If a pony is allowed to do something, then clearly a draconequus is entitled to pursue the same activity (as long as it isn't boring), because he was there first. So the sensible reaction to learning about the upcoming election is to make sure his Very Important Opinion on matters is counted. Officially. And in this case, all Discord has to do is -- register to vote, followed by actually casting his ballot.

It probably won't kill him.

Probably.

Cover art by Hudson Rowan, and represents an actual I Voted sticker used in New York during 2022. Yes, really.

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He has an idea. It's the best idea. Basal knows it's the best possible idea which could ever exist because he has it all the time. Every day. And whenever he has it, he knows exactly how to start. Because writing is about controlling things. He figured that out and he's still in primary school. He understands the universe. Dealing with the ponies in it is... more complicated. Especially the adults and why they don't ever seem to hear anything through their own yelling --

-- Chapter One. All you have to do is write Chapter One and everything is under control. Because Chapter One is always about control. So Chapter One is perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

That's why he should write it again.

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It took a lot of work to get this far. Piecing together rumors, conjecture, the faintest hints from every literary journal to reach the tree -- all assembled through the notes on her desk. But not only has Twilight found the charity auction, she's managed to get inside (because the wings are good for that much) and is in the perfect position to win what was supposed to be the secret lot. She just has to be the pony who writes down the final, highest number on the silent auction sheet before the bidding closes, and she's going home with two boxes of A.K. Yearling's private notes.

Of course, auctions are a little more complicated than that. Especially when they insist on letting other ponies bid. And when this one mare just keeps bidding against her...

A reasonable pony would be able to overcome that. Unfortunately, this is Twilight.

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Some of the delivery routes which Behemoth Retail assigns to its drivers are better than others, and the company gives out the peaceful trails as rewards. The supposed punishment detail in Canterlot is the one which goes near the high school. Annie, who hasn't had a lot of time with city or company, isn't sure why. The homes seem nice enough and besides, she's got the overnight shift. What can possibly happen around three in the morning?

Well, other than some magic-powered teenager ramming her van and imbuing it with the kind of homicidal life force which is going to mindlessly continue trying to return the favor until someone dies.

Because apparently that sort of thing happens all the time.

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Nopony should ever have to save a princess, because a decently-skilled royal should be more than capable of saving herself. That's just one of the problems Pipp has with the current new (and stupid) mobile game. Most of the rest is in the rumor which says she's the one who has to be saved, and if she can actually reach the level-locked part of the game which is supposedly hosting her image, somepony's going to pay for that one. But she's already out of tries for the day. Well, rather than get her mother involved through spending palace money, might as well watch a few ads.

Or the same ad. The one which never, ever wants to get off her screen. It's like the video is trying to get a billion views on less than a thousandth of the total possible viewers...

Give her a minute. She hadn't been out of the palace all that long. The whole 'irony' thing is new.

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She's sick. (It's amazing how often that happens.) Pipp can't control when she gets sick! (Or so she claims.) But yes, this time, the royal family sort of has a prior commitment. So Pipp really should show up this time, just to smile at the populace. Or rather, the smile can show up. It just needs somepony who can carry it in.

So when you look at it that way, this is all Zipp is being asked to do: wear a dark plastic shell over her own head for hours, in the middle of a power broker gathering, while her sister's face smiles out from the digital front panel.

Pipp really doesn't see any problems with this.

Yet.

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All Pipp wants to do is sleep. It used to be that if somepony was making too much of a racket outside the castle to allow royal rest, the guards would (politely) take care of it. Now she's living in the Brighthouse, it was a long night, and Izzy is loudly failing to work on her contribution for the First Annual Unity Art Festival at the unholy hour of The Sun Is Actually Up. So maybe if Pipp can distract the unicorn with something a little quieter -- say, a game app -- it might be possible to actually go back to bed.

You can't really distract Izzy for very long. The most anypony can hope for is to give her a different idea.

But that's not always a bad thing.

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Finally. Not that she'd ever admit to having been concerned -- certainly not as long as the cameras are around -- and of course every last one of the nominees was worthy, but... after all these years, the Toy Hall Of Fame has finally opened its doors to ponies and Twilight Sparkle, head and horn held high, is going to trot right in --

-- wait a minute.
Let's... take a look at that induction picture again.
...
...Applejack...!?!

WORDS WILL BE HAD.

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The base idea for this story (of a Twilight/AJ talk on the subject) came from Steel Quill, who didn't wish to use it and granted me permission. Credit is given accordingly.

Getting that driver's license was about freedom, wasn't it? Maybe all she can afford is the scooter, but it still allows Sunset the option to just fuel up, point the front wheel in a given direction, and -- well, it's not as it would be the first time she gave in to that kind of urge. A unicorn didn't exactly feel like she had a lot of actual choices in her life, and the resulting human is --

-- going to spend an entire night watching teenage girls trying to assemble a model of something which never existed.

The human knows that's a choice. She's not sure it's a good one.

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She can't seem to move anything. Her senses aren't quite what they're supposed to be. And she's almost sure that some of her memories are missing, but that part has never stopped her before. This latest defeat -- the one which ended with glowing roots closing out the last of the outside light, and she's pretty certain she remembers what 'light' is supposed to do -- that's just a minor setback! Because something of Opaline Arcana yet remains, and where there's a mind, there's a chance to plot a way back.

She can still think.
She can always think.
...always...

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