OVER IN A DASH
It was a rainy day in Ponyville. Not that that was particularly unusual weather, although it rarely ever rained in Ponyville except on planned rainy days, maybe the bad weather was due to Rainbow Dash, head of the Ponyville weather team, not being able to spend the ten seconds needed to clear it up. Or any amount of seconds to do anything at all anymore.
It was very unexpected, what happened to Dash, and of course Rarity blamed herself, not that it was her fault. To be honest it was such an innocent request, no one could have known what would happen. But it happened. And now... everypony is left to clean up the mess. Both figuratively and literally, flying right through helicopter blades is best comparable to putting a tomato in a blender. As one might imagine town clean up duty didn't make anything easier.
Even though Dash's passing wasn't the fall of harmony, it certainly led to it, as the ponies began argue amongst each other, two general opinions formed, or rather an opinion formed and then an opposition to it. Some believed that Rarity committed accidental ponyslaughter, of course the Pegasus Reform Party used this as fuel for anti-unicorn attitudes in Ponyville. This kept Twilight Sparkle, the only alicorn around to get swept up in municipal politics, very busy. Not to mention, she was very heartbroken from very recently losing a friend and had very little patience with politicians attempting to use the event as segue into the upcoming election, of course Mayor Mare stayed loyal to Princess Twilight throughout the ordeal.
The opposition believed the crime was blameless or the fault of Rainbow Dash for being too preoccupied with what was happening below her to see the helicopter in time. The majority in support of this belief were represented by the Solar Soirée, a Canterlot based pony rights organization, and recently, a riding party in Ponyville. Twilight refused assistance from the party as it would be used against her, supporting a majority unicorn group, and reflect poorly upon her as a Princess, trying to sway municipal politics in favor of another party, instead of impartially.
The others had little to do but to mourn. Applejack, only infuriated by the deceit and propaganda of the politics in Ponyville slowly became a shut away on her farm, leaving the responsibility of selling to Apple Bloom and Big Mac. Rarity hadn't been seen in seen the media explosion, some said this was because she was afraid of being convicted, others said it was because she could not deal with ponies constantly accusing her of murder, many believed it was a healthy mix of both. Fluttershy had a very hard time dealing with Dash's death, and was used by the Pegasus Reform Party to sway popular opinion.
Pinkie Pie however is a totally separate case. Immediately after the passing Pinkie began to try to make the others see the light at the end of the tunnel, and at the beginning of the political turmoil she was a key element in keeping Twilight grounded and somewhat lighthearted and understanding. But soon after, hate spread through the town like a virus, those who didn't catch it were few and locked themselves away hoping it would pass. It didn't. Pinkie always seemed fine, assuming everything was temporary but as everything decayed and ponies wouldn't even talk to her because she was a “Solar Conspirator”, it became too much for her and she left to go be with her family.
But this was not the end of harmony in Ponyville. This was just the setup, the sequence of events required to take place in order for the "fall of harmony" to occur. And it did. Soon after the Pegasus Reform Party and Earth Pony's United Front founded the Equine Front for Morale Leadership, Twilight Sparkle completed this sequence of events. She broke down when she was asked “Do you feel any grief at all for your deceased friend, or is this all just politics to you?”. She began yelling, then crying, then yelling again, and it ended with her stating she would have nothing to do with the "political game" as it had become a “sad” representation of what ponies could be not united by harmony.
This was interpreted as her giving up, as her insulting Ponyville, as her insulting their right to vote, and many other not-so-positive feelings. This of course destroyed Mayor Mare in approval as she stated she was a full supporter of Twilight, and her beliefs. Needless to say the Equine Front for Morale Leadership took control with the Wonderbolt, Fast Clip, as there candidate, on a hiatus from work at the Wonderbolt Academy.
Not in her best frame of mind, Twilight set off to find Rarity, not realizing that leaving the EFML alone in control was the worst thing she could have done. Rarity had been gone for a while at this point and could be anywhere. She knew that it would take her a good while, but she was determined to find Rarity, unaware that this was the last time she would ever see the Ponyville she loved.
EQUESTRIAN POLITICS
Even from the top floor of the Ponyville town hall at night it seemed so bright outside. With the princess gone for a week and support rushing out of magic education and the sciences, the ponies were in outrage. The square was full of yelling ponies with torches, lighting up the streets, all unarmed though.
It was decided that Ponyville needed a dedicated police force operated by the EFML. Two days into the protest several pegasi and a few earth ponies arrived in a brown uniform that covered the entirety of the pony, with the EFML logo where their cutie marks should be. They also appeared to carry wands which discharged heavy amounts of electricity, which didn't seem to make sense as none of the ponies, were unicorns.
They descended upon the crowd unconstrained. In the end over thirty unicorns were “unaccounted” for, three lay dead on the streets along with “Mayor” Mare, with well over a hundred unicorns, and thirty others hospitalized. It was announced that so many unicorns were targeted because they appeared to be using their horns, which was a direct threat to the peace keeping force, and that Mayor Mare was a ringleader and on top of enticing others to riot, was attacking peace keeping officers. Of course news got out about the protest, although it was all heavily controlled by the EFML, and most of it covered the damage done by the riots, and how they were a move of unicorn radicals enticing their brethren to assault the democratically elected leader.
Slowly the EFML spread across the country to Cloudsdale, to Applelossa, and to the Crystal Empire, where unicorns were rare. When they inevitably spread to Canterlot and were denied entry by Celestia, there was an uproar. Never had a princess blocked or targeted a democratic party.
INTERVENTION
Rarity was hiding in Applelossa when they elected an EFML candidate. She was inevitably sold out by a whistleblower and Braeburn was given five years of government labour as punishment for harbouring a fugitive.
This is where Celestia stepped in as a punishment of unpaid labour for the government was not allowed, especially when the fugitive wasn't even a fugitive. The EFML waged a propaganda war and won saying that if the majority believes a punishment was fair, or that somepony is a fugitive then it’s true. Celestia agreed to this and decided to hold a vote. The majority didn't agree according to the vote, but since the ballots were counted by Celestia's ponies, they accused her of rigging the vote to protect unicorn interests. This enraged her and she brought both Rarity and Braeburn to Canterlot to live under refugee status. This enraged the public as it made it seem like the only government they could fully control was not being taken seriously.
Delegates from Cloudsdale officially stated that pegasi were against the quote, “Tyrannical” decision made by Celestia, and that the Wonderbolts were on recall and would not serve to assist her until she respected due process, and the majority. This was very symbolic as not only were the words harsh and disrespectful, but no one race had been spoken for as a people since the founding of the EUP.
It should be understood things leading up to that point were not easy in Canterlot. For one, many EFML representatives were former Wonderbolts, or Wonderbolts on hiatus from duty. This made many Canterlot residents upset as they found the EFML blatantly racist and that anypony supporting them should be denounced by the Wonderbolts. They said that they refuse to expel or insult any member past or present for their political belief, although their beliefs do not represent the beliefs of the Wonderbolts by any means. Many ponies interpreted this as respect/support for the EFML and their values in office and have been making life very difficult for the Wonderbolts, so when the EFML offered sanctuary and no obligation to choose sides, many left. This left Celestia in a rage, as she was about to run invasive investigations on the EFML, although after much convincing from Luna decided it would only make their situation worse, as they had already made there racist values clear. Unfortunately when the investigation did happen it was too late.
