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Organised by
RogerDodger
Word limit
400–750
Twilight gets the Government ISO-9000 Certified
Twilight closed the book panting, sweat dripping from her brow. She caught a staple of papers in her magic and used it to fan herself. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and calmed down.
As she looked again down at the massive collection of volumes in front of her, a smile crept on her face. The sheer beauty of the thing was staggering, the perfection almost blinding. This would be a turning point in Equestria’s history, the dawn of a new and wonderful era of peace and efficiency.
“Let me get this straight, a portal opens, that weird two legged things come out, bring technology, strange ideas and general chaos, and you are excited for a bunch of forms?”
Twilight almost hopped along the corridors in Canterlot Castle, her wings stiff, accompanied by a definitively less excited Spike. “You don’t understand, it is a revolutionary concept! The technology, we can copy and sometimes surpass with magic, and philosophically we are on the same footing even with some difference here and there. But this, this is something else!”
She levitated the massive volumes, shoving them in the little dragon’s face. “See, there is a procedure for everything, checklists, procedures to create other procedures…” She cleaned a bit of drool from her mouth. “You will see, I have read everything. We can reform the government, we will finally get ridden of a lot of that old stuff. It will become so simple for everyone, clear, organized, unambiguous…”
“Twilight, you are drooling again.”
“Wha? Oh, sorry. Thank you Spike. Anyway, you will see, everypony will see, it will be glorious!”
Spike sighed. “If you think so, you are princess after all.”
Twilight sat on her massive throne made of forms and reports. In the distance one could see the orange glow of the flames ravaging Canterlot, under the silver moon etched with the screaming faces of the certification inspectors. Over the hills and the plains she could hear the mad cackling of the royal sisters as they brought down the last remnants of Pony civilization, scorching the earth around the ruins of the old buildings that had housed a millennium of bureaucracy. She had heard the news of ravaging bands of public servants in the streets, bonfires of documents, hunts for the few humans that hadn't fled. She knew they would come for her too, once finished in the capital.
Spike stood beside her, a weary expression on his young face, his right hand bandaged after the doctor had prohibited him to write anything else. With a tired voice that spoke of resignation he said “So, peace, harmony and efficiency, right?”
Twilight surveyed her crumbling reign, the mountains of forms, the newly printed manuals to explain the other manuals, the heaps of proposals and towering piles of checklists. It could have been so wonderful, if they only had accepted the future…
With the wild glow of blind faith in her eyes, sure history would vindicate her, she said “I regret nothing Spike, nothing…”
As she looked again down at the massive collection of volumes in front of her, a smile crept on her face. The sheer beauty of the thing was staggering, the perfection almost blinding. This would be a turning point in Equestria’s history, the dawn of a new and wonderful era of peace and efficiency.
“Let me get this straight, a portal opens, that weird two legged things come out, bring technology, strange ideas and general chaos, and you are excited for a bunch of forms?”
Twilight almost hopped along the corridors in Canterlot Castle, her wings stiff, accompanied by a definitively less excited Spike. “You don’t understand, it is a revolutionary concept! The technology, we can copy and sometimes surpass with magic, and philosophically we are on the same footing even with some difference here and there. But this, this is something else!”
She levitated the massive volumes, shoving them in the little dragon’s face. “See, there is a procedure for everything, checklists, procedures to create other procedures…” She cleaned a bit of drool from her mouth. “You will see, I have read everything. We can reform the government, we will finally get ridden of a lot of that old stuff. It will become so simple for everyone, clear, organized, unambiguous…”
“Twilight, you are drooling again.”
“Wha? Oh, sorry. Thank you Spike. Anyway, you will see, everypony will see, it will be glorious!”
Spike sighed. “If you think so, you are princess after all.”
Twilight sat on her massive throne made of forms and reports. In the distance one could see the orange glow of the flames ravaging Canterlot, under the silver moon etched with the screaming faces of the certification inspectors. Over the hills and the plains she could hear the mad cackling of the royal sisters as they brought down the last remnants of Pony civilization, scorching the earth around the ruins of the old buildings that had housed a millennium of bureaucracy. She had heard the news of ravaging bands of public servants in the streets, bonfires of documents, hunts for the few humans that hadn't fled. She knew they would come for her too, once finished in the capital.
Spike stood beside her, a weary expression on his young face, his right hand bandaged after the doctor had prohibited him to write anything else. With a tired voice that spoke of resignation he said “So, peace, harmony and efficiency, right?”
Twilight surveyed her crumbling reign, the mountains of forms, the newly printed manuals to explain the other manuals, the heaps of proposals and towering piles of checklists. It could have been so wonderful, if they only had accepted the future…
With the wild glow of blind faith in her eyes, sure history would vindicate her, she said “I regret nothing Spike, nothing…”