Canterlot Palace had a certain, timeless charm. Perhaps it was because of the alicorns who held it as their home, but the white and gold palace had an aura about it that made the young mare walking through it feel like she was passing through a window into the past.
She was walking unescorted; she knew the way well enough by now. Tartarus, she’d lost track of how many times she’d visited Canterlot Palace by now. At least once a week according to official policy, but in practice it was more like three to five times a week.
She came upon the entrance to the Princesses’ solar soon enough. Four guards, two of the Day Guard - unicorn and earth pony - and two of the Night Guard - thestrals both - stood beside the door, and one of them turned to knock on the door as Sweetie approached.
‘’Prime Minister Sweetie Belle, your Majesties!’’ he announced.
‘’Let her in!’’ came back the voice of Princess Celestia.
So said, so done, and the unicorn Guard held the door open for her, giving her a ‘’Good afternoon, ma’am,’’ as he did so. Sweetie nodded back as she passed into the solar.
In the beginning it had stunned her with its size and glamour, but by now she had gotten used to the look of the solar. So, her attention was on the two alicorns, regally laying on a set of pillows.
‘’Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, good day to you both.’’
‘’Prime Minister Sweetie Belle,’’ Celestia greeted with a nod of her head.
‘’It’s a pleasure to see you again, Prime Minister,’’ Luna added, a rare smile playing on her lips. The light of the sun through the windows made the scar from a fragmentation grenade she’d gotten during the Great War all the more noticeable.
‘’The pleasure is all mine, Princesses,’’ Sweetie said, unable to keep her own smile from forming.
‘’Enough with the formality!’’ Luna cried a moment later, rising from her seat and spreading her wings. ‘’We are all friends here, there is no need to speak as if we are strangers! Sweetie, how have you been?’’
‘’Busy,’’ Sweetie replied dryly.
Celestia chuckled. ‘’I can imagine.’’
Of course you can. You’ve been doing this for longer than my family has existed.
Sweetie didn’t mention that, of course. But it was nice to have someone to speak to who knew what it was like to be busy with matters of state.
‘’There’s a lot of paperwork on the reconstruction efforts,’’ she continued. ‘’And the occupation in Changelingia as well.’’
‘’I’m headed north later this week,’’ Luna said. ‘’Visiting Vesalipolis to speak with Crown Marshal Applejack. Perhaps more forces are in order- Ah, but I am no longer responsible for that.’’
‘’I’ll see what I can do,’’ Sweetie replied, smile straining slightly. The occupation was a major issue in Equestrian politics right now, so she’d have to tread carefully. ‘’It’s a bit of a minefield right now.’’
‘’Bah!’’ Luna spat. ‘’If Applejack says she needs more soldiers, she needs more soldiers. She’s the Element of Honesty, for Moon’s sake!’’
‘’Calm, sister,’’ Celestia urged serenely. ‘’Most of our forces have been stood down, and those that are not in Changelingia already are aiding the reconstruction of the Hinterlands. It would be unwise to divert resources from that.’’
Luna sighed. ‘’You are quite right, sister. But still…’’
‘’Look, I’ll do my best, alright?’’ Sweetie promised.
Luna nodded, smiling again. ‘’That is all I can ask, Sweetie.’’
‘’Moving on,’’ Celestia continued, ‘’I feel we need to discuss the situation in Griffonia.’’
Ah. That’s something.
The Great Griffonian War, as some were calling it, between the Kingdom of Aquileia and the River Federation, had been raging for almost one-and-a-half years, beginning just as the Great War was ending. Reportedly some two million Griffons and Ponies had already perished in the conflict, and the scenes of the Great War were being repeated in Vartai and Herzland now, it seemed.
Equestria had not yet done anything with the conflict beyond calling for both sides to seek peaceful negotiations, and Sweetie would much rather keep it that way; Equestria was not in any state to wage war right now. The economy was just finishing up scaling back from a war footing, and most soldiers had been dismissed from active duty months ago. No, a war right now would be disastrous.
‘’Right now it looks to be a stalemate,’’ Celestia said, ‘’but I fear that might change in the future. I have received reports from S.M.I.L.E. that indicate Aquileia is scaling up production of crystal-enhanced tanks. If they deploy those, the River Federation might be overrun.’’
‘’I understand, Celestia,’’ Sweetie said, ‘’but what can we do? The River Federation is a world away, and we cannot invade Aquileia right now. By the time we could, it would have already been noticed.’’
‘’True, but I have been thinking,’’ Celestia replied, a small smile coming to her lips. ‘’We have confiscated a massive amount of equipment from the Changelingians. Perhaps we could ship those east, via Tahindti and Tuavu? The Riverponies would certainly appreciate it.’’
Hmm… not a half-bad idea.
‘’I’ll look into it,’’ Sweetie promised, making a mental note to visit Director Sweetie Drops later in the week to discuss this. If anyone could get it done, it would be S.M.I.L.E.
‘’Enough politics!’’ Luna cried suddenly, breaking the silence that followed. ‘’Let us speak of more relaxing topics.’’
Fine by me, Sweetie decided with a shrug. ‘’Yeah, sounds good.’’
After all, she might be Sweetie Belle, Harmonic-Socialist Party founder and Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Equestria, but she was also just a mare in the end, and the two diarchs had become close friends ever since she’d been elected to a post she’d never expected to ever hold.
Now in fairness, it hadn’t existed until half a year after the end of the Great War, where a referendum resulted in a majority vote for a democratically-elected parliament. Because of the majority, the Princesses took a further step and signed into effect the Constitution of Equestria, limiting their powers and giving them over to the elected government.
The elections had been just two months after the referendum, but many of the parties that participated had already been formed (in some way) before that period; not so for Sweetie’s Harmonic-Socialist Party, which she only made a few days after the referendum was over.
Equestria had many harmonic parties, promising a continuation of Equestria before the War and no radical changes, examples being Fancy Pants’ Equestrian Conservative Party and Gearheart’s Liberal Party; and many socialist parties as well, like Starlight Glimmer’s Ponies’s Socialist Party or Golden Delicious’ All-Equestrian Workers Front. There was, however, no party combining policies from both sides of the political spectrum.
Sweetie’s Harmonic-Socialist Party had filled that void, and through a combination of slight fame (being the sister of an Element of Harmony had its perks), marketing, and sheer dumb luck, the HSP had managed to gain the most votes out of all the parties participating in the election. Not quite enough to rule alone, but a coalition accord had been reached with the PSP, so that Equestria’s first democratically-elected government could rule effectively.
And by and large, that had been the case. So far all proposals the government had brought before the parliament had been accepted with minor adjustments at best, though Sweetie had admittedly avoided tackling any of the really serious issues right into her term, to not rock the boat too much.
Perhaps she’d address those in the coming months. But for now, she was with two friends, and there was conversation to be had that did not involve work.
Canterlot had many cafes. Someone had probably bothered to count them all, if only by counting all the cafes listed in the Commerce Chamber’s Business Register. Perhaps someone had even bothered to count them all by hoof.
Star Tower was not that person, not by a long shot.
‘’I must ask,’’ Starlight Glimmer, Chairmare and frontrunner of the Ponies’ Socialist Party, said, seated across from him, ‘’how did you come across this cafe? This coffee is to die for.’’
‘’Oh, you know how it goes,’’ Star replied airily. ‘’Young stallion with a date, looking for a good place at the last moment, sees a spot and decides it’s good enough for the mare by his side. Flash forward thirty odd years, and here we are.’’
‘’Except we’re not on a date,’’ Starlight stated immediately, before taking a sip from her coffee.
‘’Quite right,’’ Star agreed with a chuckle.
Not only are you a tad young for me, you’re also my cousin, after all. I wonder if you know that.
It was something he’d found out a few years back, before the Great War. The more you knew.
‘’Anyhow,’’ Starlight said, dipping the complementary biscuit she’d received along with her coffee in the liquid before munching on it, ‘’let’s cut to the chase. You invited me for a reason.’’
‘’I need reassurances.’’ Playing one’s cards close to the chest had advantages, but Star always preferred having all the facts on the table instead. Never without a back-up plan, of course, but he figured he wouldn’t need it in this case.
‘’About what?’’
‘’Playing innocent doesn’t become you.’’
‘’I’m not going to pull out of the coalition,’’ Starlight deadpanned. ‘’Unless Sweetie Belle does something supremely stupid, that is, and so far it doesn’t look like it.’’
Star took a sip of his own tea - almost the right temperature for continued consumption - before replying: ‘’I agree. But still. The last thing Equestria needs right now is a parliamentary crisis.’’
Starlight raised her eyebrow at him. ‘’What assurance do you want? You can read the plans of PSP anywhere, the flyer’s free; and you’ve seen the coalition accord.’’
Star had seen it indeed, and studied it intensely. By and far the agreements made between Sweetie Belle’s Harmonic-Socialist Party and Starlight’s Ponies’ Socialist Party looked to be stable, though given how much of their programs overlapped that was to be expected. Still, there were a few points of discontent that could become serious issues.
Technically, it wasn’t Star’s job to deal with this at all. He was the Royal Magician: his duty was to keep an eye on magical threats to Equestria and lead the development of new magic. In essence he was the nation’s magical babysitter.
But he also benefited immensely from a stable Equestria. He was, after all, a noble, a privileged stallion: crisis was a threat to that privilege. Not to mention a threat to so many ponies all across the nation. The Great War had caused enough damage to Equestria to last a lifetime, there was no need to worsen the situation.
So, Star had taken matters into his own hooves. Using years of contacts built up all across the nation, he kept an eye on things as much as possible. And he was partially responsible for Sweetie Belle’s fledgling HSP winning the elections.
‘’The issues of nobility, diplomatic relations with Stalliongrad, the occupation of Changelingia,’’ Star listed off, ‘’are all issues on which the HSP and the PSP diverge. Plus a slew of minor issues. Sure, there are points on which you two agree, but the differences cannot be ignored.’’
‘’We haven’t ignored them,’’ Starlight pointed out.
‘’I never said you had,’’ Star shot back. ‘’My point is that any of these things, alone or together, could cause a crisis Equestria’s newborn democracy is not yet ready to face. I invited you here to ensure the risk of such an event is minimised.’’
‘’And how do you propose to do that?’’ Starlight asked with narrowed eyes.
Here come the fireworks.
‘’You’re going to have to bend on some of these issues,’’ Star said carefully. Every word was picked with care here; it was important the exact message he wanted to convey was conveyed to Starlight, with as little room for misinterpretation as possible. ‘’On other issues, Sweetie will have to cave to you, of course. But I need a promise that you will not, for any reason, pull out the PSP from the coalition without talking to me or Twilight first.’’
Starlight was steadily getting redder as Star continued, and looked about ready to explode into a tirade of furious words by the time Star was finished. ‘’You-’’ was as far as she got before Star continued.
‘’This is precisely what I mean,’’ he said. ‘’Calm yourself. Think things through. Talk about them. And not just with the members of your party who share your beliefs, but with people that don’t. Get that outsider perspective.’’
Starlight calmed down slightly, though if looks could kill Star would very much be deceased right about now. He didn’t care; he was right, and they both knew it.
‘’... Very well,’’ Starlight eventually said. ‘’You want it in writing as well?’’
‘’I’ll just take your word for it, thank you very much.’’
‘’Fair enough.’’
Star held Starlight’s gaze for a few more seconds, then nodded. He’d done all he (legally) could. The rest was up to Sweetie and Starlight.
‘’Well then.’’ He grabbed his mug with his magic and took a long sip. Damn, slightly too cold for his taste. He’d missed the window. Tough luck.
‘’Have you ever asked her why she did it?’’
‘’Who did what?’’ Star asked with a raised eyebrow.
‘’Sweetie, why did she create the HSP,’’ Starlight elaborated.
Star’s second eyebrow joined the first. ‘’I have not asked her, no.’’
‘’I should ask her,’’ Starlight thought aloud, before glancing at her coffee. ‘’You’re paying?’’
‘’What a socialist thing to say.’’
Author's Note
I wrote this in 80 minutes with no plan in mind because I was challenging myself. I hope you enjoyed it.
Cheers and have a good day/night!
