariner’s agent was aided by changelings. Strange changelings. If the report is to be believed, free changelings of independent mind.”
“Was this agent captured?” Gosling asked.
There was no reply from Shining Armor, not right away. His back drooped and his tail sagged. He let out another sigh, this one made him sound quite weary. “This agent poured poison down her own ear rather than be captured. There was a fierce battle, I don’t know everything that has taken place just yet. I do know that one of the changelings was taken alive and he is being brought to Canterlot.”
Hearing Shining Armor’s words, Gosling discovered that he was too exhausted to be filled with fury, or anger, or anything really. He was tired and had trouble mustering any sort of emotion about the situation. He was almost asleep on his hooves. He let out a disgruntled whinny, which was all he could do at the moment. Faced with a bleak feeling of despair, Gosling nudged the subject over to something else.
“Think we’ll be able to fix all of this?” Gosling asked.
“No,” Shining Armor said without a moment’s hesitation. “Mister Mariner knew what was he was doing. He has exposed all of the cracks in the system. He has shown us that the great nation of Equestria has hooves of clay.”
“I don’t understand.” Gosling really didn’t understand. Things seemed as though they could still be fixed, but it would take some doing. Also, some unpopular acts would have to be done. “Can’t the Sisters just make things stay the way they are? I’ve been thinking about it. Why not just seize his property? Take the apartments, the factories, the everything, and just force it to stay open. Keep the workers working—”
“Gosling, it isn’t that simple,” Shining Armor said in a weary voice as he shook his head.
“Help me understand, so I’m not so stupid about it. I want to help. If I can’t understand it, I can’t help.” Gosling saw Shining Armor looking at him in a strange way and he wondered what Shining was thinking. “Why can’t the Sisters just keep the factories going and why can’t ponies keep their jobs?”
Shining Armor closed his eyes and stood there for a moment, his barrel expanding and contracting as he sucked in the cold night air. It seemed darkest and coldest right now, before the dawn. “Gosling, even if the factories stayed open, how would the workers get paid?”
“With money?” Gosling replied.
“What money?” Shining Armor’s eyes opened. “Whose money? All those millions of ponies that Mister Mariner employed, how do you propose we pay them? If the Sisters were to pay their wages, they would be bankrupt before the month is over.”
Hearing Shining Armor’s words, Gosling’s ears drooped. “What about taking Mister Mariner’s money to pay them?”
“Gosling, here is a little secret. The money in this country, it is all a lie.” As Shining spoke, his eyes glittered and the corner of his mouth twitched. “In fact, pretty much everything you think you know about wealth and prosperity is all crap. It’s all a lie, a clever deception, and it is one fostered by the Sisters.”
“What?” Gosling took a step backwards.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Shining admitted. “So, let’s start with the good old days. A long, long time ago, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna owned everything. They owned the land, they owned the ponies, they had all of the wealth. The nobles had a little bit too. But wealth was a physical thing. The wealth that the Sisters had was the wealth of the nation. So they protected it, nurtured it, they made sure that it grew, because if it grew, the nation grew with it. Are you with me?”
Gosling nodded.
“And so it was for a very long time. Equestria’s wealth was real. It was a physical thing. And for a long time, this was enough. Equestria grew quite wealthy under the just rule of Princess Celestia. Princess Luna was banished at this point. With all of the wealth, there was something of a revolution. The ponies of Equestria wanted some of it. They wanted to own land, be wealthy, and to have something to show for all of their hard work. Princess Celestia advised against it, because even then, she knew the consequences.”
As Gosling stood watching, Shining Armor took a deep breath, and then continued.
“There was a revolution of sorts, and Princess Celestia, not wanting it to turn into a bloody civil war, allowed it to happen and she gave her subjects what they wanted. Wealth.” Shining Armor spat out the last word as if it had a bad taste. “And for a time, everything was okay. A new merchant class sprang up and their money rivaled the nobles. The merchants weren’t like the nobles though, they didn’t have centuries of wisdom regarding wealth and how to care for it. The merchant class was only happy if their wealth grew and kept growing. It was a reckless contest among them to see who might make the most coin.”
Gosling tilted his head to one side, this didn’t sound so bad, in fact, it sounded pretty reasonable. He was himself a firm believer in making money, and he liked earning extra pay with hard work. He wondered how this could be a bad thing.
“The merchant class grew and grew, and with them, guilds. Soon, a major problem became apparent. A big problem that none of the now wealthy peasants had even thought about.” Shining Armor shook his head in disgust. “There is only so much wealth… and the more one has of it, the less there is to go around. Land is a finite thing, so are resources, and wealth has to be backed for it to be valuable. With all of the new wealthy peasants and landowners, physical wealth in this country became spread thin. Suddenly, everypony was poor, including Princess Celestia. With the new merchant class having so much money, suddenly, her vast holdings weren’t worth as much, and neither was anypony else's.”
“Huh?” Gosling’s mouth fell open.
“It all comes down to availability, Gosling, and the more ponies that have wealth available, make it harder to come by for those born in poverty. Wealth has gravity, it consolidates if you aren’t careful.” Shining Armor gave himself a shake and began adjusting his cloak, spreading it over his back and neck.
“I don’t understand,” Gosling said as he turned away from Shining Armor. He felt stupid for not seeing the problem, and still felt that wealth was a good thing, though he was starting to feel some doubt.
“With the merchant class now having money, and the guilds, everypony felt entitled to ‘finding their fortune.’ It became a big part of our society. Young ponies left home and were told to find their fortune. Everypony was entitled to a certain amount of wealth, or so they thought, if they worked hard. And this is where everything goes wrong.”
“How is that a bad thing?” Gosling asked. “You work hard, you get paid, you make money, and life gets better.” He was a firm believe in this himself, and Gosling was proud that he made as much money as he did at his age.
“No.” Shining Armor shook his head. “Nope, life gets worse, the lie gets bigger, and the problem festers, growing larger.”
“Explain.” Gosling’s eyebrow arched.
“None of Equestria’s money is real,” Shining Armor admitted in a low voice. “That’s the problem. For everypony to be wealthy, nopony can be wealthy.”
“What?” Standing there, stupefied, Gosling’s mouth fell open.
“Mister Mariner is a billionaire. But I can assure you, there are not a billion coins in Equestria. I’ve been inside the Canterlot Royal Treasury. There are no coins in there, no gold bars, no piles of gems. Inside of the Royal Treasury, all you will find are books, Gosling, ledgers. With the millions and millions of ponies we now have in Equestria, and with all of them making money and wanting to live comfortable lives, real actual wealth vanished a long time ago. None of the money is real. It’s all make believe, Gosling, numbers written down on paper, and none of it is actually backed by anything, like how it was back in the old days. Ponies like Mister Mariner and others can’t become billionaire barons… nopony could. The resources aren’t there. But to hold them back… would be considered tyranny. A pony has a right to make their fortune.”
Knees now knocking, Gosling felt as though the rug was being yanked out from beneath him.
“Ponies like Mister Mariner have more wealth and resources than the Sisters do. Mister Mariner is Equestria… and ponies like him. He is part of a vast machine that creates imaginary money and spreads it around to ponies, money that is worthless, meaningless, and has no value. And with but a soft touch upon its brittle clay hooves, the empire could crumble.”
And Gosling could say nothing.
“So, here is where the Sisters stand… seize his assets? What assets? A set of numbers in a ledger somewhere? If the Sisters do anything, anything at all, if they move to seize his fortune and it causes a panic among the other rich and privileged, what do you think will happen if a bunch of wealthy ponies all suddenly decide to pull their money out of the bank? Money that doesn’t exist? All of these ponies, with all of this imaginary money, and all of them wanting to pull their so called wealth out of a system they no longer believe in… and then what happens?”
“I don’t know,” Gosling said in a hoarse whisper.
“This country falls into anarchy, that’s what happens.” Shining Armor’s ears angled forwards over his eyes. “Now we are held hostage by the lie, it has grown, gained power, has become a terrible monster that threatens to devour us all. Even the Sisters live in fear of it, it rules Equestria through fear and keeps us all too divided to battle against it using tactics such as social class and wage disparity.”
“But it isn’t real,” Gosling whimpered.
“We made it real by choosing to believe in it,” Shining Armor snapped. “Ponies want to believe that they can grow up and be millionaires or billionaires. Mister Mariner came to this country broke, with nothing to his name. He worked on the docks, saved, scrimped, bought his own business, and then began to buy the businesses of others. He gives hope to others that they too, can do the same. But for this hope to exist, we have to continue living the lie that the wealth we have is real.”
“So… in order to achieve the Equestrian dream, you have to be asleep?” Gosling asked.
Shining Armor nodded. “More or less. None of this is real, Gosling, and with recent events, all of this could come toppling down. Nopony wants to discover that they have nothing and everything they believed in was a lie.”
Gosling nodded. “Not a good feeling… not a good feeling at all.”
As Gosling spoke, the first rays of pink appeared upon the horizon...
This. This is gold.
What lesson could be harder than this?
I guess only time will tell
I've got to say, the longer the story gets, the more depressing it gets. It started out as romance, now it's economic theory and the downfall of society. I hope there's a payoff in all this...
7507034
A young pony grows up and learns the reality of rule. He grows. He gains wisdom. And in the end, he choses to do what he feels is the right thing, even if it is impossible.
ahhh, the Crash. how fondly we look back on that nightmare now
Hey Kudzuhaiku it looks like equestria is in need of a New Deal.
The concept of this is bullshit dude. If the money has no physical means to back it up, CREATE that physical means. Make it more than just words.
My answer would to create nodules of magical energy into a network. Basically the first form of virtual currency. It is more real than their words, and as it is energy it can be generated easily, especially if it is one of the alicorns or even discord that makes it.
Money's worth is affected byt how much people abide by it, no matter what it is. So whether it is bars of gold, dollar bills, or data points in a computer, its worth is made by those who say it is so collectively.
So even gold could have been viewed as worthless if for some reason Copper was deemed more vuluable.
....... Also i wanna point out that the different between mariner and the regal sisters is that by the end of the day, everything he has is fake, but what the sisters have is very real. Actual power. Power that cannot be taken by word of mouth. Resources mean nothing, weapons mean nothing to it. The power they, as individuals, have compared ot his, and a will to use it for good and harmony.
Still saying that luna could pull a major propaganda ploy by going into the dreams and revealing the truth to ponies over time.
To make it not overly long, while we lack the power to create something to equivalate the virtual code, equestria has means we do not to do so.
7507128
Money, and by extension, poverty, exist as a social contract. We agree to follow the rules of wealth, and to enable wealth and allow it to happen, a vast percentage of the population must be poverty stricken. Wealth is given value through the suffering of others. If everybody had what they needed and had no need of money, than wealth would be worthless.
An alternative would be to have someone not related to the Sisters successfully assassinating Mister Mariner.
7507186
And what would that accomplish, really?
Finding him would be the trick.
7507191 What it would accomplish is that none of the sisters would take the blame.
7507196
Mister Mariner starts fight with Sisters, ends up dead!
7507198 Is his magical ally that same nightmarish goat that Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie were trying to find?
7507144 at the very least, that is how it often ends up.
7507204
That would be telling.
Her ear, that's an unusual point of application, was that something real or just for this story?
7507228
Shakespeare. Might want to do a little reading.
7507222 I know. That's why I was guessing in that question.
7507034 I wanted a romance myself. There is nothing romantic about this arc. I kinda wanna skip it and get to what is really important: Love.
*goes honking off into the sunset*
7507263
Engagement ball coming soon.
With love comes responsibility.
Ah, there inherit trouble with any system of economics: At the end of the day, whatever currency you use is only as valuable as society collectively agrees it is.
What is a bit worth? The gold it's minted from? What is that gold worth? The amount of energy needed to mine it, smelt it, and cast it? What is that energy worth? The labor required to produce it?
Sure, why not?
How much labor is a loaf of bread worth? How many hours of baker's labor equal one hour of miner's labor? How do you measure labor? How do you exchange it? What if you have a machine to do labor? How many hours of machine labor - labor which does not in itself require food, water or rest - equal one hour of baker's labor?
At the end of the day, the only currency that matters is labor, and the only labor that matters is the labor required to take something that you want away from someone else. So what's the best way to protect what you have? Find someone else who's willing to share with you, and combine your labor, in the process deciding what different kinds of labor should be worth in terms of available resources, of course.
Ah, there inherit trouble with any system of economics: At the end of the day, whatever currency you use is only as valuable as society collectively agrees it is.
Did anyone ever tell you the definition of "insanity?"
7507236 Have never read any of The Bard, a little too stuffy for me.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/22/db/a1/22dba1c8a69314b71f7f2e62d190f9a1.jpg
Wanted to say something on their economy, but realised it's a sad reflection of our own.
7507364
Inserting a glass rod into your urethra and then punching yourself in the junk?
7507366
Pff, Shakespeare just sounds stuffy to us 'cause the language has changed a bit. Once you get used to it you realize it's roughly 75% dick jokes and bad puns.
7507228
Theoretically can be accomplished with the right solvents and agents (consider DMSO for solvent), but it should be more effective if swallowed or applied to a typical mucus membrane (snorting it up the nose for example).
7507503
Swallowing some poisons can trigger vomiting, which means you might live. Pouring down the ear can avoid this effect.
Or so I've read.
7507518
No that's a fair point, some toxic agents can trigger a vomiting response. For spies who want to kill themselves, this is obviously an unacceptable outcome. As far as instant and reliable results with poison, injection is the best method but carrying a syringe around is suspicious for a spy.
7507518 God old cyanide as per the movies.
7507013
Actually it's a Fiat currency. From the sound of things, they've long since moved beyond the gold standard.
7507868
*inhales*
BOI
7507450 Don't forget the stabbing! I like to compare his plays to the Deadpool movie when people mock them.
As was mentioned, even a gold standard is still a fiat currency at heart. After all, what happens if enough people think the gold itself is worthless?
The more I read Shining Armor's speech the more I am all "He's not even wrong". That is perhaps unkind. If you consider wealth as only physical things such as land, metals, gems, then perhaps his theory of economics is correct. Wealth can and does beget more wealth. If your wealth is based on the possession of particular physical objects alone then yes, people with a lot means that others must have little. This is the problem when the size of the pie is limited to a certain size. To increase one slice makes others smaller.
But we know that wealth is not finite! We can make the pie bigger. Shining Armor says how this happens but is blind to its effects. Mariner had nothing and worked and worked and now is basically toppling a country. He says the dream of becoming rich is a lie because the currency isn't backed by real coinage or land, but manifestly Mariner amassed real wealth with tangible effects!
Because wealth isn't a physical thing. Shining Armor is right that money is sort of a shared dream, but without the shared dream of money then things run aground on the problems he outlined in his history lesson of the merchants. Only so much to go around and people get trapped.
Which is not to say that the dream of money does not have it's problems, because it manifestly does. It's why most countries set regulations about business and monopolies and other sundries relevant to economic function in an effort to make sure the dream of money does what the people need and want it to do. Even I as someone who leans libertarian know there must be rules. We can argue about what rules and how many, but the game must have rules.
It seems Equestria did not have rules to avoid this sort of thing. I don't know if Mariner's empire may have fallen afoul of perhaps anti-trust law in somewhere like the US, but I feel like that sort of consolidation is usually prevented in many economies.
TLDR: Shining Armor's definition of wealth is woefully lacking. So lacking it is frankly a bit embarrassing. Silly pony, wealth isn't ever the coin or the land, but what is done with them. The idea and the work and the exchange thereof. Money is always a dream, 'backed' or otherwise. But as I sit here and type on a magic box about a story based on colorful ponies that someone dreamed up, I know that shared dreams are just as real and powerful as gold.
7507022
Well, iron is harder than gold, so...
The current insability seems to be more likely to cause a run on the banks than seizing his assets would.....l even if its only on the books. Indeed that makes it easier to take it. After all the crash is undermining confidence in the system... and confidence in the system is what the money is based on.
Hope Cadence can somehow help make things right.
7507518
I don't know... I mean, I taste the xylometazolin nose spray every time I apply it and it sometimes makes me a bit unwell. If the poison takes the eustachian tube, it still ends up around there...
7508397
From what I read, these poisons are absorbed through the thin skin inside the ear, go into the bloodstream, and directly into the brain. The effect is almost instant. Usually brain hemorrhaging happens as blood vessels begin exploding.
7508468
Hm, yes, quite possible. In pharmacy, you are careful what you let people drop into their ears...
Many drugs are also nowadays taken buccal or sublingual to avoid the first pass effect, like strong painkillers. Very quick results.
Is this all an allegory for the Great Depression? I really feel like I just read a textbook.
7509087
The Great Depression?
No. This goes beyond that.
I don't know how I missed this update. Probably deleted the email while I was waking up. Oh well this is a interesting yet kinda depressing chapter. It got me to think. Good job. Keep up the good work.
-BFBL
If it's become a monster, it must be slain. Sounds like it's time to declare martial law, dissolve the economy, and go full state-communism for a few years.
What? Everything's already on fire. What's society going to do, catch double-fire?
7507013
Actually, you'll find that it's really a concerning lack of gold.
7509748
Alright, all ready.
If the system is that rotten, it is outright time to burn it down and rebuild it to prevent these abuses from happening again. It's very clear if they don't, then forces hostile to them will burn it down and rebuild it in their own hostile image to the detriment of everypony.
7509987 That's the American System. Kudz just told you everything that is wrong with the "greatest country in the world" which you never would have realised had Kudz not put a different name on everything
7509748 Never let anything go double fire. That's one of the steps to exploding TWICE!
7510319
I'm well aware it's the american system.
7510319
The world, actually. It's called the money myth.
Is this story just a way for you to rant on your economic and social world views? If so, it's done brilliantly, but still I wonder.