The Anti-Bullying Law- Part 1
To say that today was a normal day in Equestria would be a flat out lie. There were no impending disasters, no malevolent ancient beings returning after a thousand years to try and wreak havoc upon the world, or any random issues that would test ponies friendships and the like happening at all. In fact, things seemed exceedingly peaceful for once, though that isn’t why it wasn’t a normal day.
Today was the day Princess Twilight Sparkle would be passing her first law.
Most ponies would likely dread a new law being passed as they could possibly break it without realizing it until it was too late; such as one time several hundred years ago when Celestia passed a law stating that for every cake a bakery sells they must send her one as well. It was quickly revoked when only a handful of bakeries remained open within Equestria after nearly all the others broke that particular law several times over.
Thankfully, the new law being passed wouldn’t have that problem as it was being given a trial run in Ponyville before it would be applied the rest of Equestria.
Today was the day The Anti-Bullying Law was being passed.
The citizens of Ponyville were gathered outside the Town Hall, waiting for their resident Princess, Twilight Sparkle, to give her speech and announce her very first law. Most assumed it would be something education related considering how she normally was. Others figured it would be friendship related, considering her recently acquired title of Princess of Friendship. However, none of them would have guessed the true nature of the law she was passing, save for her friends and various colts and fillies in attendance.
Twilight, along with Spike who had a small stack of scrolls, appeared at the podium set up for her in front of the Town Hall in a flash of magic, wearing her crown as she did when normally performing any of her duties as a Princess. “Citizens of Ponyville, I thank all of you for being here today. I am sure many of you are nervous, considering it isn’t often new laws are passed within Equestria, much less being given a trial run in a single town”, she looked around the gathered ponies, noticing some nodding while other seemed to try and hide said nervousness. “However I can assure you that the law will not affect most of you, so you have no need to worry about it.”
This got most of the of those gathered murmuring amongst themselves, wondering just what kind of law this could be if it would not be affecting them, though most of the assembled colts and fillies smiled, knowing what it was.
“Before I continue onto what the law is, I will first go into what the punishment for breaking it will be. Spike, the first scroll if you would”, Twilight said to her young, dragon assistant who dutifully unrolled and held out the first scroll which she took within her magic. She then proceeded to use her most authoritive tone of “Anypony caught breaking this new law shall get a choice between either paying a fine based on the percentage of the income they, or their family, make or doing community service based upon the severity of what they do. The punishment for repeat offenses are currently undecided, but should be known upon the law being applied to all of Equestria after the trial run of it here.”
As Twilight was about to continue on, her attention was caught by a cough from Spike. “Twilight, while I am sure you wanna go through all of these scrolls and the speech you made for this, everypony has places to be and others that have jobs to do. There will be plenty of chances with other laws should this one work out, so maybe you should just wrap this up a bit sooner so everyone can get on with their day”, he suggested, knowing that she could be at this all day if not convinced otherwise.
After letting out a noise that sounded a bit like a ‘squee’, Twilight cleared her throat looked back on the assembled crowd. “Recently it has been brought to my attention that not just here in Ponyville, but in other towns and cities in Equestria, there been a problem that has not had anything truly being done about it. A problem that mostly affects colts and fillies”, the princess stated matter of factly while looking out at the crowd noticing most of the foals smiling at her, knowing what was coming. “That problem being bullying. Which is why I am passing Equestria’s new Anti-Bullying Law.”
In the crowd colts and fillies alike started cheering, save for two, a pair of pink and gray fillies. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the resident town bullies were looking like they had just been told, with numerous amounts of evidence to prove it, that the world does not revolve around them.
“Silver Spoon, did you hear what that purple loser playing at being a Princess just said”, Diamond Tiara asked in a half-whisper half-screech.
“Maybe we should lay off on messing with the blank flanks and those other losers until this passes”, Silver Spoon whispered back in suggestion, only to receive an incredulous look from her friend.
“Why the hay should we do that? It’s our right to put them in their place”, Tiara said, quickly becoming angry at the suggestion.
“If there is no reason for that new law of hers to be used here at all, it will likely be considered a failure or not needed, meaning it won’t stick around, which means we can go back to reminding everypony why we are so much better than them”, Silver suggested, earning a thoughtful look from her friend.
After thinking for a few moments Diamond Tiara let out a sigh. “Alright. Though I am sure daddy could do something about this, it’s probably easier your way, even if it will take longer before we can get things back to normal.”
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were so caught up in their conversation they didn’t notice three certain fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, coming up behind them. “Ah wouldn’t bet on that if Ah were you”, came the voice of Apple Bloom, causing the two of them nearly jump out of their skin.
“DON’T DO THAT BLAN- err, Apple Bloom, and what the heck do you mean by that”, Diamond Tiara asked, barely catching herself from insulting the red maned farm filly for scaring her like that.
“Oh nothing much”, Sweetie Belle answered for Apple Bloom with an overly sweet smile that hid what she knew was coming.
“Though you two may want to listen to the rest of what this law is gonna entail. It’s so awesome and you don’t wanna miss anymore than you have”, Scootaloo said with a smirk on her face.
“What are you talking abou-” Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara both began to say before they heard Twilight going into the last details of the new law.
“-And finally, to keep bullies from just completely dropping what they are doing to try and get around this new law, it shall come with a retroactive clause, effectively making any bullying within the last several years subject to punishment through the guidelines outlined within the law”, Twilight concluded with the abridged version of her speech on the new law.
Adults and foals alike started clapping in applause for the new law, save for two who only had looks upon their faces stuck somewhere between fear, anger, and confusion, before screaming out, in unison, “WHAT!?!?!”
Author's Note
Not counting that thing I did back during the season two premiere, this is my first fic. All I ask for you all to be gentle with your comments.
Intermission- Celestia and Luna
To say Princess Luna was confused would be like saying Pinkie Pie was just a happy pony. While she had not been back long from her one thousand year banishment, there were several things that still held true in modern day Equestria as they did back then. One of them being that making a new law work retroactively was not something done very often and normally for good reason as it could easily be abused. It was because of this that she was currently having tea and scones with her sister, Princess Celestia, in order to get some answers on her concerns over the new law Twilight Sparkle had just passed.
“Sister, why would tho- you let Princess Twilight add a retroactive clause to that law that she has undoubtedly passed by now. Even We know, with being gone for as long as We have, those just aren’t done lightly and cannot fathom why a law on bullying would require such a thing”, the midnight blue alicorn inquired while taking occasional sips of her earl grey tea.
Celestia set down her cinnamon chip scone she has been enjoying and look at her sister. “Luna, while adding such a clause to the law might seem excessive and possibly foolish to you, and possibly many others would agree, there is a reason. One that makes Twilight’s addition of it necessary.”
“And what, pray tell, might that be?”
“I’ve tried twice, in the last two centuries, to pass a similar law; it failed both times”, Celestia sighed as she thought back to both failed attempts. She had not expected bullies to be as smart as they had showed themselves to have been.
The wide eyed, almost slack jawed, bewildered look on Luna's face spoke volumes of her confusion, she then proceeded to state her confusion, “what? How can that be? How could a law have failed twice over? And even if it did We distinctly remember even laws that fail to show any results still stay on the books for the off chance they can be of use.”
Celestia sighed, knowing that the reason why wasn’t going to be pleasant to reveal since it had, in part, to do with her sisters banishment one thousand years ago. “Luna, not long after I had to banish you”, the pearly white alicorn winced at her sisters crestfallen look, “I made a lot of mistakes. particularly with passing laws, and I mean A LOT. There were many laws I had passed within the first century or so. Some of them were successful, some were complete train wrecks, but most were complete failures at their time of passing. And then decades down the line there were opportunistic ponies who decided to abuse these old and nearly forgotten laws for their own gain. It was one legal nightmare after another as ponies found ways to use them. I eventually had those laws stricken from the books and passed a new one keep such things from happening again… a law that has basically protected it self and is the reason why Twilight Sparkle is making her first law retroactive.”
Luna listened to her sister with intrigue, not having heard of any such law since her return and was concerned as to what it might be. “Sister, Celly, what kind of law did you pass?”
Celestia took a long sip of her own earl grey tea. “ Lulu, I passed a law which basically states that any law which does not show any signs of having had any discernible effect on Equestria, positive or negative, within one year of its passing would automatically removed from use. That law is the reason why both of my previous laws against bullying have failed’, Celestia gave a rueful smirk at what a double edged sword that law had been.
“How is that possible though? Bullying is such a problem that We have had to help colts and fillies alike in their dreams on occasion over what they have suffered through. Surely there must have been some results from such a law being passed that the one you mentioned wouldn’t have affected it.”
“First off, don’t call me Shirley”, Celestia joked, earning an groan and an eye roll from Luna because of the joke that she was positive was older than they were. “Second, bullies are unfortunately much smarter than many possibly give them credit for. Both times after I passed those laws, bullying basically stopped. And I don’t mean it decreased until you didn’t hear about it anymore. I mean it basically completely disappeared in the blink of an eye pretty much. And before you say anything about that being proof the law had results, I unfortunately wrote the One Year Law in such a way somepony must be punished by a laws guidelines in order for it to be considered a success. After a year of no bullying and no punishments, both times, the laws were taken off the books. And not even several days later you would hear that bullying had started again.”
Luna’s widened in comprehension of what it was that the newest princess was trying to do with her new law. “Celly, stop me if We are am wrong, but the reason Princess Twilight is passing that Anti-Bullying Law and making it work retroactively is to bypass the One Year Law, isn’t it?”
Celestia smiled as her sister figured out what Twilight was doing. “Indeed Lulu. With this Twilight is basically both bypassing the laws and bullies seemingly innate ability to keep themselves out of trouble as they have the last two times. With this there can hopefully be something done about bullying in Equestria with fair punishments. And if needed the punishment can be reworked as needed should any issues arise. I will say I was hesitant like you were when she approached me with this plan of hers, but between her reasoning and all the colts and fillies in Ponyville asking her to do something about the local bullies, it seemed like the best course of action. Now all we can do is wait and see how it plays out.”
“We guess you are right sister. More tea,” Luna offered to Celestia who gratefully took some as they continued their to enjoy their afternoon. That is until Luna added one last tidbit to the conversation. "Also, you must tell us about that Baked Goods Tax Law some time", she stated mischievously and taking delight in Celestia spitting her tea clear across the room at the mention of that particular law.
Author's Note
Sorry about the wait. But as as said, lack of sleep made it hard to get this out. Then there was quite a bit of a stressful start to the month that made it even harder for me to write. And then a game took up time from me. But I was able to finally get this chapter done. It is a bit of a roundabout reason but I hope it makes sense. Twilight, with how knowledgeable she is would both know about the One Year Law, as I call it, and Celestia's 2 failed attempts in the past, crafted this law to avoid both those issues.
Next chapter, when I can get the drive to do it and my thoughts organized on how to write it, will start to, hopefully, get into the the exact details of the law, the punishments, and all that fun stuff.
