Rising Star looked around the great hall, taking in the very first assembly. The room was filled with emotions of all kinds… anger, happiness, frustration, it was visible on every face. Great words were being said by well spoken orators. The debate on mares in the military was in full swing.

His own contribution had been brief, but pivotal. After a long speech condemning the service of mares, a speech that stated in no uncertain terms that this would threaten society and potentially destroy Equestria. Mares were needed at home to look after foals and families. Mares were needed as teachers, as nurses, a mare’s gentle nature was a cornerstone in the foundation of society for all of the jobs that required a gentle touch. But the focus had been the destruction of the family as Equestria knew it.

Saying each word oh so carefully, Rising Star had pointed out that with a good functioning herd marriage, families could survive and thrive with a few mares serving in the guard and saving the world, that foals could be raised in a loving large family, getting all of the love and attention they needed from mares that did not feel a need to join the guard and prove themselves. Rising Star had also pointed out at the end of his own impassioned defense how insulting the speaker’s words were for all of the males who were teachers, nurses, those males that served in the ‘gentle’ professions that were the cornerstone in the foundation of society, and Rising Star publicly thanked his own tutor, Mister Toffee Chips for being such a kind, loving, and ‘gentle’ educator.

The great hall had actually gone silent after Rising Star had spoke his piece, and then like distant thunder, the earth ponies exploded into applause, praising Rising Star for championing herd marriage. Some of the pegasi and only a few of the unicorns had joined in with the riotous applause, the screaming, the shouting, and the hooting. It carried on for so long at Princess Twilight Sparkle had to threaten suspending the assembly if the hall did not quiet down.

Afterwards, it was easy to see where the chips fell when it came down to the herd marriage issue. Rising Star could not help but think of the long parade through Manehatten when they had been shipped off to the Shetlands, the press and the roar of the crowd, how the earth ponies had seen them as their champions.

After enduring the packed great hall for many hours, Rising Star smiled as Spitfire made ready to make her speech. Guards were made ready at the entrances and quite a number filed into the hall, forming a protective phalanx around the brazen mare. Anonymous threats had been made already, warnings, promises of violence if Spitfire was allowed to speak.

The entire room tensed as Spitfire approached the microphone…

“...and so, in conclusion, you say we are too weak to serve, yet we are strong enough to endure being brutally raped and then be told to just get over it and move on with our lives, be a good strong mare and show some spine. We are too weak to serve but we are strong enough to be rutted silly, kept at home and used as a household appliance, and continually spit out foals the size of a watermelon out of a hole the size of a grape. We are told to quit whining about our plight as females, to become strong, to show conviction and courage, to just suck it up, as a means to deal with all of the unfairness, but we are continuously denied the very positions in society that would allow us to show that we have quit whining about our plight, that we are strong, that would allow us to show conviction and courage, and would allow us to combat the unfairness… and to those of you who claim that mares in the service would be a target for rape, I say this to you: FECK OFF YOU PIG FACED BASTARDS! The mares aren’t bringing this upon themselves, we’re not begging for it, we are not showing a secret desire to be put in our place and gangbanged silly, we are not putting ourselves into a position of getting what we deserve! This is a sign that the males in our society need to show some restraint and behave themselves. It is time for actual punishment for rape, something other than a little slap on the fetlock. We need ponies to be held accountable for what they do! I say no more! No more blaming the mares just because some stupid male has to stick his dick into something to establish dominance to compensate for feeling like a minority. We have numbers on our side and the Noble Houses are no more! Sisters, TO ARMS! Say it with me, NO MORE!”

“Well, that went pretty much as I expected,” Rising Star said in a low voice as he eased himself down upon a sofa. His head ached and his muscles twitched fitfully from his frazzled nerves. Try as he might, he could not stop trembling.

Coming over to the couch, Loch Skimmer gave Rising Star a wet smooch on his nasal bridge. “You did good… I’m gonna reward you so hard later that you ain’t gonna walk right for a week,” she whispered in a low voice.

For a brief moment, Rising Star pondered how much Loch Skimmer’s speech had changed since coming to the mainland and being exposed to other ponies.

“The first assembly ended in a full blown riot led by earth pony mares and pegasi rising up against their oppressors… that is how some idiot is going to write that headline,” Ripple muttered.

“The traditionalist high command just had the snot beat out of them by a group of angry mares… I wonder how that feels,” Loch Skimmer mused, looking thoughtful as she flopped over onto the couch with Rising Star.

“This is a very serious issue,” Bucky said in a subdued voice.

“Things can be serious but still be funny and laughed at,” Loch Skimmer stated, looking at her father carefully.

“The high command is going to use this as an example that mares are too ruled by emotion and are unfit to serve. This is not going to help the issue at all,” Bucky patiently explained, trying to help Loch Skimmer understand his reasons.

“But we have a right to be angry! Look at how we’ve been treated,” Loch Skimmer protested, becoming heated and a little angry herself.

“Hey, I’m on your side… see how easy it is to become emotional over this? This is the very thing they will use as an example, that mares cannot be rational reasonable creatures and are unfit to wear the golden armor,” Bucky said in a calm patient voice, trying to soothe Loch Skimmer.

“I hate that you’re right,” Loch Skimmer said sulkily, wrapping herself around Rising Star and pouting. She kissed Rising Star once more. “You did good protecting Spitfire from those guards that broke their oath and turned upon the public… I can’t believe that they did that!”

Grunting, Bucky shrugged. “I can. Clearly the high command and others who want to keep this a colt’s club have gathered loyalists to their cause. You did good Rising Star, heating their armor and burning them, but not killing them.”

“One of them shouted that he was going to kill Spitfire in the name of the greater good… I had to do something. It got crazy in there. I still can’t tell what actually happened first… the attempt to silence Spitfire or the riot… I think they sort of happened at about the same time, but everything is all jumbled together and confusing and my head hurts,” Rising Star said, closing his eyes and pressing the side of his face against Loch Skimmer. “I still can’t believe that Ripple downed as many of the turned guard as she did.”

“You were in danger!” Ripple said angrily.

“Well, Ripple certainly showed that mares can fight,” Loch Skimmer stated, looking at her sister. “Kinda upset that somepony gave my sister a fat lip though.”

“I’ve had worse,” Ripple grumbled. “My Raptors put up a better fight than those arseholes,” she muttered, now gloating.

Shaking his head, Bucky heaved a sigh of frustration. “You snapped a guard’s spine. There is probably going to be an inquiry on whether or not you used overwhelming force.”

“I didn’t mean to punch through his backplate,” Ripple said, looking guiltily at her father. “I didn’t realise the metal would be that flimsy. It was confusing. Everything was coming apart. He was beating another guard that was actually doing his job and trying to protect Spitfire… I… things got confusing… there was so much violence… I-”

“It’s okay Ripple,” Bucky interrupted, ending Ripple’s stammering.

“This does not bode well for us. Maybe we’re not meant to rule ourselves,” Rising Star said gloomily. “A part of me is wondering if perhaps the riot was actually started by the high command to prevent the vote from taking place. Is it wrong that I feel this disenfranchised and paranoid?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing. Hedge their bets. Make sure that the loyal guards do their bidding while hedging their bets by paying some poor flunkies to make sure that there was some kind of riot. Although Spitfire did a really good job of getting the crowd ready to riot on her own,” Bucky said, sharing his thoughts with his teenage foals.

“Ripple is no mare… she’s still a filly… when she’s actually a mare I shudder at what she’ll be capable of,” Rising Star remarked, closing his eyes trying to make his headache go away.

“I was worried about you… I love you… a lot. More than I have to words to explain. You saved me first,” Ripple said, looking down at the floor as her ears drooped. “When the time is right and I’m ready to be a mother I’m probably going to crawl into bed one night and ask you for a favour and ask you to try and be real sweet to me while I’m crying and offering myself to you and I want to keep you alive and whole of body for when that happens.”

“Okay, daughter is talking about planned tearful romantic sex. Time to go spend time with daughters that can’t talk about sex yet. I’m gonna leave you three alone. Loch Skimmer, try to let Rising Star rest. He has a headache,” Bucky said as he made his way to the door, shuddering as he departed.

“We’re going to pick up again tomorrow and attempt the vote once more,” Twilight Sparkle announced, looking around the room. “The democratic processes will not be stopped.”

“This is worrisome,” Celestia said, also looking around the room. “I knew there was going to be trouble, but members of my royal guard obeyed the orders of a few rogue elements in the high command. This does not bode well.”

“My guard remains fanatically loyal,” Luna stated, looking troubled. “I think I would like it if they tried to resist me a little on occasion.”

“Maybe I am speaking out of place here, but maybe we need to remove the entire high command. Since we do not know who is involved and who is not, perhaps it is time tear down the old command structure and start fresh,” Twilight suggested nervously.

“To throw away all those years of experience… almost unthinkable,” Luna said, looking frustrated as she spoke.

“Change is going to require sacrifice. I must confess, my trust has been shaken,” Celestia said, confessing her feelings. The white alicorn looked troubled. “Perhaps Buckminster is correct.”

“About what?” Luna inquired, cocking her eyebrow roguishly. “I mean, you are always going on about how wrong he is-”

“Luna, stop teasing,” Celestia interrupted, giving her sister an irritated glance. “Buckminster briefly mentioned to me that the same geas we use on the Stable of Representatives should also be placed on those in the guard.”

“Look, I was uncomfortable even using the geas on the Representatives… first the Representatives, then the guard, where does it end? Teachers next, to make sure they teach the right things? Society as a whole? We took one extreme step to safeguard our new government and to offer public assurance that the mistakes of the Noble Houses would not be repeated. I can understand that logically, the guard need to be trusted to do the right thing, but we are on a slippery slope here,” Twilight said, her worried mind thinking about Bucky’s plan to pacify the world.

“We can logically justify using it upon the guard,” Luna stated with a dismissive huff.

“I could logically justify using it on school teachers, police officers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, judges, magistrates-”

“We get the point, Twilight,” Celestia said, cutting Twilight off.

“So what is stopping us? Place the geas upon those who serve the public trust. No more corruption in our society. We need strength right now. We have unseen enemies lurking about and an assassination attempt was made upon the royal family in the Crystal Empire,” Luna said in brusque tones, looking at Twilight with a curious expression.

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation,” Twilight Sparkle said, looking rather stunned.

“An attempt was made upon the life of a Representative on the first day of open assembly!” Luna snapped, her wings exploding outwards with a supersonic crack. “I am not even sure I agree with our subjects having self rule! Is this how they repay our trust? I am starting to think a grave mistake was made!”

“So what now? We make them afraid of their rulers to make them behave? Shall we go out and shout at them in the Royal Canterlot Voice, viciously browbeat them into submission, and have them bow and scrape at our approach, living in fearful servitude?” Twilight questioned.

Glaring at Twilight, Luna bit her lip and said nothing.

“I am going to have Raven make an announcement,” Celestia stated. “Effective immediately the entire high command has been dismissed. We will sort this out later and simply deal with the aftermath. I want court martials for those directly responsible. Spare no methods of investigation. I want the trials to be public and highly visible, with full access for the press. No more secret military tribunals behind closed doors. The public has a right to know that justice is upon those that fail to protect them or forsake their duties.”

Author's Notes:

Spitfire is a bit of a spitfire...

Look waht I did on my typowriter.