Moonbeam, finally, runs into Snow while wandering around town. "How has it been going? Have any plans for today?"
"I've been doing fine." Snow said to Moonbeam, "And no, I don't have plans for right now. But I do have plans for the future, because from the way these first votes for first president are showing, I am the favorite by a large margain. You?"
Hibiscus glanced nervously at the group of ponies in front of him. He planned on attempting to break his general distrust with pegasi by proving that they weren't terrible food hogs. He drew in a breath and approached the group. As he got closer, their words began making sense. "...thieves, all of them! They expect us to ally with those unicorns? All they're doing is stealing our rights, see! I swear, I know for a fact that one of them will attempt to take over! Just watch!" Hibiscus looked down and trotted past the group. He was going to need a new strategy to get to know the pegasi.
(I see what you did there.) Snow looked over Moonbeam's shoulder to see Hibiscus, "Excuse me." She said to Moonbeam, then trotted up to him, "Ah, hello Hibiscus!" She said cheerfully, "how are you?"
:S "Oh, Snow!" Hibiscus hesitated. "Look, I understand that we should be unifying and getting along and such...but..." he raised a hoof and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's those pegasi. I just can't bring myself to trust them! You should have heard them earlier, yammering on about some conspiracy or something!"
"Please Hibiscus, you know I'm the one their going to be electing for president, and you know I wouldn't allow anything like that to happen." Snow lied, her eyes suddenly darkened, "If they don't want to unify, just what would we do. The new nation will need strong rulers." Snow looked down, then back up into Hibiscus' eyes, "If I am elected, I will be able to pick 10 representatives for the Council. And I think that you should be one."
Hibiscus peered into Snow's eyes, but this time, he saw something that had never been present before. It scared Hibiscus. 'I....I couldn't!' He thought with alarm. 'If I were to be put into a position of power...who knows what I could...what I might...' Hibiscus bit his lip. He looked Snow in the eyes again. The moment had passed, but he was sure it was still there. "I'm sorry, Snow," he said sadly. "I must decline your offer. I would be no good in the council. My views are not the best for such a position. Save it for a more suited candidate, as I'm sure there is one out there." He had no doubts Snow would be an excellent ruler, but he simply couldn't do such a thing to their new home. He had to think of the hard working ponies, not his own drunken spiels. "Find somepony more suitable for the position."
"Of course my friend. I swear to you, things will get better. But as the old saying goes, it gets worse before it gets better, so maybe something bad will happen. Maybe the pegasi change their mind, but that doesn't matter, they will come around eventually. Before you know it we will all be living in a happy, unified place that is lead by strong leaders." Snow said, "Oh, and they'll be announcing the election's results in ever square of every city and town tonight. You should come, it'll be historic, and I promise if I win I won't call you out."
Moonbeam wandered away from the two babbling ponies, he never did quite understand them. But what can you do with politicians, amirite? "I was supposed to meet up with Ice before the big event tonight, I wonder where he could have gone." Moonbeam continued to wander around the town thinking to himself, "More and more recently there seemed to be signs of peace among the three different races, however there also seemed to be a growing sense of conspiracy. But doesnt conspiracy come with government? I just hope it doesnt escalate into anything too huge..."
"I'm sure everything will go perfectly!" Hibiscus chuckled softly at his blatant lie. Things never go according to plan, Murphy's Law has made sure of that. "So then, you should get prepared Snow. If you're going to be seen as a leader of these ponies, you have to be presented well! Go up there with a bottle of cider and you won't be a tenth as effective as if you went up holding...say....the sun or something."
Snow chuckled, If my plan works, I WILL be, she thought to herself, "Oh don't worry Hibiscus, they'll respect me." she said. "Well the announcement's soon, I will see you at the square outside the old meeting house." then she left. (Hope you guys don't mind a little skip forward) Later that night, a platform had been set up in front of the old meeting house. The sun sat perfectly behind the house to were it wouldn't blind any pony. Snow sat just a few feet from her two rivals, an earth pony and a pegasus. They could be seen by the whole crowd, and in front of them was a podium where the results of the polling would be announced. Snow took a big gulp, if she won, she was one step closer to her ultimate goal, if not, she just took 5 steps back. Time seemed to slow as the announcer mare stepped up to the podium and cleared her throat. Using magic, she amplified her voice so the huge crowd below could hear, "Thank you one and all for coming to this historic event. And thank you for casting your vote, you were given the option of three candidates. One from each race, each one a one time representative for their race, well, I am sure you all are anxious to hear the results so I won't keep you waiting." the mare floated open a small letter, one that would determine the course of Equestria for the rest of time. She opened the letter and floated out a scroll which she opened. Snow tried to swallow again, but her mouth was too dry, "Equestria's first president is," the mare paused, "Snow Celestial Mark!"
Hibiscus smiled as he saw Snow's face go from a look of nervousness to slight surprise, then to pure happiness. Nearly every unicorn in the crowd was cheering, and many of the pegasi were yelling that she had cheated. The earth ponies seemed completely neutral on the topic. For once, he thought that perhaps things might go well. Hibiscus's ears perked up happily as he decided his new motto for the day: Optimism is gold.
Snow got up from her seat, shook hooves with the losers in respect and stepped up to the podium, the crowd's noise seemed to fade away, she took a deep breath before saying, "Mares and gentlecolts, I am honored by your decision to elect me as your first president. When I was young, I had a dream, a dream that someday all races might come together as one. That day, mares and gentlecolts, is today. On the inside, we are one in the same, take away the wings, take away the horns, and you will find we are all ponies. Not pegasi, not unicorns, not earth ponies, we are one and the same. I believe that a pony should be judged, not by the features they are given, but the character they are blessed with. The days of fighting and bickering and squabbling is over, and a new day dawns before us, a day of peace, equality, happiness, we shall be equals, nopony shall be more privleged than the next. We will all have the same basic pony rights, rights that we are given and are entitled to from birth! Yes the journey will be hard, and the path ahead uncertain. But, with the goodness in everpony's heart and by the sweat of our brow, we shall prevail!" the crowd was silent, stunned, still taking in the speech. Then a small clop came from the unicorns, soon, applause had spread throughout the crowd, even the pegasi were applauding. Snow smiled, she didn't become ruler of the unicorns and now president of the new nation of Equestria just because, she was a master orater and debater. Time for the show stopper, Snow thought. She concentrated, her horn was wrapped in a brilliant yellow, blue, and white aura. A bead of sweat down her face as the light got dimmer and dimmer. When Snow looked back up, the moon sat a quarter of the way in the sky, with the stars twinkling beside them. It worked, she thought with a smile.
(I have a feeling we should wrap this up. This about the 4th time this thread has been resurrected, so if we were to actually end it, it would be the first one I was involved in that actually ended rather than died. ) Hibiscus fell down onto his flanks. 'Did she just- the moon- the sun- magic-' He lifted a forehoof and swept it across his face. As the pain registered, he took another look at Snow, then back at the sky. "Stick a horn where it should never go..." he said quietly. "She really did go to the stand with the sun..." In his confusion, he noticed a few of the ponies near him snap out of shock and begin clapping. Soon, the ponies around them clapped. Hibiscus sat and watched as the crowd flash-mobbed into a session of claps and cheers. If the new leader could control the environment itself, she could control ANYTHING! They would never have troubles with manticores, or floods, or even eclipses ever again. Hibiscus raised a forehoof in the air. "Long live Snow!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. A few of the ponies nearby took up the motto and yelled it too. After a few moments of spreading like a disease, soon everypony was yelling the motto. The ponies of Equestria would live in peace from now on, free from the tyrannies of the ground below them. They were free from themselves. The ponies of Equestria were now free.
Snow looked shocked at the chant, then decided to take it to her advantage, "No, not long live me, Long Live Equestria!" Snow smiled, if she appeared unwilling to take more power, she would be all the more popular, and tht would make it all the easier to take absolute power. (Want to skip ahead several years to Hibiscus' death, because that's the final thing to happen)
(mkay. TIME MACHINE GOGOGOGO) "Hey!" A friendly voice shouted as a door opened and a pink mare wandered through it. "I brought you another one of those apples you like! The apple farmers here won't be here long, though, so I can't keep bringing you these apples. Everypony seems to be drifting out, going to new places. This place is going to be named Canterlot, by a decision this morning, but it seems only a bunch of unicorns are really staying." She sighed and pulled the apple out of her bag for Hibiscus to have. He reached over and put it into his mouth, making a bit of a mess as he bit into it. "I think we should move to Fillydelphia." Marigold said blatently. Hibiscus lowered the apple, a pained look on his face. "I'm sure you'd love it there..." He said. Marigold shook her head and put her forelegs on his bed. "No, I mean we are moving to Fillydelphia." She said seriously. Hibiscus looked her in the eyes. "You know I can't make that trip! Besides, even if I could, I wouldn't be living there very long." Marigold threw up her legs, exasperated. "You're Hibiscus, you can do anything you want!" Marigold's denial was in full bloom, and Hibiscus was on a quest to make her see the things in front of her. "Marigold, you realize that-" He suddenly threw his head forward in a violent coughing fit. One of the nurses on the far corner of the room headed over with a worried look on her face. Marigold took a step back, horrified. "Please," the nurse said, more like commanded. "You'll have to leave, Hibiscus has talked too much." Marigold didn't need a second more. She left the room, leaving her empty bags behind laying next to Hibiscus's bed.
"Remember, this package is of extreme importance." Snow told the messenger pony. "Ok ok I get it Ms President, but I honestly don't see what a flower could do to help a pony that's dying." the messenger replied. "I know I know it doesn't sense, but please it could acually help." she replied worriedly. "Ok I promise I will get to this 'Hibiscus' as quick as possible." "Thank you." and then the messenger ran out of the room. Snow fell to her haunches, Hibiscus was her last true friend left, if he died, she shuddered at thought. Of course there was here siblings, but the only one she had more than a cold relation to was her sister, Rena.
Marigold sat in one of her old chairs, one from Hibiscus's house. She sad with her hooves crossed and stared blankly at the floor. 'Father will get better. He will!' She thought to herself, but she knew he was dying. She had seen these exact signs with mother exactly a week before she died. 'But he is stronger than her!' No, he's not. 'Quit saying that!' Then you quit denying it! Frustrated, Marigold smacked the ground with her hoof. The clerk glanced up at her, slightly annoyed by her demeanor. Marigold took to staring at the ground again, pondering what might happen. A pony with a letter for a cutie mark stepped into the room and wandered over to the clerk. "Excuse me," He said to her. She gave him the same look she had recently given Marigold. "I am to deliver something to a...Hibiscus?" Marigold perked up. The clerk mare sighed. "Second floor, room 210, but nopony can see him right now. He's in no condition for visitors." The clerk hesitated. "This delivery was made directly by President Snow, I have to-" Marigold sat up and screamed at him. "NO!" she shouted. He stepped back, startled. "Nopony is going to see my father! I don't care if it was the spirit of Equestria itself, NOPONY!" The postpony took a nervous step back. "But-" Marigold charged up to him and stared him directly in the eyes. With a frightened whimper, the postpony stepped out the door and ran off. Sighing, Marigold walked back to her seat and sat down. The nerve of some ponies!
Snow paced impatiently in her room when the messenger came back, and from the look on his face it wasn't delivered, "THEN I'LL DO IT MYSELF!" she suddenly yelled, yanking the package from the messenger's saddlebags. She galloped out of the door and straight to the hospital. She burst through the door into the lobby, "WHO DIDNT LET MY PACKAGE TO HIBISCUS THROUGH!" she yelled, before composing herself, "This package could save his LIFE! I will not see my only friend perish!"
