I walked out of the castle on the hill. I spent a minute staring out over the town, watching the sun slowly peak over the mountains. Such a beautiful place held so many murderers, so many plots, convoluted and simple. And now here I was, thrown smack dab in the center like a fool thrown among kings and queens.

I couldn't keep up with it. I couldn't keep up with my wife, I couldn't keep up with my family, I couldn't keep up with the town, none of it. I was tired. My life was simple before this, and I would see it simple again. Maybe I couldn't go back, maybe I couldn't tell her I wanted to leave, but I could honestly tell her I didn't want to be the count if this was what it entailed.

But I had something to take care of, and something I couldn't put off any longer. So with a heavy heart I walked calmly towards the spot I would banish a friend. This was it, I just had to do this, hand over the county to Foxglove and live in peace among these people.

Everything felt heavy, my body finally feeling, normal. The cold bit into my skin as I spotted Pursa, sitting with a few guards surrounding her on the edge of town. The walk was agonizing, but I stood tall, knowing this would be it. Ponies were gathered up around the scene, like some sickening form of show for the homicidal lunatics.

I walked onto the scene,  stepping into the circle formed around Pursa. "...Well, this is it, right?" I asked, looking down at the crying mare. "Pursa, look at me."

Pursa shook her head. "Just do it."

I shook my head. "It's not that easy." I looked out around the crowd of ponies facing us, waiting for me to pass my judgment. "I realized something, Pursa. I never thought I'd see such obsession from not only you, but Foxglove, the town, the nobles. It's truly fascinating, but I think it's time to end."

"Then end it." Pursa croaked, trying to avoid making eye contact. "Stop standing there and end it!"

I took a deep breath, turning to the crowd. "Pursa An Arder, for the crimes of attempted regicide, high treason, conspiracy and--"

A warm voice cut out from the crowd, "Sir, conspiracy isn't a crime!"

I looked around the crowd. "Who said that!?"

A mint green pony pulled through the crowd and into the circle. "Hemlock Bian!" the pony stated, bowing deep.

I watched the mare straighten out. "You speak English?"

The mare smiled warmly. "I do!"

"Then what the fuck do you mean, conspiracy isn't illegal."

The mare scratched at the ground nervously. "Conspiracy isn't illegal...it's just not." She teetered her hoof on the cobblestone road. "There are no laws against it, nor is regicide...."

I felt my jaw nearly fall off. "Are you serious? Are you all fucking serious!?" I turned to the crowd of ponies, "Get me the nobles, now! Bring me Pyrrhic Av Crag!" I screamed, spinning around to Pursa, "Is she saying the truth!?"

Pursa looked up at me. "Ben, you're the count, you make the laws." She stared at her hooves, "But no...there are no laws against plotting or conspiracy."

I took a deep breath. "You people are just so obsessed with that castle, so worried about who's in charge of this shitball town." I rubbed my face, thinking back to each and every noble, each day I'd spoken with them, and how each of them must have been planning to kill me at some point.

I felt my gut churn as I resigned to finally end the constant feuding. "Pursa An Arder, for your crimes against myself, against the state, and against your daughter, I sentence you to death." My voice carried heartily through the square, causing the crowds to bustle. "In light of our relationship and your previous service, I am commuting my punishment to permanent exile with a final punishment." I took a deep breath and turned to a pair of guards that were watching my sides. "Break her legs." My voice was a simple murmur, I took absolutely no joy in causing her pain, but I couldn't let this go easy.

Pursa froze in place, shaking violently as my guards moved around her. "Ben...take care of her--"

I shook my head. "Pursa...she doesn't need anyone to take care of her, she needs someone to stand with, beside, arm in arm and hoof in hoof." I steadied my breath as the guards started leading Pursa away. "I'm sorry Pursa, but I'm tired of this." I wished I could let her go, I wished I could give up, but I needed to step up. If not for myself, then for the mare that spared me, the mare that brought me here, and more importantly, the foals she placed under my care.

A loud thud pulled my attention away from Pursa as she took her final walk towards banishment. Pyrrhic stood next to me, folding his wings and looking up at me. "What happened?"

I shook my head, brushing off my waist. "I just sentenced a mare to be crippled and tossed away. What's worse, it's Foxglove's idea." I held my stomach, my throat burning as my stomach churned. "Pyrrhic, did you ever plan to kill me?"

Pyrrhic let out a long sigh. "Yes...."

I turned to him with an increasingly heavy frown on my face. "And?"

Pyrrhic shook his head. "And nothing. We spoke, you lead, then you left. Nothing ever came of it, and you proved yourself an ally more than an enemy." Pyrrhic looked up at me with his one violet eye. "I wouldn't have met my new wife without you, I would be living in a hovel without you, but yes, there was a time I did plan to kill you. Every pony in the city was, and would have if you didn't work towards rebuilding."

I rubbed my head. "I just don't understand. I tried to change, to get better, clear my head and do what's--"

"Ben, you never did wrong." Pyrrhic tugged my pant leg, calling me to follow him towards the edge of the town. "I can understand your want to change, as one father to another, I understand not wanting to act on impulse and emotion over logic. But you need to understand, your life is not your--"

I ran up to Pyrrhic, grabbing him by the mane and pulling him back. "No! My life is my own, it's not yours, it's not their's, it's not my wife's, it's mine damn it!"

Pyrrhic pulled free, "Really? Then perhaps--"

"Shut up!" I screamed, grabbing his throat and tackling him to the ground. "Shut the fuck up!" I slammed Pyrrhic into the ground, causing him to cringe as his skull clocked the ground. "Stop telling me what to do! Stop telling me to accept this! I'm not a cou--"

"Ben!" My captive shouted, pushing his hooves against my shoulders. "You are the count! You are, and will be until the day you die! Accept it!"

"Why!? Why should I!?"

"Because it's who you are Ben! It's who you have to be, who we need you to be!"

I slammed Pyrrhic against the ground. "Then why kill me!?"

"Because it's our way!" He screamed, thrusting his head forward and pressing use forehead to forehead. "It's who we are, and--"

"It doesn't have to be!" I shot back, grabbing every inch of hair that I could. "All the potions, the drugs, the mind altering bullshit and the lies! I'm sick of it--"

"Then change it!" Pyrrhic screamed, causing a nest of crows to burst up and into the sky, the cackles and caws the only noise heard for miles. "Ben...take your place, take your wife, take the power being offered to you, and change it yourself! Try as you might, try to make a parliament, try to push responsibility away, but it will always come to find you! Because you are our count, you are a target, an icon, but more than that, you are our leader!"

"Then why did she try to kill me!?" I screamed, tucking my hand under Pyrrhic's head and pulling him against my shoulder. "Why...? I just don't understand it, what's so important about that fucking castle, what's so important about being count!?"

"Power." Pyrrhic whispered, back pressed against the ground and hooves dug in against my chest. "Power, it's always been about power."

I took a deep breath, watching my breath curl before my eyes. "That's it?"

Pyrrhic stared at me, burning a hole through my head with his one good eye. "Ponies hunt after what they do not have. And in a town such as this, being above the madness, fighting to the top is all that will keep you going. You either strive for that pile of rubble and pray the answer to your harm is inside, or you fight day to day just to find enough food."

"But it doesn't have to be like that anymore!" I shouted, finally letting go of him. "We have food, we have light, you're safe now! What's left in--"

"Your wife, your family, the An Arder, they are born to want that castle. They're named after the stonework, it's their life to want it. And perhaps in time we might undo that, in time we might realize the fortune that has befallen us, but these things take time, Ben, they take time!"

I clutched my arm and stood upright. "No...they need time, and a force of change." I took a deep breath, my body shaking hard as I thought of what to do. "Pyrrhic, I need your help."

He stood, shaking his head. "Count, I can't help you ru--"

"I need you to spread the word, plotting and conspiracy are hereby criminalized, punishment is summary execution."

Pyrrhic snorted loudly. "You expect ponies to accept this? Court intrigue has been--"

"No, I expect you to enact my law." I turned towards the castle, watching the moon rise over the rim of the valley. "Should a pony protest, tell them what the punishment is. If they continue to argue, well...the law might not be in paper yet, but a promise of execution is still a promise."

"You're asking me to kill? To assassinate, for you?"

I shook my head, snapping back to the purple headed stallion. "No, Pyrrhic, I'm asking you to help me bring modern law to this place. Do you disagree with my plan?"

Pyrrhic huffed loudly. "That's a loaded question. But I do agree. I have a wife, a pregnant wife, I have a house to keep in order, we have hunting grounds again, we have food and sport, I have no time for the plotting and the lies anymore."

I nodded, "So do I, and you know what," I started to laughed as I turned back around to the castle. "I don't want to be the count. But...would anyone you know make the change towards the future?"

Pyrrhic continued to walk down towards the land he owned outside of the town. "Ponies I know would take power and rule as tyrants. I think, and perhaps this is opinion, but a count who doesn't wish to rule may be the most fit to rule. You have no ambition, you come from a new land, you are exhausted and now you are clear of mind, you need to lead, if not for--"

"I know, Pyrrhic, I know." I rubbed my face, letting out a horridly pained shout. "I know, and I'll do it. Not for you, not for the town, but for my mare, my children, and to end this constant infighting and treachery!"

Pyrrhic nodded, "I can think of no better reason. And you will have my aid."

"Even if your own family is plotting against me?"

Pyrrhic's face scrunched up, a pain crossing his face for a moment before he straightened out. "If it comes to that. And what of your wife? What of your family? You must know--"

"I'll take care of my family, don't worry." I turned away, taking a deep step towards home. "Thank you Pyrrhic. Now, kill if you must, but make sure your punishment is just and make sure my words are clear."

"Then I ask this of you. What was it like?" Pyrrhic walked up to me, catching me by my coattails. "You changed, you were so excited, so energetic and ready before you left us for those months. What changed, was it worth it?"

I knelt down and spun around on my heel. "Pyrrhic, before I came here, back in Canterlot I didn't look like this. I was just a normal human, no teeth, slept in the night and lived in the day. Then I got my job, was just supposed to take care of kids. Foxglove...she was just my boss, she gave me some potions to let me work better at night, to...it turned me into this, a night dwelling, meat hungry, furry faced man I am today. I felt so, hyper, so strong, but I couldn't focus. Everything was happening so fast, too quick for me to think, I just had to do! And- just one day, Foxglove just made me so mad, so fucking angry, and I told her, change or I'm going to leave."

Pyrrhic stared at me, watching intently. "And?"

"And...I promised her, if she would change, I would change. She was so...so emotional, so hungry, needy and hotheaded. And I was going mad, and in the brief moments I could calm down, look back at what I did, it was just crazy!" I jumped upright, laughing slightly. "I ran through the streets to catch the train here! I charged into that castle with a sword, not knowing what was inside! I ran around, visiting each house day after day, running around like mad and passing laws that I didn't think through! I sent you, the others, I forced you to go to Canterlot, and maybe it worked out, but you could have died, you might have killed someone!"

Pyrrhic walked with me back up the road. "Nothing is changed without action, Ben."

"But I could have thought about it! I could have asked Foxglove, or Pursa, or anybody what would have happened!" I walked backwards, watching Pyrrhic walk behind me. "Acting is great, but you need to think things through to! And I was so desperate to get back in my own head, to get some control back, I drank poison without even worrying about it!"

Pyrrhic stepped quickly up to me, putting a hoof on my toe. "Ben, was it worth it?"

I lowered my head, laughing slightly. "I'm finding out that beneath the emotional wreck of a mare, my wife is intelligent, strong, she's a traitor all the same...but she's still my wife, she's still got the same heart, the way she speaks to me, the way she touches me, it's full of regret. And now, I can actually see the convoluted mess that's so hardwired into this town, my own family tried to kill me. But I can think clearly, and I can make the right choices now, and I can make sure the people that have always been there, the foals, I can make sure they're safe, and they grow up well."

"Then it's worth it?" Pyrrhic asked, "I'm sorry...I genuinely find it hard to tell with you."

I took a deep breath and shoved him of my boot. "Pyrrhic, it's worth it to see Wayne, Castor, Scotch- all of them grow up safe, strong, and with the best I can provide for them." I pulled my jacket straight. "Maybe I'll need help doing this, maybe there will be days I break down, when I remember what Foxglove told me, but I'll be your Count." I snapped my jacket tight against me and turned to the castle, "I'll lead you, because you obviously can't lead yourselves."

"I can lead myself, Ben. It's the others you should worry about." Pyrrhic muttered, turning to the road. "I'll spread the word. Your law is to be unopposed."

"Thank you Pyrrhic, I can't do this alone, but I think I can find a way through with your--"

Pyrrhic stomped and turned around. "Ben, let me work! Go- go talk with your wife, or the others. Leave me to work! I'm sorry to yell, but since you've returned to us, you've done nothing but talk nonstop!"

I felt my stomach empty, feeling like a freshly popped balloon. "I- you want me to be the count, yet you cut me off and tell me to shut up...which do you want!?"

Pyrrhic just shook his head and walked off, "We're too old for this Ben! Too old to be screaming in the road like children! Now go and run your country!" He started mumbling and muttering as he walked off, "Stop the bleeding heart bullshit...we get it, you need help, you don't want this, but you'll do it. Very heroic, laa dee da...."

I watched the elder stallion wander off, "...Bitter old fuck...."