The magic that Bucky sent through the fulgurite plug and his gemstone eye made his whole face tingle. He was creating a foundation spell, a specific spell that could be replicated for ease of use, and through trial and error he planned to fix his currently malfunctioning eye, not only just fixing it, but making it better.

His encounter with Chrysalis had taught him much.

On the library table was a small glass spider, a spell jar with eight little legs, a golem he had carefully infused with his own shadow. Unicorns had strong countermeasures against other unicorns and magic, and Bucky was hard at work countering that, establishing a link with his creation through shadow magic.

Curled in a chair with Piña, Dinky watched, her eyes wide, she was paying attention to everything being done as her father made the glass spider an extension of his will. She didn’t understand what was going on exactly, but her father had said he was going to create his own army of insects that he could see through.

For a moment, Bucky was able to see what the spider was seeing, and then the image faded, leaving him feeling disappointed but also encouraged. He made a few adjustments, strengthened the weave of magic, and then, once more, he was able to see out of the right side of his head, a sensation that nearly overwhelmed him after being blind for so long. His right eye and his left eye were seeing two different things and his brain had trouble with the confusing jumble. He closed his left eye and then realised he could see the room around him.

There was no colour, everything was hazy, out of focus, and shown in black and white. He willed the spider to move forward over the table and a sheet of paper with letters came into view. He struggled, trying to read the letters, but could not gain enough focus.

Bucky sighed, feeling weary, and then he broke the connection. It still needed work. And maybe a little help from Twilight Sparkle. He opened his left eye and saw Dinky and Piña looking at him hopefully.

“Did it work?” Dinky asked.

“Yes Dinky, it sort of worked,” Bucky said.

“Well, that’s a start,” Dinky said in a happy sounding voice.

“Yes it is, Dinky,” Bucky agreed. “Piña, how goes your lessons?”

“Harder now with school. I don’t have as much time to study magic with all of my school work. I can cast light spells, I can light candles, I can make things cold, and I can make a powerful static shock. I have to touch everything though,” Piña answered, the foal now smiling as she spoke, and she looked very proud.

“Is Diamond Tiara going to be okay?” Dinky asked, watching her father lift the glass spider in his magic and examine it closely.

“With time, I think she will be. She needs friends to love her and make her feel better,” Bucky responded, his eye glancing at his fillies for a moment as he worked.

“Sentinel brought her schoolwork home with him so she doesn’t fall behind,” Piña said, her lip protruding in a slight pout.

“That was very thoughtful and considerate of him,” Bucky remarked, ignoring Piña’s theatrics. “Falling behind in her schoolwork would only cause more stress.”

“I suppose so, but she’s sick. You shouldn’t have to do schoolwork when you are sick,” Piña grumbled. Reaching up, the foal brushed her mane out of her face with her hoof. “So you plan to connect yourself to all of your golems?”

“Yes. It will allow me to see all over the world and spot trouble. It will give me an edge in conflict. With my gunpowder detection golems, I will have a network of creations that will allow me to look at the troubled places in the world, learn about them, and then maybe figure out how to help them,” Bucky explained.

“But they are our enemies, right? The bad things with guns… like the gun that shot you,” Dinky said in a confused voice. “Why help them?”

“Because Dinky… if we help them, if we make them feel as though they are equals, if we address the issues that cause them to misbehave, we might be able to turn them away from violence and give them better options. It is my opinion that guns are the last options of the desperate. Maybe they don’t feel listened to. Perhaps if we listen and address the issue of why they feel the need for violence, we can make it go away,” explained Bucky in a patient voice, glancing at his foals as he spoke and continued to labour on the glass spider golem.

“And we should treat bullies the same way?” Piña asked in a small voice.

His magic fizzling out, Bucky dropped the glass spider golem on the table. It danced around in irritation, unhappy about being dropped, and angrily shook one leg at Bucky in a scolding manner. Ignoring the spider, Bucky looked at Piña. “Piña, love, you never stop amazing me,” he said in a strangled voice. “Yes Piña, the creatures with guns are bullies. They have to be dealt with, firmly, but with compassion and fairness if they will allow us to do so, if they give us that option. We have to help them if we can… they might be very special to us once we do. Just think of Diamond Tiara. Sadly, not every bully can be reformed or helped. But we must try. We must first respond with gentleness, then we use force, and if no other option can be used, then we respond with wrath. Which is why I am building an army of golems.”

“The only way to deal with bullies is through numbers. Face them together as a herd,” Dinky said, nodding her head. She understood, her unique insight into swarms gave her a different perspective.

“I am so proud of you both,” Bucky said in a low voice as he once again began to work on the glass spider golem, trying to weave in the magic of dreams so he would always have an active connection with his creations.

Sighing, Rising Star closed his schoolbook, shut his eyes, and then leaned back in his chair. Mister Chip’s lessons had been about social theory, something that Rising Star desperately needed to know. Entirely too soon he was going to be attending the first Stable of Representatives meeting. The first meeting had been delayed, rescheduled to a somewhat later date.

Creating a government from scratch was difficult.

Yawning, Sparkler covered her mouth with her hoof. She looked around the dining room table, first at Rising Star, then at Mister Chips, and she offered a sheepish grin. “I just woke up, I’m sorry. I wasn’t yawning about the lesson… I gotta go on patrol tonight.”

Adjusting his reading glasses, Mister Chips smiled. “The appearance of authority is one of the many things required for a stable society. Authority figures are necessary in any healthy society. They are symbols and we associate many things with them. Just think of all that comes to mind when we think of the royals, or the guard, or even just the common police officer. We associate them with feelings of stability and safety. You provide a far more valuable service than you realise; you are one of the elements required for society to function, survive, and thrive,” Mister Chips explained.

“I’m about to give society a symbol alright,” Sparkler grumbled, shaking her head. “The stocks. What sort of symbol is that?”

Clearing his throat, Mister Chips lifted his head and looked at Sparkler. “A very serious symbol. It means that something in society has broken down enough that the usual symbols of authority are no longer enough to hold society together and more extreme measures are now required. It is regrettably necessary on occasion… I would suggest however, that the stocks be constructed and left in the town square… unused if possible. Just a visible reminder.”

“That seems extreme. I don’t know that I agree with it,” Rising Star said, shaking his head. “As a Representative, I have to actually figure out how I feel about these issues. I’m very confused and this bothers me.”

“Thievery is rampant. Burglary is becoming a serious problem. And I have unscrupulous ponies acting as pimps for mares forced into prostitution because they believe it is the only way to make bits and feed themselves… we are getting some big city problems that we’ve never had to deal with before,” Sparkler said as she looked at Rising Star with a fierce blaze in her eyes, her whole body twitching.

“I understand all of that Sparky, I just don’t know how I feel about putting a pony in the stocks… it feels wrong,” Rising Star responded, trying to smooth over Sparkler’s obvious growing anger. “The stocks are cruel. One pony in the stocks is going to hate you. That hate is going to become an issue later… they will want revenge. We might not get crime out of desperation, but out of sense of vengeance. We will have ponies that hate the constabulary and their use of extreme force and will band to fight together against it.”

Swallowing an angry retort, Sparkler considered Rising Star’s words. “You’re right… I don’t like it, but you are right. So this becomes escalation. We do something, they do something, we have to do something worse and it never stops.”

“Both of you are such promising young ponies… each one of you are going to make extraordinary adults, the sort that change society. I feel privileged to know the two of you,” Mister Chips stated in a warm sincere voice.

“The stocks may become necessary, but should only be used sparingly, until something better comes along,” Sparkler said thoughtfully, considering her husband’s words. “So what is better?”

“I don’t know,” Rising Star admitted. “I think about it while I am working with metal. It is the only time I can really think,” he said.

“For the long term, when you take in criminals, talk to them. Be kind to them. Be their friend. Try to find out what drove them to criminal acts. And then keep track of this information. Present it to the politicians. Speak out and get the community involved. Deal with the heart of the issue. In the short term, do whatever is necessary to keep society safe,” Mister Chips suggested.

“That seems wise,” Rising Star agreed.

“Yes it does,” Sparkler stated, looking first at her husband and then at Mister Chips.

Coco Pommel offered a gentle smile to Rarity, who seemed more than a little frazzled at the moment. She reached out, touched the frustrated mare, and then took a deep breath, hoping that Rarity would follow her lead.

“Derpy told me that she would make sure that Bucky had some time in the afternoon tomorrow. Today went badly. They are dealing with a very sick foal,” Coco said. “So tomorrow afternoon, we will go and do what needs to be done.”

Sighing, still frazzled, Rarity took a deep breath. “I don’t even know why I am so nervous,” Rarity fumed, feeling a little angry with herself. “My parents approve, Sweetie Belle adores you… everything is coming up roses.”

“This is a big step in a pony’s life,” Coco murmured softly, hoping her calm demeanour would calm the drama-prone unicorn that she loved.

“How is Diamond Tiara?” Rarity asked, her attention suddenly seizing upon something else.

“From what little I know, she is very sick, and has been for quite some time,” Coco answered in a soft voice that was made of soothing velvet. She noticed that Rarity was calming, and Coco helped the process along by rubbing Rarity with her hoof, unaware that she was doping her chosen mate with a cocktail of chemicals from her frogs.

“She’s had a rough go of things,” Rarity said as she began to relax. She melted under Coco’s ministrations, feeling her tense muscles softening under Coco’s touch. “Oh that feels divine… Coco, you are like Aloe and Lotus, I don’t know how you earth ponies give the best massages, but this is lovely.”

“Twilight Sparkle adopted another foal… perhaps we should adopt. It would be generous,” Coco suggested as she rubbed Rarity into submission. “Having our own foals is nice, but adoption is a good idea. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna adopted, there are a lot of needy foals… it might be good for our business.”

“Oooh, darling, that is a good idea,” Rarity breathed as she leaned into Coco’s hoof. “You know Coco, I have other places that have… tension and I need your hoof to rub them… maybe we could go upstairs and you could help me.”

“I bet you do have places that are tight,” Coco agreed, tittering faintly.

Author's Notes:

There is a theme to this chapter. Any idea what it is?

And thpyos. Therre are probebly thuse.