Prologue
Like with all great upheavals, it began with a war. Well, it couldn't quite be called a war; more like a scaled-up barroom brawl in which one third of the room is fighting, another third is waiting for an opportunity to join the fray, and the other third either wants the fight to stop or is betting on which poor drunken bastard looks the meanest.
Taking all that into account, a ranged skirmish was probably the best way to describe what was going on at the moment; though it was more symbolic of the larger picture of the genuine quasi-war that had been bubbling beneath the surface for decades. Today, though, it all seemed to come to a head.
Beneath the great dome of Canterlot's Parliament House, in the shadow of the great Temple of Concordia, divine Lady of Peace, a most curious fracas had broken out in the middle of the floor. Dozens of noble Senators fought with each other: the unicorns lobbing any available object across the room with the force of their magic, pegasi grappling with each other in the air in positions that would make most athletes wince in sympathy, and the earth ponies simply attempting to pummel the others into submission by hoof. This went on in full splendour, as some of the sparring nobles fell to the ground, exhausted and battered, their fellows barely batting an eye long enough to avoid trodding them underhoof. Just to put the frosting on the cake, the glorious cacophony of grunts, groans, and yelps of pain was all accompanied by the barely-audible, though constant, shouts of the Senate's Speaker for order.
On the opposite side of the room, most of the Tribunes, or plebeian members of Parliament, were busy discussing amongst themselves what to do about the business at hand before the fight had broken out, joined by a couple dozen of the more sensible Senators who'd managed to make it unharmed (or unnoticed) from the Senators' benches. "What in Concordia's name are we supposed to about this? Parliament's still in session until our fellow idiots get their act together and close it properly, and we can't actually do anything unless they vote on it!" piped up Night Light of House Sparkle, a fairly minor Senator with enough sense to get away from the fracas before it even began.
Chancellor Fancy Pants adjusted his cracked monocle, his purple-striped robe looking a little worse for wear as well, before glancing back across at his fellow Senators. "I think we could, actually." The little smile on his face grew into a devilish smirk no one but two of the ponies there had seen before, prompting the Tribunes to look up at him with curiosity and mild alarm.
One of the Tribunes, Arpeggio, simply gave him an incredulous look. "Your Grace, with all due respect, if an argument over granary construction nearer the city sent these idiots fighting tooth and nail, I don't think they're going to shut up and listen long enough to vote. Clearly, this lot was just looking for a fight today; and don't look like anything's going to stop 'em, either."
Fancy Pants' smirk, however, did not subside. Instead, he looked over at one of the Senators who'd been doing her best to avoid being noticed by anypony. "Blue Belle, what does the law say about voting in Parliament sessions; specifically, emergency procedures?"
The mare did her best to cut her brief impression of a gaping fish at being called on short, and cleared her throat nervously, her eyes fixed on the panels of the coffered ceiling. "W-well, Article XV, Section B reads that, in a state of absence or incapacitation of m-most of the Senate, a two-thirds majority vote in the Tribunal, with the Chancellor presiding, will suffice to c-carry a m-motion until the Senate c-can..." Her mouth promptly shut as she realised what she'd said, and Fancy Pants' smirk became downright smug as he looked around at his fellow members of Parliament, giving nods of understanding as the implications dawned on them.
"Very well then; we'll just have to get business done without them this time, won't we?" He said with a roguish wink that, though they would never admit it, flustered a few of his colleagues just a tad. "All in favour of clearing the ruins of those moldy old warehouses, and building new granaries closer to the city?" All the Tribunes assembled, as well as their handful of Senator colleagues, raised a hoof. A certain blonde stallion beamed proudly at the Chancellor's quick thinking. "None opposed?" He paused for a moment, then glanced back at the madding crowd behind him to see if any of them were paying attention. Thankfully, they were not; though one of them had apparently managed to get ahold of the formal wands of office and had begun beating all and sundry within striking range with a bundle of them. Fancy winced at the sound of cracking wood; there was more Treasury money down the drain, he thought as he turned back around to the others with a painfully neutral smile. "Motion carried. Senator Blue Belle?" The mare nodded meekly.
"Yes, Your Grace?"
"Write up the report of today's proceedings for me to send to the Princesses. Both of them." He gave the other side of the room a pointed look. "I'd particularly love to see what Princess Luna has in store to correct this mob of brawlers, I'm sure." The few Tribunes and Senators who'd seen Princess Luna at the height of her Parliament-induced fury before snickered audibly; there was a certain lovely sense of schadenfreude about watching most of the most powerful men in the city reduced to a whimpering supplicants by the mere force of a Diarch's shouting. As long as it wasn't directed at them, anyway.
And so, as the fracas continued, the remaining mares and stallions on the peaceful side of the room slipped out the back entrance quickly and quietly, knowing they would soon be at a safe distance from the chaos of the Parliament House, and the very loud royal chastisement soon to follow.
Just another ordinary day in Canterlot, Fancy thought.
