Forty-two months since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“That. Is. My. Nose. Let go!” Luna squealed as she tried to pull away from the unicorn colt on the bed. She pulled upwards as he hung off of her snout for a second or two before dropping to the comforter with a soft ‘plop’. She gave the foal a vexed smile, rubbing her muzzle gingerly. “Your nephew is too adorable for his own good, Twilight.”
“I know, isn’t he!” Twilight gushed, cuddling Dusk Shine to her chest. She leaned down and blew a raspberry into his belly, causing him to screech with laughter.
“I am rather surprised that Cadence and Shining Armor would ask you to foalsit though. Planning for Hearth’s Warming doesn’t leave either of us with much time for ourselves, let alone for a foal. We haven’t had the chance to dine out in well over a month and I miss watching the stars with you,” Luna mused, gently stroking Twilight’s hoof. “As much as I enjoy having him around, I miss our alone time.”
“Well, they didn’t really ask,” Twilight snickered with a slight blush. “It was closer to me begging. And how could I not? He’s so cute!” She gave him a quick squeeze before giving Luna an apologetic glance. “Though for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I took away our evenings. I should’ve asked first.”
“I don’t mind so much. We don’t get to see them, and thus Dusk Shine, as often as we used to. It’s nice to be able to bond with him like this, with you,” Luna smiled. “Besides, the only time I ever get to interact with foals is to kiss them for cameras. This is far more preferable.”
“I can understand that,” Twilight chuckled, glancing back down at her nephew with a grin. With a mischievous smirk, Luna, leaned in, nipping the corner of Twilight’s jaw with her lips. “Luna... Not now!”
“Oh, relax, love. It’s nothing he has not seen his parents do before,” Luna snickered, working her way down Twilight’s jawline towards her lips when a frantic knocking at the door caused the pair to jump. They exchanged a pair of confused glances and Luna grumbled, “One week. Is one. Single. Week of having our evenings go uninterrupted too much to ask?”
“Apparently,” Twilight muttered before calling out. “It’s unlocked, come in.”
A Unicorn burst through the door with a massive grin on his face, “Princess Twilight, we did it!” He stopped dead when he saw Dusk Shine and began to blush. “A-am I interrupting something?”
“Well, sort of, but that goes along with being a Princess,” Twilight said, awkwardly shifting herself away from Luna awkwardly. She pointed at a nearby spot on the floor, “Calm down, have a seat, and tell me what’s going on. Who are you, and what exactly have you ‘done?’”
He stared at the spot she pointed at incredulously for a moment, but sat down anyway. “Sorry, Your Highness. I am an assistant for Professor Plowshare. He’s—”
“One of the scientists I have working on the apple project,” Twilight nodded unenthusiastically. “I just spoke to him just last week and he said he had nothing substantial on any of his projects.”
“Well, at the time, he didn’t but the we ran some tests that produced some astounding results a few hours ago and just finished crunching the numbers. He didn’t say anything because this project was just a shot in the dark. We didn’t expect to get results at all, let alone good ones,” the assistant explained with a guilty frown.
Intrigued, she turned her body to face him, gently shifting Dusk Shine to a more comfortable position. “Tell me everything.”
”It’s actually pretty simple,” he shrugged. “We created a... I suppose ‘cover crop’ would be the most accurate term for it, but it’s really a type of grass designed to be planted in orchards. Actually, that’s not accurate, it’s two types of grass that, when permanently planted in the same area, would increase output by at least 10%.”
“So this would work for all orchards, not just apples?” Luna asked tentatively.
“Yes, Your Highness, though it’s optimized for apples,” he said with a nod.
“Would it work as a normal cover crop?” Twilight asked. “If we were to plant it over, say, a carrot field and then just plow it into the soil when it’s time for planting.”
“No. It takes too long to achieve its desired effect. Though we could use some of the data to improve on other cover crops though.”
Satisfied, Twilight gave a quick nod and continued her questioning, “So, what do these grasses do?”
“Well, the first one has a very thick root system that hinders water evaporation to counter Equestria’s new weather patterns,” he explained. “The second we magically crossbred with a type of clover; it self-fertilizes the soil and—”
“Stop. Right. There,” Twilight growled. “You magically crossbred two types of plants? That’s illlegal! There’s thirty-seven different regulations against that and I could have you all arrested for any single one of them.”
“Please don’t! We were careful, I promise,” he pleaded. “We went over each regulation and stayed within their bounds. We may not have followed the spirit of the law, but we followed the letter!”
“That’s not the point! Using magic to manipulate living things like that can be very dangerous!” she snarled. “You could’ve put all of Equestria in danger by being so reckless. What if—”
“Twilight, these are practiced and esteemed scientists, whom you hoof-picked for this project,” Luna interrupted calmly, gently stroking Twilight’s shoulder. “Not some random unicorns trying to beat their neighbors in a gardening contest. I have no doubt that they knew what they were doing and considered all the risks before proceeding.”
Twilight glared between the two of them for a moment before sighing. “Fine... but I’m going to be personally checking over your work and I’m going to do some tests of my own on the finished product. I’ll also be speaking to Plowshare about hoofing the line so blatantly.”
Luna placed a hoof on one of Twilight’s with a stern glare “May we continue? I still have questions I’d like to ask, and an assistant shouldn’t be made to answer for his boss’ crimes.”
Twilight flinched guiltily and nodded. “Errr... yes. Sorry.”
Luna fixed her gaze back on the assistant. “Adverse effects. Surely, such a change to an organism cannot be without some. What are they?”
“Well, they’re not toxic, but they are indigestible; you’d get quite a stomachache. That could have an effect on rabbits and such in the area it’s planted in, but I doubt they’d eat much of it anyway; it tastes disgusting. Luckily it doesn’t spread easily; it mostly just stays where it was planted.”
Luna nodded. “Good to know. Anything else?”
“Well, it’s not really an adverse effect, but it’s not cheap. One hundred fifty bits per acre,” he muttered. “After it’s planted though, it seems to take care of itself.”
Twilight gave a low whistle. “Not cheap is right... I’d like to know more about how this stuff ‘self-fertilizes’ the soil.”
”Well, ummm, as you know, there are certain plants that take nitrogen from the air and turn it into fertilizer. We crossbred grass with a few of those plants, then made the process more efficient so that it produces so much that it has to release some into the soil, instead of just using it for itself. It also helps to balance the acidity of the soil it’s planted in; with some more work we could create different breeds of grass to match different breeds of apples,” he explained. “I-if you allow us to continue, that is.”
“I might consider it. Anything else?” Twilight asked firmly.
“Nothing specific.”
“Now, I have some instructions for you, and I want them followed to the letter. Got it?” Twilight said firmly. “First things first, go back to Plowshare, have him collect all of the relevant research material and make one copy of each and every piece of it. One and only one. I want him to keep the copies under lock-and-key and send all of the original pieces directly to me, and I want it done immediately. Understood?”
“Yes’m,” he replied nervously. “Originals to you, copies locked up.”
“Next, I want him to write up a brief summary of what you created. No specifics, and absolutely no mention of magical manipulation. I want a copy of the summary written for the Minister of Agriculture, one written for the Minister of the Interior, and one written for the Deputy Prime Minister. I also want these sent to me,” Twilight continued. “I’ll take care of things from there, and under no circumstances is anypony outside of the project to find out about any of this; not until I’ve made sure that I’ve taken care of all the legal stuff.”
He stood up and bowed to her. “Anything else, Princess?”
“No, not at the moment,” Twilight sighed. He bowed again, turned around and left. Twilight magically locked the door behind him and turned to Luna. “How are we going to fund this? Even if it passes every test I throw at it, next year’s budget is already finalized, our stipends won’t cover it, and there’s absolutely no chance that anypony in the apple industry could afford it.”
“Well, I have an idea,” Luna muttered, “but you’re not going to like it.”
“You know how much I hate it when you say that,” Twilight whined. “Just tell me what you’re thinking, I’m not in the mood for games tonight.”
“We could issue bonds—” Luna began.
“No!” Twilight snarled. “Every time we ask to borrow money, it comes with strings attached. The nobles always end up demanding something we’re not willing to give them.”
“There are ways around the noble blockade, Twilight. We could, for instance, issue personal bonds,” Luna replied with a smug smirk.
“Personal bonds? As in you and I issue bonds ourselves?” Twilight asked. “Are we even allowed to do that?”
“We are. There is a little-known law that allows both you and I to issue bonds to fund personal projects,” Luna explained. “If the two of us each issued a few million bits worth, it would go a long way to covering what the apple farmers themselves are unable to.”
Twilight stared at her for a moment, going over the numbers in her head before giving a frustrated sigh. “But how do we pay the bonds back? Even if we issue twenty-year bonds our stipends won’t completely cover it.”
“Creative legislation,” Luna replied. “The tax cut you secured for the apple industry expires at the end next year, and if your scientists have indeed been successful, then there will be no need to extend it for any longer than a couple more years.”
She stood up and stretched out. “So here’s what we do: rather than just give the apple farmers the money, we offer it to them in the form of minimal interest loans. Loans that we will fund by selling said bonds.”
“Okay... I’m with you so far,” Twilight muttered.
“At the same time, we get the council to pass a tax credit covering the money they repay us equal to the amount that their taxes would have gone up at the end of the exemption, and set their repayments equal to the amount of the tax credit,” Luna grinned. “We then save the repayments and use the money to buy back the bonds. The apple farmers would essentially pay the same amount in taxes that they have been for the past few years, but with higher production. And the bonds would be covered!”
“And if the council refuses to pass the tax credit?” Twilight asked unenthusiastically. “Like I said before, they’re not just going to give us money because we ask.”
“They will have no choice. As royalty, out debts are covered by the faith of the treasury. If we were to default on the bonds, the treasury would be forced to pick up the bill and likely just recover the funds from any future payments to the two of us,” Luna said with a mischievous grin. “In the end, it would be far cheaper to just do as we ask than it would be to refuse us.”
“Luna... That’s a very bad plan that will make a lot of ponies very angry,” Twilight snarled. “You’re asking me to practically spit in the faces of ponies who can make everything we try to do extremely difficult.”
Luna frowned at her indignantly. “I must say, I am rather disappointed in you, Twilight.”
“W-what? What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight squeaked angrily.
“Since when have you been concerned with things being ‘extremely difficult?” Luna scolded. “We have a solution in front of us, and though not ideal, you refuse to take hold of it, simply because it’s too hard.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it! You—” she screeched back, only to stop herself when Dusk Shine let out a frightened yelp. She snuggled him closer and continued more quietly. “You come up with one idea. One bad idea, and expect me to just go with it?”
“Come up with? Twilight, do you seriously think that this is a brand new idea? This exact political maneuver is something Celestia came up with centuries ago, and is based heavily off of an entirely different maneuver that I, myself, invented and successfully implemented many, many times before my banishment,” Luna explained calmly with a roll of her eyes. “And do you know why ‘Tia and I used it so frequently? Because it works.”
“And how frequently did it cause you problems with angry nobles?” Twilight hissed defiantly.
“Every single time; but as you, yourself, have said before, it is our job to take the nobles’ abuse so that the rest of Equestria does not have to. All we receive in return is the satisfaction of knowing we did the right thing.”
“But—”
“No ‘buts’, Twilight. You know as well as I do that the nobles are angered by nearly everything we do and nothing will change that. However, if you have an idea for obtaining funds without arousing their ire, please tell,” Luna replied sarcastically with a hint of annoyance. “I would love to hear it.”
Twilight frowned at her for a moment, then hung her head.
“As I thought,” Luna snorted. “Now, I am going to the library. I am going to go prepare the paperwork we will need to issue the bonds and research the legal measures needed to enact our repayment plan.”
“Fine,” Twilight grunted, giving Luna a glare.
Luna moved in for a kiss and Twilight turned her cheek. “Well, if that’s the way you wish to be,” Luna glowered. “Dusk Shine will at least give me a kiss, won’t you?” She knelt down and nuzzled the giggling colt and gave him a peck on the cheek. She turned around and trotted to the door before stopping to look towards Twilight.
“It will work, Twilight, one way or another. Worst comes to worst, we will go without our stipends for a decade or two. But we will have our apple industry back, I swear it.”
Somehow I think kissing off the nobles isn't going to work out well...
I don't get why they can't just issue the bonds and the loans without the rest of the shenanigans. Would the interest rate be that onerous for the apple farmers? Or, for that matter, large enough that their stipends wouldn't cover it?
o/ Implicate all the nobles as traitors to Equestria, falsify evidence, seize all their holdings for the good of the nation and put them all to the sword! That's how every government does it, except this time the people are ACTUALLY bad people and the government's not!
4491397
The cost of doing business ... It is just something Twilight will have to get used to. Especially if she is going to be a princess for a few thousand years ...
>>>The next arc is a dark one and thus will likely be much more fun to write.>>>
Alondro prepares himself for mountains of dead ponies...
Economics and Politicking, Twilight. Expect that someone will end up pissed off at you, no matter what you do or say. My sympathies.
At least she's got Luna to show her the ropes. Miss Moon Pony might be a few years behind, but the basics of politics probably haven't changed much. I doubt they ever really will xD
Keep up the good work.
Grats on 2k upvotes.
>>>However, if you have an idea for obtaining funds without arousing their ire, please tell,” Luna replied sarcastically with a hint of annoyance. “I would love to hear it.”>>>
Twilight thought for a moment... and an truly wicked expression appeared on her face. "We could totally go tyrant on their asses!"
Luna stood aghast! "Twilight Sparkle! The last time I tried that I got sent to the Moon for a thousand years!"
Twilight grinned even more evily, "Celestia's not exactly here anymore. And I'm one of the Element Bearers."
Luna blinked, "Oh yeah! I never thought of that! Tyrant mode it is!"
And so, Nightmare Moon and Twilight Terror abused the nobles brutally and got all the money they needed for their project.
Nice chapter, I particularly like how close Twilight and Luna are getting :3
4491546
Unfortunately, Quill-Pen absconded during that first night of fire and moonstone with. Fleeing while Twilight Terror and Nightmare Moon did mean not good bad things to mean not good bad nobles, and good nobles. Also lawful, chaotic, and neutral nobles. And ponies that were in no way nobles. But not foals because then who would they be able to do mean not good bad things to in the future.
4491595
No, no... It is entirely intentional.
I've forgotten half of what happened previously.
Re-read time!
Darn, I was rather hoping that the research assistant was bringing definite proof of the earth pony magic mentioned last chapter.
I gotta admit, author, I... kinda hated this chapter, too. It wasn't bad, just... boring. Like, nothing really plot-advancing happened, no character moments that we haven't seen already. It felt meandering. This is all probably on purpose, setting up for next chapter, but as it stands now, I can't help the feeling of disappointment. After so long, we get... agriculture and a petty lover's quarrel.
I think the Luna/Twi interplay was good enough to counteract any, um, expository dullness.
Don't screw money, don't screw people, don't screw people with money, don't screw your friends or your friends with money, and never. Ever. screw your OWN money. Or money. Will. Screw. YOU.
Twilight, Luna... you have awakened the eldritch terror known only as the Economy.
Prepare for hell.
I'm going to dissent with most of the other readers here and say that I enjoyed the chapter. I will, however, qualify that with the admission that I am a history/economics teacher, and as such, absolutely ATE UP the discussion of political maneuvering and economic manipulation. So my opinion is a bit biased. Regardless of the reason, though, all that's important is: asylum, even if most didn't much like the chapter, I certainly loved it.
Though for what it's worth,
4493211
Oh fuck me, I saw that a while ago and forgot about it.
4492525
I hated it for entirely different reasons, namely that it just sucked when I initially finished it. When it gets that bad (to the point where salvaging it would be more trouble than it's worth) I usually scrap it and move on to the next thing in the outline, but I sort of wrote myself into a corner with last chapter.
My own fault, really.
4493183
Honestly, I liked the whole concept of the chapter and really do enjoy writing political shenanigans (even supposedly 'boring' economics based ones), there was just no way to make this interesting for a broad spectrum, and that annoyed me to no end.
4491642 But then Discord went crazy and it was all whack, yo!
4491459
Perhaps, but monarchies(and, I suppose, Diarchies) live off their nobles. Intentionally spurning them and costing them money...
Well, it's a bad idea. No revolution or major attack gets off the ground without the help of noble backers or spys, respectively.
4497803
If Twilight did not have to deal with Nobles it would be the Rich and if not the Rich it would be the Politically Influential etc ...
heck, even the Borg Collective had a few Individuals that had to be dealt with from time to time ...
4498169
I know
I'm saying 'don't bloody well piss them off'
4498558
True.
But Luna has a point too.
Don't piss em off but don't go too far out of your way to avoid pissing em off either.
Being afraid to piss em off gives them power over her ... power they can abuse ...
It is a game Luna has played many times before ... and won.
Twilight needs to lean on that experience much more than she realizes.
4499069
True, but Luna might be over-estimating the power she has at the moment. She and Twilight are already not popular(I think? The time skips are messing with my knowledge), so it'd be far too easy for this to be the proverbial straw. Made of bricks.
4501840
Nope, not quite yet ...
The Borg need to meet up with the Cybermen and the Daleks to start really working on Perfection.
There are probably more out there but I cant remember them right at the moment ...
Twilight's reaction against genetically modified grass (or the magical counterpart thereof) seems strange to me. It doesn't seem like her at all. She strikes me as the sort who'd be all in favor and trying to figure out how to work around any irritating legal obstacles.
Wow, I started this around 12:30, and I got all the way through Chapter 19 by 4:30.
I guess when I said that I pound 100k word fics like cheap liquor, I was pretty much spot on...
4509513 Well, considering that much of this story was written with cheap liquor, that's quite appropriate.
4510456 Well then... I guess your muse is booze, and your ideas are top-shelf spirits.
4509480 Yeah, I forgot the H...
Dusk Shine makes me miss Sunshower.
I recognize that we haven't seen her since the end of the first arc, and there's probably a good reason for that, but still.
I comment on this because the finer details of the economics in this chapter went way over my head.
4530521 She'll be back. I really like Sunshower as a character, so I'm planning on giving her a bigger role in the next arc.
4531418
Hells. Yes!
You're a legend, mate.
Nice to see some implicit TwiLuna (not sure if it was out in the open before or not, it's been a while since I read this fic). Not a statement on your ability or output, just one about my poor memory.
i was bored so you earned your self a reread huzza
I kinda don't like the whole luna x twilight shipfic part. Don't get me wrong, I love this fic, it's just it's kinda creepy to me.
4568220 Then don't read the next chapter.
4584942 uh oh
How much to Have Luna do my taxes till I die?
So the clovers are magically enhanced legumes? Interesting. They sound similar to peanuts, which are genetically engineered legumes.
When did they...get closer? This chapter inplied they already started kissing, and Luna called twilight her lover already.
I feel like I'm missing something.
How do their brains process these things without exploding?
Math is hard
Only if you're a coward.
Eh... this is really quickly paced you always seem to skip a lot...
Eh i know this might be a bit of a downer but did Luna not have bazillion bits given to Twilight's control? Why go for the bonds if you could just use that as a direct loan and or direct investment to apple orchards. I remember that time-span of 300 years was mentioned so if you would go for long-loan with slow but good profit it could even be made as a VERY sound investment.
If you would go all out you could even turn that seed money to become a crown investment bank which generates its own profit for carnival funds while giving out smart loans to farmers.
5659415
Yeah when did they start officially dating.
Well, Luna, you could fund this with your vast amount of money you had but put into some carnival fund instead because clearly Equestria needs 300 years of a summer carnival more than it needs agricultural innovation.