What does a mayor do? On a good day, you get to nose over an award. It helps if you can make sure the weather schedule comes off on time. But more than anything else, it's about leadership. Taking responsibility for the safety and comfort of all those who live within your domain. That's how it's supposed to work. The mayor is the one who makes sure everything is under control.
This is Ponyville. Marigold is fully aware that on a typical day, approximately nothing will be under control. But when it comes to protecting those who live there, she still has to do whatever she can.
If there's anything left which she can do at all.
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Cover art from a vector rendering by DaAfroMan.
Chapters (1)
I feel sorry for Mayor Mare. There isn't much that she can do with this job.
I also feel a great wave of pity for anyone that gets in the way of the few things that she can do for the job.
Fantastic read! Thank you.
Hail to the true goddamn queen of Ponyville. Her and Mike Haggar would get along great. <3
Beautiful.
Ian M Banks.
Surface detail.
She has one of the worst job in town and every problems pass through her office. With how much a good job she does, I am sure there would be many ponies willing to help her with "realpolitik".
And the Bearers do own her a few favors at least. I am sure Rainbow would do a prank or two on demand and accept to take the fall.
Mayor Marigold offers quite the interesting point of view for the chaos of Ponyville. I wouldn't mind more stories from her.
I always wondered why I never saw any hotels or inns in Ponyville. This makes a lot of sense. (Though you'd think that would change once Twilight's School of Friendship opens.)
I do wonder how Sunset's getting along in your setting...
Brilliant work on Marigold's part. And yes, I imagine this would get the diarchs' attention for all the right reasons. (Well, right as far as they're concerned.) This may not have come out as you'd originally intended it, but it was still a great read and meditation on the meaning of representative government. Thank you for it.
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Piledriving Ms. Verdante would contribute towards hospitalizing her.
Added to
The Triptych Continuum Rebooted
"Ponyville" folder
Took a course on Tudor England back in college (1970s)
Henry VII had a unique way of handling things like this.
One of his rights was "Hospitality". This meant that if he showed up with his court (several hundred officials) plus much of the Royal Army (lots of bandits. Read Robin Hood) YOU had to provide room & board PLUS pay their saleries PLUS provide entertainment.
He would throw banquets PLUS usually throw a tournament (thousands of guests that you had to pay for). He would stay until you gave him what he wanted plus paid him to leave. This often meant bankruptcy. Back then, Debtor's Prison was legal (nobles). So was selling you, your wife & your children into slavery (commoners).
Don't want to let him in? That's treason, subject to summary execution. For some odd reason, people didn't cross him too often.
Being a thrifty sort, he had over a million £ of savings after a 25 year reign on a £113,000 salary from which he was expected to pay for the government.
No disaster is more messy than politics……
also……To the one mayor of the town:
o7
This part is from the villain, correct? Rather than the mayor being put in the position of "the reward for doing a difficult and/or dangerous job is the chance to do it again." with the diarchs considering giving our protagonist more responsibilities?
P.S. What is the villian's last name supposed to mean?
Marigold Mare leads her herd. And at the end of the day, that means every mare, stallion and foal in her herd is her responsibility. And she might bicker with them, or have to pull them in when they act out, or deal with their misbehavings, or even have to be the one to enforce the rules they don't like. But if you attack them, you attack her.
There's a strength in that which I don't think even the Bearers fully understand. Not really. And perhaps that's why this version of Twilight rejects the rank of Princess; because on some level, she knows that she lacks that.
Wonderful as always, Estee. Thank you.
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Might be that they've noticed that she's willing to get her hooves dirty in order to do the right thing and they totally approve of her underhoofedness (but of course can't say that in public)
Damn.
Marigold goes hard
Wonderful!
Mayor Mare is a hideously underused character, both in canon, and in the fanfic community. So seeing the realities of trying to "run the show" (so to speak) in a town falling apart at the seams on the regular is sn interesting sight. Creates a character with a certain grit to them.
Glorious. How I wish this was how American politics could be fixed. I look forward to future stories
There are very few good stories about the Mayor.
This is one of them
The best fantasy fiction (and science fiction, of course) takes place in far-off worlds and yet is still very relevant and topical to the real world. Well done.
I think Celestia just found a possible successor to run the nation if she is unavailable. Because even Celestia knows Twilight would be a lost cause.
m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzM0MzU3NjUtYzg2Mi00ZmU0LTkwZDUtNTdmMmNiNDMxMjNkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTM0NzU0MTg0._V1_.jpg
This is my pony. She understands so very well.
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Even before the fix, it STILL ran more smoothly than the US government.
Drayton. ... HUH. That's an interesting choice of location, given Anchor Foal.
...
Inventive of Mayor Mare! Realpolitik indeed!
So, if I'm reading things right, the self-destructing letter really did self-destruct, but everything else about the potion in that burned letter was lies, and Mayor Mare is blaming Rainbow Dash for the spray, when she actually did it herself.
So smart!
"But I feel as if there's some things I can still do here." -
Celestia has found a new protégé it seems XD
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Loved it. Only thing I'm a little surprised about was that the Crown hadn't been keeping an eye on Mayor Mare long before this. I like to think she was nudged towards becoming mayor of Ponyville because years before Luna's planned return, Celestia (and/or a close advisor like Raven) realized that they needed to put someone very capable in that position before the show events kicked off.
That said, I wonder how the Diarchs would've reacted had Marigold solved the Verdante problem with a steel pipe or a flying piledriver. I bet Luna would've pardoned her immediately even if she were convicted.
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Good point.
There comes a time in every responsible person's life where they find themself doing a job, not because they want to, but because everybody else they can think of will screw it up. Often, that time will happen repeatedly. If it has not happened to you, wait a bit. It's coming, and you should be braced. I think I'm up to about three now.
That was a good story.
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I get the distinct impression that Luna would have driven the getaway car, if not brought her own wand of motivation.
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After she stopped laughing, of course.
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Not quite Jury Duty, but can you imagine Luna as a character witness? "Mrs. Mare is a remarkable public servant, one who clearly strives to improve herself even after decades of stellar performance. I knew from reading her file that she had mastered the flying piledriver before taking office, but who could have expected that in the intervening years, she had also learned the Final Atomic Buster and Gigas Breaker that she so skillfully demonstrated upon Ms. Verdante? Such a perfect application of technique in both usage and target."
It's really too bad Fighting is Magic couldn't go forward; I would've liked to see what grappling super combos Marigold could have had.
And with chaos recently dropping by her office for tea, does this mean that Discord is now a fan? Because he realizes that with her "in charge" of Ponyville, it maximizes his chances of experiencing "fun" chaos instead of "ponies dying" chaos?
One thing this brings up is the amount of serious attacks that Ponyville has suffered from, and it makes me wonder why there isn’t a royal guard contingent based there. Official story could be to simply keep an eye on the Everfree Forest and the monsters therein, but the real reason would be to protect the citizens alongside the police.
Chaos does enjoy his tea and he does love to watch the Ringmaster TRY to control the Chaos that is Ponyville. He also wants to be sure the towns fillys get to watch the Chaos and not be part of it. He has a certain interest in at least one pair.
And seriously, Celestia has to be looking at Mayor Mare for some kind of promotion at some point. How many Ponys that deal with Ponyville on a constant basis aren't up to being Prime Minister?
Ponyville should put together a festival of some kind for Marigold to show appreciation for her work in keeping the town running, but given that its Ponyville disaster will inevitably strike and will end up giving her more paperwork, so simple Thank You cards and gifts should suffice.
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The festival goes off without a hitch, but the Elements were called away on a mission and without Ponyville's premiere party mare present, it turns out that Mayor Mare eventually ends up having to organize nearly every aspect of it herself; from wrangling the ponies who are putting up the bunting, to bullying the weather team into arranging a pleasant day at short notice without the official Weather Bureau paperwork, and commissioning the Cakes to do the catering while preventing Mister Flankington from supplying his own product to the festival.
Heck yeah Mayor Mare. You go lead your heard, you go protect your own. So awesome.
Interesting...
I have delved into this particular hill myself, in conjunction with something else.
I had Celestia and Luna lock the insurance rates in Ponyville for personal property to a certain cap, and any try by the companies to raise the rates had them being taxed by that amount. Oh...no getting out of not insuring them. They ask...you cover.
Infrastructure is covered by The Crown. Fix it there...or fix it everywhere else when the monsters get away from Ponyville.
That idea spread to Twilight's Castle and the School of Friendship. The Castle ends up being the new Ponyville Library, (First Foor, Main), Ponyville's Home Guard Reserve unit, (basement, the barracks ouside, PT area, etc.) Kitchen and Dining, (VIP guest rooms, Home Guard Dining Facility and Canteen for muster and drill weekends) Home, (Starlight, Trixie, Sunburst, tenured teachers from the School of Friendship without homes in Ponyville), VIP (Heads of State, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining and Family, etc.)
The School of Friendship falls under the military budget. Better to have that School, than a very big standing army. Non-tenured transient teachers have a dormitory similar to the transient students. They also have their own DFAC.
Mayor Mare could be very proud of her small Ponyville...if it weren't for those meddling politicians....
Any Mayor Mare work is lovely for me. Thank you for this.
Really makes you wonder why Celestia didn't deal with Tirek sooner.
Sunset Shimmer has entered the chat.
Yup. Definitely Sun Shim.
So how much of what happens in this universe is actually down to the Bearers being assess and how much of it is down to bad luck that Mayor Mare is blaming on them out of paranoia?
As do I.
I guess we'll never know if she was bluffing or not. Kind of nice to have a mystery in a story for once.
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Unfortunately, if you do that, one of two things are going to happen. First, the insurance companies are going to raise everyone else's rates to compensate for the money they're losing in Ponyville. And if you pass a law saying that they aren't allowed to do that, then the insurance companies go out of business, no new ones open to replace them, and nobody gets any insurance at all. Nobody's going to stay in or go into a business where they have no chance of making a profit.
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That's right...they wouldn't...
That's why it was mandatory. Ponyville is the magnet for weirdness, right next to the Everfree.
Ponyville takes the hits, while most other towns and cities coast on by the Ponyville epicenter. Even the National Seat, Canterlot, doesn't get hit like Ponyville does.
No Ponyville? Then Baltimare, Manehattan, Chicacolt, anon, anon, have to to put their skin in the game. Which means the full cape for some...
I think the 'peace dividend' shouldn't be THAT expensive for everypony else...
Plus, she's Celestia.
You do realize the Moon is unoccupied currently, right...???
So will they, with a gentle nudge...or an Applejack kick...
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In other words, raising everyone else's rates is the accepted cost and well worth it.
I am very much in favor of smaller government, and this STILL seems like it might be reasonable.
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I think a rebate and fixed pricing would work for Ponyville IF Canterlot bled a little of their military budget into it, rather than site a garrison there...
Even a well trained and battle tested detachment would blanch whiter than their coats—given what they would be dealing with...
First Sergeant at formation: "Monster attack in Ponyville!"
Second Squad leader: "So, what else is new?"
First Sergeant (after a glare at the squad leader): "Monster is confirmed to be an Ursa Minor..."
First Squad leader: "Aw, HEL no! Nopony got time for that! I gotta go buff out my armor, and then see about Carrot Top finally wanting to bump fuzzies! I GOT TOO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!"
Platoon Leader: (to his platoon) "THIS IS WHAT WE TRAINED FOR!"
Third Squad Leader: "Take the point, sir! We'll follow you!!" (turns and winks at his squad)
Company Commander: "KNOCK IT OFF, FOALS! AND STOP SHAKING!! YOU SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF BOXES FILLED WITH EMPTY TIN CANS!!!!"
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Could work.