Re-Election in Ponyville: Defending Her Turf

by StormLuna

Primary Debate

Author's Note:

Given that this chapter involves a political debate, it will be done almost entirely in a back and forth dialogue format.

Amethyst's Preparations

The day of the first debate had arrived and in her house, Amethyst was going over all the spending records during her tenure in office, making sure she had all her facts straight. Unlike it was last time, she was showing no nervousness and was not obsessed over her appearance and Sea Swirl noticed this, "Amethyst, are you ready for tonight?"

Amethyst replied, "Yep, just reading over things to make sure I have all my facts straight."

Sea Swirl gave her a smile, "Good. That is what ponies are going to be expecting from you, a pony who has her facts down and knows everything that has happened during her tenure."

Amethyst looked at the clock and realized that it was an hour before the debate was set to begin. She got up and headed towards the exit, "You coming Sea Swirl, you want to come see me do what it takes to advance to the general?"

Despite being the town clerk, Sea Swirl never had been big into politics and had no desire to go, "Nah, I think I'll stay home. I already know what you'll say, I know what the traditionalists will say and I don't feel like putting up with Iron Will and all his arrogance."

Amethyst headed towards the exit and sighed, "Very well, you have a good evening."

---

Pre-Debate Discussions

As the time for the debate neared, the media was getting set up to cover the event. Like it was four years ago, Sunny Flames and the crew from ENC were setting up and Breaking News, the head reporter for the Ponyville Express was readying himself to moderate along with Sunny.

Breaking News was no fan of Sunny Flames given that it seemed like she showed favoritism towards unicorns and would likely go on and on about how great Amethyst is and how she has improved the town significantly. When she got within earshot all he could think to himself was, "Ok, as long as things don't get heated, everything will be fine."

Sunny too was no big fan of her fellow moderator but unlike him, she had no problems working alongside a local reporter. She greeted him, "Hello Breaking News, long time no see!"

Breaking News felt that the greeting was demeaning but knew he had to remain calm, "Hello Sunny, it is good to see you."

Sunny replied, "Likewise." She looked around and noticed that the community had doubled in size, that the crowd that was gathering was far more diverse than it was four years ago and much to her delight, at least half the crowd was unicorns. She gave him a smile and added, "Wow, Amethyst wasn't kidding when she said she was going to change things around here." Her smile became bigger as she continued, "And from what I understand, Ponyville's deficit will be eradicated two years ahead of schedule."

Breaking News gave her a scowl, "Yeah thanks to a sales tax, increased revenue from more businesses and increased tourism because of the complete eradication of winter."

Sunny got a huge smile on her face, "What, she ordered the weather mage to scrap winter entirely?" Her voice became more proud as she continued, "That is a stroke of pure genius! I'm betting that not only is it bringing in more tourism, I'm betting all the farmers are profiting off an extra harvest every year!"

Breaking News knew that this would happen, he knew that Sunny was going to think that everything Amethyst had done so far was the best thing in the world and it was all he could do to not just blow up at her. He sighed, "Well Hearth's Warming certainly isn't the same and the foals miss being able to do all the fun winter events they used to do."

Sunny rolled her eyes over what she considered outdated thoughts and said, "Well let's get ready, the debate will be starting shortly."

Ten minutes had passed and once she had been notified that they were on the air Sunny began, "Good evening Equestria. My name is Sunny Flames and beside me is Breaking News, the head reporter for the Ponyville Express." She turned towards him and asked, "This year's election is going to be rather unique because a Minotaur is running for office. How does Ponyville seem to be reacting to it?"

Breaking news replied, "Actually there hasn't been any negative reaction to him running nor does anypony know much about what he would want to do if he were elected."

Sunny faced the cameras again and continued, "Very well. Let's meet tonight's candidates. First we have incumbent mayor Amethyst Star of the Reform Party, we have the former mayor of Ponyville, Miss Mare who will be running as an independent, we have Applejack who is running under the Traditionalist Party and we have Iron Will who is running under the Ponyville First Party."

Breaking news added, "Tonight the candidates will not go into too much detail but we should get somewhat of an idea that if they were to be elected, what they would want to accomplish."

---

The Questioning of Applejack

The time for the debate had begun and given that they were going to focus on the traditionalists first, Breaking News was determined to ask the first question, "Applejack, many ponies know that your family is very traditional. Are there any old traditions that you would want to restore if you were elected?"

Applejack was not certain exactly how she should answer this because she knew that ponies were better off with Amethyst in charge but then something hit her, the weather. She replied, "For the most part yes."

Sunny interrupted, "How so, what is it you would want to return?"

Applejack replied, "Now I don't know if you know about this or not but in the name of economic improvement, my competitor ordered that the weather mage keep winters around here warmer. She claimed that not only would it bring in more tax revenue from tourism, that it would also allow farmers to make larger profits because of an extra harvest."

Breaking News wanted to get the next question in but Sunny knew enough about Applejack that she couldn't resist maintaining control over the questions, "Applejack, from what I understand, you are a farmer. Have you been able to get an extra harvest each year and generate larger profits."

Applejack knew exactly what the moderator was up to but also knew that she had to be honest. She replied, "Actually yes, Sweet Apple Acres has generated more profits."

Sunny was quick to question her again, "From what I understand, because of profits from the extra harvest, you were able to take your grandmare to Manehattan to get her hip replaced. Is that correct?"

Applejack gulped, "Yes, we were able to."

Before Sunny could get another question in, Breaking News knew that he couldn't allow a traditionalist to be ambushed like this. He asked, "Applejack, how would you say ponies have reacted to Amethyst and her weather mage altering the weather as much as they have?"

Applejack replied, "I would say that many ponies aren't as happy, especially around Hearth's Warming. Yeah the outdoor pageant is nice but ponies miss the winter fun, they miss building snow ponies, they miss the horse hockey and I know some miss Winter Wrap Up."

Sunny tried to get another question in before Applejack continued, "Want to know another group that isn't happy? Many of the earth pony farmers are not happy because without cold winters, we now have to rely on unicorn mages to not only engage in pest control but also to rejuvenate the soil."

Sunny asked, "So do you have to pay for the services these mages provide or do they do it for free?"

Applejack knew that this might be her chance to capitalize on how Amethyst seemed to be against public funding. She replied, "The mages are paid by the town and we do not get charged for the services they provide."

Sunny got a huge smile on her face and commented, "Well that is nice of Amethyst to provide those services for free. I would think all the earth pony farmers would be grateful. Not only does Amethyst have them provide those services for free but you also get an extra harvest every year. That sounds like a win-win!"

Applejack had enough of the reporter's praise of Amethyst. She yelled, "That may be so but it is not traditional! Earth pony farmers have never had to rely on UNICORN MAGES for their livelihood but thanks to Amethyst, that is now pretty much mandatory!"

---

The Questioning of Miss Mare

Breaking News wanted to get a more sympathetic question in for Applejack but that would not happen. Sunny moved on, "Ok, now on to our next candidate, the former mayor, Miss Mare." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Miss Mare, how would you say the quality of life in this town has changed since Amethyst took over? Would you say ponies are doing more well off, would you say that they have more money in their saddlebags?"

Miss Mare knew that like Applejack, she was being ambushed by the unicorn. She replied, "Well I think so. Ponies seem to be able to buy more and the businesses are doing better."

Breaking News was not about to allow Sunny to take control of this situation as well. He quickly asked, "Miss Mare, if you were to be elected again, are there any things you would want to change? Would you want to restore any of the old, long held, beloved traditions?"

She knew that her time to shine had arrived and replied, "Actually yes. First I would scrap this whole weather mage thing and return our weather to how it used to be. I will restore winter, I will restore all the fun winter activities and while a very small minority complained about it, I will restore Winter Wrap Up. With our much larger population now and Twilight's organizational skills, we should be able to get it done on time every year."

A majority of the newcomers, particularly the ones from the big cities knew little about the activity except that they would actually have to do hard work to change the seasons along with some of the locals let out a loud groan when they heard this but she would not be unsettled by this.

Breaking News continued, "Along with the weather, what else would you restore?"

Miss Mare replied, "I would make sure that all festivals are publicly funded. I remember how wonderful those used to be, I remember how a majority of the community would attend them and have fun. Now it is just primarily the ponies who are close to the rich pony who made it happen. The festivals aren't as special as they used to be."

When she said this, all the traditionalists began to cheer loudly and chant out Mayor Mare over and over. Finally Sunny had had enough of her counterpart running the show on this one and figured it was time for a tougher question, "Ok, you want to reinstate public funding for these festivals and restore the old weather patterns. Aren't you worried that not only will that cause a drop in tax revenue but also an increase in town expenses, thus returning a recurring deficit?"

Miss Mare knew this was an ambush question but was not about to allow it to rattle her. She replied, "In the past that may have happened but we have much higher levels of tourism than we used to so I honestly don't think it would hurt the town financially to restore some tradition." She looked over towards Amethyst and added, "I think that with the way things are now, we can have our beloved traditions and not run a deficit."

Again the traditionalists began to cheer as Miss Mare stood there with a proud look on her face. She believed that this could be the statement that would at least help her advance to the general election.

---

The Questioning of Iron Will

Sunny then spoke up, "Very well then, let's move on to the next candidate, Iron Will of the Ponyville First Party." She cast her gaze at him and asked, "Iron Will, this is the first time that a Minotaur has ran for any public office in Equestria, ever. Why should the citizens of Ponyville vote for you?"

Iron Will knew that this was his chance to capitalize on the whole town, not just the ponies. He replied, "Iron Will believes that everycreature should vote for Iron Will because not only will he continue on with some of Amethyst's economic policies, but he will also restore the traditions ponies used to love so much and he will not discriminate against anycreature!"

The attendants that were not ponies began to cheer loudly as did the more open minded ponies in the community. Breaking News waited for the crowd to quiet down and asked, "Iron Will, when you say you will keep some of Amethyst's economic policies, which ones are those?"

Iron Will replied, "Well Iron Will knows that one of Amethyst's goals is to eventually eradicate the municipal property tax and Iron Will desires the same. Iron Will also wants to keep the business friendly practice of lower business taxes and Iron Will thinks that keeping the sales tax of 2 cents per bit is necessary to keep the budget surpluses running."

Sunny knew the time had come for her to try and expose weaknesses in him, "Iron Will, what about other things? What about the annual pay raises for the town's employees? What about keeping Cheerilee in the top 10% of well paid teachers and what about the dam?"

Iron Will replied, "Of course Iron Will will continue to make sure the town's employees will continue to be paid well and that the teacher will be paid as well. Iron Will knows that well paid employees do a much better job and regarding the dam, Iron Will will see to it that it remains the most advanced hydro-electric dam in all of Equestria."

---

The Questioning of Amethyst Star

Sunny was shocked that she was not able to get a single weakness exposed in him or his promises and realized the time had come to question Amethyst. She replied, "Very well." She then turned to Amethyst and continued, "And finally we have Reform Party candidate and incumbent Amethyst Star."

Breaking News believed that perhaps he should ask the incumbent mayor the first question since he knew more about how things had been running, "Amethyst, you made a lot of promises when you campaigned four years ago. Would you say that you have kept your word?"

Amethyst knew that Breaking News was not thrilled over the election last time and figured that by being completely transparent, that she could not only win over any undecided ponies, but rattle him. She replied, "Actually yes, I would."

He asked, "How so?"

Amethyst replied, "Like I had promised in the last election cycle, I had stated that I would make sure that Ponyville would get its debt to The Royal Bank of Equestria paid off and the way things stand right now, we are two months away of doing so."

He asked, "Would you mind providing documentation of this?"

Amethyst ordered, "Could somepony set something up that I could project our payment records to the bank?"

A couple minutes passed and what Amethyst had requested and she projected the first page and began, "Alright, here is year one of my term and as you can see, our payments at first were small since we had not generated that much revenue yet." She then projected the second page, "And here are the payment records for my second year. As you can see, as we generated more revenue, the payment amounts increased." She then displayed the third year, "And by my third year, our payments became large enough that we got on track to pay this off well ahead of schedule." She then projected the payment records for the first two months of the current year and finished, "As you can see here, our balance is now low enough that all of the money we owed will be paid back in a couple of months."

Breaking News sat there with his jaw dropping open. What he had hoped would be a tougher question that may rattle Amethyst, instead became her chance to show how truly transparent she was with how she had been handling things but then another thing crosses his mind, something new she instituted, the sales tax.

He asked, "Very well but in the second year of your term, you instituted a two cent per bit sales tax. Do you think that has harmed anypony or priced anypony out of buying certain things?"

Amethyst replied, "Actually no. The businesses here in town are continuing to generate profits and here is the thing about that sales tax. Rather than only hitting local residents like the property tax does, it affects everypony who shops here and with our increased number of tourists, it has generated a lot of revenue and thanks to it, we will be paying off that debt."

Sunny knew the time had come to ask Amethyst a tougher question to show that she was not showing the incumbent any favoritism. She asked, "You have mentioned that the town will be paying off that debt soon and when you ran last time, you stated that you wanted to eradicate the municipal property tax. When do you plan on doing so?"

Amethyst replied, "Once we get the whole debt paid off, I will be issuing an executive order that on January 1st of next year, there will be no more property tax."

Breaking News chimed in, "And why next January, why not immediately?"

Amethyst replied, "To be fair to everypony. Some ponies have paid their taxes already and some do not until later in the year. Eradicating it the day we get everything paid off would be very unfair to those who who have already paid their taxes."

When she said this, a large portion of the audience began to cheer, especially those who had already paid their taxes. They knew that not only was Amethyst transparent with the town, that she also believed in fairness.

Before the debate ended Breaking News wanted to get in one more question, "Amethyst, as everypony knows the moment you brought in the weather mage there were suddenly a lot of pegasi that were unemployed and had to relocate. How do you think this affected the town?"

Amethyst grabbed another sheet and projected it for all to see. She began, "As you can see, in the first few months of my first term, there was a decline in revenue going into the towns coffers but once plenty of new businesses moved in, we saw a surge in growth and thus, a surge in funds flowing into the town's coffers."

Breaking News wanted to know more, "Alright, so in the end the town has not suffered financially but what about friendships that were torn apart? What about the pegasi whose primary talent involves handling the weather?"

Amethyst replied, "I do know there were friends that had distances placed between them but some of the old weather ponies did find other jobs here and I am certain that more job openings will come along and those pegasi can relocate back here and find work."

Breaking News was not thrilled that it seemed like all Amethyst cared about was the economic side of things. He was so flustered that this gave Sunny the opportunity to ask the final question of the night, "Amethyst, from what I understand the demographics of Ponyville have changed significantly since the last election. Has this caused any disharmony here in Ponyville."

Amethyst stood tall and replied, "Not at all. It seems as though everycreature is getting along just fine. I know some ponies may not trust our new non-pony residents nor do they trust those who relocated here as much but they have not caused any problems and I am glad that they chose Ponyville. They have made what was already a great community even better."

When she said this, all the newcomers began cheering loudly and chanting Amethyst's name over and over. With that statement from her, most all of the newcomers knew that only one candidate was showing that she truly appreciated them, Amethyst.

---

Post-Debate Discussions

Before either one could get another question in, Sunny got a beep in her ear. She said, "Well our time here is almost up." She turned to Breaking News and asked, "Breaking News, you know quite a bit about politics around here, who would you say won the debate tonight?"

Despite being a strict traditionalist, he knew that he couldn't be overly emotional or show any attachment to a candidate. He replied, "Well to be honest, I think Iron Will won it because not only does he want to keep some of Amethyst's policies that have brought in prosperity but he has also made it clear that he will restore the traditions that so many ponies who have lived in Ponyville for so long loved."

Despite knowing what her answer would be he asked, "And what about you? Who do you think won the debate."

Sunny gave the cameras a smile and replied, "I think Amethyst Star won this one easily. She has made it clear that she has accomplished what she promised four years ago and showed us town records that prove it. She was very transparent with the town records she showed us and I am certain that the citizens of Ponyville appreciate that."

Breaking News said, "That may be true but given the nature of Ponyville, I am certain that with Iron Will promising things that will appeal to the reformists, the newcomers and the traditionalists, he should be able to pull this off."

Amethyst countered, "I see that Iron Will did make those promises but could he actually live up to those promises? Amethyst Star has a proven track record that she has made things in Ponyville better and given that the situation for everypony has improved, I would think that she would be the candidate they flock to."

She got a beep in her earpiece signaling that they were out of time. She added, "Well everypony, that is all the time we have tonight and thank you for watching. Up next is the debate in Vanhoover."

---

Moderator Argument

Once the cameras stopped rolling, Breaking News figured that he should tell Sunny his real feelings on things. As she was getting up he said, "You know something Sunny, you honestly don't get how things are around here. You don't understand that tradition is important and a candidate who promises to restore it comes along, they will go with them."

Sunny couldn't help but snicker a bit over the comment, "Seriously, you know as much as I do that the unicorns here are throwing their support behind Amethyst and the newcomers, mostly those who came here because of the friendly business climate aren't going to go against the hooves that allowed them to come here to start with."

This frustrated Breaking News because just like it was last time, the news personality from back east simply wouldn't believe that tradition was all that important. She saw the flustered look on his face and added, "Besides, if tradition is so important, why was it that Amethyst destroyed Miss Mare in the last election." She got a bigger smile on her face and added, "Because they put the welfare of their community first, they put the welfare of their foals first and they knew that the old ways of doing things simply didn't work anymore."

Breaking News had had it with Sunny and her favoritism for Amethyst. He raised his voice and commented, "Just like it was last time, all you unicorns stick together and in the last election I was proven right. Amethyst had every single unicorn eating out of her hooves." He gave her a scowl and a snide comment, "Ugh, the way you act I can't help but wonder if you don't have some sort of marecrush on her."

Sunny rolled her eyes and the two parted ways. Sunny had worked with many local reporters when it came to moderating debates but Breaking News was the only one she had ever had any kind of squabble with but this time he hit a new low in her eyes. While it did bother her she wasn't going to let it get to her. She said to herself, "Come on Sunny, don't let him get to you. He is just a local reporter who is stuck in the past."

Comments

[neobyzantium]

I agree, Breaking News IS stuck in the past! Also, Sunny made mincemeat out of Applejack which is realistic as Applejack lacks political know-how and is only in this election to turn Ponyville into the pro-Earth pony community it once was despite its glaring faults.