"Aether, you know what you did was wrong."

"Yes Pinkie..."

"While Starlight is a mean pony, that doesn't mean you can be a mean pony too."

"Yes Pinkie..." I answered again, looking down at the ground, though occasionally my eyes drifted upwards a bit to see Pinkie's straight mane hanging in front of me. After my short meeting with the Elements, they went over to my project room to have a chat with Starlight. Afterwards, Pinkie and I went home, where she promptly took me to my room where she started to scold me as her mane deflated. This was the first time I saw her mane all flat like that, which, while showcasing the family resemblance between her and Maud, but the Pinkie that came with it wasn't something I wanted to see.

"It's not right to be mean to other ponies, no matter what they've done. We should be nice to them, and help them be nice to others."

"Yes Pinkie..."

"You're not going to do a mean thing like that again, right?"

"Yes Pinkie..."

"You Pinkie Promise?"

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," I answered, before I heard some noise that sounded like something was bouncing. Looking up, I saw that Pinkie's mane had returned to its normal style. That was before she engulfed me in a bone crushing hug, though I manage to position my forelegs last second in a way that I could still breath.

"I'm so glad that you learned your lesson," Pinkie said as she shook me around like some doll before setting me back down. "Now tomorrow, you're going to apologize to Starlight for what you done."

"Really? After what she did to you?" I asked in surprised, only to receive a stern look from Pinkie that caused me to lower my head in shame. "Alright... I'll apologize to her."

"Good. Also no chocolate for you for four weeks since you were being a mean pony."

"Four weeks!"

It was morning when Pinkie and I were heading to Twilight's castle, though I was trying to keep myself from grumbling since I didn't want Pinkie to see my frustration. After receiving my punishment, Pinkie told me that Twilight was going to get in contact with the royal sisters to discuss what will be done with Starlight Glimmer. Even though she was a criminal, my actions and my desire to recruit her this made her situation a bit more problematic for the princesses. Thankfully it turned out that she wasn't being turned into a statue for my office, based on the fact that she and the rest of the Elements were waiting outside Twilight's castle. It also seemed that my collar idea had some validity, since Starlight was currently wearing one.

"So... by the look of things... am I getting a new recruit?" I asked, to which Starlight scowled at me, though everyone else had a displeased look on their faces.

Twilight was the first one to speak out as she said, "After talking with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna... they agree to have Starlight be placed under your supervision, provided that you don't have any other ponies foalnapped."

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Which has been taken care of, is there anything else that needs to be mentioned?"

"I would say that you should be careful of what you reveal to Starlight, but I think you already know that," Twilight answered, before pointing a hoof at Starlight's collar. "The princesses agreed with your idea of having something keeping Starlight in check, so we have a magic-suppressing collar on her, that only I or one of the other princesses will be able to remove. This collar will effectively prevent Starlight from casting any spells besides the basic telekinesis spell."

"Are there any other features?" I asked, only for Twilight to give me a disapproving frown.

"We’re not giving you a shock collar, Aether," Twilight said, to which I replied with a mocking pout, though I overheard Starlight letting out a small sigh of relief.

"Alright... is there anything else I need to know or can you turn Starlight over to me now?"

"Since Starlight is going to be under your command for now, she will reside with the rest of your recruits at the barracks. However, you have to bring her to the castle after your training exercises, we doubt that she's abandoned her 'equality' ideals," Twilight explained, to which I gave a short nod to.

"Yeah, I'm expecting that she'll try to do something within the next week," I replied before turning my attention to Starlight. "Alright Miss 'Equality', it's time for us to head out to the Fields of Agony."

Starlight was about to make a retort when she stopped and simply asked, "Fields of Agony?"

"I didn’t chose it; it's a name Stalwart Jack, one of my recruits, came up with. The name sort of stuck when everyone else started calling the training fields that," I replied before I hopped onto Starlight's back, which caused her to turn her head around to shoot a glare at me. "Hey, no one here trusts you, even me. I won't be surprise if you tried to run off if I wasn't on your back the moment we're away from the Elements. So get moving already Starlight, the fields are that way," I explained before pointing a hoof to give Starlight directions. She glared at me for a few minutes before letting out a huff as she started heading towards the town's outskirts.

After leaving the town proper in utter silence, I decided to end it by asking, "So... still hung up on that 'equality' idea of yours?"

"This is just a mere setback, but my message is true. Starting with your 'recruits', everypony in this town will soon see the true path to harmony," Starlight replied in a smug tone.

"I like to see you pull that off, since ten of my recruits are changelings. How will you preach your 'equality' to them?"

"It doesn't matter, for with true equality, the changelings can finally be equals with everypony else," Starlight answered. "All species will see that equality is the true way to achieve harmony."

"Oh? What about the aliens that could invade Equus in the future? Think you can convince them to join up with your cult?"

Turning her head so she can glare at me, Starlight countered, "It is not a cult! And once these so called 'aliens' see the peace and happiness achieved when everypony is equal, they too will re—" before I did a gagging motion with my hoof, which caused her to sputter out in a mix of anger and surprise.

"Please, if you actually succeeded, to which you won't, all that will happen is that the aliens will see a very docile Equus that would be much more easier to take over. You'll just be making it easier for every species to adapt to being the bottom of the lot like most species. Unless a more militarized organization or force comes across Equus first, like the Dixians or the Nzugins, then it would be utter slaughter."

"Now you're just making up names," Starlight said with a flat stare.

"Hey, if you don't believe me, just ask the town's residents. Some of them will tell you the story of a robot that ran through the town with me in its claws, or of a crystal monster that almost attacked the town months ago. Besides, the Nzugins would be last alien species to accept your ideals."

"And why is that? Hmm?" Starlight asked with an expression that told me that she was humoring me. So I just responded with a deadpan stare for a few minutes, which caused her to drop the act. "Do you really expect me to believe this alien nonsense? I don't know how you got it past the princesses, but to me, you're just a filly with an overactive imagination."

"Oh? Would a filly imagine an bipedal insect species that has a caste system that not only affects a Nzugin's position in their society, but their overall physical shape? Would a filly imagine that members of this insect species would stand between six feet to twenty feet tall? Or the fact that the majority of them are carnivorous and would see you as a meal? Buck, if you would to meet one right now, instead of listening to your preaching of 'equality', it would just bite your head off your neck. Or it would just take you alive to spit roast you, depends on how appetizing a pony would be to them."

Instead of denouncing my words, Starlight stopped in her tracks as her face took on a mortified look. "Sp... sp... spit roast‽"

Nodding, I replied, "Yeah, but that’s in case they don't just eat you on the spot. It is a confirmed fact that they sometimes eat their prey raw if they like the taste. But hey, it's better than having some egg implanted in your body, where it hatches and starts eating you from the inside out. Good thing the Nzugin doesn't do th—" before Starlight turned and lowered her head as she vomited up her breakfast. "Still think I'm making this all up?"

After emptying the contents of her stomach, Starlight panted for a bit before returning her attention to me. "What is wrong with you‽"

"Eh, can't say exactly. But hey, that's what happens when you're stuck in a society where you either eat garbage or risk your life and limb just to get some food and a warm blanket. Oh, remember that paste you were feed the past few weeks? I had to live off a paste that tastes worse than that for about half my life. So, tell me, you think your 'equality' would have any hold on a society like that? I say no since if there is an uprising of the general public, the big shots would just have everyone massacred. The big universe is a eat or be eaten kind of place, sometimes literally." All Starlight could do at this point was give me a horrified stare, to which I just placed a hoof on her face and turned her head around. "Get back to walking, I don't want my recruits to have too much time off this morning."

Starlight just stared off into the distance for a moment, until I started poking her. That finally caused my order to register in her mind, for she started walking again, albeit slower than before. It didn't took long for us to reach the shooting range that was set up for my recruits, where they started to stare at Starlight since she was a newcomer and I was sitting on her. Silver however came to our side as Starlight stopped to stare back at the recruits, letting me hopped down and take a few steps forward.

"Hello everyone, you're probably wondering who this mare is, so I’ll cut to the chase. Simply put, her name is Starlight Glimmer and she's a criminal." This got everyone to give Starlight a look of surprise, while she became aghast as she shot me a look that said 'what in Tartarus are you doing?' Shrugging it off, I continued, "Now, you may all be wondering what she did, but all I will say for now is that it was enough to warrant the need of a magic-suppression collar. Regardless of her past, she will be training alongside you all, for I believe her skills would be put to great use in our future role. Though, do keep an eye on her and report any suspicious activity, but otherwise treat her like she's one of you. Now get back to training before I use you lot as target practice!"

Looking at Starlight, she just had an expression of utter confusion before she shook her head to clear it. "Why did you have to tell them that I'm a 'criminal'?" she asked as she glares at me.

"Cause you are a criminal, remember? Besides, this way you won't be able to sneak out of the barracks at night so easily, and yes, I expected you to try that at some point. Now, it's time for you to get some training as well before it's time for the reflex training exercise."

"Reflex training? What is that?" Starlight replied.

"Oh, it's when I start tossing giant rocks at everyone," I answered, to which Starlight just stared at me in horror. "It's a great way to improve one's dodging capability, and it helps build character. Now, go find someone to help you use a gun or I will use you for target practice!"