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"Not entirely," Ice Storm started. "No matter the type of government established by the governing body, there are still the civilians of which that make up the nation as a whole. It doesn't really matter if it's a democracy, a republic, or a monarchy. And truthfully. Equestria itself isn't a true monarchy either. It is a Triarchy. I don't include cadence in the equasion because she presides over the Crystal Empire, which in all technicality it's own entity, and thus would classify as a monarchy. Celestia may ultimately have the final say, but in all reality, it's really run as a council of three, compounding on the the fact that Twilight herself has a council of five. the overall heirarchy would be complicated even for the ponies in government to understand let alone any civilians. The problem with the issue that you speak of, is quite simple. Lack of communication. It doesn't matter if there's one ruler, or a council of twenty. If an issue never makes it back to them, and if they are intentionally kept in the dark, they can't fix it. This start at the guard level. If the chain of command cannot be trusted to get vital information to the proper places through the proper channels, then they are a liability. Somewhere, because of their inability to deal with the situation, combined with the failure to let superiors know that there could be an issue, ultimately ends up in somepony getting hurt. That is a distinct lack of discipline that stems from stagnation. They don't believe that anything bad will happen where they are and that it can't happen to them. When it does, they're unprepared because they will always be caught off guard." she continued warming the room slightly. "Long and short of it, They can't... we can't fix a problem if we don't know about it. Why the communication lines are failing, I don't have an answer yet, but I will soon enough. Now, tell me what you know, and if I'm able to, I will let you know. Again, there are matters I will not be able to discuss due to national security protocol," she said subtly dropping some hints that there was definitely more about her than met the eye, but she presumed that he knew that already.

The golden mare looked into the eyes of the other Pegasus as she talked, making Daze open up her mouth again to speak. "Ye-ah, I'm gonna be in it. It's a big one for me," she exclaimed, her voice cracking, "My actual uniform is in my bag, I just need to keep the 'ol bones and muscles warm. I'm trying not to die from the cold beforehoof, I can't mess this chance up." Daze sat up straighter, feeling more comfortable around this strangers. "And thanks, you look pretty athletic yourself," she added to Fiver, giving her a slight smirk. She was always one to give a compliment back. The way she grew up, she always felt the right to give somepony something in return so she didn't feel bad. "Are you racing too?" Daze looked over at the other two, as the earth pony talked. She seemed to talk a lot, but so did Daze. When she felt like talking, she always had a lot to say. Especially about nothing. The griffon asked a simple question, to which Daze tilted her head. "I mean, sure. Whatever floats your boat." She was kind of weirded out, just thinking about some creature drawing her for a reason she didn't know. But, the mare's eyes sparkled as she said, "Make sure you get my good side though, I don't want anypony missing out on this." Daze then struck a pose, trying to seem ridiculous and crack a smile of the others. She sat back down, thinking she was hilarious. It was good for her to get her mind off the race, otherwise she would freak out again. "I heard this trip is going to take a while." As she said that, the train huffed out some smoke and the train was heading through the train tracks, blasting out a toot. "Guess we're off then." Her yellow eyes looked out the window to see the world ahead of her fly past her face and behind her. The train was rickety and bumpy, but soothing at the same time. Daze focused on the sound of the wheels running over the tracks, keeping her mind steady and in control. The golden Pegasus began to play with her bandages on her arms as she looked outside, her heart racing from newly found excitement. Her ears flicked as she looked farther up at the cabins ahead of theirs's, seeing it shake ahead as the train huffed again. The mare turned back around to face the group. "Oh, my name is Golden Daze by the way," she suddenly said, smiling warmly at the others. All this talk and they hadn't introduced their names yet. So, Daze had to be the first to break the ice.