A letter, the truth and one decision
The mayoral election.
A mayor had ten years to prove that under his or her leadership everypony’s lives were better than before. If not, a new Mayor could try his or her luck. Mayor Mare had won the last two elections and expected to win this year as well. Her opponents had bad cards given her great achievements the past years, like the end of unemployment and overcoming troubling disasters. Both were linked to each other.
Ever since Twilight Sparkle had arrived tons of objects and buildings were destroyed and had to be rebuilt. Anypony without a job could easily get it in one of the many construction sites all over Ponyville.
Yes, everything is just going dandy, smiled Mayor Mare as she snuggled deeper into her comfy chair. Though my good ratings are also thanks to my campaign aides.
She looked at her campaign workers who had spent the late evening with her; going through the latest polls and the last candidate discussion round tomorrow before the election: Twilight Sparkle, once a bookworm, now a princess, had helped her greatly with her speeches and elocution training. Pinkie Pie, the pony who knew everypony and was known by everypony, was the one who planned all the citizen meetings and electoral events. With Pinkie's publicity and Twilight's organization talent, victory was guaranteed.
This election is as good as mine, thought the Mayor as she took a sip from her cup of tea, as she listened to the alicorn´s loud reading.
"... The polls are all positive, Miss Mayor. Ever since the article about Couch Potato's past as doped marathon athlete came out, he lost three points. You gained another two. The ponies are also in favor of you after the discussion with Silver Tongue where you laid out all the mistakes in her future plans and..." Twilight's tactical sermon was interrupted by a pink whirlwind jumping through the door.
"LETTER FOR YOU, MAYOR!" Mayor Mare spit her tea out in surprise at Pinkie’s loud shout and Twilight reacted quickly by covering her face with her list.
"Ah! My beautiful list…" Twilight's ears drooped in sadness while the Mayor recovered from her shock. Something she had to live with at least twice a day since she enlisted Pinkie as a campaign aide.
"Pinkie Pie! Don’t scare me like that! What is it?"
"A letter for you. It’s addressed to 'Ex-Mayor Mare' though."
Mayor Mare lazily grabbed the letter from Pinkie's hooves, ripped its envelope open and read through it quickly. Her face went as white as the paper.
"It’s over. It’s all over now...", sighed the Mayor hopelessly.
"What’s the matter, Miss Mayor?", asked Twilight, worried.
"Yeah, what spoiled your mood so much that everything's over?", wondered Pinkie. Mayor Mare had forgotten about those two while she was reading the letter. Otherwise she would have hidden her reaction. She couldn't let Twilight and Pinkie find out about her past.
"No, no. It’s just a letter which somepony used to vent his anger! I was just taken aback by it, that’s all!", laughed Mayor Mare, nervously. The two ponies exchanged a look and relaxed.
"Oh well, if it’s just that, then please remember to try not to pay such slander too much attention and… Pinkie, now!"
"Got it already!"
Mayor Mare stared dumbfounded at the letter in Pinkie's hooves and then to her own, where said letter was missing. No! Don't read it! But the two had already looked into it. They saw cut letters from various newspapers forming one single sentence.
I know your secret, Speech Writer.
Incredulous, Twilight looked at the Mayor. "That's it? No threat? Nothing written to blackmail you with? The addressor even signed it! Celestia, I was so worried. If it had been blackmail, there would have an ultimatum, it would have been anonymous, and clearly stated its demands."
"But Twilight!" Pinkie shouted as she interrupted Twilight’s rant regarding proper blackmail. "If the Mayor reacted so strongly don’t you think that it is a really bad letter?" Pinkie took it and held it to the lamp on the table. "Maybe it has a secret message on the backside."
"Girls, listen." Mayor Mare stood up and came around the table, taking back the treacherous paper. "It's nothing, really. I was just surprised to learn there were still ponies that aren’t my fans. But that's politics. I'll get over it."
Smiling, she walked up to the garbage bin to throw it away, already wondering how to end her campaign without raising any suspicions. She probably had to move away from Ponyville; else this might not be the last letter she receives here. But how had they found her?
"Speech Writer."
The Mayor stopped right before the bin, as did her thoughts. With wide eyes she turned around, trying to explain why she reacted this way, to ask why she had been addressed with this name, to distract from whatever thought they might have gotten thanks to this damned letter. Immediately, the Mayor recognized her mistake. It was too late.
The spark of realization was shining in those purple, intelligent eyes and it got brighter with every step their owner took closer.
"Thought so." Twilight trotted up to the Mayor, taking back the letter with her magic. The tan earth pony faced the newest princess with a long trained indifferent expression, suppressing the turmoil of her panic. Pinkie Pie bounced around the alicorn; asking why she had called the name and what her thoughts were, until Twilight ended her endless chatter with the zipper-mouth spell.
"Please be quiet for a minute Pinkie, I'll explain everything. It was your mentioning of a secret message that set me on the right track. Mayor Mare has been Ponyville's Mayor for twenty years. It's not quite believable that she would react so unprofessionally to a simple letter; even filled with slander and insults.
Not to mention that it had not suggested it was in any way serious. However, it was missing an ultimatum: a real threat, it wasn't anonymous and also didn't state any demands. But I looked at it the wrong way."
Twilight held up the letter between the still mute Pinkie and the unmoving Mayor. Her magic highlighted “Ex-Mayor” on the envelope.
"This, here, is your ultimatum. Whoever sent this wants you to lose this election; preferably by throwing in the towel, as you are winning by a landslide currently." Her magic made the word secret sparkle. "This, on the other hoof, is their threat. Your secret, to which they give you a hint; a hint which most ponies won't take immediate notice of, but would be like a bonfire to your eyes."
Her magic concentrated on the signature. Mayor Mare gulped as she felt her throat became dry. Twilight Sparkle's eyes went narrow as she finished her argumentation.
"Speech Writer was not a signature, it was an appellation to you, Mayor. And your reaction just now was the proof I needed for my suspicions. Your real name is not Mayor Mare, but Speech Writer!”
With a defeated sigh, the Mayor's head sank. Pinkie waved quickly with her right hoof back and forth to get Twilight's attention.
"Yes, Pinkie?", asked Twilight Sparkle. Her friend opened her mouth with the zipper as she dissolved the spell.
"I don't quite get it, yet", said Pinkie Pie, for once, being serious. "Ever since the Gabby Gums incident everpony knows about your pink hair, Mayor. And changing your name is no crime, though I can see why you wanted to be named Mayor Mare, as you are our Mayor and all. But I doubt your parents knew that you would become a mayor someday when they named you; except if they’d had precognition, which would be really awesome! But then again the best examples of precognition I’ve seen are my own Pinkie senses and they are only about-" A purple hoof in her mouth stopped her random speech before it derailed the conversation completely.
"What Pinkie Pie wants to say is that everypony has some secrets they keep hidden. And I doubt that your mane color is the reason you were so scared, Mayor. What reason did you have to change your name?"
Mayor Mare looked at each of her aides. Both looked with worry and compassion to her. So much honesty and kindness was in their eyes that the Mayor couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth into a little smile. It was because of eyes like those that she felt so quickly at home here, and why she loved being this town’s mayor.
"You know, I just wanted to be reelected for a third time and end my political carrier after that session to start writing novels. This letter battered that dream into pieces. You're right, your highness. Speech Writer is my real name, the one I bore before I moved to Ponyville and became this little town's mayor. And seeing this name again in this form proves to me that my career is as good as over. Over forever."
"Please call me by my name, Miss Mayor. It was one of my conditions when I started to work for you."
"Also nothing is over forever. Expect when you break a Pinkie Promise. OH! Oh! Oh! Can we call you by your given name, mayor?"
"My apologies, Twilight Sparkle. And certainly, you can call me whatever you girls want to.", chuckled the older mare. "Why don’t we have a seat?"
The three ponies walked to the chairs left after the crew meeting today and sat down. Mayor Mare took a deep breath; this wouldn't be easy for her. Twenty years she had closed away the truth, hidden for so long she almost had forgotten it. Her mistakes. Her pain. Her past. Another sigh left her lips.
"Uhm, Miss Mayor? If you don't want to tell us, then that's okay. We understand", said Twilight; trying to give her temporary boss an option to escape the situation.
"Thank you, but you have done so much for me and this town, you deserve to know the real me."
"Can we please get to the flash-back part, pleeeeaseee? There's kind of a word limit here, you know?"
"You mean time limit, Pinkie." The librarian pony rolled her eyes.
"That's what I said, didn't I?"
"Well, in this case I suppose you already know that I dye my hair gray..." Pinkie gasped, while Twilight facehoofed. "...I actually have 20/20 sight on both eyes, I just wear false glasses..." Pinkie Pie gasped once again, while Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow as the Mayor took off her glasses and put them on the table. "... and, as you also know my real name is Speech Writer."
"Hi, Speechie."
"Pinkie! Enough with the silliness, you hear me?", warned Twilight, slowly losing her nerves.
"Okie-dokie-lokie~", replied Pinkie, happily.
Speech Writer chuckled at this friendly banter. Yet now would come her biggest secret, and the reason why she ran away from her old life and started a new one here in Ponyville.
"But my biggest secret is this. Please don't freak out when I show you." With those words the old mare removed her green ascot from her neck. Twilight Sparkle let out a high-pitched deeply shocked gasp while Pinkie Pie took a well-mannered sip from her, somehow appeared from nowhere, teacup.
"Now this is a real secret, Speechie. Lookin' real good by the way." she spoke with an even tone as she looked at the sheath hiding Speech's penis behind the prepuce and the two testicles below it.
Twilight was very close to freaking out as with the removal of the piece of cloth, which the Mayor was never seen without, a penis had showed up below. The worst she had expected was that Speech Writer was a murderer who would try to kill them after telling them her secret, but this came out of left field. She wasn’t sure how to react.
Speech Writer shifted, embarrassed, on her chair, hiding her male pride as two sets of eyes gazed at it. She was thankful that her penis shrank some more under those stares. The last she could need would be to get erect in front of her campaign aides. One of them being a princess, to boot.
"Is this all, or are there more secrets to come?"
"Pinkie, you can drop the mature act now", requested Twilight unnerved while she massaged her forehead. She was getting a headache.
"Yay!" Quickly Pinkie took out a glass of water out of nowhere and did a spittake. "Speechie! You got a dick! You're like those futas in Fluttershy's novels about Twilight and the rest of us!" Twilight Sparkle decided for the sake of her mental health to not have heard the last part.
"Good, now that we have that out of the way, let's continue. So, you're a hermaphrodite. How does this ruin your political career, Miss Writer?", asked Twilight after doing two units of Cadance’s calming method.
The Mayor was a bit surprised. The girls had taken it better than she expected.
She knew she could tell them the little story on how she got here and became Mayor Mare. These two ponies wouldn’t go around and spread her secret, and given this letter it wouldn’t even matter if they did.
"I was born this way in Manehattan. My parents gave me clothes with weaved in spells to hide my male parts so that I wouldn't get bullied. They inculcated me greatly to keep this a secret, as they feared that some ponies would use this against me. As I grew up I only told my closest friends, whom I trusted to keep it secret. I found my calling and entered a political party where I worked as a secretary and as campaign aide to write speeches and such. I had a good and happy life.
"However, while young I was foolish and careless. I was quite stunning back then, so I figured I could sleep my way to political success. I'm not proud of myself for that. When I slept with the mayor to make sure that she would propose me for a higher position, it happened for the first time. I lost my cloth and my penis was seen. Funny thing is, she recovered from her shock pretty quickly and rode me the entire night. The real problem started the day after.
"When I opened the newspaper I saw myself and the mayor having sex on the desk in her bureau with a censor bar between my hind legs. This day my carrier and old life ended. Most of my friends didn't want anything to do with me. The Mayor managed to convince the media and our party that it all was my fault and I lost my job and my member status. The newspapers had zeroed me in and I couldn't leave my house without being gazed or sneered at. But the worst was that in the days to come I'd read articles about me, which held information that only my parents and best friends knew about. After that nothing held me there anymore. My parents supported me in my decision to move away.
"So I went to Ponyville and became Mayor Mare to start a new life. In the many years I lived here I worked hard to become a trusted and well-liked politician till the Ponyville townsfolk elected me as Mayor for the first and second time. I've never been more proud in my life."
Mayor gulped down a heavy lump in her throat, she whisked swiftly over her moist eyes. She had not heard anything from her old friends for many years, and with her parents she only had contact via mail yearly. She had done so much to forget about all this and now her old wounds reopened. Twilight and Pinkie had listened to her story seriously and the party pony’s lower lip had been quivering at the end.
"It's my own fault that I ended up here. I don't regret it as I had many wonderful years here. What I regret is that I had entrusted ponies; friends and lovers with who I am, and that they betrayed me. I had to feel so lonely because I was abandoned for being different from everypony else. I believe; no, I know, if I had been just a female or a male, this would still have been a scandal but one where I could have left black-eyed. Where I could have tried to put the blame on the mayor and others, where the journalists wouldn't have been more interested into my cock than into what I did with it.
"It's why I hid it all the past years here. I didn't have sex nor did I go out on dates. I was married to my work. I made friends and acquaintances, but I never told them everything about me. Well, until today, that is."
With a relaxed wheeze Speech Writer laid back into her chair. She felt refreshed, somehow. As if many layers of dust and rubble had been removed from her chest. Now she wouldn’t feel as horrible when she’d resign tomorrow. A loud blow of a muzzle made her look at Pinkie Pie, who cleaned her nose with her handkerchief.
"And that's why you will give up?", asked Pinkie Pie. "You’ve lived here so long! You believe the ponies will react the same way as in Manehattan? I know everypony here Miss Mayor, and I can tell you that they won't hate you for being different, or for hiding the truth for being afraid. We all got to know you in these years and you did so much for us, and our town! You think we would oust you when you told us the truth?
"Miss Mayor, we love you and your speeches, your ideas, and plans to make Ponyville a fun and happy place to live in. Please don't leave us!"
"What about yourself and everything you've built up over the years? You became friends with many ponies here; you made life better in Ponyville. You're trusted and admired; else they wouldn't have elected you twice, nor would they elect you for a third time. You're an important pony to all of us and we would miss you greatly", said Twilight.
"I know myself that being judged by your outside appearance can feel displeasing. I dislike how ponies bow before me when I walk past them just because of my wings. I can't even use them properly and yet they're kind of a big deal to everypony. But I know, wings or no wings, I'm still Twilight Sparkle. And so are you, Miss Writer.
"You're the mayor cause you are you and that won't change because of a different hair color, a different name or being able to read without glasses. It won't change because you're a hermaphrodite. Trust this town and its ponies like they trust you. Believe in them as they believe in you. Because it's like Pinkie says; they all love you and you love them all. And you don't want to leave them to ponies like Couch Potato or Silver Tongue, do you?"
Speech Writer opened her mouth like a goldfish a couple times, before she looked away. She had never won an argument against these girls, why try it now?
"Thank you, girls. Really, thank you. If you don't mind, I need some time alone to work on my speech for tomorrow." The young mares nodded, it was late in the night and they had a busy day ahead of them.
"Miss Writer?" Twilight addressed the mayor for the last time. "Whatever you decide to do tomorrow, Pinkie Pie and I will always stand at your side."
"Yeah, sister! You got our backs! 100 Pro!"
"Good night, Miss Mayor."
"Sweet dreams, Speechie!"
With that the two ponies left the mayor's bureau and Speech Writer was alone, alone with her script for tomorrow, which she would have to redo from scratch. It took the entire night to write those 4000 words, but she was satisfied with her work. It was more than enough for what she intended to say.
=====
Everypony was there.
Even the colts and fillies that couldn't vote yet had come because Miss Cheerilee made it clear that it was important to watch this discussion. After all, there wouldn’t be another for the next ten years. But as Mayor Mare, a big hat adorning her head, walked to her podium, she only saw the bored looks on the children in the first row. Clearly they wanted to do something more fun this sunny day. Many of the adults as well seemed to be just there for the sake of being there and meeting others to talk with them. They probably all expected the mayor to win with flying colors.
Well, after this discussion I might lose their trust and my job. This thought shrinked her heart as the sadness squeezed it merciless.
But she knew it was the right thing to do. Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle were right that she couldn't give up what she had built here. She had lived half her life in Ponyville and came to know many wonderful ponies; all of whom were kindhearted and lovely people. Her two opponents, a chubby male unicorn and a beautiful female pegasus, entered the stage and trotted to their places. She wondered which of them was behind this letter, but then again it didn’t matter.
No matter who was behind it, she wouldn’t leave her seat by blackmail.
She would fight for it.
With the truth.
"Howdy y'all!"
"Welcome everypony!"
Applejack and Rarity were the moderators for the discussion, just like during all the previous discussions. Mayor Mare knew both were busy with their own work, so she was thankful they volunteered, as Fluttershy was too scared to speak before crowds and Rainbow Dash had "cooler stunts to do than this boring stuff."
But with two Elements of Harmony being the moderators, there were more ponies in the audience than the last two elections. While Applejack and Rarity did their mocking play and introduced the candidates to start the discussion, Mayor Mare prepared herself mentally for what she had to do.
She looked to Twilight and Pinkie, standing behind the stage with her crew. Both of them with supporting smiles.
Speech Writer felt her heart swell with happiness.
"Miss Mayor, your turn." Rarity gave the signal to begin the last discussion of the election. Since she was the old mayor it was her turn to start with the speech.
"My dear ponies, I'll start with something I should have told you a long time ago."
She removed the hat, which had hidden her mane, and her pink hair flew around her head, getting the attention of everypony in a matter of seconds.
"I kept quiet about it all this time, first fearing you'd judge me for what I am and also because I was scared I’d be unworthy of the trust you’ve put in me."
She took off her false thick glasses and continued reading from her paper. The confused chatter died out. The audience was left speechless.
"But I was wrong, and I needed blackmail and two friends to open my eyes to see reality. To see what a wonderful and lovely community I had the honor to be the mayor of these past years. You ponies deserve to know the truth about me, your Mayor. The truth to decide whenever to trust me for another ten years or not."
She took away the ascot that had protected her all those years. Which just like her lies had made up her disguise as Mayor Mare. Both Couch Potato and Silver Tongue stared at her in disbelief, unable to comprehend why their greatest opponent was walking right into their trap.
"Today I'll reveal my biggest secrets. Say good-bye to Mayor Mare and let me tell you about Speech Writer."
Author's Note
Well, my first futa fic. Not clop. But that´s cause with the clop it got way over 4000 words so i cut it out. Maybe one day i´ll upload it when i´m braver to show everyone my literary effusions in the matter of sex. ^^
I wanted to write a fic which brings a real surprise, a new perspective to a background pony, something that shows what a big deal the background pony is dealing with. The futa is just one of many things here but it´s the main reason why Mayor Mare is in my story not Mayor Mare but Speech Writer who has hidden herself behind the name and role of Mayor Mare the past years, fooling herself and everypony around her.
And then she´s faced with the destruction of her life in Ponyville and has to decide whenever she takes a risk and stands up to herself, telling everypony the truth about herself to disarm her blackmailers or if she does what she did in the past and runs away.
I leave it up to your imagination if Mayor Mare/Speech Writer got reelected or if she lost the campaign or if she even got exiled from Ponyville. In my own i like to imagine a happy ending. Cause unlike Couch Potato who has hidden his doping and Silver Tongue who has false plans for Ponyville, Mayor Mare/Speech Writer stands to her past and faults. She loves Ponyville very much and wants the best for it, so i´d like to see her for many years as this town´s mayor. <3
The hardest part was to decide between the many names Mayor Mare got in the show. Either it was Mayor, Miss Mayor, Mayor Mare and then in this fic Speechie, Miss Writer, Speech Writer, etc. I wanted the names to have some meaning, which is why Pinkie in her serious speech after blowing her nose calls "Speechie" "Miss Mayor" while Twi goes from "Miss Mayor" to "Miss Writer".
As for Mayor Mare´s "real name" Speech Writer i got that name after reading that Mayor gives all the speeches in the show and i thought to myself "Why not make that her talent?". After all, it´s like Pinkie Pie says:
Which parents in their right minds names their child Mayor Mare? :P
The Pinkie comment about the word limit and why Speech Write wrote exactly 4000 words in one night are nods to the contest this fic was written for. Mostly cause when I did wrote it in one night i wasn´t even finished with it and already near 5000, so I cut the clop part out, which i´m glad for it really wasn´t that well-written, and did my best to keep it as close to 4000 words as possible.
Just in case you wondered why Pinkie said that.^^
Many thanks to TimberWolf65 for proofreading the fic. Same goes for Pump It Up. Thanks alot for the help. :)
