Election in Ponyville 3: Destiny at Stake

by StormLuna

A Summons from Celestia

The morning after the interviews aired on ENC arrived and Twilight woke up in a foul mood. She had watched both Amethyst's interview and the one of her own. She felt as though Sunny was asking Amethyst easy questions and never once put her on the spot while she had her on the hot seat throughout the whole interview.

When she got up she groaned, "Ugh, curse that Sunny Flames. She made things so easy for Amethyst....."

Spike then came running into her chambers holding a scroll, "Twilight, you got a message from Princess Celestia."

Twilight took the scroll and began to read it.

"Dear Princess Twilight,

I really need to speak to you regarding your interview last night. I am not going to share much but could you come up here alone? I really don't want anypony else listening on this."

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia"

Twilight threw her hooves up in the air and began to panic, "Spike, she wants to talk to me alone. What if she forces me to withdraw because of how I behaved during that interview?"

Spike tried to calm her down, "Twilight, I don't think she is going to make you withdraw. The most she might do is give you advice on how to behave in the upcoming debate."

Spike's advice did calm Twilight down, temporarily anyway. Soon though she would begin to panic again, "Spike, she might but I know for a fact that she supports Amethyst! She even told me that she didn't want me running when I filed! She seems to like Amethyst as much as Sunny Flames does!"

Again Spike tried to calm her down, "Twilight, I'm sure Celestia only likes Amethyst because of her wiping out the debt. I know that if you talk to her for longer, she'll be more supportive of you."

Twilight began to head towards the exit and sighed, "I sure hope so."

Twilight then took flight towards Canterlot. As she was flying up there, she couldn't help but think of all the bad scenarios that could happen. She had a very strong feeling that the least Celestia would do is convince her to change her views on things to make her more electable while the worst thing she thought about was, "What if she makes me come back to Canterlot? What if she ascends Amethyst, gives her my castle and makes her Princess of Ponyville?"

Twilight's mind was running so fast that she got to Canterlot in what seemed like nothing flat to her. When she arrived, she headed straight towards the castle and the throne room. When she arrived, she saw that Celestia had more of a neutral look on her face, not the warm smile that she normally did.

She approached the throne and asked, "Princess Celestia, you wanted to speak to me?"

Celestia got up and replied, "Yes, but not in here. I don't want to risk anypony hearing our conversation."

Twilight followed Celestia and would be surprised when they were headed to Canterlot tower, a place so secure that only Celestia can get into. When they got to the doorway, Celestia lit up her horn, inserted it into the hole in the door and cast the proper spell. Once the doors swung open, Celestia ordered, "Follow me."

She did as ordered and when the doors closed, Princess Celestia began, "Twilight, I saw that interview with Sunny Flames and I must say, I'm not thrilled."

Twilight immediately commented, "I'm sorry Princess Celestia. It is just that she was constantly asking me hard questions, she insulted me about not having a job and that being why Winter Wrap Up wouldn't inconvenience me any."

Celestia continued, "And why did you lie about knowing so many ponies who miss the old traditions? You know as well as the voters down there that a majority of the city is either newcomers or long term residents who celebrated when those old traditions were done away with."

Twilight sighed, "Ok, I know I shouldn't have lied. I just want to make it sound like more ponies miss the old traditions than really do."

Celestia continued, "And what was up with the conspiracy theory claiming how some individuals and businesses would claim that three months of winter would kill them? You know as well as I do that three months of cold weather would kill tourism and harm creatures because they would go without a paycheck for three months. NOPONY is going to go to a place that is cold for an out of town trip, NOPONY."

Twilight was quickly being flustered and felt like her former mentor was attacking her, "Princess Celestia, why are you attacking me over this? I remember how much you loved Ponyville and its close-knit nature and the traditions when I first went there. Why is it now that you seem to love what Amethyst has done? Why is it you seem to love Amethyst for ruining it?"

Celestia was becoming frustrated but didn't want to go on the offensive against her former protege, she decided to be calm and truthful, "Twilight, I like it because Amethyst wiped out the debt down there. Ponyville is the ONLY community in Equestria that doesn't run a deficit and they are the only community who doesn't have to beg me for money."

Twilight decided to bring something up from the past, "But Celestia, you never had issues providing communities with necessary funding up until recently. Why is it a problem now?"

Celestia replied, "Twilight, it isn't a problem but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to praise mayors who get their cities to run surpluses."

Twilight began to sort of see where Celestia was coming from but then wanted to know another thing, "So are you going to force me to drop out after this?"

Celestia replied, "I have no authority to force you to drop out although I am strongly encouraging you to do so. Look, Amethyst has a proven track record and I don't see anypony defeating her, not even you."

This is something that hit Twilight wrong. She could hardly believe that the one pony she had always been closest to would suggest that. A tear began to roll down her face as she asked, "Really? Do you really think I should just drop out and let Amethyst win by default?"

Twilight's behavior caused Celestia to feel a sense of guilt. She knew that what she said to Twilight was wrong and was something she could have said with more tact, "Twilight, what I am trying to say is that unless you change your views on things and scrap your desire to bring back those old, costly, antiquated traditions that you will not win."

Twilight asked, "But don't you think that there are ponies who want tradition restored? Don't you think that some ponies might miss winter?"

Celestia gave Twilight a slight smile, "Twilight, Ponyville isn't the same way it was when I first sent you down there. Back then, it was a very small community that was over half earth pony. Things began to change when Amethyst was elected. She pretty much promised sunshine and rainbows and delivered on it. It was because of her that it began to change."

Twilight asked, "But do you really think....."

Celestia interrupted, "Twilight, look at it now. At least if not more than two-thirds of the population are unicorns, unicorns who are loyal to Amethyst and Amethyst alone. A decent portion of it is made up of other creatures and a large majority of it is creatures who relocated because of what Amethyst turned it into. Almost nopony is going to want to change seasons the old fashioned way and no other creature will want anything to do with something like Winter Wrap Up."

Twilight stood there in silence for a minute trying to process everything Celestia had told her. She broke down and began to cry, "I'm sorry, it is just that I miss the old traditions and I don't want to fail Applejack."

Celestia gave her a smile, "I figured that you are doing all this for Applejack." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Twilight, you need to do what you think would be best for Ponyville. You can not just do what your heart is telling you and you can't just view this as a favor for a friend. I am pretty sure that Amethyst is already coming up with a battle plan to expose any and all of your weaknesses after that interview of yours."

Twilight replied, "Alright, I'll have to change my plans a lot but I'm still kind of nervous about Amethyst and Sunny Flames calling me out on any changes and asking why I've made them."

Celestia reassured her, "Twilight, all you have to do is tell the voters that you have thought about what is best for the community. Now I'm not going to make you become exactly like Amethyst but I do think that not wanting to bring back old traditions would help you, and you might not want to support capping growth either. That would definitely help if you drop that."

Everything Celestia was saying was beginning to bother Twilight. She knew that Celestia had good intentions and some of the advice she was giving her was good, but there were other things that she simply didn't want to drop. She then decided to go, "Well thanks for the guidance princess but I really need to get going. I have a get together scheduled with my friends before too long."

Celestia had a feeling that Twilight was becoming uncomfortable with the things she was saying and rather than addressing her about it, she decided to let her go. She replied, "Very well Twilight. Just take what I have said and seriously think about it. If you don't, Amethyst will win by a historic margin."

Celestia used her magic to open the doors to Canterlot tower and Twilight took off running out of the castle and then took flight to go home. As she was flying home, she began to cry. She knew that a lot of what Celestia said would aid her but at the same time she couldn't help but wonder if Celestia actually wanted Amethyst to win big. She felt that if Amethyst did win big, Celestia would be happy that Ponyville changing forever would be inevitable.

Comments

[neobyzantium]

I'll admit that I'm glad that Amethyst got rid of winter in Ponyville since I HATE winter and I regard her as a hero for doing so even if she had to hire unicorn mages to fix the problems caused by a lack of winter.

Hearing Celestia lecture Twilight was painful but Twilight needed to hear what her mentor had to say as Ponyville has indeed changed a lot plus Twilight only ran as a favour to Applejack whose being a stubborn Traditionalist as always.