The Announcement
The snow crunched under her hooves as Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted towards the town square of Ponyville. Despite the days becoming longer, it was still a brisk winter day. Each exhale created a momentary white fog before fading away. Each inhale filled her lungs with freezing air that stung her insides. And even with a heavy scarf and thick woolen hat, she could still feel the cold seeping through her coat and saturating her hide. She eagerly looked forward to going indoors and warming herself beside a roaring fire, preferably with a mug of hot chocolate or spiced cider in one hoof and an exciting book in the other.
But Twilight Sparkle was not alone in braving the wintry weather. Dozens of other ponies filled the scene, all hurrying towards the center of town. A few pegasi flew overhead, somehow immune to – or oblivious of – the freezing cold. Most townsfolk, being earth ponies or unicorns, trotted down the snow-laden street. A few fillies and colts darted about, playing impromptu games of tag, causing more than a few of the adults to nearly trip.
The town hadn’t seen this this many ponies out since the festivities leading up to Hearth’s Warming a few weeks earlier. And, Twilight suspected, there wouldn’t be this many until the Winter Wrap Up events in a few weeks’ time. Whatever was coming, it had piqued enough curiosity of the town’s residents to lure them out of their warm homes into this this biting cold.
Twilight scanned the masses, looking for a familiar pony. Of course, being the Princess of Friendship meant she knew almost everyone and counted them as friends or neighbors, or at the very least acquaintances. But she was particularly looking for one of her closest friends to chat with. She inspected the pegasi above but found neither a yellow nor sky blue pegasus. Not even a fading rainbow streak could be seen. She searched the ponies in the street. She kept expecting to see a conspicuous white fur hat with glistening gems atop the head of the town’s fashionista, but sadly she came up empty. Continuing to search, she finally spied a familiar brown Stetson hat up ahead among the colorful sea of knit caps. Hurriedly she made her way over to her friend.
“Applejack!” she called as she slowly navigated the massive crowd of ponies.
“Twilight Sparkle, how’re y’all on this fine day?” returned her friend, working her way against the current of ponies headed downtown.
Upon reaching the orange earth pony, Twilight stated flatly, “Cold!” She ruffled her wings and pulled her had down further on her head to emphasize the point.
“Well, it is winter ya know.”
“Yes,” Twilight conceded. Observing her friend, she asked, “How come you aren’t so cold?”
Applejack chortled, “Ah’m an earth pony. We’re made to be outside working, no matter the weather. Not like them unicorns – err – no offense.”
Twilight smiled, “None taken. And to be honest, I don’t think I prepared myself enough for the cold. As a filly, I always spent the winter inside curled up with a good book. Though now that I think about it, I also spent my summers inside reading books. And every spring and autumn.”
“No surprise there,” Applejack laughed. “If’n y’all are really cold, I reckon Rarity could outfit ya with a heavy coat an’ some fancy boots.”
“Maybe I’ll have to take her up on that,” Twilight sighed. “Still, I wish Pinkie Pie had held this event indoors or waited until after Winter Wrap Up. Do you have any idea what this is all about?”
Applejack shook her head. “Nnope. But Ah do know my Pinkie Sense is going off.”
Twilight eyed her suspiciously. “Your Pinkie Sense? Don’t you mean your Apple Sense?”
“Nnope, it’s Pinkie Sense. Every time Pinkie says she has some big announcement, Ah get the sense it’s gonna cause me some heartburn.”
Twilight nodded, “I know what you mean. Whatever it is, it’s enough to drag everypony from their home in the middle of winter.”
The two neared town hall only to be shocked at how packed the town square had become. It seemed as if the entire town had come out for the event. The square was quickly nearing capacity with perhaps hundreds of ponies in attendance, far more than town hall could have held. At the surrounding buildings, every balcony held groups of spectators and even several roofs hosted a few onlookers. Overhead pegasi flew, making wide lazy circles while waiting for things to start. Still the masses continued to push forward, cramming every available space. Twilight wasn’t sure if it was to get closer to the stage so that they could better hear the announcement, or so that they could share body heat and fight off the cold together. The whole scene was enough to give any public safety officer a nightmare.
“Lookie there,” said Applejack, managing to get a hoof up and point off to the side. “That’s Buried Lede, the pony who interviewed us about Rarity’s store in Manehattan.”
“And there’s Byline from the Canterlot Chronicle and Front Page from the Baltimare Sun. Every major newspaper in Equestria has a reporter here.”
“Not just Equestria. There’s a hippogriff, a griffon, an’ is that a Saddle Arabian?”
“I don’t know what it is, but whatever Pinkie has planned is going to be big,” admitted Twilight. “I think I have a headache coming on.”
“Now it sounds like you’re getting a Pinkie Sense.”
Twilight glared at Applejack, who looked away and whistled innocently.
“Your attention please!” came a voice from the stage. Mayor Mare had taken her place at the podium. “It is so good to see everypony –” she glanced at some of the foreign journalists “– every creature, is here. Before we hear from Pinkie Pie, I’d like to take a moment and say a few words about our speaker. As you all know, she is one of the Elements of Harmony. She has worked to keep Equestria safe these past few years. Events that would have made others cower in fear, from the threat of Nightmare Moon to the chaos of Discord to the havoc of Tirek and the tyranny of the Storm King, Pinkie Pie has never lost faith and has stepped forward to fight for a safe and peaceful Equestria. But more than that, even before she was the Element of Laughter, she worked to ensure the happiness of everypony in town. I don’t know what Ponyville would do without her. She truly is a national treasure. Now, without further ado, I give you Pinkie Pie.”
A wave of hoof stomps echoed throughout the town square, dampened only by the packed snow. Still this was more than made up by the loud cheers and hoots of encouragement from the crowd. Mayor Mare stepped aside and a pink pony gleefully bounced across the stage and took the podium.
“Hello everypony!” she cheered.
“Hi Pinkie Pie!” many townsfolk echoed back.
“I’m super doper mega ultra hyper excited you all came out to hear my big announcement. I want to tell you – oops, I forgot I have a speech written for me.” She giggled as she reached into her big puffy mane and retrieved a series of notecards. “Ahem. These are the best of times. The economy is booming. Stocks are at record highs. Businesses are raking in bits. Unemployment is at a record low. Technology is progressing rapidly. But this is also the worst of times.”
A sudden sense of foreboding hit Twilight and she ruffled her wings nervously.
“Not everyone is having a good time. Some are very sad. There are a lot of frowny faces out there. I want to fix that. I want everyone to smile! Smile! Smile! Smile! That is why, today I’m officially announcing my candidacy for President of the United States!”
A silence swept over the crowd. A pin could have been heard if it wasn’t for the icy breeze blowing through town square. Applejack and Twilight turned towards each other and shared an unspoken alarm. Their Pinkie Senses were dialed up to eleven.
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I’d probably vote for her, at this point anything is better.
You see have a face and follow I'm morbidly curious what this next year will bring and having the pink horse along as a independent would be interesting.
10090563
If only that adorable Rainbow was running.
10090661
If Dash was running, I don’t know if I would want to frantically run away in the other direction, or frantically run toward her in the hope that she won’t screw everything up, and actually do her job.
Welp. Guess I have to see where this goes...
*suppresses urge to shout political views*
I'd love to see Applejack run for president.
I'd vote her.
You know, her foreign policy would actually be an interesting topic to speculate on...