After Fall of Equestria: Weak and Powerless

by Schorl Tourmaline

First published 4th of December, 2016

After the defeat of the caribou and the toppling of their empire, the citizens of Equestria try to pick up the pieces. However, the road to recovery is not as easy for some as it is for others.

The caribou have been defeated, and with it the ponies that call Equestria were freed from their enslavement and given back the reigns of their own destinies. However, not everyone can just pick of the pieces of their ruined lives and start fresh.

Six month after that fateful night in Canterlot, Trixie is finding it difficult to cope with the rape and humiliation she had to endure, and hardly feels as great and powerful as she once assumed she was. If she is to ever recover, it is going to take time, and perhaps a lot of help from other ponies. However, not every extended hand is helpful, and even in the aftermath of the most tragic event in Equestrian history, there are those who don't have the best intentions in mind for those dealing with the emotional turmoil caused by their former oppressors.

This story follows Trixie in her attempts to overcome the emotional trauma see sustained at the hands of the caribou, and is written by a former canon writer for "Fall of Equestria".

Warning: The following work of fiction contains extreme themes which includes rape, slavery, body modification, degradation, torture, and brainwashing, as well as a host of other things you might not enjoy. The views of the story do not reflect the views of writer and are strictly fantasy. All acts of sex in real life should be consensual. Read at your own risk.

The Last Night

Author's Notes:

Hello there, and welcome to the start of my new story. For those of you who are not familiar to who I am, or my special story line for "Fall of Equestria", then I would highly recommend you read my story "Fall Of Equestria: Bruised Apples" first. For those of you who don't know what Fall of Equestria is, I highly suggest you run for the hills and never look back. Just kidding, but do know that this setting has heavy themes of rape and female subjugation (which can be varying levels of sexy and repulsive depending on what kind of person you are) and is intended for a mature audience. That being said, this story is suppose to take place after the events of FoE, and thus might not be what most readers will expect from a normal FoE story. I.E. I wouldn't expect sex acts to be a common feature, seeing on what the story will be focusing on.

For those who have read Bruised Apples, and have chosen to return for the next part of my interpretation of Fall of Equestria, and what I feel are more accurate events of what would happen then what we are given in its "canon", then I thank you for your continued viewership. I hope you all enjoy this story as much as my previous one, though I realize that for many reasons Bruised Apples might be my Magnum Opus. However, that doesn't mean I can't try to make a story just as good or better than the previous one, and in hopefully less time than before ^_^;.

Anyways, without further ado, let us begin our journey into what happens "After Fall of Equestria".

“Ahh… Uhhh… Hrah… Mhrr…”

A series of non-stop grunts and groans came from a blue-furred, white-maned mare, steadily losing what little strength her unicorn body possessed as she stared into the face of another unicorn who was raping her sore and stretched vaginal passage. She didn’t know this stallion’s name, nor did she believe that he knew hers, since he resorted to calling her ‘bitch’, ‘cunt’, ‘whore’, and ‘cock sleeve’. Words that in the caribou’s language all equated to ‘woman’. She did have a name though, and once had a title that went along with it, even if she believed she was no longer worthy of either.

No, nowadays she felt that a nickname given to her by a couple of her former masters was more appropriate. “Stumpy” is what they called her, to constantly remind her that the horn on her head, the part of her she used to cast her magic, had been brutally removed, robbing her of the thing that defined her as much as her cutie mark. She wanted to refute the name, but internally she knew that it was fitting, and it seemingly following her no matter how many times she changed hands.

At least the stallion stabbing at the walls of her pussy with his dick didn’t appear to know it, scolding her for lack of participation by saying “Come on you stupid cum bucket, you can do better than that!”

Stumpy didn’t really see how she could do ‘any better’, seeing her current predicament. She was bound, legs bend upwards till her ankles went above her head, trapped in a rack-like device that also held her thighs, wrists and neck in a pillory attached to the top half of it’s frame. If it were separate from the table, the rectangular contraption would have made it hard for the unicorn to move any part of her without taking the rest of her along with it, but the set of stocks were directly attached to the front of a hard, oaken table. Thus her body was suspended off the ground by her appendages alone, high enough that the stallion inside her could enter her without need of bending over or crotching over. The tables tilted angle aided to further increase the ease of entry, while keeping her breasts within groping range as she achingly dangled from the contraption.

Ever since she had been stupid enough to be captured by the caribou, this had been the norm for her, ending up hilt deep on the rigid shaft of some horny male, usually tied up or chained to something as stags and stallions did what they pleased to her body. Day or night, it didn’t matter, Stumpy was used constantly as they stole pleasure from her. Today was no different, save for the venue that she had been dragged into. She was in some rich earth pony bastard’s mansion, surrounded by fine food, expensive drink, and deviant sex acts being performed by mares who relished the excitement and thrill that came with serving their male masters’ perverse whims. She had been set up as one of the party favors, an open use black collar that would be handed off to whoever wanted her at the end of the night for keeps, and while she had been fucked and tossed about several dozens of times, the night looked far from over.

The celebration was massive, perhaps the biggest one Stumpy had ever been a part of, filling up the entirety for the mansion’s ballroom to beyond capacity. The majority of the mares servicing the event were reds, either brought in by guests or belonging to the stallion who owned the place. There were a few other black collars, and even a purple or two, each part of the rich bastard’s private collection of warm fuck meat, but she was perhaps the odd one out in all of this. She was not being owned by anyone in particular, more public property than anything else, brought in off the streets because she was available.

It was all to break her down, make her submit, putting her through the ringer countless times until any signs of the mare she use to be were gone. They used many methods in their attempt to achieve this goal: torture, neglect, rape, disparagement, and most of all, degradation. One day she would find herself waking up in a hog squalor, covered in dirt and other unsanitary substances from having to ‘satisfy the males of her own kind’, and the next she’d be suspended off the ground by her arms and legs, a dildo shoved so far up her ass she could taste the rubber. They had gone so far as to ‘enhance’ her body, as they put it, using chemicals and drugs to make her erogenous zones more sensitive, or enlarging her breasts till it was hard to walk upright without support. Even now as she laid helpless with a stallion squeezing her engorged mammaries, she was more aware of their hefty weight than the weight of the rest of her body suspended on her entrapped appendages.

Within the short span of her time as a slave, the caribou and their pony followers had done everything they could to her, short of blanking, and yet they still pressed on their abuse in what felt like a never ending cycle. If their goal was to get her to stop fighting, in a way they had accomplished that. She no longer bothered to resist physically, and resigned to merely drifting from one location to the next to allow whatever new or reused method of torture happen to her. That wasn’t enough for the caribou though. Passive as she was, she still wore a black band around her neck. The caribou knew that she still despised her ‘proper’ role, an opinion that would never change. She could never enjoy this mockery of life she had become trapped in.

Then again, that was the exact reason she was in this predicament, or so she was told all the time. Men would always give their promises, that if she became an eager slut she would be spared the pain, but she knew there would never be redemption for her. She was ‘too proud’, ‘too arrogant’, and had been too much of a hassle for the caribou before her enslavement to ever be allowed to live a happy life. Aside from that, all of the things that had ever made her happy had been destroyed, broken or stolen from her. At this point, Stumpy had decided that the only option left to her was to wait out the life sentence the caribou had placed on her.

Stumpy wasn’t sure how long she had been stuck in this awkward and agonizing position, but it didn’t matter. This was just a fraction of the eternity that was her enslavement. One moment in the endless string of suffering she had to endure. She no longer could equate her feelings of it all as mere hate, fear or sorrow. The only word that related to what she felt now was ‘tired’.

She was tired of having her ass rammed by an ever growing list of men of whom she would met only once and then forget. She was tired of cumming and pouring sexual fluids out of her pussy until she became too dehydrated to continue. She was tired of being teased, and touched, and beaten. And she was tired of being taunted about how weak she was, how she was powerless to stop men from doing as they pleased with her body. The whole experience wore on her like an unfunny joke made at her expense over and over, until the monotony of its constant repetition long since drained any punch it once had, at this point just beating an emotionally dead horse.

So as she laid there, not struggling against her rapist as he drove her body into the table she had been placed upon to put her holes at the right height to be screwed, her only thought was ‘How much longer is he going to take?’. This couldn’t have been that pleasurable to him. She figured that had to be the case because she hardly felt him inside her, his relatively small size compared to some of the other males she had been raped by, and the pummeling her insides had taken from the night’s activities forming a lump of numbness. The only reason she grunted while being plunged into was because the stallion was literally thrusting so hard that it pushed the wind out of her lungs.

Turning her head to the side, Stumpy searched for something that would take her mind off things until the stallion fucking her finished or became disinterested. The first thing she saw, of course, was another mare having sex with another nameless stallion. She was a unicorn, just like herself, with her horn severed to a stump poking out of the bangs of her mane. She didn’t know this other unicorn’s name, or who she was before the fall, but she knew that this one was a slave mare belonging to the host of this party, one of many that catered the event and served as entertainment.

Stumpy had seen the mare with her earth pony master at the start of the celebration, made up to look as attractive as possible, kneeling at his side as a trophy to his accomplishments and personal glory. That one brief moment of tranquility didn’t last too long before the guests formed their groups to divide up the females present, and now she was just another warm hole that stallions found pleasing to stick their dicks in. She looked as ragged and exhausted as any other mare at the party, the hours of intense, non-stop sex enough to affect even the most talented of sluts. Even so, the red collar slave was slurping down the girthy crotch meat of a pegasus, happily serving her earth pony master by fellating the feathered male and inviting his penis for a prolonged stay in her wet, spasming esophagus. That was the behavior of a red collar though, finding joy where every other mare found only misery.

Watching this mare, as her throat bulged out time and time again to fill out her already tightly fitted collar even more, filled Stumpy with envy. Not because she lusted after the larger dick exploring the depths of the mare’s orifice, nor that she wished she could have been unbound like the obedient red. While the latter would have been nice, and the cost of sucking the male dry a cheap price for such comfort, what she was really envious of was the fact that this other mare could manage to form a smile though it all. It had been so long since the unicorn had been able to do the same, and she felt to some degree that she couldn’t anymore. She had experienced such misery that the simple act of curving up the corner of one’s lips seemed impossible. It sounded silly in her head, but even when she thought back to the good moments of her life, the time before a collar was forced on her neck, she could only see them as memories of what she had now lost.

Star Bright held back nothing as he plowed the blue mare into bliss. Bound as she was, she was an object that only existed to provide him pleasure. She had to have been the eighth mare he had fucked that night, and boy was she a looker. Those pouty lips and that saddened look in her eyes turned him on enough that his nearly fry balls served as no deterrent to working up a full, if somewhat sore, erection. He loved a mare who played hard to get, and black collars were about as hard as they came.

He still couldn’t believe that he was able to just walk in the front door, but he managed to slip in during a moment when the bouncers decided it was time for their fifteen minute fuck break. Because of that, a simple stallion from Baltimale, formerly known as Baltimare when Celestia ruled Equestria, was able to crash one of the more elaborate parties Canterlot had to offer. He thought he would have to stay out on the streets, waiting in long lines for subpar pussy, but instead his cock was stuffing some of the best snatch in Equestria. Shame he couldn’t have gotten into the castle the same way.

These rich snobs knew how to throw a party though, and save for pictures of the alicorns or the Elements of Harmony, he had never see a more delectable spread of girls in his life. In the course of a night he had gone through a zebra, a bat pony, a saddle arabian bitch, a gryphon, a pegasus, a buffalo, an earth mare, and he was topping it off with this uniwhore cunt. He never wanted this night to end.

Damn, this feels too good. Star Bright thought as he felt his sperm slowly building up from his well worked testicles. I bet this black collar is loving it too. I bet she’ll thank me afterwards. She had to love having her meat hole plowed into a quivering mass of ecstasy, and the upset on her face had to only come from the fact that his thick cock would eventually have to leave her body. It probably being one of the largest she had ever had the privilege of having rammed inside her.

The unicorn stallion knew that no mare truly hated sex. The only thing that got in their way of being a red was that stupid old world female pride, but that was something that could be removed with a good fuck and a firm hand. The only reason this lovely mare didn’t fully embrace her life of servitude was because she hadn’t been fucked by the right man. None of these limp dicked aristocrats knew anything about taming females. Every red here was probably bought pre-tamed, or sent to some high class obedience school. They didn’t know the first thing about how to control a woman, none of them were real stallions.

Star Bright could handle a mare though, or so he believed. He had his own red collar back at home after all, and she never refused his dick, though a little persuasion was needed to get her in the mood sometimes. Looking down at this blue furred bitch, and how her eyes were drifting away from him to another stallion, it looked like this one needed a little bit of motivation too.

Reaching over the wooden bondage device holding her appendages, he firmly gripped her muzzle so he could direct her face forward, back to him. “Look at me when I cum in you!” Star Bright demanded, giving her a harsh slap across the face for good measure.

The hand hit the hornless mare in the eye, swelling up almost instantly. It was unfortunate that Star had to rough her up a bit to get her lust-addled mind focused on what was really important, but a liberal dosage of pain in a mare’s diet was good for them. She didn’t even seem to mind it all that much anyways. She didn’t let out a cute yelp or scream, or even a whimper. She only let out a deep sigh at her own inadequacy.

“Good girl!” Star said, congratulating her for realizing it was her fault she got hit. She knew she did wrong, and understood that this was all part of the process of becoming a better mare. Some day she might even earn a lovely red collar for her obedience. For now though, she had earned a different reward; a personal one, straight from his sack to her wanting womb. “I’m cuuummmmiiiinnnnggg.”

Giving a few more rapid thrusts, followed by one last plunge of his cock, Star released all the sperm he had left. He could feel the white fluid squirt in spurts from his flare, splattering the walls of this cunt’s cunt with his hot goo. Despite her pussy not spasming in the slightest in the throes of pleasure, she must have loved it. Her non-swollen eye stayed locked on him the entire time, her pussy was wet as a water slide, and her moans betrayed any attempts to deny her satisfaction.

His cock clenched up a few times more, shooting out everything he thought he had into the captive mare. His dick remained stiff and ridgid though, telling him that he could have another go if he wanted, even if he had nothing left to pour into a mare’s hole. Why not? Star Bright thought, No need to end the night here when I’m stiff as a post.

Star released the mare’s muzzle, and loomed over her with a big grin. “You’re in luck, slut,” he said, honoring her with a title that any cock hungry bitch would be thrilled to be called by, “I’m still horny, and you’re still sexy, so let go for another round.”

The mare gave the most delightful groan in response, emptying her lungs to express her desire. Not giving his dick a moment to soften in the slightest, Star Bright began anew on bringing himself and this mare into another glorious climax. Every thrust made the lovely and lusty cunt let out a grunt, the stallion thrusting with his full force each time. He didn’t bother to hold back at all, with no concern that the mare’s insides might become one big, swollen bruise by the time he was done. A mare like this, owned by a pony with a bottomless change pocket, would probably have all her wounds healed up after the party anyways by some zebra concoction, so why trade their pleasure for caution?

That thought in mind, the stallion put even more of himself into his hip thrusts, pushing so hard that it lifted the mare temporarily off the table and bouncing her globe sized tits violently when she landed back down. This must have gotten her really in the mood, for now even she couldn’t silence her yelps of passion or tears of joy.

Everything about her movements told Star that she as far into what he was doing as a pony could possibly be. The way her chest heaved as she took in a deep breath after every declaration of her lust, her curling fingers reflexively grabbed at the air as sensations beyond her tolerance threshold flooded her mind, the way her legs kicked against the unpadded wood binds holding them in place. They were all the signs of a true masochistic pleasure slut. It was all so attractive, so arousing, sending Star over the edge faster than he had ever been before.

Within minutes, Star’s dick was spasming, despite his depleted balls. He could feel the tip of his twitching penis tap rhythmically against the tight hole of the unicorn mare’s cervix, and thus satisfied, he collapsed forward to lay his exhausted body on top of hers. He could swear that his heart and hers was beating with the same intensity, and could feel the vital organ’s motions from within her vagina through his slowly deflating cock. Even with his own mare, he had never felt so alive as he was right now. As expected, the night of the Grand Galloping Gala was the best night ever.

The mare looked at him, the sorrow in her eyes more evident than ever. She had to have known that this was it, and she’d be left without his dick to send her into bliss. All good things had to come to an end, but he did feel sorry for her. Taking a cock away from a mare was like taking a bone away from a dog. It was saddening, but inevitable. No man could keep it up forever, even with performance-enhancing drugs. At the very least, he could keep himself inside her for as long as possible.

“Why…” She asked simply, sniffing and sobbing as her pussy contracted around the rapidly diminishing penis.

“Sorry, you pleasant little fuck slut,” he said, feeling himself slipping out of the warm flesh wrap it had resided in for some time. “You’re just gonna have to settle for the next guy that comes along to ream your ass.”

“No…” she replied, speaking softly as she laid back, hardly moving save for her heavy pants, “Why did you do this to me?”

That was an odd question to the stallion. After all, he was a male and she was a female. That they were going to fuck was pretty much a given, as that was just what the two genders did with one another. It’s not like a mare had any greater use than being a cock warmer, and this was a party celebrating the anniversary of the caribou’s takeover of Equestria. What else were they going to do? Just stand around and socialize? As if any female had the capability to hold a conversation.

Then he got to thinking about the question, and how it related to him. She surely didn’t ask every male this question. Then the obvious nature of the question dawned on him, and he let loose a laugh loud enough that it drew momentary attention from the other guests immediately around him until they decided his outburst was unimportant. Clearly the mare wanted to know why she was blessed by his attention, when he could have chosen any other in her stead.

He should have known from the start, this one was just like the girls at his local whore house. Plenty of them made declarations in the private rooms about how his dick was the greatest that they had ever felt inside them, and that they were always happy to see him. The mares practically worshipped him and his sex organ like a god, and showered him with affection more than he showered their owner with money for their time. He should have know that his charm, attractiveness, and masculinity would make any mare desperately lost in his thrall.

Star Bright simply loved this, and couldn’t help but feel empowered by it. If this beautiful mare, whom he assumed was the personal property of the pony who hosted this luxurious party, could fall in love with him with just a couple dickings, then practically any mare could be his for the taking. Now he really didn’t want this to end, and just before his cock could disappear back inside its sheath, it went back to full mast, delving deeply back into the mare, finding new life in the thought that he had essentially stolen the heart of this unicorn slave girl from her master.

For turning him on more than any other female he had encountered before her, he wanted to reward the girl. He couldn’t tip the girl for her service; mares had no use for money. He didn’t have anything like a sex toy to give her in order to remember him by. What he could do though was give her some kind words that would let her know that he was pleased with her behavior. Normally, complementing a mare was not a very good idea. It made them believe they had more worth than they really did, and a sense of self-worth was the reason mares had to be shown their place to begin with. The proper use of compliments geared towards the right subjects could aid in taming a mare though, and he would love to see this black collar put on the right track because of his motivational words.

“Well because...” Star said, pressing his body up against the mare’s her massive jugs compressing and displacing under the pressure of his chest, his face closing the gap with hers, “It’s because you’re special. You’re talented, beautiful, the hottest fuck I’ve had in awhile. If I could, I would take you home and chain your ass to my wall so could stick my dick in it whenever I wanted. Why, a mare as gifted as yourself would be a prize for any stallion, and your master must be happy to have you as part of his stable of slave sluts.”

With his body pressed tightly against the captive mare’s, his hands were free to explore. He had had enough groping and rough foreplay already, enough to turn the mare a darker shade of blue if her fur hadn’t masked the bruises, and now he wanted some intimacy. It started with a rub of his muzzle against the mare’s face, then a few kisses along her lips and a hand moving through her silky soft mane. Something about this, and his previous words, sparked something in the mare, and finally got the unicorn mare to finally react in more than grunts.

“No!” She said, moving her body against Star’s own, “Stop! I’m not special! I don’t want to be special! Please! Leave me alone!”

Star Bright couldn’t help but smile. This girl was really getting into the whole ‘helpless victim’ shtick, and it was turning out to be hotter than what he was going for. She sure knew how to keep a stallion amused, and if this was how she wanted to play it, then he was happy to follow suit.

With a tug of the unicorn’s mane, Star wrenched her head back to kiss at her throat. “That’s right, don’t stop you fuck hole, don’t stop.” he said, giving a few more thrusts, thinking he could feeling his cockhead press up against the entrance to her womb.

“No more!” the mare loudly replied, really getting into the the act as she formed streams of tears that flowed down her cheeks. The mare must have been an actress or something before the fall, since Star could almost believe they were real.

Of course, the time of his life couldn’t go without something putting a damper on it, and from behind him he could hear the disgustingly upsetting sounds of a stallion vomiting on the floor, the unmistakable sound of stomach fluids and chucks of partially digested food bits splattering about.

For fuck’s sake, can’t these hoity toity pricks hold their liquor? Star thought to himself, not putting in even the effort to look away from his bound fuck toy to see if the ill stallion was doing okay.

“W-what the fuck?!”

“What’s happening?!”

“Ohhh myyyyy… Bluargh!!!”

A series of male voices rose up from all around, emitting shock and revulsion from them. Star couldn’t believe how easily the other stallions were grossed out by a simple act of another guy throwing up. How prissy could a group of guys get. They’d probably be better off all switched into mares, since they acted so much like them. He wasn’t going to let it ruin his erection though. He was enjoying the black collar wrapped around his cock far too much to care about anything else.

Yet, it was beginning to feel like the entire universe was trying to ruin his good time. More and more of the stallions around him started to panic, or added their own disgust induced hurls to the mix. Not only that, but he was starting to notice that the mare’s squirms were becoming less erotic, and more legitimately resistant, with screams of “Get off!” and “Stop raping me!” hitting his ears at point blank range with painful intensity.

The stallion was appalled that the female unicorn was no longer succumbing to his sexual prowess, allowing herself to become distracted by everything going on around her. Sure, the party was starting to rapidly fall into decline, but that shouldn’t have taken her mind off what was really important here, which was himself. After all he had done for her; the dirty talk, the stuffing of her loose cunt, indulging her masochistic cravings, going so far as to compliment the worthless slut. She owed it to him to get his rocks off again, and he wasn’t about to take no for an answer.

“Fine then!” Star shouted into the mare’s face, his annoyance evident, “If you want to have it that way, I have no problem taking pleasure from that pathetic excuse you call a fuck hole.”

Star rammed himself in harder than ever before, hitting so hard against the mare that he felt a sting from their flesh colliding. He did it a few more times in rapid succession, matching the intensity each time he jutted his crotch forward. The mare, in response, let out agonized screams as her cum filled and aching passage got battered further, having to inhale sharp breaths each time her lungs depleted to continue her protests. She could cry all she wanted though, he no longer cared if the mare got any enjoyment from this, and to some degree he didn’t care if he did either. Each thrust went in full force, as if in desperation, like something within was making him preserve what was happening, guiding him to commit this savage act.

I’m fucking the hottest mare I’ve ever been inside, he heard inside his mind, speaking to him in a voice that wasn’t quite his. I’m making her do what I want. Forcing her to please my wants and needs. She is my slave, my bitch. She might want to resist, but I know she loves it.

The final comment brought to the stallion a small amount of acknowledgement of what was going on. The mare strapped to the table wasn’t enjoying herself. In fact, if he and her were to swap places, he wouldn’t be able to say he’d be happy with it either. The device she was strapped into, and the position it held her in, looked painful, and the way he was slamming into her didn’t appear to help the situation whatsoever. Even if her exhausted body found the means to reach climax once more, it wouldn’t really undo the damage she had to sustain to achieve it, and the way she fought and sobbed through it all agreed with that sentiment.

There was no two ways about it, Star Bright was hurting the female unicorn. His hips started to slow down at this revelation, and he found himself thinking back on how she had been reacting before this point. She was frigid, hardly responsive, and the only time she broke that was when she started to cry. That didn’t seem like the reactions of someone hiding the fact that they wanted to be used like some dirty whore.

Who cares what she thinks? Star’s hips thrusted forward, again picking up speed as something took control. This was never about her. This is about you. You’re male, she’s female. She has no rights, no will. She only exists to satisfy your dick. That is her only purpose.

Star started to notice more and more how this voice in his head no longer matched his own. The truth of the matter was that it never truly did, but it had covered his thoughts so thoroughly that he had no ability to tell the difference. It was as if another person had been in charge of his life, turning him into a puppet through which their perverted ideals could be channeled, allowing only the smallest attributes of his personality through, and then corrupting them for their intentions. It had gone on so long that Star couldn’t tell when it really began, and didn’t even understand that up until a few moments ago his actions weren’t his own. But more and more he began to realize that what he was doing was not what he wanted, and that he wanted to stop.

What am I doing!? He thought, attempting to remove himself from the blue mare he was balls deep inside.

You are being a man! The voice replied. You’re taking what is yours. Showing this female her place. You are proving that you are better than her in every possible way by drilling your dick into her cunt!

I’m raping her! Star slammed his hand against the backboard of the rack the mare laid upon, startling her in the process. I don’t want to do this! Control was finally becoming his again, and the voice in him slowly vanishing as it did.

But the other voice was not quite done yet, the presence inside Star persisting to convince the stallion to stay on the path, becoming more frantic as it died inside the stallion’s mind.

If you stop now, you’ll just become weak again! You will be made a slave, forced to serve under women, and you will never be able to achieve your true destiny! If you don’t plow this mare senseless you… will… DIE!

The voice was making no sense at this point, only spouting off extremes in hopes to scare the stallion into submission. If he were a slave, it was never to any woman, it was to this voice in his head. If anything prevented him from achieving anything, it was the time he wasted on fucking mares and ignoring his goals. If he were ever weak… it was when the caribou arrived and made him who he was that day.

Star pulled of the mare before him, a flood of tears pouring from his eyes as the gravity of things came down around him in crushing force. The time since the caribou invasion. How he had started off trying to fight the cervine creatures when he first encountered one plucking the feathers from a pegasus’ wings as he raped her, the mare unable to fight back with her body bent over a horizontal pole, and her appendages tied together. How once he was subdued with a shock of a stun stick, he woke up with a newfound desire to do the same, and was allowed to do just that as the caribou he tried to attack let him to take a turn with the then de-feathered and helpless pegasus.

After that, he had taken the mare as his own, his caribou liberator having already taken what he wanted from her. He fucked her daily, tying her down when needed, furiously driving his dick into her without mercy. He forced her to crawl in the dirt, because the voice in his head made him think it was proper for a woman who dared to soar the skies when he never could, and for some time fed her little but his cum from a dog dish, until she begged for it straight from the tap.

Day in, day out, Star tormented the mare, until she was finally broken enough to ‘earn’ a red collar. He always credited her obedience to his masterful skill at taming women, but now he could see that the mare only obeyed out of fear. What he was compelled to believe was love, respect, and admiration, was little more than a frightened girl doing whatever she could to escape how monstrous he could be when he didn’t get his way. His presence must have been a constant source of pain and dismay in her life.

Freed from his delusions, Star clutched his head as once fond memories became nightmarish visions. How could he have done all the atrocities he had committed, not only to his own pegasus slave, but to any female he could get his hands on? He had participated in every big social event he could, of which the caribou had thrown many over the past year, each themed in further degrading and demeaning woman on mass scale. He had spent money in brothels and whore houses, specifically on black collar slaves to practice his assumed talent of taming, making the unwilling mares compliment him on his ability to force them into orgasm against their wills while entrapped in bondage that left them exposed and unable to act against him. He spent even more on tools of sexual torture. Gags to stop the screams for mercy. Shackles to prevent escape. Paddles to enforce unjust punishment, and vibrators and plugs to assure that his victims never had a moment when their holes weren’t violated.

The things he had done were so vile, so repugnant, that Star wished he could deny that it was him who had done it all. He couldn’t though. No matter how he tried to dismiss his responsibility, he could not refute that it was his hands that had held down and molested the bodies of countless mares. That it was his voice that spouted off endless obscenities meant to belittle ponies he had once called friends. Worst of all, he could not ignore the dribblings of semen seeping from his dick as his testicles mustered out just a little more from the demand of one last orgasm. He had used his penis to rape and traumatize so many, to cause suffering while he revealed in climax. It was all to horrid for the stallion to even comprehend.

Stumpy watched out of her non-swollen eye as the unicorn stallion went from plowing her pussy, to pacing about and muttering to himself. The sight of it pulled her from her misery, and exchanged it with curiosity and bewilderment. She had never seen a stallion like this, at least not during the fall. He was panicked, verging on deranged, on the cusp of going into a complete mental breakdown, and he wasn’t alone.

Most of the stallions at the party were acting similarly at this point, many having started before the unicorn that had been fucking her did. They screamed, trembled till they were little more than quivering puddles on the floor, shot turrets of vomit that exploded from their muzzles as if they were afflicted by some devastating illness, and even resorted to digging fingernails into their own flesh or pounding their heads against walls as they desperately attempted to wake up or piece together what was going on. Any mare who wasn’t bound to a spot quickly fled from the stallions, in fear that their sudden lapse of rationality would lead them to be hurt in the crossfire, with previous experiences with irrational males giving them no reason to assume otherwise. Those who could not move simply watched as they bore witnessed to a spectacle unlike any other, an event more terrifying than that of their own enslavement and rape because of the sheer insanity of it all.

Who knew how long this all could have gone on if left unchecked, this mass hysteria that seemed to grip everyone at the party that had a dick. However, there were a small few that were not affected by the mental attack that plagued everyone else. They easily found each other, a mere handful of calm, if confused and freaked out, presences in the sea of chaos.

Stumpy was able to spot and track the group as they joined together, talked to one another to figure out what was going on, and discussed amongst themselves how to handle it. She wasn't the only one either, as several red collars joined the group as well, hoping that their masters could put a stop to all this. At first the men looked put off by them, their pleads and clamoring around the males only causing more problems, but then one raised up his hands, and brought the entirety of the group to pause.

It was the earth pony who had hosted the event, keeping his composure in light of this catastrophe. What could he have been thinking at this turn of events, where in he would probably be blamed for what had happened? At first gaze, no one would even think that he gave a damn about what was going on, and how it could affect him. Perhaps he thought he could solve this situation without it turning into a huge debacle, perhaps be heralded as a hero if this could prevent further incidents. Or maybe he wasn’t worried because he knew he could always use a mare as a scapegoat if the reason for all this lead back to him. There were plenty of times when a mare suffered for the sins of their master, and there was no reason this should be any different.

However, the earth stallion did have some sort of plan. He and his small party of stallions and red collars waded through the other guests, heading to the center of the party room. They had little opposition, the other stallions in the room too preoccupied to give them any mind. When the group made it to their destination, they all faced outward, took a deep breath, and then shouted as loudly as they could, “STOP!”

The small group’s joined voices were easily able to dwarf the other noises in the room, and to Stumpy’s amazement, the plan worked. The loud command caught the attentions of mostly everyone in the room, with only a few unable to pull themselves out of their trances. Though those whose attention was grabbed were snapped out of their temporary madness, and their gazes turned to the stallion and his posse, waiting to see what they would do next now that they had gotten the what they wanted.

“Gentlecolts,” the earth stallion said stepping forward, “I don’t quite understand what’s going on here, but we need to pull ourselves together. This is hardly behavior fitting for a male, and whatever it is that caused this, we can easily overcome. We just need to focus on the reason why we’re here.”

“The reason… we’re here?” asked a random pegasus stallion from the crowd, unsure of what he had even been doing in a place such as this.

“Yes, to partake of fine foods, good drink, and all the mares that I’ve graciously provided you for my party. I don’t know what’s gotten into you all, perhaps one of my slaves cooked some bad hors d'oeuvres.”

Stumpy had to roll her eyes to that, her assumption that some mare was going to take the blame coming true at the first opportunity the earth pony had to dismiss his own potential involvement.

“But we need to get a hold of ourselves, and in what better way than by doing what we came together to do? So drink down some wine, fuck a mare, and try to forget whatever it is that made everyone go crazy.”

Of course even with his scapegoat in place, the stallion wanted to make sure that no word of this event left his manor, even if his only fault was not watching an irresponsible mare. For a rich, influential pony, image was everything, and rumors of hosting a party that turned ponies psychotic was not what a pony like him would want floating about. Best to keep everyone quiet and distracted with booze and sex. If he was lucky, everyone would just blame it all on an alcohol induced delusion, and laugh it off the next morning.

However, what would have in a normal situation elicited cheers, followed by some more debaucherous acts at the expense of every female present, was instead met with a bunch of shocked and angry glares. What happened next was a surprise to anyone who wasn’t aware of what those stallions had just went through.

It started with a single, winged stallion grabbing one of the red collar mares in the group by the arm, one closest to the rich earth pony, the unicorn mare that had been sucking cock next to Stumpy earlier. “That’s the spirit!” The earth pony exclaimed, thinking that his words had gotten through to his guests. The next thing he knew though, the stallion was tossing the mare aside, which didn’t please the earth pony one bit. “Now see here, beating the black collars is fine, but my red collars are off-”

The earth pony didn’t get to finish his sentence, not before a fist rammed right into his nose, slurring his final word and knocking him to the floor. The pegasus had pushed the mare aside only to get closer to the earth pony, and the fury on his face denoted that he had put everything he could into his attack.

Hurt, but not unconscious, the earth pony clutched his face, as the rest of his small group went for the pegasus to prevent any further attacks. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?” he yelled with indignance, no one since the fall ever laying so much of a hand on him. “Do you know who I am?! What I’ve done for the king?! When he hears word of this, you’re gonna be nothing but another bitch in my harem!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” yelled another earth pony, one much larger than the one shouting off threats. The rich stallion had little time to do so much as turn his head, before it was greeted by another impact, this time a hoof that struck him in the temple.

“MASTER!!!” screamed the unicorn mare, reaching out to her now unconscious owner from her own prone position.

Once more, the other stallions of the rich pony’s group tried to restrain this new attacker, while keeping a hold of the previous one, but before they could reach him they were restrained themselves by a multitude of other stallions coming to their defense. Stumpy watched in awe as the stallions began fighting, one small group scuffling with a much larger group that converged upon them from all sides.

There was little the group of caribou loyalists could do, and not even the mares at their side tried to save them as they watched idly by in horror. Even if they could have made a difference, they had been trained so thoroughly that they were worthless, and that even one male was superior to all of them in every way imaginable. With that mindset, what hope could they have had to try and fight the furious mob of stallions?

As they watched on helplessly, other mares cheered for the stallion’s success. Red collars and black collars alike, each seeing this as a possible chance at freedom, or a definite chance at revenge. Stumpy didn’t know how to feel though. On one hand, it certainly looked like a miracle was taking place. After more days than she wanted to count being tortured and abused at the hands of the caribou, it might finally be coming to an end. On the other hand, it seemed too good to be true. Maybe this was all just another trick to get her hopes up, only to dash them again. It was the ‘male’ thing to do in this day and age, and this just seemed all too convenient.

“Oh sweet Celestia, what am I doing?” said a voice from not too far away from her, “You’re still trapped in that thing. Let me get you out.”

It was the unicorn, the one that just a few minutes ago was thrusting his cock inside her. Now he was rushing to her side, and fiddling with the locks that kept her entrapped in her rack. The locks themselves were only kept in place with simple turn switches, as keyed locks would have unnecessarily complicated things had someone wanted to remove her from her binds to force her into a new position.

One by one he undid them all, and then when the final one was undone, he helped ease the female unicorn to the floor. “Are you hurt?” Looking at her face, and the eye he had struck earlier, he knew the answer to that. “What am I saying? Of course I did.”

The unicorn felt her unbound arms and legs, aching from prolonged stretching and having to support the weight of her body. Her eye at this point was of little concern when the damage had been done.

“I’m… a bit sore,” she said calmly, her attitude reverting to a more neutral one after all she had seen.

“I… I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was doing. Something… It doesn’t matter. What does is that you’re safe now.”

Stumpy still wasn’t so sure about that, but she could see other males assisting mares just as this unicorn had helped her, the ones that weren’t busy beating up and subduing the other stallions at least. They were doing whatever they could, from removing women from their own binds to trying to comfort some of those who were still in a traumatized state. It was an almost alien thing for her to behold, having not seen a male truly care about a female for some time now.

The stallion with her was a step ahead though, and was busy undoing the buttons on his suit jacket as she scanned the room. “Here,” he said, handing it over. “Put this on. You must be freezing.”

Stumpy did as she was told and placed her arms inside the coat. It felt weird to have something on her that’s purpose was to cover and conceal. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to wear clothing that wasn’t just a few straps made to titillate onlookers.

“Fuck, what am I doing? I don’t even know your name, or told you mine. I’m Star Bright.”

The stallion's name was unimportant to her, but something about him sharing it did give her a sense of compassion from him. Most stallions that used her never bothered to tell her their names, nor did she bother to ask. But the previous men were just dicks and harsh hands to her, and this one was was at least someone to her now.

“So… do you have a name?” Star asked, in case the implication of his question evaded the mare.

“It’s…” the mare paused, something reminding her not to utter her real name, under punishment of pain. Lifting her tired arm to her forehead, she touched that reminder, and then slumped against one of the legs of the wooden device that held her for a large portion of the night. “Stumpy. Stallions call me Stumpy.”

Star Bright bit his lip. He would have had to have been completely oblivious to not notice the signs the mare was giving off. After all she had gone through, all he had done to her, Star couldn’t just let that slide. He took hold of the mare by her shoulders, and looked her dead in the face. “It doesn’t matter what the stallions call you. You’re a pony, and you have a name. You remember it, don’t you?”

Stumpy looked back at the stallion, and saw in his eyes a kindness unlike any she could remember. The feeling of his hands were gentle, and made her feel safe within them. Maybe this was a turning point. Maybe she was freed. Maybe things were about to get better for her, and she could finally live again.

She gave Star a weak smile, all she could muster with her emotions stunted as they were, but it was the best smile that she had made in some time. For that alone, Star had earned an answer for his question. “My name is…”

“Trixie!”

The yell came with an accompaniment of poundings against an ceder door that separated the blue unicorn from the rest of the world.

Six months had passed since that night. The night that she was released from her enslavement. She had later learned about the things that happened that night at Canterlot Castle, at the Grand Galloping Gala, and how it had allowed stallions to return to their senses. One single series of events had spelled the end of the caribou’s reign, and brought liberation to the ponies of Equestria from their tyrannous hands.

Trixie played no part in the removal of the caribou herself, unable to work up the courage to fight them, afraid of what might happen if they got a hold of her again. So while others were doing their best to drive them off, she was being moved around with other ‘civilians’ to keep safe. Eventually, after the caribou threat had been forced into small areas where they could do no more harm, she was escorted to where she was now; a shelter the newly established governing powers had made for those whose homes had been destroyed during the invasion of Equestria. One of many.

The mare at the door was one of her many roommates, yelling at her because she had practically taken up residence in the bathroom. Trixie wasn’t even using it for its intended purpose, but instead using it simply as a quiet place to stare into her own reflection. That worthless mare dully looking back at her from just above the bathroom sink. A mare still in the bonds formed by the caribou.

She may have had her horn restored, but she had yet to relearn how to cast even the smallest of spells since she got it back. The one thing she use to base her entire world around, and the caribou were still keeping it from her in their own special way. She didn’t know what held her back, as it wasn’t lack of trying, but her inability to do the very thing that defined her, her own special talent, the thing she was born to do, served to make other things undeniably noticeable to her.

Like how her life hadn’t really changed much since she was given back her freedom. She was still being handed off from one pony to another, with no real control over where she went or what she did, and at the mercy of others. The caribou had taken everything from her, and destroyed it as thoroughly as they destroyed her. Her home… her old performing outfit… everything. While some mares were able to reclaim what had been taken from them, their houses and property given to stallions or repurposed to perform some function for the caribou, she had been left with nothing. Most importantly though, her current situation made her understand that even before the caribou, her life wasn’t all that great. At least that’s all she could think when she looked back to before the invasion, remembering all the times she had failed at something or had done awful things to other ponies.

“Has she locked herself in there again?” Another voice said from behind the door.

“She’s been in there all morning,” said the first, irritation in her voice.

After those brief words, Trixie heard the familiar sound of a key sliding into a lock, and the turning of mechanical parts. With a click, the door opened, and in peeked a orange-ish, tan mare with blonde hair, and a stern expression permanently plastered on her face.

“Miss Lulamoon,” said the mare, coming in once she saw the facilities were not currently in use, “We have discussed this before. No matter how depressed you get, you have to remember that you’re sharing this house with dozens of other mares. The restrooms are not your personal moping spots.”

“I know, Miss Harshwhinny.” Trixie said, turning to the older mare, “It won’t happen again.”

“That is what you said the last two times.” Harshwhinny replied, not happy that this was becoming a common conversation between them, “Now if you’d like to join us, we are about to begin the daily chores.”

“What about breakfast?” Trixie asked, her self pity having worked up a hunger in her.

“I’m afraid that you spent all of breakfast in here.”

“But-!”

“Miss Lulamoon, you need to start learning that you aren’t going to be given any privileges that aren’t granted to anyone else. You are not special, and will not be treated as such.”

Trixie hung her head and stormed off, hiding her tears from Harshwhinny as she vacated the room. She knew she wasn’t special. The caribou had made it a point to make sure she learned that lesson, and she didn’t need to be reminded by another mare. Then again, it was just another thing that proved that for all the things that had changed, there were still plenty of things that stayed the same, and today was just going to be another day in her horribly depressing life. A life where she was weak… and powerless.

The Cure for What Ails

Upon exiting from her temporary sanctuary, Trixie was met with a line of the mares she had forced to wait on the bathroom because she had locked herself inside. An impatient row of her fellow house mates, the mares that she had to share a roof with. Many of them looked none too pleased with the unicorn’s antics, sending their annoyed glares at Trixie for having inconvenienced them. Trixie’s blue complexion turned a slight red hue as she rushed by, knowing that she was the one at fault here, and that this wasn’t the first time she had caused them trouble. She was just glad that none of them tried to confront her this time, letting her pass without saying a word.

Tensions in Equestria, in general, had been at an all time high in the aftermath of The Fall. Everyone who had endured the caribou occupation carried their own baggage from the ordeal, and had developed a variety of problems concerning their emotions and how to deal with them. It was uncharacteristic for ponies, who normally bounced back from anything with smile and a song, but this was no ordinary invasion of their lands or momentary incursion. Ponies had been defeated and conquered before, by invading forces or the occasional supervillain, for both short bursts and extended periods of time before finding some way to rid themselves of them, never having an issue with recouping their losses and returning to business as usual the following week. This time was different though.

This time the enemy didn’t just come from some outside source, but from within as well. The caribou might have been the ones who had plotted to destroy the harmonic balance preserved by the inhabitants of Equestria for a millennium, caused the suffering of thousands upon thousands, but they had also brought to light a cancer growing within. Corrupt ponies had joined sides with the tyrannical deer to help bring the nation to ruins, ponies who could have done something or warned someone about the impending doom they would bring, but chose not to in exchange for privilege, power, and the simple ability to dominate others due to their own perversions.

Red collars, traitors, stallions with no moral qualms keeping them from capturing and collaring their so called friends and family members. They sold the freedom and souls of their neighbors and peers to figurative demons just to get a cozy position in the caribou’s empire, or increased their wealth.

It should have been an easy task rounding up all of these malcontents, as evildoers and ne'er-do-wells within pony society were usually easy to discern amongst the common equine, generally being the ones who curved their brows more than others and took to cackling to themselves. However, the spell that was placed on the now destroyed Crystal Heart muddled the issue immensely. Because of it, no one could tell who had made a deal for their own comfort, or had been made to enslave others due to the powerful brainwashing done to them. With the exception of the few stallions that were immune to the Heart’s spell, the incurables as the caribou called them, every male in Equestria had been turned into sex-crazed fiends. Many of the former red collar mares claimed that it was the spell that turned them into insatiable sluts as well, since that was the excuse given publicly as to why Princess Celestia, Twilight, and Cadence had been red collars themselves.

It had become nearly impossible to tell if the pony standing beside you had been an active supporter, or was coerced into following the caribou’s ideal of civil structure. That was, unless one had been a black collar by the end of the fall, or had the misfortune to have been turned ‘purple’ or, worse still, blanked. Six months down the line, they still were holding trials for mares to determine who had been faking red collars, who had given in but could be rehabilitated, and who had been on the caribou’s side from the very beginning and deserved only imprisonment.

So even within the confines of a mare’s shelter, created to for the sole purpose of providing some sort of home to those who had none after the caribou’s defeat, Trixie understood why anyone would be irritated by her actions. Occasionally, her mind would try to fall back on old traits, make her believe that they were the problem. That wasn’t the case though, and deep down Trixie knew it. She was the one who was the burden, the one who was worthless, one of the few unicorns left in Equestria who still couldn’t cast something as easy as a levitation spell, even though her horn had been fully restored. To them, she was probably no better than any of the other mares there, and just took up a bed that could have gone to a more deserving pony. All she could do now was hope they would forgive her inadequacies, and put up with her until this was all over.

For now, she could only subvert their ire by doing her duties as a resident of the house. There were plenty of things Trixie and the other mares were responsible for during their stay at the halfway home of course. They had to do the normal chores of consideration, such as keep their living space clean and take turns cooking if they had any talent in it, which Trixie herself had none, but there were other more important things to take care of as well. Community services was something ‘heavily recommended’ for any able bodied pony, since the restoration of Equestria was one of the top priorities amongst the equine populous, and those who didn’t do their fair share of the work were not looked lightly upon.

It was what Miss Harshwhinny had come to remind her about, being that Trixie fit the bill as a pony capable of pulling her own weight. Then again, there really wasn’t anyone in the shelter that wasn’t. To Trixie’s understanding, the only ponies truly allowed to avoid such work without receiving a ton of ridicule were those who were either physically unable to do so, which only foals and the elderly truly qualified, or those who were too mentally distressed by the events of the fall to function, which consisted of those who were marked by the caribou as purple collars.

So with nary a word to anyone else, Trixie left the shelter’s confines, and exited out into the world outside. From the moment she stepped hoof outside those four walls, she could already tell it was going to be a terrible day. The sun in the sky was covered by a heavy patch of unattended clouds, casting everything into a slight grey that made everything appear dreary to her, the former weather teams of Equestria yet to have been officially re-established. All colors felt muted by this, mixing into hues of off greys, wherein even the shadows casted by what little light that penetrated the cloud seemed to be a little less than black. Trixie knew what was expected of her though, and took a second step from the safety of the shelter, and then a third and a fourth until she was walking, albeit slowly, towrds a crowd of ponies waiting by a gate that surrounded the building.

These ponies were more of her fellow shelter mares, all waiting for their daily assignments, which would be handed out to them by some nameless government official who was in charge of organizing the restoration efforts. Until that pony arrived, they were left to their own devices, and segregated themselves into their own cliques so they could pretend that life was somewhat normal. For a moment, Trixie considered joining some of them, any of the groups, but she couldn’t work up the nerve to do so. So instead, she went to the gate wall and stood a few dozen feet away from it’s door; far enough avoid conversation, but close enough to let people know she was suppose to be part of the group.

But of course, when she did her best to elude conversation and confrontation, it managed to find her instead, though not from any of her shelter mates. They had already experienced first hand how fruitless interactions with the blue unicorn was. This was someone not from the shelter, someone who had not experience the fall like they all had, and wasn’t even from Equestria.

“I know a mistake is all too risky,” the unicorn mare heard from just outside her peripherals, “But could it be that you are Trixie?”

At first she thought that whoever was speaking was addressing some other mare, and she was just picking up accidentally on it. The mention of her name left no doubt though, and so she shifted the direction of her head to see who was trying to get her attention. What she saw was another mare, but not a pony. It was instead a zebra, her mane cut down to an incredibly short length, and wearing a purple garb that covered most of her body, with a large pouch at her side that hung from the opposite shoulder by a strap.

“I know that we have never met, but you know who I am, I bet.” The zebra continued, speaking in a soft, youthful tone.

“I… do,” Trixie replied, having been informed ahead of time of the arrival of a group of zebra that would help with the recovery efforts, as had everyone else at the shelter. “You’re one of the medical mares from the zebra nation. They said you’d come to help fix what the caribou did to us.”

“Indeed, I’ve come to fix your ills,” the zebra opened her bag for Trixie to peer inside, revealing a bunch of flowers, leaves, and bottles held inside, “With my nations collections of potions and pills. What was done to you was far too much to bare, but perhaps your body we can repair. So please tell me what those beasts did to you, and I will try what I can in order to undo.”

“Well…” Trixie looked around, and noticed that others were being spoken to by their own zebras, all of which mares, and all of which seemed to carry the same kind demeanor as this one. From what she had been told during the announcement of their arrival, the zebra nation had volunteered the services of many such equines after the caribou had been dealt with, more than happy to do whatever they could to bring Equestria back to it’s former glory after such tragic events. From what she had heard, they were being sent all over the kingdom, and not only to shelters either. They were to be in every town to act as public physicians, and provide care to any pony in anyways they could.

This knowledge, along with the sight of all the others reacting so well to their presence, allowed Trixie to open up ever so slightly, and with a small series of slow inhales and exhales, she said to the zebra before her, “The caribou… did a lot... to my body.”

The blue mare paused for a second, believing that the zebra would say something in response to that. Perhaps something a bit condescending, since the same could be said of every mare in Equestria and didn’t apply to just her. The zebra didn’t say a word though, and instead waited patiently for Trixie to finish.

“They… made my breasts bigger. Much bigger than they are suppose to be. And they made my body really sensitive. And…” Trixie lowered her voice down to a whisper, “I’m having problems with with… getting wet… down there.”

Trixie once more stayed silent for a moment, expecting that such a statement would bring some sort of shock to the zebress, but if it did, there was nary a sign of it. No odd twitch or narrowing of irises to betray some hidden thoughts, just that same patient stance as she wore the gentlest of smiles. It was almost creepy in it’s own way, as most ponies in Equestria didn’t take well to acknowledgements of any form of sexuality, even acts that were involuntary, seeing only its direct connection to the fiendish creatures that had enslaved their race. It even bugged Trixie a little, but this must have been the benefits of having been far away from that disaster. How lucky of her.

“It’s more than just a little.” she declared, a little louder than before to express her seriousness, “Sometimes I get so wet that I have to change my underwear several times until it stops.”

The zebra woman nodded, reaching into her pouch, taking out a vial of reddish liquid. “I understand, and feel your plight. So let’s see if we can make this right. The potion here will shrink your breasts, and remove the weight placed on your chest. Just drink it down and you will see, things can be mended easily.”

With a little hesitation, Trixie took the small glass container, popped its cork, and downed the concoction within. It tasted of rotten fruits and moldy bread, or at least it reminded her of the foul flavors two substances fed to her frequently by her former captors, but once in mouth she drank it with without issue. She had consumed worse than this, though the sludgy consistency did make it a chore to get down her gullet.

“I am surprised you didn’t waver. Most ponies don’t enjoy the flavor.”

Wiping off a small portion stuck to her lips, Trixie handed the empty vial back. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get the caribou out of my life for good.” If there was one thing that gave Trixie, and perhaps all ponies of Equestria, motivation to push forward, it was that.

It didn’t take long for the potion to take effect, as by the time she had finished her reply, she started feeling her engorged mammaries quiver underneath her dress. With the sensitivity of her body, and the intensity her flesh was trembling at, it had an unfortunate side effect of causing a bit of unwanted pleasure. Enough to have her brace herself against the wall she was standing at. It was a little embarrassing, and she worried if anypony aside from the zebra was watching this, thinking it was some strange, lewd act.

That worry only faded when the shaking of her breasts ceased, stopping just as quickly as it started, as any qualms she could have had was instantly replaced with the relief brought upon her by the results she felt. There was a notable change, as the chest of her clothing no longer hugged her as tightly, nor did she feel as much stress on her spine as her the weight her bosom held became lighter. She felt a momentary bout of joy at the feeling, believing that the damage done to her body had been reverted. So much so that she had to pull the collar of her shirt forward to get a good look at the changes.

What Trixie saw was underwhelming and disappointing. It looked like they hadn’t changed but perhaps a few centimeters in diameter. It felt like someone was playing a cruel joke on her, promising to relieve her of something that’s very existence brought her physical and mental pain, only to remove an incredibly small portion of it. It was enough to cause her well up a few tears in her eyes, assuming that this was all the zebra could do for her.

“Is there something wrong, young pony mare? You seem to be in such despair.”

Trixie wiped her eyes, becoming angry at the Zebra’s insensitivity at her situation. Sure, she sounded concerned, but the constant rhyming made it all seem disingenuous, mocking. Did she not understand the severity of what the caribou did to Equestria.

“This isn’t right…” Trixie said, keeping her voice look, her rising anger kept at bay by an aura of self consciousness. No matter how upset she was, no matter how much she wanted to yell at the zebra, she didn’t want to cause a scene and have the eyes of every pony there to be drawn to her. “They’re still too big! I can’t be stuck with these stupid blobs of meat for the rest of my life!” She exclaimed in a whisper, finding it hard to hide her emotions regardless.

The zebra gave the unicorn a sympathetic look, breaking her previous expression for the first time. “Then it is as I surmise. You’re not happy with their current size.”

“Current?” Trixie asked, picking up on the word and its vague implication that this was not the end of their transformation. “Is the potion going to do more to them?”

“It’s as I’ve heard a pony say, Equestria wasn’t built in a day. We’re making sure we get this right, so the dosage was kept light. If we made your breasts too too small, it would be as dreadful as the Fall.”

Trixie didn’t agree with that, seeing what big breast represented now. They were part of the caribou’s ideal image of a woman, and thus something that she didn’t want associated with her. Having a pair of watermelons dangling off her for the good part of a year didn’t hurt her opinion in the slightest either, and she wouldn’t have cared if she were a few sizes smaller than she use to be just to distance herself from that even further. Even becoming as flat chested as a filly felt like an appealing option.

The zebra had her own ideas though, expressing them by saying, “We’ll take this process week by week, until we get the results you seek. In time you’ll be rid of this awful gift, and back in a form you’re happy with.”

“But can’t you do it now?” Trixie asked. With a fix for this problem presenting itself, she wanted more than ever for this part of her nightmare to be over. “Can’t you whip up more of that potion? I’ll wait if I have to, no matter how long it takes you, and we can get them back to normal today.”

To Trixie’s disappointment, the zebra shook her head. “While I’ll say you are not wrong, and making potion does not take long, the problem is unfortunately, not with time, but quantity.”

Taking the unicorn by the shoulder, the zebra guided her to look at some of the other mares gathered in front of the shelter. To others like herself, fellow shelter mates who had massive breasts that were disproportionate to their bodies, with some worse off than even she had been. Like her, they were being given potion to rectify this problem, and some were likewise put off by the lackluster results. Others incredibly grateful for what little they got though, thanking and hugging their zebra attendants for the smallest of change in their lives, and the promise that one day soon they could wipe what the caribou did away completely. In the face of that, Trixie couldn’t help but feel a little sheepish about her own attitude.

“We’re working hard on this important task, of making brews and filling flasks. While we stir and mix for hours, the truth is that we lack the power, to make the amount of remedy that would clear up this problem instantly. I know you must despise delay, but there really is no other way.”

The long string of words the zebra spewed out was confusing, but Trixie didn’t have to think hard to decipher the meaning. There was simply no way that enough of the potion could be made at once to satisfy every mare in Equestria that might need it. Those in charge of distributing it, most likely the Equestrian Committee of Ponies, must have decided it was better to hand it out evenly, than to have to pick individually who would have access to it first out of a long line of mares desperate for it. To have done the latter would have undoubtedly created animosity among those who had endure their physical changes longer than others, and create even more unease in throughout the nation. With tensions as high as they already were, to do such a thing would have terrible results.

As much as the potion shortage would suck for her, Trixie could only accept this decision. It wasn’t like she had the power or status to do anything about it. “Ok… I get it. I can wait.” said Trixie, trying hard to force a smile and not display her discontent to the zebra.

The zebra could sense things were not satisfactory for the mare though, as how could they be when she was just informed she would have to live with something she hated for who knows how much longer. She, along with all the ponies who had suffered at the hands of the caribou, had the zebra’s sympathy, and she was determined to do whatever it took to bring a real smile to her face.

“Don’t be sad, and do not fret. I have something that you want, I bet. Inside my pouch, I know there should, be something that will make things good.”

Trixie watched closely as the zebra shuffled through her things, the striped mare talking to herself the whole time. “A needle meant to dull out pain. A lotion that restores one’s mane. An ointment that makes muscles strong… Oh! Here’s the thing to right your wrong.”

A second vial was handed over to Trixie, this one filled with blue and yellow capsules. “Pills?” Trixie asked, bringing the container directly in front of her eyes.

“The are designed to cease your drips. Take one each time you need to skip, the times you begin feeling wet, and sense the sensations those monsters set.”

“So… this will stop me from getting turned on against my will?” Trixie asked, unwittingly letting slip a little more about details about why she was developing heavy bouts of moisture from between her legs than she had before.

“It doesn’t matter the reason why. Those pills will insure you stay dry. Please try to take them sparingly, but when they run out, do come see me.”

Trixie had a few more questions about the medication the zebra had to offer, like what exactly she had in there and how it helped out the other mares that were afflicted with conditions she was not. For as much as the caribou abused her, they did go out of their to make sure she could be abused in a consistent manner. Others were not maintained so rigorously, and thus had problems that surpassed mere bouts of onset arousal. However, here previous obligations finally rear its head, preventing her from asking about such matters.

“Attention! Would all the volunteers please gather outside the front gate so you can be given your assignments.”

The voice boomed out from a bullhorn held by a pegasus mare dressed in a ‘Pre-Fall’ version of the Wonderbolts uniform, before the symbol of Equestria’s flying elite had been bastardized by the caribou’s need to perverse everything they touched. Trixie recognized her instantly by attire as the work organizer for the reconstructions efforts. With her arrival, the shelter’s gates opened, and everypony else filed out into the world beyond the sturdy brick walls that surrounded it.

Regretful that she had run out of time, Trixie pocketed her pills, and excused herself by saying “I have to go. My group is leaving.”, before dashing off so not to miss her orders.

The zebra didn’t appear to mind at all that the unicorn had bolted off to join the other pony mares, and even gave a few pleasant parting words to the blue mare before she had made it out of earshot.

“I’ll be here when you finish your chore, so seek my help if you need more. Any problem, big or small, can be made less by your friend Amale.”

That was a large claim from the zebra, but Trixie didn’t have time to think of it as anymore than a friendly gesture. She had somewhere to be, and work to do, even if her abilities had been… limited by what she had been done to her during the Fall.

Author's Notes:

So.... I initially intended to have this chapter be longer. I meant to get it to a point where the real story would present itself, and we could get to some of the things that have been eluded to on the cover. However, after 3-4 months of not having posted anything new, and only having 4K words to show for my decline in writing, I felt it would be best if I cut it short and gave you all what I had.

This might be a good thing, as a fresh start on a new chapter my liberate my creativity a bit more, though I will admit that is not the only thing that has helped my procrastination. Now I know most of my fans are not the "Where's the next chapter" types, but I do feel personally let down when I delay for long stretches. I promised you all a story after all, and the longer it takes, the more I am breaking that promise. So let me torment myself a little bit. Suffering is one of my key motivators after all

My only worry is that while this new chapter does add a bit of lore and world building to my rendition of "Fall of Equestria", explaining what it is the zebra nation is doing in the aftermath of the destruction, I'm not exactly sure this alone is all that interesting, or makes enough progress in the story. Then again, I see people make 500 word chapter posts all the time on here, so what do I know about pacing. Just tell me in the comments what you think, as I might start resorting to smaller chapter post until I get my mojo back.

Anyways, see you all soon, and I hope you have a pleasant day.

Civic Duty

A short time after departing from the zebra caregiver, Trixie was escorted onto a cart with a group of other mares to begin her day of work. The cart wasn’t going very far, but the trip felt like it was taking forever. Plenty of the girls were cautiously keeping an eye on the two stallion guards pulling them to their destination, unable to get over the fact that not too long ago, said guards were part of the tyrannical regime that enslaved and tortured them. Mind-controlled or not, it was difficult to simply forgive someone who might have been one of the innumerable men who raped them.

Others tried to keep their minds off of things by looking at the buildings they passed by, but in this early stage of rebuilding Equestria after the fall, there were plenty of them in a state of disrepair. The caribou cared little about the maintenance of the kingdom they annexed, having far too many other matters that they felt were more important, and over the year let many structures decay. In some cases, they burned down buildings simply for being owned by a mare, and in others, they let them stand abandoned as their occupant was shipped off to some unspeakable facility to be beaten and raped into submission. It was unfortunate, but everywhere one looked, they could find something that had been tainted by the evil, domineering deer men.

Trixie, in her own state of constant depression, didn’t care to look at anything that would demoralize her further than she already was, and instead hugged her legs while gluing her eyes to the cart’s floor. The work she had volunteered for, if through the means of peer pressure, was supposed to be a hopeful endeavor. Every mare, no… everypony that would be at the work site would be there to help fix all the things the caribou destroyed with their brutality and gross negligence. It would be one step on the path of getting things back to what they once were, back to normal, and if everything could go back to normal then everything would be ok.

But as much as Trixie wanted to ignore all the bad in the world, it was like an ever present taint that cloaked the world in a sense of despair. She could feel the things wrong with the road she was traveling. It was bumpy, cracked, and in desperate need of attention from somepony who could make it right. Trixie thought that what she felt in no way accurately represented what she would see if she took a moment to look at it. No doubt in her mind, the road she traveled on would look much worse than she believed if she actually peered over the side of the cart and take in the damage that had been done. In her experience, that was the way it always turned out to be.

It only took a matter of minutes for the cart to reach its destination, a mostly cleared-out area on the outskirts of town. There, the acting government of Equestria had shipped lots of construction materials. Long planks of wood, cement bags, buckets full of nails, roof shingles, carpeting… pretty much anything one would need to build a home, which was exactly what the party of volunteer workers would be doing.

The cart came to an abrupt stop, and when it did, the Wonderbolt that had rounded up the occupants of it from the halfway home swooped down from above. “This is the place,” she said, getting straight to the point. “Everypony line up next to the cart to receive your assignments.”

One by one, the cart was vacated, with Trixie being the last to muster up the energy to leave it. This was what she had left the shelter for, and there was little reason to dally now that she was here. Taking a place on one end of the line, Trixie did her best to stand in attention as the Wonderbolt representative landed. The pegasus gave a cursory glance over those she would be supervising that day, and with a heavy sigh, she addressed them.

“Thank you all for coming,” she started, “My name is Fleetfoot, and I know that all of you didn’t have to be here, and that it might still be hard for a lot of you to work in the same area as stallions.” She said pointing to a portion of the construction site where dozens of stallions were hard at work erecting several houses. “Because of that, I want to let you all know that any help you give is greatly appreciated. For those of you new to this, we are here to aid in the reconstruction of homes the caribou destroyed. These homes are going to be occupied by mares like yourself, and some of you know that the houses we are working on today will be your own.”

Upon leaving Fleetfoot’s lips, the words struck Trixie’s ears hard. Images flashed across her eyes in rapid succession. Visions of rain, night, and fire. Visions of a home that she could never truly replace, vanishing in a swath of destruction. Memories of crawling in mud, struggling to get away from a sinister figure looming over her, and failing to do so.

The thought forced itself to the forefront of her mind, no matter how much she wanted to repress it. Phantoms such as these plagued her constantly, brought upon by the simplest of phrases or association. The images of what she lost wouldn’t go away, nor would those of the things she had gained in her time as the caribou’s pain puppet. Her home, her freedom, her self-esteem, all of it taken away in the moment it took to drop a torch. The once prideful mare easily became lost in these thoughts, mesmerized by the shadows of misery that made residence in her memories.

“Hey,” Trixie heard, accompanied by the sound of snapping, “Are you listening?”

Trixie hadn’t realized that she had spaced out long enough for Fleetfoot to finish explaining the jobs they would all be doing. The pegasus noticed though, and brought her back to reality. “Sorry, I… just have a lot on my mind.”

“We all have a lot on our minds,” Fleetfoot said directly, “But if you’re going to help today, I need you to be focused. Equestria is depending on each of you to do your jobs.”

The words were clearly supposed to be motivational and meant for everypony, but the way she presented them made Trixie self-conscious and embarrassed. It felt like Fleetfoot was condemning her for a minor mistake, instead of encouraging all the volunteers to do their best.

“Ok, everypony has their assignments. Head to your stations and do your best.”

The line of mares dispersed, but Trixie stood there unsure of what she was suppose to do. She hesitantly tried going in one direction and then the other, but ending up stopping right back where she started. It didn’t take long for the Wonderbolt to notice and address this distressed unicorn directly.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, not knowing why it was this mare was having a hard time.

“I, uh… I didn’t hear what my job was supposed to be…” Trixie admitted, having little other choice.

Fleetfoot shook her head, but got that whatever distracted her before made her miss her assignment. “You and the other unicorns are to help the builders by holding up the planks and putting nails in place.”

“The unicorns are setting things up?” Trixie questioned.

“The committee decided that able-bodied unicorns would have an easier time doing this because of levitation magic. No straining muscles or hitting fingers.”

Trixie felt her mouth go a little dry, and unconsciously she directed her eyes to the ground. “About that… My horn doesn’t exactly… work... at the moment…”

“It… what?” Fleetfoot was taken aback at this new information.

She knew there were unicorns like this, just as there were pegasi with perfectly functional wings that couldn’t fly. Despite the zebra being able to fix any of the physical damage done to the mares, the damage the caribou did were deeper than the flesh. This was all understandable to Fleetfoot, but she never expected a handicapped pony to volunteer for this kind of work.

The Wonderbolt almost wanted to tell the impotent unicorn that she shouldn’t force herself to do this, but truth was that Equestria needed as much help as it could get from all of its citizens.

“Ok… Well that’s good to know. How about this, then?” Fleetfoot rubbed her chin, and looked to see what Trixie could do to help. Without her horn, setting up the materials wasn’t really an option. Anything she did with that would be less efficient and more dangerous than if a capable unicorn did the work. There was something else that she could do though, seeing that she was only limited by her horn, and not her hands. “Why don’t you help with nailing things together? You won’t need to do any magic, just work as hard as you can.”

“I… suppose I could do that.” Trixie replied, certain that she was at least that capable. It wouldn’t be the first time she did hands-on labor, as she once worked on a rock farm with a strict no-magic policy. She believed she could handle this. No, she knew that something this menial was something she could do. “Right, I can do it. Just point the way.”

Seeing that she had spent far too much of her time on this mare, and needing to get to her own duties for the reconstruction, the pegasus pointed to a bunch of earth ponies grouped up together, talking with one another, ready to work as soon as they got the word.

Trixie half-heartedly thanked Fleetfoot, not for the directions per say, but for not dismissing her on the spot. The look in the Wonderbolt’s eyes and the tone of her voice gave off a sense of mistrust in the blue mare’s abilities, but she was willing to give her a shot regardless. That in itself was a better reaction than Trixie had expected to receive. It felt weird, but encouraging. That anypony could have any faith in her was a good thing, and and deep down it sparked a bit of the pride she once had. With this joyous feeling inside her, Trixie went to join the mares she would be working with. Fleetfoot followed after, knowing the confusion that would be caused if she didn’t explain things.

Fleetfoot quickly introduced Trixie to the earth mares, explaining the reason she had to swap her to the group. It was a bit uncomfortable for Trixie, but she found that she was welcomed to the building team by most of her soon to be co-workers. Several of the mares in the group were from the same shelter as her though, and they had reservations on how well this usually mopey and disheartened unicorn would fair doing physical labor.

“I’m not sure she’ll do well with us,” One said bluntly, not caring if she hurt the unicorn’s feelings by doing so, “She’ll probably just get in our way.”

“I won’t get in the way,” she rebutted, her pride dimming a bit with the poor assumption of her capabilities. “But if that’s how you feel, I can just go back to the cart. It’s not like I wanted to be here to begin with.”

This was the attitude the shelter mares had come to associate with the blue unicorn: one of a defeatist that gave way whenever any form of opposition reared its head. At the drop of a hat, Trixie would abandon whatever she was doing to instead retreat to her room and sulk. They had put up with the behavior for a while, knowing that every mare in Equestria had endured a terrible experience, but after months of trying to respect her feelings and providing emotional support it was clear that attitude wasn’t changing at all.

Over time, they all moved onto other things, and eventually began to resent this pony who was becoming more and more a burden to everyone else as the days went by. Trixie wasn’t the only one suffering from prolonged emotional trauma from their time of enslavement, but she was the only one who seemed to not make any effort in getting past it. A shut-in who wouldn’t do anything unless forced to, who was a waste of food and hogged the bathroom for who knew what.

“Come on, girls, just let her try.” Fleetfoot said, not wanting to push away even a single helper, believing the more there were to work, the faster the restoration efforts would go. “How bad could she possibly be?”

“Ok…” said one of the earth mares form the shelter, “But if something goes wrong, we’re not taking the blame.”

“Nopony is going to get blamed for anything.” Fleetfoot reassured, “We’re not here to throw around accusations or point fingers. All the work is going to be inspected after it’s done, and if something happens, it can be easily fixed. So if that’s settled, I’m sure we’d all like to get this started.”

There was nothing more the earth mare could say, but that didn’t stop her from rolling her eyes in annoyance. Trixie had only been trouble in her experience, and many had already formed solid opinions that she wasn’t going to be of any use.

“Hey, why don’t you come with me?” said a white-maned, dark-ish pastel yellow-coated earth mare who stepped out of the group to take Trixie by the hand, “I’ve done this a few times before and I know a simple job that will suit you nicely.”

Trixie was taken away from the group so fast that nary another word could be exchanged by anyone to or about her. Even Fleetfoot didn’t say another thing, just happy that the situation seemed to resolve itself in the end. Whatever task Trixie would be set to, it would allow her to be involved with the volunteer efforts, and it appeared that was all that mattered to the unicorn.

With that settled, she flew up above everyone and yelled loudly “Alright everypony, let’s get to work!”

The white-maned mare, who had identified herself to Trixie as Ambrosia once they had gotten away from the others, lead Trixie to a bunch of planks and a pair of other unicorns standing near them. A few minutes later, Trixie was on her knees atop one of the planks, pounding on nails that the unicorns held in place for her. Ambrosia was right beside her, likewise hitting nails through the wood, keeping an eye on Trixie’s work to make sure she wasn’t going too far off the mark or driving in the nails the wrong way.

The two were putting together the floor of one of the homes, nailing it into a frame underneath them that would be part of the foundation for the entire house, while other mares constructed a frame atop the flooring that would eventually form the outer walls of the structure. It was a very important task, but one that was fairly simple. Even a foal could do it with supervision, and Ambrosia could see that Trixie was doing fine without too much guidance.

“Argh!” Trixie yelled suddenly, dropping her hammer down in frustration, “I keep getting them in crooked!” The nail she had just nailed in had its head at a slight angle, one side tilted upwards slightly while the other side dug into the plank it was now holding down. Several of her nails had ended up like that, and with each one she put in unaligned she lost a bit of that small amount of pride she had regained until there was near none of it left. Instead, she was feeling a great deal of personal failure when she couldn’t even drive a nail into a plank properly.

Ambrosia gave the nail a good look, but didn’t see anything worth getting upset about. “It’s really not that bad.” she said, “I think they’re going to carpet the floor anyways, so nopony will notice it.”

“I noticed it,” Trixie replied, grabbing her hammer before scooting forward to another nail waiting for her up ahead, suspended in levitation by one of the unicorns assisting her and Ambrosia. With eight hits of the hammer, the nail was firmly in place, but once more it was a little off. “ARRRRGGGG!!! Why can you do this perfectly and I keep getting it wrong?!”

All along the boards, the nails the earth mare had been working on laid flat against the wood. There was not a single one that missed the mark, or was the slightest bit tilted. “To be fair,” Ambrosia said, going to her next nail so she could slam it in with a mere three strikes, “Building is my special talent.”

“Oh, well that makes sense…” Trixie said, a little discouraged hearing that. If they had ponies whose skill set was in making homes, it felt like she really was slowing things down, like those other earth mares said she would. Then a thought came to mind that justified her being there a little more. “I guess after the Fall, you and the other builder mares are a bit rusty.”

“Why do you say that?” Ambrosia wondered aloud as they both moved to the next nails in their path.

“Well I don’t think the caribou had mares building houses for them.”

Many a mare around them flinched at the sound of the word ‘caribou’, the very word able to ignite terrible memories of a life that was still not too far gone. Ambrosia gave a moment of pause herself mid swing of her hammer, forced to think back to her own year as a slave.

“Not houses, no.” she said, her expression turning disgruntled as she recalled what it was her former captors made her do, “They had me making a bunch of wooden contraptions for their sick torture. Stockades, wedges, pegging benches… lots of other things.”

What Trixie heard from Ambrosia stunned her, as she wouldn’t have believed that somepony would admit so openly that they did anything to help the caribou. “You made things for them?!” she said in an excited whisper, thinking this sort of thing wasn’t something that anyone should know if they didn’t have to.

“It’s not like I wanted to.” Ambrosia said, directing the unicorn with her nails to put another one down, “They learned I was able to make things, and they forced me to do it. If I didn’t, they’d put me in their own poorly crafted devices while they beat and raped me. It’s not like they rewarded me for doing it. Most of the time they’d test out everything I made on me to make sure it worked right.”

“Didn't you try to sabotage them?” Trixie asked, returning to her own nails, assuming that was why they needed to be tested.

“There was no reason to try. If I made something designed to fail or break, they’d be found out as soon as one of those monsters got too rough. Had that happened, they would have punished me for making shoddy equipment, and the mare it was suppose to hold for breaking it. Not to mention how dangerous it would have been to place a mare in faulty equipment. It was better to just do it the right way than to risk hurting somepony in some misguided attempt to do right.”

Trixie honestly didn’t accept that answer. It was easy these days for ponies to say they were just doing what they had to in order to survive, and to give an excuse to justify why they complied with caribou orders. How often these stories attempted to exonerate the tellers of them of all blame and responsibility, when they were in a position to do… something. Trixie had heard such excuses from others at the shelter, and from ponies who she had expected more of than simple surrender. It was a horrible mantra repeated by those who had decided to give up rather than do what they could to fight.

Never did those with skills that benefited the caribou stop to think how the slight relief they got for their compliance paled in comparison to the suffering of those who didn’t have anything to offer their tormentors. Saying that they never had a choice, or that it was better they did what they were told made it seem like they weren’t taking in consideration what was happening. Like that one less paddling they received added up to the punishment another mare their stead. When look at in that perspective, any act of compliance would seem like a deplorable act, especially when you were the receiver of said punishment.

Having been a mare tortured to the brink of breaking completely, it turned Trixie’s stomach every time she heard any mare say they helped their enslavers in the slightest, when a mare such as herself was never even given the choice not to be hurt and humiliated on a daily basis. Perhaps that was an exaggerated perception of what they were saying, but with said violation having happened so recently, the mental scars it created were still fresh and the slightest touch upon the subject caused them to ache.

“By the way, thank you.” Ambrosia said as she carefully tapped another nail into the floor, notably taking more taps on it than the previous nail.

“Thank you?” Trixie asked, caught off guard by the show of unwarranted gratitude. “Why are you thanking me?”

Ambrosia gave her nail some final taps, and then looked Trixie dead on in her eyes. “It’s not easy to talk about what happened while we were enslaved. It brings up terrible memories of what those bastards did to us and made us do. I’m sure it’s the same for you, just like it is for every mare. Sometimes I can’t even focus on what I was born to do without looking back at how they took that and made it into something awful. But every once in a while, we need to talk about this stuff, or else it just ends up eating us up inside. I’m sure you get that.”

“Uh… Sure…” Trixie said, really not getting it - perhaps not wanting to get it, seeing the source.

Not that what Ambrosia said didn’t make some bit of sense, but it felt like advice that was more for something less serious, like a bad breakup or a stressful day of work. This was much more personal though. Trixie never wanted to share what had happened to her with anyone, because by doing so, she’d just be reliving the whole thing over again in the worst way imaginable, next to literally being forced on her back with her legs bound apart so a male could plunge himself into her body again.

At least Ambrosia seemed to feel better after getting it out of her system, as shortly after thanking Trixie for just being there, the earth mare gave a little smirk that Trixie spotted as they both continued nailing down floor boards. During the rest of the time they spent on the floor, their conversations stuck to being professional, with them both only talking if they needed more nails or a bit of help with a tricky spot. Through it all though, the smile never faded. The fact that something so little could make such a big difference in the earth mare’s attitude confused Trixie even more, especially when it was completely unintentional on her end.

Eventually, Ambrosia, Trixie, and their two unicorn assistants made their way all over the flooring, together managing to get everything properly put into place in preparation for the next parts of construction. Having done a respectable amount of work, they all decided to take a break. The other unicorns chose to go take a seat and rest their horns a little bit before their help would be needed again. Trixie was going to do the same, but Ambrosia had other plans for the two of them.

Grabbing the hand of her co-worker once more, she dragged Trixie to a table placed at the edge of the site. Upon said table sat an assortment of foods, all of which had been prepared by a small group of ponies on the other side, working hard at a bunch of portable stoves and ovens so they could create lots of delicious food for those who sacrificed their time and effort to help put some poor mare’s life back together.

“Go ahead and grab whatever looks good.” Ambrosia said, plucking a jelly-filled donut off a plate. “They get some of the best cooks in Equestria to come to these things, just so us volunteers can have some tasty treats to munch on as we work.”

Trixie looked over the bounty of delectables spread out among the table. There were a lot of confectionaries, like donuts and pies, as well as more nutritious foods like salads and cut fruits. At one end of the table sat plates full of hay burgers and fries, and another had a punch bowl half filled with juice and ice. It was the kind of buffet that few organized events like this had, but the unicorn could not find any of the foods particularly appealing or appetizing.

Yet another issue steaming from the caribou’s treatment, the very act of eating was one other thing that Trixie had difficulty doing. During her enslavement, every meal was composed of some kind of slop made of a mixture of cum and partially rotten vegetable matter. On occasion, they had forgone the addition of vegetation altogether and made her consume pure semen, either by force-feeding her through a tube they would shove into her throat, or by leaving it in a bowl for her with promises that she would get nothing else until the container was licked clean. When she thought about eating, the sensation of the salty substance sticking to the walls of her esophagus often arose, making her lose her appetite. For a while after being freed, she had to force herself to eat, lest her stomach start to ache and her energy drain.

Her reluctance to food wasn’t that bad at the shelter, where she had a good idea where it had come from, but there was an issue here that dissuaded her from putting anything in her muzzle. Several issues, all standing behind the table making the food before her eyes. It seemed that the Equestrian Committee had decided that the cooks should be comprised of part mares and part stallons, and of course it was the stallion part of it that made Trixie wary. It was probably a decision those in charge of this operation believed would help promote mare and stallion interactions, but for Trixie, it just made her wonder if any of them mixed in any disgusting secret ingredients into any of the baked goods.

Being as paranoid as she was, Trixie stuck to only the freshly cut fruit and vegetables. She also did her best to avert eye contact with any of the stallions as she quickly snatched a piece of apple or celery stalk off a serving tray, knowing to some degree that her assumptions of the stallions were just that, as she was well aware that it was the enchantment on the Crystal Heart that had made them do all the terrible things they had done to mares. She had been at a major event when said mind control had been lifted, and the results of it had been clear as day to any who witnessed it. Even still, it was not a simple task to dismiss the suffering inflicted to her by males on the whole. Maintaining a prejudice against them was silly, but near impossible to overcome, much to her own embarrassment and shame.

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Trixie stayed near the refreshment table as she ate, as she didn’t wish to stray too far from Ambrosia, who, unlike herself was freely partaking of anything that caught her interest. Trixie might have had thought ill of her earlier, but the truth of the matter was that the earth mare was the closest thing she had to a friend here. Those that knew her didn’t want to work with her, and no doubt that poor attitude had been spread to anyone who asked why that was. Ambrosia at least gave her a chance, and because of that, Trixie thought it best to stay close to her, like the mare radiated a small area of safety she could hide within.

“Hey,” Ambrosia said, after downing what must have been her third hay burger, “What brings a mare like yourself to something like this anyways? No offense, but you seem like the type who’d be happier going to support groups.”

“Support groups?” Trixie asked, “Are you calling me a druggie?” She might have been drugged several times by the caribou, but to her luck she had never gained a dependency to the things they’d put inside her.

“An emotional support group,” Ambrosia clarified, “There are lots of them around now, since a lot of us mares need help coping with all we’ve gone through. I’m surprised the place you’re staying doesn’t have one.”

The shelter did have that kind of program, but Trixie didn’t like the idea of being in a room with a bunch of ponies who acted like they hated her. If there were other support groups in town, she didn’t know of them, as this was the first time she had left the shelter since moving into it.

“I use to be part of one myself, until I got back on my hooves. Then I started doing this so I could give back to mares who have it worse than me.”

“Huh…” Trixie was surprised.

It was only common sense to want to restore Equestria to its former glory, but the two mares had very differentiating motivations to do so. For Trixie, it was a return to normalcy for herself. A mostly self-centered objective that only looked altruistic from an external view. Ambrosia seemed to be here solely to help others, with little care about personal desire. At least that was the impression the earth mare was giving off, as it seemed like she was much better off than most other ponies Trixie had encountered after liberation.

“If you want, I could take you to one of my group meetings sometime. It’s in another town, but not too far aw-”

“Hey Ambrosia!”

The earth mare was cut short by the call of her name, drawing her attention and causing
her to put down the food she was about to shovel into her gullet. Cupping her now empty hands to her mouth, she yelled back to the mare who called for her, a pegasus in Wonderbolts attire, “What?!”.

“We’re ready to put up the outside walls over here!” the other mare replied, “You wanna come help us?!”

“Yeah, give me a minute!” Lowering her hands, Ambrosia sent a glance in Trixie’s direction. “Wanna come help?”

“Putting up the walls?” Trixie asked, not sure if Ambrosia was being serious. “I don’t think…”

“It’s not hard,” Ambrosia reassured, “We’re just going to hoist the walls up so the pegasi can nail it into the frame. After that, they’ll put the roof on top, and then all the remaining work is done inside. Putting in insulation, putting up drywall, making a few rooms. Nothing too hard.”

“Says you,” Trixie argued, “But I’m not a carpentry pony, I’m…”

The unicorn paused, making Ambrosia lift an eyebrow in confusion.

“I’m something else.”

“Ok, I get ya. But the quicker we get this up, the quicker we can get back to all this food.”

Trixie still didn’t care much for the food, but she was starting to believe that wasn’t the point. Ambrosia was trying hard to get Trixie involved.

“Fine, I’ll help.” Trixie relented, “Show me what I have to do.”

Ambrosia gestured her hand for Trixie to follow her, and the two made their way back to the building they had made the floor for. In the time it took them to take their extended break, the others had set up four completed outer walls made of wooden planks around the four sides of the soon to be building. Female pegasi were flying about, weaving ropes connected to the walls around the frame, so they could use the leverage it would provide. Once done, they tossed the untied ends of the ropes to a bunch of awaiting mares, who straightened them out and took a position gripping tightly to their lengths.

Ambrosia took an open spot on rope, having no problem just picking a place and becoming part of the pull line, but Trixie hesitated to do the same. She wasn’t as familiar with the action, and didn’t know if there were any specifics she had to follow.

“Go and take the spot in front of me.” Ambrosia said, noticing the mare’s wariness, “Grip the rope as tightly as possible, and when everypony starts pulling, just follow their lead.”

“Right.” said the unicorn, taking hold of a small section of rope left void. “I can do this…”

“Of course you can.” said Ambrosia in reply to Trixie’s rhetorical mutterings. “Don’t think for a minute that there is anything you can’t do.”

Trixie didn’t intend for Ambrosia to hear that, but she did appreciate the motivational vote of confidence - the first purely positive words she heard in reference of herself in a while. It bought back a bit of Trixie’s self-confidence, and gave her just enough determination to not back out of the task. Tightening her grip, she was ready to start.

Seconds later, the Wonderbolt from before hovered overhead. With a cursory look at the site, she saw that everything was in order and ready to proceed.

“Okay everypony!” she called out as she hovered above, “Get ready to pull on my mark!”

All the mare’s readied their grips and stood at attention, watching the pegasus raise her hand up high.

“And... Go!” the Wonderbolt said aloud as she sent her hand downwards.

All at once, four separate groups of mares pulled on the ropes, raising their pre-constructed walls up bit by bit to an upright angle. With as many mares as there were on them, each wall was brought up with only a moderate struggle. Hoisting it up required effort, but not so much to be taxing on any of the participants. Before long, the first wall touched against the frame snugly, and once it did, the pegasus squad went to work. They started by nailing in the four corners to the frame, then moved along to tap in more nails in key points, to ensure that no part of the wooden construction would come loose.

The professionalism of this group showed, as it took roughly five minutes to get everything together. By the time they finished the first one, the others were already up. All they had to do from there was move onto the next ones and go from there. To the misfortune of Trixie’s group, the nailing team decided to go clockwise from there, which ended them up on the side opposite from them. In retrospect, it might have been a better idea to have the teams pull up their designated wall when there nailers were ready for them, but they were here now, and putting it back down would have been a terrible waste of effort.

So for several minutes, all of the mares had to keep the heavy wooden structure upright, with the sun bearing down from above. Sweat begun to form on their bodies, and some had to reposition themselves from time to time just to maintain a steady hold. Trixie herself, being a unicorn, was having some trouble keeping hold. Nonetheless, she managed to do her part despite herself. She had to shift on sport a few times, but no more than any of the others in her position.

All was going well, and even Trixie felt that she was doing a pretty good job so far. There was little she could do to screw up holding a rope, and it looked like the nailing squad was just about to get to her section of wall. She gave a quick look to the earth mare behind her, and Ambrosia, catching this, gave her a smile back.

“How ya holding on?” Ambrosia asked, struggling much less than Trixie was.

“I’m doing fine.” Trixie answered, shifting her body once more in attempt to relieve stress. When she did though, Ambrosia’s eyes widened and she took a sharp breath, for reasons that the unicorn learned of shortly after.

While shifting her stance, Trixie moved one of her legs forward, a split second before the mare in front of her took a step back. Next thing Trixie knew was the sting of a hoof colliding into her leg shot through her nerves. She screamed out in pain, drawing her leg back quickly. The removal of the appendage caught the mare in front of her off guard, and losing the thing she was about to stand on made her lose her balance. She fell backwards, right on top of Trixie, and with the recoiling of her leg and the added weight on her body, the blue unicorn ended up falling backwards as well. Seeing this unfold, Ambrosia instinctively went to prevent the two from hitting the ground.

She only realized after she was in the midst of reaching for Trixie’s falling form that this had been a mistake. With three mares now no longer holding up the wall, there was now a huge difference in the weight that the remaining mares on the rope had to hold up. The already tired ponies couldn’t maintain their hold with this sudden lack of pull on the rope, with the weaker ones having to let go when the force became too much, while the stronger ones were trying to keep a hold regardless, being pulled forward as their section of the wall started to come down.

The shifting weight distribution on the wall ignited a chain reaction, and other rope lines had to make up for the change. Being no less exhausted than the others, they too found themselves being pulled forward. Bit by bit, the wall started to fall back down to the ground, with several of those hanging on crying out as they desperately tried to keep it up.

Had they just tried to ease it back to the ground, nothing might have come of this, but they were doing all they could to prevent it from leaving too far from the frame. Their efforts didn’t go unnoticed, and others came over to help. That only made matters worse though, as the ones who did were the males stationed at the other side of the work site. While well-intended in their want to help, they neglected to realize that some of the mares were still very much afraid of males, and a bunch of them running in their direction caused several of them to let go, flee, and even shriek in fear of the males coming their way.

This reaction startled and confused the stallions, causing them to freeze in response of the terrified females. They were trying to help, but couldn’t come within several arms’ reaches without scaring them. This delay and the absence of even more mares from the rope caused the inevitable to happen, and the wall fell heavily to the ground. Seeing it as being unavoidable at this point, all those who had held on for this long finally gave up and released the rope, letting gravity take control and bring the wooden structure crashing down in a huge cloud of dust.

“What the hay is going on over here?!” Fleetfoot yelled as she dashed over as fast as her wings would allow her.

The whole scene was a disaster, with confused and freaked-out ponies all about. It had happened so fast that she didn’t notice what was going on until the sound of wood hitting dirt hit her ears. Now that the dust was settling, she could tell that part of one of the houses got dropped, and that it had probably been damaged in the process. Touching down to the site of the accident, the Wonderbolt joined with many others there who were starting to crowd around it. One quick once-over let her discover that one of the beams holding the wood planks together had snapped in the impact. They would have to replace it, along with any other boards that were damaged in ways she couldn’t yet see.

With a heavy sigh, Fleetfoot looked up at the other Wonderbolt flying over the house, the one that was supposed to be managing everything in this part of the site. “Misty! Front and center!”

The other Wonderbolt came down immediately, and gave a salute to her superior.

“What happened here? How did this get this way?” Fleetfoot asked, needing answers.

Misty was about to explain that she wasn’t very sure, and that she was busy instructing the nailing crew to see what had happened. However, someone else spoke up before she could try to explain herself.

“I’ll tell you what happened!” said an earth mare, fastly approaching the two pegasi. “This whole thing is the fault of that unicorn!” The earth mare pointed her finger to the one she felt was to blame, and it landed in the direction of Trixie.

Trixie was off to the side of the accident, knelt down with Ambrosia crouched right next to her, checking a small cut that was on her leg. They were both so focused that neither one was immediately aware of the mare pointing in their direction, but that changed when a crowd of ponies walked over to them.

“She tripped me while I was holding the rope,” the earth mare accused, “I was doing my part, and all of a of a sudden my legs were swept out from under me.”

Fleetfoot didn’t like what she was hearing, as she recognized this unicorn as the one she spoke to earlier in the day and let help despite knowing her horn was handicapped. “Misty, is that true?”

Misty honestly didn’t know, but she had no reason to disbelieve what the earth pony was saying. “I guess so… But the whole thing was a blur to me.” she said as she scratched the back of her mane, unable to remember anything that might have suggested that the blue unicorn was the cause.

“Now wait a minute!” Ambrosia said, standing up on her hooves so she could go face to face with the mare accusing Trixie. “Are you trying to pin all this on her? I saw everything that happened, and if you want to pin this on somepony, then it’s your fault!”

“Me?!” The earth mare shouted, outraged, “Your friend tripped me!”

Fleetfoot was now all kinds of confused, as this was rapidly turning into a ‘he said, she said’ argument. Nonetheless, she had to hear Ambrosia out. “Can you tell me what happened then?”

“Gladly,” said Ambrosia, “Trixie was just trying to adjust herself on the rope at the same time as her. One stepped forward, the other stepped back, and Trixie ended up getting kicked because of it.” The earth mare turned her head to the one who accused Trixie, and continued with, “Had you looked back, none of this would’ve have happened.”

“And what was she doing that she put her leg in my way? Looking at the dirt?” the other mare asked, “You just said that we both moved at the same time, so she should have been looking forward and noticed what was going on!”

Fleetfoot had heard enough. The two testimonies confirmed only one thing; that neither mare was really at fault. It was truly an accident, and one where no one got badly hurt. The only thing to do from here was settle things and move on. “Ok, can we just-”

“That’s it!” Everypony stopped as the loud, clearly frustrated voice of Trixie rose up over every other sound around them. “I didn’t even want to come here today, but you all had to go and do something useful!” she yelled, directing it to the mare who had kicked her, who happened to be another mare from her shelter. “If I had just stayed home, none of this would have happened in the first place!”

Having spoken her mind, Trixie turned and stomped off away. Those who knew the unicorn were stunned, as they had never heard her voice go above a grumble before this. Others begun mumbling to themselves, talking to one another about the spectacle that just unfolded before them; of her outburst, the accident, and among the stallions, the topic of the mares fleeing in fear as they tried to help. It was an upsetting event for everypony to say the least.

“Wait a minute.” Fleetfoot said, flying after Trixie, “You don’t have to be upset. I don’t think this is your fault.”

“I don’t care!” Trixie shouted, stopping for a second before proceeding to stomp off. “They made it clear from the start they don’t want me here, and I don’t want to be here, so I’m leaving!

“Ok, I get it. I’ll get the cart set up for you.”

“Don’t bother,” Trixie said, “I’ll walk. Thanks for dragging me out here.”

With that, not another word was said by Fleetfoot, not until Trixie was far down the road leading into town. As she watched the unicorn turn into a dot in the distance, Ambrosia came to the Wonderbolt’s side. With a heavy sigh, the earth pony said “Come on, there’s a mess we need to clean up.”

While they both knew that there was nothing else they could do when it came to Trixie, they felt bad that it had ended up like this over something as simple as a misplaced hoof. If Trixie didn’t want to be here though, they had no reason to stop her from leaving. So, a little more depressed than when they started, they returned to the construction efforts.

Once Trixie left the work site, she didn’t head straight back to the shelter. Why would she? The only thing waiting for her there were more mares who couldn’t stand her. Ones who would ridicule her for ditching her ‘responsibility to Equestria’. Ones that never understood what she was going through, what she had been through. Besides, even if she wanted to go back for the sole purpose of hiding herself in her room, she just couldn’t let any of her sheltermates see her looking like she did.

Raising an arm to her face, she wiped away a sizable stream of tears with her fur - the same stream she had hid from the other volunteers when she hurried away. A twin stream of them had started forming when the fight over whether she caused the accident started, created by the feelings it caused in her. Feelings of insecurity, mistreatment, resentment, and above all else… guilt.

She couldn’t help but believe that this whole thing was preventable, that the other mare was right, and that had she been paying attention it all could have been avoided. Then she looked at it another way, and thought that had she just stayed at the shelter, this wouldn’t have happened either. If she had just bore the pain she felt, or if she had just declined from helping on the rope line. There were many ways this could have been avoided, and it all came back to her.

These thoughts kept growing, and soon Trixie found them so heavy she had to sit down. Feeling as she did, she didn’t care where she did, so she ended up planting herself on a nearby curve. There in that spot, she was able to sob and cry all she wanted, completely isolated by her own sorrow as it slowly enveloped and consumed her.

Trixie wasn’t alone though, she was in a public area with several other ponies around, some busy going about their daily schedules, or living normal lives in spite of the terrible things that had befallen Equestria. Not everypony was forced to live in the wake of the damage caused by the caribou regime, as ponies were often surprisingly resilient to tragic events. So there were plenty around to witness the distraught mare parked by the street, crying her eyes out. One such stallion even approached Trixie, just to make sure she was okay.

“Hey,” he said meekly, the upset mare being more than a little off putting, “Is something wrong?”

Trixie didn’t respond, she was too lot in her own sadness to hear him.

The stallion went to touch her, just to make sure she was aware he was there, but as he reached out a hand another wrapped around her wrist. “I wouldn’t do that.” said the mare who had grabbed him, “You don’t know if she’s traumatized by males, and you might frighten her if you touch her without permission.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” the stallion apologized, “I wasn't trying to scare her.”

“I know. You look like a nice boy who only wants to help, but this might be the job of another mare. Let me handle this, okay?” The stallion nodded, and returned to his own business. Once out of the way, the mare went on to do what he would have done had she stepped in, placing her hand on the crying unicorn’s shoulder. “There, there, it’s ok. Just cry it out and I’ll be right here by your side when you’re done.”

Trixie did as she was told, not that she needed permission to do what she was already set towards. The comforting voice and reassuring touch helped her through it though, enough that she managed to regain some composure a little faster than she would have had she been left alone. It still took minutes, but the mare never left her side, and when she was finally able to lift her head, she saw the blurred outline of the one who decided to come to her aid.

“Oh dear,” the mare said, “You look a fright. Let me get you cleaned up.” Trixie’s face was moist from all the tears she shed, and some snot was leaking from her nostrils, she had been crying so hard.

The mare took the hand on Trixie’s shoulder away, and reached into a basket she had set on the ground before stopping the stallion from before. It held a few items, including a black cloth that the mare pulled out and placed over her hand as she returned to the blue unicorn. Using the cloth, she rubbed Trixie’s face and eyes until all the gross substances were removed, discarding it immediately afterwards.

With her face cleaned, Trixie could finally see the pony caring for her. It was another unicorn. A pink one, with purple eyes and a purple main with a light blue streak going through it. She was wearing a green dress with puffball shoulders that had white cuffs at their ends, and a skirt on it that was well above the knees, an odd choice of attire in the aftermath of the caribou’s reign. The last thing Trixie noticed about the mare was another piece of cloth around her neck, a piece of black cloth tied around her throat like an ascot.

“There we go, good as new.” said the pink mare, “Now what seems to be troubling you so much?”

“It’s… not important…” Trixie said, retreating back into herself. If she told this mare what had caused her to cry, she would only see how much trouble she was to everypony around her, “Thanks for sticking by me, but I’d rather be alone now.”

The pink unicorn’s brow furrowed from behind a set of bangs that surrounded her horn. “Now I don’t believe that. You were crying so much that it’s clear you needed help. Someone to listen to your problems, and work to make them better.”

“I’m sorry… umm…”

“Call me Starlight,” The pink mare said, offering her name freely.

“Sorry, Starlight, but I don’t think there’s anything anypony can do to make my problems ‘better’, unless you mean to make them more problematic than they already are.”

“Hmmm… Well, maybe not. Maybe I can’t help you, at least not alone. But maybe…” Starlight went back to her basket, and pulled out a sheet of paper from a large stack of them. “This might be able to help?”

Trixie took the sheet, and looked over it. It was a flyer, featuring a drawing of a black piece of cloth knotted together at its ends, like the one Starlight was wearing, and words at the top of it that said ‘Mares for a Better Equestria’.

“You see, I’m part of a group that helps out mares like yourself through troubled times, and is working to bring back the spirit of Equestria that we all used to have before the caribou.” Starlight explained.

A support group... Trixie thought to herself, looking over the flyer more to see an address for the location of where this group met up, and what times they did so.

“Our end goal is to bring back gender equality to Equestria, not only in our laws, but in our general mindset as well. As you have probably noticed, even though the caribou are gone, mares and females of other species are all terrified and skeptical of males. Males have also been on edge, unable to interact with the opposite gender in fear that they might upset them, or even worse, do something to them that they would regret later. Our group exists to get ponies to push past those mental barriers, and return us all to a state of happiness.”

The way Starlight was pitching this group of hers, it was like she was reading Trixie’s mind. Not everything correlated with what the blue unicorn wanted, but enough of the points stuck with her that she became intrigued. “But.. this group couldn’t have had much success so far.” she said, remembering the state of the world she lived in. “I mean I’ve never even heard of you.”

“On the contrary,” Starlight insisted, “You’ve only never heard of us because we only recently ended up in this town, because it’s a little further out from our headquarters in Canterlot. We’ve had plenty of breakthroughs with mares and stallions alike, and together, we have helped out the communities of several cities throughout Equestria.”

Trixie looked at the flyer again, still not really sure about it. Starlight picked up on her doubt though, and decided to finish her pitch by saying “You could always come to a meeting and see if it’s right for you. If it’s not, then no pony will pressure you to stay. We promote mares making their own decisions, and living their own lives. So just give it some thought. We’re even having a meeting later this evening if you feel up to it.”

“I’ll… think about it.” Trixie said with reluctance.

“Great, then I hope to see you there… I’m sorry, I haven’t even asked for your name.”

“It’s Trixie.” the blue unicorn replied, blurting it out without thinking.

“Well Trixie, there is always a open seat in the group. Just remember that.”

With that said, Starlight grabbed her basket and went on her merry way. Trixie kept an eye on the unicorn as she left, finding something a bit off about her. She was happy, a little too happy all things considered. As a showpony, Trixie knew well what it looked like to play a part, but then again even as an act it felt off. Could it be that Starlight really was happy? Did this group help her to get that way?

A part of Trixie wanted to believe that it was fake, that no mare could really be happy after what the caribou regime did to them… but another part of her kind of wanted it to be true. What if they could help her? What if they could take this pain she was feeling away? What if they were the fix that she needed in her life?

Looking over the flyer again and again, Trixie weighed her options. Did she really have anything more to lose after all she had endured and lost? Was the promise of happiness worth the risk of disappointment?

Author's Notes:

So after a long hiatus, I am finally getting back to this story. Sorry that the wait was so long, but I was working on other things, as well as been having a few RL issues with my own life. Ones that I think correlate with this chapter quiet nicely.

As those who read this chapter might have been able, Trixie is having a big issue with maintaining motivation. She seems to want to do something, but the moment that something negative comes her way, she recedes back into herself and tries to find excuses to not to work, or tries to get others to excuse her for whatever reason she can find. This, of course, is tied to her personal depression in this story, as Trixie in MLP is a fairly active pony who isn't against doing things for the things that she wants to accomplish. Heck, she worked at a rock farm just to get a mythical amulet of power, which I assume she had to do research on to discover on top of. Not exactly a task for a lazy person.

I too have hit a level of depression to some degree, though I would more call it being melancholy. You know those commercials that push their pills by asking if your favorite things have suddenly become less pleasurable to you? Well I certainly have that, but I don't think at all that it's caused by some chemical imbalance. If anything, it's over stimulation. I fear that I might have developed a bit of a media addiction, as I seem to be living on video games and youtube vids as of late. Not that I let it completely get in the way of my other hobbies, but they have certain;y been distracting. What I use to do in a week has been taking a month, and it's been putting me far behind my scheduling. unfortunately the only way to get over this is to push past it, but the siren call of media keeps trying to pull me back, and when i do give in and fall further behind, it just upsets me more.

I call it "the depression loop". I get unhappy, do something with the intent of it making me happier, and the become even less happy because by falling for distractions I fall behind on something I want to do, so then I repeat the process again. I think that Trixie, and perhaps everyone suffering of depression, encounters something like this, and sometimes the loop can be really hard to break. We can only keep trying though, and hope that we find a way out of it, though in many cases that path isn't very clear.

Anyways, I hope you all like the chapter. Feel free to leave comment on what you thought and such, as they do help motivate me a bit to writing more often. (maybe I'm just an attention horse, but whateva )

Group Therapy

“What am I doing here?”

Those were the words Trixie muttered aloud as she hid herself in the space between two buildings. A good portion of the day had passed, it was evening now, and the shadows cast by the coming of dusk concealed her nicely in the alleyway she was in.

What was she hiding from, though? Trixie knew the answer, but it was a silly one. She was hiding from a building across the street. The one that would hold the meeting she had been invited to by the pink mare she had met only that day. A gathering of mares that, like herself, were having a difficult time acclimating to life after enslavement.

The next question one might ask after knowing the ‘what’ would be the ‘why’. The building didn’t seem threatening, the mare that suggested she come was not hostile, and the group only gave promises of help. To an outsider, there was nothing to be afraid of. To Trixie though, there was plenty. These kinds of groups were often of the open information variety, were everyone worked through their issues via discussion and retellings of what they had suffered. That was a problem for Trixie, as there were plenty of things that she would prefer stay buried, never to be unearthed by anyone.

She wanted to just walk away, but at this point she had a feeling there were few places to go to. After having a day to dwell on what happened at the construction site, Trixie felt even more troubled. The feelings of personal guilt piled up as time went by, as did those of persecution. She had little reason to think that the mare she tripped up wouldn’t have spread stories to the others working there, who would have in turn shared the tale of how Trixie caused a huge mess only to storm off afterwards all throughout the shelter once they got back. As of now, she believed that she was no longer welcome there, if she had ever been to start with.

Her options came down to either going to the meeting, or wandering around aimlessly. One offered something, and the other offered nothing. When it came down to it, she really didn’t have a choice. Even if it were only for the next hour or so, the meeting would give her a place to be. So stepping out of the dark alley, she took the first steps to what she would soon discover was a defining period of her life.

Making her way to the door, Trixie pulled out the flyer to check the address and ensure this was the right place. She really didn’t need to, as she had done so several times already and even saw other mares enter the building, but she was starting to second-guess herself after what had transpired. It wasn’t until she was at the door itself that she finally accepted the idea that she had gotten something right for a change.

“Here goes nothing.” Trixie mumbled to herself, raising her hand to give the door a few light taps. Waiting for a moment, the unicorn got no response, so she tried again harder. Seconds passed again, and nothing. “Oh come on, I know that somepony is in there.” In a bit of frustration, Trixie grabbed the door handle and turned it. To her surprise, it did so with ease, and with a little push, it opened for her with no issue. “Uhh… hello?” she said, poking her face into the door.

Trixie didn’t see a single pony from her spot at the entryway. Only a hallway painted a similar light blue to her own fur color and a light brown, hardwood floor. There were several doors along this hall, all of them closed save for the one at the far end.

You’ve come this far, Trixie thought to herself, No point in backing out now…

The blue mare crept inside, closing the door behind her as she stepped past the threshold. With a deep breath, she traversed the length of the path set before her, checking each door along the way only to find them all locked. Clearly there was only one place to go, and unless she missed the cut off time for the meeting, that place was where it would be held. Oddly enough, the closer she got to the door at the far end, the calmer she got, though she didn’t even notice this sudden lapse of nervousness. To Trixie, she was just going from one point to another, with the fear of what she would find once she got there slipping from her mind.

“Anypony else want some juice or cookies?” Those were the words that greeted Trixie as she got close to the door. It was the voice of that mare from earlier, Starlight.

Getting closer, Trixie spotted the mare walking around a circle of seats, passing around a tray of snacks for the ponies attending the meeting. They were all seated in a circle, everypony able to see one another easily from their place in the formation. Most of the seats were filled, but some remained open for any others who might wander in. Curiously, it wasn’t just mares in the group and there were a few stallions attending too. Why they were attending such a group was beyond Trixie, as many mares that would join this sort of thing would find their presence imposing.

As Trixie took in the group, Starlight noticed that somepony was spying at them from the doorway. “There you are”, she said cheerfully as she approached and greeted the blue unicorn, dropping her tray on a refreshment table next to the door. “I almost believed you weren’t going to show up, but I’m so pleased you decided to come after all. Good for you.”

“Now wait a minute,” Trixie said, recoiling slightly, “I’m not exactly sure about this yet.”

“Not good with public speaking?” Starlight asked legitimately, “That’s fine. It’s not like we’re going to put you on the spot day one. Come on in, grab some snacks, and take a seat. You can sit in for one, and if you like what you see, you can take a turn next time.”

“That’s… okay?” Trixie said, “Isn’t that unfair to everypony else?”

“Hmmm…” Starlight looked to the others, “Does anyone have any problems with a sit in?”

The ponies in the room all gave replies of “No”, “Not really”, “I don’t mind”, or simple head shakes, not objecting to somepony coming in who didn’t intend to actively participate.

“Okay, I’ll come in.” said Trixie, having no other excuses. She walked in past Starlight, finding the first empty seat she could to sit in. It was right next to a yellow earth mare with a curly orange mane.

Starlight gave a cheerful smile, and started walking around the room with her tray again. “Go ahead and relax or mingle. We are still waiting for one more pony to show up before we begin.”

Mingling wasn’t first on the things that Trixie was concerned on doing, and her mind was far too active to truly relax. She was balancing on the border of calm and jittery, not really sure which one she wanted to be. Trying to ease herself more into the former, she looked around her surroundings.

Like the hall, the walls of this room were light, though there were windows with red curtains placed around to grant some color to the place. Also adding to the color were wooden beams that popped out of the wall, made of a dark brown wood, much darker than the wood used for the flooring. Trixie wasn’t an architect, but the beams didn’t look like they were put there for structural support, but simply for decoration. Lastly, there were several shelves on the walls that held brass pots. Some were filled with flowers, while others held burning incense sticks. The smell from the incense filled the room, resonation a light but pleasant aroma that Trixie now realized she had smelt from down the hall.

Trixie started assuming that these were the reason her emotions were playing tug of war with one another, as this room felt designed to be inviting and induce a sense of comfort, but she was near determined to be anxious and withdrawn. If any pony so much as put eyes on her, she would quickly look away, wanting to give no excuses to start up a conversation. Try as she might though, this didn’t stop somepony from doing it anyways.

“Wait a sec, don’t I know you?” said a unicorn from across the ways, mint green all over, with white streaks in her hair, “You’re Trixie, aren’t you?”

Trixie didn’t know how this random mare knew her, but now that she had said something so specified to her, there was no way to ignore it. “Yes, I am… And you are?”

Trixie’s question came off a little rudely, but the mare didn’t pay it any mind, “I’m Lyra.” she said, giving her name freely, “I’ve ran into you a couple of times before the caribou. It’s nice to see you came out ok.”

“I suppose you’ve see a few of my old shows,” Her magic act was the only thing Trixie could think of that would allow anypony to recognize her, as she didn’t really know who this particular mare was.

“I’ve seen one before, but there’s another time we met that makes it hard to forget you.” Lyra went from being direct to being incredibly vague. Perhaps she was fishing for interaction, but Trixie was trying her best not to bite.

“I’m really not sure what you’re talking about. Whatever it was, I’m sure it’s not as important as you make it out to be.”

Lyra gave a slight pout, but was willing to let this slide. The mare sitting next to Trixie however found it rather annoying how Trixie wasn’t even bothering to figure out what Lyra was talking about, being at the referred event herself. “She’s talking about the time you came to Ponyville, challenged Twilight Sparkle to a magic battle, and then trapped the town and everypony in it under a glass dome when you beat her.”

Any calming effect the room had on Trixie immediately vanished. How could it not, after being outed like that? With such a grandiose statement being said about her, said loudly enough that all in the room could hear, a great deal of eyes shifted to the direction of the blue unicorn. This was a really unexpected turn of events. How could she have known that a couple of ponies from Ponyville were going to be present at this gathering, or that they would bring up such an embarrassing point in her past?

“That really wasn’t a good period of my life,” Trixie said, hoping to end all discussion before it went any deeper.

“I’ll say,” said the orange maned mare, “Since you made everypony in town work as your slave after all that.”

That was the exact thing that Trixie didn’t want brought up. A short time before the caribou took over, Trixie had done something just as terrible as they had, just on a smaller scale. She might not have gone to the extents of depravity that they did, as she never went so far as to rape a pony, but she did enslave an entire town to do her bidding.

“That wasn’t me,” Trixie tried to argue, “It was the Alicorn Amulet.”

“What’s this about the Alicorn Amulet and Twilight Sparkle?” said a voice coming from the entrance. Another unicorn had joined them, one with a very striking appearance.

Her mane was a fiery combination of red and yellow, her fur a bright orange, and her sharp eyes held a splash of blueish green in them. On her body, she wore a pink, shoulderless shirt, along with a short orange skirt that bore two stripes, one pink and the other yellow, that ran along the side of one of her legs. Then there was her jacket and boots, both made of black leather that reminded Trixie of the collar she used to wear around her throat that was made of the same material. Being reminded of such, Trixie’s eyes were directed to the mare’s neck, where she spotted a black neckcloth that was exactly the same as the one Starlight wore and that was front and center of the flyer.

“Ah, right on time.” Starlight said, “All newcomers, this is Sunset Shimmer, our group’s founder.”

“Thank you, Starlight,” Sunset said, leaning against the door frame, her laid back stand and silent smirk resonating confidence. “I’m glad to see so many returning guests, as well as all the new faces. But if I can get back on topic, can I ask why something like the Alicorn Amulet was brought up?”

“Well…” Trixie stalled, not really wanting to explain, but knowing that it would be impossible to get out of doing so, “A while back, I found the amulet and… kinda used it to take over a town? Not on purpose, I promise, but the amulet-”

“Corrupted your thoughts and made you commit acts of evil.” Sunset finished, “Yeah, it will do that. One of the most powerful artifacts in Equestria, one with the kind of strength that it could have overthrown the caribou single-handedly, but impossible to control.”

“You know about the Alicorn Amulet?” Trixie asked, amazed that the support group’s leader treated the artifact like it was general knowledge.

“Sunset Shimmer was once a direct student of Celestia’s.” Starlight explained. “So she knows more about magical items and spells than most.”

“That’s true, but the existence of the Amulet is fairly well known to anypony in the field of magic, even if its side effects aren’t. They really need to update the information in ‘Relics and Rituals’. A bit of warning would spare ponies a lot of problems.”

“I… really didn’t mean to…” Trixie said to further incentify that her actions were not her own.

“And I believe you,” Sunset said, entering the room completely to take a seat at the front of the room, “And I think that it would be petty for anypony to hold a grudge over something beyond your control. If we’re supposed to forgive all the stallions that were influenced by the Crystal Heart, I think we can forgive you too.”

The stallions in the room gave an immediate nod to that sentiment, with several mares following in their actions. The orange-maned mare had her qualms with simple forgiveness, but she did relent by saying, “I won’t hold it against her, as long as she doesn’t make a mistake like that again.”

“That’s fair,” said Sunset, “We should only forgive those who make attempts to make amends, and I think that Trixie here is sorry for what she did. Am I right?”

“Yes, of course I am!” Trixie declared, wishing that everypony would drop this. She came here for emotional aid, not to be judged. Then again, it was only the earth mare that seemed to care.

“Then everything should be settled,” Sunset said, “Let get to the real reason we’re all here.”

“Fine,” said the orange-maned mare, “It’s not like I feel threatened by her now. Without that amulet, she’s not powerful enough to harm anypony.”

Trixie couldn’t say that the earth mare was wrong, but it still stung to hear. She was on the verge of leaving, having enough of all the ridicule coming from this one mare, but she at least wanted to see what they did in these meetings once they got started.

“Ok, so we usually start by letting the new members introduce themselves. I think we all know Trixie by now, but how about the rest of you?” Sunset looked to a few other new faces in the room.

The others listed off their names, but Trixie missed them as she retreated into herself. By now, she cared little about others, and was more focused on what she could gain from this. If she found there to be nothing for her here, she would very easily dismiss this as just another bad experience.

Once everypony was introduced though, Sunset properly greeted them all. “Thank you all for coming, and welcome to our little gathering. I want to let you know now that it is the goal of this group to help lost, disheartened, and emotionally distraught ponies get back on your hooves through helping one another. We do this by supporting one another, listening to the problems that we’ve been bottling up inside, and working towards making a brighter future for all Equestria.”

“How do you do that?” Trixie asked, referring to the last bit of Sunset’s mission statement.

“Our full-fledged members, such as myself and Starlight, come to meetings like this to help ponies such as yourself cope with the way things are in any way we can, and sometimes we go around Equestria for more important work. Any pony you see with one of these on is involved in these things.” Sunset said, tugging at the cloth on her throat.

“What’s up with those?” asked one of the mares new to the meetings.

“A common question,” Sunset replied, “These clothes are a representation of the struggle the females of Equestria had to endure. As slaves, the caribou tried to use the color black to mark us. To make us targets for shame, belittlement, and pain. The truth is that those black collars defined us as ponies who would not submit to oppression and tyranny. Our determination and will got us through the terrible rule of the caribou, so we feel that wearing the colors defiance is an important symbol of how we refused to be broken.”

“That’s… inspiring?” Trixie said, not finding the proper word she wanted to convey for how she felt about the replacement for what was once a thick, restraining symbol of enslavement.

“It is meant to both inspire and encourage our members to always push forward to a new day. To acknowledge the past and our accomplishments during that time while pushing through the things that the caribou tried to drill in our heads. By not submitting, by never becoming a red collar, you have proven that you are much stronger than those bastards ever gave you credit for.”

Several ponies in the room gave a clap for Sunset’s speech, joining in when it was started by Starlight, but in the midst of this a stallion raised his hand. “And what about us?”

The implications of that question were obvious. “I’m not saying that stallions are less than us mares. You all had circumstances built against you. Most pony males were brainwashed on mass, controlled by a corrupted relic that constantly put thoughts in your head, directing you to abuse us. It is because of that that our group expresses an understanding towards those who couldn’t help themselves, and offer forgiveness to those who show that they are taking measures to make things right for those they wronged while being controlled.”

“Well of course we want to make things right.” One stallion said.

Another wasn’t so pulled in by what Sunset was saying. “Wait a second, why do we have to ‘make things right’? You just said that it wasn’t our fault that all those things happened.”

“That’s true, but we have a couple of reasons for this mindset.” Adjusting herself in her seat, Sunset crossed her legs and leaned back, draping her arms on the chair’s back. “First one is simple enough. If you didn’t feel some kind of guilt about it, you wouldn’t be coming to this kind of meeting. So in order to get you past that in a healthy way, we found it best for stallions to do something to try and make amends to mares, be it the ones they personally violated or maredom on the whole.”

The stallion, hearing that bit of logic, retracted his resentment a bit. Had he felt 100% guilt free in all this, group therapy would not have been something he felt he needed.

“The other reason is that we want to make sure you’re not one of ones who started all of this mess to begin with.”

“You’re talking about the stallions that sided with the caribou?” Lyra asked, her chipper tone darkening slightly.

It had been made public knowledge after the caribou had been removed and a form of government was reinstated that not all stallions that participated in the fall were to be absolved of their crimes. Using records kept by the caribou, it was discovered that some of their prominent pony allies had not been manipulated at all by the Crystal Heart’s spell, and had willingly conspired with them in exchange for advantages in status, financial security, or the ability to have a mare they always lusted after as a personal slave. It was assumed that by following these records, all of said conspitors and traitors of Equestria had been rounded up and put into custody.

As of now, they, along with a vast majority of former ‘red collar’ mares, were either being detained to await trial and judgement for their actions, or had already been sentenced to join their caribou allies in a lifetime imprisonment in Tartarus. However, the idea that such evil stallions existed easily rose suspicions, and the idea that there could be some who escaped justice was a somewhat rational thought that filled the minds of an irrational populous. It was probably one of the main reasons mares still feared men so much, as there really was no way to tell if their cruel and perverse acts during the fall was the doing of mind control or not.

“Yes,” Sunset said, answering Lyra’s question, “The last thing we want is for one of those kinds of stallions to infiltrate our group in an attempt to manipulate our members. They might want to take advantage of mares who are vulnerable at the moment, or try convince a stallion to relapse into the way they were in the fall.”

“You can’t possibly think that would happen.” said the stallion from before, still seeing such tests as unnecessary.

“It might just be paranoia, but we feel it would be tragic to allow even one corrupt stallion to get into that sort of position. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Once more, everypony shifted their sights onto a singular pony in the room, this time locking onto the stallion to see what he would say next. There was nothing odd about this though, as in a group like this one, it was important that everypony participating be on the same page. Those who tried to stray from the path laid out could easily be seen as unhealthy for the group on the whole.

“I suppose so, but I still am saying that none of what happened was my fault” The stallion might have relented, but was reluctant to give too much of his ground away.

“And we accept that stance.” Sunset replied, “So long as you are willing to follow our program, no pony will accuse you of being one of the caribou supporters.”

“Good.” The stallion said curtly, not sounding as satisfied as his statement implied.

“With all that out of the way, why don’t we get down to the actual purpose of the meeting.” said Sunset, “We will pick up from where our last meeting left off. For newcomers, we were talking about our experiences during the fall. What we had to go through, and what kept us going. Carrot Top, I think you wanted to go next.”

“Sure,” said the apprehensive, orange maned mare who had called Trixie out earlier. Straightening her back so she could sit tall in her seat, the earth pony scanned the room one last time before starting her story. “I was in Ponyville when it all happened, tending to my farm in preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. As you all know, the caribou chose that day to attack Canterlot due to the main celebration taking place there that year.”

“Right,” said Sunset Shimmer, “That was the day that the most ponies would be in Canterlot, in order to join the festivities and see the sun raising ceremony.”

Trixie nodded in agreement, not having been there themself, but knew why one would reaffirm that fact. The caribou, after taking over Canterlot, obscured the facts of the invasion. They said many things that were clearly wrong to any native resident of Equestria who knew better, but tried hard to press it as absolute truth. They tried this a lot with pony history, attempting to shape it into something that appealed to their ideals, and in this case, they tried to get ponies to believe they ‘liberated’ Canterlot during a planting festival.

This not only didn’t make sense to those who knew what event fell on that particular date, but to anypony who knew that the only thing close to a planting festal ponies had was Winter Wrap-up, where they would plant the spring seed for the coming year. Apparently the caribou didn’t know this detail, or didn’t care because they wanted to erase the idea of a celebration of the princesses raising the sun from the minds of all ponies altogether, but even an outsider could see something off about a planting celebration being held on the days going into summer, implying there were months of unsown seeds and untilled lands.

“From the moment we saw the bubble spell cover the city,” Carrot Top continued, “We knew that something was wrong. For a minute, we thought it was another changeling attack, but then Rainbow Dash arrived to tell us what was really going on. Everypony in town was put on alert, but to be honest, we weren’t as worried as we should’ve been. We figured it was another problem Twilight would fix. We even thought that was what happened when the bubble came down later that day.”

“That was until Twilight came in the next day and told us all about what the caribou were doing in Canterlot.” Lyra said, adding to the story and identifying that she had been there that day too.

“And what happened after she arrived?” Sunset inquired, everyone else in the room carefully listening to the unfolding events. Even Trixie found herself wondering what had happened, as she was nowhere near Canterlot or Ponyville when all these things happened.

“Things went from bad to worse,” said Carrot Top, “We tried to prepare for a fight, but it felt like we were being sabotaged from the inside. Things were going wrong far before the caribou even arrived, with the Crystal Heart’s spell slowly corrupting the stallions and all of Twilight’s plans going awry. By the time they came, we barely had bunkered up enough ponies to fend off anything threatening, let alone an army of caribou and stallions.”

“It must have been horrible,” said one of the other mares, “Seeing that many marching up to your town.”

“It was frightening,” Carrot Top confirmed, “They sent more than enough soldiers to take over a small town like ours several times over, with plenty more still in Canterlot if they failed. I guess they were after Twilight, and sent all they could spare to get her. Little did anypony know, they didn’t need an army to do that.”

Everypony knew what that implied, as for every ton of trumped up propaganda the caribou spread about their supposedly unopposed victory over Equestria, there was always a small grain of truth.

“As their troops came to claim the town, they gave everypony one chance to surrender. From what Twilight had told us about the terrible things they were doing to mares in Canterlot, of what they would do to us if given the chance, we didn’t think anypony would’ve been stupid enough to actually give up. Then a few seconds later we saw Twilight run out to them. At first I thought she was going to give some heroic speech before the fight, but then she bowed before them and offered herself to the caribou as a slave. Everypony was speechless. We couldn’t believe that Twilight, the last alicorn not enslaved by the caribou, our most powerful weapon against them, would just give up.”

“But Twilight didn’t give up, did she?” said one of the stallions, “Wasn’t a statement released that said all of the red collar alicorns were under mind control?”

“That is the official report from the committee...” Sunset stated, not adding anything else to that vague and somewhat ominous phrase.

“I don’t know why Twilight did it.” said Carrot Top, “She could have been mind-controlled, or she might have succumbed to stress or something. I really don’t care what the reason was, because as of that moment, we were done for. Not a single female was spared from the caribou’s cruelty, nor did any escape. They wanted not only the princess, but the other two ‘Elements of Harmony’ that were also in Ponyville, so they left nothing to chance. By holding up in there, we were waiting to be captured, and without Twilight, we had no hope. We all were subjected to enslavement, while the stallions we had locked away for our own safety were released to join in on raping and torturing us for the first time. It was barely a week after they had started their kingdom, and we still had a year to endure of that nightmare.”

With that brief summary of what happened in to Ponyville finished, the spell the story held on its listeners broke. There were a lot of details left out of what happened when the mares of Ponyville were caught, but everypony present could easily fill in the blanks. Pegasus mares were painfully stripped of feathers and had binders placed on the remainders of their wings, unicorn females had their horns chopped off mercilessly to the forms of stumps, and every woman present was introduced to the male anatomy in the most brutal ways the caribou could imagine. At best, a mare had to suffer only the pains of rape and humiliation, but the caribou seldom stopped there.

“But luckily you didn’t have to suffer as much as most other black collars, right, Carrot Top?” Sunset questioned, obviously knowing the answer already.

“No, I didn’t,” Carrot Top replied, “Thankfully I only had to endure it until the spring. For months I was treated as a slave, force to pleasure stallions and stags alike, day in and day out. I prayed to whatever would listen for it to stop, and eventually my prayers were answered. The caribou’s endless celebrations of their dominance went into the winter, and before the season was over, the whole of Equestria was running low on food. They had to enlist every farmer… every male farmer in the kingdom to fix the problem they caused, giving them at least double the workload they normally had to because they didn’t have enough male owned farms to feed every pony in Equestria, let alone the caribou and all the slaves they imported from other nations.”

This was yet another well-known fact that the caribou often tried to obscure, the kingdom wide food shortage, which was not helped at all by the kingdom’s wide droughts that accompanied it. When trying to liberate men from the ‘oppression’ of females, caribou took little consideration into the fact that Equestria’s infrastructure relied on the united efforts of pony mares and stallions to keep everything running smoothly. Many tasks, like getting water to Cloudsdale to make rain, were impossible to adequately supplement, since weather teams could hardly produce the needed wind force to deliver it as easily and effectively as before. In no way could caribou help with such a task, and even in tasks where they certainly could have helped, they would rarely show an interest in doing so. They perceived themselves as elite soldiers and upperclassmen, and thus were not going to do the menial labors of a peasant.

“So in order to make up for their mistake, they ended up sending mares who had experience with planting and farming to farms,” Carrot Top went on to say, “Just as work slaves to the new owners of the land, and with stipulations saying that we had to be used as both sex slaves and as beasts of burden. That meant that those unfortunate enough to be put in those positions had to work all day, often bound to restrict movements or while having to put up with sexual abuse. Of course, for most stallions, that wasn’t even needed to be said, but I got sent to a place where that rule had to be enforced.”

“Sweet Apple Acres,” Sunset Shimmer said, naming the most well known place where such a rule would have been in place.

This got a round of reactions from the others in the circle, as there were none who hadn’t heard of the events that happened there. The stories told of Sweet Apple Acres were on the verge of mythical, and as with most myths, they were greatly exaggerated. Most saw the farm as a sanctuary during the fall that very few got to experience, and depicted its proprietor as a saintly hero who did all he could to go against the the caribou. Minor alterations embellished this tale, such as how this stallion tricked a gullible caribou into getting him close enough to King Dainn to deliver a fatal blow, then using a well-crafted speech to touch the hearts of the royal guard, bringing them back to their senses, before single-handedly destroying the Crystal Heart to free Equestria from the corrupting spell placed upon it.

“Sweet Apple Acres was the safest place a mare could have been during the Fall,” Carrot Top said, further perpetuating the myth, “And while it wasn’t always easy there, I don’t think I would’ve survived anywhere else. Even there, I couldn’t get over all that had been done to me, all that had been taken from me. I was in a state of constant depression, not helped by this bitch of a red collar that was at the farm causing trouble for me and the other mares there. She seemed to be the only one of us who didn’t want the caribou occupation to end.”

“But it did eventually end,” Sunset interjected, “So how do you feel now? What has happened to you after the regime ended. Have things gotten better?”

Carrot Top took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts on the matter of her current life. “I want to say yes, but I feel like the answer is no. There is nothing actually wrong with my life now. I’m no longer a slave, I don’t have to worry that I’ll be staring down a dick by the end of the day, and since my carrot farm was only repurposed by the caribou, I got it back once the caribou were driven out.”

“Sounds like your circumstances have been far better than most mares.” commented Sunset, “So what is it that makes you think things are still bad?”

“I… just feel uncomfortable all the time. Like everything rubs me the wrong way. When I went back to my farm… my home… I just kept thinking of all the disgusting things that happened there. I think about the caribou who lived there, soundly sleeping in my bedroom, living it up with his red-collared bitch as others were treated like animals in cages just outside. It makes me think about all the times I was raped, and all the times I could be raped again. Everytime I wake up, I wonder if I’ll have some male standing over me, ready to slam his hand down on my throat as he pushes himself inside me. I think about how unsafe Equestria really is. How at a moments notice, my life could be torn apart just as easily again, and how helpless I’d be if it did. When I see a stallion on the street, I think about what he could do to me if given the chance, and that a few months back no pony would have batted an eye if they did. All of these thoughts make me feel powerless, and that powerlessness makes me feel so angry.”

Carrot Top stopped to take hold of her arms, cradling herself as she bent forward slightly. Trixie recognized that posture, that expression on her face. For as little as the earth mare had endured in comparison to most mares, she too had suffered, was still suffering, and had no answers on how to stop. Of course, it was not nearly to the extent of Trixie’s inner turmoil, as she was trapped inside a terrible cycle of depression and frustration. Carrot Top could still be angry at something other than herself.

A mare on the opposite side of Carrot Top from Trixie placed a hand on the mare’s shoulder, able to feel the earth mare’s slight tremble of rage as she tried to comfort her. A small few in the room started a small row of claps in appreciation of Carrot’s bravery in sharing all this with the group, while others like Trixie remained silent and still.

After allowing the claps to die down, Sunset adjusted her posture, her body portraying much respect for Carrot Top’s story. “It’s never easy to just move on like nothing happened, and the Fall is something that is not only a part of our lives, but as you described, reveals a lot of issues with the state of the kingdom. If not for the work of many heroic ponies, it is possible that Equestria would have never recovered from what the caribou did. Even now, we are having trouble picking up the pieces, but I feel that you being able to share your feelings with us all is a good step to recovery. These feelings are not a bad thing either. It’s ok to be angry. It’s ok to be upset. The thing is to direct those feelings at those who deserve it.”

“I know,” Carrot Top said, “But it’s not like I can take out my aggressions on a caribou anymore.”

“I suppose not,” Sunset replied, “But perhaps there are other healthy ways of releasing that anger. Like today, telling us how much you loathe them and what they did to you. Didn’t that help getting it out?”

“Actually… A little…” Carrot Top said, “But I know it’s just going to get me angry again eventually.”

“Of course it will. What happened to you, to all of us, was horrid. Ponies don’t just get over that, but we don’t have to let it rule our lives. Instead we need to find ways of using these bad experiences to empower ourselves, and use this thing that connects us to unify against the enemies of Equestria.”

What Sunset was saying was motivational, for sure. From what she said, and the authority she seemed to put behind her words, it really did feel like it could be possible to feel good over having gotten through what was the worst period of these ponies’ lives.

“Thank you for sharing that inspiring tale with us,” Sunset said, seeing that Carrot Top’s story had reached its logical conclusion, “Now who would like to be next?”

The rest of the meeting carried the same tone all throughout. Somepony would take a turn talking about their accounts and experiences of the Fall, usually leaving out most of the less savory details, while all of the others listened carefully. Each tale was miserable, not only from the perspective of the mares, but from the few attending stallions too. In one bit of irony, a pegasus mare explained how the regime had forced her to lose her virginity, only to have an earth pony stallion then explain how the same thing happened to him as well. Of course Trixie already knew that stallions say their mind-controlled lives during those times as a wide awake nightmare, but it was haunting to hear first hand how similarly the caribou had harmed ponies of both genders.

The meeting was finally wrapped up by Sunset declaring, “Well that’s all the time we have for today” out of the blue, looking out the window to see a purple sky and a sun sinking under the horizon. “I think that we all worked out a good portion of our negative emotions, but we all should get back to our homes before it gets dark. Those of you waiting for somepony to come get you, feel free to stay as long as you like, and if any of you might be too afraid to venture out after dark, you are welcome to stay the night here in one of our guest rooms. Also, if anyone still wants something from the snack table, feel free to grab something on the way out.”

Sunset’s lines were definitely rehearsed, with her being the one who ran the meetings, she probably ended them this way all the time. Be that as it may, she did design these closing statements to give those who participated a sense of ease. Trixie herself was pretty glad for the part about there being rooms open here where she could stay, at least for tonight, as she really didn’t feel up to confronting the mare who accused her at the work site, which was a strong possibility if she returned to the shelter.

“And to all newcomers, I hope to see you back here for our next meeting in two days.” Sunset said, getting up from her chair, heading to the exit. “But remember, it will be your turn to talk.”

Trixie tried to get up from her seat before Sunset Shimmer left, so she could inquire about a room, but was stopped by a light lavender unicorn getting in her path.

“So, what did you think?” asked Starlight, eager to hear the opinions of the mare she had invited, “Do you think you’d like to come to another meeting?”

Trixie wasn’t sure how to answer that. While the ponies who came to this time seemed nice save for the bit with Carrot Top at the start, which most others at the meeting seemed to take in stride once Sunset explained Trixie’s actions were beyond her control. The idea that she would have to talk in front of everypony and actually describe what she had been through… What happened when she was enslaved… That still felt like a lot.

All she could reply with at the moment was, “I will definitely think about it, but for now, I was wondering about one of those rooms Sunset talked about.”

“Oh of course. Can’t be too careful after dark. As Sunset Shimmer said, even if the caribou are gone, we never know who among us could have been working for them.”

Trixie didn’t really want to believe what Starlight was implying, but whatever excuse gave her a night away from the shelter and its occupants would be accepted by her. “Right.” She agreed for the time being.

“Well I gotta get going,” said Lyra, snagging a plate full of cookies before she left the room. “Just spotted my girlfriend heading this way, so I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

“I’ll walk you out,” said Carrot Top, the two mares making it clear from before that they at the very least lived in the same town, thus probably knew each other as neighbors. “See you all in two days.”

The mares and stallions bid each other farewell before departing, and by the end of it, Trixie was the only one who ended up staying. That was fine enough for her though, as it meant that she would be able to be alone that night, and no one would try to get an early version of the story she’d have to tell should she decide to come to another meeting.

With everypony gone, and Sunset Shimmer not returning, it was up to Starlight to lead Trixie to her accommodations. “Come with me,” the light lavender unicorn said, “You bed is just down the hall.”

As one might expect, the room Trixie was being offered was one of the ones that she had found to be locked coming in. Starlight, revealing a key from within her dress, opened a door and granted Trixie access.

“This is the room,” she said, extending an arm in past the door frame, “It’s not much, but it is comfy.”

Trixie stepped inside, and was actually amazed at what the room had to offer. There was a single bed inside, one just big enough for her, with no hints that this was a room meant to be shared. The floor was hardwood, but had a large rug over top of it that felt soft under Trixie’s hooves. Then there was a bedside nightstand, which a top it were several pieces of paperback literature, and a candle ready to be lit should the occupant feel like some nighttime reading. The most unexpected thing of all was that the room had two other doorways in it on either side, and on inspection they turned out to be a walk-in closet and a personal bathroom. At first she expected that the bathroom had another doorway to one of the other rooms, but it was a sealed area with only one entrance.

Seeing this, Trixie fought back the urge to shed tears, though this time, tears of happiness instead of sorrow. It had been a long time since she had such a place to stay. The shelter was made to house as many mares as possible, so rooming together was mandatory. Before ending up there, the best she ever got was a night in a cold dungeon cell as something awful painfully invaded her holes, be it an object, a male, or some disgusting abomination. To have an actual room to herself after all this time was perhaps the most uplifting thing to happen to her since her liberation, even if it was implied to just be for one night.

“I see that you have found yourself around,” said Starlight, having let Trixie explore on her own accord, “Feel free to use the room however you wish. In the morning I’ll come and get you for breakfast. If you need anything before then, I’ll be right across the hall.”

“Wait,” said Trixie as Starlight tried closing her door, “Why are you doing all this? Your group I mean.”

“Didn’t I explain it before?” Starlight answered, “We are trying to bring normality and equality back to Equestria. We can hardly do that with a crowded shelter where everypony has to share rooms and fight for food. Not when the males still have their homes and don’t have to live under the same circumstances. It was part of the mission goals of our leader to make sure that any mare be given the same kind of housings that any stallion would have.”

“But why?” Trixie asked again, “What does she get from all of this?”

Starlight looked confused, but then thought about the question, before finally answering, “I suppose she doesn’t get anything from it. Sunset Shimmer is just a really nice pony who wants what’s best for everypony.”

“Really?” Trixie said, sitting on her bed.

“Really, really.” Starlight said in a comforting tone, “Now try to get some rest. I’ll get you up early tomorrow. That way you, me and Sunset can have breakfast together. It will be great. We can swap a few girl stories and I can make us all waffles.”

With that the door closed, and for the first time in over a year Trixie was left truly alone. No abusive caribou, no uncaring stallions, no mares judging her attitude. It was just her and her thoughts, for as much as that meant. As while she was left to her own devices, she found that without a constant reminder of how bad things were, she could actually clear her mind of all that awfulness. For a moment, she could pretend that the problems in the world were thousands of miles away, and that all that mattered was in this small space that, for the moment at least, belonged to her. With what felt like an amazing deal of weight lifted from her shoulders, Trixie fell back into her bed, before drifting off to sleep after what had been an incredibly stressful and draining day.

The Last Sunset

“So what do you like on your waffles, Trixie? Chocolate chips, strawberries, or blueberries?” asked Starlight Glimmer.

“Ummm…” replied Trixie, unsure of which to pick. Starlight was currently behind a kitchen counter, standing in front of a stove with an apron on, using a handheld waffle iron to make several stacks of the doughy pastries, while Trixie watched amazed from a table not too far away.

The morning after was going pretty much as Starlight declared it would the previous night. Away from all the mares she had been forced to bunk with for the past few months, and the noises they made while she had laid awake for hours on end, Trixie found herself able to sleep soundly. Much more than she had been able to do in a while.

In fact, after laying down on the plush mattress she had been provided, she had managed to stay asleep up until Starlight came to wake her. After that, Trixie had been given ample time to freshen up, able to shower and brush her teeth without anypony pounding at the door for her to hurry up. As a traveling performer, she had little free time to ever partake in a vacation, but this certainly felt like one to her.

“No need to be shy,” said the third member of this morning meal, the support group’s founder, sitting at the table with a newspaper in hand, tilting it forward to encourage Trixie towards a decision. “Starlight is happy to make breakfast however you want. She loves to help out around the group houses.”

Not wanting to offend, Trixie came to an immediate choice after being prompted by both of the other unicorns in the room. “I’ll take blueberries.”

“Blueberries coming right up.” Starlight replied, turning to three bowls of toppings she has already prepared.

Grabbing a metal handle sticking out of a bowl of blueberries floating in a likewise blue syrupy substance, Starlight lifted a spoon out of the container, using it to scope out lots of the small fruits before dumping them atop several squares of cooked batter sitting atop a plate. Next, she took in hand a cylindrical can she had set to the side, pointing it at the blueberry covered waffle before pressing a finger down on the small tube at the top it and spraying whipped cream all over. Lastly, she took in hand a basin of maple syrup that had been kept warm on the stove top and poured a fair amount of the sweet substance over the waffle, soaking it in some spots while leaving other parts dry.

“Here you go.” Starlight said, levitating the plate of food over to Trixie, neatly setting it down right in front of her guest. “Enjoy.”

The freshly-made waffle decently doused with sweets, smelt heavenly. The mares’ shelter sometimes had pancakes, but waiting in line for them usually ended up them cooling off before one could get a whiff of their mouth-watering aroma. That aside, food made on mass never seemed to have the same quality of flavor as a plate specifically made for you. Grabbing a fork and knife from the table, Trixie dug into this delicious dessert dish.

As Trixie helped herself to a well cooked meal, Sunset watched her intently from just over the top of her paper. She kept an eye on Trixie for a minute or so, until her own plate of waffles was delivered to her via levitation.

“So, Trixie,” Sunset said, her horn glowing brightly to pick up her own silverware, “I’m so glad that you decided to stay the night. It is nice to know that we can provide a safe space for mares like yourself every once in a while.”

Trixie paused, and then gulped down what she had in her mouth. “You don’t have mares stay often?”

“Not as often as we’d like.” Sunset replied, “The ones who stay over were usually first-timers like yourself who didn’t realize how long the meetings are. Occasionally a mare will stop by if it gets too late out, but those are few and far between.”

“Is there a reason for that?” Trixie asked, using this time to cut her food into smaller pieces.

“I think so, but it’s nothing we did. It’s more... the current state of things.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked curiously.

Sunset slipped a piece of pastry into her mouth, and swallowed. “Every mare in Equestria is on edge. They find it hard to trust strangers, and with very good reason. They would rather stick to environments and ponies they are familiar with. Not that that’s a problem if they have their own homes to go to. Unfortunately that’s often not the case. More often than not, mares who endured slavery lost everything, without even a bit to their name.”

“Starlight said something like that last night.” Trixie said, now distracted from her food completely, “That the reason the rooms are singles here were because stallions have better housing conditions than mares at the moment.”

“That is the purpose of the rooms,” said Sunset, “Far too many mares have been confined to shelters, and for far too long.”

“That’s why the committee is pouring efforts into rebuilding homes, right?” Trixie said, trying to look towards positive things.

“Yes, and it’s good that they are trying, but do you know how many times that really works?”

“‘Actually works’?” Trixie questioned, quoting the thing she found odd in Sunset’s statement.

At that time Starlight joined the table, bringing the rest of the waffles she had made with her, which like Trixie’s were covered in blueberries. Having joined her fellow unicorn mares, she decided to likewise enter the conversation. “There are times when mares who have been in a shelter for too long become accustomed with living in large groups.”

“This leads to them refusing to leave the shelters, even when given the opportunity to do so.” Sunset added, picking up off Starlight’s sentence, “In some cases, when a house is made for a mare, they will let another mare take it instead, because they want to extend their sheltered lives. As admirable as this might look from the outside, the truth is that this is unhealthy behavior, not to mention unsustainable. Eventually, all mares will have to return to their lives, whether they are ready or not.”

“Which is another reason we set up rooms here,” said Starlight after taking her first bite of breakfast, “To help adjust them back into normal lives, giving them enough space without completely isolating them. The problem is getting them over their initial dependency.”

Trixie couldn’t say that she herself had any strong attachments to the shelter she stayed in, seeing how poorly most of the other mares there thought of her, but this sounded like something a normal mare might experience. If that was true, then Sunset was doing a good service trying to break that dependency.

“You sure do a lot for your fellow ponies,” Trixie said, returning to her food.

“We try to, at least.” Sunset happily replied, “But there are always issues. That isn’t really worth talking about right now though. Actually, I think I’ve been talking far too much about myself. I should be asking more about you.”

“Why would you need to know anything about me?” asked Trixie, seeing nothing that would merit interest about herself, “I’m nothing special.”

“Nonsense,” Sunset rebutted, “You admitted yourself that you managed to get your hands on the Alicorn Amulet.”

“I’d rather not talk about that…” Trixie said, begging to avoid discussions on that time of her life without outright saying so.

“I don’t want to talk about the amulet itself,” Sunset clarified, “But your ability of discovering that artifact. That alone is an impressive feat. How did you figure out where it was?”

“It was just something I read in a book once,” Trixie said, telling as much of the details as she wanted to admit.

“All I’m saying is don’t cut yourself short. I bet if you told us about yourself, we’d find out a bunch of stuff about you that’s just as impressive.”

“Well…” Trixie said, being put on the spot. Something that she had to admit felt kinda good given the context, “I did go to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns… That was a long time ago though, and I didn’t graduate.” Unfortunately, the show pony had to prefix that important accomplishment in her life with the upsetting reality that she was a dropout.

“Well that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Sunset chuckled off, “I went to that school myself, and dropped out just like you did.”

“You did?!” Trixie’s eyes widened, amazed that a mare like Sunset was a dropout like herself. Yet despite that setback, she seemed to be a very well off mare if she could run a group dedicated to helping ponies after the greatest disaster Equestria had ever seen.

“And that’s not all. Starlight is a very talented mare who never even went to that silly school. Honestly, I think that far too many ponies put too much stock in how useful that place was when it comes to the development of magic.”

“But haven’t lots of powerful unicorns come from that school?” Trixie questioned, finding Sunset’s statement odd.

“Sure,” Starlight said, “But did they become powerful because of the school’s teaching, or did the school have a high success rate because they only accept foals who were already talented?”

“There have been plenty of ponies who went to that school and never became a great wizard or an alicorn princess.” Sunset added, “And those who did were the very types who became allies to the caribou. If ponies who graduate from a place like that end up that way, it makes one wonder what it is they are teaching them.”

Trixie wasn’t sure what Sunset was getting at, but she politely gave a nod before returning to her waffles. As she thought back on her time learning within its walls, Trixie didn’t think the school had been all that bad. She had learned a bit of all kinds of magic studying there, but that was part of the reason she decided to drop out. She only ever learned a bit of magic. Advanced levitation, minor weather manipulation, illusion spells that were more for show than practical use.

Whenever she tried to do something more advanced, it often ending up blowing up in her face, sometimes literally, and she couldn’t justify wasting time and money staying in a school where she was struggling to learn anything. She ended up taking what little she had learned and moved on to making her traveling magic act, using her talents to entertain the cities she passed through and earn a living wage by doing so. It was the perfect occupation for a mare who resigned herself to self-learning her desired craft.

As Trixie made it through her breakfast, Sunset kept an eye on her while returning to her own. “Trixie, forgive me for asking, but you were a black collar during the fall, right?”

A touchy subject, but an understandable one to address. “I was…” she replied.

“I thought that you would have had to have been. Not too many reds have gotten a pardon or parole yet, and those who have often have to wear their collars to let the public know they could be dangerous. All except those who proved they were faking their acceptance of slavery, or those said to be brainwashed by the Crystal Heart. I was wondering for a moment if you were one of those few.”

“And what if I was?” Trixie wondered aloud.

“Then I would have let you finish your breakfast before asking you to leave.” Sunset answered, “Our group doesn’t associate with mares who cowardly avoided the caribou’s torture by giving in, and we find that most excuses given to why they did it to be just that. I really didn’t think you’d be the type though, since you were smart and resourceful enough to locate a centuries long undiscovered artifact. It would take an idiot to willingly accept the bonds the caribou placed on them, and you look to be above that.”

Trixie couldn’t deny that she felt flattered, even if all Sunset said was that she didn’t look like an idiot. Just like with Ambrosia, the smallest compliment felt like the biggest thing to the blue unicorn. “It’s not like I did anything special during the Fall. I was enslaved just like anypony else.”

“But you didn’t let those bastards break you. You held your head up high, took whatever they dished out, and came out the other side undefeated.” Sunset said, “Where some gave in, and others went crazy, you had the fortitude to press through it. Don’t you think that is admirable in its own way?”

Sunset was portraying Trixie as some sort of battle-hardened survivor. How would she react if she knew that Trixie had been at the verge of breaking at the end of the caribou’s rule, and that the only reason she hadn’t given up was that she was too emotionally drained to do so? Her own feelings about her enslavement not being as optimistic, Trixie didn’t have the heart to say she agreed.

“It’s ok to not feel great about what was done to you,” Starlight said, noticing Trixie’s dower expression, “But simply staying a black collar during all of the Fall did more for Equestria than you could ever know. What do you think would have happened if black collars hadn’t been as numerous as they were? When a mare saw another mare wearing that band around their neck, it showed them that they weren’t alone; that somepony else was fighting against their oppressors just like they were. There were many ponies who are undeniably heroes of the Fall, but black collars also could claim the same simply for their perseverance. It’s a shame that their contributions against the caribou aren’t more widely acknowledged, and they’re more often just treated as victims.”

Taking a few more bites off her plate, Trixie finished the food she had been given. “Look,” she said bluntly, wiping her face off with a napkin, “I understand what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to make me feel better, but kind words and desserts aren’t going to be enough to get me past all they did to me. I actually find it a little condescending that you think it would.”

“We’re not trying to be condescending,” Sunset replied, “Everything we said is how Starlight and I really feel.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t,” said Trixie, “But sitting at a table, receiving compliments as somepony gives you a plate of something they clearly made to make you feel better... I feel like I’m a foal and my parents are trying to cheer me up after flunking a test.”

Starlight and Sunset exchanged glances, seeing Trixie’s point. “Perhaps we’ve been a bit heavy-handed.” Starlight admitted, thinking about how all they have talked about was how great black collars were.

“Yeah, but you have to understand that talking about this sort of thing is what we do most of the time.” Sunset explained, “Not only for the sake of ponies like yourself, but in order to help ourselves cope with the horrors of the Fall.”

“No, I get that,” Trixie said, now realizing this might have been a normal conversation between the two that they were sharing with a guest, “It’s just that despite the things I did during the Fall, I don’t particularly feel like a hero.”

Hearing what Trixie had to say, Sunset noticed something in her choice of words. “‘Despite’?”

Having that particular word repeated back to her, the blue mare realized she let slip a little more than she intended. “Did I say ‘despite’? I meant to say ‘considering’. You know, that I really didn’t do anything worthwhile, so I have nothing to be proud of.”

Neither of the other mares bought that Trixie had flubbed her words, especially with the elaborate and non-convincing excuse she just gave. “What exactly did you do during the Fall?” Sunset asked, leaning in close as inquiry filled her thoughts.

“Nothing,” Trixie said curtly, “Nothing that ever did anypony any good, and only got me in more trouble than you could imagine with the caribou.” Trixie had reached a point where she was no longer comfortable with talking about herself or the Fall, and felt that there was only one way to get these two to understand that. “It might sound like I’m being full of myself, but when I was enslaved, I was treated far worse than other mares. I wasn’t just raped and given a light beating when I stepped out of line. I was tortured almost all the time, and with things most mares never experienced. I was beaten till bruised, deprived of sleep, verbally insulted, physically humiliated, and made to feel like I wasn’t worth the literal dirt they’d force-feed me along with the other excuses for food I had to eat just so I wouldn’t starve to death. And this was all after they got bored of me. At first, it was a nightmare of pain and suffering, where they put me in actual torture devices and did things I don’t even want to think about, let alone talk about with somepony else.”

Sunset and Starlight watched as Trixie put her face into her hands, and a small tear crept out from one side of them. They could both see that Trixie had indeed suffered, there was no doubt to that.

“We believe you,” said Starlight, knowing Sunset felt the same by the look on her face, “And it’s terrible that you had to suffer so much at their hands.”

“But this does raise one more important question,” Sunset added, “Why would the caribou treat you like they would treat one of the rebels?”

The fact that Sunset had picked that up out of all that sparked something inside Trixie. Something not as strong as fear, but a strong dread of this mare’s abilities to deduce something like that from details that felt completely unrelated. It was like she was privy to information that a common mare really shouldn’t know.

“I-I don’t know,” said Trixie, scooting her chair back a little to get as much distance away from the mare sitting across from her as she could without outright fleeing, “I wasn’t a rebel, I swear!”

“I believe that, too,” said Sunset, “Because if you were, you would have been blanked.”

Sunset was spot-on yet again, though this time her information was more common knowledge than deduction. Those who had openly rebelled against the caribou, or at least those who had avoided enslavement for a long period of time to have the opportunity to do so, were made an example of once finally captured.

Their punishments, after the initial rape they would endure once obtained, often began by being paraded through every town between where they were caught and Canterlot. Brainwashed stallions, Caribou, and red collars alike would be allowed to pelt them with rotten vegetation, cast stones at them, and would often get to violate them in some public spectacle before moving on to the next town to do the same. Once in Canterlot, they would be delivered to the castle dungeons to begin a long and arduous season of torture in order to break the rebel’s spirit; either to extract information about the location of other rebels, or just for the amusement of the sadists left to deal with these unfortunate ponies trapped in their clutches. It didn’t matter what you said though. If you sold out every mare you knew, if you performed every sex act they demanded, or if you were the very model of a red collar slave, there was no avoiding their inevitable fate for you, which was the grand punishment of blanking.

A fate worse than death, with the implementation of powerful magics the caribou would destroy everything you were. That was no exaggeration or colorful use of artistic license, it was an apt description of what blanking was. By strapping a pony’s body in an awful machine and barraging them with powerful magics, they would be stripped of their memories, personality, appearance, and even their cutie mark and special talents with it. Then, in an equally gruesome process, the pony would be rebuilt in the caribou’s image for them - their bodies themselves altered to be more sexually desirable, their minds flooded with lust and submissiveness, and their cutie marks replaced with some disgusting lewd symbol depicting what the blanked pony’s new role was in their kingdom.

It was something so devastating to those who went through it that after the caribou were defeated, it was found that there was no known cure to it. The only solution to it was to inflict blanking to those poors ponies again, and try to rebuild them using the same vile spells that destroyed them to begin with. One might call it successful when it came to the restoration of their physical forms, but when it came to their mentality, it did very little outside of making them act normal, with an emphasis on ‘act’. At least this was what Trixie had heard, as she had never encounter a ‘Re-blank’ face to face, given that most were being taken care of in psychiatric hospitals or given more personal care by family members or friends until a real cure was found.

So how exactly did Trixie earn enough of the caribou’s ire that she earned one part of a rebel’s punishment, but not the other? Trixie knew the answer to this, but it was something she never wanted to discuss - though not for reasons that might reveal her as a traitor, as the caribou had a habit of even blanking rebels who were stupid enough to turn themselves in. No, it was something else that stilled her tongue that she found equally condemning.

However, it began to feel that unless Trixie just fled from this place right now and never looked back, Sunset would find out the details one way or another. Perhaps it would have been better to just spill the details they wanted and be done with it. Not like she wouldn’t have to talk about it at least a little bit if she decided to attend the next meeting.

With a heavy and reluctant sigh, Trixie relented on her silence. “It’s hard to talk about,” she started, “But the circumstances of my capture and treatment were… special, despite how often the caribou and stallions who tormented me drilled in the point that I wasn’t. I really wish it that weren’t true, but knowing what I did and how I was treated afterwards, I can’t think of it any other way.”

There was no way a statement like that wouldn’t peak the interest of any pony who heard it. A mare having been treated like a rebel, only to be spared the ultimate punishment that came with it, saying that the caribou saw her as something special. The reason Trixie said that couldn’t be ego, as no pony outside of a cock addicted red collar would ever find the attention of the caribou as something to brag about.

“Then if you feel like talking about it now, how about we start at the beginning.” Sunset said, intrigued with this unicorn and what stories she might have to tell, “How did you first encountered the caribou?”

“Go ahead and start talking,” Starlight said as she arose from her chair, “I’ll make us some more snacks to make this a bit more enjoyable.”

Trixie watched Starlight leave the table to make some more comfort foods, happily smiling as she did what she believed was helping. With a small shake of her head, Trixie decided to finally give in and explain what she had been alluding to all this time. Perhaps Ambrosia had a point when she said that sometimes it was just good to have somepony to talk to, and depending on the reactions of these two she might find out if it would really be worth participating in another session of group therapy.

“Ok… If you really want to know.” Trixie began, “It all started on the week of the Summer Sun Celebration.”

The sun was setting over Salt Lick City, a bustling pony settlement that was a decent distance away from Canterlot. Everypony was going about business, doing the typical things ponies did. Going to work, eating at restaurants, shopping at stores, and generally enjoying life. These only disruption to their routines was a small stage set up in the local park, where a crowd of fillies and colts had gathered round.

“And for her next trick,” said a blue unicorn standing over the onlookers, dawning a purple cap wizard’s hat, “The Great and Powerful Trixie will make this bouquet of flowers vanish.”

The young ponies watched with excitement as the performer held a small assortment of flowers in her outstretched arm, and then levitated a bit of red fabric up to obscure it from sight. The very second the flowers were out of sight, the mare magician pulled the cloth away, revealing just her empty hand.

“Voilà!” Trixie announce, showing both sides of the hand to prove she hadn’t somehow hidden it there. It was only a gesture, as hiding an item like that would have been impossible, but it was enough to wow many of her audience. Together they applauded, with Trixie happily absorbing the praise they were giving her talent.

Not all were pleased with this performance though, and from amidst the claps came a loud and draw out “Boooooo!” This happened several times, to the point that it could not be ignored, causing all the attention that was being given to Trixie to be pulled towards the young pegasus filly that was hovering above the rest to make the disapproving noises.

Once everypony stopped clapping, the disruptor spoke up to share the reason for their discontent. “You call that a trick?” she asked snidely. “All you did was levitate the flowers away when you moved the cloth away.”

“Is that what you think happened?” Trixie said with a bit of smug, not faltering in the face of this heckler. “Trixie assures you that is not the case, and can prove the power of her magic.” She had faced many ponies who doubted her magic before in her career as a stage performer, and learned that keeping a good attitude was key to confronting them. A bit of proof also helped though, so using her horn she returned the cloth back to the stage, and flipped it around a few times in order to so that the bouquet was truly gone.

The other foals were once more impressed that the flowers were gone, but the pegasus didn’t seem any more convinced than before. “Are you serious? She just dropped the flowers off stage before showing you what’s behind it.”

The filly wasn’t wrong. Trixie had left the flowers somewhere else in order to give the illusion that they had vanished in mid-air, using the moment she revealed her empty hand as a distraction to do so without detection, but it was aggravating when somepony attempted to debunk her tricks for no reason other than to ruin them for others. Hecklers were always a problem when they arose, but she did have ways of dealing with them.

“Very well,” Trixie said, doing her best to appear more amused than irritated by this intrusion on her act, “If you are so sure that Trixie is a fake, then why don’t you come up here and prove it?”

The pegasus treated this challenge like an imposition, giving Trixie a glare that expressed her distaste for this whole thing. She was going to outright refuse, but before she could say a word, the other foals in attendance piped up.

“You should go up there Hocus.”

“It would be amazing to see you up on stage.”

“It would be like those times you did it with-”

The pegasus tensed up slightly, gave a slight growl under her breath, and said “Fine!” angrily before hovering over to the stage, “But only to prove that this is all fake!”

Trixie watched the disgruntled filly take a place right next to her, arms crossed and brow furrowed. This one wasn’t your typical heckler, the look on her face told the stage performer that she would go out of her way to ruin the act if given the chance. Trixie didn’t know what brought about such resentment, but she couldn’t allow her desires to be fulfilled.

“Welcome to the show,” Trixie greeted the filly, “Can I ask my new assistant what her name is?”

“It’s Merryweather.” The filly said under her breath as she shot her eyes to her hooves.

“Hmm,” Trixie undered from behind her lips. She distinctly heard one of the other foals call her ‘Hocus’, but that didn’t really matter right now. “So Merryweather, do you like magic tricks?” Upon the mentioning of magic, Trixie flicked her wrist and made a deck of cards appear in her hand.

“Not really.” Merryweather replied, not changing her sour demeanor in the slightest. “I find them cheap.”

“Well,” Trixie said, shooting the cards from one hand to the other, “Maybe you will like Trixie’s.” Trixie gave the cards a few fast shuffles, before taking the cards in one hand and using her fingers to scatter the cards up in the air. This drew the eyes of all foals present to them, including Merryweather’s, as they floated around in the air above two ponies on stage.

“A card trick?” Merryweather scoffed, watching the rectangular pieces of paper thing plastic start to circle around her in orbit, all faces outwards. “You want to impress me with something as simple as that?”

“Trixie thinks you’ll be more impressed by the end than you assume,” Trixie replied while rotating the cards with their faces pointing outwards, allowing the crowd to see the many different ones they had. “Just take a card and let Trixie do her magic.”

The pegasus rolled her eyes, but snatched a single card out of the unicorn’s levitation spell. As Trixie brought all the other cards back to her hand, Merryweather turned over her chosen card to see what it was.

“It’s the princess of hearts,” the young pegasus said aloud, not caring if her keeping the identity of her card a secret was part of the trick.

“Very good,” Trixie said, mixing the cards in her hand with a riffle shuffle, “Why don’t you slip it back in?” After a few more quick ruffling of the cards, she presented it to her reluctant assistant.

The pegasus stepped up to the unicorn, flipping her card face down to match the deck, and inserted it inside. Once she got it roughly halfway in though, Merryweather quickly moved her hand atop the deck and pulled the stack towards her. “Oops!” she said, voice drenched in sarcasm as the card tumbled to the floor.

Trixie was quick to react, and being a unicorn easily grabbed all the cards with her magic before they touched ground, though not without a breaking out in a bit of a sweat. “Whew” she said aloud, overly relieved for some reason.

“Hmmmm,” Merryweather hummed, the magician’s behavior too dramatic to ignore. She looked at the cards suspended in midair, but found nothing out of the ordinary out of the ones she could see the faces off. They all just looked like normal cards to her. “So I guess you’ll want me to pick another one now?”

“No need,” Trixie said, not only to Merryweather, but to the audience as well, “The only thing my assistant did was make sure the deck was thoroughly shuffled.”

Using her magic, the unicorn brought the cards back together to form a deck, and then proceeded to show off a few more flashy stage shuffles to wow the crowd. There was little doubt that the cards had been mixed in a way that would ensure no normal pony could have tracked the singular card that filly had pulled.

After what seemed like a minute of flashy card play, Trixie finally stopped. “Now, The Great and Powerful Trixie will display her power over this simple deck of cards, and produce her assistant’s card, straight from the top of the deck!”

Lifting a hand up in dramatic fashion, the mare sliced it across the deck, retrieving from the top of it a single card, its back facing away from the audience. For a few seconds she paused to add a bit of suspense to the act, but when the card was turned over everypony could see it was, in fact, the princess of hearts.

The foals watching this applauded, amazed that after all that the performer was able to pick the correct cards after all that shuffling. Merryweather, on the other hand, was not as impressed as her peers. “So what?” the filly said, her annoyance evident, “There are plenty of ways you can put a card on top of a deck.”

“Of course,” Trixie said placing the card back on top, “But is this so easily explained?” Fanning the front half of the deck with a finger, Trixie then flipped the deck upside-down to reveal that the princess of hearts had in an instance moved from the top of the deck to the bottom.

This was a little more impressive than simply having the card at the top of the deck after a long shuffle, something that reflected even in Merryweather’s eyes as she looked at the card shocked, no indication of actual unicorn magic being used to switch its place in the deck. “You have to be using two of the same card.” the pegasus declared, trying to debunk the trick on the spot.

“Oh really?” rebutted the unicorn, shuffling the cards again only to cut them in the middle and once more reveal the chosen card, “Then how does Trixie keep finding it in all of these cards?” She repeated the process of shuffling and cutting the deck over and over, the result always the same. At that point she wasn’t even bothering to look at the card, as if the result was certain every time.

“You swapped the deck!” Merryweather shouted, believing that she had figured out the only means that the unicorn could have accomplished this trick.

“Did I?” Trixie said smugly, lighting up her horn once more to envelope the deck in her magic.

Spreading the entire deck out in a grid, Trixie revealed that there were fifty-two individual cards in the deck, including a single copy of the princess of hearts. Spread out as they were, Merryweather didn’t know what to say. All of her explanations had been debunked, as the show pony had done little that could have given her the opportunity to swap out the decks twice. Noticing the baffled expression the pegasus was wearing, the other foals clapped enthusiastically for this act, Trixie being talented enough to turn something as simple as a card trick into a spectacle.

“Thank you, thank you!” Trixie said as she removed her hat and bowed to the audience, placing all of the cards within her headwear before replacing it upon her mane, “And thank you to my helpful assis...tant?”

By the time Trixie brought her eyes back up to where Merryweather was standing, the pegasus had vanished. For a second the unicorn thought the filly had pulled a trick of her own, but a quick glance around let Trixie see that she had started walking off the stage, already making it to a set of steps leading off it, apparently too angry to fly away instead.

“Hey, Merryweather was it?” Trixie said to the filly, catching her just before she got away, “I don’t know why you’re so upset at me, but I didn’t come here to make you angry. Why don’t you come back after the show and I’ll give you a few souvenirs for being my assistant.”

“I don’t want anything from you,” Merryweather said, still immensely aggravated, “Or any other magician. Just because I couldn’t figure it out, doesn’t mean that what you did wasn’t anything more than a worthless trick. You shouldn’t be proud of any of this.”

With those final words, the filly stormed off, done with any kind of further participation with Trixie’s show. Trixie herself was taken aback by her attitude, but in a way the filly wasn’t wrong. The card trick was just that: a trick, and one pulled off in a way that most wouldn’t really know how to figure out unless they were a unicorn, as the deck itself was the entirety of the trick. Truth be told, every card in the deck was the princess of hearts, but only when handled without the use of magic. When looked at through a filter of unicorn magic, the faces would change to an appropriate card of a deck. That was why Trixie had to make sure that whenever multiple cards were shown, it was while they were in the grasp of her telekinesis spell.

Still, that didn’t give the filly the right to be so hostile just because the trick was ultimately a ruse. All stage magic was, in some way, a deception or distraction on those viewing it. Perhaps it really didn’t matter, but there was something off-putting about this particular heckler. Trixie didn’t have time to piece together what that was though, as there was still a show to put on.

Going back to the stage front, Trixie address her audience once more. “Now, on to Trixie’s next amazing feat of magic! Trixie will dazzle you all with her spectacular-”

At that moment a loud explosion sounded off in the distance, frightening the show pony with a sudden startling noise. The foals all turned their head upwards, making noises of amazement at what they saw. Trixie, turning around to see what had caught their attention, immediately spotted the large rainbow ring stretching out across the sky.

There was no wondering what had created this spectacle of spectrum, as by now, the Sonic Rainboom was fairly known across Equestria. “Rainbow Dash…” Trixie muttered under her breath, knowing that this spontaneous act from the blue pegasus had just overshadowed her show by a large margin, and made the fireworks display she planned for the end of the show completely pointless. It would take some effort to pull the eyes of her audience away from the Rainboom, and even more work to get them all interesting in her act the same way as before.

Trixie was so angry from being upstaged that she didn’t even notice that the Rainboom had originated from above Canterlot, and that the kingdom’s capital was currently surrounded in a bubble of magic. Had she seen it, perhaps the unicorn would have been more aware of the danger she was soon to encounter.

That night, Trixie stayed in her travel cart, as she always did when she went on tour. It was dusty, small, and stuffed with the tools of her trade, but it was her home away from home. While on the road, all she needed was her hammock and a few snacks provided by her adoring fans. Trixie made little off her acts, but she always drew in a crowd, and to her, that was the most important thing. Popularity over profit, admiration over amenities, fame over fortune. It was at a very young age that Trixie decided to become an entertainer, and decided that the real measure of success as one was not how much you made, but how many you made remember your name.

Her performance today added a bit on the goal of notoriety, as plenty of the foals that attended lined up afterwards to get a few souvenirs and autographed headshots after the act, showering the magician with praise for her talents all throughout. For some reason though, Trixie couldn’t get the image of that one little pegasus out of her mind. Merryweather was not the standard neighsayer when to came to one of Trixie’s performances, lacking the general disbelief in her tricks that most would have, and instead displaying outright contempt for Trixie’s profession.

“I’ve heard of foals hating clowns,” Trixie said to herself as she laid still in her hammock, “But never a magician.”

It bugged the unicorn, but there was really nothing she could do. Tomorrow morning, she was going to be heading back home anyways, this city being the last stop of a year long tour. No better time to bring it to a close than just before the biggest event of the year, when everypony’s attention would be drawn toward the Princess and the Summer Sun Celebration, or “Princesses” as it were. At the beginning of the year, there had only been Celestia, as it had been for one thousand years prior, but over the course of it, three new additions had arrived. Luna, the returned princess of the night, and Cadence, the recently christened princess of the Crystal Empire, had always been around, but only recently had been able to help run Equestria due to extenuating circumstances.

However, the latest addition had only just been inducted barely a week prior, and when Trixie had heard who had suddenly sprouted wings and became royalty, even she was amazed that her rival had made it that far. Not that a pony becoming an alicorn was unheard of, but Cadence really was the only other example of that happening. With Twilight ascending to those ranks, along with the two other princesses taking up the mantle of leadership, and the recent events involving Discord, Sombra, and Chrysalis popping up one after the other, it was hard for Trixie to see how the following year could be any more exciting than this one, and perhaps once hype brought on by the new princesses had died down, she would be able to make her own name known, and take her place in stardom that she believed she always deserved.

“There is always next year,” Trixie yawned, fatigue finally hitting her. A week or two off, and then she’d start anew, hopefully being remembered a little more this time than the last.

With that pleasant thought in mind, Trixie covered herself up and leaned back to rest her head on her pillow. One last act to wrap things up before the festival, then back home. It didn’t take long for her eyelids to get heavy, unknowingly closing them for the last time on the world she had known all her life.

Trixie’s eyes shot open, falling out of her hammock as her body flailed. She had barely enough time to realize that she was falling before her body hit the ground, and not even enough time to scream before a burst of air was forced out of her lungs in the form of a grunt. That was how little time it took for the unicorn mare to awaken into the nightmare that Equestria would become.

While she had nary the time to scream in all this, somepony else did, as what had awoken Trixie from her slumber was the terrified howls of somepony in distress. Of course, Trixie didn’t realize that was what she heard, but when reflecting on things retrospectively, how could it have been anything else?

“Oww…” said the blue mare, rubbing her cheek as she felt at was she thought would be a bruise in the morning, “Who is making all that racket out there?” she then asked herself, angry at being startled both out of sleep and out of her bed, “Don’t they know that Trixie needs her beauty sleep?!”

The words came from her mouth freely, the unicorn not thinking on what she was saying as she uttered them. Then, Trixie started to feel something wrong with the sentence she had spoken. Thinking on it for a moment, she remembered where exactly she was. She was in her cart, which she had parked on the outskirts of Salt Lick City, not having a permit to park it in town for the night. Where she was, she shouldn’t have heard much noise from the town itself, unless it was very loud. As awareness began to grow within her, something else dawned upon her. Looking out her window on one side of the cart let her see only darkness, while the one on the other side was letting in an intense light.

“What in Celestia’s name is…” Trixie said quietly to herself as she picked herself up off her wood floor. She made it to the window before she could finish that thought, and what she saw made her stop it completely.

Fire, large ones, covering several buildings inside the city - buildings Trixie recalled as homes of ponies who lived in that town, houses she had passed by on the way out. A great fire had broken out in the night, burning away all the possessions of those who lived in them. They were so powerful that Trixie could feel the heat from the fires even from the distance she was at, the crackling of the flames joining with a string of terrified and frantic screams.

As all of this unfolded, Trixie could only stand at her window and stare in horrific amazement. The scene laid before her eyes resonated with terror, both from those poor ponies whose homes were being destroyed, and herself as she bore witness to the tragedy of it all. Nary a word left her muzzle as shadowy silhouettes scurried back and forth in the light emitted in the darkness of night. They were surely those of the victims and rescue workers, Trixie believed, with many black figures running around wildly amongst each other, and even into the arms of one another. A part of Trixie wanted to go help, but another part feared she wouldn’t really be able to if she tried. She only hoped that the city’s weather team could work up a quick rain storm to put out the fires as soon as possible.

Wait a minute… Trixie thought in puzzlement as she watched one of the shadows seemingly struggling against another, much larger figure, What’s going on there?

For a few seconds, the two black forms wrestled against one another. At first, Trixie rationalized that the one struggling to get away was a hysterical pony trying to run into the burning homes, but then she saw something that put that idea to question. The larger shadow had moved in a way that it appeared to have reared back, and sent a blow into the smaller one. With what and to what part of the body, it was hard to tell, but she got confirmation when she saw both figures going to the ground, the larger one on top. The unicorn was stunned, more than she had been prior, finding it hard to breathe as she watched what looked to be somepony being attacked by another, but she didn’t want to believe that was true. She took deep breaths, one after another, her mind racing to make some sort of sense of it all, but just as she was on the verge of convincing that what she saw wasn’t actually real, something else happened that eliminated that attempt of self-delusion.

The large figure raised its arm up above its head, its visage more menacing than she had thought previously, before driving it down on the figure beneath it. As the arm crashed down, a loud, clearly feminine scream sounded over all other noises, denoting that the smaller figure was a mare and was in certain danger. The next thing Trixie heard was the scream suddenly peak, which was followed by the larger figure tearing its arm to the side, and casting away something that looked like a piece of fabric.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Trixie finally said to herself, covering her mouth as she backed away from the window. It was fairly simple for her mind to fill in the blanks she couldn’t make out, and with that clarity it became much easier to discern what all the shadows were doing as well.

Now she could see that there were several large creatures running about, tackling ponies and forcing them into submission, each standing at least a foot over the equines, and having a set of antlers atop their heads that noticeably defined them against the other smaller figures running about. These fires weren’t some freak accident at all, but instead part of a planned attack.

Finally understanding the situation, Trixie crouched down beneath the window, turning around so her back was against the wall, hands still cupping her snout. A cold sweat was forming all across her body, and a noticeable tremble joined it. Trixie, while boastful of her talents, was not the kind of pony who worked well in these kinds of situations, or so her experience with the Ursa Minor proved. While hiding in her cart was cowardly, she would not make a bit of difference if she went out and attempted to play hero. That was a job for the Equestrian Guard, or perhaps Twilight and her friends, not a simple magician.

As she sat there in the dark, she could still hear the screams of voices of the town, mostly that of mares, though the yell of the occasional broke through before being silenced by the attackers. It was hard waiting there for everything to end, not knowing exactly what was going on, and each second that passed increased the pounding pace of Trixie’s heart. She might have sat at that spot the whole night, if not for an unsettling idea that came to her.

What if they’re coming? Trixie thought. She hadn’t been parked that far from Salt Lick City, just underneath a few trees a ways out along a dirt road.

It was all too possible that her cart had been spotted, and those creatures were approaching as she cowered in the dark. No doubt being caught by them would be bad, so as much as she would have preferred to wait everything out, it was not something she could do and feel safe at the same time. Trixie had to work up all the courage she could, but eventually, she pulled herself back up to the window.

The fires were still burning, if simmering down as the amount of materials it had to burn turned into char, providing enough light to let Trixie see the silhouettes from before. The chaos had died down a little, with few still running about wildly like at the start of this all. Instead, the shadows were heading towards the center of town in an organized fashion, some leading others by what looked like rope, others hoisting their captives over their shoulders. Those ponies kicked and flailed, while others were forced to march or crawl ahead of those who surely the cause of all this. Trixie felt bad for those ponies, but glad that none of those creatures she saw were coming her way.

Understanding that she was safe for the time being, the unicorn settled down and took in what she was seeing more accurately, noticing that not all of the aggressive shadows were those antlered demons she spotted before. Many of them looked to be normal ponies, which in some ways scared Trixie even more. It was understandable that some evil forces existed in the world that wished to do harm to ponies, but ponies helping those forces was rare, at least to these extents. Still, Trixie couldn’t deny what her eyes were seeing, and taking note of this she realized that trusting another pony during this situation might be a bad idea. With that in mind, the last thing that concerned her was what exactly these attackers were going to do with their prisoners, with her thoughts more focused on how to make sure she didn’t become one of them as well.

After a few minutes, things appeared to settle down. Ponies stopped being dragged around, and less and less shadows appeared in the light of the still burning houses. As things died down, Trixie took the time to barricade her doors, needing something to do while she waited. She certainly wasn’t getting to sleep, and wanted some time to escape in case she did get discovered, even if it were a few seconds.

Once that was done, Trixie took to waiting and watching, knowing that something like this would inevitably lure in attention from Canterlot, even in the dead of night. The guards would come in, take care of those who attacked the town, and things would go back to normal within a few days. Worst case scenario, Twilight and her friends would be called in to deal with the problem. That seemed to be how most issues were resolved these days. Trixie believed that she was in the clear, able to go unnoticed and not having to be dragged into whatever was going on. The moment that she believed herself safe was also the moment fate decided to prove the mare wrong though.

From out behind one of the buildings, something zoomed out into the light. Something small, but big enough to be seen, flying out of the town as fast as it could. Trixie locked on to the black spot immediately, it being the first bit of motion she had seen in a while, and heard an angry voice yell “One’s getting away!” from within the city. Trixie hardly had to guess that one of the town’s ponies managed to flee, and that it was a pegasus.

She started to feel relieved that someone had escaped, and a pegasus would be able to make it to Canterlot with ease, ensuring that this situation would be dealt with. She expected the winged horse to fly up into the sky, as that would be the best way to avoid capture, but for some reason, they stayed close to the ground. Shortly after leaving the confines of the city, several other, more grounded shadows followed after, including one rather large, antlered one.

“Come on, you can get away…” Trixie said silently, hoping that the flying splotch of darkness escape.

The pegasus had a good lead, and even if they just flew into the forest, there was a good chance for escape. Trixie had a lot of hope for this pegasus, at least until the small shape stopped for a moment, and then started heading directly for her cart, having spotted it in the distance.

“What?!” Trixie shouted on accident, shoving her hands over her mouth immediately afterwards, “No, No… Don’t come this way… I can’t help you…”

Trixie’s words were selfish, but also reflected the reality of things. Past events had proven that she was not suited for these kinds of situations, her magic being far too weak to do anything about something threatening. The only thing the pegasus was doing was leading the others right to her, and making it so they would both be captured. Not that Trixie didn’t have an escape plan, but it was one that wouldn’t be as easy with two ponies.

Regardless, the pegasus was not stopping and would be there in a few seconds. As much as Trixie would have preferred the pony head somewhere else, they weren’t going anywhere else. Since that was the case, Trixie saw that the only thing to do now was help out as much as she could. She unlocked the window, opening it all the way to try and give the fleeing pony a way in without removing the barrier she created at her door.

“Quick! This way!” Trixie called out to the pegasus, figuring at this point that her cart had been spotted by the pony’s pursuers. It didn’t matter if they heard her, so much as it did that the one being chased knew where to head.

The pegasus came right for the window, no doubt hearing Trixie’s call. Seeing that the pegasus was coming, Trixie moved to the side of the window, preparing for the arrival of her guest. With her heart pounding in her chest, she watched the pegasus do as instructed, flying through the space provided without issue. Once inside, Trixie closed the window shut immediately after, locking it, though realized that the barrier of glass wasn’t going to do much to hold off those who chased the pony she was now harboring.

“OK!” Trixie shouted, too scared to control the volume of her voice, “Who is that out there chasing you?!”

Trixie didn’t really care who the pursuers were. It didn’t matter if it were diamond dogs or dragons, she wasn’t going to be able to handle them. She needed to address the pegasus somehow though, and this was the first thing that came to mind. The second thing that came to mind was who she was talking to.

“Merryweather!?” The young filly Trixie met earlier that day was now sitting on the floor of her cart, heaving heavily as she desperately gasped for air, looking worse for wear for more reasons than just needing to catch her breath.

Trixie waited a moment for Merryweather to respond, but the girl was reasonably too scared and exhausted to speak. From the looks of it, she had been attacked while in bed, as she was in a set of PJs, the top part torn in a manner that revealed far more of the filly’s chest fur than Trixie felt comfortable looking at. Her immediate thought was that it has ripped accidentally in a struggle, the real reason why it had been torn that way was still a distant concept to the unicorn who had yet to learn the motivations of the attackers.

As bad as the filly’s current state was, and as concerned as Trixie was for her, the unicorn knew she couldn’t dwell on it too long. Step one of her plan was done, now on to step two, which required a bit of her magician’s talent to pull off. Pressing against the wall next to her window, she watched as two pony sized shapes approached the cart, being lead by one bigger shape with antlers.

“She ducked into that carriage!” shouted one of the ponies.

“And did you heard that voice?” said the other.

“Of course I did,” replied the large figure, stepping into the moonlight to reveal himself as some sort of large, musclebound creature, the likes of which Trixie had never seen before. Though what the creature was exactly was lost on the unicorn, her first encounter with a caribou left a lasting impression when he followed up by saying, “There’s another mare bitch inside that thing. Go pull them out of there, and we’ll have some fun before we drag them back.”

The cold sweat that Trixie’s body produced earlier came back with intensity as those words penetrated through the walls. The insinuation and tone of that phrase was filled with malice and implications that conjured up images that the mare didn’t want to think of as the two ponies hastily went for her front door. Trixie was still very unsure about many things when it came to everything she saw that night, but the one thing she was sure of was that it was time to escape.

Going over to Merryweather, the unicorn got to her knees and grabbed the girl by the shoulders, directing the pegasus to look at her face to face. “Look, I know you’re scared,” Trixie said, blurting out what came naturally to mind, “But I need you to listen to me. I’ve got a plan to get away from these guys, but I need you to work with me on this. Do you understand?”

The filly recoiled a little at Trixie’s demand, still struggling to recover from her own ordeal. At that moment, the magician mare was staring her in the eyes fiercely, which didn’t help Merryweather to overcome the fear she was feeling. As they looked at one another, a sudden jiggling of the cart’s door handle, followed by a pounding on the wooden barrier that shook not only it, but the piles of debris blocking it.

The noise broke Trixie’s locking of their eyes, as she had to turn her head to make sure the barricade she made would be able to hold, and that along with the worry that grew on the mare’s face was enough to make the filly understand the gravity of this situation.

“Ok,” Merryweather said.

“Huh? Trixie replied, turning one eye back to the girl while keeping one eye on the door.

“I’ll do whatever you want, just keep them away from me!” Merryweather answered, shoving her face into the front of the mare’s shirt. She was panicked, in need of some form of comfort, and at the time being this somewhat embarrassing gesture was what she chose to get it.

“Then you need to follow me, and don’t make a sound. Got it?” Trixie said, not having the luxury of time to let her newly acquired ward recover completely.

Understanding that time was against them, Merryweather lifted her head. “What are you gonna do?”

“Well I think you know the secret behind every magician’s trick, don’t you?” Trixie said, giving the filly a confident smirk.

Merryweather took a moment to think, and the answer dawned on her rather quickly. With a light gasp and hushed tones, she said to the mare in front of her, “Make a distraction”.

Meanwhile, outside of the cart, two stallions took turns ramming the door with their shoulder. They were determined to get inside, a prize waiting for them that they were eager to obtain, but the blockade on the other side effectively held them back.

“What is taking you two so long?” said the caribou watching them, growing gradually more disappointed with the ponies under his command. “You can’t break down a single locked door?”

“Those bitches blocked it!” replied one of the stallions, slamming himself into the door again.

“It feels like they shoved a lot of shit in front of it!” the other said over his associate.

The caribou grunted in distaste. He was not pleased that these two had not only let a little girl get this far away from the town, but we're having trouble getting through a simple wooden door. After all the work he had already done that day to capture, restrain, punish and otherwise put the insolent females of this kingdom under the heels of men where they rightfully belonged, he was hoping that these stallions they dragged around with them would do more than reap the rewards of he and his breathren’s hard work.

“Get out of the way.” said the caribou, growing irritated at the lack of physical strength from the ponies, “I’ll take care of this.”

The two ponies did as they were told, stepping out onto the grass to give the much larger caribou some space. Being much bigger than one of the stallions, and more muscular than they were, the caribou simply took hold of the handle and braced his shoulder against the door before pushing to clear the objects holding the passage shut.

“Fucking pussies.” the caribou said to himself as he entered.

“Do you see them?” asked one of the stallions.

“Not yet,” The caribou replied, “This thing is full of clutter. Boxes everywhere.”

“Want us to come in and help look around?” the other stallion asked.

As much as the caribou didn’t want to do this dirty work, he didn’t trust the ponies not to be incompetent again. “Just stay out there in case they try to make a break for it,” the caribou said as he started shifting through all the things, “And when I find them, I won’t be sharing them with either of you.” he added to himself opening a few boxes.

At first, the caribou just shifted the boxes around the wooden areas around the carpet in the center of the carriage, turning over any spot that looked like the ponies could be hiding behind. Next, he started to look through the boxes themselves, but all he could find were the tools of a stage performer who dabbled in sleight of hoof. The only other thing he could find were fireworks, which he he started to cast aside after seeing so many of them.

“What was this, a delivery truck for that stupid sun celebration?” The caribou muttered, his frustration growing with each box. He was so dedicated to finding the two females who he was sure hadn’t left the cart that he didn’t notice that there was a black cloud formed over his head, in a literal sense. The small cloud hovered over him like a looming predator, and with only a small rumble to alert its prey to its presence, it released a bolt of lightning. All the caribou could hear was a mildly loud crack before a bolt connected with one of the boxes filled with fireworks. A second later, his world turned to light.

From outside the cart, Trixie and Merryweather watched from the safe distance of the forest. By the time the caribou had entered, Trixie and Merryweather had both left it through a secret trap door in her floor, the carpet set up to roll over and conceal it the moment it closed. Had the stallions not been pounding at the door, they might have heard all of that, but they were far too eager to get at the both of them.

Thank you, Twilight, Trixie thought, knowing that this plan had been inspired by her rival. She had taught the blue mare that power was not the only way to defeat an opponent, and thus allowed Trixie to come up with her ingenious plan.

Of course, slipping out of the cart wasn’t going to be enough to get away unseen, so she left behind one of her storm clouds with a timer set to it and one of her trick metal rods in one of her fireworks boxes to attract its strike. Thank you, Rainbow Dash, Trixie thought to herself again, also acknowledging that if not for the Rainboom, she wouldn’t have had them for this moment.

Things were looking pretty good, as she had thought her trap would explode in someone’s face as they got the door open, but it looked like someone was going to get caught up in the blast. That was going to be distracting, for sure, but he was wearing some heavy armor, so Trixie figured he would be fine. Trixie might have wanted to get away, but she wasn’t trying to become a murderer in the process. Her attackers might not have had a conscience, but she didn’t have to stoop to their level.

The two ponies didn’t have to wait long to see the results of her trap, as a moment later, the windows lit up with lights, and the cart filled with whistles and explosions. That was the signal to get going. “Ok Merryweather, you need to go deeper into the forest and then climb into a tree. Hide there until the I come after you.”

“Wait, you’re not coming?” Merryweather said in hushed shock.

“Not yet,” Trixie said, still a little concerned about her carriage. She wanted to know if they were going to burn it down or not. If they did, she would consider it a necessary loss, but she wanted to see if she could retrieve it later. “Now go. I’ll be fine. Just trust me for now.”

Merryweather hesitated, but was ready to obey her elder. Trixie hadn’t led her astray so far, and it wasn’t like she was telling her to do anything dangerous. The filly flapped her wings, preparing herself to leave. She didn’t make it an inch away before something unexpected happened.

With a sudden thunderous explosion, the cart burst into a storm of broken planks and splintered wood. It made everyone standing around it recoil and guard themselves from the flying debris, including Trixie, who did not believe that her fireworks would have that much power in them. The blast was strong enough that it ejected the caribou inside from the cart, landing him in the direction of where Trixie and Merryweather were, close enough for the two to be able to get a good look at him while staying hidden.

The armor had taken the brunt of the force, as Trixie had anticipated, with splintered pieces of wood wedged in the slits and cracks of the armor. Laying on the ground, it looked as if the caribou had been winded by the impact, both from the explosion and connected with the ground, but otherwise, he looked fine. That was… until his head fell backwards, revealing something that stunned Trixie when she spotted it.

There in the deer man’s neck was a sizable piece of broken and jagged board, a miniature stake protruding from a hole in the front of his throat. The injury looked serious, and the horrid, wet-sounding gasps for air he made hurt the stage performer to listen to.

“Thungrox, are you ok!?” Shouted one of the stallions as they ran over to the severely hurt male. The inspected him to check the damage, and were notably disturbed by what they saw. “What did those monsters do to you?”

“I-I’m going to go get a healer.” The other one stammered out and he fled the caribou’s side, “Stay here with him!”

“W-wait a minute, I’m not staying alone here!” The other stallion protested, following right after his compatriot.

Perhaps he rationalized that their medic would get there no less quickly if he was retrieved by two ponies instead of one, but the speed at which his hooves were carrying him showed that he was terrified as to what might happen to him if he were left alone with somepony who could so easily fell a caribou.

That left only Trixie and Merryweather with the caribou. The unicorn watched from her safe distance as the beastly male hacked and gasped for each breath, the noises convincing the mare that he was not long for this world. She wanted to help somehow, but knew that she couldn’t in any way that mattered. Yet she was responsible for this, and that guilt would not leave her anytime soon.

However, that guilt was not shared by the filly next to Trixie, who had experienced first hand the kind of monster that creature was, and knew what danger they were in if they stayed. “Come on.” she said quietly, pulling Trixie by the hand.

“Huh?” Trixie replied, being dragged slightly by the filly, taken from the daze she had been in from the shock of what she had done.

“We got to go.” Merryweather said, “If they catch us, we’re gonna be in big trouble after that.”

Trixie couldn’t argue with the girl, and thus picked up her hooves, running into the woods with Merryweather as she had originally planned.

“So, what’s the plan from here?” the young pony asked, ready to hear what Trixie had in mind after that devastating blow she laid on that caribou.

“The plan is to get you someplace safe,” Trixie said, determined to do just that, “The royal guard will handle things from here.”

“Wait a second…” said Merryweather, slowing her pace down slightly, “What are you talking about? Didn’t you see those ponies that attacked us?”

“What about them?” Trixie replied, admitting to herself that she never got that good a look at them.

“They were the royal guard.” Merryweather said, very seriously for a child her age.

“What?” Trixie said shocked, “That can’t be true.”

“They were all wearing royal armor,” Merryweather explained, “And when me and my mom were attacked, I think one said something about…” Recalling the event that led to her fleeing for her life caused the filly to clam up, a series of traumatizing images flashing before her eyes.

“Okay,” Trixie said, seeing that the younger ponies didn’t really want to talk about what had happened, and for reasons Trixie didn’t have to be a mind-reader to tell, seeing as the girl mentioned a loved one who wasn’t currently around, “I believe you, but that doesn’t change the plan. Neither of us is able to deal with this, especially since all my things were destroyed.”

Trixie honestly didn’t believe her having her things would have made any difference, but it was a good enough excuse for a child to understand.

“But don’t you worry about your mother or any of your friends,” Trixie said confidently, “Trixie is sure that the princesses will take care of this in a day or two. She even knows Princess Twilight personally, and will bet that she’ll take on these invaders herself.”

Merryweather didn’t reply, finally coming down from all the excitement of the night. She just wanted some place to rest now, and was too drained to care about anything else. Unfortunately, the safe place Trixie had in mind was not very close, and it would take a solid day for them to reach it on hoof, but there was no need to tell the disheartened filly that. Better to let her keep a hold of all the hope she could.

“And that was what happened when I first met the caribou,” Trixie said, finishing the retelling of the event.

“That was... amazing,” said Lyra, fully engrossed in Trixie’s story.

It had been a few days since Trixie had stayed the night at the meeting place, long past the breakfast, and Sunset Shimmer had talked her into telling her tale to everypony else. She agreed to at least recount the first part of it, in order to test the water as to whether people even cared, but so far, everypony was showing an interest Trixie hadn’t expected.

“To think that somepony took out a caribou right as the invasion started.” said one of the stallion present at the meeting, happy to hear that this unicorn made sure first hand one of those bastards got what he deserved.

“It’s really not as amazing as it sounds,” said Trixie, blushing from all the attention she was getting. It had been some time since anyone took this much notice of her without her being at the end of some guy’s dick.

“Are you kidding?” said a earth pony mare, “You saved that little girl from those monsters. You’re a hero.”

“But I had to kill someone to do it,” Trixie replied, “It might’ve been on accident, but I did something horrible.”

“Can you really think that taking the life of a caribou is a bad thing?” said another stallion, “They had no problem taking our lives. Brainwashing us, taking our freedom, making us their slaves and sex objects. They might not have killed any of us, but if they weren’t stopped then, they might as well have.”

“I get what you’re saying,” Trixie said, knowing the horrors of such a life first hand, “But shouldn’t we be above that?”

“It depends,” Sunset Shimmer interjected, having listened to this story twice now, “As we all know, we were saved from tyranny with an act of violence, but we didn’t let that single act of violence turn us into monsters. It was something we needed, but used only when there was no other option.”

“But…” Trixie was still torn. This internal dilemma couldn’t just be solved by the approval of others, but she did understand the stance the others were taking against their enslavers. Trixie would have probably been conflicted by what she did to that caribou for the rest of her life, had not another pony in the group spoken up just then.

Carrot Top, having listened intently to Trixie’s tale of heroism, noticed something that others probably wouldn’t have, as they lacked the information that she had. “Did you say that the caribou’s name was ‘Thungrox’?”

“Yes, I did,” Trixie answered. The unicorn felt that the caribou at least deserved to have his name remembered by the one who killed him.

“Then you’re off the hook,” Carrot Top said, crossing her arms as she leaned back with a smile, “I knew that bastard.”

“What?!” Trixie said, jumping out of her seat, rushing over to the earth mare, and staring her dead in the eye.

Carrot was unphased, and just continued to explain what she knew, “It’s really hard to forget a stupid name like that, harder when they’re the one who stole your farm, and even harder when you had to live next to them for the better part of a year.”

“How are you sure it was him?” Trixie asked, as for all she knew ‘Thungrox’ was a common name amongst caribou.

“Well, it would be a heck of a coincidence if there was a mute caribou with the same name,” Carrot Top said, trying to contain her laughter, “So don’t worry, he was able to go on treating women like dirt, despite suffering throat trauma you caused him.”

Trixie back-stepped and slumped down in her seat, a weight suddenly lifted from her shoulders. She hadn’t killed anyone, the caribou managed to survive their encounter with one another. It was a small relief, crossing off something that haunted Trixie for a long time.

“Congratulations, Trixie,” Sunset said, “I’m sure that this is wonderful news. You can no longer be considered a murderer in any way.”

“I… I need to lay down,” Trixie said, this news over-stimulation her mind.

“Wait, you can’t end your story there,” said a pegasus mare, “What did you do next? What happened to Merryweather?”

Many others in the meeting agreed with this mare. They needed to know more; about what Trixie did next, about what happened to the child she picked up, and about how Trixie eventually got captured.

“Give the girl some space,” Sunset said, standing up from her seat, “There will be plenty of time for Trixie to continue later. For now, we should let her rest. Starlight, could you help her?”

Starlight went to her fellow unicorn and helped her up to her hooves, using her body to support Trixie as they left the meeting room. Sunset joined them upon exiting, the three unicorns heading to the guest room Trixie had been using for the past few days. Once out of earshot of the others, the two mares addressed Trixie in private.

“I told you they’d like it,” Starlight said gleefully, “It’s a really inspirational tale. Really shows that even the fall itself wasn’t just hopelessness.”

“Yeah, you sure won them over in there,” Sunset added, “Might have to make you into the poster mare of our organization.”

“Please don’t,” Trixie said, her mind still at odds about all this.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a joke,” Sunset said, “I wouldn’t put that much pressure on a mare still deciding whether or not they want to stay in our group.”

“But at this point, you have to admit that it’s not that bad”, said Starlight, “Everypony here is happy you decided to share this experience with them.”

Trixie had to admit, she did like an environment where everypony was happy with her.

“Yes, at the very least stay to help encourage the others.” Sunset said, “Just remember what I said about that last part you shared with us. There is no need for them to know that messy detail about your past.”

Trixie nodded, knowing exactly what it was the fiery maned unicorn was referring to. What she had shared that day in the meeting was only a little bit of what she had done during the fall, and she had already told Sunset and Starlight everything else. While the caribou’s death had been proven false, it was only one rock removed from the pile of regrets that was her past, and Trixie agreed that some things were not needed to be known publicly.

Author's Notes:

Hey there people. It's been a while, with holidays, my gaming habit, and overall personal laziness getting in the way. I decided to take some time off and finish Persona 5, which has been sitting on my shelf for a while, and is part of one of my favorite gaming series. So yeah, sinking 134 hours into that contributed a bit to this late release. however, I also decided that since I took so long I should make the new chapter that much bigger, to help entertain you all for a longer period of time between this and the next update.

So part of this update was something that I had in mind when I first came up with the idea for this story. Originally this story was suppose to come with a sister story that would have popped up at this point, which would have been solely dedicated to Trixie's time in the fall leading up to her eventual capture, since the first chapter of this story indicates that that does eventually happen. The basic idea was that things that happen in Trixie's past would happen there, and things in her present would happen here, and in order to get all the information you would have had to read both stories.

In this way, events of trixie's past where to eventually catch up with her in one way or another, and she was depressed and trying to escape from her misery in one story, the other one would still have her relatively happy and working towards her eventual despair. All in all, i thought it was a good concept at the time, but now I fee that doing that might not work out so well, so I'll just be posting those parts in the story proper and just segway into them. Still, might have been neat to have a "two story" tale that linked all the events together, creating a bigger universe that anyone interested could look into. Maybe I'll try something like that later down the line.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I'll see ya all after the holidays.

Leaving The Nest

“Are you sure we should do this?” Trixie bemoaned, standing at the front gate of the halfway house she had been staying at prior to discovering the support group.

“You said yourself that you prefer staying at the club,” Starlight said, having accompanied her to the location.

It had been one day since she had told her story to the others in the group, having been declared somewhat of a hero by them all for the small acts she described to them. The morning after, Starlight and Sunset inquired about her extended stay at their facilities, and Trixie admitted that she just felt more comfortable there than anywhere else. The two mares, showing their usual understanding nature, saw nothing wrong with that and offered to allow Trixie to stay there as long as she wished.

The only catch, if you could call it that, was that she would have to officially resign from the mare home she had run away from. They explained it would serve a dual purpose of providing closure for herself, and informing those in charge that she would no longer be taking up residence there. Trixie knew they were right on both points, but she didn’t exactly like the idea of going back to a place where so many ponies didn’t like her.

Of course, that was why Starlight was present with her, to provide support during this troubling task. If somepony she felt safe with was close by, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so hard for Trixie to face those who looked down on her.

“Ready to go in?” Starlight asked her fellow unicorn after standing in front of the gate for a few minutes.

“As ready as I’m gonna be…” Trixie muttered, realizing that just standing there wasn’t doing anypony any good. With a deep breath, she opened the gate protecting those behind it from the outside world.

They headed straight to the building at the center of the brick wall enclosure, letting nothing deter them from their destination. Trixie noticed a few of the residents spotting her as she passed them. None of them tried to approach her though, keeping to themselves or going to others to whisper about her sudden appearance after being gone for days.

So this is what I get after my disappearing act, Trixie thought to herself, taking note of the reactions from other mares. But why would they treat me any differently than before? It’s not like they even liked me.

The feeling of not having a single friend in this place, or even a single mare who could show enough concern for her to at least see if she was okay after being away for so long, reaffirmed the thoughts she had about leaving this place for good. For the longest time she believed she wasn’t wanted, and this only confirmed that feeling further. The only friendly person in this whole place was Starlight, and that was just because she came with her.

The two unicorn’s made their way through the front doors of the mare home, and started their search for Ms. Harshwhinny, the pony who ran the place. They headed to the direction of Harshwhinny’s living quarters, and luckily stumbled upon her before making it there. Or more so, she stumbled upon them, as Trixie’s arrival made for quick news through the facility, and she was searching for them as they were trying to find her.

“Miss Lunamoon!” called the earth mare the moment she spotted the familiar blue unicorn, “Where have you been for the past three days?!” Harshwhinny marched herself right up to Trixie, stopping in front of her with a heavy planting of her hoof on the wood floor beneath them, before scanning her eyes all over the recently missing mare.

“You’ll have to forgive Trixie,” Starlight said, seeing how upset both of the other mares were, “My organization extended her an open invitation to stay at our local building, and she decided to accept our offer. It was our fault that she didn’t show up sooner and made you worry.”

Harshwhinny had heard that Trixie had arrived with another mare alongside her, but with the unicorn’s track record of getting along with others, she had a hard time believing it until she saw it for herself. Giving Starlight her own investigative scan, the earth mare saw the black ascot around her neck.

“Ah, I’ve heard of your organization before,” Harshwhinny said, coming off as annoyed, “‘Mares for a Better Equestria’, I believe.”

“That’s right,” Starlight said with a bright smile.

“And I suppose you lured Miss Lunamoon into your ranks as well, then?” Harshwhinny continued, “Officially, your group acts as a help group for mares and stallions alike to assist with emotional turmoil and stress, but we have been warned before about your aggressive tactics when it comes to recruiting new members.”

Aggressive tactics? Trixie thought to herself, not recalling her introduction to the group as anything she would consider aggressive.

“I promise you that any such rumors are only spread by those who have personal issues with our leader and her ideas,” Starlight replied, keeping her pleasant demeanor, “It’s not like we could force anyone to join a support group unwillingly, and Trixie herself could attest that we never made her do anything she didn’t want to.”

Harshwhinny looked at Trixie with crossed arms and judging eyes, ones that demanded an honest answer from the mare. Trixie was intimidated by that glare, and for a moment, she couldn’t tell the earth mare that she had done everything of her own accord, but then she felt Starlight’s hand slip into her own and clasp it firmly.

This gave Trixie the strength to stand up to Harshwhinny. “I went to the meetings myself, and decided to stay a few nights there because they let me. They didn’t force me into anything.”

Harshwhinny’s composure broke instantly as she felt the calm anger behind Trixie’s voice. “I didn’t mean to imply that they forced you. Maybe what I meant was that I’ve heard these mares like to pressure ponies into joining their cause.”

“I wasn’t pressured either,” said Trixie, quickly denouncing any such idea that she was coerced, “I was handed a flyer, and I made a choice that this was something I needed.”

Harshwhinny, seeing that her words of caution were not getting anywhere, relented. “Okay, I’m sorry I made such an accusation to begin with. The important thing is that you’re safe and you’re back. Honestly, after what I heard about you at the work sight, I was worried that you’d ran away for good.”

“I think that Trixie is a little stronger than that.” Starlight interjected, “But you might know that if you gotten to know her more.”

Trixie shook her head, she was done with this conversation. Miss Harshwhinny, along with all the mares in this group home, had all the time in Equestria to get to know her, but never even bothered to try from Trixie’s perspective. Now they would not get another chance to change that.

“I’m not staying here anymore,” Trixie blurted out, the first thing to come to her mind.

“What?” asked Harshwhinny, shocked at what the blue unicorn said suddenly.

“You said that I was ‘safe and back’. Well, I'm safe, but I only came back to get my things and tell you that I’m leaving.”

“But… why?” Harshwhinny questioned, not seeing any place else that Trixie could go with Equestria in the state it was in.

“Because I was offered a place to stay,” Trixie said with confidence, “And I know that the mares here hate me.”

“Trixie,” Harshwhinny said, the other mare’s words breaking her from the usual tone of superiority. She almost sounded hurt by what the unicorn said. “We don’t hate you.”

“Bullshit,” Trixie replied quick and with the bluntness of a hammer against brick. “I know that the others just see me as a burden, or want to say I’m worthless even when I’m trying to help. And you, you do nothing but scold me every chance you get. I'd think you’d be happy to be rid of a pony who annoys you so much.”

Before Harshwhinny’s eyes, Trixie started to slowly turn to tears in the middle of her list of sins the other mares of the group home were so gracious to make for her. The earth mare was at a loss with how to deal with this, as being comforting was not really her forte. She was more about keeping things orderly, and scrutinizing things to assure they were going along as intended. If anything, her usual stern demeanor was counterproductive in a situation like this.

“Excuse me,” Starlight said to Harshwhinny, seeing that the conversation broke down once Trixie started talking about her supposed faults, ones she must have believed to some extent to warrant her reaction, “But can I ask you a question?”

With things the way they were, Harshwhinny had very little presence to deny anything from anyone. With a simple nod, she accepted whatever it was Trixie’s associate had to say.

“Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but were you possibly a purple collar during the fall?”

A unified “Huh?” came from both Trixie and Harshwhinny when they heard the question, as it seemed to come out of nowhere, had little relevance as to what was going on, and there was little reason for Starlight to assume such a thing to begin with, or so they believed.

“Well I noticed that you carry yourself very well… for a mare who surely experienced the horrors of the Fall.” Starlight said, sure in her reasoning, “When I talk to mares, either on the street or in our group, I tend to see trends among them. They usually show strong signs of negative, and in some cases, near debilitating emotions, such as anger, sorrow, or apathy to the world around them. You don’t really seem to be that way, though. You carry an air of confidence and command that one wouldn’t assume a victim of the caribou would have.”

“Hmmm,” Harshwhinny murmured to herself as she looked away slightly, not yet ready to respond.

“It is the telltale sign of a pony who had their memories of the Fall removed,” Starlight went on to explain, “Where they tend to act as if none of that terrible year ever happened to them, because to them, it didn’t. But so far, the only mares who the Equestrian Committee have permitted to have the memory erasure spell used on are purple collars, as removing the bad memories from their minds is a quick fix to the mental damage they were afflicted with.”

Harshwhinny was surprised the pink unicorn was able to discern such things simply based on personality traits. She was correct, too, with Harshwhinny having undergone the experience of ‘purpling’, as the caribou called it, tortured until her mind broke and she was left a cock-craving husk of her former self. The only way to revert her back from a mindless fuck puppet was to eliminate the events that turned her that way from her mind, which in turn left her with little memory of the Fall in general.

Most of what she did know was told to her by those who cured her, and while it was shocking to learn that for the past year, you had been crawling on all fours, wagging your ass at any dick that passed your way, and licking up discarded cum remnants off the floor, it didn’t have the same impact as having been through all that first hand. In fact, the very reason she was given charge of the mare home was because she didn’t remember any of that horrid experience, that she was much more stable than the average mare who did, and that she was acknowledged to be a responsible and dedicated individual before Equestria fell under caribou control.

Honestly, it was more stunning to Harshwhinny that such a thing could be figured out by somepony who hardly knew her. However, she wasn’t about to let this unnerve her. “Yes, I was a purple collar, but what does that have to do with this?”

“I believe, and you’ll have to forgive me for saying this, that without your memories of the Fall, you really aren’t fit to help a mare such as Trixie,” said Starlight, getting to the point of her deductions, “You are a respectable and admirable mare, but the trauma Trixie has endured is not something that can be understood by a bystander.”

“A bystander?” Harshwhinny questioned in offense, “I was raped and tortured by the caribou just like any other pony in Equestria.”

“That might be true, and the torture they inflicted on you drove you mad, but your lack of recollection sets you apart from those who endured the fall without losing their minds. How can you say that you’re equal to a mare like Trixie when you don’t bare the same mental scars? As presumptuous as it might sound, only a black collar can understand the suffering of another black collar. Black collars like the ones in our group.”

Harshwhinny did not like the happy tone this unicorn kept at all times as she ‘explained’ why the earth mare was not fit to help a mare like Trixie, but she couldn’t help but admit that, throughout the rebuilding of Equestria, she had felt somewhat like an alien entity. She knew what had happened, the tragedy that befell ponykind, but it was hard to stay in the mindset that was needed for this. At the very least, Starlight might have been correct when it came to Trixie herself, who showed little signs of recovery in the hostile atmosphere the mare home had become for her.

“Look, Trixie… If you really don’t feel comfortable here anymore, then it’s far from me to try and keep you here against your will,” Harshwhinny said, relenting to the unicorn’s desire to leave, “But know that if you ever find yourself in need of a place to stay, you are always welcome to come back.”

“...Thank you,” Trixie replied, not really feeling all that thankful for the offer. It came off as Harshwhinny just trying to be polite, but it would only make things move along smoother to return the gesture, “Now if you’ll excuse us, me and Starlight are going to get my things and leave.”

Harshwhinny didn’t interfere any further, stepping aside so the two unicorns could make their way to the sleeping quarters. The only other thing she said before leaving Trixie to her own devices was, “Good luck with this group of yours. I hope it can give you what we could not.”

The two unicorn’s headed to Trixie’s former living quarters unimpeded after the conversation, with no mare daring to approach them as they went about their way. It wasn’t because they knew what was going on, or who Starlight was, but that Trixie was painfully right about their feelings towards her. Most just stayed away from the blue unicorn as she did what she did, figuring that at worst things were just returning to the status quo.

This went so far as several of her former housemates leaving the sleeping area when she entered, not wanting to get wrapped up with her by any means. That worked well for Trixie, as it gave her the ability to get her things without much hassle, what little there was to get.

Starlight followed her companion to the foot of her bed, where a small foot locker sat awaiting their arrival. There was one such container at the foot of every bed in the room, to allow those staying at the home to keep any personal effects they might have salvaged or claimed from their enslavement. Opening her own, Trixie was reminded of how little it was that she actually had to her name.

Inside were several outfits, duplicates of the plain purple dress she was currently wearing. They were all donations, distributed around Equestria by those in charge of things at the time to mares in much need of the simple luxury of clothing. Trixie took each out one by one, and stacked them in Starlight’s arms along with several sets of blue and yellow undergarments.

Looking over the pile of clothes in her arms, Starlight spotted one more article of clothing inside the locker, and said to Trixie, “I can probably hold that too, if you want me too.”

Trixie looked at the object in question, not sure on what she wanted to do with it. It was a hat, an incomplete replica of the magician’s hat she wore up until it was taken away and torn to shreads by the caribou. She had used some of the clothing donated to her, a few dresses and undergarments she saw as extra, to remake it, trying to forge something to remind herself of better times. Eventually though, one of the other mares learned that she had destroyed perfectly good clothing for the sake of a vanity item, becoming appalled that the unicorn would do such a thing. The rumor spread so fast that soon after, every other mare in the house had learned of it, and each was likewise scrutinizing of her wasteful act, until Trixie was shamed into not completing it. Just looking at the thing brought up memories of scornful gazes to her, and thus she decided to brush it aside in order to grab a hair brush.

“Or… we can leave it here. It’s up to you.” Starlight said after watching Trixie’s disheartened display with the item. She knew that if left behind, odds were that it would be thrown out if they didn’t take it, but perhaps that was what Trixie wanted done with it.

“Hey,” Trixie started, shifting the conversation to something else, “What exactly is your group’s stance on purple collars?”

“Purple collars?” Starlight asked, “Why do you ask?”

“You said that Harshwhinny was a purple collar,” Trixie answered, grabbing a hand mirror, “But also that you didn’t trust her to handle a mare with my problems. Are we not suppose to respect them?”

“No, no,” Starlight objected in her usual cheerful tone, “You took that the wrong way. I didn’t mean any disrespect to her. If anything, she’s a victim just like any other mare. But a mare with no memory of the Fall has no means to truly empathize with a Fall victim. They might want to, but the lack of personal experience will always separate them from a pony like yourself.”

Trixie didn’t know if that was very sound logic being displayed by Starlight, but then again Harshwhinny really didn’t seem well suited for aiding her through the recovery from the trauma she had suffered.

“Though I would also say, purple collars were not all created equally either…” Starlight added, the inflections in her voice for once turning a bit more solemn then usual.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked, taking a few candy bars she had been hoarding out of the locker to join with her other items.

“Well unlike blanks, who were ponies punished for rebelling, purple collars were created when a mare became mentally damaged. That sort of thing wasn’t exclusive to only black collar mares, as some red collars would succumb to madness too if pushed too hard. Some masters would go as far as to purple their slaves on purpose, enjoying the idea of owning a sex-crazed slave. Unfortunately, there is no telling if a de-purpled mare was a red or black collar during the Fall, at least not without the caribou’s records.”

“I see…” Trixie said under her breath, now wondering if Harshwhinny was really the victim of rape she claimed she was, or actually had been a caribou supporter - not that Harshwhinny herself would know the answer to that question. “So it’s possible that some red collars have gotten away with their betrayal this way.”

“I’m afraid so,” Starlight replied, “At least a few would have had to of, but the general public will never know who those individuals are.”

Trixie clenched her hand, accidentally smashing a candy bar she was holding between her fingers. The news was irritating, to say the least. There were mares out there who willfully became slaves and assisted in the torture of other mares, who were now living out there lives as free mares who would never be punished for what they did.

“It’s a shame, but Equestria’s policies at the moment are to assume innocents unless there is definitive proof of guilt.” Starlight went on to explain, “A de-purpled mare cannot be questioned or interrogated to determine the reasons they became a red collar, and with three of the princesses setting precedence for mares to claim brainwashing, it is impossible to say who was a traitor and those who used the status of a red collar to disguise their rebellious acts, if any at all.”

The explanation was one that Trixie believed few mares would want to hear, the part about the princesses being turned into an excuse was the most disturbing part of it all. No pony liked the idea of Celestia having caused others to aid those that caused suffering, willing to accept the provided statements of her brainwashing via the caribou’s Crystal Cock. Here though, that excuse for the former leader of Equestria’s time as a red collar was being used to protect those who truly harmed Equestria, and it was hard to disassociate how vile it was to protect those traitors from the matriarch providing them with a convenient excuse.

Be that as it may, there was nothing Trixie could do about it but be impotently angry. Angry at the kingdom she lived in, the princesses she was ruled by, and herself, as they all seemed to lack the ability to do anything right. In a huff, she gathered up the rest of her things, taking the incomplete hat she had intended to discard, and stuffing all remaining small items within it. With rage replacing depression, the foot locker was emptied out much more quickly, and barely another minute passed before Trixie was ready to leave. With a fully stuffed piece of unfinished headwear clenched in her hand, Trixie headed back towards the mare home’s exit, with Starlight making a brisk walk to follow behind her.

“I’m sorry if I said something upsetting,” Starlight apologized.

“It’s not you,” said Trixie furiously, “It’s everything else. The government and the princesses aren’t helping things, everypony’s too wrapped up in themselves to care for anypony else, and everything just acts as a reminder of how horrible things are right now!”

Trixie said this all loudly as she stormed out of the group home, not caring who heard it. It wasn’t like she was going to be living with these ponies anymore, so why bother to be polite or conscious of their feelings.

“Equestria is not mending well,” Starlight agreed, “And it’s going to need more effort put into it than what the committee’s been doing so far.”

“I’ll say,” Trixie said, looking back at Starlight, “Mares are stuffed together in places like this tighter than a hay bushel, forced to make houses with their own hands if they want to get their own in any reasonable time, and even then, there is a waiting list. And if that wasn’t enough, they don’t give a damn about how these conditions are driving us all mad! If I had to stay another day in this dump, eating the same slop with the same group of people who can’t stand being around me, I’d go nuts!”

Trixie gave her complaints to no pony in particular, while shooting glares at anyone in her vicinity that wasn’t Starlight. The majority treated this outburst like any other time the unicorn acted negatively, showing only disdain if they gave her any reaction at all. A very few though were actually caught off guard by the yelling, as Trixie was more one to mope quietly than to break out in a fit of rage. Some showed visual signs of concern or even pity, but none of them were courageous to try and approach the mare as she was.

“Don’t you all worry,” Trixie said near to tears, knowing that she was making the other mares uncomfortable, but not really caring, “I won’t be around to cause problems anymore. I’m going somewhere else so you all can live in your land of make believe where you think somepony will come and take away all the bad stuff that happened to you. You won’t have me reminding you that things were and still are terrible, and that it’s only going to get worse before it gets better, if it ever does.”

Trixie was projecting, but she wasn’t entirely wrong. Not every mare was the type to go out and help repair Equestria in it’s damaged state. There were in fact those still too stunted by their enslavement to do so much as leave the group home, despite acting if everything was fine. Trixie might have been the only mare present who expressed her pain outwardly, if in a manner that all but crippled her emotionally. Others had their own problems that they just hid better, and those who heard what Trixie had to say felt a small part of the reality hit them like a brick. As the two unicorns took their leave, those few were left contemplating in silence with the thought of things never going back to how they were before the caribou.

“That was-” Starlight started as they made it out the front doors.

“Harsh,” Trixie cut in, still mad, “I know.”

“I was going to say ‘very brave’,” Starlight corrected, “Getting things off your chest is a good thing, and the way you held yourself in the face of all those ponies that judged you was inspiring. Plus, it’s something that a lot of mares here needed to hear, because they're not going to get better in a place like this.”

Trixie had to agree with Starlight. This place never did anything but provide her bad food and poor shelter, and a post-Fall Equestrian female needed more.

“So maybe you got through to a few of them, and they will decide to do something more to help their recovery. From what I saw, you at least got some of them thinking.”

“You think so?” Trixie asked, calming down a little after hearing that. She personally didn’t feel like her words were that powerful.

“I would like to think so,” Starlight added, “You might not be public speaker material, but you don’t have to be in order to be right.”

Trixie took in Starlight’s words as they made their way to the gate. There was no way anypony in the group home really listened to her, was there? She has assumed that shouting at them was the same as trying to rationalize with a caribou, but what if Starlight was right? And did that even mean anything at all to Trixie? With how she burned this particular bridge, she didn’t feel like reaching one or two mares would make a difference in the long run.

She didn’t make another comment on the matter, just briefly thought about whether or not she was happy that maybe one of her former housemates listened to what she had to say. A brief moment was all she had to think on it though, as when the large metal door in front of her opened, something else behind it wished for her attention.

“Trixie, at last. There you are!” said a striped equine as the gateway opened as far as it could, “I’ve looked for you, both near and far.”

Hearing her name from a source other than Starlight, the blue unicorn came out of her thoughts, and registered that there was a robed zebra standing in her path. It wasn’t instantly, but with a little effort Trixie was able to remember who this pony was.

“Amale,” Trixie said in slight shock as the name came to her, “I didn’t expect to run into you.”

“I’m glad that we could meet today, after the time you’ve been away,” Amale said, letting Trixie know that she knew about the unicorn’s absence, “I came here with more things to give, to improve the quality by which you live.”

Amale quickly opened up a large carrying bag she had, rooting around for things on the spot that she was more than willing to hand off to Trixie. Trixie, on the other hand, was standing there a bit nervously. While she had not directly thought of the zebra since they had first met, she had been taking the anti-arousal pills that she was given by Amale as instructed, and they had been working perfectly. Trixie honestly wanted more of what this zebra had to offer, but she was no longer a resident at this group home, so with that the unicorn believed she would lose access to Amale’s medical miracle cures.

“Ah, I found it, you’re in luck,” the zebra said, pulling out a glass bottle, “Reduction potion, right off the truck.”

Trixie reached for the bottle, but before taking it, she put her hand on the bottle and pushed it lightly back towards the bag, “I can’t accept this.”

“Why Trixie, surely you can. Just take it from my giving hand.”

“No, I mean I can’t take it because I don’t live here anymore. I’ve don’t feel this place is for me, and I know they wouldn’t want you helping me if I’m not a part of this place.”

Amale blinked a few times, a bit confused. “I do not think you understand. I’m not under this house’s command. My service is a charity, to help you mares is my duty. As long as you are in my reach, this vow I made, I will not breech.”

It was Trixie’s turn to be confused, as the zebra once more attempted to hand her the potion. It was so awkward that Starlight, who had been watching from the sidelines, had to step in.

“Trixie, the zebra here are not part of Equestria’s recovery efforts,” Starlight explained, “They are working with, and have the cooperation of, the Equestrian Committee of Ponies, but they are their own force working to heal the physical damage caused by the caribou. If this mare is trying to help you, then you don’t have to reject her just because you’re moving out of the group home.”

“Really?” Trixie questioned, assuming all of the charity functions for Equestria were operating as one, “Well if it isn’t going to cause any trouble.” Trixie took the bottle and drunk it’s contents quickly.

“I’m glad to see that you have learned, there’s no trouble as far as I’m concerned.”

It didn’t take long for the potion to take effect, and Trixie’s breast shrunk a little bit more back toward their original size. Now there was enough room in the chest area of her dress that the fabric could move away from her flesh. A few more doses and she might be forced to get new clothing, which was a good thing.

“Thank you for continuing to help my friend here,” Starlight said, personally happy that the zebra all wanted to help out anypony in need, just like their organization, “Actually, we are heading back to where Trixie will be staying from now on. Would you like to come along?”

“It would be good to know where she’ll stay, so when I can help, I can find my way.”

Taking Amale’s rhyme as a yes, the three headed back to town, making the couple of unicorns look a little odd with a softly smiling zebra girl following behind them every step of the way. Starlight hardly seemed to care, but Trixie was a bit more self-conscious as a few eyes passed their way. Despite mild embarrassment felt by one of their members, the group made the trip uneventfully.

“So this will be your brand new place,” Amale said, looking at the support group building from the front, “It seems quite nice, with lots of space.”

“Well you’re not wrong,” Trixie replied, thinking about her room and how she’d be able to crash there whenever she pleased now, “And I’ve met a whole bunch of ponies here actually willing to help me with my problems.”

“Well do not think of me too sappy,” said Amale, “But I’m just glad that you are happy.”

“Me too,” Starlight said as she opened the front door, “Come inside. I’ll show you exactly where she will be staying.”

“I’m afraid I have to leave, for there are more mares who are in need.” Amale declined, “But Trixie, I wish for you the best, and hope your troubles will be put to rest.”

The zebra gave Trixie a light hug, of which the unicorn with her hands full had no means to resist, before heading off to hand out her tribal medicines to others in need. The two unicorns watched her walk away for a little bit, then went inside to get things set up for Trixie’s stay.

“Oh, you’re both back already.” said Sunset Shimmer, the two mares encountering her as they got close to Trixie’s room. She was sitting on a folding chair right next to it’s door, reading a magazine while waiting for their return. “That didn’t take long at all.”

“There wasn’t a lot I needed to pick up,” Trixie admitted, everything she owned on display within her and Starlight’s hands. Had she owned a duffle bag, she probably could have carried it all by herself.

“Then that just means we’ll have to get you new things to call your own,” Sunset said, noting that between the two other unicorns, there was nearly nothing worth actually going to retrieve. “It’s not fair that the caribou took everything you owned from you, and I know most of what you told us about can never be replaced. We can start rebuilding your life into something better than before though, and I hope that what I’m about to give you will be something you treasure from this day forward.”

Getting up from her chair, Sunset reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a black piece of cloth. Trixie recognized it immediately as the same kind of cloth Sunset and Starlight used for their ascots.

“I have decided that it is time I inducted new members into our group.” said Sunset, looking Trixie straight in the eyes, “Mares who reflect our ideals and wish for a better Equestria to be built over the destruction the caribou caused. I think that you are such a mare.”

“B-But, how can you think I represent your ideas,” Trixie said, surprised that she was being offered a spot as one of their actual members, and not just a participant of their group therapy sessions, “After all I told you. When I’m the reason-”

Sunset put a finger to Trixie’s lips, and softly ‘ssshhhh’ed her, “You did cause something terrible, but you also did a lot of good during the Fall. If you truly feel guilty about what you said, then I see no better way for you to make up for it than working for our group.”

Trixie could feel herself tremble a little, her legs suddenly not feeling as strong as they should be. She really didn’t have much faith in her abilities, but here was a mare willing to put trust in her, despite so many others believing she was worthless, perhaps rightfully so. What could Sunset see in her? Why would she want to have a mare who only depended on others as one of her members?

“At the very least give it a try. I think that you’ll find it much easier than you think.”

Trixie agreed that at least trying to do some good was worth attempting. Sunset’s offer at redemption was too much to pass up on mere doubt alone. “Ok… but if you regret it later-”

“I don’t think I will.” Sunset said, cutting off any self deprecating thing Trixie was about to say, “Now hold still. I want to make sure you look perfect the first time you put this on.”

The fiery maned mare wrapped the piece of cloth around the neck of her fellow unicorn, and tied it tightly in a simple, but firm knot. The feel of it around her neck instantly reminded the blue mare of her slave collar, but the soft material and lack of constant pain allowed her to push those thoughts deep down within her. She had to think about what this cloth truly stood for, which for now was the faith Sunset was putting in her.

“There you go. Now you look like a proud, strong survivor of the Fall.” Sunset said once done, clearly happy with her handy work.

Starlight, stepping out of Trixie’s room after depositing her clothes on her bed, choosing to be efficient in this moment, spotted the black fabric around Trixie’s neck and gave a smile herself. “You look wonderful with that on.”

“Does it really look that good?” Trixie said, nervously putting a hand into her mane.

“Of course it does.” Sunset confirmed.

“Oh! This calls for a celebration!” Starlight said excitedly, “I’m making sundaes!” With that, the pink mare ran off in the direction of the kitchen.

Seeing her partner run off, Sunset shook her head and gave a short laugh. “How eager she is to please. Anyways, you probably shouldn’t keep her waiting. Put your things away, and while we eat I’ll talk about your first assignment.”

“An assignment?!” Trixie said, surprised that she would receive any kind of responsibility so soon.

“It’s nothing big, and you’ll have others helping you. Tomorrow we are going to hand out ascots to all the members of your support group, and the day after that we are all heading to Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?” Trixie asked, slipping into her room. “What’s happening there.”

“Like I said, nothing big. Just a little assembly that I want us all to be a part of, involving somepony I believe you are familiar with.”

“Who’s that?”

“No one important, just a pony named Twilight Sparkle.”

Sunset walked off as she said that, and as she did, Trixie dropped everything she had to the floor. Out of every pony in Equestria, if there was one that she didn’t think she could bare facing again, it was that purple alicorn.

Author's Notes:

So... been a while since I put something insightful in one of these. No reason to change that now XP. I kid, I kid, but I guess I just don't have too many connections myself to the events happening in these current chapters.

I do have a certain connection with Trixie, in that I was myself raped at one point in my life, but to be honest it happened when I was really young and I hardly bother thinking on the matter anymore. That part of my life really doesn't phase me, so I'm not the emotional mess Trixie or most other mares would be after experiencing a year long rape session. So I suppose the only other thing I sorta share with her was a time when I wanted to run away from everything.

You see, I did not have a stable home growing up. I lived with a single parent, my mother, who was constantly getting new boyfriends, occasionally marrying one of them only to break off the marriage later, and constantly losing their current home because they "forgot" to pay rent that month, or decided that as long as they were paying rent they could do whatever they pleased with the property. This led to her eventually acquiring 6 different pitbulls and putting them under one roof.

She wasn't fighting them or anything that cruel and stupid. No, she got them in order to breed them and make money off selling the puppies. Problem is that not only were they at each other's throats over their perceived territory, but my mother simply didn't take care of them herself. She pretty much just pushed them onto whoever was there, rarely feeding or taking them out if she didn't have to.

One day, after she tried to inflict one of the dogs on me for reasons I don't remember, I got fed up and refused. In response, my gracious caregiver said I was kicked out of the house. In my anger, I gladly accepted this invitation to leave, not really knowing where I was going to go. I had no other immediate family, no friends that I could stay the night at. To be honest, my immediate plan was to stay under a nearby bridge cause I was around 18 with no job and had no idea what to do.

That plan lasted all of an hour, before I wandered around a bit, spending a little time with some of those relatives I wasn't going to be allowed to stay with, before heading back to my mother's house and breaking in while she was gone. I didn't try to hide in the house though. I made myself known as soon as she returned, but i wasn't going to let her take advantage of me by making me her slave to take care a bunch of giant dogs that she couldn't handle and could tear me apart if they felt inclined (I actually have a bite mark on each of my hands from times they actually managed to get me in the middle of their fights). Before I could even say any of that though, she informed me about how terrible things were for her because she was just informed she was getting evicted, and she had no clue where she would go next. Terrific, we went through all this effort and trouble, just to end up homeless slightly further down the line anyways.

That time did give me an opportunity to set up a place to go though, and after what might have been 5 years of depending on people who barely knew me, I finally found my break that eventually led to me getting a permanent home. In that time I was able to get a collage degree, and even my first job working as a cashier. From there things have been "less terrible", but I can hardly forget about all those awful moments brought about by this woman's poor decisions.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I do know what it is like to be thrust into a situation beyond your control, to have nothing to depend on but people who only seem to want to take advantage of your circumstances, and wanting to run away despite there really being no other options. It's bad, and I would hope that no one ever have to go through what I did at that time. If not for a few kind people, and even more not so kind people, I probably would have been under that bridge till I died of exposure (Thank god it was still fall).

I can't really think of the lesson I want to convey with all this, except maybe you should try to distance yourself from shitty people as soon as possible, and find people who are actively trying to make your life better, though it can sometimes be hard to differentiate those two groups from one another.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Take care.

The Committee of Ponies

The following day, the sun rose over Canterlot, not a cloud in the sky obstructing its rays from touching the city. The once proud capital of Equestria, and the place the caribou used to keep a hoofhold on the nation, was now a base of operations for recovery efforts. Acting as a headquarters for said efforts was the castle itself, where several ponies of influence and importance, who had contributed in some manner to end the caribou’s reign met frequently to decide what actions the kingdom should take on the road to restoration.

That morning marked yet another meeting of this small group known as “The Committee of Ponies”. Together, they walked into what was formerly Celestia’s throne room, six in total, three of them mares and three stallions, all treated as equals. They made their way to their designated seats to begin another long meeting to see how far Equestria had truly progressed, what they should focus their resources on, and discuss how to stabilize social unrest until things would go back to normal.

The first one to reach their seat was Princess Luna, whose chair was placed at the far end of the long table, closest to the door. To the left of her seat were three chairs, as were to her right, and as she placed her rump down, the remainder of Committee went to these opposing sides separating themselves by gender.

“We hereby bring this meeting of The Committee of Ponies to order.” Luna said before any other pony could be seated, wanting to get started as soon as possible. As vital as these gatherings were, each pony here had their own responsibilities, and thus every second of their precious time mattered. Ceremony meant little to Luna if the ponies of Equestria were currently suffering because of a lack of guidance.

The second pony to take their place at the table was an earth pony, one with yellow fur and golden hair, and went by the name of Braeburn. During the Fall, this stallion had successfully managed to run a farm that acted as a sanctuary for mares, right underneath the noses of the caribou tyrants. While his actions were directed towards helping his immediate family, the fact that he was able to help anypony, and on such a large scale, was impressive. His talents at management and gathering ponies for a common goal were undeniable, and that, along with a recommendation from Big Mac, had gotten him his place in the committee.

“Ah’ve got a report on the food situation,” Braeburn started, pulling up a folded up piece of paper from the pocket of his duster. “It seems that most farms in Equestria have been able t’ remove the rape pods from their lands,” he said, opening up the white sheet, “An’ within a month everythin’ should be back t’ tip top shape, but as it stands now we are still only making about half what we were anticipating by now, an’ even once they are fixed up it’ll take a few months to get food growing the way it use t’.”

One of the biggest problems that the ponies were left with in the wake of Dainn’s rule was a large shortage of food caused by their need to use fertile farmland to grow abominable plants who’s only use seemed to be making a sexual stimulant. The monstrous weeds not only took up space necessary to grow much needed food for the entire kingdom, but also proved incredibly difficult to remove after the ones wanting them grown were expelled from the position of power. The roots had to be dug out completely, and the plants actively attacked any female that got close to them, limiting the amount of workers who could safely remove them. What might have taken a week with a full work force was being drawn out over a month.

“The rape pods aren’t the only problems to report when it comes to our food supply,” said Spitfire, the Wonderbolt captain, as she took her place at the table, seated diagonally from the farm stallion, “With much of the female pegasi population still having issues with flying, the weather teams we have on hand are bare-boned. While we can now move water to Cloudsdale with the use of hurricanes, we still have limited supplies of rain water.”

“The rain we have is enough for now,” Braeburn commented, “We just need to direct it t’ farms that have been weeded and resoiled. Still, that will only get us close to what we were hoping t’ have by now.”

“It’s not what we were hoping for, no.” Luna replied, wishing that Spitefire and Braeburn bore better news. “Thank you both for your reports though. We’ll make sure to adjust the rations accordingly, and make more requests for food from our allies.”

Luna concluded that the food situation was at least better than things had been. Now they could proceed with proper seeding of fields, and pragmatic management of the weather would ensure that new food sources could be grown in an expedient manner. “I think we all need some good news now. Cheerilee, how has the foal reintroduction program come along?”

Next to Spitfire, and across from Braeburn, was his counterpart, the female earth pony representative and acting secretary for the Committee; a purple school mare by the name of Cheerilee. She had been put in charge of all the fillies and colts that had been traumatized by what the caribou did the previous year, having been a respectable teacher for years prior to their invasion. She was also the only mare of the committee to have ever worn a red collar, but likewise one of the first red collars to be acquitted from any allegations of treason. She was proven to have only submitted to the caribou so that she could help protect the children in her care, another story backed up by Mac’s own testimony.

“Well, things are going smoothly on our end,” the purple mare confirmed, “Nothing has changed from last week’s report, except that most of the foals have had their memories of the last year removed, and have moved on to phase two. Most have accepted the explanations for the memories loss, as well as the discrete explanations about the caribou and what they have done to Equestria, and some have even been reintroduced to society at this point. We hope that in the upcoming month, the program will be complete, and all fillies and colts are able to return to their families or new guardians to resume a normal life.”

The program concerning the children of Equestria was one of the more hopeful ventures of the committee, as it was widely believed that the experiences of the Fall was something that no child should ever have to bear. Utilizing the same spell they used to remove the effects of ‘purpling’, all recollection of the previous year were removed from the minds of colts and fillies. To them, it was like closing their eyes one moment and finding themselves in a completely new location in a slightly older body the next.

It was the quickest and easiest solution to help those who didn’t deserve to suffer the horrors of the fall, but not one decided unanimously by the committee. Cheerilee, despite being overseer of the project, voted against it, believing that this blanket approach towards all those considered ‘too young’ was too much, and that she had seen instances where the children she watched over were more than capable of handling the situation in their own way. When the vote came down though, only one other pony on the committee sided with her, and thus there was nothing the teaching mare could do but go along with the decision of the majority.

Everyone present looked very pleased with what she had to say, glad to see that something was going to plan. Of course, given the priority of the ones involved, more resources and personnel had been put into this part of the restoration efforts than others, so there was little wonder why it was succeeding.

“That’s great news,” said a yellow, blue-maned pegasus wearing Equestrian guard armor, who was sitting next to Braeburn, “And it goes well with what I have to say about kingdom security.”

“That is perhaps the next most important matter at hand,” Luna said, her eyes shifting to pegasus, “Can you tell us about the caribou’s activities, Flash?”

Flash Sentry was the youngest member of the committee, and likewise the least experienced member of the group in his field. Having just become a royal guardspony shortly before the caribou incident, Flash was sent to the Crystal Empire to serve under Windchill, the appointed captain of the guard in the newly reclaimed nation. Unfortunately, when he got there, he fell under the management of a senior guardpony named Orestes, who later revealed himself to be an unrepentant misogynist when he sided with the caribou against the kingdom he was sworn to protect.

All ponies residing Crystal Empire, being the first place the caribou experimented with the Crystal Heart, were brought under its corrupted influence, including Flash Sentry. When the enchantment was lifted though, he was the first stationed in the Crystal Empire to recover from the after effects of his brainwashing, and likewise the one who rallied his fellow guardponies to capture and detain the caribou who had made the Empire their home. It was because of this act that he was given a position in the committee, though he was not the first choice. Originally the male pegasus representative was going to be a Wonderbolt, like Wind Rider or Soarin, but the former was discovered to have been a traitor to Equestria, while the latter had rejected the position because he felt the role of leadership did not suit him - at least not after having been made to defile the female Wonderbolts and treat them as mere objects of his sexual desires, twisted and corrupted by the caribou’s taint.

“I’m glad to say,” said Flash, “That there has been no change from either of the caribou settlements.”

“So the remaining caribou are still cowering in Lindisbarne, the old ruins in Everfree, and those other small settlements?” Luna asked, already knowing that these locations were more of internment camps where the remainder of the caribou were being detained in isolation. It would have been better if they could just round them all up and send them into Tartarus, but the prison was already packed with the vile pieces of venison.

“We have guards stationed around the two locations, watching around the clock for any suspicious activities or attempts to slip back into the kingdom proper.” Flash explained, “Of course, the ones trapped in Lindisbarne don’t even have the energy to do anything, with you giving them nightmares around the clock.”

The ones that had fled back to the origin of their invasion were considered more dangerous compared to the small band that had taken residence in, and were now trapped within, the old castle located in the Everfree Forest. Thus, the ponies focused more on making sure they were completely unable to do anything. With their cows removed, weapons and tools confiscated, and their leaders imprisoned, there was hardly a chance for them to recover with the ponies constantly looking over their shoulders.

“I’m glad to hear the bastards are being handled so well,” said the last member of the committee, who sat himself furthest at the table from Luna. A white unicorn stallion with blue stripped hair, the prince of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor. “If only we had some dark pit to toss them into, where they’d be away from any civilized creatures and rot were we don’t have to see it.”

Of all stallions in Equestria, Shining had been the one most manipulated by the caribou and their allies. The caribou had managed to do so much harm through him: Take over the Equestria, rape the princesses he swore to protect, corrupt his sister, wife and mother into sluts who cared about nothing else but where there next dicking came from, and making him do the most terrible things imaginable to the defenseless female population of the kingdom. It had been the actions of the caribou that forced him to unwittingly commit the uncountable amount of sins he did - so hearing that they were being treated like the criminals they were, and that they were left with nothing, not even the comforts of rest or privacy, eased his personal burdens.

“And what about the Crystal Empire?” Luna said, understanding Shining Armor’s anger towards them as well as any other victim of the caribou, but wanting to stick to the task at hand, “Has their recovery still been improving?”

“Yes,” Shining answered, “The crystal ponies have been making vast leaps in their recovery. They’ve all been fairly productive, and even without the Crystal Heart, they have been able to keep positive in the light of the recent tragedies. Psychologically, they seem to be more resilient than the average pony when it comes to the suffering we all endured, probably due to them being…” Shining hesitated, “Familiar with these types of terrible experiences.”

“And would you say that their adaptive reactions to this are good?” Cheerilee asked, concerned for all ponies involved in the topic.

“It’s strange,” Shining answered, pausing at the thoroughly thought through what he wanted to say about the crystal ponies, “They’re all going about their normal lives like nothing happened, except they are aware that something did happen. They are being productive though, self-sufficient even. In half a year since the caribou’s defeat, they have gotten the Crystal Empire back the way it was after the defeat of Sombra.”

“Well it’s not like they didn’t react to this at all,” Flash piped in, “When the Crystal Heart’s enchantment lifted, they were panicking as much as any other pony.”

“I think that, unfortunately, this is a matter where enduring the same wound over and over has dulled them to the pain,” Luna said aloud, airing her thoughts, “They had been enslaved before, and then was shown that things could get better once it was over. The rest of Equestria has never had to go through this kind of national crisis. While their passive attitudes can be seen as disconcerting, their resilience is admirable. If all of Equestria could bounce back so easily, then we wouldn’t have mares scared half to death working with stallions who feel guilty over something they had no control over.”

“Right,” Shining agreed with heavy sarcasm, “We’d just have a kingdom of sociopaths instead.”

Luna sighed, knowing that Shining had every right to be irritated at the behavior of the crystal ponies, but likewise had no right to try and dictate how they chose to move on from their own violation by the caribou. If they chose to be happy and not let their rape affect their lives, then they were allowed to be happy and not let their rape affect their lives.

“On a more personal note,” Luna said, hoping to change the subject to something more pleasant for Shining Armor, “How has Cadence been?”

Shining Armor closed his eyes for a second, thinking hard on the response he wanted to give, “She’s doing fine, as always.” he answered, trying his best to be stoic in the face of luna’s question, “The crystal ponies had no problem accepting her back as their princess, and no pony has openly blamed her for her part in The Fall.”

“Nor should they,” Luna said, glad to hear that things had gone well for her fellow alicorn’s reacclimation into her proper role as a leader. Then again, she was less concerned about public opinion, and more about mental health.

Not that she had any specific reason to worry about any of the psyches of any of the other three princesses. Cadence and Twilight might have been red collars during their enslavement, and Celestia herself a purple collar, but similar to the foals, all three of them had their memories of that time completely removed, courtesy of Shining Armor himself. They knew not of the trauma or abuse that came with being a slave, as the only alicorn who had to endure that burden was Luna.

It was the reason, Luna believed, that Celestia decided to step down from the role of leadership and handed what should have been the white alicorn’s place in the committee to her. As the only princess who could actually speak for those had live through the torment, Celestia probably felt that Luna was best suited for this task. Luna was glad to take it up, but understood that she was chosen because none of the other alicorns could sympathize with the population of raped ponies as well as she could.

“Princess Luna,” Cheerilee said, taking note that Shining still seemed irritated, and wanting to move away from things that upset him, “There is one more thing to discuss before we move onto new business. If you recall, at a meeting a month back, we chose to have the caribou’s blanking device disassembled and stored away in a remote location once we finished re-blanking all the blanked mares to remove the perverse programed traits out of them.”

“So that nightmarish device is currently in pieces, I take it?” Luna said, knowing that the work with the blanked mares and stallion had been finished.

“Yes, and later today, it will be escorted out of the city with an entourage of royal guardsponies.” Cheerilee confirmed.

“Ah wish we could just destroy it,” Braeburn said, airing his thoughts on the machine that destroyed the personality of two of his family members, “But Ah suppose we might need it iffin we ever figure out how to reverse what was done to the blanks.”

“We can’t be too careful,” said Luna, “Especially with the lives of the blanked ponies at stake. For all we know, there may be no cure to this, but if there is and it is linked to that device, then it’s better to just have it put someplace where it can’t possibly harm anyone else.”

“And with that, I believe we’re all caught up,” announced Cheerilee, to which no one disagreed, “Should we move on to new business?”

“Very well then,” Luna replied, “What is first on the agenda?”

“Well with the foal project coming to a close, I think it’s time we discussed what we are going to do with those resources once they become available, if anything.” Cheerilee replied, looking at a list of new items that needed to be addressed, “Once every foal has had their mind wiped of the past year, there will be many unicorns who can use the memory eraser spell whose time will become available for others.”

“You mean… if we allow them to do so.” Spitfire added, leading into what the meeting’s next topic would be.

“Right, we need to come to a decision on whether or not we are going to legalize the memory spell for use by the general public.”

Luna adjusted her posture, sitting up straight in respect to the seriousness of this particular subject. “This was something we were trying to avoid deciding on for as long as possible, but I suppose at this point, we don’t have anymore reason to put it off. Cheerilee… If you would, please explain the issue one last time, so we can know all the details before we come to a vote.”

Clasping her hands in front of her, the earth pony cleared her throat as she gave her colleges one a passing glance, “As we know, there have been requests from the populous to make memory erasing available for ponies outside of purple collars and foals. Many believe that the spell is a quick fix to overcoming the emotional trauma that both mares and stallions carry in the wake of the caribou. There is strong evidence that this belief is true, since the spell has removed any mental damage that the caribou have caused to all it has been used on, except for blanks. If we approve public use of the spell, then the average pony will be allowed to decide whether or not they want their memories of The Fall erased.”

“Which is not a good idea,” said Spitfire once she believed the topic’s synopsis was over, “I agreed that no child should have to remember those horrible things, but full grown ponies are different. We can’t just let every pony who wants to empty their skulls of all the ‘bad things’ do that without reason!”

“Why not?” Braeburn asked, being less aggressive about the idea than Spitfire, “It is their bodies, an’ their minds. If a pony doesn’t want to have these memories, what right do we have to make’em keep them?”

“There are several reasons,” Spitfire said, settling down when no one else in the room decided to join her in a shouting match, “First of all being that we can’t just turn a blind eye to what happened to all of us. It might not be pleasant, but having our rape in the forefronts of our thoughts keeps us prepared in case someone would try this again, which is important with the kingdom in its weakened state.”

“So we should accept what happened to us, and learn from the experience?” said Luna, interpreting the pegasus’ words. When comparing that translation to how she dealt with other bad things that happened in her past, all she could say after was, “That’s… not something I can exactly disagree with.”

“And the other reason,” Spitfire continued, “What if a traitor used this as a way to escape punishment?”

“Not sure I follow.” Flash said, the idea confusing him a little.

“Well, what if a pony who helped the caribou take over erased their memories. It would be hard, if not impossible, to get a confession out of them if they went so far back they didn’t even know what a caribou was.”

The Wonderbolt had a point. While evidence was important, a confession to their crimes was the most valid method of finding out who was a traitor and who had been forced into their roles during The Fall. The ponies even had a very reliable way of having those accused of betrayal freely reveal their true intentions, but it wasn’t something that would work on those who couldn’t remember if they had or had not played a willingly active part in helping the caribou come into power.

“I know it’s pretty easy to pick out mares who’re potential traitors,” Spitfire went on to say, “The caribou made that easy enough with their red collars, but we don’t have the same luxury for stallions. We really don’t know how many out there would jump on another opportunity to rape a mare.”

“T’ain’t exactly fair,” Braeburn responded to the broad accusation, “Ya can’t just assume all stallions are potential rapists.”

“But unfortunately we have to,” Spitfire said to the country pony, “How can we really tell the ones who are normal Equestrians from those who enjoyed forcing their dicks into unwilling mares? The files the caribou left us give us lists of names, but there could be some they didn’t mention.”

“I honestly don’t even want to think about that,” Cheerilee admitted, disgusted at the premise, “But ok, those are the cons. The pros though would be a more stable Equestria. Those too weak to cope would have the means to fix their problems, and it would allow those who did it to get rid of their mistrust of stallions, which I think we all can admit too many mares have these days.”

“Okay, I believe both we have heard both sides of this debate,” said Luna, “It’s time we cast our votes. All in favor of allowing the public memory erasing, raise your hands.”

At Luna’s declaration, Cheerilee, Braeburn, and Shining Armor held their hands up.

“I’d be a hypocrite if I refused to let others use the same spell I used on my family,” Shining said.

“Ponies should be able to decide for themselves if they want to do this,” Cheerilee collaborated.

“Ah just don’t see why we are forcing this on sum ponies, while not letting ‘nypony decide if they’d want to have their memories removed,” said Braeburn, explaining the hypocrisy that came with restricting the use of the spell.

The group waited a moment to see if these last words would sway anyone else to raise their hand, but no one else joined with their opinion. Luna closed her eyes and let out an audible sigh out her nostrils. “And all those opposed to the idea?”

Luna raised her hand, but hoped to some degree that one of the remaining ponies wouldn’t. When she opened her eyes though, both Spitfire and Flash had casted their vote against the approval of the spell.

“Another deadlock,” she said under her breath, lamenting that this had happened.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Ties were not supposed to be part of the Committee. Celestia had designed the Committee herself to prevent that outcome, but when she gave each of the original members of this group their role, she didn’t realize there was a huge flaw in her plan.

As the others looked annoyed and disheartened by the tie, Luna took charge and guided them past this failed vote. “There’s no better time to ask this, I suppose. Have we located a replacement for our missing member yet?”

“Unfortunately, no…” Cheerilee answered, “With all our responsibilities, plus the fact that there were on average more unicorn red collars than any other races, it has been hard finding another suitable candidate for the committee.”

Luna placed a hand on her muzzle, exasperated with how things had become, which was a sentiment that the others could sympathize with.

When the Committee was made, it was intended for there to be seven members. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, two unicorns, and an alicorn, with one male and one female representative for each race that could provide one. As her last action before stepping down from the position of leader of Equestria, Celestia had hand-picked each of the members based on their accomplishments during The Fall, and at first everything had went according to her plans.

How it was supposed to go was that the representatives for the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies were the ones who would make most of the major decisions for the kingdom, with the alicorn only acting as mediator and being there in case a deadlock was created. This model government was made satisfy small groups who begrudgingly blamed Celestia for the caribou and wanted her to be removed from the throne, and to test the waters to see if a government without Celestia leading could work. It lasted for a few months with relative success, until the representative for female unicorns found fault in the direction the committee was taking and decided to take matters into her own hands.

With that, the system Celestia created instantly failed, but those left couldn’t just abandon what they had started. To do so would leave Equestria without any form of leadership in these dark times. So Luna decided that until a someone was found who could fill the role, she would participate in the votes herself so there would at least be three mares and three stallions deciding the fate of the kingdom. The committee quickly learned that changing the delicate balance only led to stalemates and inaction, with proposals having to be readdressed over and over again due to the inconclusive voting. It not only wasted time, but was an imbalance in the current system, favoring those who opposed an issue, since as long as no vote was decided, the issue would not be acted on one way or another.

Cheerilee marked down the inconclusive vote on the committee’s records and looked to the next topic. “Next is whether we should create a budget for the purposes of hiring gryphons to come aid us in rebuilding Equestria. They have offered their assistance in the restoration of Equestria, but following typical gryphon behavior, they are expecting to be paid for their services.”

“Why should we have to pay those backstabbers to fix what they had a hand in breaking?” Shining Armor stated, expressing hastily his opinion of feathered felines.

“Not all gryphons were bought out by the caribou,” Spitfire rebutted, likewise quick to defend those who didn’t deserve Shining’s ire, “Female gryphons were sold into slavery by males that wanted a quick profit.”

“Spitfire does have a point,” Cheerilee said in support, “if there are any issues with loyalties, we could limit those we hire to just gryphonesses. That way, we would be sure that all the money would only go to other victims willing to help.”

“It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” grumbled Shining, “Why pay them when the zebra are volunteering to help us?”

“Cause we need all the help we can get right now,” Braeburn said, “An’ bits don’t really mean much right now if they could be used to get things done faster.”

“I must admit, we do have a surplus of gold coins in the treasury at the moment.” Luna interjected, referring to all the treasure they had acquired from the caribou: ‘Tributes’ Dainn extorted from neighboring nations who didn’t wish suffer the same fate the caribou king intended for Equestria. “It would be nice to rid ourselves of some of those dirty coins.”

Under other circumstances, Luna might have been inclined to return the gold back to where it came from. However, it wasn’t like those who had paid their way out of feeling the full brunt of Dainn’s ambition were stepping forward to give their aid now that the threat was gone, save for the zebra, of course. Thus, there was no reason that Equestria should feel in any way inclined to return what they willing gave away to tyrants.

“Let’s try to settle this here.” said Luna, announcing that it was time to take a vote, “All those in favor of using the caribou’s ill-gotten gains to pay the gryphonesses, and the gryphonesses alone, to help rebuild Equestria, raise your hand.”

The alicorn put her hand up, and she was happy to see that most of the others did the same too. The only one who kept their hand down was Shining Armor. With this majority vote, no one felt the need to explain their reasoning.

“All those opposed?” The group of supporters lowered their hands, as Shining Armor lifted his up. Even if it was five to one, it was important to cast one’s vote and voice their opinion.

“I might not have a say in this matter,” Shining conceded, “But I warn you all to not let those greedy birds take advantage of us.”

“Noted,” Luna answered, agreeing with what Shining had to say, “We will have to set up a meeting with the gryphons, and negotiate terms in order to reach a fair agreement.”

Cheerilee happily marked the results of the vote, glad that a decision was made, not really caring that the her side had won. While not always something universally felt by all members of the committee, depending on what was being voted on, most would agree that they rather lose and have a clear decision made than reach a pointless tie and have to address it again and again later.

“With that settled, what’s next on the docket?” Luna asked, hoping the next issue would be just as easily resolved agreed upon.

“Next is… What exactly our policy on Sunset Shimmer’s new group is.”

Everyone had been anticipating this subject, as they had heard the rumors that came from this supposed ‘help group’ for mares, both good and bad. Then again, what brought their attention to this group was the fact that it’s leader used to be on the committee.

Elsewhere in Canterlot Castle, a job of equal importance was being done. It was a task that was orchestrated by many a pony, the staff total going well over one-hundred bodies. They had taken up residence in the castle’s library, as it was the best place to conduct their business. Day in and day out, numerous boxes were brought into and taken out of this room, the contents of which were files, photos, newspapers, and other forms of documentation, all of which were created during the caribou regime.

Nearly anything from that time that hadn’t been outright destroyed by the outraged pony populous upon being freed from caribou rule had been collected and brought to the capital, all for the single purpose of being sorted, cataloged, and carefully filed away, so that it could be used at a later date if needed. This was mainly done in an attempt to create a historical record of what exactly happened during the Fall, as the caribou often had a want to distort facts and create stories that pushed their agenda.

A common story of this nature was that any rebellion groups were incompetent and doomed to failure, with one infamous story about them going so far as to say all resistance groups were brought down due to a stallion within their ranks ‘seeing the error of his ways’, turning himself in, and divulging all the information he had before being transformed into a slave mare. This account was simply untrue, but such stories put fear in those who would want to go against the caribou, while serving as pleasing example of the caribou’s power to the brainwashed masses. These fictitious fabrications stacked up like garbage piles during that time, obscuring the truth so much that even those who experienced the Fall first hand had trouble telling fact from fiction.

Thus, a comparably small group who wished to separate the facts from fiction was created, willing to wade through the sea of garbage the caribou produced, retrieve the valuable truths hidden within, and give context to future generations who would look back at this dark time in pony history. Such a venture, much like the Committee of Ponies itself, needed someone to lead it. For a task that required someone who could scour endless oceans of text, and had impeccable organization skills, there was honestly no pony more qualified than Twilight Sparkle.

Holed up in her own corner of the royal library, the purple alicorn had a large table reserved only for her and her work, whereupon stacks of boxes, books, and propaganda commissioned or created by the caribou surrounded her completely. For any other pony, the size of this mountain of perverted pages would have been daunting, but Twilight’s abilities and diligence allowed her to work through stack after stack with ease.

“Hmph,” she grunted, closing shut another volume of typical caribou literature.

This one was some pony’s personal account of what happened when Hearts and Hooves Day was ran by the caribou. Like most material of this nature, what was written painted a disturbingly detailed image of male lust and female degradation. It was the kind of thing that would disgust and offend any post-fall pony, but it hit a little closer to home for Twilight, as the main focuses of the story were her brother and her sister-in-law. Being the princess of love, Cadence was an obvious, if even cliche choice for a tale about Hearts and Hooves Day, so this story being about her wasn’t odd in the least. However, so many things it depicted were for the most part ludicrous, defying several things that Twilight had learned about the fragility of the Crystal Heart after it had been altered by the caribou, as well as what she knew about magic in general.

Looking at a scroll that held her notes about the story, there were very few definitive truths that could be picked out of these words. At best, all she could tell had actually happened was that the caribou had sponsored a giant orgy in the Crystal Empire, and that several named ponies had been forced to attend it. Everything else, whether it had happened or not, was just fluff that didn’t matter, not for the purposes of making a record of events. Twilight, having done all she could with the book, folded the scroll up and slipped it between the pages like a bookmark, before placing it on a pile of ‘researched material’ she had gone through already.

With another piece of caribou-inspired literature out of the way, Twilight took a moment to tilt her head back, resting it in on her chair. Every document, each personal account, all the pictures, forged or not, was like pouring filth into her mind. Disgusting images of rape and enslavement were now forever etched into her memory, with some such imagery she came upon being of herself in such positions, donning a red collar as she smiled for the camera. That was so sickening for the princess of magic that her subordinates had to take efforts keep photographs of her past life away from her eyes.

Of course, seeing herself this way only compounded the reasons for looking through all this appalling material. She, and so many others, wanted to know how things could have gotten this bad. How she could have turned out that bad. Twilight knew the official reason, that she, Cadence, and Celestia had been converted, but they came off more like something Shining Armor made up. By his account, the corruption of the Crystal Heart infected the three of them as it did most of the stallions, but that didn’t add up to what she knew about magic, or how the caribou’s enchantment affected ponies.

This lack of definitive answers bothered Twilight, as such knowledge would greatly aid in never allowing this event from repeating itself. As she sat there though, staring at the ceiling, with rows of books reaching up to that barrier blocking the sky from her view, all she could do is wonder.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” she muttered to herself, “Mares weren’t affected by the Crystal Heart the same as stallions. Most stallions were enslaved by the spell, while the opposite was true about mares. We could say that it’s the nature of the spell that caused this, but what would that even mean? If only we had more of an idea of what the enchantment did, but the only ones who would know aren’t telling us anything useful.”

The caribou, in any interrogations, had been practically useless. Not intentionally unhelpful, as when faced with the threat of being changed into females, they were very forthcoming. Most caribou had nothing to do with the altering of the Crystal Heart to begin with, and those who did have a part in it didn’t really know how exactly they pulled it off. In a lot of cases, it felt as if the caribou didn’t really understand how their own magic functioned, and when it came to details about the Crystal Heart, the best they could come up with was that they did things to it at the behest of Dainn, and then 'it just worked’.

“But how?” Twilight muttered again, hoping that if she said her thoughts aloud, she’d have an epiphany that would somehow solve all her problems, “The first thing that comes to mind with compulsion spells is that it’s based on will. But if a pony like Celestia can be turned, then…”

“Why were there so many black collars?” A voice other than Twilight’s own finished her thoughts, one that held a thick country accent. “Ah couldn’t begin to answer that one, Twi.”

Tilting her head slightly to the side, the visage of an orange mare came into view. “Hey, Applejack,” Twilight said casually to her friend, “Sorry I didn’t see you there. I was just-”

“Wonderin’ out loud about the Crystal Heart?” Applejack said, setting a box full of books upon Twilight’s table.

“Yeah,” Twilight replied, sitting herself upright, “It’s all just so confusing.”

“Well, it’s caribou stuff,” said AJ, “Nothin’ they do makes a lick of sense.”

That made Twilight giggle, happy that she had a friend with her to take her mind off the smut she had been swimming through. In the early days of the toppling of the caribou regime, both Applejack and Twilight had been a part of the forces who drove the sinister cervids out of Equestria proper, working side by side against their former masters. Ironically, it was much easier to push aside bad thoughts back then, when all her focus was on removing a serious threat from their homes.

Back then, so much was on Twilight’s mind that she hardly acknowledged that ponies had been in a year-long state of suffering, and that her friends had been fighting, each in their own way, to keep some form of dignity against a system that sought to strip it from them completely.

Applejack herself had started the spark that ended all that, and was rightfully called a hero by the ponies she liberated, and in retrospect, she appreciated not only that the farm mare never gave up, but that she was here helping her now. Twilight wished that she could be around all her friends in this trying time, but each of the others were busy doing things that were just as important.

Rarity was busy around the clock with a group of other talented seamstresses making clothing for the mares of Equestria, which was a much needed service when the caribou had gone out of their way to destroy any suited for covering a mare’s nudity. Some mares did take to wearing stallion clothing for a while after being freed, since it was available, but that was not fit to the frame of a mare, so properly sized attire was much appreciated.

Pinkie Pie had gone back to Ponyville, returning to her job at Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes take care of their twins, and providing joy to those around her with her upbeat and friendly demeanor.

Rainbow Dash was helping the Wonderbolts with the restoration efforts, while retraining her wings to fly at the speeds that she used to be able to achieve. After a year of being entrapped in a caribou wing binder, they had trouble doing the things they could easily do before.

And Fluttershy was busy doing what was perhaps the most important thing of all; recovering from the trauma and brainwashing she had undergone as a caribou slave. Of the group, she was the only one who was convicted of being a legitimate red collar. However, it was concluded that she was not an outright traitor, but a victim who had been pushed the point of acceptance. Because of that, she was not sent to Tartarus, but instead mandated to get psychiatric help. Twilight wished Fluttershy the best in her recovery, and hoped she would be back to her old self soon.

“Ya know what? How ‘bout we take a break?” Applejack said, sensing the alicorn’s mental fatigue, “We can set all this here caribou stuff aside for a bit, an’ go get ourselves sumthin’ from the kitchen.”

“I wish I could, Applejack,” Twilight replied, here eyes locking onto a nearby clock, “But I need to stay here for a while. Princess Celestia and I have a public address to make today, and this is where we’re meeting up.”

“Well ok then,” Applejack said as she pulled a chair up to the table, “Then Ah suppose Ah’ll just have to keep ya company ‘till she gets here.”

“Thanks, AJ,” Twilight said, reaching for one of the books AJ had delivered to her, “But I can’t relax when there’s work to be done. You know that better than anypony else I know.”

“Maybe,” AJ said, reaching into the box herself to pull out a poster buried deep inside. Unfolding it, she saw the image of Luna, donning a black collar and being held in tight, restrictive bondage, with each of her orifices opened and filled with cum. Feeling immediate disgust at the imagery, the orange mare shoved the piece of paper carelessly back where she had found it, “But ya have been at this ever since we got the caribou under control. Staring at this stuff all the time can’t be good for ya.”

“Somepony has to,” Twilight stated with absolute conviction to her task. “It’s the only way we’ll ever figure out what happened during the Fall, and why it happened in the first place. The are so many questions, and very few answers. How did the caribou get so far in the first place? What happened to Discord in all this? Which ponies supported the caribou from the start and who was forced into it?”

“Why did ya become a red collar?” AJ said, cutting off the string of questions with what she assumed Twilight was really looking for.

“That… is another thing worth looking into.” said Twilight sheepishly.

“Twi, Ah’ve been helping ya cart these books around for a while now. Ya don’t think Ah take a peek at what you’ve been pokin’ your nose into?” Grabbing a few books from the box, revealing that each bore an alicorn on the cover. “All the stuff in here is about Celestia, Luna, Cadence, an’ mostly yourself.”

With the evidence presented, Twilight really couldn’t deny that the area of her research had been focused on one topic in particular. “Okay,” she admitted, “You’re right. I have been trying to figure out… me. How I gave in. Why I gave in.”

“Ah don’t know why ya can’t just accept what Shining Armor told ya,” AJ said, “That the Crystal Heart infected your minds, an’ made you do all that stuff ya wouldn’t have done otherwise.”

“That’s just it,” Twilight replied, “The Crystal Heart alone isn’t capable of doing that sort of thing. Its function had always been to absorb happiness and turn it into a barrier that protected the Crystal Empire. Even if the caribou altered it to absorb lust instead of happiness, it shouldn’t have been able to control ponies like it did.”

“But… It did.” Applejack stated, plainly giving the facts of the matter, “Ya can’t ignore that.”

“That’s true,” said Twilight as she strained her mind on the information she had acquired from the books she had been reading, “But the caribou had to have done something more than alter the Crystal Heart to make it change so drastically, or something else entirely had to be using the Heart’s abilities to project the lust it absorbed. And even considering that, I still can’t explain why it would effect alicorns more than any other mare. The closest thing to an answer is that the caribou wanted to imply that Cadence had a connection to the Heart, and that’s what corrupted her.”

“But?” AJ asked, indulging Twilight’s train of thought ever so slightly.

“But she never had a connection to the Crystal Heart!” Twilight yelled, momentarily gaining the attention of all the other ponies in the library.

Twilight, noticing everyone noticing her, hunched down a bit in attempt to hide behind her table, her face turning a deep shade of red. Seeing the alicorn’s embarrassment, the others decided it best to just continue on with their work, and pretend that her outburst never happened, much to Twilight’s appreciation.

After settling down a little, Twilight continued her thoughts. “Cadence was no more connected to the Heart than any other pony in Equestria. She’s not a crystal pony, and she had no personal ties to it at all. When looking through all this stuff, what I mostly see is misinformation about how ponies work in general. Which is confusing, since most of these books are supposed to be written by the ponies they are about.”

“Well that’s the caribou for ya,” replied Applejack, “Ya know they had a hand in making all this trash, an’ Ah doubt they understand anythin’ beyond all those nasty thoughts floatin’ around in their heads.”

“Applejack, you know that’s not the kind of ideas we’re trying to promote in Equestria,” Twilight said, lightly scolding her friend for her racist remarks. While she understood what AJ was getting at, there were reasons why those kinds of statements were dissuaded, at least within the walls of the castle.

“Sorry,” Applejack apologized, realizing her mistake, “Ah meant that all those bucks were the ones with nasty ideas.”

AJ’s apology couldn’t have been said more hastily, as she spotted one of those reasons coming right for them.

It was a caribou cow - or doe, as the ponies who frequently interacted with them prefered to say. The female caribou, having been taken away from their long time oppressors, were at this point wards of Equestria, protected and given the basic rights that any creature residing in the kingdom would receive. One of those basic rights was ‘the right to a proper education’, which was why this one was present.

The caribou, one wearing a white tanktop and a knee length skirt, approached the alicorn and the farm mare, accompanying by a white earth pony Twilight knew as Raven Inkwell, Celestia’s royal assistant. When the two made it to them, the cow was the first to speak, greeting the alicorn by saying “Hello, Miss Twilight.” Her greeting was filled with a youthful exuberance that rivaled the kind Pinkie would give.

“Hello, Princess Sparkle,” said the earth pony, treating this encounter with much more respect than her caribou associate, “We noticed that your out pile was getting rather big, and wondered if it was ready to be archived.”

“Yes, it is,” Twilight answered, “Thank you, Raven.”

At Twilight’s approval, the earth mare started to grab books and pieces of parchment from the table, handing some of the lighter ones to the caribou.

“So how has it been like working at the palace, Hilda?” Twilight asked, addressing the doe in the room.

“Hmm?” the doe uttered, slightly surprised that she was being asked how she felt, “It’s been great! Miss Raven has been showing me how to sort books in the our-chive.”

“That’s ‘archive’, deary,” The earth pony quickly corrected, “And you’ve been doing a good job carrying the books and putting them away.”

“That’s great,” AJ complemented, rewarding the caribou with her words, “Better than just knowing how to wash clothes and clean houses, right?”

Hilda did a little prance in place, hopping back and forth from one leg to the other, her glee showing how much she enjoyed being talked about. The cow got so excited that the books she was holding almost spilled out of her arms, but Raven was keeping a watchful eye on Hilda, so she was able the stop the books from hitting the floor, avoiding the mess that would have caused. Cows very much enjoyed positive reinforcement, which ponies who interacted with them discovered very quickly. As slaves, such treatment was a rare treat for them, their masters often preferring to hand out punishments rather than rewards.

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little bit of the happiness the doe was projecting. Many caribou like her were being taught how to live without a master, and it was working… to a degree. Caribou females were not entirely self-dependent, and a few years, let alone a few months, of training wasn’t going to fix that. So for now, the cows who appeared to be adapting to their liberated lives were put into the care of certain mares who acted as their handlers and mentors, ones that were responsible and had many talents to teach these does, who knew next to nothing outside of what their owners wanted them to know in order to serve their carnal desires.

“We had better get going,” Raven said, her face showing worry of what might happen if Hilda got more stimulation before they stored away Twilight’s research, With an arm full of books, the earth pony made her way in the direction of the library’s exit. “Come along Hilda.”

The deer gave Twilight one last smile before taking a place behind her female instructor. “Oh! Can I be allowed to play with my toys tonight?” Hilda asked aloud, everyone in earshot knowing what kind of toys she spoke of.

“We’ll see...” Raven responded, uncomfortable with the public plea for permission, “But you have to get your work done before I can say yes.”

“I’ll work really hard, then,” Hilda said, the fact that she didn’t hear a no being enough to motivate her, “By the time I’m done, I’ll be panting like I fucked ten bucks straight.”

A groan from Raven was the last thing Twilight and AJ heard before the two other females vanished from view, taking with them enough things to leave the alicorn a cleared spot on her table.

“Like Ah was sayin’,” AJ whispered, her voice carrying a bit of humor to it, “Those stags only got nasty thoughts in their heads, but the does only got one thing on their mind too.”

Twilight couldn’t tell if she should feel offended or amused, but it was hard not to find humor in what she said when Hilda had just asked her mentor if she’d be allowed to pleasure herself, and in front of a crowd no less. Female caribou were improving day to day, but anyone could tell by watching one that it would be a long time before they understood the concept of private subjects, or developed a sense of humility when it came to such things. Hard enough to get them to wear clothing, let alone get them to understand why being so open with their bodies and sexual functions was a bad thing.

Just as the caribou left Twilight’s presence, someone else came into view from behind a bookshelf, the pony she had been expecting all that morning. “That was an interesting exchange,” said a white alicorn, revealing herself from behind a bookshelf, “I hope I didn’t give Raven too difficult a job.”

“Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, giving her mentor and former ruler a slight bow. No matter what supposedly happened during the Fall, and despite Celestia no longer being in the role of ruler of Equestria, Twilight still respected her as she always had.

Applejack joined Twilight in the bowing her head, not following by Twilight’s example, but just because it felt right to give proper respect to a figure such as the white alicorn. It certainly felt better than giving the caribou king the humiliating displays of ‘respect’ he demanded of the females in his presence.

“Sorry for spying,” Celestia said, making clear that she had been there for a while, “I just didn’t want to interfere with what might have been an important cultural exchange.”

“Pardon me, Princess, Ah think ya are expectin’ a bit much from them. Ah’ve had time around one of them cows, an’ when she shared her ideas, they turned out t’ be a bunch of hogwash.”

“I can understand the reason for that opinion,” Celestia said, having talked to her own fair share of female caribou. “But we can’t just assume that they will always be that way. We have to have some faith in them, if they’re to integrate into our society.”

“She’s right,” said Twilight, taking the princess’ side in this matter, “If we don’t at least try to co-exist with them, and assume that they can adapt, then we might as well send them all to one of the caribou internment camps.”

“Ah’m tryin’,” AJ said, a bit ashamed of the opinions a year of unwilling slavery had instilled in her. There was no denying that prejudice existed in her mind, based on interactions with a single female caribou - one who hadn’t even been a terrible person to her, and who Applejack knew had her opinions drilled into her from birth. “But forgive me for sayin’ this, you two weren’t there.”

That quieted the two alicorns, both realizing this was a reasonable complaint that the Element of Harmony had with their stance on the treatment of does.

“Not that Ah’m sayin’ that you’re wrong,” AJ said, carrying on with her thoughts, “But it’s really hard to not think these things when ya lived with it for so long. Actually, it’s the reason Ah do believe in the cows. If Ah’m havin’ this much trouble getting over how they act, then Ah can only imagine how long it will take them to get over a lifetime of abuse.”

Both Twilight and Celestia were relieved to some degree that Applejack was rationalizing her poor thoughts of the cows in a way that didn’t condone said thoughts. The promiscuous nature of female caribou was upsetting to ponies, but that was only because their suffering was directly linked to sex. Yet as biological creatures, sex was part of their nature, and some ponies rivaled the does in the perverse thoughts and urges they had prior to the Fall. Not many in such an open fashion, but some, and having a desire for sex wasn’t in and of itself a bad thing.

“I’m glad we could have this conversation,” Celestia said, legitimately happy that a pony that she had a hand in guiding was showing a level of understanding that some others she had likewise taught had not, “It’s showing me that my trust in my former subjects is not misplaced.”

“Princess, you don’t have to specify ‘former’,” said Twilight, “While you have stepped down, AJ and I both see you as our princess, and it’s not like you have completely separated yourself from this new system of government you created.”

“Speaking of,” Celestia said, realizing what time it was, “We should get going. Our public address is about to start soon.”

“It is?!” Twilight leapt out of her seat, going to Celestia’s side. She was more than ready to greet the citizens of Equestria, and inform them of what the government had accomplished thus far. With hope, this good news would help settle down some of the civil unrest “Oh! AJ, do you want to come along?”

“Nah,” Applejack replied, “Ah reckon that Ah’ll stay around here and help move some more books around for the other researchers. The more work we get done while you’re gone, the less work you have to do when ya get back.”

“Ok, but if you see anything involving… that thing I was looking into, then please put it on my table.” With that, Twilight and Celestia headed out of the room, having something very important to get to.

In the halls of the castle, the two alicorns walked side by side. It was odd for Twilight, who mentally had been an alicorn for a short time, to walk aside her mentor like an equal. She did, however, enjoy that she now could. If not for current events causing all of Equestria to be draped in an thin cloak of negativity, she would have been prancing just as Hilda had been earlier out of sheer excitement, but the general disposition of the public seemed to dampen any feelings of happiness kingdom-wide.

The purple alicorn’s show of enjoyment for this privilege was not lost on her mentor though, who spotted a smile on her student’s face whenever they performed their duties together. Twilight was always looking for some kind of purpose in the world, and it seemed like she had found it. Of all the very minute ‘good things’ to come of this tragedy, Twilight being able to find fulfillment was one of the better things to happen.

If Celestia was to be honest, she had no real plans for the princess of friendship in the world before Dainn aside for making her into an alicorn, and it might have been some time before Twilight was able to find her role. Then again, it might have just been destiny that in order to find her purpose, something terrible had to happen to Twilight first. Fate had a strange way of handing the travelers of its path blessings and misfortunes along the way to their destination.

“Twilight,” said Celestia, “I want you to know something.”

“What is it, Princess?” Twilight asked, assuming that whatever Celestia had to say was something that concerned the public address, and thus would be very important.

“I want you to know that I appreciate your loyalty.” said Celestia.

“Princess, there is no reason I would be disloyal to you. Even if you were briefly a red collar, I have to believe that only happened because of something beyond your control. There is no way I can believe that you’d knowingly let Equestria suffer if there was something you could do about it. That’s not the Celestia I know.”

“I would agree with you,” Celestia replied to her fellow alicorn, “But I can understand why some ponies can no longer trust me as their leader. I can’t remember why I did it, but the truth of the matter is that I did succumb to the caribou, and that must’ve been the most horrible thing imaginable to some ponies. As much as I don’t like to put myself on a pedestal, I can’t deny that to some, I am a symbol. To see that symbol fall had to be devastating.”

“I…” Twilight started, wondering how she would have reacted to see Celestia like that. She was actually thankful that she didn’t have a direct response for that scenario.

“I know that you’ve been looking up information on all of us,” Celestia clarified, Twilight knowing that she meant the four princesses, “And so you have read all the terrible things I supposedly did.”

“But you also tried to fight back,” Twilight rebutted, giving Celestia as much credit as she could allow, “You managed an escape attempt, and-”

“You’re referring to my ‘diary’, aren’t you?” Celestia interrupted.

“Yes.” Twilight answered, as most of the information about what Celestia did during the Fall came from a publicly published account of her deeds, presumably written by the princess’ own hand.

“And you believe that book is a reliable source?”

This question was troublesome for Twilight, for several reasons. The purple alicorn knew why she was being asked this though, and she had to answer truthfully.

“No,” she said, “There are too many issues with that book to be considered credible.”

Of the many things Twilight could say about the supposed diary, the one thing that stood out the most was that it hadn’t been written by Celestia. Not only did it simply not match her mentor’s manner of writing, which Twilight was very familiar with because of the letters she received from the princess in the past, but the book held a lot of inconsistencies within its pages as well.

The princess in the book acted very uncharacteristically to the alicorn standing beside her. At times, the writer would go into detailed depictions of sexual interactions, and talk degradingly about herself and others, even when Celestia was still a black collar. Another odd detail was that it wasn’t written like a diary, and felt more like someone’s attempt to make a story with Celestia as the main character. Perhaps worst of all, if one paid attention to the details of the book, they would easily be able to discern that it would have been impossible for Celestia to write such a diary while enslaved by the caribou.

Not simply because Celestia had been held in captivity and violated frequently at the caribou’s discretion. Not simply because hiding a book, quill and ink under such circumstances would have been incredibly difficult, to put it lightly. Not simply because many instances treat the entries as if she were writing them as they happened, including the escape attempt Twilight mentioned, which was a ludicrous notion. Not only because of all this, but because the book itself mentioned several points where Celestia had been bound in ways that would have been impossible for anyone to write anything, supposedly as she was writing in the diary. In that regard, the diary was much like most of the other caribou-sanctioned books, where logic was thrown out the window for the sake of sexuality.

For that reason, Twilight had to see every detail in it as questionable. At best, one could assume that Celestia did write a diary, but even that was questionable, and when it was discovered, it had been heavily altered to fit a narrative that the caribou supported, that of a defiant princess whose will was broken down till she became what they wanted her to be. It was even possible that Twilight herself was the one who did the editing, as Applejack once said that the red collar version of herself offered that service to the farm mare for her own personal story of the Fall. Twilight hoped that wasn’t the case, but there was no way to confirm or deny that she had at this point.

“And that’s exactly why I don’t blame ponies that might have poor opinions about me.” Celestia said, submitting to the fact that her detractors had a point, “There is nothing definitive that shows that I am anything more than what they have seen. To them, I could just as easily become that red collar again if history would repeat itself.”

That was a very awful perspective. Logical, but awful, especially since if that was true for Celestia, then it also applied to Twilight.

“But that is exactly why I appreciate every pony who does still believe in me, and hope that their trust will someday get those who have lost faith in me to believe in me again.”

With the conversation ending with a small display of optimism, after what felt like a barrage of depressing notions, Twilight and Celestia made it to the main hall, and stood in front of door separating the castle’s interior from its exterior.

“Here we are.” Celestia said, her nerves solid as steel.

“R-right.” Twilight replied, her own not nearly as steadfast, and only made worse from things that discussion filled her head with.

Sensing her student’s troubled mind, Celestia went on to say, “If you aren’t feeling up to this, I can address the ponies of Canterlot this time.”

“No,” said Twilight with a shake of her head, “I am a princess of Equestria, and it is my duty to help ponies through troubling times. I can do this.”

Celestia felt proud of her pupil, and now reassured in Twilight’s capability, she looked to a pair of guards standing at the door and gave a nod. At her gesture, they opened the pathway, revealing a wooden platform constructed just beyond the door, with a large crowd of awaiting ponies just beyond that. Twilight could feel hesitation forming, but she pushed herself forward. This was the first time she would be speaking personally to the citizens of Equestria, and despite her most disparaging thoughts telling her she wasn’t ready for this, she knew deep down she had to take this step. Just another step forward, and another step towards restoring Equestria.

Author's Notes:

Well, another month and another update. I really need to figure out how to reduce the time in between these new chapters, but I suppose part of the issue is that I am currently on two different projects. That, and it's not like when I started where I just typed and typed with no care of things like grammar, proper usage of commas, spelling, or anything that would actually make people want to read my stuff.

As it is, I do feel that my stories have evolved a bit from their original intent. When I started, I was just using this as a means to expel the bad thoughts from my head, and share them with the world. One bad experience later, I write with somewhat of purpose, but that causes me to take longer because of it. Kinda sucks, but that is the price you pay for having some standards when it comes to quality, especially when you are far from a professional.

So with all that is supposedly going on in Equestria after the Fall, I thought it would be good to step away from Trixie for a chapter and show the "Committee of Ponies" and what they do for Equestria, as well as recap on what some of the more important MLP characters are up to. It's a small detour, and will help to give some context to some things in future chapters, but maybe it wasn't necessary. Perhaps I should have focused on Trixie alone, and made this story one chapter shorter. Maybe, but my layout for the chapter included this bit, and when my mind is set on something I just have to do it.

Speaking of things I just have to do, I fear I might have (translate as "absolutely did") use Twilight as a bit of a soapbox to voice my opinions on today. As most of my fans probably know, I really didn't think too well on the writings of my former co-contributors of FoE. There were so many issues with their works that... well, to be frank it helped me determine if I was going to go through my big "Bruised Apples" scheme or not, which we all know I did.

So every once in a while I feel I have to take a shot or two at a couple of the silly plot points of the setting, or even a whole story if I deem it just terrible. So I thought to myself "who better than Twilight, who probably would be able to pick up on all the nonsense in these stories if she ever had to read them". The stories in question, if you have never read them or didn't pick up on my non-so-subtle hints, are FoE's "Fall of The Resistance" "Princess Diaries" "Hearts and Hooves Day" and to some degree "Fall of Cadence".

As always, if you like these stories for what entertainment they have to offer, that's fine, but I think we can all agree that FoE never did well with plots, logic, or simple character development. If you haven't read them before, you can find links to them in the FoE Main group, or my own FoE fan group, and if you do decide to read them than please, whether you like them or not, leave a comment on the stories explaining exactly what you did or didn't like about said stories. I feel that feedback is the most important thing that an author could ever get, and clicking a thumbs up or thumbs down simply doesn't do a story justice (though that too is appreciated).

With all that said, next chapter will get back to Trixie, as we continue along her path to recovery.

Public Forum

The courtyard of Canterlot Castle was packed to capacity, filled with an innumerable amount of ponies. So many had come from all over Equestria to hear what Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia had to say about the state of the kingdom that they spilled out beyond the castle gates, flooding the streets of Canterlot as well. On a normal day, this might have been a problem for the citizens of the capital, but seeing how important this speech was, all city-wide activities were brought to a halt, with everyone finding a place in the crowd.

The reasons ponies attended this public address varied. Some came in hopes that they’d hear things were getting better. Others came to get a grasp on how much the caribou were still fucking them, even seven months after they had been removed from power. Others still wanted to learn about more specific things, like when they would be allowed to reopen their ‘non-essential business’, or what the Committee’s policy was on dealing with bordering nations who lifted nary a hand to help them when they needed it most. For one specific pony though, she quite literally was there because someone told her to be there, and she had nothing else better to do.

Trixie stood in the courtyard, surrounded by ponies murmuring to each other about what they assumed the princesses would be discussing. To the blue unicorn, it was all a droning chorus of fears and expectations, and was hardly worth the effort of trying to listen to any particular conversation.

The only ponies there that the blue unicorn cared about were those who were part of ‘Mares for a Better Equestria”, or particularly the ones from her own group. Sunset’s group had several chapters across the kingdom, and thus, a small group of ponies from each had come to witness this event first hand. It was the only reason Trixie had gotten into the courtyard itself, because one of the other groups got in early and reserved some space. Each of them wore the black ascot that was the symbol of their group, which signified to anyone else that they were together for this event, thus no one objected too heavily when a few dozen of them claimed a spot for their own.

While the other ‘MBE’ ponies seemed okay, they were more intimidating than they were comforting, so Trixie gravitated towards those she came with the best she could. Her small group consisted of Starlight, Lyra, Carrot Top, and a few stallions from her support meetings that she never learned the names of, each making the objective of staying away from others very difficult.

The stallions joined up with males from the other groups, sharing their viewpoints and the things they had experienced. Carrot Top was being distant, as per usual, and put her back to the concrete wall that surrounded the castle as she waited for things to start. Lyra, being more of a social butterfly, had found herself striking up conversation with a cute mare from one of the other groups named Coco Pommel. Lastly, Starlight was with the mares put in charge of the other chapters by Sunset, which Trixie guessed was appropriate due to Starlight being Sunset’s assistant.

This left Trixie isolated, and without any direction save for ‘stay with the group’. She wished that there was at least a pony present she was familiar with who wasn’t busy, save for Carrot Top. She wished that Sunset had come with them, that way she could at the very least speak with her.

“Hey Trixie.” Lyra whispered into her fellow unicorn’s ear, having snuck over to her with Coco when Trixie was too busy contemplating her lack of purpose, “Look over there.” Trixie took one moment to see who was speaking into her ear, and then followed Lyra arm to see what she was talking about.

What she saw stunned her, fear erupting into her consciousness. Walking about through the crowd was a caribou. A female caribou, but still a caribou - a creature from the most reviled species known to ponykind, freely going where she pleased without escort or bonds. Trixie stood there in what felt like this terrifyingly surreal moment, not saying anything or moving an inch, as though if she did the perceived danger would just go away.

“Isn’t it a shame?” Lyra said, Trixie hearing spite in the other unicorn’s voice for the first time she could recall. “They are letting those things walk around through groups of decent ponies.” Lyra pointed out a few more of the caribou cows, each one going about there merry way with what seemed not a care in the world.

“What are they doing here?” Trixie said just loud enough for Lyra to hear.

“I know, right?” Lyra replied, “I was surprised, too, but Coco was telling me that the cows have been in Canterlot for a while.”

Trixie looked to the earth pony next to Lyra, scared and confused. “But why are they here?!”

“It was the Committee’s idea,” said the earth mare, a willful fire in her voice despite having a meek physical appearance, “I’m part of the Canterlot group, and we were all here when they announced they were training cows to co-exist with ponies. We were even given pamphlets telling us how to act around them.”

Coco held out one such pamphlet to Trixie, who took it at the same time she declared, “That’s insane!”. Quickly, she opened up and looked through the folded bit of paper, scanning her eyes over what it had to say.

It tried to implore that the ‘does’, as it called them, were all unwitting victims of the caribou stags, who even now had issues understanding that they were being abused. The pamphlet went on to explain that because the does had been raised to become sex slaves, it was impossible for any of them to completely ignore their programming, meaning that most still acted incredibly promiscuous. If a doe was to speak in such a manner, you were to either ignore them or ask them politely to stop, and under no circumstance to actually take them up on offers of sex or ask them to have sex with you.

“Ever since then, they’ve been bringing cows here in order to integrate them into the kingdom.” said Coco, “And they’ve all been staying in the castle, doing who knows what.”

Between reading the pamphlet and hearing what Coco had to say, Trixie felt anger. Not a knee-jerk outburst caused by dejection, like when she was accused of messing up the house-building efforts awhile back, but real anger. She hadn’t felt this way in some time, and understood well why that was. Caribou females weren’t ‘victims’; they were accomplices in rape, reveling in the depravity inherent in all caribou.

Everyone knew that they their eagerly submissive and willing traits was the benchmark that all would-be red collars were judged against. Likewise, you would never hear of a single tale of a female caribou objecting to their own ‘mistreatment’, nor the mistreatment of other females. They were just as much monsters as their males, having contributed to the rape and humiliation of countless undeserving victims, never once taking in consideration the pain they were inflicting just to satisfy their lust.

Trixie admittedly had little hands-on experience with the cows, all her info on them had come from third-party sources. A fact she was thankful for, as she had no desire whatsoever to interact with such loathsome creatures.

“Thankfully,” Coco said, keeping a watchful gaze on the caribou in their midst as they handed out the doe interaction pamphlets to anyone willing to take one, “The committee has allowed ponies to refuse any interaction with the cows if they don’t feel comfortable around them, but seeing caribou walking around freely still makes ponies paranoid and scared.”

“Of course it does,” Trixie replied, as having a caribou within line of sight was enough to get her mind racing. While she was overcoming the initial shock, Trixie’s heart was pounding hard in her chest. She would expect no less a reaction from any other mare in Equestria who caught so much as a glimpse of a caribou in their immediate vicinity.

“We’ll just have to ignore them,” Lyra said, turning her two associates away from the wandering deer women, “Focus on what Sunset sent us all here to do: To see what the princesses have to say, and act as representatives for our group.”

Lyra was right. They couldn’t let the cows distract or intimidate them. As much as it angered Trixie to see the rapists unpunished, Sunset had trusted her with a task, minor as it was. As long as the cows stayed away, she would be able to restrain herself and keep this anger she felt under control, so she believed. If this was what the ponies that governed over Equestria thought was a good idea though, then they had just lost a great deal of standing in Trixie’s opinion of them.

“So,” Lyra said, ready to change the topic to something less unsavory, “How have things been in Canterlot? Aside for the cow thing, I mean?”

“Not too bad,” Trixie heard the earth pony reply, having now been roped into Lyra and Coco’s conversation, “The city was one of the only places the caribou didn’t damage too much, so the only thing that needed to be done once they were taken care of was removing all their propaganda.”

“Well that’s good for the ponies that lived here,” Lyra replied, genuinely glad to hear that those in Canterlot didn’t have to host mare shelters like other cities did.

Trixie, however, couldn’t refrain from thinking the words ‘rich bastards’ to herself, feeling indignant that those who were well to do before the Fall were able to fall back into that life the moment their enslavement was over. It might have been her prior anger towards the cows talking, but Trixie couldn’t help but feel bitter when there were still so many mares out there who were effectively homeless, herself included.

“Have those lucky mares at least tried to help those less fortunate than themselves?”
Trixie blurted out, trying to justify her terrible mood by receiving the answer she believed she would from Coco.

“Not most of them, no.” Coco replied, “But it’s not like they got everything back with their old homes. Most mares lucky enough to not have their homes burnt down still had personal items destroyed or taken away, and any money they had was taken by the caribou.”

“Oh…” Trixie said, not having thought about that.

With Trixie having confined herself to the mare shelter and then her guest room at Sunset’s group house, she hadn’t been in touch with what was happening in the outside world. For some reason, she was under the impression that mares that were fortunate enough to get anything back from their old lives would get everything back. It was all or nothing in her mind, but taking a moment to think about it, that didn’t makes sense. Of course the caribou would have picked a mare’s residence clean, kept any money or valuables they could lay claim to, destroyed what they deemed useless, and sold whatever remained after that. The truth was that even if a mare had property to be returned, it was probably just the house itself, with all items having resided in it long since dispersed across Equestria, if said objects even still existed.

“Well…” Trixie said aloud, her mind trying to find some way to stay resentful, “Have the rich mares offered to share their homes with less fortunate mares? It’s not like they’d need a whole mansion to themselves.”

“Not every pony in Canterlot lives in a mansion, silly.” said Lyra, having lived in the city when she studied at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

“No, but she has a point,” Coco said, “There are plenty of ponies in Equestria that could help those less fortunate than themselves. In our group, each stallion has made a place in their homes for a mare member.”

“Really?” Trixie replied, surprised by that. Not because she felt that stallions might not want a mare living in their homes, though it could easily be seen as an imposition to have a mentally scarred person taking up residence in your home. No, she was amazed that mares would want to stay under the same roof as a male for an extended period of time.

“Yeah, I’ve been staying with a royal pegasus guardsman myself.” Coco stated, smiling at the thought of the stallion, “I was scared at first when Sunset set us up together, but he turned out to be a real sweetie.”

“A guardsman?” Trixie questioned, looking at the number of guard ponies all around them, “Is he here now?”

“No,” Coco said, “He was given a special assignment today, and had to leave the city for a while.”

“Huh…” Trixie replied, not sure what she had expected. It wasn’t like it would really matter if the stallion was there at that moment.

“And Sunset put you two together?” Lyra asked, “Why did she do that?”

“Well, it was her idea,” Coco explained, “As part of their recompense to the females of Equestria, all stallions in the group needed to take in a mare and attend to their needs.”

Trixie recalled a point when Sunset mentioned that males would be required to do things to make up for they terrible things they did under caribou control. She supposed this must be what the orange unicorn meant. Living with a stallion who was suppose to help you would have been a way to get mares to trust males again.

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Trixie said, wondering if Sunset was setting up something like that for her too. If so, it would be a little scary at first, but maybe it would work the way it was intended.

“I just hope that’s not mandatory,” Lyra said, not looking as sure as the other two about stallions and mares bunking together in such a way.

Trixie was going to ask what the other unicorn meant, but before she could the doors to the palace came open. Both Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia walked out form the doorway, indicating that the public address was about to start. Everyone went silent, and kept their gazes locked on these two that they assumed held all the answers.

The two alicorns made there way up the platform setup for this event, Twilight approaching a podium set near the front of the stage. Celestia did not join her there, and instead stood a few feet back from her fellow princess. Trixie recalled rumors about the sun princess having taken a step back from the role of leadership in the light of her failure against the caribou, and this looked to be the literal representation of that.

With both alicorns in place, along with a small contingent of guards placed around the wooden structure they stood upon, everything was ready. Twilight, taking a microphone off her podium, took a moment to clear her throat, and then started her speech.

“Ponies of Equestria,” she started, “I am sure that we are all gathered here today for a common purpose; our future. It has been a little over half a year since the caribou were defeated and driven from our kingdom, and for many of us it still feels like nothing has changed since that day of liberation.”

Everyone remained quiet as the Princess of Friendship spoke, but these were not the words they particularly wanted to hear. They wanted to be told that everything was going to be ok; that immediate solutions to all their problems had been found, and would be implemented as soon as possible; that they could return to the happy, relatively carefree lives they had before the caribou. In just Twilight’s opening, hopes of that being the case were dashed instantaneously.

Trixie, feeling her anger rise as Twilight spoke, trembled a little as she contained herself the best she could. She had more than enough reasons to hate the alicorn, and if she only had bad news to impart, then that would be just another thing to add to the list of sins Trixie believed Twilight committed.

“Our oppressors are gone,” Twilight continued, “But the wounds they caused can still be felt by all of us. I look out at the ponies before me, look at the ponies I pass by each day, and see the pain each one carries.”

What do you know about pain? Trixie thought to herself enraged, not believing for a moment that Twilight had felt the kind of agony she had.

“But I also see the faces of those who want… no, need a better tomorrow.” said Twilight as she went on, “Who need something to hold on to. Some kind of light in their lives that will shine down on them and let them know that everything will be fine, that the caribou haven’t destroyed everything good that we hold dear.”

You have no idea, do you? Trixie thought again, bitterness rising within, What I have lost. What I had to go through while you were smiling through it all.

“And while it has been, and still is a hard time for all of us,” said Twilight, “I am happy to say that we are making steps forward to return this kingdom back to its former glory.”

What hard times have you experienced? Trixie thought again, silently replying to each thing Twilight said, When has anything bad ever happened to you?! You are a princess. The Princess’ student. When I was being raped, you were the king’s privileged pet! And what about now!? You are still given every advantage regardless of what you did, just because you were given a convenient excuse!

Something bad was rising up in Trixie, something dark and horrible, but ultimately meaningless. These words floating around in her head were just that, words in her head. It wasn’t like she would ever be able to confront Twilight with these thoughts, and even if she got the chance, odds were she wouldn’t have the courage to tell her off. After all, what would a near worthless mare such as herself have to say of any meaning to a princess, even one such as Twilight.

As Trixie fumed in impotent rage from her spot in the crowd, the princess ended the speech she was using as a header for the rest of public address. At its conclusion, a few ponies gave a light applause for her efforts, but many more stayed silent, not all that moved by what was, to them, a royal pep-talk.

“Ahem,” Twilight audibly cleared her throat, seeing the majority reaction of the public, “But of course, none of you are here for motivational speeches. You all are wondering how things are coming along with the restoration plan. Before I begin, I would like to remind you that, our announcements are meant to give you the preliminary results of the decisions made a month ago, thus we have no information based on decisions made in the Committee’s meeting earlier today.”

Trixie could feel the tension of the crowd rise as Twilight moved to what everyone came for, and she had to admit that she too was curious as to what, if anything, had actually been accomplished thus far.

“I am proud to say that the last month has been more productive than expected.” she started, ”Under the instructions of the Committee of Ponies, we have all but finished the foal memory removal plan. Within a week or so, all foals will have all memories of interaction with the caribou removed, and once completed, they will be returned to their parents or guardians immediately.”

A sign of relief washed over the crowd, with many of the attendees being those concerned about the safety and well-being of the children the government currently had within protective custody. While the intention of eradicating any traumatizing experience upon the minds of the innocent might have been a noble endeavor, those who raised and cared for the smallest victims of the caribou wished for their return. For some, their foals were all they had left to live for in Equestria.

Twilight had anticipated that this bit of news would be welcomed by those present, and wanted to put her best hoof forward. With that accomplished, she hoped the less good news would make a softer blow.

“We are also happy to announce that the first of the replacement houses for those who lost theirs to the caribou have reached completion, and thus, we expect more to be done over the course of the upcoming months - until everypony has a place to home.”

Another round of applause came at that news, slightly bigger than the one from the start. Little by little, the princess of friendship was winning the citizens of Equestria over.

“However,” Twilight said, her voice becoming more solemn, “As you might expect, with these good announcements I fear that we have had our fair share of problems along the way. For instance, it has come to the Committee’s attention that some of you have been harrassing the…” Twilight paused, knowing that if anything was to get a bad reaction, it would be this, “Caribou does.”

As expected, boos started to rise up from the crowd. Not that many, but enough to show the public disdain for anything caribou. Twilight was steadfast though, grabbing her podium to pull herself closer to her microphone.

“While your anger at the caribou is understandable, we must remind you all to direct that anger towards the ones who hurt you, and not those who were also victims. Attempts to punish or intimidate the does for things beyond their control will not be tolerated.”

Trixie bit her lip at that statement, her rage gradually getting the better of her. So even Twilight supports that idiotic idea, she thought, looking for any reason to detest the alicorn at this point.

“Lastly, in the matter of allowing privately owned businesses to re-open their doors to the public, the committee, as of their last meeting, has decided that this isn’t possible at this time.”

That spurred another negative reaction from the crowd, one much greater than when the princess told ponies to stop picking on the female caribou present in Canterlot. It wasn’t hard to tell why, either, as many ponies owned their own small businesses, and owners of large businesses employed hundreds of others who didn’t. Equestria had been brought to an economic halt for the duration of the restoration efforts, with all goods and services being directed by the decisions of the Committee.

In the commotion caused by the announcement, an anonymous voice managed to force itself from the rest, asking the question “Why can’t I open my bike shop?”.

Other such questions arose, but this one in particular seemed to catch Twilight’s ear. “The reason we cannot open businesses to the public,” Twilight said, competing against the gathering of upset ponies, “Has been explained already. In the state Equestria is in, we can’t have what resources the caribou left us with diverted away from the restorations efforts. As it stands, things that we used to take for granted, such as pastry, bikes, fancy clothing, are a luxury that would only slow down our progress.”

That made sense, as the metal and plastics used in rubber that would go into the building of several more useful things, like rebar rods for building constructing or pipes used for plumbing. In fact, the materials for most everyday items that ponies used to take for granted had a secondary use that would be better implemented when it came to the restoration efforts.

“Not only that, but very few mares have money to purchase things like that with.” said Twilight as she continued her explanation, “When enslaved, any bits that a mare had on them was taken away, and their bank accounts emptied out to fill the caribou’s treasury. We are still in the middle of trying to figure out which parts of their gold belonged to mares, if all that money is still there, and how to reallocate it back to who it belongs to. If stores were to open now, then the only customers you would have are stallions, and that would be incredibly unfair towards those of Equestria who currently have nothing.”

That sounded a little odd to Trixie, and not only because of her anger towards the alicorn. The government was, in its current state, providing all the essential amenities to the ponies of Equestria through whatever means necessary, which included privately employing ponies who could help their cause. That was fine, and something that even Trixie had taken advantage of for some time, but preventing ponies from opening up their own businesses felt counter-intuitive, especially when some of those businesses would certainly be mare-owned and operated.

The way it sounded, it was like the Committee was trying to get everything back to the way things were before the caribou, before they allowed anyone to get back to their lives, not realizing how backwards that logic was. If anything, they should allow ponies to do as they wished in order to put their own lives back together, or at least that was what Trixie believed after hearing what Twilight had to say on the matter. Keeping a close eye on what the alicorn was going to do next, ready to scrutinize every word that would come out of her mouth, Trixie listened as the Princess of Friendship spoke to the crowd before her one more.

“That is all of the new information we have to release. If you have a question to ask, please raise your hand and you’ll be called on.”

Several ponies did as the purple alicorn asked of them, raising their hands over the crowd to get her attention. Twilight scrolled over everyone present, and picked one of the ponies at random to receive their question.

“You there,” she said, pointing to a pegasus mare.

The pegasus lowered her hand, and said in as loud a voice she could make without going into a yell, “Has the Committee decided on what they’re gonna to do to all the male caribou?”

Twilight straightened her posture, knowing how serious a question this was. “The Committee, as of yet, has not decided on any further actions with the caribou imprisoned in Tartarus. However, Equestria has had a long standing policy of attempting to reform those who have wronged us, so that option isn’t out of the question as far as I am aware. Then again, as I am not part of the Committee, they might just decide to keep the caribou stags locked away. If that happens, then it would be a decision I would support. Next question please.”

Immediately, an earth pony mare rose her hand, and her quick action got her selected for the next question. “Why doesn’t the Committee just have them all executed?”

Twilight gave a disheartened look, as if assumed this question would come, but wished that it hadn’t. “While I can understand where that idea comes from, that is not a solution that we, as a kingdom, should be looking for. We ponies have, when no other option has presented itself, killed those who would do us harm. In this case though, there are other options. The caribou, despite the suffering they have cause, are in a position where they are at our mercy. Some of you might believe that ponies should enact some form of revenge on them to make them suffer like we did, but we have to remember while they took our freedom, they never once took our lives.”

That’s… Bullshit! Trixie thought to herself indignantly.

What about the blanked ponies, who’s might as well be considered dead with their memories destroyed. It was a thought that had entered Trixie's own mind more times than she cared to remember. How could the princess not count them, simply because the caribou hadn't killed their bodies? One didn’t even have to go as far as being blanked to have had their lives taken from them either, as while Trixie might have had her memories, the damage they caused her mentally made it near impossible to truly ‘live’.

“As they are, their freedom has likewise been taken from them, so for now the punishment is fitting the crime. We can respect that this is not enough for some of you, but it’s all we can do for the time being. Next question, please.”

Ponies rose their hands again, and Twilight pointed out an orange unicorn stallion this time. “Has the Committee made any plans on utilizing the caribou’s runic magic in the restoration efforts?”

That question surprised Twilight, but she seemed much more pleased with it than the previous one. Magic was one of her talents, and she could see the practical merits to the runic magic the caribou often used to subjugate the ponies.

“While I would love to explore the possibilities of runic magic, and believe that it would be very useful for Equestria, we must remember that runes are a racial form of magic. Only the caribou are capable of creating the runes, and only the stags at that. In order to have rune magic work for us, we’d need to have several caribou stags willing to cooperate with us, which I believe is something that most ponies wouldn’t be pleased about at this time, seeing their reactions when it comes to any interactions with caribou.”

The crowd started to murmur amongst each other about the answers they had received from Twilight. There were conflicting opinions, of course, but to most of what the alicorn had said appeared to be rational explanations as to the actions their newly established government was taking. There were those that were on the fence about some of the topics, but Celestia’s presence helped convince those who still held her opinion in high regard, as she was not doing anything to conflict with any of the Princess of Friendship’s answers, thus silently approving of them in the eyes of the gathering.

“We’re starting to run out of time for today,” Twilight said in attempt to refocus the crowd, “But If we can be quick, I’ll be able to answer a few more questions before we bring this to a close.”

There were, of course, many other ponies wanted to ask about the current state of Equestria, so many that it would have been impossible to answer them all in a day. At best, Twilight would have been able to answer three more questions, so long as the answers to them weren’t too complicated.

“I’ve got a question!” boomed a voice from out of the crowd. The declaration was so loud and sudden that everyone’s attention was drawn to its origin.

This included Twilight herself, though she wasn’t too impressed with this disruption. “I know that all of you have questions that you want answered, but let’s try to keep this orderly. Raise your hand and wait to be-” Twilight stalled as she saw the crowd part, allowing the disruptor to reveal themselves. “Wait… Carrot Top?”

“Carrot Top?” Trixie likewise asked, amazed that the earth mare bothered to move away from her place against the palace walls, let alone include herself in this assembly in such a disruptive manner.

“Good to see you didn’t remove everything inconvenient from your mind.” said the yellow earth mare, not even trying to hide her negative feelings towards the mare on stage. Anyone who knew the mare from the support group could tell that she was in the mood to speak her mind, and when she did that, it was never pleasant for her chosen target.

Trixie slowly backed away from Carrot Top, giving her as much space as she could in this crowded area, wanting no part of the storm the earth mare was silently promising to bring to Twilight. As she backed up, another mare much braver than herself stepped forward, the light blue unicorn Trixie had been speaking to not too long ago.

“Carrot Top, stop.” Lyra said, “This isn’t the place for this.”

“I just have something to ask the princess,” said Carrot Top, smugness growing on her face, “I don’t think that somepony like her would be afraid of a simple question.”

Trixie didn’t believe that what Carrot Top wanted to ask would be simple, not with the malice that was practically radiating from her body. It was something that Lyra could tell too, and she had an idea what kind of question she would have for Twilight.

Twilight, however, was completely in the dark about why Carrot Top and Lyra, two ponies she recognized from Ponyville, were here causing a scene. The last time she remembered seeing them was before the caribou arrived, which meant before the time which her memories were removed.

“Carrot Top,” Twilight said, addressing the mare locking a glare onto her, “If you have something that important to ask me, then... I’ll pick you next.”

“Huh, figure that.” Carrot Top scoffed, “I expected you to dodge me like you did your crimes. Just goes to show how innocent a pony can pretend to be when their given a ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight said, becoming a little apprehensive at what Carrot Top was saying.

“That’s right. You don’t remember.” Carrot Top went on to say, choosing this moment to get her point, “You don’t recall how you betrayed everypony in Ponyville, and handed us right into the caribou’s hands.”

“Are you saying that… you saw me do this?” Twilight asked, becoming both intrigued and worried about what the earth mare had to say.

“Carrot, that’s enough.” Lyra said, tugging at her friend’s wrist.

Carrot Top just casually yanked her arm away from the unicorn, and took a step closer towards the alicorn on the platform. “I saw you go right up to the a small army of caribou and beg them to make you their fuck toy.” she confirmed, “And when you gave up, the rest of us didn’t stand a chance. You didn’t even have a reason to do it either. I know the Committee say you were brainwashed, but you seemed fine to me until the moment we needed you.”

“I was… fine?” Twilight said, not sure how to take this newfound information.

Some caribou documents did say that she had willingly surrendered, but she was hoping that those were some of the embellished parts. At the very least she would have believed that her surrender was caused by her brainwashing, but from what Carrot was saying, she was acting normal until the caribou arrived.

“You look shocked,” Carrot Top continued, “This the first time hearing this from an eyewitness to your betrayal? Would have thought you’d at least ask your victims if what the caribou wrote down about your was true.”

Twilight had not. With all the documentation and literal books written depicting her supposed actions during the fall, Twilight had assumed that those were the place to looking in order to find answers about this version of herself she could no longer remember. In her pursuit of the truth, she had neglected to ask those who might have seen her do something terrible with their own eyes. The closest she had done was ask her friends about her actions, but they all had said they weren’t around the alicorn that often during the caribou’s reign, or were too wrapped up in their own guilt-ridden actions to worry about what Twilight had done. How could she not think to ask anyone from Ponyville? Even Cheerilee, a member of the Committee of Ponies, could have at least told her something.

Twilight, stunned by her mistake and the accusations Carrot was pointing at her, took a step back from the podium in front of her. She had no way to respond to this, not on the spot. Fortunately, there was someone there who could. As Twilight backed away, Celestia stepped forward to take her place, already heading to the podium before Carrot Top’s revelation had set into Twilight’s mind.

“We understand the concerns that some ponies might have about the former red collar status of Princess Twilight, Cadence, and myself,” Celestia said, her voice loud and unshaken by these accusations, “But with things the way they are, it is difficult to tell if the actions of any of us were because we were mind-controlled, or because of our own actions. If any evidence arose that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that our former selves intentionally harmed anypony, then we would submit ourselves to for legal judgment of our actions without question. That being said, was there a question to all this?”

Seeing the sun princess step in for the other alicorn unnerved many in the crowd who just moments ago were siding with Carrot Top. Celestia was far more experienced, more respected, and in her own ways considered more intimidating than Twilight by the general populous of Equestria. They could also tell that Celestia wasn’t trying at all to avoid the possibility of her guilt in all this, only that thus far, the alicorns could only take Shining Armor’s word on the matter, and believe in themselves that they wouldn’t have become red collars without some form of outside coercion. Celestia might not have been the protector Equestria thought she was, but she was not one to try and dodge responsibility either, and to that end she deserved the respect ponies gave her.

Carrot Top was not phased in the slightest though. She had already seen hell, so how could any pony, even one as charismatic as Celestia, make her back down? “My question, right.” she said with that look of smugness plastered on her face as it had been with the previous alicorn. “What gives Twilight the right to stand up there and act like she isn’t part of the reason we suffered as much as we did? That goes for you too, Celestia. You might not have given in as easily, but in the end, you put on that red collar just like any other traitorous mare. Do you know how many of us were latching onto you as a symbol of hope? How many of us were made hopeless to see you willingly choking down Dainn’s cock? Becoming his dog… no, his BITCH!”

Celestia visibly took a blow from the earth mare’s words, them hurting her as much as if Carrot had kicked her in the face. “I cannot begin to express how sor-”

“No, I’m not done!” Carrot said, not letting Celestia give another empty apology, “How can we trust either of you ever again? If some other group like the caribou come in, then what’s gonna stop you from dropping to all fours and presenting your flanks to them? Sure, your ‘memories are gone’, but all that means that you’ve learned nothing from this, and letting you three stay close to any kind of power would only let you have another chance to make the same mistakes as before!”

Trixie was amazed at what Carrot was saying, as was Lyra and many others present to hear her little speech. Some of them had never even considered that, or maybe they didn’t want to consider some other race storming in and taking over Equestria all over again. What if the changelings, or the gryphons, or a group like the minotaurs decided to attack, especially in Equestria’s current condition. One would like to believe that the princesses would be able to protect them, but the caribou had proven that they can’t depend on that kind of thinking.

The premise of another horrible invasion of Equestria stirred up commotion within the crowd, with some of the weaker-willed participants showing signs of panic at the mere mention of its possibility. Of all the things said in the castle courtyard that day, the commentary of the earth mare sparked the most reaction, as it was addressing several important topics all at once. What was Equestria’s plan if they were attacked now? How could they even defend themselves in the state that they were in? Most importantly, was it possible that their leaders could betray them again?

“Everypony, please settle down,” Celestia said, trying to regain control, “I know the thought of another attack like the one we just overcame is frightening, but it would be foolish of us ignore that possibility. The truth of the matter is that we could be-” A sudden jolt entered the alicorn’s mind, and instinctively she unfolded a wing to bring it over her face. A split-second later said wing was hit by a slightly over-ripened tomato that splattered over her white feathers. Someone in the crowd had chucked the piece of fruit at her, and she had just barely caught it in her peripherals in time to block it from hitting her in the face.

While she managed to keep the object from hitting its intended target, the sudden appearance of red upon her pure white form made for an awful sight for those in the crowd, especially since they were just in the middle of discussing the possibility of attacks. Before Celestia could do anything in response to this attempt against her, a sounds of screams came from the ponies before her, one chaining into dozens of others until everyone was sent into full blown hysterics.

The guards reacted as quickly as they could to the chaos that ensued, several immediately flying over to Celestia and Twilight to protect them while others tried to calm down the rioting masses, but their efforts were not very successful. In some cases, trying to make the civilians settle down only made things worse, as those who had been present in Canterlot on the day of the caribou’s invasion were quick to remember that the royal guard had assisted in their takeover.

In the middle of the randomly stampeding crowd was Trixie, who had herself come to the conclusions that Canterlot was under attack. Believing that her freedom depended on it, and above all else never wanting to be clutches of creatures like the caribou again, she did her best to get to through the gates that served as the most immediate exit to the castle grounds.

She made no effort to help anyone on her way to what she perceived as her only means of escape, took nary a moment to check on those she had come with to see if they were ok, and even took to pulling and shoving ponies out of the way to get to her destination.

It had been some time since she felt an emotion this powerful, as an all consuming fear stripped her of rationality, and it sparked things in her that seconds ago she would have felt impossible for her. Where she would have believed herself too meek to so much as stand up to another pony verbally, she was now physically moving ponies she believed were standing in her way, instincts and self-preservation overriding everything the caribou had instilled into her very being.

“Get out of the way!” she screamed at a mare blocking her path, her words lost in the frantic noise produced by all the other ponies running about.

Fortunately, said mare got startled, and moved out of the way so the unicorn didn’t need to toss her aside as well. For a moment, Trixie believed that she would be able to escape the unseen attacker, that she would manage to slip through the bodies of ponies that impeded her from fleeing. If anyone was paying attention to her, they could have seen a joyful, relieved, nearly crazed smile form on her lips as she made her way to what she perceived was her path to safety. All that faded though as a hand wrapped around one of her wrists.

“Hold it!” said the earth pony guard that had gotten a hold of her. He had seen that Trixie was practically knocking others down, risking them getting trampled under the hooves of the pack of panicking ponies. He felt he had to stop her, lest someone get hurt. Using his superior strength on the unicorn, he pulled her in close to restrain and detain her.

That was not taken well by Trixie, who, like some many others present, just saw the guard doing his duty as one of the assumed attackers. She fought and struggled against his hold, wrestled against him as he tried to pin her against a wall to get her to stop moving. Of course, this kind of manhandling could only be seen as an attempt to rape her by the unicorn, as Trixie had been handled the exact same way in the past just before a male forced himself into her body. In her current, adrenaline-fueled state, she couldn’t let this male trap her body between himself and the palace wall. Yet try as she might, she simply couldn’t physically overcome the stallion holding her. Still, her frightened mind told her that she needed to break free by any means she could.

“LET!” Trixie shouted, placing her hoof against the wall to keep body away from it, “ME!” she shouted again, flicking her head back in attempt slam the back of it into the stallion’s face, missing it and instead landing it on his shoulder. “GO!” Trixie pulled everything she could from deep within herself, and without her realizing at first, her horn begun to glow.

The guard spotted this, and as it became brighter and brighter he suddenly became aware that he was in danger. He tried to let go, but the impromptu spell went off before he could release the unicorn completely. A concussive blast came from the horn, striking the stallion in the head at point blank range. Luckily, his helmet absorbed most of the impact, but not enough to keep him from hitting the ground unconscious.

While Trixie had been unaware of her horn as it created the defensive spell, she couldn’t ignore it once she had finished casting said spell. She was shocked, her horn having not worked for her since she was captured and it was severed by the caribou. The unicorn had tried everything she could think of to get her horn to work when she had it fixed, but until now she got nothing.

“You can work?!” Trixie said amazed to her horn, all but forgetting what was going on around her in light of her ability to perform magic again.

Immediately, she tried to get it to work again, working off a distant memory of how magic was supposed to be performed. What she got for her efforts was a light glow on her horn, which was equal parts underwhelming and incredible to Trixie. She had almost come to believe that she would never get her horn to produce magic ever again, but was expecting more after having just knocked out a pony.

She became focused on casting better spells, forgoing any want to escape, until someone slipped their hands into both of hers while she was in her own world. The hands quite literally pulled her back to reality, and once aware of her surroundings again, Trixie found that the ones tugging her along were Lyra and Coco.

“Oh, hey guys,” she said happily, not having completely left her mental bubble yet, “I think I’ve got my magic working again.”

“That’s great, Trixie,” Lyra said, “But we have to go!”

“Oh right, the attack!” Trixie replied, remembering what was going on before she figured out she could use magic again, “We gotta get out of here!”

“It’s not an attack,” said Coco, “At least not like you think.”

“Huh?” Trixie was confused. If they weren’t being attacked, then what was going on?

“One of the girls from my group chucked a tomato at the princess!” Coco admitted, looking back at Trixie as she did, “She just wanted to embarrass Celestia a little bit, but it turned into an all-out riot!”

“That’s…” Trixie said looking around at the havoc that was taking place, “Pretty serious.”

“Yeah,” Coco agreed, “And worst of all is that one of the guards must’ve seen her, cause I saw them- oof!” The petite mare, not watching where she was going, ran into something hard. She stumbled from the impact, but Lyra and Trixie prevented her from falling. When the trio looked up to see what they had bumped into, they were met by the annoyed glare of a palace guard mare. “I saw them rounding up our members…” Coco said, finishing her previous thought.

The guard, her arms crossed in hostility, looked from one of the trio of mares to the next, making note of the black clothes on each of their throats. At this point, the entire security force stationed at the palace had been informed as to what was happening, and who started it, and were now making their biggest priority after calming down the civilians to gather up any members of the Mares for a Better Equestria group.

“You three are going to have to come with me.” she said, with a command in her voice that said that she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “We have a bunch of questions for the lot of you.”

Being that none of the three mares were nearly as brave as Carrot Top, they all meekly complied to the authority of the guard mare, though not without their fair share of groans. What was suppose to be a simple outing had turned into an arrest, and that was something that would sour anyone’s mood. Trixie did still have one thing to be happy about though, and that was the return of her magic, however weakened from lack of use. In a world full of things that could, and had, gone wrong, it was great to finally have something go right for a change.

Author's Notes:

Another month and another chapter. This is becoming a habit, but this time I understand why I'm a bit late. To be honest, righting for "politics" is hard. Scratch that, writing in a fashion that makes you politically neutral is hard. I am personally one who stays out of political issues all together normally, and when I do write something like the last few chapters I want to show the feelings and viewpoints of both sides, because in most issues any side can have a combination of good and bad ideas. If I just wanted to pick a side and say "This is the winner" I'd probably have an easier side setting that side on a podium, making that side out to be the outright "correct" one to follow, but I would rather not do that.

I'm sure one could ask "what political stance could you make in a story about a bunch of cartoon ponies who have been raped by a bunch of hentai orcs in the guise of deer", but given our current social climate it seems that anyone could make a case for something being a political statement about anything. I could probably pluck some examples out myself if I tried, but I feel that it would be a waste of my time to attempt to put meaning into my own story that I didn't intentionally put there. If you see something that connects with you though, feel free to share. I've had previous works of mine compared to much better literary works before when I accidentally made them similar to said work, despite never having read a book outside of the Harry Potter series, so maybe there is something hidden here that I don't see, and I'd be very interested to know what that could be.

Anyways, have a nice day. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Interrogation

“Do you understand how much trouble you’re in?!”

A hand slapped down on a table in front of Trixie, startling her as a hostile royal guard stood over her. After she, Coco, and Lyra had been arrested, the three of them had been taken to a holding cell with many other members of the support group. One by one they were taken into a seperate room and interrogated, and now it was Trixie’s turn.

“Inciting a riot, endangering the lives of ponies, assaulting a princess. These are serious crimes, and if you don’t tell us which of your little group did it, then we’ll just have to bring you all in.”

At that moment, Trixie was in the accompaniment of two guards. A stallion baring down over her, bringing up unpleasant memories of when other stallions did the same while raping her, and a mare who was quietly watching from across the table. Trixie herself was handcuffed to a chair, a magic binding ring on her horn, which was something Trixie particularly disliked, due to her wanting to practice with her magic that had just returned to her.

“Aren’t you going to do something about this?” Trixie said to the female guard, “This has to breach some sort of mare treatment policy.”

“Miss Lunamoon,” the guard mare said, “While my partner here is being aggressive with you, it’s necessary to apprehend the member of your group who attacked Celestia. Believe me, I don’t like it myself, but this can all be avoided if you’d just point out who it is. If you are cooperative you could be out of here in twenty minutes, but otherwise we will just have to assume that you were the one who did it.”

“Then you should at least remind him that Celestia isn’t a princess anymore. She stepped down, if you remember.” Before entering, one of the other girls that went in ahead of the rest gave a few of the others a heads up on how the guards were acting, and how to respond if they turned confrontational, “Throwing a tomato at someone isn’t exactly a serious crime.”

“Is that a confession?” the stallion asked, glaring at the mare as if she had some sin against him, when it was very likely that he had done just that to her during the Fall, seeing how many stallions used her body during that time.

“No, it’s me sympathizing with the pony who did.” Trixie stated, “They didn’t really do anything but show that they disagreed with a mare who betrayed Equestria.”

“You know that’s not true,” said the guard mare, “Celestia was brainwashed by the Crystal Heart.”

“Was she?” Trixie retorted, “Because I think Carrot Top made some pretty good points.”

“Carrot Top,” the mare repeated, “That’s… the one who was arguing with Twilight and Celestia before, right?”

“Yeah,” Trixie confirmed, knowing that Carrot Top was in no position to be blamed for throwing the piece of fruit at Celestia, having all eyes on her at the moment of its tossing, “And she’s right. We have no way of telling if Celestia, Twilight, or Cadence were brainwashed or not, and if they betrayed us once, they could easily betray us again.”

“Celestia wouldn’t do that.” said the male guard, certain of the former princess’ loyalty to Equestria. “And we’re the ones asking the questions here.”

Trixie just shifted her an eyebrow upwards as she gave the stallion a speculative sideways glance, “I don’t think so. You’re so insistent that Celestia didn’t betray Equestria of her own choice, but can you prove that?”

“I’ve served under Celestia for years, and she would never do something that would make the citizens of her kingdom miserable.”

“I bet you could say that about lots of mares who turned out to be willing red collars.” Trixie replied, “Have you ever considered that you might be wrong, and that all three of the red collared princesses might have given themselves up willingly. You can’t deny it’s possible after somepony witnessed Twilight doing it.”

“That could have just been a misunderstanding,” answered the mare, “The Fall was a confusing time, and it’s very likely that what your friend saw wasn’t what really happened.”

“So I just have to take your word that the ponies who have a hand running Equestria won’t hand us over to some other threat the next time it’s convenient for them, instead of listening to a mare who saw what happened first-hand?”

The guard mare wanted to dispute Trixie’s assertions, but she couldn’t do so without second-guessing what she might say in the defense of the alicorns. She wanted to believe that at the very least Celestia’s brainwashing was true, because she too had served the princess long enough to know the white alicorn would never do anything to harm those she ruled over. That was difficult though, as being a royal guard mare, she had been a prisoner within the castle when Dainn was king, and thus a witness by proxy to Celestia’s transformation from proud princess to submissive slave.

For the first few months, the princess of the sun was a black collar who resisted every sexual act inflicted upon her regal form. Yet, over time that changed to her being lead through the halls of the castle by one of Dainn’s council, crawling on hands and knees with her tongue hanging out her smiling mouth, happily wagging her tail, with a red collar secured around her throat. From that day forward, Celestia acted as the caribou wanted, all the way to her memory erasure, never once showing signs of reluctance or remorse. Of course, that all could be explained if she was indeed brainwashed, but having seen that transformation did give the mare some reason to doubt, and thus no real footing when it came to debating with the blue unicorn across from her.

“This is getting us nowhere,” the guardmare said instead, relenting that her opinion on the matter was not sufficient enough to dispute Trixie’s conclusions, “You can believe whatever you want about the alicorns, but the real matter at hand is that someone in your group endangered the lives of hundreds of ponies based on a petty act. If it had just been that someone threw a piece of rotten fruit at Celestia, it might not have been seen as that serious, but doing that in a public area, in the social climate we are in, was reckless and irresponsible. It’s because for that reason that we have to bring them in. Do you understand that?”

Trixie did understand that, but she really didn’t know who attacked Celestia in the first place. All she knew was that it was a mare, and that was just because Coco told her. The only reason she was so difficult with the guards was because she didn’t want to be the reason anyone from her group got in trouble, and was a little afraid that if that happened, she might get kicked out of her current place of residence, as Sunset Shimmer certainly would not be happy with her if she was the cause of something like that.

“So let's start from the beginning…” The guard mare said, wanting to try one last chance to crack under the pressure, “Ponies have testified that somepony wearing one of those handkerchiefs you have around your neck threw the tomato. We caught you trying to escape the castle with two other mares. You claimed that neither of them were responsible, and that you didn’t do it yourself, but then who was respo-?”

The door to the interrogation room opened, and a third pony wearing a guard uniform entered the room, that pony being Flash Sentry. “You have to let this unicorn go.” he stated as he held the door open.

The other stallion turned to Flash, giving him a small salute in recognition of his status as committee member, before asking the first question that came to mind, “Have we found the perpetrator?”

“Yeah, they turned themselves in a few minutes ago.” Flash said, before turning his attention to Trixie. “Apparently, they managed to slip through security during the panic, but your group’s leader convinced them to turn themselves in and face the consequences of his actions. She’s currently waiting for the release of the rest of you in the lobby.”

Trixie was a bit surprised, hearing that Sunset Shimmer had come and fixed the situation so quickly, and that she was currently in the building. With Sunset not having come to public announcement, Trixie was sure that she had gone off to do something important that would take up a good portion of the day, if not all of it. With her here, not only was Trixie being released immediately, but everything was being resolved neatly, without so much of a wasted word or gesture.

“Then if you’re not holding me any longer, get this ring off my horn.”

Moments later, Trixie was being escorted out of the guard station, liberated from her bonds as she had requested. With her horn freed, the first thing she tried to do was activate it again as she did in the castle courtyard, but the second the horn lit up, she was asked not to cast spells in the guard station, for obvious security reasons.

The blue unicorn reluctantly complied, but then rushed her way to the door, wanting to once more use her magic like she did in the times before the caribou. She was excited, even for the slight bit of magical sparks she could produce, and wanted to get outside as quickly as possible in order to see how much of her old talents she could recover. However, she was reminded upon reaching the lobby that she wasn’t here by herself, and herself, and that someone was waiting on her, that someone being a yellow unicorn with fiery hair.

“Trixie, I’m glad to see you’re ok.” Sunset Shimmer said, walking up to her fellow unicorn, “These ponies didn’t do anything to frighten you, did they?”

“No, I’m ok,” Trixie replied, easing the concerns of the other mare, “I just want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Then allow me to walk you out,” said Sunset, taking Trixie by the arm, “The others are already outside waiting for us.”

“Sunset, wait!” yelled Flash Sentry, “We still have questions for you.”

“Questions for me?” Sunset replied, looking over her shoulder as she spoke, not stopping for a second on her way out, “I’m flattered, Flash, but if you’re looking for a date then I’m all booked up. Get a hold of my assistant, and perhaps she can squeeze you in some-.”

“Sunset Shimmer!” A loud voice boomed through the guard station, one carrying with it a power and authority that any pony in Equestria would recognize, that being the voice of the former alicorn princess.

While Sunset wouldn’t stop for Flash Sentry, Celestia had enough pull with her to give the unicorn pause. So with a soft sigh, she turned around to face her former mentor. “Celestia, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. What a pleasant surprise.”

By the time Sunset had turned around, Celestia had stood herself beside Flash Sentry, an unamused expression on her face.

“Wait here a moment, Trixie,” Sunset said as she went to speak with the alicorn, “This won’t take long.”

“You shouldn’t say things that you know aren’t true,” said Celestia, “You have a lot to answer for.”

“I do?” Sunset said curiously, “I thought all your questions were answered. You got the stallion who started the riot, what more could you want?”

Stallion? Trixie thought to herself, That’s not right… Coco said that it was a mare from her group who caused the riot.

“Did you send that unicorn here to pelt me today?” Celestia asked, completely serious in tone.

Sunset scoffed a little, “Is that what you think I’m doing with my time? Planning petty acts to do to you when Equestria is in the state it is?”

“I don’t believe that’s what you’d do, but several of your group said that they only came today because you told them to be here.”

“Of course I told them to be here,” Sunset answered, “I feel that every member of my support group should be aware of the current policies of our kingdom, so they can be informed on what decisions their leaders are making for them. I would have been here myself if not for a prior arrangement I had to attend.”

“Sunset…” Celesita said, visibly disheartened by the attitude of the other mare.

“If you think I planned all this, let me remind you that only one of them threw something at you. It’s not my fault if you or your other student said something that they found offensive.”

“If I felt that was all this was, then I wouldn’t be nearly as upset as I am at the moment.” Celestia explained, “I know you and I have had our differences in opinions, both before and after the Fall, but I made you a member of the committee because I had faith in your abilities. When you left, it felt like you took whatever hope I had for you and smashed it on the floor.”

“We’ve discussed this before,” Sunset replied, “I didn’t agree with the choices your committee was making, nor did I think they were repairing Equestria at a reasonable pace. I left so I could help ponies in ways your committee never could.”

Celestia looked away from her former student for a second, her sternness briefly giving way to dejection.

“I wish that we could have seen things on more even terms, but you always felt that you didn’t need to follow my plans for you in order to succeed. If you truly are trying to help the ponies of Equestria, then I understand, but please don’t guide them towards hate.”

“Trust me, I don’t need to guide them to that.” Sunset replied, “The caribou have already brought them to that point. All I can do now is help them find ways to deal with it.”

“Constructive ways, I’m hoping.” said Celestia, the look on her face making it hard to decern wether she believed Sunset was being sincere or not.

“Is that all then?” Sunset asked.

“Not quite…” Celestia answered, “Considering that nopony got seriously hurt, the intent of the stallion to only attack me, and your contributions to the resistance against the caribou, I have talked with the committee and had them drop the charges.”

“Oh, how gracious of-.”

“With the stipulation that you and your group are aware that this leniency will not be repeated. Next time, whoever decides to cause a riot or do some act hostile against another pony will be arrested and held to the full extent of the laws. Are we clear?”

Sunset smiled, “Crystal.”

“Good, then please-”

Suddenly, the entrance to the guard station flew open, and a panicked and exhausted royal pegasus guard flew into the room. “Princess Celestia! Flash Sentry! Thank Equestria you’re here!”

“Wait a second,” Flash Sentry said, catching the pegasus as he practically crashed into the two. He gave the armored pony a moment to catch his breath, “Okay, now tell us what’s going on.”

As the pegasus rested, he took note that civilians were present, as he knew that the information he had was not something they should hear. However, he also needed to make Celestia and Flash aware of what happened immediately.

“It’s that special assignment the committee sent us on this morning.” the guard said, standing himself upright, “Something happened to it, something dire.”

Celestia and Flash instantly understood what he was referring to, and fear grew in their hearts as the news set in that something had gone wrong with it.

“The other guards are trying to fix the situation right now, but we were deterred for hours.”

“Did you get a good look at who did this?” Flash said, forgoing all subtlety, wanting an answer now, and hoping that the answer would be yes.

“Sorry, but no.” replied the guard, “They kept themselves concealed, but all accounts from those who caught a glimpse of them say that they were ponies.”

“Is something wrong, Celestia?” Sunset said, butting in, “Sounds like you’re in trouble. Do you need some help with what this guard is talking about?”

“Thank you, Sunset, but that won’t be necessary,” Celestia replied, as this was a matter for the Committee to deal with, and Sunset was no longer part of it, “But don’t leave yet. We’ll be releasing that stallion we were talking about soon, and I would like for you to escort him out of Canterlot and back to his home.”

“Very well,” said Sunset, accepting Celestia’s request, “I’ll be waiting for him outside. Just send him that way when you’re done with him.”

With that, Sunset made her way to the exit, with Trixie following right behind her. Celestia, on the other hand, stood and watched the mare until she was completely out of sight, not sure how to take this current version of her former student.

The two of them had always had different views on things, originally splitting ways when Sunset expressed a desire to use her power to rule over ponies with absolute authority. When Celestia refused her, she fled Canterlot and went into hiding. This eventually turned out to be a good thing, as during the Fall, Sunset was able to evade the caribou and started her own resistance group against them, successfully liberating and hiding away many mares from the oppressors until Dainn was slain.

Celestia had hoped that this position of responsibility would have given Sunset the proper perspective that a leader should have, and while it certainly seemed to change the mare from caring only about personal power, it appeared that she still believed that her methods were what was best for Equestria.

“Are you okay, Celestia?” Flash asked the alicorn, seeing her frustration, believing it came from seeing Sunset more than it did the bad news guard had brought, terrible as it was.

“I’m fine,” answered Celestia, “We have bigger problems to deal with than her right now. Guardsman, tell us exactly where your squad is, and when this happened.”

As Celestia went off to fix the new dilemma the guard presented her with, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie rejoined with those other members of ‘Mares for a Better Equestria’ who hadn’t managed to slip past the guards during the riot.

Sunset explained to all the others of their group what was going on, as many were still unaware that someone had turned themself in. Trixie, knowing most of what was going on already, slipped away around a corner, secluding herself just out of sight from the others. This was the first moment since being arrested that she was able to use her horn without interferance, and she desperately wanted to see if her magic had truly returned.

Concentrating, focused only on casting a spell, any spell, she tried to remember what it was like prior to her horn’s severing. It was hard, incredibly so, but with a small amount of effort, she managed to get her horn to glow. It wasn’t much, the most basic of skills a unicorn could perform, but it was more than the unicorn had been able to do in some time. She had to continue, so she directed her focus on some small rocks on the ground, trying her best to get the light pieces of rock to move.

Getting her horn to glow with magic was the most basic of techniques, the catalyst to all unicorn magic, but of all spells known by creatures of Equestria, moving something with only your magic was perhaps the simplest. It was such an easy spell that it was more than likely the first one any unicorn learned, and most other magically adept creatures were capable of learning it as well. With her horn reactivated, if there was any spell that Trixie should have been able to perform, it should have been this one.

It took a minute or two, but the unicorn managed to envelop the pebbles with her magical aura. That alone didn’t make Trixie happy, though. To be satisfied with herself, she would need to move the rocks off the ground, which was proving to be a bit more challenging. She could make them shudder on the dirt, and - with a little more force of will - could even roll them around with a mental push, but lifting something even as small as those tiny bits of matter felt near impossible. That didn’t stop Trixie from making more and more attempts, by each one was met with the same results.

“There you are,” said Sunset Shimmer, catching Trixie in the middle of her private practice, “Oh, and I see that Lyra was right. She told me that you said something about your magic returning.”

Trixie didn’t reply, hardly noticing Sunset while her mind was directed only to the use of her magic on the stones. Sunset, seeing that Trixie was trying to relearn the levitation spell, patiently allowed Trixie to make an attempt, but in the end the blue unicorn was left fatigued from overusing her horn.

“Not a bad try,” Sunset said, commending Trixie for her effort.

“Please, don’t patronize me,” said Trixie, fully aware that this spell was so easy a blank flank could do it.

“Well, you still need work,” Sunset admitted, “But the fact that you have the ability to cast spells at all is an improvement. There are still mares out there who are too stunted to do even that.”

Trixie could appreciate what the yellow unicorn was trying to say, but right now, she didn’t care about the progress of other ponies. She was only concerned with why her horn was continuing to fail her.

“You know, you were putting quite a bit of stress on your horn the way you were trying to levitate those stones.” Sunset commented, “Far more than normal for a spell like that. If you ask me, that was part of the problem. You’re trying too hard because part of you still thinks that you’re not able to do this.”

“But…” Trixie tried to rebut.

Sunset wasn’t going to let her though, and stopped her by saying, “Didn’t I hear that you knocked one of the guard stallions flat during the riot, with a blast of concussive magic? That’s not easy to do, and, from my point of view, says you have a lot of magic potential.”

“You… really think so? I mean, I didn’t do that on purpose, not that I wanted to.”

“No, no, I understand.” Sunset assured, “It was a matter of self defense, and a mare is allowed to protect themselves however they see fit if they feel they are in danger. The point is that you have more magical power inside you than you assume, and trying to force it all out for a spell so minor is going to cause it to fail, one way or another.”

“Then what should I do?” Trixie asked, “Magic is the one thing in my life that I know will make me happy, and I can barely use it.”

“Hmm…” Sunset put a hand to her chin, thinking about the problem deeply, “Well, let me ask you this. When you were a filly, did you put that much effort into learning to levitate things?”

“Well… no.” Trixie replied. Levitation was something that came fairly naturally to her when she was younger.

Her parents used to tell her that when she was a foal, she would levitate things all the time, from spoons, to toys, to random objects around the house that were light enough for her to carry with her magic. This wasn’t particularly abnormal for foals under a year old, but what was odd was that it never stopped. Most unicorn foals would reach a period where they’d go from wildly casting random spells to being unable to cast any at all, having to relearn the skill around the time they’d get their cutie mark, but Trixie could levitate things for as long as she could recall. In a sense, she was a prodigy of the levitation arts, despite her talents never going further than manipulating light objects.

Of course, Sunset didn’t know that, and just assumed Trixie developed her magic like any other filly. “I didn’t think so. While it’s hard for most fillies to learn something as simple as levitation, it usually comes from them trying too hard, instead of allowing it to come naturally. Next time you try to pick something up, why don’t you try a gentler approach. Don’t pour all your magic into a single attempt to cast an easy to do spell. Let it flow naturally.”

As an example of what she was trying to get at, Sunset casually lifted up the stones Trixie was trying to lift herself, and placed them into the blue unicorn’s hands. “See, effortless, as it should be. All that extra magic you’re trying to push out is causing it all to get backed up, if I were to take a guess. So try it again sometime, and be gentle with it.”

“Ok, if you say so…” said Trixie, charging her horn for another go.

“Not right now, though,” Sunset said with a slight laugh, “You’ve already tired yourself out, and we’ll be leaving shortly.” Only a moment later, the sound of a door opening reached the ears of the two unicorns, “In fact, that’s probably our last member coming out now. Better go greet him.”

Trixie sighed. Though recognizing the familiar drained sensation that unicorns did after expending too much magic at once, she really wanted to try again, to see if Sunset’s advice would change anything. Sunset was the one in charge though, at least in this particular matter, and Trixie did like the idea of leaving this place after being imprisoned there for the past few hours.

“Okay, let’s go greet this stallion and get out of here.” Trixie said complacently, pocketing the stones for later use. While any rocks would do for practice, she figured that using ones she already failed at moving would be more appropriate.

The two mares headed back to the larger group, everyone now crowded around the front door to the guard station. It appeared that the stallion had indeed been released, and now everyone was trying to ask him a million questions, with a few openly praising the unicorn for doing something so bold to a former red collar of Celestia’s status.

“Okay, okay!” Sunset said loudly, raising her voice over those of the crowd’s as she approached, Trixie at her side, “Give him some space! He just got grilled by the royal guards, and probably doesn’t want to answer a barrage of questions. Besides, I need to talk to him myself.”

The ponies slowly went silent, and parted to form a clear path to the guilty stallion who had admitted to have tossed a piece of fruit at Celestia. Trixie, while not really that enthralled by the notion of some stallion hurling rotten produce at an authority figure as the others, was curious enough that she wanted to get a good look at this pony’s face, in case he became a problem again later on. What she saw caused her to skip a breath, as a grey unicorn male with a purple and grey striped mane came into view.

“Star Bright?” she said to herself, knowing this stallion decently well: The last stallion to rape her, and the first one to help her after the Fall. A male who for some time was a part of her life, as he did what he could to protect her for the harm he had caused her. That was, until the caribou were routed, ponies had full control over Equestria again, and things began to stabilize. At that point, Star Bright allowed the governing body to decide what was best for Trixie, as even during their time together, Trixie’s self-esteem was plummeting and her depression was rising. If there had been any good thing in her life at that time, it was him, and losing him was the final thing that had sent her into the dark, emotional pit she had been stuck in prior to joining Sunset’s support group.

“There’s our little ‘hero’,” Sunset said jokingly, standing in front of the stallion, “I hope those guards didn’t intimidate you too much.”

“They did a little,” Star Bright said, a bit bashfully, “They were asking all kinds of questions, trying to figure out how and why I did it.”

“And what did you tell them?” asked Sunset.

“I told them that I snuck the tomato onto the castle grounds in a bag, with the intent of tossing it at Celestia, because I was angry about how she let the Fall happen.”

“Good,” Sunset replied, shaking her finger at the stallion, “Now just don’t go doing that again, got it? You don’t want to make our group look bad.”

“Huh?” Star Bright responded, looking fairly confused for a moment, until recognition appeared in his eyes, “Oh right, attacking Celestia and causing the riot, right!”

“Then if you understand…” Sunset turned back to the rest of the congregation, “Okay everyone, the show’s over. Time to head back to your homes and rest. We’re gonna have a lot of things to do in the near future, and I don’t want to hear about any of you getting into any more trouble.”

Everyone dispersed, gathering up into their own small groups before making their leave of Canterlot. As this happened, Sunset took Star Bright by the shoulder, continuing their conversation in private as she went to join up with those of the group she had taken personal responsibility for. Of course, this led to Star Bright walking by Trixie, which was something he couldn’t be oblivious about.

“Trixie?!” he said, surprised to see the unicorn mare there, “I… umm… You joined Mares for a Better Equestria? That’s great. I’m glad to see that you’re doing better, and that you got your horn back.”

“I’m… glad to see you too, Star Bright…” Trixie said, both ponies feeling an awkward tension between them.

“Oh, you two know each other, then,” said Sunset, gesturing them both to follow.

“You could say that…” Star Bright said, his sheepishness rising.

“Star Bright took care of me for a while after the Fall,” said Trixie, avoiding completely how they originally met.

“Then it’s nice to see that Star Bright has always been a good colt, looking out for the well-being of mares.” said Sunset, “He joined our group a while back, wanting to make up for all the wrongs he committed under caribou control. He has been very useful since then.”

“Has he now?” Trixie said, a bit annoyed that he had left, then never came back to check on her or how she was fairing.

“Y-yeah,” Star Bright answered, realizing himself that he had all but abandoned Trixie at the mare’s shelter, “I’ve been doing a lot of things for the group, helping mares work through their problems… having them help me through my own.”

“What problems do you have?” Trixie wondered aloud, not seeing Star Bright as the type to be persecuted for his actions in the Fall, due to his timidness and want to help others.

“Star Bright has guilt issues,” Sunset said, answering for the stallion, “Despite his brainwashing, he sees the things he did during at the caribou’s command as his fault, which is not a terrible viewpoint. Perhaps it’s extreme, but remember that our group holds the view that stallions should do whatever they can to make it up to the mares that were wronged, and a little guilt and humility never killed anyone.”

“Thank you, Miss Shimmer.” Star Bright said, glad that Sunset saw that he meant well.

“But… well, don’t take this the wrong way,” said Trixie, “But I never really saw what Star Bright did as his fault.”

“Well thanks, Trixie.” Star Bright responded.

“He’s too nice to do anything to harm a mare. To be honest, I’m surprised that he was the one who attacked Celestia.”

“Well… About that…” Star Bright started to say.

“Star Bright, not here,” said Sunset, scolding the stallion, “We’re still in range of the guard station. Wait till we get out of the city, and I’ll explain everything. Oh, and Star Bright, I want you to come with me for a bit of debriefing and your next assignment.”

“Ok.” Star Bright agreed, not giving so much as a hint of objection to the order.

Trixie, in turn, just followed the two, her curiosity peeked about what Star Bright had wanted to say, and why it was so important that Sunset shushed him.

The three of them increased their pace until they caught up with Lyra and Carrot Top, the other two members of Trixie’s group who had attended Twilight’s announcements and had been arrested for questioning. Together, the five of them made their way to the city gate, where a stallion-drawn carriage was waiting for them, as well as Starlight Glimmer.

“Welcome back, you all.” Starlight greeted, opening the door to the carriage for the others before entering herself.

“Starlight,” said Sunset as she addressed her assistant, “How did that assignment I gave you go?”

“The package was delivered without issue,” the pink unicorn answered, “And I’ll be inspecting it later tonight, as soon as we drop off everyone at the club house.”

“Something we should know about?” asked Carrot Top, inserting herself to the conversation quickly.

“Not at the moment,” Sunset replied, “It’s just something big I’ve been working on in order to help our cause. It’s kind of a surprise though, but it won’t be too much longer till we let you in on it.”

“More importantly,” Trixie said, not wanting her own inquiries to be forgotten, “What was it that you shushed Star Bright over back in Canterlot?”

Sunset looked to Starlight, and gave her a nod. In turn, the pink mare told the two stallions up front that it was time to leave. It took a moment of the cart moving, but Sunset soon became ready to address that subject.

“Sorry for the secrecy, but this is information that can’t be leaked, for the safety of one of our other members.” Sunset explained, “We have a mare in our ranks that’s a bit of a hothead.”

“You mean Carrot Top?” Lyra asked jokingly.

“Hey!” Carrot replied, knowing it was a joke, but not enjoying it.

One that has a much worse temperament than her, I fear.” Sunset continued, “She’s gotten in trouble before for the way she protests our current leaders, and how little they are doing to actually help Equestria, and there was a strong possibility that if she was caught again, she’d be arrested for sure.”

“Who is it?” Trixie asked, concerned by this new information.

“No one in our chapter,” Sunset explained, “And you wouldn’t know them if I told you their name. If she were to be imprisoned, though, it would look bad on the image of our group. That’s why I asked Star Bright here to confess to the assault in her place.”

“You what?!” yelled Trixie, completely surprised.

“Sunset, you didn’t…” said Lyra.

“No, no,” said Star Bright, “I was happy to do it. It was the least I could do after all I’ve done to mares.”

Sunset gave a slight smirk at Star Bright’s earnest response. “It’s not like I did it with the intent to let him be imprisoned. Unlike this mare, Star Bright has a near spotless record. Knowing Celestia, I figured she wouldn’t press charges over somepony making a simple, if aggressive, protest if they were an otherwise model citizen.”

“And what if she had?” asked Lyra.

“Then I’d have gone in and asked for a favor between ex-student and ex-mentor,” Sunset explained, “Believe me, I wasn’t going to let an innocent stallion like him sit in a cell for too long.”

“And what about the mare who did this?” Trixie asked, addressing the one loose end.

“I’ve already dealt with that accordingly, and given her a proper punishment.” Sunset replied, “If they get in trouble again, it will not be in a way that is associated with our support group, and I won’t be there to rescue them.”

“That’s good.” Trixie said, having had enough chaos and conflict for one lifetime.

“Ok, so that problem is dealt with,” Carrot Top chimed in, “So what now? Are we just going to go back to normal? Working out our issues through meetings?”

“Well, yes,” Sunset Shimmer answered, “But your earlier confrontation with the former leader of Equestria tells me that you want to be more active in your role in this group. Am I right?”

“I am a little tired of sitting around and doing nothing,” Carrot Top replied, “Don’t get me wrong, talking about our problems isn’t a bad thing, and it helps ponies cope with shit, but it’s not really doing anything for Equestria.”

“Then maybe you could help me with some important stuff outside of the meetings?” Sunset suggested, “I have plenty of things to do for a mare of your talents that would help make Equestria a better place.”

“Sure,” Carrot Top replied, “Just as long as I’m not just turned into another one of your assistants... no offence, Starlight.”

“Oh no,” said Sunset Shimmer, “I have a better role for you. I’ll have to set some things up, but I think you’ll be very happy with what I have planned.” Sunset then looked to the other ponies in the carriage, “And what about the rest of you? Mind if I put you all to work for the betterment of Equestria?”

“Sorry,” said Lyra, “But I still have my own problems to deal with at home. Coming out for something like the announcement is one thing, but I can’t be tied to any long-term projects.”

“What about you, Trixie?”

“I… I’ve tried helping to fix Equestria before, and I failed miserably at it,” the blue unicorn replied, thinking back to the work she was practically forced into back at the mare’s shelter, “If it’s ok with you, I’d rather practice my magic for now.”

“Not a problem at all,” Sunset said, “But if it’s magic training you want, maybe there is a way we could incorporate it into your therapy. I’ll think of something, if you are up for it.”

“Well… If it helps me relearn magic, then it couldn’t hurt to try.”

“Good,” Sunset said, “Then I’ll come up with something we can try soon.”

“Um… Miss Shimmer,” Star Bight spoke, “I wouldn’t mind being used in whatever you have in mind.”

“Don’t you worry,” said Sunset, “I already have plans for you, and I think you’ll enjoy them very much.” With that said, everypony present had been addressed, and their future plans laid out for Sunset Shimmer to take into consideration for her own plans. “It’s going to be a little while to get back, so everypony feel free to relax.”

Taking her own advice, Sunset leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes after a long day of having to deal with the aftermath of the riot. The others took by her example, and took to their own means to pass the time. For Carrot Top, it was quiet contemplations. For Lyra, it was looking out the window and watching the scenery pass. For Trixie, it was taking out the stones from earlier and returning to her attempts to cast levitation.

Holding them in the palm of her hand, she took the advice Sunset had given her and didn’t go full force in trying to lift them up. Making the rocks glow with her aura, she tried controlling her magic to put as little of it into the spell as possible, increasing it slowly over time. While this didn’t get the immediate and spectacular results Trixie would have wanted, starting lightly and adjusting over time did get her some results, the pebbles managing to float up a centimeter or two off her palm before the ride was finished.

Back in Canterlot, the Committee of Ponies had regrouped for an emergency meeting, focused on the missing caribou artifact. The six ponies were accompanied by two others, that being Princess Twilight and Celestia, both deemed important enough to the workings of Equestria that they would need to know how this situation was being handled.

“After doing a thorough inspection of the area the Blanking Device was taken from, we have found no trace of caribou involvement in its theft.” explained Flash Sentry, having looked into the matter personally when the investigation started.

“All signs indicate that it was ponies who stole the device,” added Shining Armor, the only other pony present that overlooked the investigation, “But all eyewitness accounts say that the group wore cloaks and masks to hide their identities.”

“That doesn’t mean they aren’t working with the caribou,” said Spitfire, putting in her thoughts, “Or perhaps they are caribou collaborators that wanted the device for themselves.”

“How did this happen?” asked Cheerilee, disturbed at the mismanagement of such an important and dangerous object, “We set up the shipping of the Blanking Device on the day of the announcement in order to distract any who may want it, but then this happened.”

“That is the problem,” said Luna, finally speaking her mind on the subject, “The delivery should have gone off without a hitch. Lots of ponies were present at the assembly, and very few ponies knew what was being shipped outside of those delivering the device to the storage facility.”

“Meanin’ this could have been a random attack, and the device might not’ve been the target?” asked Braeburn.

“More likely, it means that we have a leak somewhere,” Shining Armor answered, “The amount of robberies and muggings in Equestria have been reduced to near non-existence, most ponies have their needs taken care of or have more pressing matters on their mind than pillaging a cart, with those who might have tried being the types we have imprisoned for supporting the caribou. Not only that, but the assailants may have walked into the site of the robbery, but they didn’t walk away. None of their hoofprints were shown to be leaving the area.”

“Pegasi?” Twilight questioned, that being the immediate thought.

“Worse, Princess Twilight.” said Flash, “We believe it that they had one or more unicorns who knew how to teleport with them.”

“That is troubling,” said Celestia, “Teleportation is a difficult spell to master, but not uncommon enough to narrow it down to a very small group of ponies. Anyone who has graduated from my school for gifted ponies would be able to do it, as well as others from other magical schools. It’s even possible that a unicorn who practiced magic enough on their own could perform it, if talented enough, and that would be the most problematic thing of all if they used a unicorn who had done so.”

“Celestia…” Shining Armor said grimly, “Didn’t Sunset Shimmer graduate from your school?”

“I know what you’re thinking, and I’ve already looked into it,” replied the white alicorn, “She had a meeting in Rainbow Falls at the time the Blanking Device was stolen, which places her nowhere near the time or place. Several eyewitnesses spotted her, so she has a very solid alibi.”

“Then that marks one suspect off the list, ah suppose.” Braeburn said, “But this means that we still have no real leads.”

“Discovering who took the Blanking Device is one problem of many we have now,” said Luna, “We’ll have to crack down even harder on public security now in order to keep everypony safe from this new threat. Then there is the other issue this unfortunate event brings up…”

“What would that be?” Cheerilee asked.

“I know what it is,” said Celestia, “At times like this, it is royal protocol to keep information of terrible events from the citizens of Equestria.”

“Why?!” Cheerilee questioned in outrage.

“Don’t get too upset, Cheerilee,” said Spitfire, “It’s a common practice that those in the Equestrian military are very familiar with. In most situations, letting common ponies know that a threat is looming over them from the shadows only leads to the situation becoming much worse. Panic incites easily in those not trained to deal with it, and you saw earlier what that can cause. Now think of that on a kingdom-wide scale.”

“Oh…” Cheerilee responded, remembering what happened during the riot.

“The good thing is that no one knows that the Blanking Device is no longer in our possession,” said Luna, “Save for the thieves, ourselves, and the guards that were protecting it.”

“So we aren’t going to tell anyone about the danger they’re in now?” asked Braeburn, not as pleased by this decision as others.

“Well… That’s the thing,” Celestia said, “It’s up to the committee to decide. If you feel it would be better they knew, then we will have to tell them.”

“My sister is right,” Luna said, “If there is a time to change this protocol, it would be now. We will have a vote, and for the purposes of this single decision, I would like Twilight to act as our female unicorn representative. Since this is a secret vote, and she was a unicorn once, I don’t see why she can’t help decide on this matter, especially since a tie would be pointless in this instance..”

“Thank you for this honor, Princess Luna.” Twilight said, taking a seat at the table.

Luna waited for the purple alicorn to be seated, then said, “All those opposed to keeping the theft a secret, raise your hand.”

Braeburn and Cheerilee reluctantly raised their hands, both visibly unsure about their decision.

“And all those in favor?”

The remaining four ponies lifted their arms up, Shining, Flash, and Spitfire having some level of experience with the protocol and how well it functioned, while Twilight followed what she believed her mentor would do, as it was what Celestia had done in the past. Thus, the committee decided to keep the secret, and thus the peace, at least for now.

“Fine, but we should better find that device soon,” Cheerilee said, not happy with the results, “And by soon, I mean yesterday. I’m not going to tolerate another pony being lost to that damned machine.”

“Don’t worry,” Shining Armor reassured, “The ponies under my command will not rest till we find it.”

That adjourned the meeting of the Committee of Ponies, and the eight ponies went their separate ways, each putting on a brave face, but none of them certain on how to handle this. They had no leads, no suspects, and the Blanking Device was the second most dangerous thing the caribou created, next to their Crystal Cock. Now it was in the hands of ponies they didn’t know, and if they decided to use it, it could only lead to something terrible and potentially irreparable.

Author's Notes:

New chapter up, and after such a long time. Don't worry though, I will be updating this a lot more frequently from now on. Nothing in my way but work and whatever life decided to throw at me, and I'll be working on this until it's finished. Hope all of you who stuck around enjoy the rest of the story.

The Magician and the Pretender

Night fell over Equestria, covering it in a darkness that was only dimly illuminated by the light emanating from the surface of the moon. The night concealed many things in its cloak, such as predators who utilized the cover it provided to prey on those who would run at the first sight of them. Those were only the type of predators who felt this natural advantage was necessary though, for when monsters become more at home in the light, darkness becomes the haven for those too weak to protect themselves.

Trixie ran through the night, her breath heavy as she ducked through the trees and brush of the forest she had been traveling to for little under a week. Behind her followed several lights, around a dozen of them. She hadn’t stopped to make an accurate count, because she knew that didn’t matter so much as the creatures who were holding them, the caribou who had taken up occupation of Equestria.

It wasn’t too long ago that she was in Salt Lick City, performing on the street, and having her first encounter with the beastly men in a traumatic fashion. At first, she thought that would be the end of it, that this new threat on Equestrian soil would be defeated within a day, dealt with like many other threats against the nation. Then, she discovered that other cities were suffering the same infestation of deer men raiding the settlements, and that, as she had been told, the Equestrian Royal Guard was helping them. This was when she found out about the caribou’s sick goal, as she saw mares put into slavery, kept in bonds and cages, humiliated beyond the simple act of imprisonment and forced servitude, and publicly raped.

From that point on, she did her best to stay away from cities, not trusting her ability to avoid detection if she got too close, especially since Merryweather was still with her, the filly she rescued from her first encounter with Equestria’s invaders. Her original idea of what to do with the young mare was to drop her off at the first town they came across, but seeing as that was not an option, the only other choice she had was to bring Merryweather along with her. Now the two were being pursued, the pegasus filly being pulled along by the hand as they fled to their destination.

Merryweather looked back, fearfully eyeing the beacons of light heading their direction. “I told you not to try and steal that food!”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Trixie yelled back, but in more hushed tones than the filly, trying not to lead the caribou right to them.

Trixie knew in hindsight that Merryweather was right, but the two of them had been eating nothing but things they found in the wild for days, and a lot of that didn’t sit well with their stomachs. At the final stretch of their journey, Trixie felt that she had to risk a trip to a city to get some real food for the two of them, but she was discovered, which led to their current predicament.

“Just run!” said the unicorn, “We’re almost there!”

Trixie’s eyes darted around the woods, looking for a certain location, the one she had been traveling to since her cart had been destroyed. This was the right forest, but with it as dark as it was, and creatures on her hooves that had plans of defiling her body the moment they got their hands on her, she was having a difficult time finding it.

Then she saw it, a pile of large, purple rocks in the middle of the woods. That was the sign she was looking for, and upon spotting them, she made a shape turn straight to their direction, jerking Merryweather harshly with her as if their very lives depended on it.

The unicorn made it to the rock pile with no issue, and circled them until she found a large tree. “This is it!” she said, releasing the filly’s hand as she began to touch the knots and branches of what looked to be a mighty oak.

Merryweather took this moment to catch her breath, but kept an eye on the lantern lights that were getting closer with each passing second. She watched as the lights lit up the forest around the tree Trixie was searching, surrounding the two in a pattern that told the young pony that they couldn’t have possibly missed them, but were setting up to close in on them.

“Trixie… they’re…” Merryweather forced out between pants, trying to warn the older mare between pants.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost safe.” Trixie replied, reaching for a branch.

“Safe?” said a deep, male voice that caused Trixie to freeze. The beasts were upon her, and she turned around just in time to see a caribou step into view from behind a bush. “Did you really think that you’d be safe climbing up a tree?”

A few bits of laughter joined with the caribou’s voice, as several other caribou males came into the tiny clearing Trixie and Merryweather had trapped themselves in, having heard what pathetic attempt the unicorn was planning on trying to get away, as if they were just going to walk by when her tracks vanished.

“I’ll admit though, you lasted pretty long out here for a female,” The caribou said, getting fairly close to the two ponies, who pulled in close to one another in futile act of defense, “I wouldn’t have expected creatures as pathetic as you to last one day before crawling your pretty little cunts into town and begging to suck a cock for sustenance. For that, I think I’ll reward you.”

The caribou reached for his belt, and pulled from it a red and silver collar, tossing it on the ground in front of Trixie.

“Surrender yourself and the foal, and I’ll make you my personal bitch,” said the caribou, giving the mare the last option she’d ever have, if only to make his job that much easier, “Put on that red collar, we’ll take you back to town, chop off that repugnant horn and pluck those useless feathers, and get a warm meal in your stomachs before we put you to work doing the only thing females are good for.”

Even as the caribou made his promises, he had little intention on keeping them. While the unicorn was pretty, she was hardly any different from any other common mare in Equestria, with no special title or features to use as a status symbol if he were to own her. He would probably sell her off to the first fat, ugly stallion that passed by, but not before downgrading the red collar he was offering to a black one to add insult to injury, making up some excuse to give to the mare that would make it seem like it was her fault for failing to live up to his ever-changing standards. Even the warm meal he was promising her would be nothing more than the sludge they had been feeding the female ponies since they took over, collections of slop and leftovers barely fit to feed to pigs.

No, the only things that he promised that would come true is that the two ponies would be mutilated and put to use at the end of a dick upon capture, with the caribou wanting to personally test the limitations of the endurance the unicorn had displayed by lasting as long as she did in the wild, and then wear it out so the mare could never attempt such a foolish act ever again.

Trixie looked at the collars, not understanding what being offered a red collar even meant. She had noticed the silver, black, red, and even purple collars when she spied on the cities that had been captured by the caribou, but to her, the colors had no meaning, the differentials in the treatment of those who wore a particular colors too minute for her to see how they varied. To her, all the caribou was saying was “Give up your freedom, so we can mutilate and fuck you into submission”, which wasn’t too far off from the caribou’s true intentions. Only a fool would accept such an offer, as there was clearly going to be no mercy given to anyone who came willingly.

So instead of reaching for the collars, Trixie instead reached inside her cloak. “You foals!” Trixie said, pulling out a small, glass orb filled with a purple substance.

Holding it up high in the air, she used the item as a threat to the slavers surrounding her. The caribou, however, were unimpressed, seeing nothing that could be produced by a pony, a female one at that, as threatening. To some degree, they wished the mare would use whatever it was she had, just to give them more of a reason to beat her before they brutally stuck their cocks into every hole she had.

Trixie, seeing how unafraid the caribou were, faltered for a brief moment, before slipping back into her performer’s persona. “Did you really think that you’d be able to capture the Great, and Powerful, Trix-”

The lead caribou, having had enough of this nonsense, rushed the mare, ready to pin her to the ground and rape her stupid cunt as the foal was forced to watch what happened to dumb mares who disobeyed.

“EEEE!!!” Trixie screamed, tossing the orb to the ground. Suddenly the area was covered in purple smoke, obscuring the vision of all the caribou, and making those who were close enough to breathe it cough and wheeze.

The lead caribou, coughing harshly from his direct contact with the smoke, practically choked on his own words as he screamed, “Fucking bitch!”

The smoke cleared within seconds, but once it dissipated, the two ponies were gone. No one in the slave hunting group had seen which way they went. Enraged, the group’s leader commanded the others. “Find them, now!”

The caribou went in different directions, ready to scour the whole forest if need be to put these two unruly females in their proper place. The lead one stayed behind, checking the area in case the ponies decide to hide somewhere close. He looked up the tree the mare had tried to climb, but nothing. He passed a light over the stone pile, and saw no space for them to slip between. He checked the bushes, but found nothing. What was worse, he couldn’t even find where their hoofprints lead off to, as it didn’t look like they had made a single step from the spot they had last been seen.

“Damn it, did they teleport?!” the caribou yelled to himself in frustration, rationalizing that it was the only way that a unicorn could have escaped him in such a situation. If that was the case, the likelihood of finding them was slim, unless they reappeared someplace close. “I swear, fucking unicorn sluts shouldn’t even be able to do that!”

Certain that the mares were no longer in the area, the caribou ran off to join the others, ready to inflict severe and torturous discipline on the two females should they happen to find them. Minutes passed by in that now vacant area where the deer men and the ponies had their encounter, long enough for the lights to fade away into the shadows of the surrounding trees. The area remained silent for a little while longer, just to make sure that the caribou were not going to come back, and then one of the rocks in the pile moved.

“That was terrifying,” Trixie said, revealing herself and Merryweather from under the ‘rock’

In actuality, the mare had taken off her cloak and used its undecorated inner lining to camouflage against the other stones of the same color, shrouding it over herself and the filly with her. It was a little trick she had devised a while back, setting up the whole thing in the event she would ever need to escape from someone in this very forest for whatever reason.

“Okay,” Merryweather said, stepping out from the rocks, “For a simple trick, that was impressive.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” replied Trixie, not intending the pun, “We still need to get inside.”

“Inside?” Merryweather asked, looking for a cave in her surroundings, but not seeing any, “Inside where?”

Trixie didn’t answer, and instead went back to the large tree the caribou had her cornered at earlier. Tugging at a few of its branches, and twisting a knot embedded in the tree’s bark, a loud ‘Click’ sounded, and a part of the tree’s trunk opened up like a doorway.

Merryweather’s eyes widened, not expecting something like this from a stage mare who performed simple slights of hand. “How did you-?”

“I’ll explain inside,” Trixie said, taking the filly by the shoulders and ushering her through the tree’s newly formed passage. With them both inside, Trixie took one more look outside to make sure no one was around to see them slipping away, before closing the passage behind them, returning the tree to its inconspicuous state.

The inside of the tree had a small chamber within it that could accommodate the two ponies, with a platform they could stand on. Above them was a ceiling made of the solid wood of the still living tree, and near the two ponies hooves was a set of stairs leading down into the earth.

“This way, follow me and watch your step,” Trixie said, lighting her horn with a magical aura before heading down the steps to the depths below. Having no other options, the filly followed.

The stairway spiralled downwards, heading into the ground tens of yards under the surface. Merryweather could almost see the bottom in the faint blue glow of Trixie’s horn, and the deeper they went, the more curious the pegasus got about what was at the bottom. Merryweather had learned over the past few days that Trixie wasn’t exactly the most reliable of ponies. She complained frequently, got into trouble often, and without her stage props, she was little more than a unicorn with slightly better magic than average. She was the last pony you’d expect to have a secret base hidden within Equestria.

After little over a minute, the two reached the bottom, and what awaited them was a large door with odd, arcane symbols etched over it. Without pause, Trixie went to it, grabbed the it’s knob, and opened it to the room on the other side. On the other side was more darkness - that was until Trixie reached up to touch a gemstone embedded in the wall on the other side, bringing light to the space beyond the doorway.

“Finally, we’re safe,” Trixie said exhausted, making her way through the room briskly in the direction of a very comfy looking couch. With as much effort as she could muster, the blue mare tossed herself upon it, sinking into the cushions a bit as she let out a loud sigh of relief.

Merryweather, being unfamiliar with where she was at, crept into the doorway, poking her head in first, cautiously looking around at what was inside. Once more to her surprise, what she saw far surpassed what she expected a stage performer to possess. The room was ovular and very large, being an open area so big that it had a second floor walkway, which was probably the reason the stairs had to go down so low. All around it were decorations and trinkets whose mere visage eluded to some form of magical nature, with bookcases filled with heavy tomes and strange doodads littering the many shelves and tables. Not to mention that the room was filled with floating crystals that lit up the underground chamber with glowing orbs of light emanating within them.

“Did… Did you make all this?” Merryweather asked, slowly stepping towards Trixie’s resting couch, taking in the wondrous sights around her.

Trixie, noticing that filly was addressing her with some level of shock and awe, shot herself up in her seat. “Why of course! Marvels like this are but mere foal’s play for the Great, and Powerful, Trrrriiiixie!”

Saying this with her usually dramatic flair, Trixie paused for a moment, before noticing that Merryweather was still looking at her skeptically, finding it hard to believe that the blue unicorn was the one who made this secret lair.

With a sigh, Trixie releanted, “At least, that’s what I’d like to say, but no, I didn’t make any of this. This place was an inheritance given to me by my grandfather. It used to belong to my great-great-great-grandfather or something, and since I was into magic as a filly, he thought I could put it to good use. I actually had to find the place when I first got it, and no one except me knows it exists. So as long as we’re here, we’re safe.”

“But,” Merryweather flapped her wings, and focused her attention to some of the magical items moving about on their own, one that occasionally shot up harmless, multicolored sparks that looked like mini fireworks, “Do you even know how these things work?”

“Some of them,” Trixie said, being honest, “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to figure out how to turn the lights on for the first time, though. Then there are some things here that turn on when the room turns on, and I think they are just for decoration. Other things are pretty simple, like that rod over there.” Using what little energy she had, she pointed to a cylindrical object sitting on a shelf.

“This one?” Merryweather asked, flying right over and picking up the object in question, which was just a grey rod with a small button on it.

“Yeah, press that button on the side and bring it over to me.”

“Okay!” Merryweather said, genuinely excited to learn what the item did.

Pressing the button, she started flying over to Trixie as fast as she could, only to find herself impeded, as she found that the rod would not budge from the exact space where she had pressed its button. Trying with all her might, the filly pulled, tugged and shoved against the object, but it was as if something was preventing it from moving it in any direction. Even letting the rod go didn’t allow gravity to make it fall to the floor.

“Pretty neat, huh?” Trixie said, “I call it, ‘The rod that won’t move’.”

“Why don’t you just call it ‘The immovable rod’?” Merryweather said, shortening the name.

Maybe because I didn’t think of it… Trixie thought to herself, “Anyways, just press the button again and you’ll be able to move it.”

Merryweather was about to do as she was instructed, but then something else caught her eye, causing her to fly directly to an open book sitting on a table.

“What’s this?” she said, looking at the pages the book was left on.

“The books?” Trixie asked, getting to her hooves to unlock the immovable rob from its point in space and set it back on the shelf where it was before, “Those are just some books on spells and Equestrian artifacts.”

“This thing looks neat,” Merryweather said, before reading the title of what she saw on the page, “The Alicorn Amulet.”

Trixie’s eyes widened, having forgotten that the last time she had been here was for research on the Alicorn Amulet, before heading off to find it in order to get her ill-guided revenge against Twilight. She rushed over to the book and flipped the pages over by half the book.

“You don’t want to read about that,” Trixie said in an attempt to get the filly to forget what she saw, “It’s just some out-of-date information about an old necklace.”

“But what about this?” said Merryweather as she looked at the new page, “It looks like spells that can… remove and alter cutie marks?! Is that even possible?”

“Wait, let me look at that.” Trixie said, reading the pages of the book herself.

The unicorn mare had never read this far into the book before, having only opened in the first place in a fit of anger in hopes she would find something to make her a match for Twilight, and stopping on the first thing that looked like it would do the job. This entry, by its illustrations, did appear to be as the filly said, a means to remove a cutie mark, and then potentially bestow a new one. For what purpose the spell was made, Trixie couldn’t be sure, it could have even had just been something experimental on part of the books writer, but it looked like the spell required a lot of magical power to accomplish. More than most individual ponies would be able to produce, sustained over a long period while the magic took hold.

“What would removing or changing a cutie mark even do?” Merryweather asked curiously, very interested in what she was seeing for some reason, “Aren’t cutie marks part of a pony’s being or something?” Merryweather thought about it for a moment, then gasped, “Do you think that if you gave a pegasus a cutie mark for magic, that they’d be able to cast spells?”

“I really don’t think that’s how it would work,” Trixie replied, stepping away from the book, “And it’s not like we could test it to see if it did.”

“Why not?” Merryweather asked, following Trixie.

“To put it frankly, It’s out of my league.” Trixie said, sitting back down on her couch.

That level of magic was probably beyond any pony in Equestria, and only someone with immense power would even come up with something like that in the first place. She had always known that the books in her little hideaway were far beyond her meager skills, and even with the alicorn amulet in her possession, many were things she couldn’t dream of attempting with success. In her youthful naivety, Trixie had experimented with a few, and if there was one thing she learned from it, it was that spells beyond one’s ability were better off left alone.

“So wait a second,” Merryweather said, piecing together what little she knew about Trixie, “You have all this magical stuff and all these spell books, and all you know are stage tricks? Why? The stuff in here is, like, real magic.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing…” Trixie started with a bit of begrudging acceptance in her voice, “I’m not exactly ‘good’ at casting spells. I’ve got a few good tricks, but they are all simple spells that I use in ways that look impressive. Trust me, I’m no Twilight Sparkle.”

“Who?” Merryweather said, genuinely unaware who the mare Trixie spoke of was.

“Don’t worry about it,” Trixie said, the bruises on her ego from the Alicorn Amulet incident still fresh.

“But you’re a unicorn,” Merryweather rebutted, “You’re supposed to be able to do all sorts of stuff with your magic.”

“Can we maybe talk about something else than my magical ability?” Trixie said, becoming slightly annoyed at the prodding at such a personal topic, “Actually, what you should be worrying about is getting a change of clothes. You’re still wearing those torn PJs from when we escaped the first time.”

Merryweather looked down at herself, noting how dirty and battered her clothes had gotten.

“I’ll go get you something to wear,” Trixie said, believing that she had some of her old clothes stored away in here from when she was a foal, “In the meantime, you should go take a bath.”

“There’s a bath in here?!” Merryweather said, the news enough to distract her from the topic of magic, after having spent days out in the wilds of Equestria.

“It’s this way,” Trixie said, guiding her to a doorway formed by a pair of large roots that came from the tree they used to enter this place, “Lucky for you, this place has all the things a pony could need.”

Trixie ushered the young pegasus into the room, who gladly stepped inside, tossing her clothes out to the unicorn as she got the water running. The blue mare collected the discarded PJs with a sigh, not exactly accustomed to having guests, but accepting that said guest was both young, and had just escaped a terrible ordeal.

“So, what’s the plan from here?” Trixie heard Merryweather call out from over the sound of running water.

“The plan,” Trixie said, searching through her things for a filly sized outfit, having to push aside several boxes of extra magic supplies she keep stored away to get to where she believed one would be, “Is to stay here, lay low, and wait for this to all blow over.”

“We’re not going to do anything to help anypony?” Merryweather asked, “But what about all those cities we saw being held hostage by those creatures?”

“That’s something for the Wonderbolts to take care of, or the Royal Guard… Trixie replied, before remembering seeing a few guards helping the caribou, “They can’t all be working with those creatures.”

“And what if they can’t beat them?” the filly questioned again.

“Then the Princesses will handle it,” Trixie replied again, “Nothing is stronger than Alicorn magic.”

“I guess you’re right, but…”

“But what?”

“If they’re gonna beat these creatures, then why haven’t they already?”

That was a fairly good question. It had been nearly a week now, and these deer men were still running about without any opposition to be seen. Then again, Trixie had been in control of Ponyville for a short time herself, so this wasn’t entirely unusual. If it came down to it, Twilight would no doubt swoop in and save the day, as she always did, something that Trixie would be grateful to see after what she had to endure to keep away from those evil creatures.

“Just give it time,” Trixie said, finding her filly clothes. Taking them over to the bathing room, she set them inside the doorway, “Equestria has lasted for a thousand years, and one little invasion isn’t going to topple a kingdom run by Princess Celestia.”

“Okay… but then, how are we going to know when it’s done?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Trixie said, going to an oddly shaped tree root hanging nearby, “I have my ways.”

With the lifting of a small branch hanging from it, a panel slides up to reveal the root to be a periscope. Looking through it, Trixie was given a view from the top of the tall oak she was currently underneath, the tree standing tall enough over the others that she was able to see towns and roads neighboring the forest in which it resided. With this, she would have no trouble telling when the problems plaguing Equestria would pass, and when it would be safe to return Merryweather back to her home.

“So… Mind if I ask some questions?” Trixie said, hearing the bath water stop running.

“Like what?” Merryweather replied, not having the slightest idea what the mare would want to know from her.

“Well for starters, what’s your deal with stage magic?” Trixie said, remembering how apprehensive the filly was to it when they first met, and noticing the way she dismissed it whenever it wasn’t directly saving her from capture.

“Oh… That…” Merryweather said, the topic bothersome to her, “Well, no offense, but I find it boring.”

“Boring?” said Trixie, “What’s boring about magic?”

“Nothing is boring about magic,” Merryweather replied, “The power to shoot beams from a horn, or levitate things, or teleport from one place to another is amazing. But fake magic is nothing but a bunch of cheap tricks ponies who can’t cast spells do to make themselves look special to others.”

“Is this a shot at me? Cause I think that I’ve shown you-”

“No, not you.” Merryweather interjected, “Believe me, I get that you’re kind of amazing with how you fooled those invaders.”

“Well… Thanks. Trixie appreciates your respect for her,” It was the first time in a while Trixie heard such direct praise, and even longer over something that wasn’t one of her shows.

“But most magician tricks are just for show, and aren’t as practical as what you do. At least you have some magic to mix with it, but when a pegasus does it, it’s all hand tricks and mirrors. ‘Oh, look, I can make somepony disappear from under a sheet because they were standing on top of a trap door’. What a waste of time.”

“Trixie is sensing this is a more personal matter then you are letting on.”

“It’s nothing,” Merryweather replied, “Just my dad… He’s a traveling magician, kinda like you. A pegasus named Abbray Cadabra.”

“Oh, I know him. We’ve crossed paths once or twice. Seems like a nice guy, has an ok act.”

“He’s the worst.” Merryweather rebutted, “When I was a foal, he used to do his tricks for me. You know, coins out from behind the ear, pulling a card from a deck, rabbits out of hats, sawing dolls in half. All the things you’d expect from a magician, I suppose.”

“And you didn’t like them?” Trixie asked, not seeing an issue with a father trying to entertain his child.

“I used to love them,” Merryweather answered, “But that’s back when I thought they were real. I used to think that my dad was the most magical pegasus in Equestria, until some of the ponies in my class started asking me how he did his tricks. I didn’t know what they were talking about at first, and told them it was just magic, like what unicorns did. I got made fun of for a while about that, and when I went to my dad about it, he showed me the truth about his stage magic.”

Trixie could see where Merryweather was coming from. Learning that stage magic was just a show must have been really disappointing for her, after growing up thinking it was all real. Pegasi couldn’t use magic though, that was a fact, at least not without some external item helping them. She might have grown up fascinated by magic, only to find out that she’d never be able to truly use it herself. It was something that even a unicorn could relate to, as foals sometimes were equally disheartened when they discovered they didn’t have the talent to become powerful magic users.
“Ok, I’m out! Are these clothes mine?” Merryweather said, having finished her bath, but before Trixie could answer, the filly shouted. “Are you serious?!

“Sorry, it’s all I got your size.” Trixie replied, somewhat expecting the pegasus to be unhappy with what she was given.

Less than a minute later, Merryweather stepped out in an outfit that made her look like a smaller version of Trixie, the outfit even having a cape that was stitched to the collar of her purple shirt. The only thing missing was a hat upon her head, as it was currently in her hands.

“I’m not wearing the hat,” Merryweather said with a stern tone, politely handing it back to Trixie.

Trixie took it back, stifling a snicker from the filly’s angry expression. She didn’t even know why she added the old hat into the costume to begin with, offhandedly putting the whole outfit together just because it was supposed to be together. Still, even without the magician’s hat, the young pegasus looked rather adorable.

“So… what do we do now?” Merryweather asked, realizing that going outside was out of the question.

“Eh, do what you want.” Trixie said, returning to her couch, “Personally, I’m going to get some shut eye.”

“Can I… read some of your books?” Merryweather asked.

“Go ahead,” Trixie replied, closing her eyes, “Just don’t break anything. If you’re hungry, there is a barrel of apples over there. Don’t worry about taking too many. It refills itself.”

Having fulfilled her perceived obligations as a responsible adult pony, Trixie turned to face the back of her couch, and drifted back to sleep, leaving the pegasus to her own devices and a bunch of old tomes she assumedly couldn’t begin to understand.

The next few days were very odd for Trixie. What started off as what the unicorn had thought was mere interest in magic turned into a full blown obsession for the filly. Merryweather went through the books granted for her entertainment with great eagerness, inspecting every word on every page and committing what was on the pages inside her developing brain. It was the kind of dedication that only the most studious of magical practitioners showed, in order to learn magic that only the highest levels of unicorns could dream to perform, even though this filly would never be able to utilize what she was learning herself.

Trixie wondered for a short time if it was unhealthy to let Merryweather indulge in a vain pursuit such as this, but came to the conclusion that there really wasn’t anything else here for the filly to do. Besides, watching the filly’s eyes light up at each new discovery gave Trixie some form of entertainment too, and each time she asked Merryweather what had her so excited, the pegasus would explain what spell she had stumbled upon with a level of understanding one would not expect from a non-magic user.

After two days of waiting for signs of the invasion being over though, Trixie started to worry a little. Using her tree-stationed periscope, she had a decent view of view of a few cities, and what she saw was not comforting. Ponies being forced to go outside with no clothing on, made to stage public displays of sex for the amusement of their deer captors. When she first saw it, the creatures in her scope looking like ants, she believed that each pony was an unwilling participant. Then, she started to realize that the stallions were in no way chained up, and that the mares were the only ones suffering the abuse the deer men were dealing out. Then she witnessed the most horrid display as the caribou took their punishment of the helpless females a step further, as they stripped pegasi of their feathers and forcibly removed the horns from the heads of unicorns.

Trixie’s reactions to this abhorrent behavior didn’t go unnoticed, as Merryweather would lift her head from her books each time the blue mare went to take a look on the state of Equestria, though her questions on what was going on were never answered. So each time she would return to her magical studies, not having anything else to amuse herself with after the novelty of Trixie’s magical bobbles wore off, even to her.

On the third day, the pattern was broken, as when night fell and Trixie fell asleep, a curious young pony decided to see for herself what was going on. Having watched the adult mare carefully on how to operate the periscope, she was able to see for herself what the caribou were doing to the inhabitants of Equestria. While Merryweather lacked the context of it all, her mind not yet mature enough to understand the sexual nature of the actions these tiny looking figures were doing, she could recognize that the ponies she saw were being imprisoned, bullied, and generally mistreated by their captors.

Still, she also understood that two ponies could do little to help a town occupied by hostile entities, when the sum total of their combined abilities amounted to mere parlor tricks. At their disposal were hundreds of books with thousands of spells held within them that could casually toss aside the invaders, but neither pony that knew of their existence could cast even the simplest solution they provided. It ate away at the foal’s conscience that there was so little a pegasus like her could do, when if she were a unicorn instead, she might have been able to save... she didn’t know. Equestria, a town, somepony at least. She was sure that, had she had any form of magic, she’d be able to make a difference, even if it was something as small as a caravan of prisoners being hauled off by the Equestria’s oppressors.

While adjusting the position of the periscope from one town to the next, Merryweather saw just that, a small band of caribou traveling down a path towards one of the cities, a large carriage following behind them that was being pulled by two mares bound to the vehicle, with several more mares riding within it held inside a cage. Merryweather had no idea why they were being taken to one of the surrounding towns, but she did know one thing. If there was any time to act and help somepony, this was that time.

“Trixie, Trixie!” Merryweather yelled, knowing that time was important.

In response, the blue mare jolted awake in an instance, thinking something terrible had happened and that perhaps they had been discovered. “What?! What is it?!” she yelled back, dazed from the sudden upheaval from her slumber.

“Those creatures!” Merryweather started to explain, “There are a few of them on a nearby path, and they are taking some hostage ponies to one of the cities to be tortured!”

“You looked through the periscope?!” Trixie said, worrying if something the filly saw could have traumatized her. Up until this point, she was trying her best to prevent the pegasus from witnessing the vile acts the caribou inflicted on the mares of Equestria.

“There is no time to worry about that,” Merryweather said, flying behind Trixie to push her onto her hooves, “If we act fast, then we might be able to help some ponies.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute.” Trixie replied, finally getting what the filly was so excited about, “You’re wanting to go out there and risk being captured again?”

“No, I wanna go out there and save some ponies before those monsters do something horrible to them. We can do this, I know we can.”

Trixie bite at her lower lip, the thought of facing those deer men again forming a dark pit in her chest, “Merry, I know that it looks like I have everything all together, but I really don’t work well under pressure. The last time I tried to fight something as hostile as these creatures, it just shrugged off everything I threw at it.”

“But we’re not going to fight them,” Merryweather insisted, “We’re going to scare them off with your tricks. Smoke bombs, fireworks, I’ve looked through your boxes and I know you enough of those to supply an army of magicians.”

“Merry, we… We just can’t!” Trixie said, worried about the filly’s well being, as well as her own.

If they failed and were caught, then they would surely suffer the same fate as all the other mares Trixie had seen. Being raped was not something Trixie wished to experience, and not only that, but the way things were going, Trixie had fears that this incident in Equestrian history was not ending quickly as she assumed it would. There had been zero signs of anyone coming to stop the invaders, not even a single guardsman or mare scouting around to investigate. Trixie wanted to believe things would just fix themselves, but the longer things went on, the more she started to think this wasn’t just another doomed to fail invasion like the changelings upon Canterlot.

“We have to stay where it’s safe, at least until the princesses take care of this situation.”

Merryweather didn’t take that well, tensing up every muscle in her body before flying over to Trixie’s boxes, snatching up as much as she could before flying to the staircase that lead back to the surface.

“Merry! What are you doing?!” Trixie asked, getting up from her seat to go after the filly.

“If you won’t help, then I’ll go save them myself.” Merryweather informed the older pony.

“But!” Trixie could tell that Merry was going to make it to the stairway before her, and if that happened the small pegasus would easily be able to fly up it before Trixie could catch up to her, and if she made it outside, there would be no stopping the filly from doing something foolish. “Fine! I’ll go! Just wait a minute!”

Merryweather stopped, turning back to face the unicorn, “You mean it?”

Trixie gulped, knowing that she just agreed to put herself in harm’s way, but she couldn’t let a filly go out to face danger alone. “Yes, I’ll go with you, but let me get ready first.”

Trixie went to her periscope, and noted where this alleged convoy of captured mares was. It was still a fairly long distance away from its assumed destination, and there were only about four of the deer men guiding it. If Trixie and Merryweather were careful, it might have been possible to save the prisoners, but Trixie also needed to plan an escape in case things went wrong.

“Ok, I see a rock formation that we can use that’s closer to us than them,” Trixie explained, “If we get there quickly, we can set things up, and get the drop on them.” Trixie stepped away from the scope, and stared sternly at the filly, “But if we are doing this, then you need to listen to me and do everything I say, got it?”

“Yes, of course!” Merryweather said, eager to get out and rescue some ponies.

“That means that if things go wrong, and I tell you to run, you have to run. Are we clear?”

Merryweather’s eyes drooped a bit at that, worry coming to her, “But…”

“Are we clear?!” Trixie said again, stressing the importance of the filly’s obedience.

“Okay… yeah, I’ll do whatever you say, no matter what,” the pegasus agreed.

“Good, then come with me,” Trixie said as she grabbed a few of her magic show items, before heading to the upper level of her hideaway.

“But the exit is this way,” Merryweather said, hovering in place right at the doorway leading to the staircase.

“Really?” Trixie said, walking around the bookshelves till she made it to a wall mounted candle holder, "I told you that this place was owned by an ancestor of the greatest magician Equestria has ever seen, and you don’t expect it the have a secret passages?”

With a tug of the candleholder, a small section of wall slid into itself, and then shifted to the side to reveal a new pathway out of the room.

“Now come, this will get us out of here much quicker than those stairs.”

Surprised and ecstatic, Merryweather flew up to the second level and right into the previously concealed hall, zipping right past Trixie. The filly went by so fast she didn’t notice the unicorn’s expression shift to pure nervousness, still believing that this was nothing more than a huge mistake. Still, she had little choice but to go along with it, as there was no stopping Merryweather from leaving regardless, and she would be better off with Trixie than without her. Reluctantly, the mare slipped through the secret passage just as it was trying to close, hoping that she would be able to return to this place soon.

“Trixie… Trixie… You in there?”

The blue unicorn’s eyes shot open, and she found herself inside the carriage, with Lyra bent over her, shaking her gently, as the other occupants exited the vehicle. It seemed that Trixie had fallen asleep during the ride, and as she slumbered her thoughts were directed back to the the Fall.

“You have a pleasant dream?” Lyra asked, seeing the other unicorn open her eyes.

“It was… Fine.” Trixie replied, sitting up in her seat as she struggled to become fully awake.

If somepony had been viewing her dream, they would have seen it as nothing more than a somewhat pleasant depiction of Trixie and the filly she had once saved from the caribou, but to Trixie herself it was just the reminder of a terrible event, the beginning of a nightmare that was at one point all too real for the mare.

“Well we’re back at the club house. Want to come in, or do you want to keep napping out here?”

No, no, I’m awake,” Trixie said, not wanting to see where her dream might go if she let it continue, “Let’s just go inside. I’m a little hungry anyways.”

Stumbling to her hooves, Trixie exited the carriage, Lyra helping her outside when she saw that the unicorn wasn’t completely awake yet. They both followed the others inside the building where they held their support group meetings, Trixie relieved to be back home after a long, exhausting day. She would go get something to eat, take a shower, and then practice her levitation spell some more before the day was done, in the hopes that all of that would push out any thoughts relating to the caribou, Merryweather, and the horrible events of her past.

Author's Notes:

So as I've done in another chapter of this story, I wanted to show a bit of Trixie's actions before the Fall. Now I'm sure to some of you that the idea of Trixie having a secret base/house doesn't seem too plausible, but she is a mare who likes to present herself as a powerful magician, and such a thing seems like something she could have, but never utilizes properly. Besides, those of you who subscribe to a certain theory about Trixie might understand what this place actually is, and how she may have acquired it as an inheritance from a long gone relative.

Regardless, for the sake of my story, this place is a tiny smudge to continuity that serves a larger purpose to FoE continuity than in might seem at the moment. It's also something that I had gotten approved by NCN back when he and I still talked, as even back then I was working out the details of a Trixie story with him (mostly so I could get "approval" to do stuff like this after the point when he'd dismiss me for being a bad girl). So while it might not be consistent to MLP canon, it most certainly is something that exists in the setting of FoE, just like so many other things that added to the setting at the whim of fickle writers.

Anyways, I hope this chapter was at least intriguing, and hopefully the next one comes out faster than this one has. Covid has just made things a little more hectic for me, because I actually work in an essential field, and I've been called into work more frequently since it started, but I'm gonna try to do better on updating the story.

Self Defense

A few days passed after the incident, allowing everypony to recover from the trauma of their arrests. In a sense, everything just went back to normal. Trixie herself was able to return to what she had been doing beforehand, which was mostly hanging out with the other members of the club, with another meeting happening the day after with each mare and stallion sharing their own versions of what happened with one another.

Everypony was excited, those who went to hear Celestia’s speech depicting their righteous deeds during the chaos of the riot. Even Trixie herself was able to recount how she defiantly resisted her interrogation, not giving the guards so much of a hint as to who had done the act that started it all. Yes, all in the group were pleased that they were able to help a fellow member of the group stick it to the inept establishment, but of them all the most celebrated was Star Bright. Having put himself in the line of fire, risking imprisonment in order to protect a mare and the organization itself, the stallion earned himself a bit of fame and praise from those in the group.

That meeting ended with Sunset throwing a small party in the name of those who went to the assembly, one that everypony enjoyed, even Trixie. She couldn’t help but notice how her attitude was changing since she joined the group, with her becoming less passive and more assertive, like she actually had some kind of control over her life again. With a feeling of control came the return of a bit of her pride, and most importantly some positivity and happiness.

That’s why, the following day, Trixie volunteered to help with the post party clean up, even though Sunset and Starlight telling her that they would take care of everything when the party finished. The other two unicorns had done so much for the blue mare, from giving her a place to stay to helping her get over the negative feelings that clouded her mind. They tried to tell her that she didn’t have to, but Trixie insisted it was the least she could do. Besides, this time, it was her choice to help, unlike the times in the shelter where she was always peer pressured into doing what other ponies wanted her to do.

“Very well,” Sunset relented, “You can help Star Bright. Me and Starlight will take down the decorations”

“Star Bright’s helping?” Trixie asked, not expecting the stallion to be there.

“Yes, he’s been staying here like you since we got back from Canterlot.” Starlight confirmed, “We placed him in a room further down the hall from you, so he wouldn’t disturb your privacy.”

Trixie became a bit embarrassed that she hadn’t noticed. For some reason, she assumed the guest rooms in the club were for mares only, but then again, there was no reason they should be if everypony in the group was trustworthy.

“Come on, you two,” Sunset directed, “We got a bit of work to do, and I already got Star Bright sweeping.”

Not long after, Trixie was handed a broom and put to work sweeping up confetti and juice cups off the floor, put on one side of the room while Star Bright was sent to work on the other. The two didn’t even get a chance to say ‘hi’ to one another before Sunset put him to task, but the stallion couldn’t hide his acknowledgement that Trixie was there. It would be hard to ignore the woman you raped being in the same room as you.

For a while, the two just did their jobs, doing their best to ignore one another as the tension filled the air around them. Occasionally, they would catch each other sneaking glances at one another, or try to say something only to silence themselves, until the mess they were cleaning up got pushed to the center of the room. At that point, they were nearly face to face, but still incapable of saying a single word to each other.

“You know,” said Sunset as she took down a banner, “You two can talk to each other while you work. It’s not against the rules or anything.”

Star Bright let out a sigh, still unsure where to begin, but Trixie knew exactly what she wanted to say.

“Why did you leave me with the resistance?” the blue mare asked the grey stallion, “After we were picked up by the royal guards and taken to Canterlot for protection, you just disappeared. I thought you would come back, but you never did.”

The topic drew the eyes of the other two mares in the room, putting the stallion on the spot. Avoiding the question was impossible, but that was fine, as a good part of him wanted to explain anyways.

“There were lots of reasons.” Star Bright started, “I wanted to protect you from what I had done, that’s always been true, but then I remembered that you weren’t the only mare I had ever raped.”

Star Bright expected one of the mares in the room to say something to that, but while Sunset and Starlight did stop what they were doing, they did nothing more than face the stallion, their silence telling him to go on.

“I had slaves… a couple of black collars I kept chained to my bed.” Star Bright went on to say, “I mean, every stallion had slaves, and the night I went out and snuck into that party, I left mine back at home. While I wanted to make sure you were safe, I couldn’t get them out of my head. I tried to tell myself that they were ok, that somepony would have gone in and freed them from… from me, but it kept nagging at me.”

“So the moment you found somepony who could protect Trixie better than yourself, you ran back to your home to make sure your victims weren’t left trapped and starving.” Starlight said, piecing together where the story was going.

“Yeah…” Star Bright admitted, “Along with other things. I wasn’t exactly the best pony when I was under the caribou’s spell. That was the other reason I wanted to leave, because no matter how much I tried to help you, it never felt right to be around you when I had raped you.”

“So you felt right around these other girls?” Trixie said accusingly, believing that Star Bright had replaced her with two other mares.

“I wouldn’t know…” Star Bright answered, “When I got back to my home, the slaves I had were already freed, since I lived in a town free of a caribou presence and all the stallions had come back to their senses at the same time. By the time I got there, there was nothing to save.”

“And you never thought to come back to check on me?” Trixie snapped, condemning the stallion since his one obligation aside from her, in his words, didn’t exist.

“I… couldn’t. After all that, I became distant to mares in general. Really, I thought that everypony I hurt would be better off without me in their lives. For weeks, I cowardly holed myself inside my house, until the memories of what I did in that place became too much and I left. By that time, the caribou threat was over, and I was able to wander around aimlessly, looking for something to take my mind off all the things the caribou had made me do.”

“That’s probably around the time he was recruited to our organization, back when it was first starting.” said Sunset Shimmer, “I remember seeing him come to his first meeting, not knowing what to do with himself, or how to deal with the things he had done while being controlled. I offered him the ability to make up for all those sins welling up inside of him, and he has been a very loyal stallion to our cause ever since.”

“That’s pretty much it,” Star Bright concluded, “I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me. Sometimes I really hate myself too, but I’m hoping that someday I’ll be able to make up for that horrible part of my life.”

Trixie didn’t know how to take this. On one hand, she still felt abandoned, left behind to eventually be sent to that terrible mare shelter, waiting fruitlessly for things to get better while Star Bright was able to move on without her. The very thought of it made her fingers curl up into fists, and tremble as she contemplated punching the stallion in the eye. Shifting her eyes around the room, she could tell that all three of the other unicorns noticed this gesture, though not a single one took any action to prevent the possible attack about to befall the stallion, not even Star Bright himself.

On the other hand, she could understand the need to move on. The desire to separate the version of themselves that existed during the Fall from the version that existed now. As angry as she was at the stallion for leaving her, she couldn’t bring herself to hit him. It wasn’t in her nature to physically harm another, even if they had harmed her physically and emotionally.

“I’m not going to forgive you for leaving me,” Trixie said, untensing her hand, “After the Fall, you were the only thing I had that was even close to being good, and when you left me I didn’t have anything. If not for Sunset Shimmer, I’d still have nothing.”

“Right…” Star Bright conceded, “I get that, and I’m sorry.”

Sunset gave a slight chuckle at the way Star Bright responded, “Do you really?” she said bluntly, “Yes, you understand that you’ve wronged Trixie, along with other mares, and you are working to fix that, but the way you speak to this mare you personally raped and abandoned was fairly weak.”

“Wait…” Trixie said, sensing a hostility inside Sunset’s calmly spoken words, “It’s not like it was his fault that he-”

“No,” Star Bright interrupted, “Sunset’s right. I should be getting to my knees and kissing your hooves for even allowing me to be in the same room as you after what I did. I had a chance to make things up to you, but I was scared and ran. I could have taken you with me, but some part of me knew that if I took you to my house, if you met the mares I raped and tortured, then you’d see how I had been and hate me forever.”

“But we know that wasn’t your fault,” Trixie reasoned, “It was the Crystal Heart that made you act that way.”

“Yes,” Starlight Glimmer agreed, “But in a sense, no. As you know, there were several small groups of stallions who were able to resist the enchantment the Crystal Heart projected, though the governing body has yet to discover why this was. Sunset Shimmer has been doing some research on the matter, interviewing stallions in our group to find some sort of connection.”

“You have?” Trixie asked Sunset, having a vague idea why she would want to look towards stallions in the group for answers, since only those who raped a mare joined.

“Yes, and what I found was a little disturbing,” Sunset replied, “Of all the stallions I interviewed, every one of them admitted that they often had inappropriate thoughts about mares.”

“Well of course,” Trixie said, “That’s what the Heart did to them.”

“Before the caribou,” Sunset added, making Trixie’s eyes widen in shock, “Every one of them admitted that on occasion they’d think of mares they saw on the streets naked, in their beds, having sex with them. Some of them even went so far as to say they had fantasies of tying mares up, restraining them as they had their way with them, having a female treat them as kings who were the only ones who could satisfy them. A few even admitted that they would have a fixation on a single mare, sometimes one they were dating and sometimes not, and that mare ended up becoming a slave to them after the caribou took over. It didn’t matter who the mare was either, as even authority figures and celebrities were brought up when asked who exactly they had fantasies about.”

That news was, as Sunset put it, very disturbing - not just to Trixie, but to Star Bright too. Both looked surprised, though Trixie’s shock was soon upon the unicorn stallion directly, which filled him with a large sum of shame.

“Star Bright, you too?!” Trixie said, offended that he had done such a thing prior to the caribou’s brainwashing.

“Y-yes,” he replied timidly, “There were plenty of times that I saw a mare on the streets and would imagine what it would be like to have sex with them. It was an awful thing to do, I admit.”

“Isn’t there something else you’d like to admit,” Sunset said, clearly knowing that there was more that could be added to this confession.

“I… I sometimes think about mares having sex with me, even after the Fall.”

Trixie let out a gasp, and suddenly felt incredibly exposed. Even now, it felt like Star Bright could be undressing her with his eyes, and the way he looked away, occasionally looking back to her only to avert his gaze again, felt to her like confirmation.

“Now this isn’t confirmable,” Sunset said, trying to break the tension, “But I believe that the caribou might have exploited a weakness within the stallions of Equestria, something that has been hidden, but deeply entrenched in our very nation - that even before the caribou came, we mares were little more than sex objects to stallions, and even now they have trouble keeping those thoughts out of their heads.”

Star Bright’s face turned a deep red, apparently agreeing with the sentiments Sunset was putting forth. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t, but every now and then, I look at a mare, and these ideas just come to me. No matter how hard I try, I’ll see some mare and start feeling myself getting an erection. I’m disgusted with myself, but it just keeps happening.”

“It’s ok, Star Bright,” Sunset said gently, getting up to move to the stallion and embrace him, “I think we all understand this isn’t your fault. Something about how Equestria was operated before the Fall instilled this in a large majority of the stallions who live here.” Sunset pulled away from Star Bright, and went to Trixie. “That’s why some of the stallions were helping the caribou without the need of brainwashing. Something seeded in their hearts, put there by our established social norms, that grew out till they believed what the caribou did before the caribou even arrived. Thankfully, even with this problem plaguing Equestria, most of our males were not fully corrupted by it, and needed a magical enchantment to pull it out of them to its full extent, but now that shadow in our kingdom has been brought to light, and it shows that we need to take drastic measures if we are going to fix it.”

“Drastic measures?” Trixie asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not like it’s any one thing that we can do to solve this problem.” Sunset replied, “It’s a matter that has to be taken care of on several fronts. Identifying potential threats to our way of life, removing those who want to destroy it, knowing how to attack a problem when it arises, and beginning preventative actions to ensure no stallion turns on a mare ever again. Equestria simply is not safe until these things are accomplished.”

“So… what are you going to do to help the males who don’t want to hurt mares?” Star Bright asked, concerned not for himself, but those he might hurt if he was once again used as a tool for female oppression.

“Don’t worry,” said Starlight, “Sunset has come up with all sorts of plans to both protect mares and make sure stallions who truly wish to never harm one indeed never do so again. In fact, she’s starting a new program in a week from now that will help immensely.”

“A new program?” Trixie wondered aloud, “Something other than the group meetings?”

“Yes,” Sunset answered, “Getting emotional help is all well and good, but it only fixes the damage, it cannot prevent more from coming down the way. I think you agree that if something like the caribou happened again, that it would be devastating to ponies everywhere.”

If something like the caribou happened again, Trixie believed that she would never recover and would rather be dead. Many a mare would have had a similar stance, and would rather Equestria be burned to the ground by dragons, down to the last city, home, and pony, than ever be lorded over again by such oppressors. Thus, the blue unicorn gave a nod in agreement.

“Then now is the time to make sure nothing like that can ever happen again.” said Sunset, “Of course, these programs are going to be voluntary. No one has to be part of them if they don’t want to be, but I do believe it would be in everypony’s best interest if they did. So what do you two say?”

A little over a week later, both Trixie and Star Bright found themselves in the club’s meeting room, along with all the other ponies that usually attended. However, this time, they were not seated in a circle of chairs set up in the center. No, that position was taken up by a large, padded mat. Instead, they were all seated along the walls of the room, males on one side of the room, as mares sat on the other side of the room, outnumbering them by another half. Each of them waited patiently, each already aware of what was going on, having been informed in a prior meeting what the point of this gathering was. So when Sunset Shimmer closed the door, making her way to the middle of the room, everypony was a little on edge.

“Welcome, each of you, to our first venture into Mare Self Defense.” Sunset said, happily announcing the activity the group would focus on that day, “And I thank you all for coming.”

Self defense, the ability to be able to fend off attackers should somepony ever tried to harm you. Sunset had explained when proposing the course to the members of the support group that in the wake of the caribou’s invasion, it had become evident that Equestria’s both woefully unprotected and dismally unprepared.

“This is a step forward towards self-reliance,” Sunset went on to say, “...where we will no longer rely solely on the protection of the Royal Guard or hope to be saved by ‘heroes’ when disaster strikes, nor will we be helpless when they are defeated or turned against us.”

“So, wait,” Lyra spoke up, wanting clarification, “This is combat training for mares only?”

“That’s right,” Sunset Shimmer replied, “While the boys here will be assisting up in the course, they will only be acting as examples of what we need to defend against.”

“But… Why?” Lyra continued, “Aren’t they in just as much danger as us?”

“Not quite,” Starlight said, looking at a clipboard she had in her hands, “Starlight expected this question to come up and put together some information stating why it’s important this is a mares only class. Besides the obvious reasons of the stallions having been turned against us, there are several factors that contribute to this. For starters, your average male pony is more physically powerful than a female. If you take a stallion who has never trained physically and put them next to a mare under the same conditions, the stallion will always come out on top in terms of strength. This applies to any ponies who have an equal amount of physical training, and one has to look no further than our two saviors, Applejack and Big Mac, to see that.”

Picturing the two ponies, who had now become national icons after what they did to free Equestria from the caribou, everypony present would have to agree. While Applejack was a powerful mare, capable of toppling trees with her hooves alone if she wanted, Big Mac’s own strength was monstrous, and that came only from them both working on a farm day in and day out.

“This is not to imply that mares are inferior though,” Starlight went on to say, “Since we excel in more academic fields. It’s part of the reason technical advances nearly came to a halt during the year under caribou rule. Statistically, it is ten times as likely for a male unicorn inducted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns to drop out than it is for a mare to do so. You stated that you went to it in the past, and you managed to graduate, right?”

Lyra blushed a little, and shyly averted her gaze, “I graduated from grade school and had some education in magical studies, but it’s not like I’m an archwizard.”

“You don’t have to be in order to be smart and successful,” Starlight said, “And it shows how you and other mares are more thinkers than muscle. Also, population census’ show us that mares actually outnumber stallions by a large margin. This is why a lot of mares were turned into public slaves, or that stallions could take two or more into a single household. Yet despite mares being the majority, a small group of caribou using magic to turn our males against us was able to overcome the entire population with pure, male brute strength and our inability to combat this due to a reliance on the royal guards dealing with the things that threaten Equestria. The caribou did exactly what they needed to in order to remove any protection we mares needed, starting with converting our males, then moving to disable the few other defenses we had faith in, the princesses. Most mares can hardly deal with a stampede of rabbits, let alone a hoard of sex-crazed stallions.”

“And why does that exclude us from being taught how to defend ourselves?” asked a disgruntled-sounding earth stallion, recognized by Trixie to be one who often brought up questions that conflicted with the mission statement of the group, “Just cause we need it less, doesn’t mean we don’t need it.”

Sunset sighed, but then started to explain her reasoning. “While stallions might not have been in control of their actions under the influence of the Crystal Heart, they still acted off the knowledge they would normally have. Guards were still guards, singers still singers, and so on. If we were to teach males how to fight on the same level as a mare, and the caribou returned and somehow turned you all against us again, then it would be no different than right now. Even untrained, you could probably overpower any mare in this room, save for me and Starlight, who had to train ourselves in how to take down a male to prevent ourselves from being enslaved during the Fall.”

Many of the stallions were convinced by this point, seeing no difference between an untrained mare fighting an untrained stallion, and the two both being skilled in combat. It simply defeated the purpose of preparing a mare for a fight if the potential threat was equally prepared and physically more powerful. No one vocalized a disagreement with this argument, but the stallion that questioned the notion to begin with gave a small “tsk” of detest.

“So with that all explained,” Sunset said turning back to the mare’s side of the room, “Who wants to go first?”

The mares weren’t even given time to be hesitant before one of their ranks popped up from their seat. “I’ll go first,” said Carrot Top, surprising no pony that she would be all in for learning how to fend off an attacker.

“Good, then you’re going to need this,” Sunset said, reaching into the pocket of her leather jacket, pulling from it a small item that looked like a plastic stick. No one could tell what it was, until she pressed a button on the device that caused a small, slender blade to pop out from it, identifying the object to everypony in the room to be a switch blade.

The room reacted in shock, save for Starlight, who didn’t seem phased by the blade at all, probably knowing that it was coming. “Are you crazy?!” yelled the stallion who rose objections before. For once, everypony could agree, because Sunset was holding a dangerous, lethal weapon, and was assumedly intending for a mare to use it against one of the stallions.

Sunset just smiled, taking the small bladed weapon, and pressing it into the palm of her hand. Many flinched at this, but those who watched noticed that the blade, which was fairly long, had been pressed in to the hilt, yet did not poke through to the other side of the unicorn’s hand.

“It’s not real,” Sunset explained, “It’s just a play knife to get mares used to using a real one, which will be handed out after I feel you’re ready for it.”

“You thing we need knives?” Lyra asked, a little worried about having to hold a dangerous weapon.

“It’s just a little measure for evening the odds,” Sunset answered, “A stallion who is trying to capture you isn’t going to fight fair. The caribou themselves had anti-magic armor that made most spells designed for direct combat useless, and carried rods that would disable most ponies with a single touch. If these are the tactics they are using, then we need to be able to do something in the face of it.”

“Are you suggesting that we need to learn how to kill creatures?” asked Trixie.

“If need be, yes.” Sunset replied, “After all, the fall only came to an end when Big Macintosh killed Dainn. At this point, I’m sure that no one condemns him for his actions, and if that is how ponies think, then we likewise must be willing to go to those lengths to protect our freedom, and we need to stop assuming that somepony else is going to come in and save the day.”

Though many of the ponies in the room wanted to denounce this extreme, violent stance on protecting themselves, Sunset’s argument was fairly strong. The caribou were only removed from power through an act that ended the life of another creature, and the caribou, no, every creature who had tried to disrupt Equestria’s way of life did so with underhanded tactics. From Changelings, to Caribou, they all made their attempt at conquering the kingdom through sinister methods that left ponies defenseless, only stopped when somepony did something that caught the tyrants off guard.

“It’s not like I’m asking anypony here to go out on the streets with the intent to kill,” Sunset said in order to make her stance clear, “Only that all of you should be ready to do so if the need arises, because if you insist on being pacifists, then you have no one to blame when an enemy comes at you full force knowing that your too weak willed to do anything worse than knock them out.”

Carrot Top growled, and then stepped up to Sunset, “Give me that,” the earth mare said, swiping the fake blade from the unicorn, “I’m not going to let any creature make me into a victim ever again.”

“That’s the spirit,” Sunset said, “And how about you stallions? Who wants to be Carrot Top’s practice dummy?”

“I’ll do it,” said Star Bright, walking himself to the center of the mat, placing himself a mere foot from Carrot Top.

“Ok, we have our first pair.” Sunset said, backing away, “I’ll let you two have at it.”

“Have at it?” Star Bright said with concern, “What am I supposed to do?”

“Just… do whatever comes to mind. Be threatening, try to go at her, and then Carrot can do what she feels she needs to in order to stop you. Part of this training is to get over the thought that attacking somepony is somehow inherently bad, which in the case of an attack it’s clearly not.”

Star Bright followed Sunset’s instructions, and did his best to look intimidating. He gave a forced scowl to the orange haired mare holding the fake switchblade, lifting his arms up to look threatening. Really, this just made the stallion look silly, as it was obvious that his heart wasn’t into the act, which was all too apparent to even Star Bright as he felt a slight blush formed on his face.

“Ok, now Carrot Top,” said Sunset Shimmer, “You have a stallion coming at you with the intent to hurt you. What do you do?”

Carrot Top looked at the unicorn stallion in front of her, and recognized very quickly that the threat he posed was minimum, not simply because of his poor performance, but because he was a unicorn trying to threaten an earth pony physically. Even with the assumption that males were often more physically powerful than their female counterparts, a unicorn out muscling an earth pony was usually a rare event. Thus, without even implementing the fake knife, Carrot Top simply rushed the unicorn stallion.

Seeing the earth mare charge him, Star Bright flinched, closing his eyes while using his arms to shield himself. It was such a weak display, that Carrot Top stopped just before laying her hands on him.

“This isn’t going to work,” Carrot Top declared, “Even he knows I’d pummel him if I had to.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Sunset said, “If anything, this only reinforces a bad reaction, because if Star Bright had been a stallion on the caribou’s side, he would have easily taken advantage of your hesitation. We’re going to need an earth pony for this.” Sunset looked to the other stallions in the room, then laid eyes the one who had complained before, “How about you. You look big and strong enough to pose a threat.”

The stallion gave a half roll of his eyes, disinterested in being a part of the mare only training, “I really don’t want to.”

“Well, no pony is going to force you,” Sunset said, “But it does make me wonder why you’re here if you’re not going to participate.”

“Fine,” the stallion said, getting out of his seat, “I’m out of here. Somepony tell me when the next, real meeting is.” With that, the stallion walked out, leaving behind a bunch of staring gazes.

“Oh dear,” Sunset said, “Looks like I’ve upset him. Starlight, could you please take over the class? I’m going to see if I can get him to come back.”

Sunset went after the stallion, prompting Starlight to take her place as coordinator of the event. “Ok, could we please have an earth pony stallion volunteer. I’m not going to force anypony, but a volunteer would be appreciated.”

After the display the previous stallion made, it wasn’t long before another stallion stepped up to the task. He went before Carrot Top, standing roughly in the same spot Star Bright was. “So you just want me to approach her, and let her defend herself?”

“It would help if you tried to add a bit of realism to it. It’s not like a real attacker would go easy on a mare.” said Starlight.

Understanding what she expected of him, the stallion took a moment to get into character, and then puffed himself up to look as big as he could, and then attacked. Unlike with Star Bright, it was Carrot Top who was put on the defensive this time, stepping back to avoid the pony rushing her. It was so easy when she was the aggressor, but now that somepony was coming at her, a quick flash of when she was first captured and raped came to the forefront of her mind, and she faltered. In the end, despite her brave front and knowing this was all practice, she found herself dropping the switchblade, then curling down into a ball and covering her head in attempt to shield herself from the attack.

“Ok, break!” Starlight said, coming over to the two earth ponies, “Carrot Top, it’s ok. We stopped.”

Carrot Top moved her arms, and looked up at the two ponies standing over her, the stallion expressing true concern over the mare he had frightened. Embarrassed at herself, Carrot Top slowly got back to her hooves.

“Sorry,” she said, “I didn’t expect him to come at me so suddenly.”

“That’s ok,” Starlight replied, picking up the fake knife off the floor with her horn, “That’s all part of the training. We expect some, if not all, of you to have some reaction to a male coming at you, and getting over that is part of what we are trying to learn here. Now why don’t we try again.” Placing the knife back into Carrot’s hand, Starlight re-positioned the two ponies, then stepped back to give them space. “Whenever you’re ready.”

The stallion waited for Carrot Top to take a few deep, calming breaths, and then took one of his own to indicate that he was about to attack again. Just like before, he charged forward, and similarly Carrot found herself flinching at his approach, but this time reacted towards the male pony, instead of away. The earth mare picked up her arms instinctively, trying to defend her body with one while swinging with the other, knife holding hand. She wasn’t really aiming anywhere, just attempting to jam it into any part of the body she could connect with. The other ponies along the wall watched as Carrot top got grabbed by her defending arm, but ‘inserted’ the blade of the knife into the stallions upper bicep.

“Freeze!” Starlight said, hoping the two would listen. Not being prompted ahead of time, it took a moment for the two earth ponies to stop moving, but they managed to stay roughly where the unicorn wanted them to stop. “Now lets see here.” she said, coming over to the two.

Her attention was placed squarely on the knife, and where it had landed, and Starlight looked a little please when she saw where Carrot had hit.

“So Carrot Top, were you aiming for this spot?” Starlight asked.

“Not particularly,” Carrot replied honestly, “I was just trying to hit something, and it just happened to land there. Really, I wasn’t too sure where to strike.”

“If anypony is wondering where to strike,” Starlight announced to all the mares present, “Then really you should be going for spots that will disable or eliminate your attacker as quickly as possible.”

“Eliminate?” asked the stallion still holding Carrot by the wrist.

“Kill,” Starlight said plainly, “As said before, caribou has no qualms stripping a mare of everything worth living for, so they in turn should have no issue returning the favor. Now back to Carrot’s knife strike. While unintentional, this would have sent your blade into a fairly important piece of muscle. The pain alone would cause most to recoil, and a little force could cause even greater damage as you retrieved the weapon. You could even use their moment of retreat as an opportunity to land some more strikes, unless you feel it’s better to run.”

“Excuse me,” Lyra said, wondering about something with all this talk of violence, “Not to interrupt, but I would like to know something. I get that we might have to defend ourselves, but with you and Sunset talking about killing so much, have either of you had to do it?”

“I… Don’t believe so.” Starlight replied, “But we had a bit of an advantage that let us get away with only injuring those who came after us.”

Starlight made her horn glow, and wrapped a magical aura around the fake knife, taking it away from Carrot, and moving it throughout the air effortlessly.

“Utilizing our magic, we made sure to always fight our attackers from a distance.” Starlight explained, “Though don’t assume that is an easy task. Caribou and other unicorns can use their magic to try and overpower your own, but that’s why you need to be more clever with your tactics.” Using her levitation, Starlight positioned the knife behind the earth stallion, “Use the element of surprise, attack from the flank, where they will be unable to notice, and remember that no matter how much anti-magic armor a caribou is wearing, it won’t stop you from shoving a blade into their exposed parts.”

Starlight sent three quick stabs into the stallions back to show the room of ponies how easily one could attack with levitation, then sent the knife across the room to one of the unicorn stallions.

“And remember, if you are up against a unicorn, the easiest way to disable their own magic is to give their horn a firm strike.”

Starlight sent a gentle tap across the male pony’s horn, slapping the flat end of the blade cross the thickest part of the appendage, before bringing the knife back to her.

“Of course, this only applies to unicorns who have good control over their levitation magic. Everypony else needs to practice wielding a knife physically.”

Trixie sighed, knowing that included her, as she still didn’t have the expert control over her levitation magic that she once held. If she was going to defend herself at all, she was going to have to use her hands.

“Ok, now that we have an idea what we will be doing here, I’d like everypony to pair up and have the mares try defending themselves.” As Starlight said this, she used her horn to grab a box that was sitting by the entrance door, opening it as she brought it to her to reveal more trick switchblades inside. “When Sunset gets back, we’ll begin some real training, but until then independent practice will be a good warm up”

For the next few minutes, every mare member of the support group engaged in displaying their ability to defend themselves, while the males did their best to act like attackers, despite how uncomfortable that made them. The only issue was that there were more mares than males, so some had to share a stallion, but over all there was little complication. Some of the unicorns were even able to practice using their horns to wield their weapons, attempting the tricks Starlight showed to them before, while Starlight went around to give small bits of advice as it was needed.

Trixie, who ended up being paired with a pegasus, was having a little trouble. He had an advantage of wings, and Starlight had informed all sides to do whatever was in their power to overcome their opponent, so the pegasus took to flying about out of Trixie’s reach. It would have been hard enough for her to land a hit normally, but the pegasus’ elevation had her making weak attempts to jump up and slash him with her fake blade, with the pegasus able to swoop in and grab her at his leisure. Each time she failed though, Starlight was there to coax her into trying again. This continued until the doors opened, sounding Sunset’s returned, which caused everypony to stop, believing she would be taking over the class from this point on, as Starlight had said.

“Did things go well?” Starlight asked, noticing a distinct lack of the stallion Sunset went after, as well as a disheartened look on the yellow unicorn’s face.

“I’m afraid not,” Sunset replied, “I think I might have made things worse. They told me they didn’t want to be a part of the meetings anymore and stormed off.”

“Well that’s too bad,” said Starlight, “But in better news, everypony has been doing their best in their warm ups. Though, we’ve been having some problems when it comes to defense against pegasi, at least when it comes to those who can’t fly or use magic.”

“Really?” Sunset replied, “I would have thought that would be simple. Ok, then I’ll show you all how to deal with flyers non-magically. Could somepony volunteer to spar with me?”

“I’ll do it,” said the pegasus who was paired with Trixie, flying over to Sunset, wanting to see first hand how a grounded pony could deal with somepony with the advantage of flight.

“Ok, sure,” Sunset said, taking one of the fake knives from one of the mares with her horn, “Could everypony give us some space? I don’t want to end up hurting somepony.”

Every other pony in the room backed away from the two, leaving the room’s center void, save for Sunset and the pegasus.

“Whenever you’re ready, try to capture me like a brainwashed stallion would. Don’t hold back.” Sunset said, placing her weapon in the pocket of her leather jacket.

The pegasus looked confused, wondering how Sunset was supposed to stop him with her only means of defense stowed away. Regardless, he took flight, and prepared himself for what the unicorn was going to do. As he waited though, she just stood there, not making a move, but keeping her eyes locked on to her opponent.

“What’s the matter?” she said after a few seconds passed, “I told you to start whenever you're ready.”

The pegasus saw that it was up to him to make the first move, and so he did. He flew forward, expecting some sort of counter attack, and stopped the moment Sunset made any movement. The unicorn mare lifted an arm up in defense, but made no aggressive actions towards him. Again, the pegasus approached, circling around, but Sunset kept her front aimed at him at all times, continuing to shield her body with her arm.

After a few more false dives, the pegasus finally decided it was time to strike. Assuming that Sunset was planning to do something with the arm she kept raising in defense, the pegasus knew that he would have to disable it if he was going to fulfill his role as the attacker. So swooping in, he grabbed the mare by the wrist, firmly taking hold. The moment he did though, everything turned on him.

With the stallion still in mid dive, and latched to her arm, Sunset quickly used her other arm the grab him back. Gripping his lower arm, she pushed down and twisted her stance slightly, putting the weight of her upper body into her action. The pegasus reactively tried to flap his wings to move backwards, but he was already too deep into Sunset’s own motions, unable to stop himself as he was tossed near effortlessly into the mat covered floor. While cushioned, the impact was still harsh, stunning the pegasus more than long enough for Sunset to place a knee in between his wings.

“The trick to dealing with a pegasus is not to go after them, but to let them come to you,” Sunset said, taking her knife out from her pocket, “Flight is all about momentum, and if you throw off that momentum, then you can easily take all control from them.” With little pause, Sunset took her fake blade, and thrust it into the back of the stallions neck, confirming his defeat to the crowd. “Of course, while figuring that out is simple, executing it takes practice, and it won’t work on an attacker who has weapons, like a stun baton or a net.”

The members of the support group gave a small clap as Sunset got off the pegasus, all impressed at the way she managed to ground the winged pony. Even the defeated pegasus found himself giving a small bit of applause while picking himself up off the floor.

“Settle down, everypony.” Sunset said, “What I did isn’t that special, and any mare can do it if they practice enough. Of course, if you happen to have other ways to deal with an attacker, such as your own wings or magic, then use every advantage you have. When it comes down to it, it is you or them, and you is not an acceptable outcome.”

“That said,” Starlight said, stepping behind Sunset, “It looks like Sunset took more time getting back than I had assumed, and we are out of time."

"We're done already?" Carrot Top said aloud, having really gotten into the course, and wanting to practice some more protecting herself.

"We don’t want to push you all too hard for our first self defense class," Starlight answered, "So we’re gonna wrap this up for the time being, but don't you worry. For anypony interested in learning more about self defense, we will be holding these courses weekly, just like our normal meetings, and we hope that our stallions continue to show us mares their support by volunteering their assistance. Until then, enjoy your walk home, and stay safe.”

With that, everypony left for the day, save for the few who were staying at the facility. Trixie and Star Bright both returned to their rooms, with Trixie not entirely sure she learned anything from having a pegasus dodge around her for the better part of an hour. Somehow though, she didn’t feel all that frustrated about her pitiful display. Perhaps it was that she got to see the pegasus get shown who was boss by Sunset, or maybe it was that even though she couldn’t land a single hit, all the physical exertion relieved some of the tension she had been building up inside for some time. Whatever the reason, she felt a little… good, which was strange to the long time downtrodden mare.

A bit tired, Trixie laid in her bed, debating with herself if continuing the defense classes was for her, deciding that there was no reason not to at least give it another try. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep, her last conscious thought being how next time she would do better, not knowing that this was the beginning of the end of her peaceful life in the support club.

Drawing a Line

“For Equestria to last! We must preserve our past!”

That was the chant repeated time and time again by a large group of members from “Mares for a Better Equestria”. They had gathered in front of a hospital located in Fillydelphia, holding signs denouncing the use of spells used to erase a pony’s memories, specifically of the Fall, and amongst the group was Trixie herself.

After the incident in Canterlot, Trixie didn’t really see herself being part of any more public activities, but this time was a bit different. This time, both Sunset Shimmer and Starlight were present, and Sunset promised that she wouldn’t allow any outbursts of violence to happen like before. That assurance, along with Sunset’s request that Trixie participate to help support the group, was enough to get the blue mare out of the club for the day.

As she marched around the hospital chanting, lifting up a sign that said “If we erase the past, we lose our future”, she recalled bits the information told her about this gathering, and its purpose. For some time now, Celestia’s appointed Committee of Ponies had going back and forth on weather or not the general populous should be allowed to simply forget all the things the caribou did to them, not coming to a decision one way or another.

Trixie was also told that these spells were in use already, but only on purple collars and foals, as the Committee near unanimously decided that ponies that fit those two categories didn’t deserve to have suffered through the horrors of the Fall, or needed it simply to be mentally functional. At first Trixie thought it was a great idea, because it might be a big help to ponies like herself that found it hard to endure life after being violated for up to a year, but then Sunset explained that if ponies were allowed to remove those memories, it would also remove the knowledge of what threats were lurking in the shadows of Equestria.

Not only that, but to delete those experiences had other consequences that Sunset stated as even more dangerous, including the removal of important information a pony might have that could lead to the arrest of mares and stallions who collaborated with the caribou, or even allow such individuals a way out of the consequences of their actions by resetting their minds to a version of themselves that did not recall their betrayal of those around them, making it virtually impossible to prosecute them for their crimes, as there would be little ways to determine if the pony in question was under mind control, or was a co-conspirator with the caribou. Most dangerously of all, in Sunset’s opinion, was that memory spells had terrible political implications too, as the nature of the spells removed any poor opinions of certain ponies acquired during the Fall, such as those focused towards the red collared princesses. Because of all these reasons, Trixie had to concede that memory removal was not a very good thing to let the general public have access too.

Thus, the mare, along with more than a hundred other ponies from across Equestria, encircled the hospital where the spells were being used, letting their stance be heard by both those inside, and the common citizens of the city who passed by. They were making enough of a scene that royal guards from inside the facility had to come out and tell Sunset that the picket line was disturbing those recovering inside, with the orange unicorn replying that the assembly was peacefully protesting, and that the guards had no right to disperse them off of public property. As much as the guards hated to admit it, Sunset was right on the matter, and thus they could do little but protect the gate from any unlawful entry into the facility. Each time Trixie had to pass by them, they would send the blue mare a glare that filled her with equal parts embarrassment and resentment. She wasn’t trying to cause a scene, but what they were doing was for a good cause, and the guards should have understood that and left them be.

Still, it did look like the message was being received, as occasionally Trixie would spot ponies stopping to watch them from across the street, and when that happened Starlight would go right to them and hand out a pamphlet on the dangerous implications of allowing anypony access to memory erasing. The day went on, and after walking around for hours, swapping their slogans to other ones that further expressed the views of the group like “Erase a mind, a traitor hides” and “Forget the foes, invite more woes”, the group concluded their activities, Sunset stopping at the front gate with a megaphone in hand.

“Let Celestia and her Committee know that Eqestria will not stand for any policies that would allow traitors to the kingdom to go unpunished, and that all of Equestria needs to remember what it is we’re up against. With those final words, Sunset handed the megaphone to Starlight, and lead those of her group away from the hospital.

The protest was, from all visible accounts, a success. This was reaffirmed when Sunset slowed down enough to join with Trixie as they headed to the train station to return home, the orange unicorn saying to the blue mare, “See, everything went according to plan this time. Nothing to worry about when I’m around.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Trixie replied, “I feel kinda silly now that it’s over and nothing happened.”

“Well, you never know. Speaking of,” Sunset said, getting a little closer, “Did you remember to bring your knife?”

“Yes…” Trixie answered, gripping a pocket on her dress, taking hold of something solid within the cloth, “I’ve got it on me.”

The knife that Trixie had on her was not one of the practice knives from the self defense class, but a real one given to her the night before, Sunset believing it would make her feel safer. In all honesty, it made her more nervous, the mere thought of using the weapon making her cringe.

“And you didn’t have to use it,” Sunset replied, “Like I said, it was only to make you feel safer.”

“Yeah, I was just really nervous,” Trixie replied, “The group made me feel more safe than the knife though.”

“Well, then I’m glad you trust in your fellow members.” Sunset replied.

As the group of ponies made their way to the train station, several of the ponies disbanded from it, being part of a local chapter. Then when they got to the station even more ponies boarded trains until all that was left were ponies from Trixie’s group, and when that happened those that remained discovered something had gone wrong.

“What do you mean our train has already left?!” Sunset yelled at the stallion stationed at the ticket counter.

The stallion, who was put there simply to keep track of who was using the trains, as the stations had been deemed a “public resource” by the Committee of Ponies, thus made free to use for the time being, didn’t have much of a response for the angry mare on the other side of his window.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” he started, “But it left thirty minutes ago. There’s not anything I can do about it.”

Sunset growled, Trixie seeing for the first time a negative expression from the mare. “And when does the next one come in?”

“That’s going to be roughly three hours from its departure,” replied the ticket stallion, “So…”

“Two and a half hours…” Sunset said, annoyed.

“This is my fault,” Starlight said, looking at her clipboard, “I had written down that all our returning trains were going to leave at the same time. I should have suspected something when we had to arrive thirty minutes before everypony else.”

Sunset, hearing her associate take the blame, calmed herself, “Okay, then I suppose we have nothing to do but wait. This is really going to cut into our schedule though.”

“I know,” Starlight said, “It’s the first mistake I’ve made in a while. I’ll make up the time when we get back by staying up later tonight. I know how much you want our next big project finished.”

Having no other recourse, Sunset Shimmer faced the remaining members of the protest group, and announced the situation. “Attention! Due to an error in our scheduling, I regrettably have to inform you all that we will be stuck here for a while, until the next train back to town arrives.”

The remaining ponies all expressed shock or disappointment at the news, but ultimately accepted that this was what was happening, each unable to do anything about it. Even if some of the pegasi could fly back faster than that, it was still a long and tiring trip to do so.

“For the time being, I would suggest that you all spend the next two hours doing whatever you want. Just make sure to get back after that much time.”

“Doing what?” Carrot Top asked, being one of the ponies stuck at the station, “Fillydelphia might be one of the few cities that’s close to being restored, but the stores are still closed and I don’t think any of us are up for site seeing.”

A few of the others shared Carrot’s concerns, as there was little the metropolitan city had to offer them. Besides, they were already exhausted from all the walking they had done, and many didn’t feel they had it in them to do anything but sit after walking around in fairly large circle for over an hour.

“We understand that this situation isn’t exactly desirable,” Starlight said, “And Sunset and I will take responsibility for the mistake, but for now when need to kill some time. Exploring the city will make this go faster for you. Your presence spread more awareness of our group, and besides that, we’re currently missing one of our members.”

“Oh right,” Carrot commented, looking around at everypony present, “Didn’t Lyra leave the group before the picketing started?”

“Yeah,” Starlight replied, shifting her body to the side as her arms went cross, “She said something about remembering something important that she had to take care of here, and ran off before explaining anything. I haven’t seen so much as a piece of fur from her since.”

“So if some of you could at least go around and look for her, we’d appreciate it.” Starlight said in conclusion.

“Wait a minute,” said the ticket booth stallion, being close enough to listen in on the conversation, “You’re missing one of your party? There was a mare here earlier that was asking about you, I think.”

Sunset turned back towards the male pony, “Can you describe her?”

“Umm.. I think so,” he answered, scratching his head to jog his memory, “Unicorn, light blue fur, had bits of white in her mane.”

“That’s her,” Sunset replied, “What happen with her?”

“She was looking for you all, then looked at the train schedule and walked off. From the looks of it, she was heading back into the city.”

“Well then that confirms it.” Sunset said, “She must have thought we left without her. Now we really need to send out a search party.”

“I’ll go look for her,” Carrot Top said, “If no pony else wants to help, that’s fine.”

“No, it’s not,” said Sunset, “Fillydelphia is a big place, and we all should go look if we want to find her in time.”

Some of the group groaned at this, wishing they were sitting in their comfy train seats on the way back home. but few wanted to outright refuse to look for Lyra. Still, Sunset understood their position they all were coming from.

The orange unicorn grabbed a map from the small rack at the ticket booth, “I’m gonna borrow this for a sec, ok?” She didn’t wait for the stallion inside the booth’s permission before readdressing the group. “If we all take a small part of the city, we can do a detailed enough search and then come right back. It should only take an hour, tops, and we will go in pairs. Starlight and I will look back near the hospital. Carrot, would you and Trixie take this block here?” She said, pointing to one adjacent to where the hospital was at.

“We’re on it,” Carrot Top said, grabbing Trixie by the arm, pulling her along as the much stronger earth mare walked out of the station before another pair could be announced. Within seconds, Trixie found herself back on the streets of Fillydelphia, and only then was she released.

“You didn’t have to drag me out,” said the unicorn, rubbing her arm where the earth mare had gripped her.

“Yeah, I did,” Carrot Top replied, “I see how you are when it comes to public interaction. You hardly leave the club house, if ever. If I had given you enough time to say anything, I know you would have begged Sunset to let you stay at the station.”

“If you think that,” Trixie responded with a hint of detest, “Then why didn’t you leave me behind? I’m not gonna be much help if my heart isn’t into this.”

“Cause I’m getting tired of watching you take advantage of the club’s services and only giving back the bare minimum.” Carrot Top explained, “You’re always quiet unless we’re talking about your problems, and never help unless you’re asked. I’m not sure you get this, but this group is not just for getting over our own issues. We are trying to help Equestria as much as ourselves, and that’s gonna take all of us to do.”

“Doesn’t me coming today count for anything?” Trixie asked.

“It might,” said Carrot Top, “If that wasn’t the attitude you had towards it. Helping others shouldn’t be treated like an obligation, especially when it comes to mares. Equestria forbid Lyra actually be in trouble right now, while you’re here complaining about looking for her.”

“Ok, ok,” Trixie said, the other mare managing to guilt the unicorn into seeing her way, “Where are we supposed to look again?”

“This way,” Carrot Top said curtly, waving her hand in the direction of their assigned searching area, leading the way as Trixie followed right behind.

For a little while the two mares walked in silence, but somewhere between the station and their destination, Trixie spoke up, “Do you really think that badly about me?”

“Trixie… We don’t have time for that.” Carrot answered, keeping her eyes peeled in case Lyra popped up along the way.

“No, you brought up that you think I don’t pull my weight in the group, but I went to Celestia’s speech, I didn’t rat out anypony when we were arrested, and I’ve been helping clean up around the club house lately. I’m not trying to be some sort of mooch. It’s just… difficult for me to do things on my own. The past three times I did, they all ended up terribly.”

Carrot didn’t really want to get into this conversation, thinking that it was just another attempt to spout off her long list of life problems, but could feel that Trixie wouldn’t let up. “Ok, you want to know if I think badly about you, then… kinda. I can sympathize that you were raped and enslaved, just like me.”

“Then what’s wrong? You’re not still holding what happened in Ponyville against me, are you?” Carrot top stayed silent, almost making it a whole block before Trixie spoke up again. “That’s really it, isn’t it?!”

“Look, it’s not easy to forgive you for you’re take over of Ponyville when what you did was really close to what the caribou did.” Carrot Top went on to explain, “I know Sunset said it wasn’t really you that was in control of your actions, but if I just ‘let that go’, then I’d have to let go some other grudges I have, like some of those red collars who claim they were brainwashed by the Crystal Heart, and I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“But…” Trixie started, a little confused, “If you still see me like that, then why didn’t you tell Sunset you wanted another partner?”

“I don’t know,” Carrot Top said, honestly not having an answer to that question, “Maybe I don’t feel as strongly about you as I think I do. Maybe I do see that you’re sorry for what you did, and pushing you like this is my way of seeing if you’re serious about not making that mistake again.”

“I guess that’s a start the- Hey, isn’t that Lyra?!” Trixie spotted a familiar shade of blue down the street, heading the same way she and Carrot Top were.

It took Carrot a moment to spot the missing mare herself, but she managed to see their associate through the other the ponies walking along the sidewalk. “I think you’re right. Hey! Lyra!”

The mare the two spotted didn’t stop when called out to, and turned a corner out of there line of sight.

“Crap, I don’t think she heard us,” Carrot Top said, as she picked up speed, “Come on, if that’s her then we can’t let her get away.

Trixie followed right behind, but wasn’t as physically fit as the earth pony. She was several feet behind Carrot Top as they turned the corner, and loosing ground fast. Carrot Top wasn’t stopping though, and went on ahead without so much as to look behind her to see if Trixie was still there. When Trixie felt it would be impossible to catch up, she slowed down to a stop to catch her breath, lungs desperately inhaling and exhaling as she did more exercise in that short period of time than she had done since her enslavement.

Luck was on her side though, as while she stood there, hands on bent knees, taking breath after breath, the pony she was looking for stepped out from between two buildings right in front of her.

“Good, she went right past me,” the unicorn said softly to herself, looking in the direction Carrot Top ran off to.

“Ly… ra…” Trixie said, still recovering from the running.

Turning her head to see Trixie, Lyra’s eyes went narrow. She hadn’t looked back, and was unaware that Carrot Top wasn’t alone. “Shoot,” she said aloud, not hiding in the slightest her displeasure at this turn of events.

“Where you… running from us?” Trixie asked, to which she got a sheepish look from the other unicorn.

“Yes,” Lyra replied, admitting that she was trying to avoid them, “But it’s not what you think.”

“I’m… not thinking anything right now.” Trixie explain, not having the first clue why the mare would want to run. She had done nothing wrong to Trixie’s knowledge, and there was no reason for Lyra to want to run or hide that the blue unicorn was aware of. “Me and Carrot were just sent to find you because our train left earlier, and we’re gonna have to wait for the next one.”

“Oh, is that why you came after me?” Lyra said, “I already knew that, and I promise that I’ll be back to the train on time, so if you want you can go tell Sunset that.”

Trixie saw nothing wrong with what Lyra was suggesting. If the other mare was going to be at the station at the time everypony was supposed to be, then Trixie had completed her task and all she’d have to do was get Carrot and go back. However, the way Lyra was acting showed that there was something else to this, and for that reason she didn’t feel it was right to just let the mare do as she pleased.

“Hold up,” Trixie said, finally able to stand up straight, “After what you just did, you expect me to just let you go? You were avoiding us for a reason, and after all that we have done together, I think I at least deserve an explanation.”

Lyra, not being as assertive or capable of dealing with confrontation as Carrot Top, bit her lip as she thought about the request of her fellow support group member. “I-It’s really not…” Not even finishing her weak rebuttal, Lyra let her shoulders and neck slink down limply as she accepted defeat, “Ok, you really want to know what I was doing? Then come with me.”

Lyra started walking, and Trixie followed behind. The two traveled through the city in silence, one not having anything to say while the other assumed any answers she might have would be answered once they reached their destination, and not long after they started walking, they arrived to that place.

“We’re here.” Lyra said meekly, stopping in front of the gate for the hospital, the very one that Trixie and the others had protested not even an hour ago.

“Wait, this is where you were trying to go?” Trixie asked, “Why didn’t you just come here with us earlier?”

“Because the reason I’m here is not the same reason you were all here.” Lyra went to the gate, and pressed a button at its wall. A short time later, one of the guards came out to see what was going on.

“You again?” The guard said, their annoyance evident in every part of their mannerisms, “Hasn’t your group disturbed our patients enough for one day?”

“I’m not here for that,” Lyra said, pulling out a card and handing it over to the guard.

“That’s right, I remember you now,” said the guard pony, opening the gate for the unicorn, “You’re lucky, we’re on our last hour for visitations today.”

Visitations? Trixie wondered to herself, watching Lyra step beyond the previously locked gate, and following in after.

The guard saw Trixie take one step past the gate, and then stepped in front of her. “Not you,” they said sternly.

“It’s ok,” Lyra said, knowing that leaving Trixie like this would only raise more questions and cause more problems. “She won’t cause any trouble, and I’ll take responsibility for her if she does.”

The guard gave it a moment of thought, and stepped aside. “Do anything to upset our patients, and I’ll personally throw you both out.”

Trixie nodded, and then got herself back to Lyra, following the light blue mare inside the building, a little nervous as to what she’d find inside.

After some form filling from Lyra at the front desk, the two mares were roaming the halls of the hospital. Trixie was both surprised and embarrassed at what she was found inside the walls that she had just spent hours protesting outside of, seeing that it was pretty much just a normal hospital. To be fair, she didn’t really think about what was going on inside the building, except that it was where the memory erasure spells were being done, but the very fact that her support group was so adamant against the place, combined with a gate to keep ponies out, made it seem like the inside would hold something far more insidious.

Yet, as she passed through the halls, she saw little that suggested anything nefarious going on inside. The place was running like a proper health facility, tending to those recovering from sickness or injury, as Trixie saw as they passed by some of the rooms. The strangest thing about the place was that along with the normal nurse and doctor ponies, there were roughly the same amount of zebra on staff helping patients with their alchemical remedies, just like the zebra Amale had been doing with her in order to correct the physical changes the caribou had done to her.

“So… Am I just going to have to wonder why you’re allowed in this place?” Trixie asked, Lyra not yet informing her of how she came across the card that let here enter so easily.

“It’s a public hospital,” Lyra said, “Anypony is allowed here if they have a reason. Just because it’s used as the place where the memory wiping spells are conducted doesn’t change that. The only reason they put a gate up around the place is because there are a lot of foals being kept here that need protected if something bad should happen to the city.”

“Maybe,” Trixie replied, “But you know that doesn’t answer the question. What’s the reason that you’re allowed to go to where they are keeping the patients?”

Lyra sighed, “Just follow me. You’ll figure it out easier than if I explain, cause we’re almost there.”

Trixie did as she was told, walking along with the other unicorn until they made it to the room Lyra was looking for. The light blue mare gave the frame of the doorway a small knock, then entered in without pause.

“Knock, knock,” she said, entering the room, “I hope you didn’t go to sleep already.”

Trixie took a peek inside, and as expected the room looked like a typical hospital room for recovering patients, with a white earth pony mare with blue and pink hair occupying the provided bed. The mare was, fortunately for Lyra, awake, though surprised to see that she got a visitor.

“Lyra!” said the mare, “I didn’t expect you to be back so soon. Did something happen?”

“No, no,” Lyra reassured, “I just happen to be in the area, and thought I should check in on you again.”

“You worry about me too much,” said the mare, “You know the doctors are taking good care of me.”

“That’s cause they know that if they didn’t, I’d ram my fist down their throats.” Lyra said, balling her hand into a fist to emphasize her point.

“You know I don’t enjoy you talking about violence,” said the earth mare.

“I’m sorry, Bon Bon,” Lyra replied, “I’m just protective of you is all, after… you know.”

The earth mare closed her eyes, and let loose a small huff through her nose, “Protective or not, that’s not the mare I love.”

“Excuse me,” Trixie said, staying just outside the room as she interrupted the two, “Did you want me to stand out here, or…”

“Oh, right,” Lyra said, “I brought a guest with me today. I’m sure you remember Trixie.”

“Hard to forget a pony who took over your hometown,” Bon Bon said, recognizing Trixie immediately, “The doctors didn’t go that far back when removing my memories.” Once again, Trixie was struck by her past, the blow stinging so much that she tried to back out of sight, until the earth pony went on to say, “Aren’t you coming in?”

“Do you.. want me to?” Trixie asked, concerned that her presence was bothering the mare.

“There’s no reason to make you leave,” Bon Bon said, “Lyra told me that you went to the same support meetings as her, and that you’ve turned over a new leaf. Besides, it’s nice to have a guest that isn’t Lyra for a change,”

“Hey!” Lyra yelled jokingly, knowing that the earth pony was just kidding around. From the look of it, the unicorn was doing everything she could to get a smile out of the hospitalized mare, and it looked like she didn’t have to try hard to get those results.

Having been invited in, Trixie entered the room, though her mind was filled with questions. That being the case, she knew that it was more important to be polite, so she only said “Thank you”, before finding a seat.

“So, what made you want to come and see me?” Bon Bon asked Trixie, understandably curious to the mare’s presence. “I don’t think we’ve even talked that much those few times you were in Ponyville.”

“She came here to make sure I’d be safe,” Lyra said, covering for the mare, “The mares in the group are big on safety.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Bon Bon said, “Those caribou creatures could try to attack again, and it’s probably best to move in groups.”

“You know about the caribou?” Trixie asked, showing her surprise.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Bon Bon replied.

“Well… you said your memories were erased.” Trixie answered.

“My memories were erased,” said Bon Bon, “But it’s not like they didn’t tell me what happened. I know about the caribou takeover of Equestria, the enslavement, and their defeat. I pretty much know all the cliff notes of the time I’ve forgotten.”

“Then what’s the point of you having them removed?” Trixie asked, not understanding why you’d tell somepony something right after removing it from their mind.

“Trixie,” Lyra started, suddenly sounding a bit more serious than she usually did, “Bon Bon had something terrible happen to her, something so awful that she became a purple collar. Her memories were removed to bring back her sanity, but you could have guessed that. It’s the only reason she was even allowed to have her memories removed as an adult, after all, and other ponies aren’t approved for that treatment yet.”

Trixie, of course, knew this from the picketing earlier, but that information seemed to have slipped her mind in the moment.

“And it would be strange for me to have a portion of my memory removed without somepony telling me why.” Bon Bon added, “So in order to fill in the gaps, the doctors gave me some basic information of what happened, and then gradually gave me more details whenever I asked for them. For the most part, I know what the caribou did to all of us mares, and while I’m not happy about it, I know it’s something I’ll have to live with, even if my understanding of it is second hand.”

“Oh…” Trixie said, realizing beforehand that this was how the memory spells were being handled. From the way Sunset put it, it sounded like you’d have your memories removed and that was that.

As Trixie pondered this new understanding of the process, another knock came to the door, this time coming from one of the stallion doctors working in the hospital. “Ms. Bon Bon, it’s time for your medicine.”

The doctor, who was holding a slightly glowing container of zebra potion, went aside Bon Bon’s bed and put the fluid to her lips. “You know the drill, drink it all down.”

Bon Bon nodded, then put her lips to the glass, prompting the doctor to tip the container upwards while she tilted her head back. As instructed, the earth mare drunk down the entire potion without breaking for a breath. Once the whole thing was downed, Bon Bon’s face begun contorting, the potion causing her a deal of discomfort as it did whatever it was doing.

Trixie assumed that the potion was changing something about the earth mare’s body, based on her own experience with the zebra’s alchemy, that she was feeling a bit of undesired pleasure that came with causing certain parts of the body to rapidly change. She didn’t inquire though, as she knew that whatever it was that Zebra were reverting on the mare was a personal matter, and wasn’t any of her business.

“Good,” said the doctor as he tossed the now empty vial into the trash, “A few more of those and you’ll be back to your old self.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Bon Bon replied.

“For now though, you need to get some rest.” the doctor said, “Which means your visitors should be heading back home.”

Lyra didn’t want to leave, but the unicorn was already aware that she had come in late. Getting up from her seat, she gave Bon Bon a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I’ll come see you again as soon as I can.”

“Lyra,” Bon Bon replied, “You worry too much. I’ll be fine. Just take care of yourself for now, okay?”

“Okay,” Lyra reluctantly agreed, “But you know I only worry because I care.”

With those last words, Lyra made her way out of the room, Trixie following right behind her. For a moment, the two mares remained silent as they made their way to the exit, but once they got a little ways away from Bon Bon’s room, Trixie spoke up.

“A purple collar, huh?” Trixie said, “I met a few when I was a black collar, but I think this is the first time I’ve met one after being freed.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Lyra said, “Because purples have to have their memories of the Fall erased, a lot of them are more stable than your average black collar. To them, they went to sleep one day, and the next they woke up in a changed world. Because of that, they could more easily return to their normal lives, unless they had nothing to return to.”

Once more Trixie was facing the good aspects of the memory removal spell, and while she agreed with most of what Sunset said about the bad parts of it, she was still wishing that a mare like herself could reap the benefits of it.

“So is this why you decided to skip the protests earlier?” Trixie asked, believing she already knew the answer.

“I can’t really try to get something banned that’s been so useful for somepony I care about,” Lyra replied, “It would be hypocritical, and it wouldn’t feel right walking a picket line in front of a hospital while my… my friend was trying to rest inside.”

“I get it,” Trixie said, “But if that’s the case, then why didn’t you tell Sunset that somepony important to you was in here?”

“Would it change anything?” Lyra asked, “As much as I believe Sunset has a good grip on how things are going these days, I think we both know that she can be a bit extreme.”

“You mean about the self defense thing?” Trixie asked, remembering that Lyra openly expressed concerns about possibly killing somepony, questioning Starlight on the matter publicly.

“That, and other things.” Lyra commented, “What I’m getting at though is that it wouldn’t have mattered to Sunset why I didn’t want to join the protest, all that matters is that I didn’t. If I told her the truth, then at best she would have acted sympathetic, but in the end she wasn’t going to cancel the protests just because something good came out of using memory spells.”

“I guess you’re right.” Trixie said, knowing that Sunset always did what she set out to do.

“I’m not even saying that she’s wrong when it comes to red collars or stallions who might have been caribou collaborators,” Lyra said, supporting the reasons Sunset was against the practice of magical memory removal, “But any pony that is a purple collar needs it, along with foals who didn’t deserve what the caribou made them live through. I even think that black collared mares should have a choice if they want to remember all the things that happened to them, because while a pony you me or you can handle it, I don’t really think all mares can.”

“Right, we can handle it…” Trixie falsely agreed, as she wouldn’t mind resetting her mind back to before the caribou, and would do so with little hesitation if it were offered to her.

The two mares made their way back to the train station, flagging down every member of the support group they saw along the way to let them know Lyra had been found. They were the first to make it back, but it wasn’t long after that every other mare and stallion arrived behind them.

“You had us worried about you,” Sunset said to Lyra on sight, lightly scolding the missing unicorn.

“I know,” Lyra apologized, “Trixie told me you all were looking for me. I didn’t mean to worry you all with my little walk.”

“It’s not really that big a deal,” Sunset replied, “I didn’t really think anything bad happened to you, but it would have been awful if the trains came back and we had to leave you behind. Maybe next time you should stick with the group, just so we don’t have to hunt you down.”

“Yeah, you might be right,” Lyra said, feigning ignorance about the whole situation, not wanting to let her stance on the protests to be common knowledge.

“I’m just surprised that you didn’t hear me when I called out to you,” said Carrot Top, who was standing close by, “I guess it’s a good thing Trixie decided to split off from me after I lost you in the crowd.”

“Yes, you did a good job finding her.” said Sunset in congratulation towards Trixie.

“It was no trouble at all,” Trixie answered, Lyra having concocted a story to keep what they had done at the hospital a secret. To go against it would have been to betray Lyra’s trust, and while she was on the fence about the matter, it was not her place to expose Lyra’s actions against her wishes.

The rest of the evening went fairly predictably, no pony wanting to go out into the city again as they waited for their train to arrive. When it got there, they all were happy to finally get on after the delay, considering Starlight’s flub on the schedule to have been pretty awful, but that overall the trip was enjoyable.

Only Trixie had any long lasting negative thoughts, as she dwelled on what Lyra had said on the authorization of memory spells for the public, compared to what Sunset had told her on the matter. Sunset’s approach was an absolute, which when it came down to it was probably safer for everypony, but Lyra’s opinion was more in line with what Trixie wanted.

Was she being selfish for wanting Sunset to be wrong on this matter? It felt like it, since the only reason she agreed with Lyra’s take was so she could take advantage of it. If her own personal want for her life to go back to what she considered ‘normal’ wasn’t part of the equation, to forget about all the bad things that happened in the Fall, then would she agree with Lyra at all? She couldn’t say anything with certainty.

In the end, she simply had to tell herself that this was a grey area, and while Sunset usually had the right idea about things, this was one point that some leeway could be taken. Not hat it really mattered, since it was up to the Committee of Ponies to make the spells available, so she could declare a stalemate for the time being and wait on what they had to say. For now, she would follow Sunset’s lead while silently agreeing with Lyra, believing that was the best way to avoid conflict, and thus the best move a mare could make when all they wanted was for their life to remain quiet and peaceful.

Author's Notes:

So, another month and another 7K word chapter. This is getting kinda embarrassing. You know, I set out this year to complete a lot of my unfinished stories, and I can't seem to muster the energy to finish this one. I know some people are going to say something like "It's ok, take your time", but it's... really not. I feel that I should be able to put these chapters out sooner, but.. well to be honest I've had my mind on a lot of things lately.

This is not an excuse, but work has been hitting me harder, making me a bit more tired than usual cause I've been getting more days due to working at what I will call a health care facility, and with the outbreak they've been needing me more than ever. That aside, the over all political climate has been on my mind a lot, because people are fucking nuts right now, and with this story in particular, I think it's hitting a little close to home on that topic.

I almost feel like going back to writing some chapters about pure rape fetishism just because it would remind me less about the stupidity going on in the world, which I might actually do after this chapter in order to garner a bit of enjoyment from my writing before shit hits the fan. Not saying I won't come back to this story, just that I feel that right now the message of this story, which might be obvious to everyone at this point, feels kinda like a mallet to the face with all these ridiculous riots going on all over the place. Don't know if any of my fans actually support the recent "fiery, but mostly peaceful protests" (except for one person who will not be named that has stated to me directly that they did after I upset them with a side story), and if you support mindless destruction of property and murder that's on you, but my stance is that this is stupid, and those people need to grow the fuck up, for any who might give two shits about what a random writer of almost purely horse rape fetish porn might have the think on the matter.

Politics aside, this chapter leaves me a little disappointment. Not just because of the delay, but because there was a bit of things I wanted to add, but I didn't think would fit in fluidly when writing this out. So instead, I'm just gonna add those details here for a bit of flavor.

The first thing I want to add was an explanation of the circumstances of Bon Bon becoming a purple collar. For those more familiar with the artwork of FoE, you might know that Bon Bon had a bit of a story arc in the series. Having been sent to a warbeast farm, then shipped off to Cherry Jubilee's slave training farm, and ending off being shown off as an incredibly pregnant mare slipping into stage one of a purple collar mentality. Well, the last bit is a bit of a poor description, as she was shown to be pregnant from her first image, with the words "Twin Hybridizer" written on her stomach.

The implication to this was that the caribou were experimenting with breeding hybrids with the ponies, for reasons I will give my impression on in a bit, probably through chemical manipulations of the pony females, and Bon Bon was one of their success stories, so much so that she had more than one inside her at once. Seeing this, they shipped her off someplace for further study, seeing as this is an important thing for the caribou.

Why was it important? Well, I can only assume it's because after the Cycle (the thing that nuked the caribou homelands and caused the few remaining caribou to flee to Equestria), the caribou had an issue with population. They were not many in numbers, and they would want to increase that as soon as possible to allow their race and culture to dominate the ponies in the course of a generation or so, which is also why caribou strongly endorse stallions use birth control on their mares to reduce pony births so this can happen sooner than later. However, that can't be the only reason, because if that were the case one would believe the cariobu would focus on making pure blooded caribou, and not bastardized combinations of their powerful bloodline and that of the inferior ponies.

Thus, my assumption is that the caribou had made an oopsie, and through their near constant sex, chemical/magical abuse of their sexual functions, and the abuse of their females in general, the caribou had caused caribou birth rates to plummet. This probably was happening before the Cycle hit, and is part of the reason why twins being born is considered a blessing (described in Bruised Apples, for those who don't know what I'm talking about). So out of necessity they are trying to figure out how to make mares capable of cross breeding, except I think that they fail to see the real issue in place.

You see, it is my opinion that most caribou males, while virile enough to fuck a half dozen mares without showing fatigue, have essentially made themselves mostly unable to breed. Their sexual organs are so fucked up from generations of manipulation and over breeding that they have all but given up the ghost when it comes to producing children. It's not their females that are the problem, its the men, thus I don't think that getting female ponies to be capable of cross breeding with other species was ever a solution for them. Instead, all it did was make it so mares they experimented on can breed with any other race, and where exactly did we first see Bon Bon?

That's right, she was on a warbeast farm, where the mares were very often forced to fuck the creatures. Bon Bon (in my opinion) was not carrying caribou hybrids, but hybrid pony/warbeast babies. The caribou literally forced her to conceive children through an act of bestiality, which would understandably drive the mare insane, while also acting as a bit of amusement to the sadistic caribou, and proving that it was possible to have mares breed with whatever they wanted, while still not understanding that their own useless seed was the root of their problems.

I wanted to, at some point, have Lyra explain that the moment she was released from her enslavement, that she raced her way to Bon Bon (knowing where she was from a letter shown in the last official FoE Bon Bon image), only to find that she was a purple collar, and that she had given birth to the hybrid creatures, which would be completely deformed monstrosities. She would then explain that the abominations were destroyed, and that she herself would approve of Bon Bon having her memories removed of the Fall, thus showing why she had a more positive and supportive stance on the procedure.

The other thing I wanted to add, but didn't include, was a brief encounter with Rarity on the way out of the hospital, as it was where Sweetie Belle was currently being kept during the foal's own recovery. I would have explained to some degree that while the foals, both male and female, had their memories removed (no matter what happened to them during the fall), that they were not informed of the entirety of what went on during it. They would be given a dumbbed down version about how Equestria was attacked by the caribou, without any of the sexual details included.

Of course, since Rarity was a well known red collar, despite being acquitted for her participation in the Fall, this would cause a bit of conflict as both Trixie and Lyra would lash out at her for being a traitor. This would have probably led to Rarity showing them the reason she was there, taking the two to the children's wing of the hospital, and explaining to them that at this point her biggest priority was that Sweetie was ok and safe, creating a bit of correlation between herself and Lyra's situation. This, of course, would not make them forgive her for her perceived treason to Equestria, but would create a temporary truce of sorts, one that lasted only until they parted from the hospital. Again, I didn't feel it could be easily fitted into the story, but I do think it would have been nice to see. Maybe I'll try to add it in later.

Anyways, that's all for now. I hope all my readers have a nice day, and will return for the next chapter of this story, whenever that comes about.