Sweetie Belle's Guide to Global Pony Politics

by Solaris Vult

SBGGPP: Chapter 2 - Celestia's Final Orders

9:00 AM. 10th of Aquiline. 1612 APR. Central Equestria. City of Canterlot.

Sweetie’s hooves clipped to the hard stone floor as she dismounted the train… She had not been here in years, and it was exactly how she remembered, not like Ponyville, or anywhere else, this was the one place that remained how it always had been. It was rather calming. But, there was one unusual thing, the sheer amount of ponies present. Ponies from all over Equestria, mostly the wealthy who could afford the trip, had come to Canterlot… Seven years since the Princess had been seen by anyone other than Blueblood and her servants… It was a momentous occasion.

The ponies marched up the main street, up to the castle, Sweetie Belle marched on, the roar of marching hooves was almost deafening, although, after the rattle of train wheels it wasn’t all too different. On the balcony of a Canterlot home, the mare could see a recording crew making a projection of the scene below, the glowing crystal was pointed almost directly at her, she smiled and waved a hoof and the crew waved a hoof back. There were a few more crews, trying to record the whole of this event on enchanted crystals for the whole world to see, no doubt some of teams were already telepathically sending all this to projectors in Manehattan, Hoofington, Cloudsdale…

“S-Sweetie Belle?” A voice came from right next to her in the crowd, “Is that you?”

“Silver Spoon!” The mare said, surprised to see someone she knew. The silver-maned mare had clearly seen better days, but at least she wasn’t in the same condition as others that Belle had encountered today, the mare’s mane was a little disheveled, but she had a decent dress on, just plain grey, and a fedora.

“I can’t believe it, it’s been so long! You look great… I wish I could say the same about myself.”

Sweetie ran up and hugged the mare tight, any problems the two had from middle school had long been forgotten. “Don’t put yourself down like that, it’s been far too long. It’s so nice to see a familiar face.” Even the recording crew seemed to think so as the recording and broadcasting crystals focused in on them. ‘Reunited friends’ would have been a good story for the newspapers a decade ago, but now, the shot would probably only be used to emphasize how important today was for Equestria…

They talked as they walked to the castle, “So, where exactly have you been, you know, since…” Her voice lowered to a whisper, “Nightmare Moon destroyed Ponyville…” Sweetie said.

“Well, Mare died two years back, pneumonia,” Silver Spoon started.

“Old Mayor Mare?”

“Yeah, well… We elected a new mayor, and I ran, I didn’t think I’d actually win… I certainly wasn’t prepared for the job…”

“You’re Ponyville’s new mayor?!”

“Yeah, well, not for long I don’t think, I’ve only been barely holding the town together, after Sweet Apple Acres was torched, and you and your sister left, the town lost all its income, and, well, begging Canterlot for the funds to rebuild…”

Sweetie winced in sympathy, “Yeahhhhhh…”

“I mean, I’ve been trying my best, my best isn’t good enough though…” Silver Spoon paused, then quickly changed the subject as the uncomfort grew, “So, what happened to you and your sister, after you left, I mean…”

“I, I don’t really know, about Rarity… I went to live with my dad and mom, she just ran off on her own… A year ago Dad died, cancer, we knew about it for a while, by the time we could afford treatment the medical unicorns said it was too late, they couldn’t spell it away without taking most of Dad with it, so… Well, I moved to Vanhoover, been trying to get into politics… I don’t want to talk about Mom…”

“Oh… Oh, sorry, I wish…”

“It’s not your fault, I guess we’ve both had a rough time of it, in our own ways…”

“We’re not the only ones, quite frankly, Equestria’s gone to shit since Celestia vanished…”

Sweetie winced, that was very much on her mind, she just didn’t want to be the one to voice it… “L-Let’s just hope that changes soon…”

The two trotted in silence, they were now approaching the outer gates of Canterlot Castle, the unicorns at the door were scanning ponies for contraband, they had already three ragged old ponies being hauled away, Sweetie dearly hoped the rumors about the Prince’s guard were wrong… They waited patiently in line as pony after pony was scanned and then let through, the recording teams on the walls too were doing their own kind of scanning, the recording gem scanning over the crowd, no doubt a reporter was looking over the telepathic link and taking notes on what to say for when the recordings went public.

“I-I just feel like things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better…” Silver Spoon muttered to herself, but even over the eager whinnies and stomping hooves Sweetie could hear Silver’s worry, and it was, unfortunately, not unfounded.

The two had a brief period of panic as the guards washed them down with the scanning spell, but they got through the gates into the castle courtyard unmolested. The courtyard had once been used for festivals and parties, now, it was solely a place for Blueblood to give speeches, but for once, Sweetie was looking forward to seeing it, and in-person no less, before she only saw recordings on those crystal discs. Soon, the courtyard was filled, Sweetie and Silver were some of the last ponies in, and they watched as the gates were closed, the ponies on the other side trying to argue with the guards, desperate to see their princess again for the first time in almost a decade. There was an abortive hoof-fight, and a dozen or so ponies were dragged away in chains, and the guard had to force back the mob with spears, at least no one died, Sweetie was relieved to see, with this many ponies, all desperate for some hope of their princess returning, things could get ugly fast.

There were guards all over the walls, and several more recording crews, the sun was high in the sky now, the Prince marched up to the balcony of Canterlot Castle, much to the disappointment of all the ponies present, not that any of them dared to let their disappointment show, not in his presence, and not with this many armed guards around.

“Ponies of our fine kingdom, our great Equestria!” The Prince began, “In all of this magnificent kingdom’s great history never has it been more prosperous, more harmonic, more grand, than this fine day, as I, your prince, have done my utmost to bring our civilization up from the ashes that the Nightmare and her followers had left us in!” The crowd was evidently getting twitchy, “And, now, our great kingdom will rise greater still as our most magnificent Princess has at last returned to us from her chambers, ready to drive the kingdom forward into a new age of prosperity, peace, and wealth, and I vow to forever stand by her side as her most loyal and trusted prince and advisor!”

The golden doors opened, and out from the shadows stepped a figure… She was thin, her eyes had lost their shine and instead gained great dark bags underneath, her mane no longer flowed and flowed, but had gone matte and hard, rolling over her back in an unkempt mess, her wings were ragged, some of her primary feathers missing, her tail in an even worse state than her mane… That was her… Was that really her? That was really what had become of their mighty Princess, Sweetie didn’t remember much of the old Celestia, but that couldn’t have truly been her.

“Ponies… My ponies… Forgive me…” The princess began, her voice was weak, but over the quiet of the courtyard it could be heard clearly, there must have been some spell behind that… The Prince had started to look worried when the Princess’s appearance hadn’t warranted the cheers that he clearly expected, and even he clearly didn’t expect the state Celestia had been in. “I’m so, so sorry… My ponies, there is nothing I can do… You all have been suffering for so long, and it’s all my fault… I- I, I am not fit to be your princess, I cannot be, not anymore, not for a long time, a very long time, please forgive me… I cannot do this anymore.” The crowd was growing worried. “It is time you had a better ruler, one who would not let the kingdom fall into ruin like this, a ruler who would truly care and protect you, not as I have done…”

The Prince’s chest swelled with pride once again, and he began to say “I would be honored to-”

Princess Celestia cut Blueblood off mid-sentence, her voice regaining some of its old grandeur, “I hereby renounce my title as Equestria’s princess, forever, and with me goes the last Princess of Equestria, from now on, the ponies will choose their own leaders!” Blueblood’s jaw dropped, as did much of the audience, with gasps and whispers racing like a wild-fire through the crowd, “I have done so much to harm you all in my absence, and as such, I must be punished, but I cannot bring you ponies to punish me, thus, I shall take that task upon myself… Farewell… Forever, my little ponies!” And with that, her horn erupted in a shower of golden light, there was a brilliant flash and a beam of light that went racing upward faster than the eye could track… The sun unleashed a brilliant flare upon the ponies above, the sun’s hues turning a little more pink and cyan, and then… Gone… Where Celestia had once stood, there was nothing.

For a minute there was silence, just an inaudible horror from the audience and the guards, and a look of pure terror on the Prince… Then, in a single instant, it turned into chaos… The ponies were shouting, screaming, stampeding in all directions, many running up to the castle doors, trying to get inside, to see if their princess was really gone or not, others were trying to batter down the castle doors to get to the prince, thinking that it was somehow his fault that their princess was gone, the ponies ready to grind him into a bloody paste. The guards ran in, trying to contain the riot, but even with their spears they couldn’t scare the ponies into submission, they were only making the panic worse. The recording crews were angrily arguing over what to do, some kept recording, others shouted to stop recording, no one was listening to anyone anymore though. The Prince turned around and bolted into the castle, shouting “Guards! Guards!”

Sweetie rushed up, she had to do something, otherwise, with all the armed guards, scared unicorns casting random spells, and angry mob throwing blame at one-another for this disaster… It was going to turn into a bloodbath. Silver Spoon followed her up, using her earth pony strength to force the mob out of the way. Soon Sweetie got to the top of the stairs, where the ponies were trying to break the gold doors down, a shield spell built at the base of her horn, it was her specialty after all, and with a flash of green, every pony around the door was thrown backward, she quickly cast a spell to amplify her voice and then shouted.

“Everypony Quiet!” Her voice shook the pillars and nearly deafened the ponies standing around her, “Calm down! You heard our Princess! She wanted us to choose our own leaders! Don’t ruin her final command with chaos and bloodshed!”

The ponies in the courtyard all stopped in an instant at the deafening shouts, but they clearly made out the words being said, even if it took them a moment to process, the guards on the walls stopped trying to force their way down the angry mob, the mob at the door stopped trying to force their way in, mostly because Sweetie’s force field had both knocked them away, and also knocked the huge golden doors backward as well, just inside was the prince, tail caught by the huge fallen door, whimpering, clearly having tried to escape through a back-room before the ponies burned the castle to the ground.

“Y-Yes, the mare is correct,” The prince began to whine, “Now, if you would be so kind to help your prince get back up I would be glad to lead this great kingdom-” Silver Spoon stepped up and kicked the prince in the mouth, knocking him unconscious.

“That was for refusing to pay for my farmland reconstruction act…” Silver Spoon muttered.

Sweetie Belle cleared her voice again and dialed down the spell, “As our Princess’ commanded, we must put it to a vote, I demand a referendum to choose the next leader of Equestria!”

The ponies outside all started muttering, questions flowed from their lips, to each other, and the pony who had taken command, standing on the staircase, mostly a litany of “Who? When? Where? And How?”

Blueblood moaned, the guards raised their spears toward the mare who had attacked their prince, but confusion and a slight worry gripped the guards and they began backing away, they were very much not prepared for this.

“I agree with the Princess and the Mare!” A hoof, wrapped around a sledgehammer, raised in the back of the crowd, a mare, grey mane and grey coat, got to her hind legs and propped herself up with her hammer, a black star painted on her chest, “We must have a referendum!”

Soon, more hooves joined in praise of the “The Princess and the Mare!”, then more, and more, until the entire crowd was cheering… Sweetie Belle’s heart sank when she realized just what had just landed squarely on her shoulders, she had just gotten her wish, she was now a politician, and she was already regretting it...

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why don't you like the cover art?

[Solaris Vult]

10728554
Because I made it in a rush.