Democracy Deferred Again
April 1, 1012

President-Marshal Alexander Kermeskai Jr. had a good life. He now led the Republic. People respected him. They listened to him. His advisers did most of the work. And, to top off it, he had a haram of ponies he visited nightly. The ponies were kept compliant by daily injections of Talonbliss, a narcotic illegal within the Republic, but laws did not to the President-Marshal, who needed to be above the legal system for safekeeping of the nation. His favorite was a dark-furred pony nicknamed Twilight (nobody knew or cared about her real name), after Twilight Sparkle, the President-Marshal's favorite of the Equestrian heroes who now lay either dead or imprisoned after Equestria's fall to the Changelings.

The clock struck 11:00; Kermeskai Jr. sighed--time to rubber-stamp some orders and proclamations. This part of the job he hated the most. He had installed an autopen machine and tasked staffgriffs to use it whenever they felt it necessary, but for some documents his advisers demanded he actually sign them himself. Summaries were provided so he did not have to read the entire documents; his father had done that, and Kermeskai Jr. always thought that preposterous. In a nation of 9 million Griffons, one or two could be plucked from their village and assigned to read and summarize documents.

The first one before him was a decree of paramount importance, according to his advisers. Titled the 1013 Protection of the Republic Act, the document would completely abolish parliament and create an advisory council for Kemerskai Jr. All elections, including at the local-level, were dismantled. An obvious decision, for the Republic at this time needed to be able to appoint qualified and loyal officials to every political post to ensure maximum efficiency of republican governments and agencies.

Thus, with the stroke of a pen and the silent assent of the palace, the next chapter began.