Election in Ponyville 3: Destiny at Stake

by StormLuna

Amethyst's Interview

Author's Note:

Given that this is an interview, it will mostly be in back and forth dialogue format.

Interview Preparations

The following Saturday arrived and Amethyst and Sea Swirl were both getting their house ready for Sunny's arrival. Amethyst noticed her working hard on getting things clean and said, "You know, you don't have to help me get all this cleaned."

Sea Swirl replied, "Well I just want things to be perfect." She looked into the living room and continued, "How about you get your screen set up and go through all the papers you think you'll need for when she interviews us."

Amethyst didn't think much about how her wife had said "us." She figured that unlike it was in the past, that Sea Swirl was likely going to remain home. She had a feeling that Sea Swirl thought that maybe Sunny had a crush on her and was going to make sure that Sunny did not try anything.

After they ate lunch, the two prepared for Sunny's arrival. While Amethyst was calm and collected, Sea Swirl wasn't so much. She asked, "Amethyst, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can sweetie," replied Amethyst "you can ask me anything."

"I don't mean to sound paranoid or anything but just from the way she acted when she talked to you after we voted on primary day, do you think Sunny Flames has a crush on you?" asked Sea Swirl.

"A crush?" questioned Amethyst.

"Yes, a crush." Sea Swirl replied, "She just seemed different. It seems like she absolutely adores you."

"Well I'm not going to worry about it and besides, we're married now and I'd love it if you'd stay here during the interview."

"I was hoping you'd say that!" exclaimed Sea Swirl, "Besides, I think with us being married now it would send a much better message to the voters if we were seen together, at least at the very beginning."

"That is very true." Amethyst agreed, "Other mayors who are married across the country are often with their spouse for a small while in their interviews so why not us?"

Sea Swirl said, "Don't worry though, when you're getting down to business, I'll let you be the one the cameras focus on."

"Thanks, that would be much appreciated."

Unlike it had been in 2016 and 2020, Amethyst felt much more supported as unlike then, Sea Swirl wanted to actively be a big part of her political ambitions. As she began going through the recent business permit applications, she not only felt happy that her wife was firmly with her, but that the applications were going to help her push the town even further in the direction she wanted.

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The Interview

Sunny Flames and her crew had arrived in Ponyville earlier in the morning and when the time came to go interview Amethyst, she couldn't help but be happy. As she looked around, things appeared to be progressing even further than they were in the spring. More modern brick houses were going up in town, what appeared to be a new restaurant was going up, one with a unicorn statue by the doorway. She thought to herself, "Oh yeah, another unicorn owned business!"

It was five minutes before three when Sunny and her crew arrived at Amethyst's house. Unlike the place she lived in four years ago, it was a fully modern house and Sunny could hardly wait to see what it was like on the inside. When she knocked on the door, her wait to enter was short. Sea Swirl answered the door and said, "Sunny Flames, it is good to see you."

"You as well." replied Sunny.

When Sunny headed into the front room, she was not one bit surprised. There was Amethyst with a screen set up and a stack of papers, showing that she was fully prepared. She approached her and greeted, "Amethyst Star, how is Equestria's best mayor doing?"

"Quite well thank you." replied Amethyst.

Sunny asked, "So what do you think about Princess Twilight being your opponent? Are you nervous?"

Amethyst replied, "Hardly. I already have plans on how I can turn this town against her."

"Good. Now shall we get started?" Sunny asked.

"Certainly, let's shall." replied Amethyst.

The cameras began rolling and first focused on Sunny. "Good evening Equestria and welcome to Politics Equestria." The cameras then shifted to where they were showing the three sitting across from one another. Sunny continued, "And this evening I am interviewing Reform Party Candidate and incumbent mayor of Ponyville, Amethyst Star along with her wife, Sea Swirl." After introducing them she first brought up them being together, "Before we get started, has anypony brought up the fact that you are in a same sex marriage? How has it been received?"

Sea Swirl replied first, "Well nocreature has even brought it up. To the creatures here, it is a non-factor."

Amethyst added, "What matters to the residents here is how I am handling the town and how that is impacting their lives. Things such as a same sex marriage may be an issue in other communities but Ponyville has progressed enough that such things aren't even thought about as important."

"Alright," began Sunny "during the spring debate you provided proof that your policies have caused the town to grow further and has resulted in the construction of two additional schools. During the debate, you brought up that was made possible by full scale casino gambling. How was that received?"

Amethyst replied, "Back in 2022 when I held the special election, over 90% of the population voted for it so outside of a few hard line traditionalists, it has been met very well."

Sunny asked, "I noticed multiple things that are different from 2020. One thing I noticed is that Ponyville has streets that resemble those in Manehattan. That is a vast change from the Ponyville of old. How did the ponies react to the construction of those?"

"Like it was with the passing of full scale casino gambling, it was met very well. It certainly made life easier for the taxi company that moved in earlier this year. Now the taxis can move at the same speed they are back in the bigger cities. The best thing, rain storms no longer create mud that slows them down."

"Alright, now in the spring debate you showed proof that money flowing into the town coffers was continuing to increase. Would you say that more revenue is being generated now."

"Certainly." Amethyst replied. She found the papers that showed the increase in tax revenue. She projected it and continued, "Beginning in late April, construction on a new restaurant began and that of course brought in more workers and thus, more ponies spending money and thus, more sales tax revenue was generated."

"I noticed the restaurant in construction when I got in town. Are there any other construction projects that will be starting soon?"

"There will be. Recently I granted approval for a night club to be built, a large grocery store to come in and also I granted approval for a metal works factory to be built on the northeast end of town, not too far away from the Everfree Forest."

"About these, could you provide some information on these businesses?"

The camera then turned its focus to the screen before Amethyst continued, "Certainly." Amethyst projected the approved permit application for the night club first, "As you can see, the night club that will be coming in is owned by UniClub, which is owned by the parent company of UniBiz."

Sunny asked, "Alright, now are there any others?"

Amethyst moved on to the next application. She pointed to it and continued, "And the second one is for a UniGrocers supermarket. Yes for as long as we can remember all the food here was sold by local vendors in a market but because of the increasing demand for food and food items that other creatures want, a grocery store that will supply all kinds of food. It will supply meat products for the griffons and ponies, such as myself, who do like meat, produce, bread products and so ponies no longer have to travel to Canterlot to get their medications, it will include a pharmacy."

Sunny replied, "It sounds like this grocery store will make life much easier for ponies. Now for the metal works factory you brought up."

Amethyst went on to the next permit and continued, "And this one for the metal works company is for a factory that will produce things like iron horseshoes, steel beams since more and more buildings across the country, especially ones here, are being steel reinforced. Metal is fast becoming a larger part of Equestrian life and this factory will help meet demand."

Sunny asked, "I see that the factory will be owned by UniFactories. Is it also under the parent company of UniBiz?"

Amethyst replied, "Yes. With as successful as the hotel and casino have been and they have gotten nice returns from their investment in the Sky Needle, UniBiz is primarily focusing on Ponyville. They have even rented out the whole top floor of the new office building because they are moving their corporate headquarters to Ponyville."

Sunny asked, "Do you have any concerns that some ponies may feel that UniBiz is going to wind up over running Ponyville to the point where it will own all the businesses here?"

"No I don't," Amethyst replied, "There are still plenty of locally ran outfits. The bowling alley is still locally owned, Barnyard Bargains is still locally owned, the spa is still locally owned and I'll see to it that it stays that way."

"Amethyst," Sunny asked "so if you are re-elected, what sort of plans would you put in place? Would you ever consider bringing back some traditions, traditions such as having normal winters and having Winter Wrap Up again since the traditionalists are calling for its return?"

"No way in Tartarus." Amethyst replied, "The moment I brought in the mages to handle things, the economy started to boom and as long as I'm mayor, no antiquated tradition will be restored. Not only would that harm the economy overall, it would put many creatures working here out of work for three months of the year and a majority of the city has no desire to have to deal with such backwards things."

Sunny asked, "What other plans would you have if you were re-elected? What could the city expect you to do?"

Amethyst replied, "Well my primary plan is to keep things going the way they are. With the continued growth and increases in spending, I doubt we'll have to worry about increasing sales taxes. Business taxes will remain the same, our 7.5% tax on winnings over 1,000 bits at the casinos will remain and naturally, the absence of a municipal property tax will remain."

"That sounds all good Amethyst. Well Equestria, our time here is almost up so Amethyst, is there anything else you would like to say to the voters to persuade them to vote for you?"

"Yes, there is." Amethyst replied, "If you want to keep things prosperous, if you want to continue to see everypony have what they need and you don't want to see the city's economy crash and burn, vote for me on November 5th."

"Well that was Amethyst Star, incumbent and Reform Party candidate sharing her views and providing everypony with the information they need to know for the election. Up next, I will be interviewing her opponent, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Once the cameras went black, Sea Swirl was the first to say anything, "Congratulations honey, you did well! I know you'll keep them on your side with that."

Amethyst replied, "Thanks sweetie, I certainly hope so."

Sunny Flames wanted to ask something off the record, something that she knew that the traditionalists had been thinking, "Amethyst, I couldn't help but notice that all the business that are coming in are owned by unicorns. Are you trying to make sure that the old traditions never return?"

Before Amethyst could reply Sea Swirl loudly exclaimed, "Of course she is and I couldn't be happier! All those old traditions were idiotic and hopefully if we can get enough rational thinking unicorns in town, they'll never return."

Amethyst couldn't help but chuckle, "You know sweetie, you have changed so much in the past four years! Back in 2020 you would have said that was a bad thing!"

Sea Swirl returned the chuckle, "Well times change and compared to 2016, Ponyville is so much more prosperous. Everypony is doing so much better off, even those farmers who threw such a fit over you providing them with an extra harvest."

Sunny cut in, "Well ladies it has been nice but I had best get going. I still need to interview Twilight and when I scheduled her interview, she seemed less than friendly."

"Well good luck dealing with her." Sea Swirl laughed.

Amethyst added, "Don't be surprised if she doesn't have that dragon of hers taking notes. I could see her doing something to use it against you and the network given how close to the traditionalists she is."

"I'll keep that in mind!" replied Sunny.

Once Sunny and her crew left Amethyst's house, Sunny was rather happy. She knew that if Amethyst had her way, that this would be the year that old traditions would be gone for good. As she headed towards Twilight's castle, she sighed, "Well here we go, time to interview somepony who misses some traditions."