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.

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.

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.

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?

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 )

“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 had featured on 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 stance 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, aware that had directed somepony to ask the question, “These cloths 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 enduring 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.” another stallion said.

Almost all stallions in the meeting seemed to be in full agreement with this sentiment, but one 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 conspirators 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 article of 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. Every time 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 aggression 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 sexes.

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, the encounter with Carrot Top at the start put the blue unicorn in a spot she really didn't want to be in, though 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. “I gotta hop on the last train out of here to see my marefriend, and she'll get worried if I don't show up.”

“I’ll walk out with you,” 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.

“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, there came 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 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.

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.

“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 and see things 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 their 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 innocence 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.

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 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 to 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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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 sharp 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 kept 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 slid 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 a set. 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 them 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 bit 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 candle holder, 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.

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.

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, once the party was over, Trixie volunteered to help with the post party clean up, even though Sunset and Starlight told her that they would take care of everything. 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 be persistent in telling her that she didn’t have to, but Trixie insisted it was the least she could do. Besides, it was her choice to help this time, 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 a 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 only replaced her with 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. Trixie normally wasn't a violent pony, and found it impossible to hurt the stallion, even if he had harmed her both physically and emotionally.

“I’m not going to forgive you for leaving me,” Trixie said, unfolding her fist, “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 is 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 our current 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. I admit, in hindsight it was a pretty awful thing to do.”

“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 now...”

Trixie let out a gasp, and suddenly felt incredibly exposed. Suddenly 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 this long after the Fall, 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 give him a gentle hug from behind, “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 in 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 starts to mend the damage, and 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 could see what Starlight meant. 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 their strength, as far apart form one another as it was, came from them doing the same amount of farm work 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, and explained how stallions could take two or more slaves 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, the issues of male brute strength and our inability to combat it due to a reliance on the royal guards dealing with the things that threaten Equestria being a leading cause of our defeat. The caribou did exactly what they needed to in order to remove any protection we mares had, starting with converting our males, then moving to disable the few other defenses we had faith in, like 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 there would be no different results 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 think we need knives?” Lyra asked, the thought of carrying a dangerous weapon on her person making her feel very unsure about all this.

“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 everypony agrees that Dainn's death was nessicary, 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, and were 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, made several times more 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 a fairly 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 let me know 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, hearing Starlight, lowered 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 sheepishly, “I panicked when I saw him coming at me so quickly.”

“That’s ok,” Starlight replied in a supportive, comforting tone, 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 there's something I need to know. 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, or lack there of, while the males did their best to act like attackers, despite how uncomfortable that made them. The was an issue 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 longer getting back than I thought she would, and we are out of time."

"We're done already?" Carrot Top said aloud, having really gotten into the course, wanting to practice some more at 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.

“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 gone 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. This left the concept of using such spells as a focus of public debate, because so many ponies would have loved to be rid of the bad memories of the Fall, but were being denied the quick solution to their problem, only because those given power over their lives couldn't come to a decision about it.

To add further frustration to this failure to come to a resolution about the matter, the memory removing spells were already approved for use, but only on purple collars and foals, as the Committee near unanimously decided that ponies that fit those two categories didn’t deserve to suffered the horrific trauma the Fall burdened them with, with some needing their memories removed to be mentally functional. When the spell and its intended purpose was explained to Trixie, she initially thought it was a great idea, because it might be a big help to ponies like herself that found it hard to have endured what could have been up to a year of nonstop sexual abuse, but then Sunset explained that if ponies were allowed to remove those memories just because it was convenient, it would drastically lessen the severity of the threat creatures like the caribou posed, as without the firsthand experience of their depravity, it was possible they could be treated with the same dismissive attitude other major enemies to Equestria had been given by the populous.

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 those 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 the sidewalk around the hospital, as it was 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, with the picketing ponies 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”, until the group concluded their activities, with Sunset stopping at the front gate with a megaphone in hand.

“Let Celestia and her Committee know that Equestria 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, relieved with how smoothly things went, “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,” said Trixie, “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. As they got into the station, even more ponies separated from the protestors, as they boarded trains to a several different cities, until all that was left were ponies from Trixie’s group, and when that happened those that remained had to learn why they were not themselves boarding a train to return home.

“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. I can't really do anything about a train that's left already.”

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 arrived 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 all the activist work they dd to further the cause.

“We understand that this situation isn’t exactly desirable,” Starlight said, “And I take full responsibility for the mistake, but for now when need to kill some time. Exploring the city will make this go faster for you. On a plus side, your continued presence in the city will spread more awareness of our group, and besides that, we’re currently missing one of our members.”

“Oh right,” Carrot Top commented, looking around at everypony present, “Didn’t Lyra leave the group before the picketing started?”

“Yeah,” Sunset 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 the 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 without too much work. 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 she could feel that Trixie wouldn’t let up. “Ok, you want to know if I think badly about you, then… kinda, but 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 their 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 a glance 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 explained, 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. It didn't take long after they started walking before 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 just left. The one where the protest took place.

“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 hastily went to Lyra to walk aside her, 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, not 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 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, and that she too must have been feeling a bit of undesired pleasure that came with certain parts of the body being changed to absurdly exaggerated proportions. 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 had 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 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 that it really mattered, since it was up to the Committee of Ponies to make the spells available, so she could conveniently 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.

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.

The days following the protest for Trixie went back to the events that she had become accustom to. Group support meetings, defense classes, and training in her free time to help get her magic working properly again. The routine was becoming normal, in which to say it was starting to make the blue unicorn feel more like herself again. It wasn’t easy, as the Fall was still a burden she couldn’t quite shake, but more frequently she was able to find distractions to keep the thoughts of that horrible time at bay.

“Hey Trixie,” Lyra said, catching Trixie as she was about to leave the group home, “Are you busy?”

“Oh, hey Lyra,” Trixie replied in a casual greeting, “Just a little, I was about to go out to get my weekly medication for my breasts.”

Since her first time taking the breast reduction potions from the zebra alchemist Amale, Trixie had been diligently getting her prescribed doses each time the zebra would give it to her. She would always come to visit Trixie personally, since the mare was more comfortable staying at the group home than venturing out into the city. Today was different though, as Trixie finally worked up enough self esteem to go out into the public on her own. Having built up the courage to go out wasn’t in itself her only reason for doing so, but she had been told that if she ever felt like she could get to the train station early enough, then she could get her treatment that much quicker, and that was something worth doing now that she had enough confidence to leave on her own.

“Oh neat,” Lyra said, noting this unusual, yet positive change in her fellow unicorn’s behavior, “You usually wait for the zebra to deliver it to you, but going out to get it yourself is a great step towards taking back your life.”

“Maybe, but this is more for Amale’s sake than my own. If I can catch her at the station, then she doesn’t have to walk all the way here for me.”

The reason Trixie gave was only partially true, as she was well aware that any little bit of effort she put into getting her medication was that much less of a burden on the zebra who delivered it. Her motives were not so purely altruistic, and was more a response to what Carrot Top had said to her in Fillydelphia. That she was relying too much on the group and its facilities, and not being more proactive. In a way, this was the unicorn’s first attempt to show the earth mare she was wrong, though it was more a reaction to how right she was.

“Mind if I tag along?” Lyra asked, “I understand if you want to go alone, but-.”

“No, you can come along,” Trixie said, happy to have someone she trusted accompanying her, “Sunset always says we shouldn’t go alone if possible.”

“Speaking of…” Lyra said, “Why isn’t Sunset or Starlight going with you? I’d think they’d be the first to want to help you first hand.”

“They aren’t around,” Trixie answered, “Said they would be busy doing some other matters for Mares for a Better Equestria, and that they’d be gone for the day.”

“That’s funny,” said Lyra, “They didn’t mention anything like that in yesterday’s meeting.”

“They probably didn’t want to bother anypony,” Trixie replied as she headed for the exit, “They only told me and Star Bright cause we live here.”

“Oh right, Star Bright is here now.” Lyra said, remembering the unicorn male, “Should we bring him along too?”

“I’d… rather we didn’t,” Trixie said, a little ashamed with her answer, but sticking to it, adding “I’m still a bit uncomfortable around stallions” as the reasoning to leave him behind.

“I get it,” Lyra said, the reason being too common among mares to question, “Then let’s head out.”

The two unicorns left the building, and made their way through town, hoping to make the train station before the train carrying the zebra arrived. It really wasn’t a difficult task, since their chapter of ‘Mares for a Better Equestria’ resided in a small town, but for most mares, the act of leaving the house could be a daunting task, as something that should have been as common in everyday life as taking a walk outside was had become so defied by the caribou that many chose to avoid it when possible. Every aspect of previously normal pony life had been ruined, as the vile deer took leaps and bounds to turn each waking moment into another sexual nightmare.

There was very little that existed in Equestria that wouldn’t remind a mare of the year prior, where a trip to the store required you be hobbled and leashed, lead around in a mortifying display of humiliation by your master, while everyone, mare and stallion, traitor and slave, would gawked and stared at your misfortune. That was even if you were lucky, as the trip could easily turn into a public display of punishment for no reason, or a spontaneous gang bang if enough stallions wanted to have a turn with you. It was hard walking down any street in Equestria without some ghost of past events coming to mind, as every road, avenue, and alleyway had, at some point, been the location of an insidious rape orcustrated by the caribou.

“How you holding up?” asked Lyra, catching a few twitches in Trixie’s expression.

“Fine,” Trixie replied, “I can deal with this. It’s all just a reflex at this point.”

“If you need to take a break, just let me know.” Lyra said, having an easier time dealing with the excursion, the knowledge that these street use to be rampant with activities of rape barely a blip in her thoughts.

Trixie assumed it was Lyra’s nature that helped her get past the trauma, as she had always been one of the more extroverted members of the group, where-in Trixie had been the most extreme kind of introvert for the longest time. Memories often reminded Trixie that she used to be the complete opposite, seeking attention and admiration from any pony that crossed her path, but those days felt long passed.

Those memories of her pre-Fall life gave her a certain appreciation for Lyra’s personality, as while her fellow unicorn was absolutely more considerate than Trixie had once been, the outgoing aspect of her demeanor was nostalgic, and likewise comforting for that reason. As the two kept heading to their destination, Trixie realized she was glad Lyra came along, as she really didn’t need to. It might have been thinking too deeply on the matter, but Trixie started to believe that Lyra was her first real friend since being freed, not counting Starlight and Sunset, who were more mentors and caretakers for her. The blue mare didn’t inquire if this belief was true, though, as the belief in its validity was enough for her. A friendship formed in a silent agreement, Lyra’s secret about her friend in the hospital being the thing that established it.

The walk to the train station was overall uneventful, with the town being quiet. The streets were not devoid of ponies, but those there were just taking up space for the most part. This was not the fault of some nationwide state of fear, but caused by the lack of things to do in general. With stores and other such facilities still shut down, it was hard to find anything to do aside from sit around or help support some building’s wall. It looked like activities outside of helping with the restoration efforts had all but ceased entirely, and that left Equestria on the whole lifeless.

When the two unicorn mares got to the station, they were very relieved to discover that they had arrived a little early, so the zebra they were hoping to catch couldn’t have possibly left yet. All it took was a little waiting, and soon the train carrying Amale arrived. Trixie and Lyra made sure to be waiting at the platform when she got off, and once the striped mare stepped out, they called her name to get her attention.

The zebra, surprised to hear her name being yelled at her the second she stepped hoof on the platform, was even more surprised to see it was Trixie doing the calling.

“Well isn’t this sweet, it’s Trixie Lunamoon,” Amale said, approaching her patient, “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“I was hoping to save you some time today,” Trixie explained, though it might have been more honest had she said she wanted to get her potion as quickly as possible.

“I appreciate your consideration, but did it trouble you to come to the station?” the zebra rhymed, as she opened a pouch at her side.

“I’m getting better at going outdoors,” Trixie answered, “But it helps that I have supporting ponies like Lyra here to help me when I need it.”

Lyra gave Trixie a pleasant smile, happy to be of help, but not wanting to interrupt what was happening with words. She was certain that Trixie wanted to get what the zebra had for her as soon as possible, and starting up a conversation was likely to distract from the apothecary's task.

“Such a display of your bravery,” Amale complemented, “You recovered so quickly from your slavery. “

“You give me too much credit,” Trixie said, being more honest than modest, “A walk through town isn’t exactly hard, and I still have problems I have to deal with.”

“Problems, right, that’s why we meet,” Amale said, the reason why she was there in the first place being recalled, “I’ll fix them up, so let’s find a seat.”

“That’s not exac-” Trixie tried to correct the zebra, and explain she meant more psychological issues, but the striped mare was already making her way to a table set up for those waiting on their train arrival.

The blue mare let out a sigh, but remembered that this was the reason she had come. She really didn’t need to share her troubles with Amale, whose job wasn’t to be her psychiatric, but to deliver to her a medical potion. So Trixie, along with Lyra, joined with the zebra at her table.

It took but a second for Amale to find the potion intended for Trixie, and once handed over, the blue unicorn drank it without hesitation. The effect was predictable, as her breast deflated down just a bit more. Now they were looking very close to what they used to be, Trixie feeling very light as her caribou made double Ds were now somewhere between a C and a B. While she had always consider herself an extraordinary mare in her past, some might have said that her breasts back then were fairly average. While she really wouldn’t mind going a size smaller than she previously was, it was great to almost be back to her old B-cup, which she’d be happy to take.

“From your pleasant reaction, I can surmise,” Amale said, starting a new rhyme, “That your bust is almost back to normal size.”

“Yes,” Trixie confirmed, taking a moment to cup them to see how they matched up to her memory, “They are just a little big now, but you wouldn’t believe how this has helped take the pressure off my spine.”

“As a mare who hasn’t gone through what you endured, that I can’t relate is something I’m sure. It shames me that we zebra were safe in our lands, sitting in wait, beyond caribou hands.”

“Didn’t you have to abide by the caribou’s rules?” Lyra questioned, having heard that the zebra had been, to some degree, conquered as well.

“They did make a try to invade,” Amale explained, taking back her vial from Trixie, “But the heat of our lands had their plans unmade. The climate was fine on equestrian terra, but an arctic deer can’t survive the sahara.”

While no caribou during the time of Dainn’s reign would admit it, the dry, sweltering temperatures of the zebra lands was far too much for them to handle. They had workarounds for this problem in mind, such as wearing armor enchanted to keep them cool, but they couldn’t wear that with their standard anti-magic armor. To use it would have created a vulnerability that they couldn’t accept, so they ended up sending their converted pony guard to attack zebra cities, which was not as effective as the caribou had hoped.

“In the heat, we were able to hide, but we could tell the invaders would not be denied.” Amale continued her story, “So our leaders devised a terrible plan, but one that was needed if we were to stand. A few would surrender to caribou ways, noble sacrifices that kept them at bay. For so long as Dainn thought we followed his rule, he never questioned our motives, the arrogant fool.”

It was a little difficult for the mares to understand what Amale was trying to say, but they had heard the officially given explanation for the zebra’s involvement in the Fall. As far as it was known, the zebra had to give the caribou tribute in both slaves and gold, as well as forbid the females in their lands from holding any positon of leadership or wearing any clothing that concealed their feminine parts, in order to not meet the same fate as Equestria did. For whatever reason, they complied, and because of that there was a small amount of zebra women transferred to Equestria to serve as sex slaves along side the pony mares, who usually became the property of caribou and stallions of high status.

Dainn had clearly wanted this to become an annual offering to his kingdom, if not more frequent, but his untimely death at the hands of Big Macintosh brought that plan to an abrupt end. The way Amale was putting it, their obedience to Dainn’s demands was all a ruse, and they had no intention of following along with them for long. The zebra were working on a plan to get rid of the caribou themselves, which was made unnecessary by the caribou empire crumbling from within.

“But that is the past, and while plans didn’t come to fruition, we zebra knew we had a different mission.” Amale continued, “To remake Equestria as a beacon of hope. That is the vow that we each spoke.”

“How very noble,” Lyra said with absolute sincerity, “It’s nice having zebra like yourself working to get things back to normal.”

“So where are you going after this?” Trixie asked, as she wondered how much time she saved the zebra by coming.

“I have three mares to visit still,” Amale explained, “Each having similarly themed ills. One with incredibly heightened senses, and another who’s groin muscles randomly clenches. The last one so bad, they’re stuck in bed, but after all that, it’s to the town of red.

“Town of red?” Trixie asked, not having a clue what the zebra meant.

“She probably means ‘Red Town’,” Lyra answered, “It’s a city just on the outskirts of Equestria, up in the mountains, and its where they’ve detained lots of the red collars and traitor stallions awaiting trial.”

“You mean like a prison?” Trixie asked, never having heard of this place.

“Not quite a prison,” Lrya replied, “More a city with a fence around it where they keep reds and stallions they are pretty sure joined the caribou on their own, that haven’t been convicted of treason yet. The Committee of Ponies are giving each red a day in court to plead their case, but they need a place to stay until then.”

“But so many are clearly guilty,” Trixie declared, “Siding with the caribou to let the mares of Equestria be enslaved. The red collars don't even have an excuse for what they have done.”

“Some Reds say they never caused harm,” said Amale, “Merely succumbing to the caribou’s charm.”

“Right,” Lyra agreed, “Reds often give excuses like ‘I was only a sex slave, and never hurt other mares’, or ‘I only became a red cause I was afraid and didn’t want hurt’. Even more take up the ‘I was brainwashed’ defense that was used on the Alicorns, since it’s been proven to be a valid defense. I think most mares who spent the Fall as black collars, being raped and tortured by the caribou and the stallions they mind controlled, would agree that there was no excuse for becoming a red.”

“So they just live up there, unrestricted?” Trixie asked, curious, and a little upset, over what she was hearing.

“For the most part, yes,” answered Lyra, “They aren’t allowed to leave, the stallions and mares are kept in separate sections of the town, and guards are stationed there to enforce that, but they are given ample supplies to keep them comfortable, since none of the mares living there have been convicted of their crimes yet, and thus can’t be punished yet.”

“So what are you doing going to a place like that,” Trixie asked Amale, though she believed the answer she’d receive wouldn’t be a good one.

“I do what I do in any other village,” Amale explained, “And help ponies who lived through a deerish pillage. I know it sounds like a terrible notion, but I go there to deliver my vials of potions.”

“So you’re telling me that the reason my breasts aren’t the right size by now is because I’m sharing my cure with some traitors living up in the mountains?” Trixie asked, her anger starting to simmer at this news.

“If you’re asking me to confess, I can only say the answer is ‘yes’.” the zebra replied.

Trixie gritted her teeth and scowled at this news, as she couldn’t believe that the kingdom’s resources were being given to ponies who helped cause the kingdom’s problems in the first place. One’s who were probably happy with the bodies their former masters gave them, at least they must have at the time.

“Red Town is unfortunately something we have to have,” Lyra went on to say, “Not only to treat the ponies who could be considered innocent fairly as they wait for trial, but because Tartarus has been nearly filled with caribou and actual traitor stallions already. We really don’t have anywhere to put all the possible traitors, which has led some ponies to believe that the trials exist to filter out those whose offenses were the least egregious, and release them to save room for the big offenders.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Trixie said, though she didn’t like the necessity of such a system, if it were true. After what she had seen during her time enslaved, any traitor should have some form of punishment given to them.

“If it’s any consolation, the use of the village was your leader’s recommendation.” said Amale.

“Sunset Shimmer came up with the idea?” Trixie said, confused that Sunset would approve of something to help reds.

“Yeah, back when she was part of the Committee.” Lyra confirmed, “She and Starlight used the city as a base of operations for their rebel activities, as it was so deep in the mountains and far away from the rest of Equestria that no one even knew the town existed.”

“That’s amazing.” Trixie said, thinking back to her own hideout, “I wish I would have known about it when everything went down. Might not have been captured then…”

“There is no point dwelling on the past,” Amale said, taking note of a sudden mood shift Trixie was showing, “Those days are gone, that die is cast.”

“I know, but there was…” Trixie hesitated, wanting to say something, but changing her mind at the last second, “There were some things back then that I wish I could have done differently.”

“That’s understandable,” Lyra said, believing she knew why the other unicorn would have wanted to be with Sunset’s rebels, “We all wish we could have done more to stop the caribou. Unfortunately, if they were good at anything, it was making sure we were under lock and key.”

“Right…” Trixie replied, slipping a bit into her own head, as there were other reasons she wished she knew about the hidden village.

Amale departed from the train station shortly after the three mare’s conversation, still having to make her rounds before the train to Red Town arrived, with their small discussion pretty much eating up any time Trixie had saved her by coming early, not that the zebra minded.

Now that the trip has been completed though, there really wasn’t much more to do for Trixie except return to her room at the group building. Once she got there, she would spend the day practicing her levitation magic as she had been, and otherwise do nothing else. That was fine for Trixie, who had no other ambitions, but it wasn’t acceptable for the pony who had accompanied her.

“Hey Trixie,” said Lyra, “Do you mind coming with me for a while?”

Trixie, already heading off in the direction of the group building, paused when she heard the request. “Me? What for?”

“Oh, I just have a few errands to run, and I could use another set of arms.” Lyra said, coming up with something on the fly.

“Why did you come with me if you had things to do?” Trixie asked, wondering why anyone would put off something important for her.

“Well, you know,” Lyra said, a slight embarrassment leaking out in her words as she realized she really didn’t have an answer for that, “I… uh… thought it was a nice day, and it would be nice to share it with you. Besides, it wasn’t like I had to get them done as soon as possible. Just that I got them done some time today.”

Lyra ended her improvised explanation with a small, nervous laugh, which had Trixie very suspicious of her motives. After thinking it over though, the blue unicorn had no reason not to go with Lyra, since she could practice her magic at any time. “Ummm… sure,” she said, accepting Lyra’s invitation, “You did help me first, so I can spare some time with you.”

“Excellent!” Lyra said, wrapping an arm around the back of Trixie’s neck, “But first, let’s go grab us a quick lunch. I’m starving.”

Trixie could hardly object as Lyra started guiding the way, keeping her arm where it was as she turned her fellow unicorn down a road, and started walking. Lyra, again, was a more extroverted member of the group, so Trixie just accepted that this was her way of taking someone to a location.

Before long, Trixie found herself lined up a good distance from a set up food stand, manned by volunteers who passed out meals to anyone who wanted one. Unlike the rest of town, this was the one place that ponies were occupying in mass, as it was the only way that some could get any meals at all. The stand would start passing out breakfasts shortly after the sunrise, hand out lunches near noon, and dinners before it became dark. This was usually done without break, as so many ponies would take advantage of this that there was hardly a quiet moment between the meals.

It was a necessary function, since most ponies either hadn’t returned to working for personal reasons, or had no means to return to work because the Committee was still figuring things out like resource redistribution, and even if ponies had money, there were few places to spend it. Until those two issues were sorted with, the Committee used the reclaimed farmlands of Equestria, along with some quick growth potions provided by the zebra, in order to make sure everypony was at least fed.

“So, how has Bon Bon been doing?” Trixie asked, trying to find something to pass the time as they waited, and that being the only thing the two unicorns had in common.

“She’s been doing well,” Lyra said, happy to talk on the topic, “She might even be getting out soon. Like next week even.”

“Well that’s good,” said Trixie, glad that Bon Bon had seemingly made a full recovery from her prior purpled state. “Is it going to be ok for her to leave the hospital though? Will you two be able to stay in the same place?”

“Oh yeah, we’re fine.” Lyra said, “We both live in Ponyville still, and when the caribou took over, they didn’t burn down either of our homes. They did take everything we owned, though, so we’re thinking about moving in with one another, and giving the other house to another mare.”

Just as she said that, a thought came to the light green mare that she hadn’t considered prior.

“Why don’t you move into our empty house?” she said with full sincerity, “We were going to wait until Bon Bon left the hospital before we let ponies know it was open, so we don’t have anypony inquiring about it yet.”

“I… don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Trixie replied, as both she and Lyra took a few steps forward to move along with the line, “You said it’s in Ponyville, and I bet the ponies will still be mad about that one time I took over the town. Carrot Top sure was.”

“It will be fine,” Lyra assured, “I’ll just talk to everypony ahead of time, and let them know that you’ve changed since the last time they saw you. Ponies in Ponyville are actually pretty forgiving.”

“I’m still not really sure,” Trixie said, “I’ve got a place to stay already. Sunset Shimmer has pretty much told me I can be there as long as I want.”

“But Star Bright lives there too now,” Lyra reminded Trixie, “And you said you’re not really comfortable around him.”

“I meant not enough to want to spend the day with him,” Trixie said, looking to reason a way out of a move, “He’s ok if I don’t have to be around him a lot.”

“Just consider it,” Lyra said, making it to the front of the line, taking a meal of hamburgers and french fries, with a piece of apple pie for dessert, from the pony handing them out in paper bags, “You’ll have your own place, you won’t have to worry about anypony but yourself, and if you want Bon Bon and I can come and visit you.”

Trixie took the food offered to her, and followed after Lyra, “That does sound nice, but I wouldn’t have any way to pay rent or anything.”

“Trixie, we’re friends,” Lyra said, “And I wouldn’t charge you a bit you didn’t have. We can wait until Equestria settles and things get back to normal before we start talking about something as irrelevant as ‘rent’.”

Trixie had to admit, Lyra was selling this idea very well. The only concern was that she’d be putting a burden on the other two mares, as they didn’t have the same kind of funding that Sunset and her group had.

“I’ll give it some thought,” Trixie relented, “Like you said, you don’t have anypony applying for it, so I have some time to come to a decision.”

“Then I’ll just put you on the top of the list,” Lyra replied, “That way we can get you in as soon as you want it.”

“You’re acting like it’s already decided.” said Trixie, as she took a bite of her sandwich.

“I’d just really like for you to be my neighbor, is all,” Lyra said, slipping some fries in her mouth, “You’re really pretty cool when you’re not worrying about things. At least you’re not angry all the time like Carrot Top is.”

“Oh that’s right,” said Trixie, after gulping down the bit of food in their mouth, “Carrot Top lives in Ponyville too, doesn’t she.”

“Not really,” Lyra replied, “They own some farmland there, but she has pretty much left it empty. Carrot has brought it up in a meeting before, too many bad memories caused by what the caribou did to the place. She’s only been there recently to have more and more of their equipment removed from her property.”

Now that Trixie was reminded of it, she did recall vaguely that Carrot Top had said something like that. She just didn’t think that someone with an actual place that they own, especially something as grand like a farm, would want to stay away from it.

“But enough about Carrot,” Lyra said, taking a bite of her burger, “How about we find a place to eat this stuff in peace?”

“Shouldn’t we head to where your errands are?” Trixie asked.

“Those can wait,” Lyra said as she grinned, with her cheek stuffed with the food she was chewing, “I know, why don’t we go to the park?”

“This town has a park?” Trixie didn’t get out a lot, so she still didn’t know of all the landmarks in the area.

“Yeah, it’s not far from here. Let’s go!”

With that said, Lyra jogged off ahead, with Trixie left behind to follow. The blue unicorn took a moment to shake her head in disbelief, and chomp down on her sandwich one more time. She might have developed slightly anti-social tendencies, but she wasn’t so oblivious that she couldn’t see what was going on. As troublesome as it would be, Trixie made the choice to follow the other unicorn, and spend a day outside of the safety of her room.

The two mares made their way to the park, and much like the rural parts of the city, this area was very sparse of all life, save for the small critters that had taken up residence in it. That made it really easy for the two mares to find a nice bench to sit at, and take their time finishing what food they had left.

The two sat next to each other in silence, taking bite after bite, and taking in the scenery.

“You know, they really did make this place look nice,” said Lyra, being the first one to break the silence, “It looks like a normal park. Trimmed grass, no garbage anywhere, all the equipment has been cleaned.”

Trixie sighed, and swallowed what she had in her mouth, “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Trixie had never been here during the Fall, but those under the caribou’s control had a habit of leaving messes wherever they went, mostly in the form of cum puddles, condoms, and discarded containers of lubricant and stimulants. Most of Equestria looked trashed at most times, with some areas being reduced to literal dumps. The only times things got cleaned was when mares were made to do it, and usually in some degrading way like having to move everything with their mouths, or clean up the jism piles by drinking them. If there were any dildos left behind, the mare was expected to shove it into a hole. If there were more than a few, that wasn’t the problem of the male overseeing the cleanup.

“What’s wrong, Trixie?” Lyra asked, “It’s a beautiful day, and things are nice and quiet. Aren’t you glad to be out of that stuffy room for a while?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Trixie said as she touched her forehead with the tips of her fingers, using her palm to block Lyra from her sight, “I’m really glad you came along today, and that you want to spend time with me…”

“But?” Lyra asked, knowing one was coming.

“But it’s really hard to be outside and not think of all the terrible things that must have taken place here.” Trixie looked around the park, and could just picture what the caribou must have set up in it.

It probably had signs up that instructed that all mares be leashed and on all fours at all times, accompanied by stockades that were set up to allow any passing stallion to make use of them while they were held in place. If the park bench they were sitting on had gone unmoved since that time, then it undoubtedly had a large phallus stationed next to it for a mare to kneel down on, embedding it so deep into their nethers that the head would touch their cervix. If the park had a playground, it was absolutely modified to have each piece of equipment be some sort of sexual torture device, like having a tetter-totters that instead of seats were wooden wedges that two poor mares would be bound to as males forced them up and down so hard the ends would make their prisoners bounce, or a tether pole that with cuffed grafted at its center, in which a mare would be placed, so the cord holding the ball could be clipped to her nipples, pulling them painfully in all directions as said ball was knocked around in all directions, for the sadistic enjoyment of those who had shackled her to the metal rod.

“Do you really think we’ll ever be able to get back to the way things were before?” Trixie asked, feeling very dejected all of a sudden. “We’ve all been through so much, that I really don’t know how anypony can look past it.”

“I don’t see why not,” Lyra answered, not taking a split second to show her optimism, “Do you have any idea how many times Ponyville was destroyed by some plague of bugs, or natural disaster? Even before you came around, it felt like it was happening every other week, but we always rebuilt things and bounced right back. Sure, the caribou made it a bit more personal, but there’s no reason to let what they did hold you down.”

Trixie wanted to have the same hopeful disposition as Lyra about that, but it really wasn’t easy for her. Lyra, being an mare of little notoriety, had most likely been handed to some random stallion, who would have raped her frequently, humiliated her daily, and perhaps added in the occasional session of sexually based physical abuse. That didn’t compare to the amount of torment Trixie had received though, being one of the caribou’s favorite ponies to punish, for what she had done while avoiding capture.

Lyra never felt what it was like to be trapped in the caribou controlled Canterlot dungeons, a place in the palace reserved for rebels and untamed alicorn princesses, left in the cruel hands of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Day in and out, being dragged out of a cramped cage she had spent the cold night in, after getting next to no sleep in those conditions, to be taken to a room where she’d endure the attentions of any guards assigned to her, who would beat, berate, and brutally fucked her with no restraint. Her body was near constantly covered in lash marks and bruises, and her pussy, ass, and mouth always ached from use.

If she ever passed out, they would use stimulants to force the unicorn back awake. If she cried, and she did a lot, the guards would laugh at her misery, if they didn’t smack her across the face to get her to stop. If she so much as said no, they go at her doubly hard, while making it clear that she had earned every punishment they did to her. On a rare occasion would Trixie be taken from the castle, shipped off to some other location, she’d be forced to participate in an arranged event where she would spend the day appeasing any stallion who approached her, with her body and misery. Once that was over, she’d be sent right back to the dungeons, never truly getting a moments’ peace, as her will was all but broken, up until the day the caribou were stopped.

The stress of that situation, caused by constant fear, violation, and exhaustion, was too much for any pony to have to go through, let alone a mare like Trixie, who was a mere stage performer before the Fall. In many ways, the mark they left on her psyche was something she might never get over, as phantom pains of shock prods still frequented her, and the visions of dicks forcing their way into her body still haunted her dreams. Lyra could never understand the intensity of her misery, nor could any other mare, for as far as she knew, those others who could ended up purpled or blanked.

“How about we go back,” Lyra said, sensing a drastic change in the mood, “But before we go, just let me throw away my trash and use the restroom.”

“Ok,” Trixie said, feeling too dejected to disagree with what Lyra wanted to do before they left, “I’ll be right here.”

“It will only take a few minutes,” Lyra promised, running over to a small building not too far from the bench, which had to be the bathroom she was talking about.

The moment Lyra was out of sight, Trixie inhaled and exhaled deeply. The caribou, despite being defeated, imprisoned, and rendered not a threat, were still getting to her. It was as if a part of the unicorn still believed she was still their slave, and that no matter how beaten they were, she was still held firmly in the chains she thought were removed so long ago now. Her hand lifted up to touch her neck, as if to check to make sure there wasn’t a collar around it, only to feel the touch of fabric around it instead.

The black neckerchief, the symbol of Mares for a Better Equestria, worn by all its members. She had been putting it on by routine lately, and often forgot she was wearing it. That was something that told her she really was away from the nightmare of the caribou, as the black collars were so restrictive and painful to wear that they never let you forget they were there.

Trixie, realizing this simple, comforting truth, put that hand on her forehead, her horn slipping through her fingers, and leaned her head back. “You have to let it go,” She said quietly to herself, “It’s done. They are all gone. You’re never going to be in that position ever again. The caribou can’t hurt you. The stallions won’t rape you. You need to live your life.”

Trixie sat there for a while, consoling herself as she waited for Lyra’s return. She knew that for as much as she couldn’t get past the hurtle the caribou represented, getting over what they did was the only way that she would ever be able to be ‘normal’ again. As impossible as it might seem, she had to push past it. Perhaps not that day, or the next, but sometime soon. She had to stop living in the shadow of what they did, if she was ever to be truly ‘free’.

More time passed, and by the time Trixie finished her own bag of food, she started to wonder what was holding Lyra up. No matter what she was doing, it couldn’t possibly take this long. Getting up from the bench, Trixie made her way over to the restrooms, placing her hand on the door to open it slightly. She was about to call in to see if Lyra was having any trouble, but before she could, she heard somepony else speak.

“Hold still you little...” The voice said in a hushed tone. Another word was said after, but it was too soft for Trixie to hear.

As quiet as it was, Trixie could tell it was a male’s voice, which had her looking at the sign on the door she was pushing open, just to see that it was indeed the mare’s restroom. For a second she thought it might have just been that there was a vent connecting the two restrooms, and she was hearing somepony on the other side, but then more noises came to her ears.

“HMP! MMM! MMMMMMMPPH!”

The sounds were muffled, but Trixie could tell that they were coming from the mare’s side, and they sounded like moans coming from someone who was trying to keep their mouth shut… or was unable to open in.

Without thinking, Trixie opened the door wider, stepping inside, which allowed her to hear more sounds. That of huffing, as someone rapidly took short breaths, accompanied by the wet sounds of two things slapping into one another. Trixie’s heart immediately started racing, as these sounds, while much quieter than she was used to, were ones that any pony in Equestria would recognize by now. It was the sounds of sex.

Her eyes darted around the restroom, seeing that there were several sinks, and several stalls, which she could only get partial look of the doors of each from her angle. All except the last stall, which was left open.

Trixie moved over to get a better look, the sounds she was hearing clearly coming from that last stall, as her heart beat so fast that she could feel the rhythm in her throat. The small, unobstructed grunts, the long, muffled moans, and those wet sounds brought back all the memories of the Fall. She didn’t know why, but instead of running for help, she kept going forward, drawn in by the sounds, and hoping she was mistaken about what was causing them.

She got past the second stall of four, and then she saw the first bit of movement aside from her own, as the flicking of a pony tail slipped out from beyond the doorway. It disappeared back inside, only to come right out again, and continued this pattern again and again, making a quick back and forth motion that only confirmed what Trixie was fearing further. She was finding it difficult to stay quiet, as her whole body trembled, causing her breathing to stutter.

Luckily, the blue mare was still being quieter than the ones in the final stall, and so she was able to sneak right up to the door. Unluckily, when she peeked inside, what she saw was exactly what she had expected, and worse. There was a stallion in the stall, a mask over his head, pants down to his ankles, trusting his hips back and forth, his arms reaching out in front of him, trying his best to hold Lyra into place, her dress shirt pulled up to expose her breasts, while her frilled shorts were removed completely, discarded to the ground.

The mint green unicorn had been restrained, her arms connected together by a looped belt behind tank of the stall’s toilet, as the upper part of her back laid across the seat, her hooves tied to a set of arm bars on either wall of the stall meant to help the pony using the stall to get up once finished, but now were severing the purpose of holding Lyra’s legs spread apart.

The stallion was already inside her, penetrating her unguarded pussy with is cock, pushing it in and pulling it out in a hastened pace, the fluids from within her covering the sex organ in a slick film, as the excess flowed from the lower lips onto her suspended flank.

“I said hold still, bitch!” the rapist stallion yelled in whisper, smacking Lyra across the face.

The yelp she made in response to it stifled by a strap harness latched onto her head, which wrapped around her muzzle and kept it clamped tight. From the sound of it, there was something inside her mouth helping to obstruct her cries, and while her shorts were clumped up on the floor, her panties were nowhere to be seen in or around them.

The stallion then, without stopping his thrusts for a moment, gripped Lyra’s muzzle firmly in the same hand, to force her face forward, and tilt it down. That’s when his other hand came into view, as well as an object he was holding within it.

In the stallion’s hand was a set of garden shears, or at least something of the same nature, big enough that it looked like it could cut an iron pipe in half. With Lyra held firm, despite her struggles, he put the tool up to her forehead, around the base of her horn.

“Sluts like you don’t need horns, or magic.” he said, stating his intent as he started to squeeze the shears slowly.

Lyra screamed, eyes clenched, tears pouring out them from their corners, as the blades started to bite into her horn, understanding that her rapist intended to strip her of her it as the caribou had done once before, and that she could do nothing to stop him, as a unique pain she felt long ago was being inflicted upon her once again.

Trixie was frozen at the sight of all this, at a loss of any words as this all took place right before her eyes. She had never expected something like this to happen in Equestria ever again. Her mind tried to grasp for the reason this could be taking place at all. Had a traitor slipped through the legal system, and was now raping mares in secret? That was the immediate thought she had, but then for some reason, her thoughts recalled something Sunset Shimmer had said.

Something about how Equestria was operated before the Fall instilled this in a large majority of the stallions who live here. Something seeded in their hearts, put there by our established social norms, that grew out till they believed in what the caribou did before the caribou even arrived.

Could it be… that this was a stallion that was giving into some temptation buried deep in his heart? Enacting some dark fantasy that, through the caribou, he was able to fulfill, and now wanted more.

The horror of that possibility, along with everything else, forced a gasp from Trixie’s throat, one loud enough that the stallion could hear it. His head quickly turned in her direction, an anger in his eyes, the interruption both unexpected and unpleasant for one trying to keep his activities a secret.

“Another fucking whore.” the rapist said as he placed his shears in a pocket at the front of his shirt, his voice now at a medium volume, there being no reason to keep quiet now that he was discovered. He turned to face Trixie, stepping out of the legs of his dropped pants, his cock flopping out of Lyra’s pussy, and flicking a spattering of her juices into the air as the erection pointed right at the unbound mare. “Like to watch, huh? Well sorry, but if you want to see the show, you got to pay admission.”

There was only one thing that could possibly be, and Trixie wasn’t about to let herself be at the mercy of a male again. As cowardly as it was, she followed her first instinct, and made a break for the door. All she could think about was getting away, possibly getting help, even if she had to leave Lyra with the stallion. While it was possible he’d flee the moment she got away, that wasn’t exactly the thing the blue unicorn was thinking of, as her own self preservation was, shamefully, top priority.

Trixie reached the door, but as she tried to pull it slightly open, the stallion’s hand slammed down on it, holding it closed. Right after, the other hand of the stallion gripped her mane, using it as leverage to tilt her backwards, forcing the back of her head to the tip of his nose, so he could take a deep sniff of her scent through the hair he now had a firm grip of.

“You smell nice,” he said, “But you’ll smell even better after I fuck your brains out.”

With Trixie now in his grasp, the attacker took his hand off the door, placed it around her muzzle to prevent her from screaming, and pulled her back into the room, with nothing but ill intent on his mind.

So... been a while since I did something for this story. I know I said in the comments that I was gonna get back to this at the start of the year, and while I could give excuses, I'm just going to say that it's my fault I slipped up that time frame, and I'm sorry for doing so.

On an upside, I will not be focusing on this story full time, until completion, with maybe a break here or there, but never more than one chapter in another story. This will allow for this story to finally reach a conclusion, and mark one story off my "to do" list.

So this is roughly the halfway point of the story, and because of that, and the time between last chapters, I decided it would be best to do some recap in some places, and some detailing for information on things to come. From here on out things are about to hit the fan, as implied in the last chapter, and I would highly recommend that if you aren't familiar with the details of the story because of the delay, that you re-read it, or have the text to speech function this site provides read it too you. I've done it myself recently, and it doesn't take that long to binge, but if you don't think you need it, I'll probably bring up any important details from past chapters as they come anyways.

Aside form that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and have a nice day.

The stallion got Trixie away from the door, dealing with the attempts she made to struggle out of his grasp by keeping his grip on her muzzle and mane tight, so he could use her head to guide her back into the room.

“You and I are going to have some fun together,” he said with a snicker, taunting the mare, as she fruitlessly fought against him.

Trixie was panicked, flailing around as much as she could, but without avail. Her attacker was an earth pony, who’s physical strength could not be rivaled by a mere unicorn. By seizing control of her head, the stallion effectively gained the leverage he needed to direct her body any which way he wanted. The only thing she could try to do in order to prevent him from pulling her away from the door was to buckle her knees and drop to the floor, but she was far too used to the experience of being dragged across a room by her mane to think that would actually stop him.

Once the masked stallion got the blue mare halfway into the bathroom, spinning their bodies around so that he was the one closer to the exit, he felt he had enough control of the situation to let go of the mare’s mane so he could put that hand to better use.

“Don’t move,” he said, sliding it down to his captive’s throat, grasping it by the front, to give it a tight squeeze that cut off Trixie’s breath, “Or I’ll make you regret it, got it?”

Feeling as if she had no other choice, Trixie returned a nod to the stallion, putting her arms to her sides, while staying as still as possible so not to give the stallion a reason to hurt her, though also realizing that stallions never needed a reason to do so in the past.

“That’s a good bitch,” he said, releasing his hold so Trixie could breathe, gradually moving that hand down her neckline, keeping the tips of his fingers on her fur, passing over the cloth tied around it, “You cunts sure miss your collars, don’t you? The other one had one of these on too. It’s like you’re begging to get put back in your place.”

Trixie remained silent, as while her attacker was incorrect what the neck scarfs stood for, she had no reason to risk his retaliation by denying his belief.

“Or maybe you think it looks cute.” he added, moving his fingers past it, “If that’s the case, then I think you’d look really cute with your lips wrapped around my dick.”

The hand continued downwards, touching the mare's collarbone, tracing its path from left to right, until finally drifting down to the neckline of Trixie’s skirted dress. It casually slipped underneath the clothing, ignoring what should have been a divider for the unicorn’s body from the outside world. Gleefully, the stallion fondled what was discovered underneath, as lumps of chest meats found their way into his palm.

“You’re way too overdressed for going outside,” the stallion said, feeling a bra covering Trixie’s breasts.

Finding the undergarments distasteful, he pulled them up above the breasts they covered so he could get better access, causing Trixie to yelp from how forcefully he had done so. Though she was still fully clothed, she felt extremely exposed at the moment, that she might as well have been naked. It got all the worse when she felt the hand touch against her now bare breasts, gripping, squeezing, rubbing, and pinching. Touching tender spots she didn’t want touched, and sending feelings of sexual stimulation through her that caused so much discomfort that she could no longer keep completely still, as her voice was drawn from her throat into her forced shut mouth.

“Not bad,” commented the stallion, ignoring the quivers and moans of his victim, as he knew she couldn’t control herself from feeling something from his touch, “Round, perky, with some soft, pinch-able nipples.” With those words, the stallion pushed two of his fingernails harshly into one of those nipples, which in turn got him a squeal from the mare as she received the first bit of pain he would cause her. “But they’re a bit small. Bigger titties are nicer to play with, and make you feel better when a male plays with them. Think of what it would be like if they were twice the size, and some guy did this.”

The stallion placed his palm over top one of Trixie’s areola, and clamped his fingers down hard enough that they made indents in her flesh, before moving his hand around in a circular rotation. He was foregoing any form of gentleness, being rough for roughness sake, twisting the mammary around in a way that Trixie couldn’t fathom the stallion seeing as pleasurable for her. If he really thought he was making her feel good through this aggressive handling of her boob, then he might have let go of her mouth by now, but that he persisted to keep her muzzle shut only told Trixie that he knew what he was doing, and was just displaying the sadism that was so openly encouraged during the Fall.

As he got into the act of groping the unicorn, her shirt was being haphazardly jostled about, by both his actions and Trixie’s own uncontrollable movements. This caused the pocket it had to bounce around, and as a consequence of that, a small object fell out of it, and hit the floor. The stallion, being so engrossed in the molestation of the mare, did not hear the sound of something solid hit the tile floor of the bathroom. When it came to Trixie though, she felt her pocket lose the weight it, and when combined with the sound of the object hitting the floor, it reminded her that all this time she had been carrying a switchblade on her person.

Her eyes drifted to the floor, tuning out for a second the pain being caused by her attacker’s manhandling, and with a cursory scan of the room, she spotted the weapon. It had landed over by the stalls, still closed up, but certainly out of her reach. At least it was out of the reach of her hands… but not for her horn.

Amidst a lull in the unicorn mare’s molestation, as the earth stallion’s hand was retrieved from within her shirt, having apparently gotten his fill of the unicorn’s breasts for a moment, a thought flashed into Trixie’s consciousness. She had been practicing her levitation magic on items the size of that knife for a while, and while she had so far failed to get it more than an inch off of a surface, she had been progressing. She also recalled that in a similar moment of stress, she was able to fire a magic beam capable of knocking out a Canterlot guard.

Recalling back to what Sunset Shimmer said in the self defense courses, she and Starlight were well versed in using their levitation magic in combat, and seeing that Trixie had been a levitation prodigy prior to the Fall, there was no reason she couldn’t do the same, so long as she could get her spell to work. She focused her magic on the blade, her horn lighting up, and her magical aura appearing on the object not too far away. The knife shuddered rapidly, as items always did when she put everything she had into levitating them, but doing little more than getting a millimeter off the ground before the mare was interrupted.

The hand on her muzzle was released, and shot up to strike the horn, causing the magic Trixie was trying to cast to cease. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” The stallion yelled into her ear, startling the mare. He then took the front part of her mane in hand, as well as one of her arms with the other, pulling her back into him so that the unicorn’s back pressed into his front. “Can’t I get through a bit of foreplay before I chop that horn off your head?!”

Trixie was terrified, feeling the earth stallion’s dick, still erect and wet with the fluids from Lyra’s vaginal passage, press into her butt through her skirt. The image of him trying to clip off Lyra’s horn with a set of shears earlier flashed into her vision, reminding the unicorn that the threat he was giving was very much real. He still had the shears on him, and could probably whip them out at any moment to do the deed if he wanted. The way he spoke, he was implying that he was going to remove her horn no matter what, but the question was at what point he would get around to it. Trixie was going to need her horn if she was going to have any chance to get out of this, so she needed to figure out some way to stay his hand.

“C-c-cumming!” she yelped, blurting out the first thing that came to mind that might keep her from being given a worse punishment, a defense she had relied on often when the guard used to have their way with her, “I was about to cum!”

“Shut up!” the stallion yelled in reaction to the mare merely talking, but when he took a moment to process what she had said, he smiled and eased up his grip ever so slightly, “So that’s it… You were enjoying yourself a little, huh? Having yourself a horngasm?”

Trixie, not wanting to anger the stallion by speaking after she was told to shut up, gave a pathetic nod. Though it disgusted her to do so, as the idea that his actions were arousing her couldn’t be further from the truth, giving a false admission to such a thing was all she could think of to stay his hand.

“Well of course you were,” he said, taking a perverse pride in how he could force pleasure onto a mare who had started out struggling against him, “You fuck sluts talk a big game, but a slut is still a slut in the end. Since you’re being honest with yourself though, I’ll give you the reward of one last horngasm before we lop that thing off for good.”

Trixie, glad to avoid an immediate de-horning, found herself briefly relieved, before she felt her skirt lifted up, and a set of fingers slip into the front of her panties. “AH!” she yelped in surprise, the fingers already pressing into her slit, rubbing its lips up and down, sending gross sensations into her crotch.

“Let’s play a little game, and see how long you can keep your horn while I’m using you,” the stallion said, pressing his thumb down on the little flesh nub located at the top of the mare’s sex hole.

As much as she, or any mare who had suffered through the Fall for that matter, might have loathed this sort of treatment, it would have been lying to say that it did nothing to her. One couldn’t deny the feelings, nor the reactions of their body, and since she hadn’t been touched for so long, her sensitive bits were very reactive to the treatment of this male. She felt all the sensations one would expect when having the soft skin of their sex played with, and though it filled her with revulsion instead of elation, her body couldn’t help but secrete fluids of arousal from inside the passage of her most personal space.

Trixie felt gross for the way her body was acting to the touch of this male, but she had to ignore it. At this point, it was merely a distraction, and one she’d have to overcome. She was at least thankful that it aided her alibi for when her horn glowed, as the stallion appeared to not know that a horngasm didn’t look the same as casting a spell.

Ok Trixie, she thought to herself, You got a free pass to cast magic. Now what are you going to do with it?

The unicorn focused herself on the knife, knowing that this was the last attempt she’d get, and she had still not relearned how to levitate after all this time.

What was it that Sunset tried to tell me before? Trixie remembered the yellow unicorn giving her a suggestion in the past, but she was too set on working out her magical problems her way. I think she said… I was putting too much magic into my spell. That can’t really be the issue, can it?

Not seeing any other options in her current situation, with the stallion making good progress in rubbing an orgasm out of her pussy, she decided it was time to listen to somepony else’s advice, and hold back a bit. It was the only approach Trixie hadn’t attempted yet, so instead of just trying to force things to work the way she thought they should, she would start from the beginning, and work herself up.

Trixie begun by putting what she thought was the bare minimum of her magic into the spell, lightly projecting it on the switchblade, tuning out what was happening to her as much as she could , in order to focus only on her task. To her own amazement, this gentle use of magic, while not enough to lift the blade any higher than she had already gotten it, or any other object she had been practicing on, had given similar results to the times she tried going full force. She wouldn’t have expected it to lift from the floor at all if the magic was too weak, and so it encouraged her to try putting just a little more magic into the spell, and after a few seconds of experimentation while being molested, the knife floated up a good half foot off the floor.

Trixie’s eyes went wide, as she could immediately recognize the correct balance of magic she needed to use levitation properly. The feeling of being able to control an object through the use of magic was far too familiar for her to not know it when she did it right, and now it was as if she’d regained the use of a hand after recovering from an injury. To test the magic further, she made the knife move up more, then down, then left, then right, discovering that a good portion of her aptitude had come back just by leveling out her magic appropriately. It wasn’t perfect, there was still a bit of a stuttering in the motion, assumedly caused by the circumstances Trixie was currently undergoing, but for the most part it all came back to her. She was a prodigy of levitation, after all.

“Pretty good so far,” the rapist stallion said, remarking on how Trixie had been able to hold for so long, not knowing that her attention was elsewhere, “But I know what can send even the most resilient bitch over the edge.”

The earth stallion wrenched Trixie’s body around so she faced the bathroom sinks, before pushing her upper body forward to bend over one of the fixtures. He then proceeded to hike up the back of her skirt, exposing the flank hidden underneath, before then grabbing her panties, pulling them down to her knees.

“What you need is a good dicking,” he said, taking his shaft in hand, tapping it a few times against now uncovered ass, landing it squarely between her cheeks so that his head hit her hole each time, “Ready to trade that useless horn for a cheap climax?”

As the stallion positioned himself behind her, Trixie was caught in between an emotion of stress and relief, as contradictory as that seemed. She was well aware that the stallion was about to push his dick into her ass, and fuck her against her will, but despite the way he had shoved her body around, she had managed to maintain her magical grip on the knife. Had she broken off the spell, odds were she wouldn’t have found the object again. So long as the spell was active though, she could feel the distance it was away from her, as well as what position it was in.

Focused on the knife, and not the large sex organ being positioned for penetration, the mare lifted it off the ground, up to where she believed the stallion’s back was. Then, turned the weapon so the blade, once released from the handle, would be pointed at the target. She took deep breaths, the excitement of the moment weighing down on her, from both the impending rape she could be forced to endure, as well as the awareness that she was about to stab somepony in order to stop it. The whole thing made her spell waver ever so slightly, as deep down inside, she didn’t want it to come down to hurting another pony, even after all that had been done to her.

“Sounds like you’re ready for the main event,” the stallion said, picking up on the change in the pattern of the unicorn’s breath, “Then let’s get down to it.”

The stallion slapped his hands down on the unicorn’s flank, gripping as harshly as he had her breast earlier, as he pressed the tip of his flared dick at the target of his lust. The only thing he could concentrate on was how he was about to take this mare like he had done the other. He didn’t even care if she felt good throughout all this, though in many ways the assumption that she would was a foregone conclusion. In his mind, all females of any species wanted to be treated this way by a male, and males were rewarded for doing so by the pleasure they got from the act. It was an ever present thought in the mind of this stallion, that validated the despicable acts he was committing.

Seeing no further reason to delay, the stallion started to push against the hole, and Trixie, seeing that she had no more time left to contemplate the moral aspects of harming another pony, came to the understanding that it was do or die time. With her fear of being raped yet again overriding her desire to not cause harm, she shot the knife forward, while using her levitation aura to press down on the handle’s button, and release the blade.

“Almost… in… you…” The stallion said slowly, the force behind his hips about to push his cock through the barrier Trixie’s clenching ass made. He could feel the flesh ring parting, and his dick entering the tunnel it was protecting. A little more, and he would have achieved his goal, but just before pushing through, a painful sensation struck him in the lower back part of his shoulder, as something sharp plunged into nothing but meat. “FUCKING CUNT!”

The stallion twisted around, turning completely away from Trixie, expecting to see the other unicorn he had bound in the stall, even though he had believed he had tied her down good enough to prevent her escaping. While he was correct about the latter, he was dumbfounded when he didn’t see anyone there. Confused, he took a moment to reach around his back, feeling for the thing that was causing him so much pain, but as he felt his fingers touch a handle, he felt someone else’s fingers grip his hair from behind.

Trixie, now having stabbed the rapist, had gone on the attack herself, screaming in a mix of hysterics, anger, and fear for what might happen if the stallion recovered, as she did something she never expected herself to do. With hands clasping to the stallion’s scalp, she tried to use his tactics against him, pulling him off balance by using his mane as a handle.

The unicorn could have tried to run, but she knew that wasn’t an option. If she couldn’t make it to the door the first time, then she wasn’t going to make it now that her body had been so brutishly handled, or with her panties down far enough that they had become an effective hobble. The only chance to get out of this now was to commit, and try to bring down the attacker while he was in a state of shock, and for a unicorn mare to do that against an earth pony stallion, she needed some leverage.

With her hands dug deep into his mane, she pulled down with the entirety of her weight, causing the rapist stallion to bend backwards a bit. Seeing that she had gained some substantial leverage, Trixie did a small hop before curling up into a sitting position midair, to give her just a bit of momentum for what she was trying to do. Her frantic, and admittedly improvised, attempt succeeded, and with the stallion so disoriented, he lost his balance completely, falling backwards as the mare fell straight down, putting her on the bathroom floor as the back of his skull impacted with the porcelain sink he had intended to fuck Trixie over.

The blow made the stallion go unconscious on contact, and with no control over his body, he simply fell the rest of the way down, landing on top of the mare who had rendered him that way. For a second, Trixie had thought that this was a counter attack from the stallion, but after feeling his body go limp, she figured out that what she had done in panic had worked in spectacular fashion.

Not so confident that she had won the confrontation yet, Trixie carefully rolled the unconscious body off her, the stallion ending up face down on the floor. When he didn’t wake up, the blue unicorn scooted herself away from him, placing her back against a wall as she stayed seated, in a state of shock after all that had happened.

Trixie had almost been raped again, but she managed to fend off her attacker. It might not have been the most elegant of wins, but any victory you could walk away from was a good one. She kept an eye on the stallion, wondering if he was dead, if she had killed him, and thanked her lucky stars when she spotted his body moving up and down, caused by his lungs expanding and deflating in his chest. Hurting somepony who was attacking you was one thing, but Trixie didn’t want to bare the burden of having killed someone, not after she learned that the caribou she thought she killed prior had lived. She would rather keep her hands clean and her conscience clear, as silly as that might sound when both that and this event were purely in self defense.

More than a minute passed after the attack, and finally Trixie was able to collect herself. The stallion, while breathing, was otherwise not moving. He still had her knife in his back, which he had avoided landing on by landing on her instead. Her own breathing was starting to slow itself, the excitement of the encounter dying down. The unicorn could hardly believe any of what had taken place, from the fact that a stallion had sexually assaulted her post Fall, to her managing to take him down by herself, using nothing but her own strength and freshly rediscovered levitation spell.

As she continued to watch the stallion, unable to break her glare from him for a good while, Trixie eventually became aware of the sound of some mumbling coming from the stalls. Even when she took notice of it, it took a little longer for the unicorn to pull her eyes away from the stallion, still worried he’d get back up when she wasn’t looking, but when she did she got a reminder that she wasn’t the only one who had been attack when she spotted the still bound Lyra.

“Oh my…” she said, finally finding a reason to pick herself up off the floor, “I’m sorry! I completely forgot you were here too!”

Trixie made a short dash over to Lyra, mind racing as she tried to figure out how to undo the bindings the stallion had placed on her. Choosing convenience over practicality, Trixie started with the harness on Lyra’s head. The straps keeping it attached were in plain sight, and wouldn’t take but a second to undo. Unfortunately, this also led to Trixie getting a good look at Lyra’s horn, and the damage done to it. The stallion, while being interrupted during his attempt to remove the horn, had cut into it pretty deep.

It was unlikely she could cast magic as it was, which made sense, since if she had been able to do that, she could have released herself by now. Damaged as it was though, this was hardly the same level of problem as it would have been when the caribou ruled the kingdom, as even if it had been severed, all it would take is a zebra potion or a mending spell to reverse the damage.

“Almost got it,” Trixie said, announcing her progress, “And… there!”

The harness came off, and Lyra gave no hesitation in spitting out the saliva soaked piece of cloth that had been shoved into her mouth, spitting a few more times in a fruitless attempt to get the flavor of it off her tongue.

“What happened?” she asked after her spittle sprays, “I heard a yell, then a loud crack, then it went quiet, and then I saw you huddle up in the corner for a while. What happened to that stallion?”

“I… Think I got him?” Trixie answered, now working on Lyra’s leg bindings

“Got him?” Lyra replied back, questioning the meaning, “Did you ki-”

“I knocked him out,” Trixie said, quickly dismissing any notion that she had caused the stallion’s death, “But he looks out for the count.”

“Then hurry up and get me out of these,” Lyra said, struggling a little, not wanting to be in this room or position any longer, not when the earth stallion could wake up at any moment.

“I’m doing the best I can,” Trixie said in mild frustration, already working on one of the straps on Lyra’s ankles, “Where is your knife? I could use it to cut this off.”

“I… don’t carry it around,” Lyra replied, admitting that she had been defenseless when the stallion attacked her, “I never thought I would need it…”

“Well you thought wrong,” Trixie scolded. Had she not brought her own blade, she would undoubtedly be railed and de-horned by now, and both she and Lyra have succumbed to whatever depraved acts the stallion wished to do the them.

“I get it, trust me,” said Lyra, conceding to her mistake, “What about your knife?”

“It’s a little preoccupied,” said Trixie, not wanting to take the knife out of the stallion, as she didn’t want to risk causing him to bleed out, and this seemed like a ‘leave it in’ moment, “Besides,” she said, undoing the buckle keeping the strap tight, “I think I got this.”

Trixie spent the next five minutes getting Lyra out of the rest of the bindings, but after that all it took was a few seconds for Lyra to slip on her shorts, and the two to leave. Neither of them wanted to stay in or around the building after that ordeal, but they knew they couldn’t just leave the stallion be, not when he could just as easily try this again with other mares when he recovered.

So they did the one thing that came to mind, and ran into the streets of the city, screaming at the top of their lungs that they had been assaulted by a rapist. As expected, this got the attention of every pony in earshot, which included some police ponies who happened to be in the area. After that, all it took was for Trixie and Lyra to lead them back to the park bathroom, where the officers found the still unconscious stallion.

The scene after that became very lively, with police ponies being called in, as well as an ambulance, since the stallion was in no condition to be moved without treatment. Despite everything happening in the small restroom building, a good portion of the park was cordoned off, which was needed to keep a mob of curious civilians at bay. The only ponies allowed on the crime scene were the police, the paramedics, and the two victims of the attack, in order to question them about everything they knew.

After giving what little statements they could, Trixie and Lyra found themselves sitting on the same bench they had eaten lunch on, given blankets and hot coffee to keep them warm, as afternoon turned to dusk. Both remained mostly silent, as the mares contemplated everything that had happened. Now that they had time to reflect, the reality of what they went through crashed down on them hard. Not that they weren’t aware before, but the adrenaline they both had in their systems was starting to thin.

“I can’t believe it,” Lyra said quietly, looking at her wrist, which bore strap marks from her struggling against her bonds, before touching her horn, which had already been attended to and healed by the paramedics, “I really got raped again… And it happened so fast.”

Trixie was just as stunned as Lyra, as while she managed to overcome her attacker, she was starting to believe that it was more due to dumb luck than her own ability. There was no reason why she shouldn’t have ended up in a stall right next to Lyra, while the masked stallion took turns with the both of them. At least, that’s what her doubt was telling her.

As if to defy those thoughts though, she used her horn to levitate her mug of coffee to her lips, still retaining the ability she had regained in that struggle. No longer was she incapable of performing the most basic of pony magic, as it came to her just as easily as it ever had.

“Okay you two,” said a police mare as she approached their park bench, “The suspect is being prepped for transport, and will be placed under arrest as soon as they are able to be removed from the hospital. Whichever one of you that fought him sure did a number on him, which isn’t exactly a bad thing, all things considered.”

“Does that mean we can leave?” Trixie asked, wanting to be released so she could go home and try to forget what happened. Not to mention that she didn’t exactly have the best opinion on law enforcement after being detained at the Canterlot riot.

“We’d like you two to stay a little longer,” said the officer, “So we can get some more facts straight before we let you go.”

“We already told you everything we know,” Lyra said in protest, wanting to leave herself now that there was seemingly nothing more that the two mares could do.

“It’s just procedure, ma’am.” the officer said, walking away before either unicorn could make more complaints.

Trixie let out a groan, leaning her head backwards across the top of the bench’s back. It never seemed to be an easy process when she got dragged into these situations. She really wished that Sunset would come in and save her like last time, but with her off doing something else, it looked like Trixie and Lyra were just stuck there.

As she impatiently waited, she looked up at the sky, which had turned to night during the time that they had waited, which in pre-Fall Equestria would have taken a matter of seconds, but now that the sun and moon were no longer regulated by the alicorns, meant that it had been close to an hour. With nothing better to do, Trixie randomly looked around the changing sky, looking for nothing in particular, until her eyes landed on some movement within it. At first she thought it was just a flock of birds, but as it came closer to her, she saw that it was a bunch of bat ponies flying in formation. Ones wearing the armor of the Canterlot Royal Night Guard, and escorting a dark blue mare leading the formation. A mare who had a sizable horn atop her head.

“Oh noooo…” Trixie groaned aloud, identifying Princess Luna, as well as what her presence meant for how much longer it would take for Lyra and her to be released. If this event required the attention of a princess, then they were probably being detained to be interviewed by her directly.

Lyra, noticing Trixie’s discontent, traced where the other unicorn’s eyes were pointed, and saw what troubled her friend, becoming a little perturbed herself. The two could only sit and watch as the alicorn made her landing in the park, and proceeded to talk to the officers in charge. After what must have been them giving her a briefing of the current state of things, the princess of the night was pointed over to the two waiting mares, which was exactly what Trixie feared.

Still, neither unicorn made a move as she made her way over to them, with her guard following right behind her. “You two,” she said as she got in earshot, which for the princess was a few feet further than it should have been, “I want to speak to you both about-”

“Girls!” A voice yelled in the direction of the two seated unicorns, cutting off Luna before she could finish her thought. Knowing the voice, the two mares turned their heads to see Sunset Shimmer, breaching the cordoned off area, having to use her magic to do small teleports past a couple of officers that tried to intercept her, as she rushed to Trixie and Lyra’s location in order to get to them before Luna did. “I came as soon as I heard what had happened,” she said, breathing heavily as though she had done a solid sprint from wherever she had been, “And I got here just in time.”

“Sunset Shimmer,” Luna said, not bothering to hide her annoyance at the mare’s presence, “What makes you think you have the authority to barge into this crime scene?”

“Princess Luna,” Sunset said, showing the alicorn some small level of respect by using her title, “These two mares are two of the many ponies I consider my wards, as you can see by the black cloths around their necks, and I’m not about to let a member of the Committee of Ponies hassle them after what they’ve been through today.”

“Hassle?” said Luna, not pleased with the assumptions the yellow unicorn was making, “We just wish to get information about what happened here.”

“Yes, and I’m very familiar with how you tend to go about doing that,” Sunset replied, “By being loud and demanding, as you throw around your ‘authority’, while having no ability to conduct yourself in a way that shows an ounce of delicacy to other ponies.”

Luna was taken aback by Sunset’s appraisal of her methods, “We also know how you operate, Sunset Shimmer. How you act as if you know more than every other pony, and try to take control of every interaction you are apart of.”

As Lyra and Trixie listened to the princess’ description of Sunset, they found it to not match up to their own image of the mare. She was their group’s leader, yes, but she had never used that to put herself over anypony else in their ranks, at least as far as they were aware.

“These two mares may be part of your charity group,” Luna continued, “But that doesn’t give you the right to interfere in this investigation.”

“And what are you investigating?” Sunset said with antagonistic intent, “What could have happened here that would require your direct attention.”

“We believe you already know…” Luna replied, well aware that the news of what had happened had already spread far.

“Of course I do,” Sunset said with a bit of arrogance, “You are looking into the first attempted rape in Equestria since the end of the Fall.”

“Can you say that without sounding so satisfied with yourself?” Luna asked, irritated with Sunset’s tone.

“You have to excuse me, princess.” said Sunset, “It’s just so hard to do when this is exactly what I tried to warn the Committee about when I was part of it.”

“All you tried to do was cast suspicion on stallions, and make them adhere to unjust rules that-”

“Would have prevented this event altogether.” Sunset bluntly interjected, “While you exaggerate how much blame I place on stallions, the truth of the matter is that if my plans were followed, the stallion who attacked these two would have never been in the position they were today.”

“You can’t say that with certainty,” Luna rebutted, “You’re just basing your position on an assumption that stallions have some predisposition to wanting to treat mares as inferiors and sex objects. This idea is verifiably false.”

“How?” Sunset questioned in retort, “With your little test? I’ve seen who you’ve let pass that. Remember Chancellor Neighsay?”

“Neighsay has proven himself to be loyal to Equestria,” Luna insisted.

“All he has proven is that he’s more xenophobic than misogynistic,” Sunset stated, “I’m sure he had no issues treating the zebra, gryphon, and other species of slaves he had like dirt, even after the removal of his supposed ‘mind control’.”

“You can’t just throw accusations around like that,” Luna continued to dispute, having her own reasons to believe that Neighsay would do nothing to harm Equestria, through methods she found to be very credible.

“I can and I will,” Sunset shot back, not willing to back down from her stance.

As Lyra and Trixie sat there, silently listening in as the two mares talked around them, intrigued by what they were saying, but lacking some important context from both sides. Neither had the nerve to try and interrupt to have some of those missing details clarified though. Somepony did have the nerve to get between the two, however, as an officer walked right up to the alicorn to get her attention.

“Princess Luna,” he said, “The suspect is about to be wheeled out of the bathroom and into the ambulance.”

“Is he awake?” Luna asked, wanting the chance to question him personally.

“He was for a moment,” said the police pony, “But even in cuffs and wounded, he was trying to get violent. The paramedics gave him anesthetic to put him under, at least till we can cuff him down to a hospital bed.” the officer turned his head to the two unicorns sitting in the bench, “Though, we were hoping that the victims could come and look at his unmasked face, to see if they knew their attacker. Maybe find some connection between them to see if that’s why they were targeted.”

“Do we have to?” said Trixie in open complaint. It was getting late, and neither mare really wanted to get close to their attacker again.

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” said Luna, “But we would really appreciate your help in this matter. The more we can figure out about this stallion, the more we have to work with in trying to figure out why he did this.”

“The ‘why’ is pretty obvious,” Sunset interjected. Luna was about to tell her off, but Sunset put up a finger to hold her off for a second, “But if you promise these two can leave the moment they look at this stallion to confirm if they know him, then I will happily encourage them to listen to your request.”

Luna sighed, “Very well. We believe they’ve already given their statements, so there is little reason to hold them after this.”

Sunset smiled, and turned to the other two unicorns. “Come on girls. I’ll go with you to make sure nothing happens.”

Trixie and Lyra still had reservations, but with Sunset approving things, they couldn’t find a reason to object. They both got up from their seats, and with Sunset Shimmer, Luna, and Luna’s personal guard, walked themselves back over to the place where they were attacked, neither of them really thinking that they’d be able to identify their attacker, but both in for a surprise they didn’t expect.

It took several minutes longer for the rapist stallion to be brought out of the public bathroom in a stretcher, but when he was, the two mares finally got to see his face, and what they saw made them gasp.

“I definitely know him.” Trixie said, wide eyed as she stared at the stallion.

“It’s that…” Lyra said, trying to place a name to the face she was seeing.

“You two do recognize him?” Luna asked, “From where?”

“I know where,” Sunset said grimly, watching the stallion roll by, “They know him from our group.”

The stallion in the stretcher was the same stallion who often complained during group meetings, and had left the group altogether not long ago when he didn’t want to be a part of the mare defense lessons. The two mares had come to believe that they’d never see him again, but never believed that he would become the sort to sexually assault a mare.

“This stallion is part of your group, Sunset?” Luna questioned.

“Was,” Sunset said with a sudden seriousness, “He had a dispute with our methods, and left of his own accord. To think that a stallion like him had infiltrated our organization.”

“I suppose this shows that your ways are not as foolproof as you believed.” Luna said, hoping to get some humility out of the yellow unicorn.

“On the contrary,” Sunset said, “This merely reinforces my beliefs further. As I said, this pony was a member of my group, but he also dropped out when we started teaching mares how to fight. Clearly, he didn’t like the idea of mares being able to protect themselves. Think of what would have happened here if I hadn’t prepared these two to take fight back against stallions.”

Luna was visibly annoyed by Sunset’s refusal to budge even a little from her position, as the unicorn seemed adamant on an ideology that, at best, seemed heavy handed. Trixie, on the other hand, couldn’t help but agree wholeheartedly with what Sunset was saying, because she knew what would have happened if she hadn’t been shown how to defend herself, and given the tool she needed to do so.

Lyra had gone in without the knife that she was supposed to take around everywhere, and she ended up strapped down to a toilet with a foot of cock shoved unwillingly inside of her. Without Sunset, there was no question if she’d had suffered the same fate.

“Opinions aside,” Sunset said, “These two have identified that they did know the stallion somehow. So if you don’t mind, we will be taking our leave.”

“But…” said Luna, not satisfied yet.

“Princess,” Sunset replied, “I assure you that these mares know nothing more about that stallion. He was very much a loner in the group to begin with, and only participated when it benefited him. You’re not going to learn anything more helpful than you already have.”

Luna did want to know more about the stallion, but even if any of the three unicorns knew anything, it didn’t look like Sunset was going to allow them to say it. She had always been difficult, and Luna just had to accept this as her nature.

“Very well.” Luna relented, “We made a promise, and we shall keep it.”

“Thank you,” Sunset said, heading to the closest exit to the crime scene, “Come along, girls.”

Lyra and Trixie both followed after Sunset, happy to finally be given the go ahead to leave. Luna watched as the trio walked away, and managed to catch Sunset look back for a moment with a smirk on her face. The alicorn didn’t know exactly why, but when seeing that smirk, she couldn’t help to feel as if the yellow unicorn had somehow got the upper-hand on her in this exchange, one where the two mares really shouldn’t have been in competition.

“So,” Sunset said to the two other unicorns as they crossed the police tape, “Who wants to let me know how you two beat that stallion?”

The two mares gave Sunset a quick summary of what had happened, leaving out most of the more graphic details, but giving a general explanation of what happened to the both of them. Sunset allowed them to tell the whole story uninterrupted, and only when they finished, did she say anything about the whole ordeal.

The first thing out of Sunset’s mouth was, “Lyra, I am so sorry that this happened to you. It shames me that I wasn’t around to make sure you both were safe.”

“It’s… ok” Lyra said, making an attempt to stay in high spirits, “You couldn’t have predicted this would happen. Besides, it’s not like I’m not used to it, and Trixie was there to save me before anything serious happened. I’m just dreading that I’m gonna have to tell my marefriend about this…”

“See, that’s part of the problem.” said Sunset, “You shouldn’t feel ‘used’ to this kind of treatment. You should be angry that somepony did this to you. If mares keep letting stallions see them as victims, then they are going to keep treating us like victims.”

“I suppose you’re right about that,” Lyra agreed, “I’ll make sure to keep my knife on me from now on. That’s at least a start.”

“Good,” said Sunset, “Because despite us knowing the rapist in question, I don’t think this was a planned attack.”

“You don’t?” Trixie asked, “What makes you think that?”

“There is no way that earth pony knew you two would be going to the park today, or that you’d use the restroom when you did.” Sunset reasoned, “And I think we all know the park isn’t really used a lot these days. My guess is that he was lying in wait, and would have tried to rape any mare that entered.”

“So I was just the unlucky one to go in first, huh.” Lyra said, seeing no fault in Sunset’s logic.

“For all we know, he might have been doing this for days,” Sunset added, “So long as no one was there to see what he was doing, there was nothing to stop him until he finally got some mare to fall into his trap.”

“That… sounds terrifying.” Trixie said, not wanting to think about the kind of stallion it took to do something like that.

“It is,” Sunset replied, “And we can’t assume that he’s the only stallion who will ever try that. Now, more than ever, we need to be diligent on how we carry ourselves in public.”

The other two mares agreed, as it was only through Sunset’s methods that the two got out of that as best as they did.

“But I got to say,” Sunset added, “Trixie, you were very impressive today.”

“It really wasn’t anything,” Trixie said in modesty, knowing how cowardly she had been at the start of it all.

“No, really,” Sunset reinforced, “You were a hero today. If not for you, who knows what would have happened to Lyra. If you hadn’t decided to check in on her, and just left to go back home, then she would have been at that bastard’s mercy for as long as he pleased.”

“She’s right,” said Lyra, who very much appreciated that Trixie had came to her rescue, “You’re a hero, and you shouldn’t think of yourself any other way.”

With the two mares boosting her ego, Trixie did start to feel a bit heroic about what she had done. She might have been forced into it, but many brave ponies were tossed into situations that challenged them in similar ways. Once again, the blue mare found the praise she got from her fellow members to be motivating for her self esteem, to the point that she felt like her old self again.

This was a feeling that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Not since that one night during the Fall, when she and Merryweather went to stop that caribou caravan…

Since it's been so long since I touched upon this side story, this is a continuation of the chapters The Last Sunset and The Magician and The Pretender, which depict Trixie during the Fall, before her capture. Thus, it will be good to be a little familiar with these chapters, just to know how Trixie got here.

That aside, the next chapter is going to require a bit of research on my part before I start writing, so it might take a little longer than usual to get it out. Thank you all for your understanding, and for continuing to read this story.

In the middle of nowhere, at what seemed like an inconspicuous area of wooded area far enough away that no pony would venture into on purpose, a large rock started to shudder about on its own. Seemingly there was nothing there to cause the motion, but as it tilted itself backwards, a blue unicorn and a young pegasus revealed themselves from underneath.

Trixie, more cautious than she had ever been in her lift, only lifted up the hollowed out stone a bit, looking all around for signs of caribou, before picking up the rock till it turned sideways. “I think we’re clear, quickly now.” Trixie said to Merryweather, holding up the fake structure to let her out.

The filly nodded, placing stack upon stack of objects out on the ground before flying out of a hole in the ground that was hidden by the rock, leading into a tunnel that led all the way back to Trixie’s hideaway. This disguised passage had been long locked from the inside, so that had some pony randomly stumbled upon it, the stone would be held tight, making it seem immovable. With the shell being very durable as well, there was no reason why anyone would see it as anything else but a heavy formation of granite.

Trixie replaced the phony stone once Merryweather exited the tunnel, then bent down to pick up an armful of her magician props, “Take a good look around, and remember what direction we come from. If we need to make a break for it, or get separated, you need to get back here as soon as possible.”

“Got it,” Merryweather said as she gathered up her own pile of trick objects, looking around for other landmarks she could recognize should she have to come back on her own.

The filly had agreed back at the hideout to obey everything Trixie told her to do. Having had a little time to think on what they were about to do, and the fact that she didn’t have a plan of her own, Merryweather figured that if their rescue attempt had any chance of success, it would come from the quick thinking of the unicorn, who had stepped up to the task twice now against this new threat to Equestria.

“Then let’s go,” Trixie ordered, heading off in the direction she knew the caribou’s caravan of captives would be heading, “Even with that shortcut, we won’t have much time before they pass our ambush spot.”

Merrryweather gave a nod, following closely behind. Trixie was glad that the young mare was listening to her, and treating this situation with the seriousness it deserved, but this still felt like a bad idea. The only thing they had going for them was that it was night, and thus these caribou wouldn’t be able to spot the walking through the woods on the whim of coincidence and chance. Without that, they were still outnumbered, and outmatched in physical ability, so if this was going to work, they’d have to do something tricky.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the dirt road the two of them had spotted in Trixie’s periscope, and from there it took even less time for them to get to a large rock formation that Trixie had spotted beside it. This pile of stones, big enough to be a small hill had it been made out of dirt, was where they would set up their ambush, and make their ill-advised attempt to save what few ponies they had the opportunity to.

“We don’t have much time.” Trixie said, sorting out the items in her arms, and dropping half on the ground, “I’m gonna set up some traps on the road, and you take everything else to the top of this rock. See if there is anything big and loose up there we can use while you're at it, because we’re gonna need some force when they decide to come after us.”

It was Trixie’s plan to make sure that the two of them kept a good distance away from the deer men, as they did everything in their power to scare them away from their captives. Using the rocks was a good start, as it was higher ground that would make it hard to reach the pair of ponies. Aside from that, Trixie was going around the road and the rock, burying some of her fireworks just deep enough that she’d be able to spot them. The best thing about them was that the power she used didn’t take much to ignite. Fire, lightning, or even just magic was enough to trigger detonation.

During her preparations, the unicorn did have to pause for a moment, thinking about the one caribou that came face to face with one of her colorful explosives on that first night. Not knowing that he had actually survived, the idea of another accident of that nature was troubling to the mare, but Trixie quickly rationalized that the cause of that was that she had lit everything she had on her within an enclosed space. It was a miscalculation on several fronts, but this time she’d ensure that no one was harmed with such lethality.

When Trixie was finished, she went to the stone formation, and called up to Merryweather in a whispered yell. “Merry! You got everything ready up there?!”

The filly looked over the edge, and acknowledging that Trixie was trying to keep quiet in case the caribou were getting close, gave a silent nod in return.

“Good, then help me climb up!” Trixie said, “They have to be getting close, and I don’t think I can get up on my own!”

Merryweather flew down, and aiding the unicorn by supporting her from underneath as she climbed, shoving her shoulder into her rump with all the power her small wings could manage. It still took a bit of effort from both of them, but together they both got to the top of the rock, far out of reach of anything that would be on the ground below.

Once at the top, Trixie took a moment to relax, as a real battle was about to come, and she had to be both physically and mentally ready. She took inventory of everything Merryweather had brought up, which was mostly a bunch of hand held fireworks that launched small balls of flames, none of which really strong enough to cause real damage. Aside from that, Trixie brought some of her trick cloths, the kind that a magician pulled out of their sleeves, tied end by end to make a rope out of them, as well as some smoke bombs, and megaphone. While she wanted to lay low for as long as possible, the last item was going to come in handy when things began.

“Oh, Trixie,” Merry said, flying over to the other side of the plateau they were now sitting on, “I looked around like you asked me, and I did fine this.” The filly went over to a small boulder, and pushed her body into it to show that it was able to move, if ever so slightly by her body weight.

“Good find,” Trixie said, “But we’re gonna need something to move it. Go and find me the sturdiest stick you can find. It has to be really strong, so we can use it to roll the rock when the time is right. Stay away from the roads while looking, and if you can’t find one soon enough, then just forget it and fly back.”

“On it,” said Merryweather, taking off back into the woods.

Part of Trixie hoped that now was the time that the caravan showed up, while the young pegasus was gone, so she could handle this on her own. Another part of her knew that she couldn’t handle this alone, and accepted that Merryweather was gonna have to be part of the plan if any of it was going to work. The last part of her believed that this was doomed to fail, and that they’d be better off going back to the hideout, but knew that the filly would never accept that. Since she wasn’t so heartless to let the young pegasus do something so foolhardy as this alone, the only acceptable option was to make this work, or fail only so badly that Merryweather saw it was a losing battle, and they both make their escape.

It was about this time that Trixie started to hear voices, male voices, which she had learned from her spying was not a good thing. She didn’t know why, but all the men, both of deer and pony variety, were active participants of the rape and abuse of the mares of Equestria. This had to be the caravan coming her way, and if there was ever a time to back out, it was now. A part of her just wanted to stay hidden, let them go by, and then have Merryweather come back none the wiser, but Trixie wasn’t that self centered or heartless. She was here, she was prepared, and there were ponies that needed her help.

Pressing her stomach flat against the rock beneath her, she crawled over to the ledge to get a peek at what she had to deal with. It was just as she had seen back at her hideaway; a small cart being pulled by two mares, who from her distance looked to be pegasi, driven by one of the deer men, while three others sat in back, enjoying the company of an earth pony that was in the middle of sucking their dicks in turn, who was assumedly being forced into the act. Trailing behind the first cart was a smaller, secondary cart, holding an assortment of other mares within it, trapped within a square cage built into the transportation device. They were each in varying states of despair, sorrow, and outrage, having been mistreated by their captors for over a week and still not accustom to their new status as sex slaves.

Almost immediately, Trixie found her eyes locked onto the two pegasi, who Trixie could tell had been put through a lot since their capture. They had been stripped of all attire, with strike marks crudely decorating their flanks, strapped in tightly to the cart’s pull shaft. Each was secured by matching harnesses that hugged their feminine curves, encircled their breasts in an erotic fashion, which the nipples on each of their had been pierced by a heavy looking metal loop ring, as a set of small metal clamps attached to the crotch straps by small, elastic cords bit into the lips of their pussies, pulling them apart to reveal the pink flesh inside.

Their arms and neck had each been trapped within a small wooden stockade made of two planks of wood, with half-circles cut out of their sides which created three holes between them when locked together, to hold the three appendaged in place and prevent any means of removing them without assistance. The center hole made much larger to not only allow their necks to fit, but the collars that currently embraced them, both being black bands with a metal ring loop in their front, which looked to form a solid loop with no seam, which meant they couldn’t be simply taken off.

From there, they both were given a set of reigns, which wasn’t uncommon for coach guiding ponies to use to get quick instructions from the driver, but these ones were locked to their heads by another harness device, and had as part of it a blindfolding attachment that completely covered their eyes, rendering them blind and reliant on the one guiding them to go in any direction with confidence.

Lastly, the two pegasi were each wearing some sort of casing on their back, made of a similar black leather as their collars, that surrounded the bones of their wings. This was something new to Trixie, as while she had the unfortunate opportunity to watch as pegasi get their wings plucked of every feather, she had yet to see these odd encasements. Their purpose was clear though, as with as confined as these bindings were, they had to be designed to not only prevent flight, but prevent regrowth of wings. While Trixie could not fathom the caribou enchantments placed upon them that outright prevented feathers to reform, she could imagine what would happen if they could, and with no place to go, any newly formed feathers would mash up with one another, becoming bent and deformed.

With all the bondage and body modifications placed upon these mares, it added a level of indecent lewdness, making them look more exposed than if they were just nude, which would have made them a magnet for the eyes of any who so much as caught so much of a passing glance at them. Seeing how these caribou used sex as torture, it was clearly an act of depravity that catered to their perverse desires, taking a sadistic form of gratification from the helplessness and degradation of these mares.

What shamed Trixie a little was that she actually knew the delights that came with belittling others, and forcing those you had defeated into subjugation. Her time under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet had her doing things similar to this, forcing those she temporarily ruled over into tasks with unbearable stipulations, taking joy from their suffering as they toiled to appease her. However, that pleasure faded away once she was tricked into parting with the artifact, as the unicorn’s senses escaped the corrupting power it contained. Even at her worst though, she had never gone this far, and she couldn’t begin to consider this manner of punishment on another as arousing as the stags below seemed to. Maybe as some absurd dark fantasy, trapped within the confines of one’s own imagination, the sexualized suffering of another would have provided some form of erotic amusement. As the reality laid before her though, Trixie could only believe that only the most depraved and immoral of creatures would ever find the sight of another creature in such distress as anything more than revolting.

As sickening as the image below her was, Trixie had to keep her eyes glued to it, so she could see when the small caravan of prisoners were in place. They were coming up fast, unaware of what the blue unicorn had in store for them, and hopefully that would be enough to get the upper hand. Trixie, in her preparations, had left a small mark in the dirt road, and the moment the mares went across it, her attack would begin. A sweat formed on Trixie’s brow, and her body shook as she anticipated that moment, but when a hoof touched down on that particular spot, Trixie’s horn lit up, and she went into action.

From the caribou’s perspective, this was a dull night, with nothing too exciting about it, not even the earth mare being passed around between them. They were part of an invasion unit that had taken over a pony town called Vanhoover, which had been conquered the day after Canterlot fell to the Caribou’s main attack force.

It was part of the caribou’s plan give the Crystal Cock a grace period to spread it’s enchantment all across Equestria, to convert the stallions to the side of their soon to be rulers, and then assist any who were having trouble subduing their stupid, unsuspecting females by invading the towns the following night. These attacks took place in all major cities, as smaller cities were expected to be able to handle this shift in demographic power dynamics much easier, due to their lower populations.

This strategy, combined with the caribou’s unmatched skill in raiding settlements and capturing the females of what they deemed ‘weaker species’, proved massively successful, as many mares were bound to their beds by their spouses, or in the midst of being raped by some stallion they once knew as their neighbor upon the caribou’s arrival. The stragglers had little ability to resist the more physically imposing deer, and in no time at all, most of Equestria was under new rule.

For the better part of a week, the male population of the newly annexed kingdom, both pony and caribou alike, celebrated through what was an almost ritualistic defilement of every mare they had placed into the bonds of slavery. Food, wine, and acts of sexual conquest were given out in a seemingly endless stream, with the last part handed out the most liberally. Any female pony they saw fit to fuck was subjected to days of non-stop rape and humiliation, as they were stripped of all possessions, clothing, and any Equestrian rights they presumed they had.

However, the celebration of the rise of the caribou, and with it the expressed emancipation of all males from a female tyranny that the stallions never believed existed until this point, had to eventually come to a close. The other, smaller settlements had to be taken care of, and the caribou had come to learn that not all stallions had succumbed to the effects of their previously believed ultimate weapon of influence. Thus, small sub divisions of the caribou’s raiding groups had been sent out to take care of those places not yet secured for their new empire.

The ones riding in the cart were one such unit, having traveled from their original assigned location to the city of Tall Tale, then through the Smokey Mountains, dropping off a few caribou soldiers each time to bring the order of the caribou to those uncivilized locations, while picking up a few mares as tribute to the caribou, before moving on. The remainder of that unit were the four caribou present in the cart, traveling through Whitetail Woods on their way to Las Pegasus. Las Pegasus itself had already been taken over, becoming a hedonistic den of depravity, that used the already existing greed of its patrons to guide their newly found desire to dominate females, and thus they too had sent their own sub division to inspect several locations, including a privately owned rock farm nearby, and the cities of Appleloosa and Dodge City, before stopping at Baltimare, which in turn would send its own unit, and so on, and so forth, until no place within Equestria was outside of direct caribou control.

As it stood, the four traveling caribou believed that their forces had won, and that only a positive future was set in stone for them and their kind. So with things settling down into normality, the meager prizes of a job well done felt trite in comparison to the rewards they had access to not days prior, the dozen mares they had access to nothing in comparison to the literal cities worth of Equestrian mares they were shortly able to partake in. The only reason they chose to travel at night was because they wished to arrive at Las Pegasus sooner, to continue with the level of debauchery they had acquired a taste for.

“Hey, can’t you make those sluts move any faster?” asked one of the passengers, his dick not being the one the mare sitting with them was currently occupied with.

The driver, likewise finding the ride tedious, replied, “I don’t know, let’s find out.” as placed control of his reins in one hand, and grabbed a whip he had to his side in the other.

Before the whip could even be uncoiled, the two mares quickened their pace up, having heard the brief conversation, their backsides already bearing the marks of many a snap of the object’s length. That didn’t deter the caribou driver though, as he wasn’t going to waste a chance to give those bare mare asses a few more marks. He let the whip out, pulled back the arm holding it, and took aim at a spot that had not yet tasted the sting of high velocity leather.

The only thing that stayed the stag’s hand was a sudden display of sparks shooting up from the ground in front of the two mares, accompanied with a series of loud, booming sounds as they exploded a few feet above the cart. It was startling enough to catch the attention of every member of the caravan, willing or not, as the darkness of the night was lit up by a short string of multi-colored lights.

Immediately after, a dozen or so small purple orbs landed among the cart, breaking on contact with whatever solid surface the hit against, be it cart, ground, or even the caribou themselves. This caused a burst of compressed smoke to burst out of their containers, which held together in the form of a giant cloud that covered the caribou’s section of the cart.

“What’s going on!” yelled one of the passengers, as confusion spread among him and all the other caribou.

This was, of course, the work of Trixie, the smoke coming from the tiny bombs she used in her act. Normally, the obscuring cloud of purple they created would vanish almost instantly, but the unicorn was talented enough with her magic to control the water molecules in the air, which she displayed once against Rainbow Dash by manipulating a rainbow, and turning it into a colorful tornado. To use it to keep a bunch of gas particles together in one place was not too different from that.

With the deer now in her smokescreen, they couldn’t see anything outside of it, but she could see if they tried to escape it, which one did immediately, only to get pushed back inside with a powerful firecracker launching up in front of his face. It didn’t hit him, but the shock of it being close enough was enough to make him retreat to the relative safety of the cart.

“Stop right there!” Trixie yelled into her megaphone, shifting her tone to make it much deeper, “You have trespassed on the territory of The Great and Powerful…!” Trixie had to stop herself from finishing her declaration, realizing that it might not be a good idea to give out her name, “G-Guardian of the forest! Leave your cart, and flee from whence you came, or suffer my wrath!”

The caribou, while not familiar with this part of Equestria, or its history, were not impressed by the threats being made by the voice booming around them. They knew, or at least believed, that there was nothing that resided in Equestria that could go up against them, not after the pony’s princesses had been dealt with so swiftly. The only remaining feeble threat they recognized was holing herself up in Ponyville, and was to be dealt with in a few days, right after the rest of the kingdom was scheduled to be under the full control of the caribou. This lazy approach to finishing off the last assumed capable resistance to their new regime showed how little the purple alicorn princess, and the town she resided in, meant to the caribou.

If the caribou felt next to no intimidation from what was supposed to be Equestria’s greatest hero, then why should they show any concern for whatever was attacking them now, especially since they had a trump card over the most powerful inhabitants of these lands. Their armor, engraved and enchanted with the magical runes of their people, made them all but invulnerable to any form of magical attack, which most creatures they encountered relied on some form of it to fight. Those that didn’t were rarely strong enough to surpass the might of a single caribou, and those that could were overwhelmed by the numbers of their raiding groups, as caribou didn’t find any sort of nobility in fighting fair.

So in the face of this ‘guardian’, none of the quartet of caribou felt the slightest bit of fear. They might have been caught off guard, their range of vision limited, with no clue as to where their attacker was, but that meant nothing to them. The attack before, while bright and loud, still looked like magic to them, and the voice, while booming, still sounded female. The last detail alone was enough to keep their morale high, as it was an immutable fact to them that no female, no matter how magically or physically talented, was a match for a male.

“I think it’s time we stopped playing with this bitch, and let her see who’s really in control here.” One of the stags said, stepping out of the cart without a care.

Once more a spray of colorful sparks shot from the ground, but unlike the time prior, the caribou didn’t retreat. His determination earned him a second eruption of sparks, but except this one was directed right for him, shot up at an angle so the sizable rocket would shoot into the smoke, instead of upwards in front of it. It hit the caribou in the chest, bouncing right off their chestplate, with enough force to knock them back a step, before launching up in the opposite direction, and exploding at a safe altitude.

“Ah!” The caribou grunted in response, not getting a good glimpse at what had hit him. To him, having been pushed back into the smoke, it just looked like something flew into him, ricocheted off, and then a flash of light appeared from outside the purple haze. “Careful. Whatever magic this cunt is using, it’s strong enough to get over our armor.” He announced, knowing that it was possible to overwhelm the negating power of the anti-magic runes.

Trixie, watching from her elevated hiding place, was happy to see her tricks were still working to keep the deer within the area that they would be affective, but still didn’t have any clue how to get them to run away, leaving their captives behind. If they kept brute forcing her attacks as they had been trying to, then she’d run out of firework traps before making any progress. She had to try a new approach, but had no idea what that would be.

“Trixie!” the unicorn heard from behind her, startling her for a moment, before she looked back to see Merryweather flying up to her post, carrying a fairly large tree branch, “I heard you, and flew back as quick as I could!”

The unicorn grumbled, having hoped that the foal would be gone longer on her fetch mission, but realized that the noise of the ambush was not something the filly could simply ignore. “Get over here, quick!” Trixie called to the pegasus, setting off a few more fireworks at the same time, to distract the foes below from the filly’s flying.

Merryweather obeyed instantly, touching down right next to the older mare, as she set the piece of wood she had found to the side, “So what’s going on? What do you want me to do?”

Trixie felt like telling Merryweather to fly back to base, and that she would handle it from here, but the truth was she wasn’t going to make any difference on her own, not after firing off a payload of her ammunition all at once, and that tactic not making a difference to begin with. She looked at what she had on hand, that being the megaphone, the handheld fireworks, and the stick Merry had just brought to her. It really wasn’t a lot, even if she could utilize the boulder in her attack. Aside from that, all she had was her low level spells, none of which could do enough damage or be frightening enough on their own.

“I’m gonna be honest,” Trixie said, igniting what she had left of her ground traps to keep the caribou at bay a little longer, “I really don’t know. There’s nothing I got that can deal with a situation like this.”

The unicorn’s declaration of defeat disheartened the young filly, as she had expected just a little more from the mare who had rescued her several times now. That quickly changed to motivation though, since if Trixie wasn’t able to come up with a plan, then it was up to her to take charge, and the first thing she thought to do was grab Trixie’s cape, and tug on it as hard as she could.

“Hey!” Trixie yelled, not expecting to be attacked for her admittance of her inferiority, “What are you doing?!”

“I’m trying to…” She said, giving a grunt as she used all her might to pull at the piece of fabric, “Get this cape off your dress!”

“I know I’m not the brave, magical pony I pretend to be,” Trixie replied, still portraying herself highly, even as she admitted to being weak, “But I don’t think I deserve that!”

“No!” said Merryweather, “I got a plan, and I need this cape… and your hat.”

Trixie was shocked, as well as confused. She had no idea what the filly could have been thinking, but if she had a plan, even a bad one, that was better off than what Trixie had. Perhaps the older mare should have put her hoof down, and demanded that they both retreat, but with the determination Merry was showing, she doubted that the younger pony would listen.

“Fine!” Trixie said, pulling off her dress, which the cape was attached to, having a bra and underwear on underneath to maintain her decency. She then grabbed the cape by the part closest to her dress collar, and tore it off by the seams with her adult strength. “Now what?”

“Now make two more tears here and here.” Merryweather said, pointing to two spots of the cape, a little above its center, near the edges.

Trixie obeyed quickly, and once the tears were made, the pegasus snatched the cape, and put it over her body, slipping her wings into the freshly made holes. Immediately after that, the pegasus took Trixie’s hat from her head, and with a bit of force, pushed it into the unicorn’s horn twice, each time making it poke through the fabric, leaving two holes in it.

“So here’s what we do,” Merryweather said, placing the hat, which was conveniently large for her size, over her head, using it as a mask, “I’m taking the fireworks we got here, and flying over them.” Saying that, the filly scooped up as many of the handheld fireworks as she could. “I need you to activate them for me, while keeping them distracted.”

Trixie nodded, and watched Merryweather take to the sky. As soon as she got a little ways away, the mare finally got why her cape and hat were needed. The dark purple of it in the night sky was enough to hide the mare from sight, especially with the purple fog around their targets, and even more so since Merry was already wearing a matching outfit. From Trixie’s elevation though, she could see the pegasus’ wings, and keep tabs on her, while the caribou below would have no clue what was happening.

One couldn’t attack from above alone forever without being discovered though, and that’s why Trixie needed to keep on her own end. She still didn’t have much of an idea what to do from here, but anything was better than nothing. As she watched Merryweather take a position above the smokescreen, waving two of the fireworks in one hand, Trixie knew she was ready, and that she had to be ready too. It was now or never, so with a quick ignition of Merry’s weapons of choice, Trixie reached down to her own, that being the megaphone, and took her magical focus off the purple for just a second to create a small thundercloud.

Back inside the cloud, the stags were plotting their own plan, thinking that they still had the advantage, which in many ways was true. They just didn’t want to get hit by another spell, as while the caribou saw themselves as great warriors, that self image only existed under circumstances when they wouldn’t be hurt. Otherwise, most caribou were as battle hardened as a rookie soldier, if not less so.

“Look, we have to go out there,” the driver said, taking the role of leader, “It’s just one creature, and it can’t hit us all at once.”

“Sure,” said one of the others, “But do you want to be the one who gets blasted? I’m already starting to bruise from that direct shot I took.”

“Don’t be a coward,” the driver scolded, “A bruise like that is nothing. You know it, I know it. The only thing keeping us in here is that none of you three know how to take a hit.”

“Then why don’t you take the lead?” questioned another caribou, “We’ll gladly charge out there if you draw their attention.”

The driver scowled, as the other caribou correctly deduced that he didn’t want to be the one being targeted either. They couldn’t just stay pinned down though either, not when it was a woman putting them in this embarrassing position. He tried to think of some way they could all get out without the danger of being pelted with spells, but the only thing in the carriage was the four caribou and a worthless earth mare.

“Wait a minute,” he said aloud, before grabbing the mare by her red collar, “None of us have to put ourselves at risk. Not when we have the perfect decoy right here.” The stag directed the now frightened mare to the edge of the cart, as she quickly figured out what the large deer male meant, “Get ready to bolt the second you hear her take the hit.” he instructed the others, who each snickered at the mare’s misfortune.

“P-Please, don’t…” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn’t want to take the brunt of this attack anymore than the caribou did, and naked as she was, the earth mare knew it would hurt her much more than the armor clad bucks.

“Don’t worry, bitch,” the driver said, putting his hand on the small of her back, “We’ll give you a good, hard, dicking after this is all over. Loyalty to your masters is always rewarded.”

With that said, the caribou shoved the mare out with nary a single burden on his consciousness, viewing the mare as a tool, and nothing more. The caribou readied to make their move the second their slave was outside the fog, about to leap from the cart to find cover before they hunted down their attacker, but just before they exited their vehicle, they were given pause as an enormous thundercrack sounded around them.

“THE FUCK!?” yelled the driver, falling backwards from the sound of what he assumed was the mare being struck down by some incredibly magical force.

“You have ignored my warning and refused to flee!” yelled the creature they only knew as the ‘guardian’, and now you will suffer my wrath!”

At that announcement, fireballs rained down upon the stags, coming from random directions. Since their cart had no top, there was nowhere for them to hide, and so they could only make feeble attempts to dodge the oncoming flames, occasionally taking one to an exposed area, and feeling the heat burn their fur and the skin underneath.

This was proof to the caribou that they were dealing with a powerful spellcaster, as all of their attacks bypassed their protections against magic, if only barely, and each perceived spell appeared grand and spectacular from their point of view. Even though the pain they felt was in no way immense, this was all it took to put some dread in the tyrannical deer, as the moment they found themselves in the position of the oppressed, all moral was sapped from their being.

The firestorm went on for a few minutes, with each caribou receiving their fair share of burns, and none with the courage to leave the cart, believing that doing so would have them struck down as brutally as the mare was. When it stopped, the voice of the forest guardian returned.

“I will give you one last chance,” it said, giving its ultimatum, “Abandon your cart, flee my woods, and return from whence you came, or else…” A blue glow appeared in the purple of the fog, formless at first, but as it got closer, the glow revealed itself to be the face of a massive, glowing bear, “I will feed you to my pet.”

With what little the caribou knew of Equestria, they had heard of this beast. The dreaded Ursa Major, a frightening creature that no pony dared to challenge, and with it looming down upon them, the caribou knew why.

“Run,” the guardian said, as the colossal ursine reared up, raising its paw, “While you still can.”

Trixie dropped her megaphone, needing both of her arms for what was next. She was tiring, having done more minor tricks with her magic than she was accustomed to at once, the unicorn stringing together an advanced form of levitation, creating a small thunder cloud, lighting dozens of fireworks, and having to create an image out of light that looked convincing enough in the smokescreen to make the caribou think it was actually an Ursa Minor. While Trixie never had an issue casting spells back to back, the stress and prolonged usage of her magic seemed to accumulate together, in a manner which she was not used to.

It was all very taxing mentally, but fortunately the last part of all this would require a physical effort instead, as she started working to push the bounder off the ledge. If this worked the way that the unicorn wanted, then it would have to scare away the stags. That was what Trixie hoped for, but if they didn’t run after this, then there was no other choice but to retreat, because they’d be out of ways to intimidate them.

As the blue mare struggled to budge the small boulder, Merryweather returned to her, tossing away the used up remains of the last fireworks she had. She had used them all to create the firestorm, with Trixie periodically lighting new ones each time the ones she was using stopped, the older unicorn knowing exactly how many fireballs they produced.

Seeing that the mare needed help, Merryweather flew to the stick she had retrieved previously, shoved its small end into a space underneath the rock Trixie was making with her pushing, and pushed down on the wood to use it as a lever. Together, the two mares got the stone to roll, pushing it right off the side of their ambush point, and right in the direction of the cart. The crashing weight of the boulder, which caused the ground to rumble, that, along with the image of a Ursa Minor about to slam its paw down upon them, was finally enough to make the stags abandon their cart in pure terror, leaving them with a only a second to spare before the section of their caravan they had been riding in was reduced to splinters.

With Trixie’s final trick done, the smoke finally was allowed to disperse, so the caribou could see the damage the ‘Ursa Major’ had done, and none of them looked brave as they stared at what could have easily been them.

“F-Fuck this! I’m outta here!” one yelled, tripping over his own hooves as he turned tail and ran back up the trail, back in the direction of the Smokey Mountains. Two others were quick to follow, not wanting to stick around to see what this guardian would do to them if they refused to leave.

“Wait!” yell the driver, the last one left, looking at the cart of caged, screaming slave mares, who were just as terrified as the caribou who had thus far been the only target, “What about these mares!?”

“Leave them!” one yelled back, “They aren’t worth saving!”

The driver considered what his fellow caribou said, and had to agree. There would always be more mares, more slaves, and more pussy to partake of. These particular ones were an acceptable sacrifice, to ensure that this small group of caribou would live to indulge in their depravity again. Considering the mares lost, the driver finally fled, with no more remorse for them than he had for the mare he had tossed out of the cart prior.

With their departure, the battle was over, and the ambush was a success. Trixie looked over the edge of her perch one last time, to make sure that there was no sight of the deer men, and once she was satisfied, allowed herself a brief moment to collapse upon the rock, having exerted her muscles, mind, and magic more than she should have. Perhaps a pony like Twilight Sparkle could do feats like this with ease, but Trixie was not in the habit of playing the hero, nor was it an act she wasn’t to add to her normal routine.

Merryweather, having done much less than the mare, simply set down and took a seat next to Trixie, giving her wings a rest as she discarded the hat and cape that she used as camouflage. “We did it!” she said in excitement, the still panicking mares below almost drowning her out.

“Yeah… I guess we did.” Trixie replied, in between taking some deep, deliberate breaths. She was just as amazed as the filly, but lacked the energy to show it. “Now how about we give those mares a little bit to calm down before we finish rescuing them.”

The young mare, seeing that this was Trixie asking for a much needed moment of peace, gave a nod and threw herself backwards, laying against the cool stone beneath her. “They can wait a minute. It’s the least they can do for all the work we did.”

What Merry called a minute became more around ten to twenty, but by that time the imprisoned mares had quieted down, and Trixie had practically recovered completely from her over-exertion. She was the first to move of the two rescuers, and when she did, she went straight to the cliffside to climb down it.

Seeing the unicorn’s movement, Merryweather sprung up herself, but saw something that was amiss. “Trixie, wait!” she called out.

“Don’t worry,” said Trixie, already climbing down the side, “I can get down easier than I can get up.”

That wasn’t exactly what Merry was worried about, but seeing how Trixie didn’t seem concerned, she just went along with it, and took to the air, heading down alongside the unicorn.

It didn’t take too long for someone to notice the two mares from the cart, and at the sight of them, declared to the rest of the enslaved mares, “Look, it’s the mage mare that saved us!”

The other mares, having had enough time to get over their initial fear, were greatly relieved to see that it was a mare that had done all that, and not some evil forest creature who might have done something worse to them than the caribou, if such a thing was imaginable. They all rushed to the side of the cart that the blue unicorn was coming from, grabbing hold of the bars and pushing amongst one another as they all tried to get a good look at their savior.

When reaching the ground after so long atop that chunk of granite, Trixie looked around at the environment that had been left in the aftermath of her attack. Along with the splintered remains of the cart the stags had been riding was the captive mares in the cage cart, the two bound pegasi who were laying together on the dirt road, who had been knocked over when the boulder struck the cart, and still had a sizable part of the pull shaft connecting the two of them together, and the earth mare had been pushed form the cart, who had fainted when Trixie used her megaphone and storm cloud to create a massive thunder crack. She had found a nice place in the grass beside the road to lay in, which for the time being Trixie found fine to leave her sleeping.

With further inspection, Trixie took note that the caribou hadn’t gone into hiding nearby in the forest, nor had they decided to come back to get a second look at their attacker, which the mare was thankful for. However, this caused a slight hitch in this rescue plan, as while they were nowhere to be seen, that also applied to any keys they might have had to the locks for the cage, and the bonds on the pull mares.

Trixie went upon the wreckage of the ambush, hoping to find a keyring that the caribou dropped, kicking aside planks and destroyed wheel frames to see if anything was left behind.

“Hey, are you gonna let us out?” said one of the caged mares, not piecing together what Trixie was doing.

“I’m trying to,” Trixie replied, “But I might not be able to if I can’t find the keys.”

“Why don’t you use your magic to melt the locks, or have your pet rip the door open?” Asked another mare, wondering why a wizard of this mare’s apparent power was worried about finding keys.

“That’s because…” Trixie started, only to have Merryweather fly between her and the cage of mares.

“That’s because she used up all her magic to get rid of those deer.” she said, instantly defending Trixie’s image, “You think it's easy to shoot magical attacks and summon bears like that? I bet the unicorns in there with you would get tired just trying to do half the things she did tonight.”

None of the captive mares had any rebuttal to that. The feats they saw were so incredible that even those magically inclined couldn’t hope to replicate a single thing they saw. Manifesting a smokescreen out of nothing, controlling a storm of fire, using magical blasts that overwhelmed the magic absorbing armor that every other unicorn present succumbed to. They were, in their minds, in the presence of a master magician, and none of them had the right to question the actions or motives of such a mare.

“It’s a good thing for you all, her apprentice has a few tricks up her wing too.” Merryweather said, plucking out one of her own feathers, and flying to the cage door. Sticking the tip of it into the lock hole, Merry moved it around inside in quick, but deliberate motions.

Trixie, seeing what the young mare was doing, figured out what was going on quickly, remembering her father, Abbray Cadabra, was also a magician, and during the times they had crossed paths, had shown a particular knack for escape tricks.

“Merry, you know how to pick locks?!” Trixie said, coming up behind the filly, watching her work, while not knowing the first thing about what she was doing.

Merry shushed the mare, trying to focus on feeling out the locking mechanism, before saying, “It’s the one thing my dad taught me that I was actually interested in. It was the one thing he did that… turned out to be real.”

Trixie asked no more questions, accepting that this was just a fortunate coincidence, which required no further prying into. To the mares in the cage, it sounded like the young mare was the daughter of some legendary thief who was teaching her to be the successor of his craft, which she objected to. Already they were formulating stories about how she was taken in by this grand wizard, and was being taught how to use her talents for good, instead of evil, which only amplified the heroic image they were crafting in their heads for Trixie.

After a short time of turning tumblers, Merry got the door open, and the mares were finally able to escape their confinement. They gave a small celebration of praise to both the blue unicorn, and the young pegasus, happy to be, as far as they believed, brought an end to the horrid things that had been done to them for over a week by the evil cervids that had enslaved them.

Trixie couldn’t help by taking some satisfaction for the praise, and was about to let it go on for as long as she could, but Merryweather was there to remind everypony that things were not over. “We don’t have time for this,” she said, pushing through the crowd, “Those deer could be back any moment, and I still need to get the locks off those two pegasi over there.”

“She’s right,” Trixie agreed, watching the filly make her way to the broken pull shaft, feather in hand, “None of us can stick around here. Let’s wake up this other mare and get out of here.”

The blue unicorn turned away from the crowd, planning on waking up the mare who had been peacefully resting on the side of the road. She made it roughly a few steps, but when the mares took note of what she was about to do, several hands landed on her shoulders.

“Don’t!” said a yellow earth mare with plumb colored, braided pigtails.

“What?” Trixie said as she turned to that mare, since she and a few others were treating this mare as if she was infected with something.

“That there is Crosscut McColt, and her family is what allowed them there caribou creatures to take over the Smokey Mountain region.” the mare replied, speaking in a southern twang that many country ponies had.

A fear grew within Trixie at that statement, and she hastily stepped back. She had seen other ponies aid the caribou, but as far as she was aware it was just stallions. Afterall, why would a mare ever allow themselves to be treated like she had seen?

“Pardon my manners, I’m Hilly Hooffield,” the earth mare said, she and the other ponies holding Trixie releasing her once they saw her stop, “And her clan had always been a bunch of no good crop robbers, but we never expected them to go about kidnappin’ mares and rapin’ them. They were led by Big Daddy McColt, the head of their clan, and they came and took over by force. Made our own menfolk join in on their sinful acts, and handed us right over to the caribou when they arrived. Must have been plannin’ this for months, seeing how quickly they took over, the insidious snakes.”

Trixie had no knowledge of this mare, or the conflict that her clan, and that of Crosscut, had been going through for generations. What she did know is that males all across Equestria had been siding with the caribou en masse, and it did seem like this was some sort of planned event. How else would stallions be so compliant in this?

“Are you sure that she was in on the plan?” Trixie asked, still uncertain, “She could have been forced, just like the rest of the mares.”

“She has to be in on it,” said one of the others, this time a unicorn with a stump where her horn used to be, “She’s wearing one of those red collars.”

“Red collars?” Trixie questioned, looking over to the sleeping mare, spotting a strip of bright red leather just beneath her chin, “Yeah, she has one on, but how does that prove anything?”

“Those caribou use those to sort out which mares are on their side or not,” Hilly said, lifting her neck, “See this?”

The unicorn noted that Hilly’s collar was black, as was that of every other mare there. Even the pegasi that pulled the cart wore black, making Crosscut the odd mare out.

“These are how they mark and punish any mare who wouldn’t willingly spread their legs for them.”

“Punish?” Trixie asked, drawn into the topic of these collars.

“The insides are scratchy,” Hilly said, “And they’ve been cursed to cause stings and aches all the time. At the best of times, you feel like your neck is cramping up, too stiff from being held in one spot for too long.”

“I was given a silver collar at first,” said a pegasus who hadn’t been tasked with guiding the cart, “But they gave me a black one when I wouldn’t stop struggling. It was a bit better than this, less painful, but still restricting. I kept being told how if I did what I was told, I’d get a red collar, and was told how much more comfortable it would be compared to a black one. So I can tell you first hand, only the ones who obey get those red collars as a reward.”

As the black collared mares explained the caribou’s system to Trixie, Crosscut began to stir, finally waking up from her fainting spell. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the mares had been set free, and the caribou were nowhere in sight.

“What’s going on?” she asked, “Were we rescued?”

Hilly, being the first to take note of this, stepped up to the prone mare. “We were rescued,” She said with hatred in her words, “You’re masters ran off scared when this powerful unicorn showed them what she was made of.”

“Wait!” Crosscut said, shifting to sit on her rump, waving her hands around in objection, “You don’t think that I wanted to be enslaved, do you?”

“Save it,” Hilly said, “We see your red collar. We know you’ve been collutin’ with them.”

“This?” Crosscut said, pointing her collar, “I didn’t want this! Big Daddy McColt convinced those deer to give me it for my part in roundin’ up all you Hooffield mares!”

“So you admit it!” yelled another earth mare from the crowd, another Hooffield mare, “You were sidin’ with them caribou al’ alon’!.

“No!” Crosscut refuted, “Big Daddy didn’t know anythin’ about the caribou, I swear. He just told us all that it was ‘time to end the feud once an’ for all’, and had us attack your settlement. I thought that it was just part of our normal fightin’, but then some of your stallions joined in on helpin’ us wrangle up all the mares, an’ by the time the mares on our end took notice, Big Daddy was getting the stallions to tie us up too. I was so confused an’ scared that I didn’t put up a fight.”

“Do you really expect us to believe you?” Hilly said, “After all the evil you McColts have done, you think accusing our clan’s stallions will get you off the hook?”

“Stop for a second,” Trixie said, “Stallions all across Equestria have been going mad. I’ve seen it. City after city, helping these caribou take over. She might not be lying when she’s saying that your clan’s stallions helped, and that her clan’s stallions might have turned on them.”

“Maybe…” said Hilly, knowing from stories told by the other black collars that stallions they trusted had turned on them too, “But that doesn’t excuse that collar on her neck. She can’t be trusted, not any more than the stallions.”

The crowd started to mumble amongst themselves, all united on, or leaning towards, the idea that a red collar mare couldn’t be trusted. The opinions of the mares echoed from one to another, until interrupted by a small, but loud, voice yelling over them.

“What’s going on over here?” Merryweather said, rejoining the crowd after having unlocked the pegasi from their bonds, all save for the collars and wing binders they wore, which had no locks to be removed. “I’m gone for a few minutes, and you’re all arguing to yourselves.”

“We’re not arguing,” Hilly said, “We’re talking ‘bout how this mare here helped the caribou, an’ betrayed Equestria.”

Merryweather looked to Crosscut, and then to Trixie, “Is this true?”

“It looks like it probably is,” Trixie said, “The caribou seem to mark those who fight against them with black collars, and those who join them with red collars.”

“No!” Crosscut pleaded one last time, “I’m tellin’ you, I didn’t help the caribou.”

“Well hero,” Hilly said, looking to Trixie for leadership, “What to you want to do with her?”

Trixie thought long and hard about what she was being asked, and didn’t enjoy this particular decision being hers to decide. If Crosscut was a traitor to Equestria, and a cause for the suffering mares were going through right now, even slightly, then some form of punishment would be justified, but it felt like too much power for a mare who once let power go to her head. On the other hand, the black collared mares could take things a step further than the blue unicorn might if she refused to do something, and she’d hate to see them go too far, especially if Crosscut was telling the truth.

Coming up with an idea that would allow the red collar a way out, that would satisfy the group of mares, Trixie levitated one of the discarded stocks that the pegasi had been using, along with the locks needed to put the two parts together.

“Somepony stand her up,” Trixie said, to which Hilly and another mare gladly obliged, “We aren’t going to hurt you, but it’s clear no pony here is gonna trust you. So for you’re part in helping the caribou, intentional or not, we are going to place you in this stockade, and send you on your way back to the Smokey Mountains.”

Given how no mare in the group was on her side, Crosscut submitted to Trixie’s sentence, giving up on any further attempts to clear her name. To them, the collar on her neck was all these mares needed to know she was guilty, and for some, they didn’t even need that. She allowed Trixie to place the restricting device around her neck and wrists, which Trixie did intentionally poorly, not actually locking the locks, hoping that no pony would notice, except for Crosscut once she got away.

With the device in place, Hilly directed Crosscut to the path back to the Smokey Mountains. “If you hurry up, you might catch up to your masters before they get too far.”

Hilly gave the bound mare one last shove forward to get her going, and after a small pause, Crosscut went on her way. The remaining mares watched her walk into the darkness, only stopping one more time to look back at them all with a sorrowful expression, before continuing her long trek back to the Smokey Mountains, where the caribou Trixie ran off were surely waiting for her.

“Now that we got that out of the way,” Hilly said, no longer seeing any sign of the McColt mare, “What do we do next? Do you have a shelter nearby were we can stay?”

“We…” Merryweather started, finding herself hesitating on telling the mares about the hideaway, finding what happened to the red collar a bit conflicting for her childish sense of morality.

“We don’t, I’m afraid.” Trixie said, her own thoughts saying that there was something wrong with these mares.

Not with the mares themselves, but how they were reacting to this, admittedly stressful, situation. The thought of inviting all these mares into what was supposed to be her own secluded getaway, while they have shown they could turn into an angry mob, was not ideal. If they decided to turn on her, especially once they learned she wasn’t really a high level unicorn, then she could find herself forced out.

“Me and my apprentice were just passing by when we saw you, so we don’t have any place you all can stay. I’m sorry, but you’re on your own from here on out.”

“Can’t we come along with you?” asked a unicorn, “It has to be safer with more ponies together.”

You mean it’s safer for you if a master mage stays around as your bodyguard, Trixie thought, seeing exactly why the mares would want to stick around her, when she has nothing else to offer.

“That’s enough,” Hilly said, seeing that Trixie had no motivation to do any more than she already had, and the unicorn had already done more than enough, “This mare saved us from the caribou, but that doesn’t mean she’s obligated to make sure we’ll be safe after. We’re goin’ to have to take care of ourselves from here on out, an’ iffin that’s a problem, you’re free to leave on you’re own.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Trixie said, honestly glad that somepony else was taking up responsibility.

“Ain’t nothin’,” Hilly replied, “We won’t be able to go back to our homes, but we’ll manage with someplace else till Celestia takes care of those deer creatures. Maybe someplace close to the Undiscovered West.”

“Be careful going that way,” Trixie said, “I’ve heard there are monsters there, unlike any in Equestria.”

“You’re welcome to tag along to make sure we’re safe for a little while longer.” Hilly said, partially joking,

“We can’t. Mares elsewhere need us.” Trixie lied, having little intention to try something like this again.

“Then good luck to you.” said Hilly, accepting that Trixie wasn’t going to be of anymore help.

“Merry, come on.” Trixie said, turning to leave.

“But-” Merryweather replied, still noticing something weird.

“No buts, we’re leaving now.” Trixie insisted.

Since the unicorn mare wasn’t stopping, Merryweather had no choice but to follow, flying after her quickly, and leaving the mares they had saved to figure out where they’d be heading, and what they would do once they got there. Whatever fate awaited them, neither Trixie or Merry would ever know.

The two walked slowly as they headed back to the hideaway, allowing for a quiet moment between them, after all the action and bickering they went through in order to save a few mares from enslavement. Even the woods had gone quiet, as if they too were aware that they too needed time to reflect on everything that had happened to them. About halfway back, Merryweather finally found silence unbearable, and felt that there was something they needed to talk about.

“Why did you do that?” asked the filly.

“Look, I know you probably wanted to invite them into the hideaway,” Trixie said, assuming what the pegasus meant, “But that was far too many mares for us to be comfortable in such a tiny space. We don’t have beds, and only apples as food, so it’s not like the place is very hospitable to begin with. Trust me, this might not look like it, but this is for the best for all of us.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Merryweather said, flying right in front of Trixie, “I mean why did you leave without your dress?”

Trixie looked down at herself, only to find that she only had her underwear on, never having redressed after Merry took her cape. “Oh.” she said, mildly surprised, though amazingly ok with the situation, even though she realized that meant she had been standing in front of a bunch of mares practically naked. “I guess that slipped my mind.”

“Should we go back and get it?” Merry asked, knowing it would mean doubling the time it would take for them to get back to the hideaway.

“It’s ok,” Trixie said, “I’ve got spares, and I really don’t mind walking around like this for a little while.”

If the mare was more honest, she didn’t really see a problem with it at all. There was something strangely liberating about walking around with barely any clothes on. The cool night air on her fur and flesh felt nice, and if anything, what she was wearing felt a little restrictive. If only she could take off the rest of these clothes, and be free to walk around completely exposed to the elements around her.

Nothing was really stopping her, aside from the presence of the filly, but a small voice in her head was whispering to her that no set of eyes looking at her should impede her from showing off her female form. In fact, that someone was there to admire it was all the more reason to do so.

“Merry,” said Trixie, “Did those mares back there being naked bother you?”

“How couldn’t it?” the pegasus replied, “They were only that way because those caribou took their clothes. I bet it's to make them lose morale, or keep mares from fighting back, since they need to cover themselves up… or maybe it’s so they can’t run off without it being too cold for them.”

Trixie had to hold back a laugh. The filly was still unfamiliar to the wonders of sex, and what a female’s naked body was for. She had sneaked a peek at what the caribou did to mares, but could not comprehend that what they did were the actions of pleasure. They were taking their pleasure from the mares, and in turn delivering it upon them, either by choice or by force.

The more Trixie thought about it, the more the idea didn’t seem so bad, and the more she could sympathize with the red collars. What the caribou were doing wasn’t inherently evil. For many a mare, this might have seemed a fantastical turn of events. A chance to explore the depths of their darkest desires, and let loose any pent up urges they had been suppressing under the rule of the prudish princesses.

The caribou certainly seemed happy to satisfy that which a female truly craved, and show them the delights that came with being an insatiable slut, so long as you let them put you in your proper place. Was that right though? Was the proper place for a mare at the end of a dick, bringing pleasure to a male? It certainly sounded appealing, now that she thought about it. A life of ease, acting only to serve your own pleasure, by submitting to a male completely. It was an ideology she was starting to believe she would like to dabble in, perhaps for a moment, before committing to it for a lifetime. Maybe she could even earn herself a red collar if she turned herse-.

“Argh!” Trixie suddenly fell to her knees, holding her head in pain as it became full of thoughts that wasn’t her own. Lustful thoughts that she could tell she shouldn’t be thinking, as the voice that was momentarily a small whisper became so loud she could hardly hear herself think.

“Trixie, are you ok?!” Merryweather said, wondering if something had happened to the unicorn during the ambush, that had slipped by the two of them, and was only affecting her now.

“The… secret… entrance…” Trixie said, not wanting to be out in the open during this time of complete vulnerability.

“Umm…” Merryweather looked around the woods, trying to spot it, though not sure if they were even that close. “I forgot which way it was!”

Trixie, using all the will she could manage, took in her surroundings. It was all blurry, as if she had come down with a sudden illness, and her body was rejecting it. In this state, it was hard to tell one tree apart from another, and thus she was just as lost as the filly.

Merryweather, scared at what she was seeing, feeling helpless at what was going on, could only come to one decision. That Trixie knew her way around the forest before this happened, and thus she had been walking in the right direction. It wasn’t foolproof, but it was the only plan the filly could come up with. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, the pegasus placed herself under Trixie’s arm, pulled it around her neck, and used her wing power to push Trixie back to her hooves.

“Just… A little… Further!” she told Trixie, uncertain if that was true, but willing to say anything to get the unicorn moving again.

Trixie complied with the filly’s wish, and found enough strength to get back up. Luckily, it didn’t take much thought to put one hoof in front of the other.

Another turn of good fortune for the pair was that Merryweather was correct in believing that Trixie knew which way she was going, as while it took them a few more minutes to get back to the hollowed out stone, they did indeed come across it. From there all it took was for Merryweather to open it up, and help the unicorn inside, stopping only to close and lock the entrance behind them.

Trixie, now covered in a thick layer of sweat, panting lightly to herself, took a moment to sit on the floor as the filly secured the entrance. She could hardly concentrate on anything, but that was on purpose. When a thought did come to the forefront of her mind, it was some perverse image of her allowing a male, caribou or otherwise, to treat her like an object of lust.

Thoughts of her presenting her pussy for penetration, or pleading for the privilege to push a penis down her throat, permeated the spaces of her peripheral vision that was usually reserved for the dark void beyond her sight. When she closed her eyes, it was like they’d all swarm in to take the space, not because these images were somehow real and infiltrating her mind, but because they were what she had been thinking ever since the first lewd thought had breached the bubble of her consciousness.

It was like she was viewing the world in lust tinted glasses, where the world had become some hidden innuendo eluding to sex. Every stone, tree, and plant made her think more and more about sex, and in turn drove her to be more horny than she had ever felt prior. Trixie was nowhere near the ideal of some virgin figure of purity. She had lewd thoughts in the past, gone through estrus many a time, and even did the deed with a few stallions prior, but the way that her perception was becoming saturated perverse thoughts, and in such an inappropriate moment as now, told her something was happening that she wasn’t in control of. That she couldn’t even enter the tunnel of her secret entrance, without equating it to the thought of a vaginal tunnel being entered, was sign enough that her thoughts on the matter, as few as she was allowed to have, were true.

“Come on Trixie,” Merryweather said, helping the older mare to her hooves again, “We’ll get you to the couch, you’ll have yourself a nice rest, and then you’ll feel much better.” The filly led Trixie down the path leading back into the hideaway, becoming a bit tired herself after all the effort she put into moving the mare, “And maybe after that, you could cut back on the apples a bit.”

Trixie was too preoccupied with not focusing on anything to either get or be offended by the filly’s joke at her expense. Everything needed to be a blur, lest she lose herself to this intense desire to fuck something building up inside her. Celestia forbid that in this dark tunnel, that only served as a pathway to and from her hideout, that she take that sexual frustration out on the only other thing in it with her.

It took about as much time getting down the tunnel as it did finding the entrance, but once there, Merryweather opened the bookshelf that acted as the passage’s door, and got Trixie inside. “We made it.” she said, before remembering that the bookshelf was on the second floor. “Well, almost… Stay with me, ok?”

“Ok,” Trixie said, saying something to the young pegasus since collapsing to her knees.

“You feeling better yet?” asked Merry, hoping that talking was an indication that the worst was over.

“Actually… yeah…” Trixie didn’t know why, but the images she had been conjuring were starting to slowly recede, vanishing back into the void of her subconscious.

At the very least, no new images were coming to her, which in itself gave her the ability to process the world around her much easier. She assumed whatever had happened to her had reached its limit, and now all she had to do let it pass.

“Hey,” Merryweather said, seeing a gem that was positioned in the center of the ceiling, hanging down from it like an ornamental chandelier, rhythmically light and dim with a dull glow, “What’s that thing doing?”

Trixie wearily looked up, seeing the same thing that Merryweather was, “I don’t know,” she said, “It’s never done that before.”

“As long as it's not a warning for this place to explode, I think we’ll be fine.” Merryweather joked.

“Not funny…” Trixie replied, helping the mare walk her down the steps. This small shelter, hidden from the world under a tree, was practically the mare’s home, and she didn’t want to think of how terrible it would be to lose it.

Once off the steps, the couch wasn’t too much farther away, and Merry was finally able to reach the goal, and set Trixie down on it.

“Thanks a lot, kid,” Trixie said, sincerely showing her gratitude, “You’re a real lifesaver.”

“Oh, come on. It was nothing.” Merryweather replied, “All I did was fly around and point some fireworks. You’re the one who did all the real magic…”

“You’re cutting yourself short,” Trixie said in dispute, “Trixie… No… I’m gonna be honest with you. There were several times I was about to run off and leave those mares, but you wanted to stick it out, and you came up with a plan that made it happen. That’s not even talking about how you knew how to undo those locks, which if I was there alone, they’d still be sitting in that cage. Like it or not, you’re the real hero here.”

Merryweather didn’t know how to react to such praise, coming from a mare she had come to respect. The rosey red hue forming on her cheeks was all that she could do to express her appreciation for all Trixie had done for her thus far.

“I’m gonna go take a shower,” said the filly, trying to escape this slightly embarrassing situation, “All that work got me all dirty. You just try to rest. You might not think it, but you’ve earned it.”

Trixie gave the filly a smile, and obeyed her instructions. She would just lay back, with pleasant thoughts about how a certain young filly thought she was a hero, and wait for all these terrible thoughts to leave her head, completely oblivious to the dark magic that had been inside her, taking up any area of space inside that became absent of magic with each cast of a spell.

It was fortunate, if also unbeknownst to her, that the previous owner of this hidden place had set up protections against evil magic, that gradually ate away at any that entered its space. It would be several days until Trixie would be completely purified, but she’d hardly notice anymore than an errant horny thought, and a bit of fatigue in the between time.

The only thing she did know was that the hideaway had always been a safe place for her, free from the influences of the outside world. It didn’t matter what happened out there, it couldn’t get to her in here. At least, that was what she believed.

Trixie, after a long and taxing day, made it back to the meeting building. The day was long past over, but what happened to her and Lyra was impossible to forget in such a short time.

“Trixie,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Go and get some rest. You’ve earned it.”

“Thanks…” Trixie replied, being reminded about another time when she was told that, the thought not making her feel any better.

“I’m going to make sure Lyra here gets home safely,” the yellow unicorn went on to say.

“Really, you don’t have to put yourself out like that,” said Lyra, “I’m fine now.”

“Nonsense,” Sunset Shimmer rebutted, “No one is ‘fine’ right after being raped. Now I’m walking you home, and that’s final.”

“Ok,” Lyra replied, giving into Sunset’s demand, “I’ll see you later Trixie.”

The other two unicorns stepped back out into the moonlit streets, as Trixie retreated inside. She made no delay, heading straight to her room, the only place the unicorn believed she was safe now. Tossing herself onto the bed provided to her, she took a moment to think about all that had happened, and then to cry to herself once all the emotions of the day finally crashed down upon her. She had been so close to being a victim again, but the blue mare managed to bumble and luck herself out of what should have been a hopeless situation yet again.

She should have been happy for that, and on some level she was glad to have saved Lyra, but even though it was her own talent and quick thinking that got her through this day, her past failures prevented her from believing that truth. So silently Trixie sobbed, lamenting over past victories she didn’t think she earned, and the event that they were all leading to. The one that showed her, beyond a shadow of a doubt in her mind, that she was not only weak and powerless, but also incapable of protecting the one pony who truly believed in her.

So... This has been a chapter I'm been wanting to do for a while, but it might not be the kind of chapter some readers have been expecting. It was supposed to be the first chapter of the FoE story I had in mind after completing the Trixie story, that would have focused more on Luna and Celestia, but I've kinda merged that story into this one at this point, as I worked out in my head how I could take certain parts from that idea, and organically add them to this one.

This chapter, and the one to come after it, is a little bit away from main premise of the story, but it's one that I REALLY wanted to add. It is a chapter that... discuses a certain character created for the setting, featured in the stories "Sun's Setting" and "A Change of Events", written by Twipet, as well as the chapter "A Surprise Visit" from my own story.

Because of this, it would help if you have read these chapters to really understand the character. Having done so myself to research the character, in order to accurately depict her, I have to say while I would want you to indeed read these stories to help you understand many of the scenes here, I would wholeheartedly understand if you didn't, because it took me two days to get through them myself, because I had to take frequent breaks where I took long looks in the mirror to ponder what I was doing with my life.

That said, I do believe the featured character is one worth analysis and discussion, because she, and the stories that had her as the main character, kinda embodies a certain quality I have seen in most original characters for the setting. Maybe a quality I see in a lot of OCs in general.

That aside, if this character study doesn't interest you, then maybe what takes place in the chapter will, and if not, feel free to skip the next two chapters to get back to the Trixie-centric plot. Just consider this a side story that happens during the same time as Trixie's events, that helps to build (or deconstruct) the world of FoE. With that aside, I hope you enjoy.

“Sunrise Splendor? Come with us. Your day in court has come.”

That was what a certain yellow mare with light blue hair heard before being led to a barred carriage, and lifted into the sky by a group of pegasi guards. She had been waiting for this day for a long time. Far too long for a mare of her stature, but more than six months later, she was ready to depart from the cold, miserable city they called ‘Red Town’, leaving behind all the pathetic ponies that had been kept there with her.

Thank the goddesses, they finally got around to me. Now I can leave this horrific chapter of my life behind, and go back to being one of the elites.

This was what the mare thought as she fidgeted in her seat, alone, with only the view of Equestria from above to keep her company. It was aggravating, having to wait to be acquitted for as long as she had, for the simple crime of being a red collar.

Sunrise, like so many others who had obeyed the caribou during the time of the Fall, had been imprisoned by those who had risen up against their conquerors, sequestered away from other ponies until they could be properly sorted into those who had submitted to the caribou out of necessity, and those who were traitors to the kingdom, out for personal gain.

They will see that I’m part of the former, and when they do, it’ll be back to fashion shopping and socializing with rich, important ponies by the end of the week. I’m sure they’ll all welcome me back with open arms.

Sunrise had no doubt in her mind that she’d be found innocent, as the mare knew that she was innocent of everything one might be guilty of. Her only crime, if one could call it that, was that her master had given her a red collar, which to this day had yet to be removed from around her neck. All residents of Red Town had to wear them, to identify that they had not yet been processed by the new Equestrian justice system, and deter them from trying to flee. If they even could get past the guards and fences, where could they go when so clearly marked?

Her collar was special though, a bit different from all others, as it bore on it the runes her master had engraved on them, spelling in Caribraic the name he had forced on her - something that she would be just as happy to discard with the collar, when it was finally removed. Aside from the collar, the ponies of Red Town were given very little. A few sets of clothing, which were washed once a week, a small place of residence, which was to be shared by up to a dozen other mares or stallions, separated by sex, and three meals a day. The mare had become acquainted with nudity, substandard food, and using a pet bed as a sleeping space, but Red Town was in its own way a form of degradation.

Did I really have to stay in that squalor for so long? I can’t wait till I’m able to take a nice, warm bath in peace again.

The mare’s thoughts grew impatient, as she wanted to put this whole affair of the Fall behind her. Getting up from her seat, Sunrise went to the front of her transport, and spoke out the barred window at her escorts. “Excuse me, how long is the ride going to take?”

“Hours,” replied one of the guards, a female pegasus, “You might as well take the time to take a nap. We’ll wake you when we’re almost there.”

Hours?! Where exactly are they taking me?

Those within Red Town knew little about the process of acquittal, as well as anything that happened in the outside world. They knew that the caribou had been defeated and imprisoned, of course, that the princesses had been restored of mind via memory erasing spells, and that there was a new Committee of Ponies who decided how the country was run, but little more reached their ears. All they were ever told was that they would be given a day to explain how they earned their red collars, prove their innocence in the whole mess, and a chance to atone for any wrongs they might have done while wearing them.

And since I didn’t do anything, I should be able to skip the atonement part of the process. Then I’ll finally get back my life, and everything else they took.

Sunrise gazed out the window for a moment, unenthusiastically looking over the mountain tops, before parting the front of her mane to reveal a small stump hidden underneath. The Committee, whoever they were, had not seen it fit to restore the horns or wings of red collared unicorns or pegasi. A measure taken during the reclaiming of Equestria, to prevent them from aiding the caribou, and continued after as a precaution and punishment. From their perspective, red collars gave these things up willingly, so it wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t given them back.

Just one of the many things to look forward to again.

Letting out a sigh, the unicorn finally decided to take up the pegasus’ suggestion, as time would only go by quicker asleep. She laid herself across the carriage seat, and closed her eyes, hoping to dream of all the things she’d do once released.

A knock sounded from the door of the carriage, and Sunrise Splendor’s eyes slowly opened to see a caribou peering in through its window.

“EEP!” the yellow mare yelled, pushing herself along her seat till she was as far away from it as she could get.

For a moment she thought that she was back in the Fall, and her time in Red Town had all been a dream, but looking down to her dress, seeing that it wasn’t some translucent piece of cloth that completely exposed her body, but the simple coverings given to her in to maintain her modesty, the unicorn could tell that she was still in the world she fell asleep in.

“We’re here,” said the pegasus guard, in the middle of undoing their pull harness from their body.

“We are?!” Sunrise said back, “But there’s a caribou here!”

“That’s Gunne,” the pegasus replied, “Honorary lieutenant of the Canterlot Guard.”

Sunrise’s fear slowly dispelled itself upon hearing that name, as it was one that she knew well. Most red collars had heard of it, and many of the ones loyal to the caribou despised it, seeing as he was the one who aided Big Macintosh and Applejack put an end to the caribou regime.

Oh… it’s him.

The caribou stag opened the door, standing to the side of it. “Sunrise Splendor, step out of the carriage.”

The unicorn did as instructed, moving herself across the seat, stepping out onto hardened cement. Standing on solid ground after being up in the air for who knew how long, the first thing she did was look at the caribou wearing traditional Equestrian guard armor, tailored to his size and without the helmet, who returned her gaze with a glare that shot right through her. Sunrise wilted under the weight of the stag looking down upon her, his unsmiling face looking at her with all the scrutiny a caribou male would give a mare during the Fall.

“Put your arms out in front of you,” Gunne commanded, further displaying that he was, in fact, a caribou.

Oh, what now?

Sunrise extended her arms in front of her, displeased that she had to take orders from this caribou. In return, Gunne placed a set of cuffs on her wrists, linked together by a small chain, which had connected to it a wire tether that led back to the caribou, coiled several times around his wrists.

“I’ll be escorting you to the Committee for your hearing.” Gunne explained, testing the cuffs to ensure they were in place, “Once there, they will ask you a series of questions, and bring up evidence against you. You are to answer them honestly, and to the best of your ability. Your behavior during this, and the testimony you give, will determine if you will be acquitted, or given a sentence.”

“There’s no jury?” Sunrise questioned, “Shouldn’t I get judged by a group of my peers?”

Gunne stayed silent for a moment, as if considering to disregard the mare’s question, but after giving a heavy exhale, said to her, “It has been deemed that there is no jury in Equestria who would be impartial enough to allow any red collar, innocent or not, walk free. Thus, the Committee of Ponies has taken it upon themselves to pass judgment on each red collar and potential traitor stallion personally. This is about as fair and impartial of a trial that you will get.”

“And what about a lawyer?” asked Sunrise, “I presume I still get one.”

“Only if you’d like to be found guilty,” Gunne replied, “It has been found several times that all Equestrian law ponies, or at least ones who were not traitors or ponies in your position, have a vendetta against those who submitted to my kind, to the point that they would sabotage their cases. As you might understand, this would lead to your conviction if they succeeded, thus in order to keep things fair for those on trial, the Committee is not allowing lawyers to be present.”

You’ve got to be kidding me… Is Equestria so biased against red collars now that they would send an innocent mare to jail?

“As much as I’d like to say otherwise, you have nothing to fear if you truly regret being a red collar.” Gunne assured, “The Committee has been very fair with mares, given the circumstances they had to endure. All you have to do is tell the truth.”

Sunrise couldn’t help but feel like this was all being stacked against her, and that there might have been no way that she could get out of this without receiving unjust punishment. News of the ponies who left Red Town never made it back there, but it was hard to believe that it might be because the Committee handed out unfair judgments.

“Do know that even if found guilty, you can still be given a light sentence, based on the severity of your crimes. Likewise, an innocent verdict might not come without some caveat.” As he said this, Gunne undid the coiled tether on his arm, “Wait here momentarily. I have business with the other guards before I see you to where your hearing will take place.”

The caribou went over to the two pegasi, who by now were completely detached from the carriage, speaking about something that didn’t concern Sunrise - at least not when she had something she deemed more important to take in. As from the moment she stepped outside the cart, she knew exactly where she was.

I’m back in Canterlot! In the courtyard of the royal palace!

Canterlot. Sunrise had always considered it her home away from home, until it finally was. It took her a long time to become the elite mare she always dreamed of being as a foal, but hard work and sucking up to the right people eventually earned her the status she rightfully deserved, only to have it torn away in the blink of an eye.

I can’t believe that they changed everything back so quickly.

The courtyard before Sunrise’s eyes was one fully restored, filled with nicely kept flower gardens, statues of mares and stallions in respectable poses and cheerful smiles on their faces, and a flowing fountain as the centerpiece of this beautiful space.

When the caribou were in charge, those statues were replaced with depictions of mares in submissive positions, exposing their bodies in provocative display that showed off the space between their legs and the assets they bore on their chests, while the fountain had been converted to one of the four alicorns kneeling with their legs spread, chests pushed out, and hands behind their heads, water pouring perpetually from their slits and nipples, their sculpted faces in an image of frozen euphoria.

She still remembered when the gardens had been converted for spaces where living, breathing slave mares would be bound, for the visual enjoyment and use of any guard or guest on the premises. Sunrise had never been put into that position herself, but she had seen many a maid mare publicly rutted while stuck in a pillory, and at the time ex-guardmares bound to X-racks so they could do nothing to prevent their former squadmates from using them as the caribou intended.

“So if you hear any disturbances,” Gunne said, addressing the two pegasus guards, Sunrise shifting her ear to catch the tail end of whatever the caribou needed to tell them, “Inform the council immediately. We don’t expect them to be here, but everyone is to be on high alert until they are found.”

“Right,” the ponies said with the coordination one would expect from the royal guard.

With that, Gunne returned to the unicorn, “I will take you to see the Committee now. Follow me, and don’t fall behind. They will want to see you as soon as the trial they are attending is done.”

“Of course, lead the way.” Sunrise replied, her initial shock of the caribou subsiding.

With the mare’s agreed compliance, the two went through the front doors of the palace, into the main hall. Sunrise couldn’t help but notice that it too had been completely reverted, or at the very least no caribou inspired decor remained. Shackles that had been bolted on locations of the wall had been removed, the holes they left behind plastered over. Paintings of male domination, either of the caribou king and his council, or of historical pony figures in re-imagined depictions, were removed, and in their stead were ones of more traditional pony history. It might have all been the originals, reclaimed from corrupt art collectors who took them as payment from Dainn for their part in the takeover of Equestria, or for perpetuating their propaganda. Sunrise knew of one stallion who had forged fake findings of artifacts, in order to make it seem like ancient Equestria shared the same values as the caribou, who’s payment was only in such artworks, worthless to the caribou, but priceless to a pony.

The two ascended the center steps of the main hall to the second floor, and it was at this time that Sunrise noticed that despite being reverted back to its former glory, the palace was amazingly devoid of life. No servants, no guards, and no aristocracy or dignitaries wandering the halls.

I guess not everything has returned to the way it was. Most ponies must still be dealing with the aftermath. Shame, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some of my old associates.

While it was disappointing that there was no sign of any ponies, this did make for a unique opportunity that she didn’t want to pass up.

“Mister caribou, is it possible that I could ask you a question?” she asked, displaying a bit of coy playfulness in her curiosity.

“I will have no answers for you that the Committee cannot provide.” the stag replied, keeping his eyes forward.

“I don’t think that’s true,” she followed up, “Tell me… Did it trouble you to betray your brethren.”

Gunne’s stoic demeanor broke, his head twisting to look at a now smirking yellow unicorn who mocked him with such a question. While caught off guard by the mare’s accusatory question, he was not entirely unprepared when it came to a retort. “Did it trouble you when you ordered mares into the re-education facilities?”

“So you do remember me,” Sunrise said, pleased to see a stag of his infamy had not forgotten her, “I was almost worried the poor state of my appearance was too much to be recognized.”

“I don’t remember you,” replied Gunne, clearly annoyed that a mare had pried an emotion out of him, “I remembered that collar. Few slaves were rewarded with something so ornate. In fact, if my recollection is correct, you were the only one.”

“My master did have a special place for me in his heart,” said Sunrise Splendor, “And the authority to get me this unique collar - though don’t mistake that to mean I didn’t hate what he did to me.”

“Oh, I’m sure you despised the times he punished you,” said Gunne, “Treated you as ‘less than’, gave you what a female deserves, and nothing more.”

“Careful there,” Sunrise said, “Project anymore, and I might think you were jealous of a mare like me, who was treated better by a stag than you ever had.” Gunne paused, making the mare believe she had struck her target. “Did I upset you?”

“No,” Gunne said, pointing to a door, “You were about to pass by the trial room.”

Sunrise gave to the door a cursory glance, before widening her eyes in surprise. “This is the door to the hallway that leads to the throne room.”

“Throne rooms are for monarchs and kings,” Gunne said, leaving out the gender opposed versions of these rulers, “Equestria no longer operates under the absolute rule of a single leader, and thus, it was changed. Now take a seat and wait your turn.”

Sunrise had to look around, but there were several cushioned, wooden chairs opposite the door. Having taunted the caribou to her satisfaction. As she took her seat though, Gunne added one final comment of his own. “And realize this, mare. Just because your master held you in higher regard than me, despite you being a female and I being a male, it doesn’t mean he saw any value in you either. It merely proves that he did a terrible job as your master.”

“Sour grapes,” Sunrise said, seeing herself the victor in this exchange. She was certain that many other ponies would have loved to see her outwit a caribou, and once she got back to civilization, she would gladly recount this tale to all her esteemed colleagues.

If this whole thing isn’t rigged against me.

At that moment, the door the unicorn was facing opened wide, and out of it came a small contingent of guards, bringing with them a pastel green mare, who was strangely facing the other direction.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” the mare was yelling back down the hall, tears flooring profusely from her eyes. “I will never forget the mercy you have given me this day!”

“Please miss, this way” a guard said, before gently directing the mare to turn around, revealing this mare to be a unicorn, one with a horn atop her head. Not just any unicorn, but one that, even through the tears, Sunrise recognized.

“Spring Flower?” Sunrise said, seeing a mare from her past. One she knew to be a red collar, but now without a collar around her neck.

The mare didn’t notice her in return, too caught up in her own affairs to see the other unicorn as the two guards guided her down the path that Sunrise had just come from, meaning she was being led out of the castle.

So it’s not rigged against truly innocent red collars. If anything, the Committee is very lenient on who they release of their crimes against other ponies. I will get this stupid collar off my neck!

The yellow unicorn was ecstatic now, knowing that soon she’d be like a phoenix burning bright in the sky, flying away from the ashes of the Fall unschathed. If Sunrise wasn’t the dignified and refined mare she was, then she might have got up and did a little dance.

“Is this the next one?” one of the guards said, speaking to Gunne.

“Indeed,” he said in return, uncoiling the tether from his arm completely, to hand it off, “And Sunrise… When you see me again, I hope for your sake that you are a better mare than you were on the way here.”

I must have gotten to him good. The unicorn thought as Gunne took his leave. But even he expects me to come out of this uncollared.

“Sunrise Splendor,” said the guard that was holding her lead.

“Yes sir?” Sunrise responded, though knowing she was next in line to get an audience with the Committee of ponies.

“Stand up, and follow us into the trial room. From there, the Committee will see you, and you will be asked a series of questions.”

“Yes, yes, the caribou already told me,” Sunrise said, wanting to get inside as quickly as she could. The sooner she was in, the sooner she would return to the streets of Canterlot.

“So long as you are aware of the process,” said the guard, doing an about face to lead her into the former throne room.

The length of the hallway seemed doubled, due to the anticipation Sunrise was feeling. It was almost arousing, this feeling filling her being. She equated it to the excitement one got when sharing a bed with a lover the first time, which she had only done four times in her life, or three if not counting her former master.

The yellow mare had to pass through one more set of doors at the end of the hall, but once she was able to see them, she was able to see what they had done with the once majestic throne room, where kings and princesses had dictated their word as law.

The room was a bit dark, with all the stained glass windows covered by thick drapes that shrouded the imagery usually depicted on them. To make up for this, several light orbs produced by magic were placed around the chamber, giving off enough dim light for the occupants to see everything. The throne itself had been removed completely, though the platform that held and its steps had not. In the place of the regal seat was a long, wooden structure, akin to what a judge would sit behind, but big with enough room to fit seven ponies, who were all present. Sunrise found herself in awe of the ponies behind this bench, recognizing most as she was brought to a podium at the center of the room.

By the goddesses, it’s… the goddesses!

At the center of the seven pony group, sat the two alicorn sisters, Luna and Celestia, though the princess of night was sitting at the very center, while sun princess sat to her right, both returned the regal visages they were known for prior to the Fall, with unbroken horns and fully feathered wings. It had been some time since Sunrise had seen them like this.

To the right of Celestia was another recognizable and important face, as the Wonderbolt Captain, Spitfire, sat, accompanied by… an earth mare. A purple mare that Sunrise believed she recognized, but didn’t know.

Was she a red collar?

Sunrise really wasn’t sure, as it was hard to keep track of every pony, seeing how many red and black collars she had encountered while enslaved.

Guess they don’t have any qualms in letting a mare like her into a position of power.

On the other side, left of Luna, was another familiar face, Prince Shining Armor. While the unicorn mare was happy to see him, his expression didn’t seem to share the sentiment, as he wore a scowl that looked like it had been there for some time.

He probably doesn’t remember me, now that he’s free from the Crystal Cock’s spell and sees me as just another red collar.

Beyond him were two others, a pegasus in guard armor, and an earth pony stallion who looked better fit on picking carrots from the dirt than in the position of power he was in.

They must be important if they are in those seats though. Must have been something I missed while I was in Red Town. I have a lot to catch up on.

Once settled into her place, the guard that brought Sunrise in undid her cuffs and took a place against the wall furthest from the bench, the others that had guided the mare in joining them. It was at this time that Princess Luna leaned forward ever so slightly, having to look down at the red collared mare standing before her.

“Will the pony at the podium please state their name?” she said.

“I am Sunrise Splendor, your highness.” the mare answered, grabbing the sides of her skirt, performing a small curtsy for the court.

Luna closed her eyes for a moment, looking like she was mentally preparing herself for what was ahead, acting as speaker for the Committee for this hearing. “Sunrise Splendor, are you aware why you are here today?”

“To help clear my name of any misdeeds I’m believed to have done during my time as a red collar.” she stated, truthful in the reasons she believed she was there.

“It’s more to give testimony about your activities during the Fall, which will include clarifying and confirming certain details we believe we know.” Luna said, which to Sunrise sounded like a different way to say the same thing she had said. “For starters, would you be so kind as to name the creature, or creatures, who owned you.”

You know damn well who owned me.

There was no way they didn’t know who Sunrise belonged to, but she saw what this was. A simple question to see if she was dishonest. “My master was Vestri, second in command to Dainn, and his tactical advisor.”

No one was surprised to hear the name of the caribou, as they were, indeed, aware who held Surise’s leash when enslaved.

“As part of my duties though,” Sunrise added, “I had to serve as a sex slave to all of Dainn’s council.”

“That does match the evidence and testimony that we have acquired.” Luna replied, proving Sunrise’s assumptions.

“Your majesty, if I may. What exactly is this evidence and who gave this testimony?” If there was any form of due process left in this legal system, then she had the right to know these things.

“We were going to get to that,” Luna said, “We just wanted to make sure we were dealing with the right pony first. Cheerilee, would you please relay what evidence we have found on Sunrise Splendor.”

The purple mare leaned over to her side, and then lifted two books up into view, ones with covers that Sunrise recognized on the spot - namely because they both had her image upon them.

“We have acquired these two books, printed and published during the Fall, with you credited as the author.” announced the earth mare.

Sunrise was a little surprised to see these two books, ones that she did indeed write. Most items created during the Fall had been destroyed, the enraged citizens of Equestria wanting to get rid of anything related to the caribou. Sunrise had expected copies to still exist, in the private collection of a pony who could see their value, but she would not have expected to see these novels here.

“The first book,” Cheerilee explained, “Is titled ‘Sun’s Setting’, and it is a story of how you were visiting your parents in the city of Lindisbarne during a celebration, and how that led to your capture, enslavement, and eventually becoming the first of all red collar mares. It also goes into some details that we, The Committee of Ponies, were not aware of prior to reading. This includes how the caribou took over the town of Lindisbarne, how the mayor of the city conspired with them to aid in their takeover, how they came up with their collar system, and the existence of an experimental caribou rune that was used on you, having mind-controlling properties.”

Sunrise listened carefully to the purple mare’s summary, and while it left out certain details, she figured that these were the details most important for this trial.

“The second book,” Cheerilee continued, “Is titled ‘A Change of Events’, depicting you well within the events of the Fall. It starts off with a day in your life, in which you have a surprising amount of liberty to do as you wish, a privilege no doubt bestowed on you by your master, Vestri. This includes being given free time to walk around the seized city of Canterlot unchaperoned, the ability to hold and spend money, and the ability to arrange deals with males without consulting your master first. It also reveals that you took up a role as a mare who would convince and train other females to become red collars.”

“This subject in particular we would like to discuss at some point of this hearing,” said Luna, “Seeing that by your account in this book, this job was one that held a lot of authority over the fates of those you evaluated. You also claimed that you were very successful in converting many mares into Red Collars, all of which either have or will be standing in the very spot you are now, which some may or might not receive a favorable verdict from us.”

Yeah… I can see how they might have a problem with all those success stories I had.

“The second part of the book,” Cheerilee went on to say, “Shows you being punished by Vestri by sending you to a facility for a week or so where state owned mares were forced to fill out and file paperwork that the caribou felt was beneath a male to do, while living in the subpar conditions that these work mares were subjected to. Both of these things were, if your writing accurately conveyed your feelings, considered unbearable by you.”

“I believe we can all agree that what the caribou put females through was far from enjoyable.” Sunrise replied.

“Along with these two books, we have acquired a number of the testimonies from mares who interacted with you during that time.” Cheerilee continued, “Too many to relay at once, though we will inform you who made what testimony as it becomes relevant. We also have a witness in waiting, but on the chance that their in-person testimony not be needed, we will keep their identity anonymous until we have no other option but to bring them forward.”

That might have been a problem for the yellow mare, as despite all her good intentions as a red, there were a few who held a resentment towards her due to her being Vestri’s personal pony pet. Sunrise was wondering who this mystery pony was as well, and what they could say against her, but it was likely just some Black Collar that she had sent to a re-education facility, saved before the caribou could finish their retraining properly.

“Each of these testimonies, both written and in person, are from ponies you have named in your books, since we had confirmation from your own account that they had contact with you personally, or from reliable sources who we assume have no reason to lie about what you have done.” Cheeliree finished, explaining the details about how the Committee obtained their evidence the best she could.

“That is generally what we have to work with,” said Luna, “Though before we begin, we wish to state that the Committee of Ponies is very aware that most Fall published books have embellished accounts of what happened, caused by extreme censorship and scrutiny that the caribou put on all works created during their rule, which often led to events in them not being told how they really happened. Thus, we will give you the option right now to have these books tossed out completely if you feel they would be an unfair or non-authentic depiction of how you acted during the Fall. This would, however, leave us with only the testimonies and your service to Vestri as key points to base your evaluation on.”

I’m glad that being Vestri’s pet granted me some creative license when it came to what got published. I know the books were printed with the exact content I meant to have in it. It might show some bad points, but there are far more times that show the better side of me.

“I don’t want the books to be left out,” Sunrise replied, “I’ve read them after printing, and they depict what happened very well, with only a few exaggerations here or there to appease the caribou. If there is anything that’s off, I’ll be more than happy to explain why it's that way.”

The Committee looked to one another, and exchanged a series of nods with Princess Luna. Once they all seemed in agreement, they returned their attention to the unicorn. “Then allow us to say that we too have taken it upon ourselves to read these books, and have pieced together some questions we feel are important to ask, based on what they had to tell.”

“Of course,” answered Sunrise to the statement, “That’s why we’re here.”

“But before we proceed,” said Celestia, speaking for the first time since the start of the proceedings, “There is something that Luna and I feel we need to clarify to you first.”

“What’s that, your majesties?” Sunrise asked, as the details thus far had been laid out fairly well thus far.

“While reading your stories,” the white alicorn continued, “We found that you placed an alarming amount of importance on both me and Princess Luna - referring to us on multiple occasions as ‘goddesses’, and going so far as to pray to us to save you from the caribou.”

“Unless this is one of the embellishments,” Luna added, “Which we assume not, seeing how the caribou would never purposefully allow a female to be spoken of with such reverence - this is most disturbing.”

“Why is that?” Sunrise asked, not seeing the issue. The alicorns were the highest authority in the lands, with power far above normal ponies. That, and their long lives, implied some form of divinity.

“While you would not be the first to make that mistake,” Celestia said, “There is nothing godly about Luna and I. We both have great magic at our disposal, and have lived for over a thousand years, but we are as mortal as any other inhabitant of Equestria. That you would assume that we have some manner of divine authority, and that we could listen in on your prayers to be saved, puts a standard of expectation on us that we can’t possibly live up to.”

“We are curious what the title of ‘goddess’ even means to you,” Luna said, the slightest bit of annoyance leaking from her lips, “As in your second book, you are still calling us by that title, despite it being long into the Fall, and you wrote about us being bound together in a lewd depiction. Do you believe that ones so defeated match your ideal of a ‘goddess’, and if so, what did that make the caribou, our conquerors, in your eyes?”

Sunrise blanched at that explanation of why it was improper to address the two alicorns as goddesses, her skin growing a shade paler under her fur. “My apologies, your majesties. Now that you’ve put it like that, I can see how that could offend.”

Sheesh, try to complement a pony…

“Now that we have gotten that out of the way,” Luna said, her tone reverting to a more indifferent one, “We believe questioning can begin. I’m sure you have been informed, we expect you to be truthful at all times. If we catch you in a lie, it will only make us doubt the validity of any other answers you may provide.”

“I understand,” Sunrise replied, “I will be sure to answer with absolute honesty.”

“Very well,” said Luna, giving a nod as if to acknowledge Sunrise’s agreement to that term, “Then I have a question that has bothered me from the moment that I finished your books.” The alicorn leaned forward, slipping her fingers between one another as she clasped her hands together, “Who are you?”

Sunrise heard the three word question, and immediately became confused. Didn’t I already answer that question? The unicorn had already given her name. Was the alicorn senile?

“It’s Sunrise Splendor, your majesty.” she answered, just in case, “That was the first question you asked of me.”

“I remember what you said,” Princess Luna replied, “But we of the Committee have been questioning who ‘Sunrise Splendor’ is, as Sunrise Splendor doesn’t seem to exist before the Fall.”

Sunrise’s irises shrunk a minute amount upon hearing those words, her heart speeding up ever so slightly to match it. She had not anticipated a statement, one that should have been so absurd that no one would ever utter it, to be directed to her.

“What do you mean by that?” Sunrise said, keeping her cool when presented with this strange accusation, “Clearly I existed before the Fall, else I wouldn’t be here.”

“The princess didn’t say that you didn’t exist,” said Shining Armor, taking a turn to speak, “She said ‘Sunrise Splendor’ didn’t. It was really odd reading your story, and all the details you claimed about yourself. Frequently, you brought up how you lived in Canterlot.”

“Which I found strange,” Celestia interjected, “Because I’m the one who had approved all property acquisitions in Canterlot, and made efforts to know those who lived there on at least a casual level.”

“You also called yourself one of the ‘elites’,” Shining continued, “But for a pony that was supposed to have such notoriety, no pony had ever heard of you.”

“I certainly hadn’t,” Spitfire chimed in, as she could be classified as an ‘elite’ of the time herself “And while I didn’t really pay attention to what rich ponies were into, I did go to major social events, and I’ve never noticed somepony like you.”

Are you fucking serious!? Each of these ponies are insisting I wasn’t an elite!

“What’s more,” Shining said, taking over again, “You name-dropped a lot of ponies in your books, which gave us leads to try and confirm your identity. Fancy Pants was one of your more notable references, and you spoke of him as if you knew him personally. So we asked him, and he said that he was introduced to you by his, at the time, wife, Fleur de lis, but that this was only a few months prior to the Fall. He also mentioned that it was about this time that he and Fleur started shifting their lifestyle to one more attuned to that of a caribou, suggesting that you played a part in his corruption. I had a similar experience with you myself, only meeting you when you were already a caribou slave. I remember you trying to get in close with Princess Cadence back then, and I believe she was the one who introduced you to Fleur.”

“Then what are you trying to suggest?” Sunrise asked, her fingers tensing up as she gripped the top on her podium.

“We had several theories,” Cheerilee said, “The first was that you were a Blank. That you had been implanted with false memories by Vestri to see yourself as an elite mare, as we could see that he would only ever accept the best of the best being good enough for him, even if he had to craft it himself.”

“Seeing your reactions to the accusation,” Luna said, noticing the more visible twitches Sunrise made, “We can see that’s not the case, as Blanks tend to be less reactive to the things that should instill intense emotion in them. That you are showing such strong signs of emotion, unprompted, is enough to remove that from our list of theories.”

“But there were a few other clues in your books that allowed us to look at other avenues.” said Celestia, finishing her sister’s thought.

Impossible…

“The first was the most obvious approach. We looked for your parents, who you mentioned by name.” Celestia said, lifting up a small piece of paper to read off of, “Sun Streamer and Ocean Waves, mother and father respectively. We unfortunately couldn’t locate them, possibly because of how scattered across Equestria ponies have become in the aftermath of this national tragedy… At least we sincerely hope that’s the case.”

“However, we did have another lead on your origin,” said Luna, “As you mentioned that you originally lived in Fillydelphia. So we sent a representative to ask anypony who lived there pre-Fall, and we did find ponies who remembered your parents had lived there… along with a child named ‘Sunny’.”

Sunrise gritted her teeth at the mention of that name.

That name. I can’t believe that name follows me everywhere.

“This wasn’t really a revelation to us,” said Cheerilee, “In your book, not only do your parents call you this, but so did your aunt at the very start of the story, much to your displeasure. Even Vestri calls you this, unprompted, as if he just knew it. Supposedly, it’s also what the runes on your collar say in Caribraic. If you’d like, we could bring in Gunne to confirm this.”

“There is no need for that,” Sunrise said, “The runes do say ‘Sunny’, but if you read my books, you should already know that Sunny is a nickname my family called me by, and that he gave me that awful name after hearing my original name was Sunrise. It was meant to belittle me, take away my name, and give me one of his choosing.”

“It seems like a mighty big coincidence that he happened to pick that name out of a hat,” said the earth pony stallion, finally having something to say, “‘Specially when ya seem to hate it as much as ya do.”

“Braeburn is right,” said Spitfire, “For a simple nickname, you sure seem to think being called it was the worst thing the caribou could have done to you. That’s after he attacked you, stripped you of your clothes, and was shoving a buttplug into you.”

“It’s because I’ve been called that name by everypony since I was a foal.” Sunrise answered, “That’s probably why all the ponies who knew my parents brought it up in the first place. My name is Sunrise though. If you don’t believe me, then find a pony who knew me as an adult.”

“We don’t doubt that you called yourself Sunrise later on in your life,” said Celestia, “Which is fine, as ponies often change their names at important moments of their lives, and we will respect your choice to change it. The only question is how long it has been since that point. We do think this has solved the mystery of your origin though.”

Sunrise gave a hum of disapproval, “This really wasn’t some big secret. I grew up in Fillydelphia, and moved to Canterlot when I got older, after my parents moved to Lindisbarne. That you had to pry this deeply into my past, just to get something I could have told you.”

“Then why didn’t you just tell us?” said Shining Armor.

“Cause it’s personal,” Sunrise said, “And I really don’t see how this has anything to do with my time as a red collar.”

“We just found it strange,” Luna said, “That a mare who described themselves so highly couldn’t be remembered by anyone they claimed to know. That led to us delving deeper. However, while we now have a better idea of where you came from, this does not explain why no one knows about ‘Sunrise Splendor’ pre-Fall. We do have a theory on that matter as well, but you are right. This has little to do with what happened during the Fall.”

“Then with respect to the court, can we please stick to that?” Sunrise said, visibly irritated, though slowly returning to a more neutral state. “I want to be of help, but you’re accusing me of hiding my past, when that has nothing to do with the caribou or my involvement with the council.”

“We’ll set this aside, for now.” Luna said, “Though if the topic becomes relevant, we reserve the right to touch on it again.”

“It won’t,” Sunrise assured.

Not wanting to press further on the subject, the Committee prepared for the next line of questioning, this time only concerning events during the Fall.

Sunrise Splendor was allowed a minute to recompose herself, the question of her identity having set her off so much that the Committee thought that she deserved a small recess.

How frustrating. I thought this was about trying to explain what the caribou did to me, not about something so unrelated as where I was born, or who I was prior to them enslaving me. It’s ok though. Just ignore it and move on.

Forcing a smile, Sunrise faced the Committee, and announced, “I’m ready to continue, so long as we are done accusing me of faking my identity.”

“We’ll discuss other things,” Luna replied, “It’s about time we touched on your activities as a red collar. Before we go in depth though, we’d like to talk about a certain quality about yourself that you stated in your books. You seem to see yourself as a bit of a gossip, yes?”

“I did enjoy learning about the affairs of other ponies.” Sunrise answered, “There’s nothing wrong with a little gossip here and there, and the high class pony elite love hearing the latest news on one another.”

“And we take it that you still consider yourself a gossip,” Celestia said, “Since we have a bit of testimony from many a mare that you continued to spread rumors during the Fall.”

“Princess, the Fall never changed that aspect of myself,” Sunrise said with no shame, “I used to talk to as many ponies as I could about what was going on across Equestria. I made it a priority to know as much as I could. It was one of the few advantages of being Vestri’s personal pet, as he brought me into Dainn’s council meetings frequently, and I knew pretty much everything that went on all across the kingdom. I wouldn’t be surprised if I let slip important details about the caribou’s actions that eventually made their way to rebels, and let them succeed in their activities. Perhaps my loose lips are what helped Equestria survive their occupation, not that I’d claim that with any certainty.”

“Would you say that you ever did the opposite?” Spitfire asked, “Give out false information in the hopes that it would spread?”

Somepony doesn’t know how gossip works.

“If I ever spread false information,” Sunrise said, “Then it's only because I was drip-fed it from the caribou. Otherwise, everything I said was one-hundred percent true.”

“Including your various misdeeds?” Luna asked, the question creating a foreboding air in the chamber.

“... Come again?” Sunrise said, trying to think of what Luna meant by that.

“For instance,” Cheerilee said, flipping through some papers, until she found a particular one, “We have testimony from a particular mare that you claimed to be the reason the caribou’s takeover went so smoothly, talking about how you convinced a mare by the name of Rarity, who we all assume you know was a mare who wielded one of the Elements of Harmony, into working on a massive order for her boutique on the day of the caribou invasion. This prevented her from being present, and thus made it impossible to use the Elements against the caribou at the time. Is it true that you said this?”

Sunrise's skin blanched again, so deeply that one could see her turn white under her fur, as she realized that this particular bit of gossip was something that, while very impressive in a kingdom run by the caribou, massively hurt her in one where the caribou had been toppled.

Shoot! Who in Tartarus did I tell that to?!

The unicorn cycled through her mind about what bits of information she had told who, but she had gossiped so much during the Fall that there was no telling who or how many mares she had relayed this previously proud moment of hers to.

“I’m really not sure,” Sunrise replied, “I mean it sounds like something that could have been misconstrued from me saying that I knew Rarity.”

“Did you know Rarity before or after the caribou enslaved you?” Shining Armor asked, slipping in a question he felt was relevant.

“Um… Before, though not on a personal level. Just meeting her at parties held in Canterlot.” Sunrise said, trying to recall how she remembered it, “But wait, who even made this claim that I was the one who kept Rarity from the invasion? It could have been anyone saying anything to get me in trouble.”

“The one who gave this testimony was Applejack,” Cheerilee said, which seeing as the mare had played a direct part in bringing the Caribou’s reign to an end, needed no further explanation of who she was, “She said that Vestri conducted a surprise inspection of her behavior, and put you in charge of it, during which you went out of your way to tell her that you were the one responsible for not only deterring Rarity, but that by doing so, you ensured she became a red collar.”

Sunrise swallowed hard, as a testimony from Applejack was one that the Committee would take as truth, being the Element of Honesty or not. This was the first bit of evidence that was strictly against Sunrise’s character, and implicated her as the sole reason the caribou’s plan succeeded.

“Fortunately for you,” Celestia said, going over her own papers, “We have reason to believe that your participation in this matter, and many others, has been greatly exaggerated. Speaking to other ponies involved, Rarity stated that while she certainly remembers meeting you during the time she was given the order, it was Fleur who had placed the order, saying that it was for a group of ‘foriegn dignitaries with exotic tastes’, the clothing they requested she make being the erotic and exposing kind mares would be made to wear, if allowed any at all.”

This addendum to the facts was conflicting to Sunrise, as while it alleviated her involvement in the caribou’s victory in Canterlot, it also made her part in the whole affair much less important. In this particular moment, she had to allow it to be the case, since to do otherwise would be suicide for her case.

“Looking back, I suppose I did put more importance in the part I played,” Sunrise reluctantly confessed, “But seeing how I was the caribou’s connection to the high society of Equestria, my mind probably skipped a few steps, which led me to taking full credit.”

Shining made a disgruntled noise at the unicorn mare’s claim, but said nothing against it.

“To be honest,” Celestia said, “We don’t believe that Rarity being there or not would have made any difference, as another account from Applejack said that the element wielders were separated from one another almost immediately, as half of them were captured in the first moments of the invasion. To place so much importance, positive or negative, on Rarity being present was fairly ridiculous to begin with. This is something we’ve had to discuss with Rarity herself.”

“However…” Luna said, “What seems to also have come from this is that in the process of manipulating Rarity to not be at the event, you did play a part in another event.”

“This information came from Rarity herself,” said Cheerilee, “And seeing her own red collar status, we have to treat it with a bit of scrutiny, but apparently, after finalizing her deal with Fleur, you gave her a small crystal fragment as a gift, with the implication that she should give it to a dragon she knew, by the name of ‘Spike’.”

“Spike being a dragon that helped defeat Sombra, and that the residents of the Crystal Empire saw as a hero.” Shining Armor said, having some direct knowledge of the topic.

“She accepted it, not wanting to offend you,” Cheerilee continued, “But had no intention of giving it to Spike, as she felt something was off about it, and instead shoved it into a dresser for safekeeping. This, unfortunately, didn’t prevent Spike from finding it, and upon eating the gem, he became corrupted by the caribou’s ‘Crystal Cock Enchantment’, in a similar manner as the stallions.”

“Do you deny this accusation?” Luna asked.

I can’t believe that, after all this time, Rarity is still causing trouble for me.

“Of course I deny it.” Sunrise said in protest, “The whole thing is preposterous, and sounds like Rarity trying to shift blame onto another pony. There are far too many parts of this that don’t line up. She takes a crystal from me, which I supposedly told her specifically to feed to some random dragon, only to not do so herself, yet still keep the gem in a place where he could find it?”

“So you believe that Rarity told this story to remove herself of guilt?” Celestia asked.

“Of course. Why else would she pin her mistake on me, who was conveniently the sex slave of the caribou council, and would be seen as guilty by default.”

“Then it might surprise you to hear that Rarity has accepted all blame for the corruption of Spike the Dragon.” Celestia replied, causing Sunrise to do a double take as she didn’t believe her ears, “She admitted that she handled the situation inappropriately, and should have discarded the crystal, or refused it outright. These might be her thoughts in hindsight, but during her own trial, she seemed adamant on taking every bit of blame for her part in the Fall, despite much of it seeming like things beyond her control.”

Then… I’m off the hook for this too?

“Well then…” said Sunrise, “I’m glad that she could take responsibility for her actions. Perhaps she is a bigger mare than I believed.”

Upon hearing this from the unicorn mare, the entire Committee exchanged looks.

Oh come on, what did I say now?

It was at this time that Flash Sentry, the last member of the Committee to yet speak, asked a question. “Miss Splendor, are you aware of the ‘Red Collar Tenets’?”

“N-no…” Sunrise said, having never heard of such a phrase prior.

“They are a set of rules that a female must, presumably, believe if they are a red collar.” Flash explained, “A sort of unwritten agreement that a mare must understand when they submit to the caribou to receive the red collar.”

Flash took a moment to arrange his thoughts, before looking directly at the mare on trial before him.

“One: all females are universally inferior to males, no exceptions.
Two: a female only exists to grant pleasure to males.
Three: A female is entitled to nothing, not even their own body or mind.
Four: Males are entitled to anything a female believes they own, including their bodies and mind.
Five: Males have the right to discipline a female to any degree short of death, for any or no reason.
Six: The above terms apply to all females, willing or unwilling, regardless of species, age, or impairment.”

Where did all this come from?

Sunrise was amazed to hear these things that the pegasus was insisting she had to agree with since she was a red collar. “I beg your pardon, but I’ve never agreed to a single one of these things you’ve laid out.”

“Didn’t you?” Luna questioned, “You seemed to agree with a lot of these things in the part of the book where you were being given your red collar. If the words in it are to be believed, you denounced my sister and I, said you belonged to Vestri and supported caribou rule, and suggested that every mare do the same, no matter how little they get in return for their obedience.”

“But I was under the influence of an experimental collar!” Sunrise rebutted, remembering that she had written about a collar that had runes on it that compelled her to obey.

“You mean the collar that was discontinued because it could cause ‘neurological damage’?” asked the dark alicorn, “That only you ever wore, and only seems to exist in your story? Seeing how Purple Collars and Blanks exist, it is hard to believe that they’d not use an item because of something like brain damage.”

“Besides,” Shining Armor said, “Even your book states that the experimental collar ‘didn’t work on those who refuse it’, which I can only assume means that had you been against what the caribou were doing, you wouldn’t have gone along with any of it.”

Sunrise bit her lip, both Princess Luna and Shining Armor making logical arguments she couldn’t truly dispute.

“It’s difficult for me to accuse one of my ponies of this,” said Celestia, “But it really feels like you put that detail into your story to give yourself an excuse for your actions. Sun’s Setting really does seem to be you trying to depict yourself in the best light for both sides, showing that you are a willing mare who will obey your caribou master, both before and after the collar you say controlled your actions was swapped out for the red collar you still wear, while also painting yourself as a victim of circumstance.”

“But even if we believed that,” Shining Armor said, “The fact of the matter is that you knew what the caribou wanted, and you accepted the Red Collar anyways. You might have done so in order to spare yourself the worst punishments the caribou could dish out, but you can’t say you didn’t understand what the red collar meant.”

“You expected me to willfully subject myself to one of those painful collars?!” Sunrise questioned in full objection.

“Do ya know how many others did that?” replied Braeburn, “Maybe not every Black Collar, but plenty of them were mares who would rather suffer than to agree with those ideas.”

“And you also had to come to know over time that any perceived protections the red collar provided were a lie.” Shining Armor added, “As red collars underwent the same kinds of humilliations and tortures Black Collars did, up to being turned into purple collars. One could say they didn’t understand that at first, but as time went on, it should have become more and more clear that the only difference between a Red Collar and a Black Collar was that one presented themselves as accepting of the abuse that not only they were subjected to, but that others were as well. Yet, many Red Collars never turned against their masters. If you, Sunrise Splendor, had any second thoughts on the matter, if you disagreed with the Red Collar Tenents, you could have rebelled against your master at any time, and earned yourself a black collar instead.”

“B-b-but…” Sunrise, seeing how bad this looked on her, was actually starting to quiver in fear.

She had written all those words, never believing that they would be used against her. Only that the mares forced to read the book, which was little more than caribou propaganda when it came down to it, would see her in a positive light, no matter which collar they had taken up.

“Perhaps… Perhaps the books are more embellished than I originally let on.” Sunrise said, “I might have accepted the red collar, but some things might have been added to make me look better.”

“We already assumed that,” Luna said, stating the obvious at this point, “We came to that conclusion the moment you, in the story, started listing off the names and details of not only myself, Celestia, and Cadence, but the element wielders, Spike the Dragon, and implied that you knew of Sunset Shimmer, though strangely enough didn’t mention her name as well.”

“This part stood out to us in particular,” Celestia concurred, “Because we have it on good authority that the caribou landed in Lindisbarne only shortly after the Nightmare Moon incident, if not immediately so. This idea is only supported by your book, as Sindri brings up the longer night the incident caused, as if it had happened not too long prior. Seeing that as the case, it would have been impossible for you to know of the ponies who wielded the Elements of Harmony, because for some time after the Nightmare Moon incident, they were all fairly obscure in the eye of the general public.”

“I didn’t know about Rainbow Dash until she did the Sonic Rainboom,” said Spitfire.

“An’ I didn’t know about mah cousin’s friends til I met them in Appleloosa,” said Braeburn.

Cousin… Oh… Ooooooohhhh… That explains why he’s part of the Committee…

“I knew of all them,” said Cheerilee, “But that’s because I lived in the same town they all did. I don’t ever remember seeing you there.”

“I think it’s reasonable to say you knew basic information about me,” said Celestia, “As well as Princess Cadence, though you couldn’t have known about the Crystal Empire or the Crystal Heart, as they hadn’t reappeared yet. You could have heard of Sunset Shimmer, seeing as that was some time ago, and the papers spoke of how she fled Canterlot after a confrontation with me. With Luna, you might have heard of her return, but you couldn’t have known her dream-walking powers as you explained them in the book. Beyond that, I don’t believe in the slightest that you could have known anything about the element wielders, let alone the details about them you said you told the caribou, no matter how much of a gossip you claim to be.”

Sunrise stayed silent. She had already stated that the book was not accurate, so trying to defend this detail was a pointless endeavor.

“If I were to hazard a guess,” Celestia went on to say, “You learned all these details after the fact, perhaps from Cadence herself, while she was under the influence of the Corrupted Crystal Heart. Then, when creating your book, after the takeover of Equestria, you wrote it so that you were the one who told Dainn and the Caribou Council all these details, to inflate your importance to them in the eyes of anyone who might read it. A bit of revisionist history on your part.”

“Would it absolve me if I said yes to all this?” Sunrise said, willing to discard a bit of her pride. It wouldn’t have been the first time, “That I said everything you said was true, and that the book was all made up.”

“Not quite,” said Flash Sentry, “Because the problem never was that you had blatantly accepted the Red Collar Tenents. That’s not the point of them. If we could determine a Red Collar’s guilt based on who had openly agreed with them or not, there would be no ponies in Red Town at this moment.”

“The point of the Red Collar Tenets is,” Shining Armor followed up, “That wearing the collar itself is effectively agreeing to them, without needing them explained to you. At least, that’s what other enslaved ponies believe when looking at you, and they’re right to do so. If we were to give you every benefit of the doubt, and say that you were afraid for you well-being, and that you never figured out that a red collar was worthless in that regard, that wouldn’t remove the fact that you effectively endorsed the horrible things the caribou did by wearing a symbol that said you were an active participant in their regime.”

Celestia took a deep breath, and let out a deep sigh of exacerbation, “Personally, I would like to believe that every mare that took up a red collar didn’t agree with any of the Red Collar Tenents, that they were all trying to protect themselves. That’s why we have these trials, to give each mare the ability to prove that was the reason.”

“Princess Celestia,” Sunrise Splendor said, calming herself down a little, now that Celestia said didn’t want to believe any of her subjects agreed to what the caribou excepted of them, which meant that the unicorn was not yet abandoned, “I promise you, while I might have inflated the extent of what I did as Vestri’s slave, I was genuinely afraid of what he might do to me if I didn’t go along with him.”

“We will take your word for it,” said Luna, showing that she too was willing to give the mare another chance, “Especially since with your admittance, we have cleared up a few more discrepancies in this ‘historical record’ you created for the caribou.” Luna’s horn began to glow, and the copy of Sun’s Setting was removed from the bench entirely, “We do, however, have further questions about the details in this second book that we’d like to discuss further as well. We will allow for another small break for you to recuperate after that stressful line of questioning, before proceeding.”

“Yes, your majesty,” Sunrise replied, acknowledging that while she wasn’t yet in the fire, she was still dangling precariously over it.

The trial chamber had grown deathly quiet upon the start of the second recess. The Committee of Ponies had taken to silently reading the sheets of talking points and evidence, removing ones that no longer had relevance to the trial, while occasionally whispering to one another about things Sunrise couldn’t hear, but had to assume was about the topic of their next line of questioning. The unicorn mare, on the other hand, was left contemplating to herself, with no one to confer the mess of emotions welling up inside her.

It’s like they are railroading me, while giving me just a glimmer of hope to cling onto. But they have to see that I’m truly innocent in all this, don’t they? They talk about these ‘tenets’, and how I had to know what the red collar meant, but I couldn’t have known that when I was enslaved, and I didn’t go out of my way to harm other ponies.

Going through her thoughts at a rapid pace, Sunrise was trying to find an angle she could approach any future questions from that would keep her head above water, as by this point she felt like she was moments away from drowning.

How did they figure out all that from just my book though? I don't remember putting in any plot holes like that, and yet they still managed to pick them out. Sunrise took a moment to look over the Committee, giving them a bit of scrutiny in return for all of it that they gave her. It had to be their bias against me. The only reason they figured all that out was because they presumed me guilty to begin with. They assumed lies from the beginning, and thus they found them. But I’m on to them now, and I can still come out of this clean. They might have discredited my first book, but my second one is all about me. There is nothing in it they can outright disprove with historical inaccuracies, so they have to listen to me.

“Sunrise Splendor,” Luna said suddenly, “We have given you ten minutes to collect your thoughts. If you are ready, we would like to proceed.”

“About as ready as I can be,” Sunrise answered.

“Then we’d like to talk about your role when it came to evaluating and ‘reforming’ Black Collars.” Luna said, declaring the next topic of the trial. “You claimed to be very good at this task. Is this another embellishment on your part?”

“No, your majesty,” Sunrise said, “I was very good at showing females why taking a red collar was good for them, a fact that I do acknowledge will not do me any favors in this trial.”

“And the main species you worked with were zebra, gryphons, and other mares?”

“Correct,” Sunrise admitted, thinking that she finally cracked the code when it came to answering the questions given to her, “Gryphons were often stubborn, so my results with them were not as good, but I converted many zebra and mares to the will of the caribou.”

No pony in the Committee had any objections to this, confirming to Sunrise what she had come to believe. They just wanted to hear her say what they wanted to hear. If they didn’t get confirmation on what they already believed, then they’d cause a fuss till Sunrise conceded. While they had forced several admissions from her already, they couldn’t press her further if she just agreed with them from the start. And if they didn’t press the mare on a subject, then they couldn’t get more out of her than needed.

“So when you did your evaluations,” Luna continued, “You were the sole decider of the fates of these creatures?”

“No,” Sunrise answered, “I could put in recommendations, but it was up to the caribou to make the final decision.”

“Yet, you boasted about how often you managed to convert females into being Red Collars.” Celestia chimed in, “So are we to take it that your recommendations were seen favorably?”

“If they weren’t,” Sunrise said, “Then I wouldn’t have been allowed to evaluate my fellow slaves. I realize that makes it look like I had more sway in the final decision, but if the caribou didn’t want a mare to red, they wouldn’t be red.”

“This might be an odd question to ask,” Cheerilee said, “But do you think the caribou ever gave a mare a red collar who didn’t show that they earned it?”

“You mean like Applejack?” Sunrise said, having to hold back her displeasure that she had been the one to approve her switch to a red collar, since it meant that she had managed to be tricked by the Element of Honesty. That mistake might have turned out for the best for Equestria, but Sunrise didn’t enjoy that she was fooled so easily.

“What I mean is,” Cheerilee reiterated, “Do you think that the caribou ever put a red collar on a mare they knew was unwilling, just to make it look like more mares supported them, or to cause confusion and division among mares?”

Sunrise hadn’t really thought about that. It wasn’t impossible, but no Red Collar she ever met did anything that would show them to be against caribou rule. Some were timid, nervous, reluctant, or treated their obedience as transactional, but as far as she had ever seen, they were all still obedient to the caribou.

“Aside from Applejack, I’m certain all Red Collars I had met or personally evaluated were truthful in their desire to serve the caribou.” Sunrise said.

As if I’d let my assessments be wrong twice.

Cheerilee seemed to find that answer satisfactory, as she didn’t proceed with any more questioning. Instead, the earth pony stallion on the other side of the bench from her decided to take a turn.

“So, Miss Splendor,” said Braeburn, “Ah have a very sincere question Ah’d like to ask in all this. Do you, after everythin’ that you’ve done durin’ the Fall, see yourself as a good pony?”

What kind of question is that?

To ask if she saw herself as good was like asking if she wanted to incriminate herself. The unicorn mare’s only recourse was to say “I beg your pardon?” in confusion - not because of the question itself, but in how her opinion on herself mattered in the slightest.

“Ah’ll say it to ya plainly,” said Braeburn, “Ya just said that ya think all Red Collars were truthful in their desire to serve the caribou. Well, if we are to take ya at your word, that would imply yourself as well.”

“Not to mention,” Spitfire added, “You’ve done plenty of things to your fellow pony that just seem malicious. Both your books, for starters, have you portraying ponies that were against the caribou in an entirely negative light, often directing verbal, and sometimes physical, threats at you for seemingly little reason”

“And while we don’t really believe most of what’cha put in your first book, your second book seems to be more honest about your personality.” said Braeburn, “With you threatening slaves who don’t bend to your authority, an’ treatin’ anythin’ less than the position of bein’ Vestri’s slave mare as beneath you.”

“A Change of Events was a vast shift in your personality from Sun’s Setting,” said Celestia as she joined in on the subject, “Where once you acted purely as a victim, in it, you were now an oppressor. We find it unlikely, seeing your prior depiction of yourself, that you’d purposefully portray yourself as a dastardly mare, but compared to certain points in your first book, it actually just seems like you were being more candid about yourself.”

“I can explain that,” Sunrise said, seeing that she had written herself in a corner once more, “There might have been times when I let my position as Vestri’s slave go to my head. The story, as you might recall, was about that. Vestri punished me for assuming that I deserved the things I got instead of recognizing that any gift he gave to me was purely at his discretion.”

“I would love to go into how backwards that logic is,” Cheerilee said, “But this does sound like something a caribou would say to make a mare think they were undeserving of anything, so it’s not your fault it's silly.”

“So yes, I got a bit of an ego at one point,” Sunrise went on to say, “Taking my role as red collar evaluator, and the rewards I thought I had earned through it, to heart. I had been a slave for a year and a half at this point, a year longer than most mares, and I believed this was my life. I had to find some sort of happiness in it, and I found it in serving Vestri.”

“How surprisingly forthcoming of you,” said Luna.

“But,” Sunrise added in quickly, “I never saw myself as a bad mare. At my very worst, I was just doing what was expected of me. If I didn’t, I would be the one who would have been suffering, an example of which was set for me in the later part of that book, and I never went out of my way to make the other slaves miserable.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Luna said, responding to the last part of Sunrise’s claim, “But didn’t you have the authority to send any mare you saw fit to caribou re-education facilities?”

“Uuuhhh…” Sunrise replied, her brain stalling as she noted that she had stepped on a landmine, “Yes, I did…”

“And you have enforced this authority, right?” asked Luna.

“I… have,” Sunrise conceded, remembering writing things that implied that she had, “But if I didn’t, then the caribou would have done it anyways.”

“Perhaps,” said Luna, “But with your authority, you could have at least attempted to prevent this. Instead, you went ahead with sending many mares to be tortured into compliance, or even blanked.”

There it is… I’ve been waiting for this one.

“You’re telling me that those mares were-!” Sunrise put her elbows up on the podium, and placed her eyes into her palms. “I didn’t know the re-education facilities were… I sent so many ponies there… and they were…” The mare looked up from her palms, tears now leaking from her eyes. “I swear, I didn’t know!”

The Committee shifted looks to one another, not convinced by the sudden emergence of tears from the mare.

“You’re telling us…” Luna said, “That after boasting about how your position as Vestri’s pet granted you the privilege of sitting in on the meetings between Dainn and his Council, that you had no idea what happened in these facilities?”

“YES!” Sunrise yelled through a series of sobs, wiping the flowing tears into the fur on her arms, “Vestri didn’t let me sit in on every meeting, and it never came up when I was present.”

“What did ya think happened at them?” asked Braeburn, not buying this act for a moment, since a few of his family members had been blanked at such a facility. Even if she had never heard it from the caribou council, one could make an educated guess about what happened in those places.

“I don’t know,” Sunrise replied, “I didn’t think it would be blanking. I might have sent mares there to get them to be more obedient, but I only did it so things would be easier later on.”

Again, the ponies of the Committee looked at each other with suspicion, as the mare’s convenient ignorance in this matter was just impossible to justify.

“You’ve got to believe me,” Sunrise pleaded, “I’d never do anything to purposefully harm a mare.”

“If that is what you believe,” said Luna, “Then I believe it’s time to bring in the witness. Guards, if you would retrieve them.”

Two guards in the room gave a silent nod in return, leaving the room via a door to the side of where the Committee was sitting. The remaining ponies waited quietly for their return for several minutes, until finally the guards came back through the same door, a unicorn mare light fur and a brown mane following them in.

Sunrise Splendor, upon seeing the mare, looked like she had seen a ghost. Of all the mares she could have imagined testifying against her, she didn’t expect this one in particular. Seeing her though, and being well aware of what she had done to this mare, made Sunrise terrified of what she might have to say.

One of the guards brought in with them a small chair, sitting it in front of the Committee, facing Sunrise, before telling the witness to take a seat. The new mare complied quickly, sitting herself down, and once seated, she gave a glare to Sunrise that looked like it could have peeled the skin from her body.

“Would the witness state her name,” said Luna, directly above and behind the mare.

“Fine Line.” she replied.

“And what collar color were you during the Fall?”

“Black.” she answered again.

“Do you know the mare in front of you?”

“Unfortunately, I do,” said the unicorn.

“And how exactly do you know her?”

“Fine Line,” Sunrise cut in, “I’m rea-”

“We would ask that Sunrise Splendor not speak at this time,” Luna cut in herself, raising her voice to convey her seriousness about the matter, “Fine Line, if you would proceed.”

Fine Line sent her death stare to Sunrise for a few seconds, her brow furrowed and arms crossed, before finally saying, “She’s the mare that went out of her way to make my life a nightmare.”

“Could you elaborate,” asked Celestia, speaking in a less stern tone than her sister.

“Certainly,” Fine Line replied, “When the Fall started, I was one of the mares caught in the invasion of Canterlot. I went through the same things many mares trapped there did, including the removal of my horn, and the days of rape that followed. I wasn’t one of the ones they made a spectacle out of, but nonetheless, I was passed around between caribou and stallions, as my own husband allowed anyone to take a turn with me.”

“Not to downplay the tragedy of that event,” said Flash Sentry, “But at what point did Sunrise Splendor come into this story.”

“A few days after,” Fine line answered, cringing as she recalled the moment she met the pony, “The caribou’s victory celebration was winding down, and I had been used so much that I had become a cum-covered mess. My husband had made a comment, which I had thought was a cruel joke, about how I had become so depreciated that he might as well sell for some pocket change. Next thing I know, this mare was coming over to us with her caribou master, and he’s making an arrangement for my purchase, while she kneels down to pet me like I was an animal.”

“I was trying to comfort you!” Sunrise objected, unable to keep herself from speaking.

“By rubbing my ass and tits!?” Fine Line shouted back, reflectively shielding her breast and pressing her thighs together as she did, “You were examining your master’s purchase.” The former Black Collar shook her head slightly, correcting her thoughts back to the topic at hand. “I was traded by my husband for a few caribou cows her master had, and after that things got worse.”

“Could you please explain to us your relationship with Sunrise Splendor after that point?” asked Celestia.

“Past the purchase, her master didn’t want anything to do with me,” Fine Line proceeded, “Apparently I was a gift for her, and she was to make use of me. She started calling me her ‘assistant’, and would spend her free time training me to her preferences. She made me have sex with her on the days her master didn’t give her attention, took me with her when she went to do her errands so I could hold the bags, and dragged me around to watch her decide if mares could get red collars, and often made me participate in the sex she’d have with them too. All this time, she’d tell anyone that would listen that she used to be an important Canterlot mare, which I’d have to collaborate with, else she’d punish me… Severely…”

Sunrise was visibly shaking at this point, as one of her plots was laid bare before those who could be considered the most important ponies in Equestria at the time. No doubt news of this would spread from them, reaching the ears of their peers, and trickling downwards from there. All of the Red Collar’s schemes were whirling in ruin around her, from trying to make herself look more sympathetic in the eyes of history, to her attempts to infiltrate high society. Had she simply been acquitted without all this prying into her background, she might have been able to continue her life as one of the elites she claimed to be, using the chaos created by the caribou as a shroud to hide her past.

There has to be a way to salvage this!

“Fine Line, you can’t be serious with this!” Sunrise protested, “You know who I am. We’ve met plenty of times before the Fall. At social gatherings in Canterlot, and…”

“Sunrise Splendor,” said Luna, “We will ask you again to remain silent.”

“It’s ok, Princess Luna,” said Fine Line, “It might not be part of court procedures, but please let me confront my rapist. I need this.”

The Committee silently conferred with one another, once more giving nods of agreement to Luna.

“Very well,” Luna relented, “You’ll be allowed five minutes. Try to keep it civil.”

“Thank you,” Fine Line said, before granting Sunrise her full attention. “Let me ask you something. Do you even know who I am?”

“Of course,” said Sunrise Splendor, “You’re Fine Line. One of Equestria’s elite mares.”

Fine Line rolled her eyes, “So all you know is my name, and that I was rich.”

“N-No…” Sunrise replied, with a bit of uncertainty, as she found it hard to come up with other details about this particular mare. For all her experience as a gossip, she had to admit that Fine Line was not a mare of interest beyond the details she stated.

“What did I do for a living?” Fine Line asked, further testing the Red Collar’s knowledge of her, “How did I even become rich?”

“Well…” Sunrise said, trying to find some context clues, “You were a… seamstress?” All the mare really had was the mare’s name to work with, thinking that it meant something like hemlines, or something.

“I was a nanny,” Fine Line replied, “I took care of the foals of rich families when I was younger, and at one point I was hired by a stallion who had become a single parent. He saw how good a caregiver I was, and over time we fell in love with one another.”

Wait… you mean that…

“That’s right,” said Fine Line, “I married into money. I might have attended parties with my husband, and wore nice dresses, but I wasn’t some elite mare by any standard outside of that. Perhaps if you didn’t make everything about you all the time, then you might have learned that while you were grooming me into being your secretary sex slave.”

“But I…”

“And when you got bored of me,” Fine Line said, not giving Sunrise the chance to make up some excuse, “You had your master sell me to another one of his council friends, and turn me into a state-owned mare. Even after that, you wouldn’t leave me alone, as you made me read your stories to proofread and edit them, which I had to do in between getting raped and doing paperwork. By the way, the way you portray other mares, including myself, is despicable. You either show them as bitter bitches who toss insults around wildly, or brainless bimbos who don’t have a thought in their heads. Having had time to think about it, those are just traits reflecting yourself, aren’t they?”

“That’s enough,” Luna said, as the mare’s time ran out, “I believe the witness has given enough testimony of her experiences and opinion of Sunrise Splendor. Guards, if you would escort Fine Line out of the trial room.”

The pony guards did just that, and led the unicorn back out the door she came in through.

“As for you,” Luna said, setting her sights on Sunrise, “It seems you’ve done more harm than you care to admit. Perhaps you actually convinced yourself that you were blameless, but seeing as you had sent that mare to work in conditions that you yourself considered unbearable, I find it hard to think you didn’t understand what you had done.”

“You don’t understand,” Sunrise said, “She was a Black Collar. Her life was supposed to be unbe-” The unicorn cut her words short, but she had already said too much.

The Committee recognized that Sunrise held no sympathy for a fellow mare in this situation, but Cheerilee had one more detail to add that made her statement all the worse, “If you believe that her status alone somehow justified her treatment, then who had the power to recommend a collar change for her?”

The Red Collar didn’t have to respond to that question, because everyone in the room already knew it was her. That Fine Line was a Black Collar only meant that she hadn’t made efforts to make her a Red Collar. She could have easily done so, given her position and belief in her own ability to succeed in the task, if she believed it would actually make Fine Line’s life better, but that was never an objective for Sunrise Splendor. Sure, she hinted at it in the endings of one of her books, but had it been her intention, then the mare would have already been a Red Collar long before those events.

As Sunrise stood there, baffled over how things could have gone so wrong, as the ponies of the Committee discussed this new information with one another. She felt like she was done for - like she had been caught, like discovering that a diamond in a four karat gold ring was actually a cubic zirconia. Every lie, every attempt to mislead, had been exposed, and by now, her imprisonment was the only thing she had to look forward to.

“After hearing that line of testimony,” Luna said, as the ponies at the bench reached a decision, “We of the Committee believe that any further testimony from you would be, at best, filled with misleading information, which would serve no purpose other than to delay our verdict further. Thus, we have unanimously decided to bring this hearing to a close.”

“Please!” Sunrise said, her eyes welling up with real tears for the first time of the trial, a guilty verdict being all she could see in her future, “I’m innocent! It was the caribou that made me act that way! I was a good mare! I did everything I was supposed to! You can’t-!”

“Sunrise Splendor!” Luna said, maximizing the volume of her voice, “It would benefit you to act with some form of dignity, and reflect on the error of your actions!” These words hit Sunrise with a tangible force, causing her to wilt before the authoritative might of the princess. Having brought the mare to silence, the alicorn returned her voice to a less intense volume, “All this time, you have refused to see how you brought about your own downfall, and what good would it do you now if you continued down this path?”

“Luna,” Celesita said, looking to her sister, “Do you think it’s time to come to a verdict?”

“Yes,” Luna said, “If each member of the Committee would, please write down whether you find Sunrise Splendor innocent or guilty, and pass your votes to me.”

Sunrise watched in horror through tear filled eyes as each pony took a moment to write on some unseen piece of paper, which to her were the most important slips of paper to ever exist. As they were passed over to the alicorn sitting at the center of them all, Sunrise knew that each one had the word ‘guilty’ written on them.

“Sunrise Splendor,” Luna said, after finishing her review of the votes.

No!

“We of the Committee of Ponies,”

This can’t be happening!

“In light of all the testimonial evidence given,”

I refuse!

“Find you.”

I REFUSE!!!

The mare at the podium heard a loud crash, as if the world was being torn down around her. She knew the next word to come from the alicorn’s mouth would be her condemnation, and it felt like the mare was prolonging the utterance of it for as long as possible to torment her.

“You?!” Luna said, repeating the last word she had said, though with much more intensity, before adding to it, “You’re so brazen as to show up here?!”

Sunrise, still terrified for her future, had no idea what Princess Luna was talking about, though it took her a moment to even recognize that she had said something strange. Once she did, she looked up to the bench, and saw that everypony behind it was now standing, bearing angry looks, but not at her. It looked as if they were looking at something behind her, and so the mare turned to see what it was, only to find something she couldn’t have imagined waiting.

The door to the chamber had been burst open, and within the corridor were several figures, whom Sunrise couldn’t make out due to the fluid obscuring her sight. Understanding that this was some sort of disturbance to her trial, she worked to wipe away her tears, and once they were cleared, she was able to see… caribou.

Several, standing within the corridor leading back to the rest of the castle. Ones she recognized too, as they were each of Dainn’s former council, though not all of them were present. The ones that were there were Ivangir and Durnir, the two largest and muscular members of the caribou council, with a caribou she was quite familiar with.

“Vestri…” She whispered to herself, her heart skipping a beat at the sight of the stag.

Vestri entered the room ahead of the other two, the somewhat smaller and sleeker stag having to step over the body of Gunne, who had been the cause of the noise, as he had been beaten, bruised, and bashed through the door, which now barely hung to its frame by its broken hinges. A few grunts from him told that he was still living, but incapable of doing anything after what his former brethren had done to him.

“Are we interrupting something?” Vestri said, as the two guards that had been standing at attention at the door’s wall came to attack him from behind, only for themselves to get flanked and quickly knocked unconscious by the other caribou. “Looks like you were busy. Too busy to know that we have returned to take back what is ours from you weak ponies.”

“We had heard of your escape from Tartarus,” Celestia said, flapping her wings to take flight, “We just never thought you’d be foolish enough to come back here!”

The white alicorn rushed towards the caribou, Luna calling “Sister, no!” behind her. It was too late to stop her though, as Celestia was dead set to take on these caribou on her own. She stopped herself just as she got past Sunrise, maintaining a slight hover off the floor, and shot several beams of magic at them from her horn, but the caribou were as prepared as ever, and had re-acquired several sets of their anti-magic armor, which absorbed the attacks easily.

“Sunrise Splendor, go to the others,” Celestia said, back turned to the red collared mare, “I’ll hold them off till you get away.”

Sunrise heard the order from the princess, but found that she couldn’t move… or perhaps that she didn’t want to move. At the very least, not in the direction that alicorn instructed her. After all the unicorn had gone through, what reason did she have to listen to her? She was, as far as Celestia and her Committee were concerned, guilty of treason against the kingdom. What loyalty should she have to creatures who didn’t simply believe her, and wished to see her imprisoned for things that were only crimes under their rule.

It took a moment for Sunrise to work up the nerve, but just as Celestia started saying “What are you waiting for?”, she pushed her whole body into the princess’ back, catching her off guard and sending her hurtling to the caribou.

The force was enough that Vestri himself had to sidestep the plummeting mare, and sent her all the way to Ivangir, who had no need to dodge as he let the regal pony slam right into his body. Celestia had hardly a second to look up at the sadistic cervid’s face, before he forced the mare into a headlock, and guided her off balanced form towards the corridor.

“Durnir, why don’t you get the door for this disobedient slut.” he said, the other caribou striding over to the broken door alongside his associate.

The two large caribou aligned the struggling princess’ horn against the corner of the doorframe, with a horrified Committee impotently watching from their spots behind the court bench. The moment the Ivangir got the helpless matriarch the way he wanted her, Durnir took the broken door, and slammed it with all his might. The hard wood crashed into the alicorn’s horn, the force of it cracking it at the base. Seeing that once was not enough, the caribou followed up his first attack by slamming his hoof down on the spot of the door that was closest to his target, applying even more pressure to the damaged magical appendage, till its only recourse was to break off completely.

Celestia let out a yell of agony as her horn left her head, skipping itself down the corridor, each hop against the marble floor making a dreadful tapping sound. Now severely damaged, Celestia dropped to her knees, getting but a second of brevity before receiving a backhanded slap across her face, which knocked her to the ground.

“Sunrise Splendor!” Luna cried out at the mare who had caused this, “How could you?! She was trying to save you!”

“How could I?” Sunrise replied, making her way to the caribou, disrobing the dreadfully plain clothes on her body as she made her way to them. If the The Committee refused to see the innocent side of her, she’d show there was another side to her they couldn’t deny, “After all you figured out about me, you actually think that I’d go against my master?”

At this point, ambition would be the only way to set her free, even if that freedom meant she’d have to serve Vestri for the rest of her life. Not that she saw that as much of a price, as she had already submitted to him long ago, and intended him to be part of her life till the day he died. Better to the most well kept slave, than be free and underappreciated.

The two burly bucks readied their fists as Sunrise approached, but Vestri raised his own to prevent them from attacking, “Stay your hands. This mare isn’t Black. Isn’t that right, my pet?”

“Oh yes, master,” she said, stripping down to complete nudity, as she knelt down aside Vestri, “I am, as before, you’re loyal slave.”

The mare felt a hand settle down on her head, scratching at her ear in approval, and she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Vestri was the creature she would rather serve.

This is where I belong. At my master’s side.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Princess Luna, replying to the mare’s thought.

It took Sunrise a second to realize that the alicorn’s line didn’t line up with what she had last said. She opened her eyes to see Luna looking at her, though not with some form of indignant glare, or look of worry because of the threat of the caribou. She was smirking, during such a dire situation as this. As she looked on, she watched the other Committee members sit back down, as if they were unaware that there were caribou present in the room.

Do they see Vestri as a joke? After what he had just done to Celestia?

“No, we don’t see any of the caribou as a joke,” said Celestia, picking herself up from the ground, “But Vestri, Durnir, and Ivangir aren’t here.”

Luna lifted her hand, and casually waved it to the side, an action that caused the caribou in the room to dissipate like pillars of loose sand in the wind. All save for Gunne, who was currently refusing a helping hand from Celestia as he got up by his own power.

Having picked up this time that Celestia directly answered something she had thought, Sunrise stared in shock, watching Celestia’s horn reform on her head in the span of a few seconds, and the bruises Gunne had gotten from the other caribou vanish completely.

“What the fuck is going on here!?!” she screamed, still knelt down in the submissive pose she had done for Vestri.

“Sunrise Splendor,” Luna said calmly, all anger removed from her tone, “Do you recall what the guards suggested you do on your way to your trial?”

“You expect me to think of something like that with all this weirdness going on?!” Sunrise replied, past whatever game was being played here, “Everything is so crazy it’s like I’m in-” The mare gasped, it dawning upon her what was going on.

“A dream?” Luna said, confirming Sunrise’s assumptions, “We have the guards fly ponies around long enough till the pony they are transporting passes out, and prepare a dream world for them ahead of time in which we can hold their trial. It’s a much safer way for us to conduct things, since some pony might try something foolish in person.”

“It also allows the Committee to use a unique method of figuring out who is a traitor or not,” said Gunne, “You might be unaware, since we have taken efforts to keep Red Town isolated from all outside information, but the ponies didn’t just send my brethren to Tartarus. They also had them switched into females, to remove the strength and magic they once wielded. You will not be receiving some miraculous rescue from your former master, or any caribou at that.”

Sunrise turned to the caribou, hoping that he was joking, but his stern, deadpan glare told her that he didn’t have the capability to make light of any situation, not even one such as this.

“I warned before,” he added, “You should have been a better mare by the time you saw me next.”

Sunrise’s world shattered. She had been duped from the start. Not only was everything leading to this moment where she would betray Equestria again, but the Committee, assuming they were all the actual ponies in what appeared to be a shared dream, had been listening in on her thoughts this whole time.

“How could you?” Sunrise said, enraged, “How could you trespass into another pony’s mind?!”

“How could we not?” Luna replied, “We noticed how often you went into your own head in your stories, and thus we allowed you to project whatever surface level thoughts you believed were important enough to think to yourself. It wasn’t till just now that you said something we could use against you, and that was an outright admittance that you would betray Equestria again, if given the chance. An admittance not coerced out of you, or said in fear, but one of complete conviction.”

Sunrise’s teeth clenched down, her lower jaw applying so much pressure that she risked chipping them, as the pace of her breathing became more and more rapid. All sorrow at her predicament was gone, as she discarded the victim mentality that she had used for so long, and went into a full-on rage. Her eyes practically bulged out of their sockets, making her look like some wild beast as she made her way back to her hooves, as the room itself shook with her rage.

This was a dream, afterall, thus the mare had some degree of control over the world around her, not that she recognized that in her mental state, and as her fury grew, small parts of the floor around her broke apart, and started levitating upwards. The mare raised her hands up to her collar, gripping it at opposite sides of the runes that adorned the front of it, and started pulling with all her might.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The mare screamed as she forced the two halves of her seamless collar to separate from one another, splitting from the top, and traveling through the caribou runes upon it. If this were the waking world, this would have been an impossible feat for her to perform, but as it was just a mental projection of the collar she wore, the object could not stand up to the power of her tantrum. By the end of it, the front half of her collar had been ripped in two, loosely held together by the metal ring at its center.

The Committee watched this, unafraid of what the mare was doing. They were in a dream, where nothing the Red Collar could do would harm them. They were all just witnessing the last, futile cry of a mare at the end of her rope. The Red Collar unicorn couldn’t keep up her rage at such an intensity forever, and eventually it petered out, leaving her tired, panting, but overall, defeated.

“Sunrise Splendor,” Luna said, addressing the mare one last time, “For your crimes against your fellow pony, and treason to the kingdom of Equestria, we, the Committee of Ponies, find you… Guilty.”

“Ha… hahaha… HAHAHAHAHA!!!” The unicorn burst out laughing, becoming hysteric at the announcement of her verdict. “Haha… ha… haaaaaa… You say that like this would have ended up any other way.”

“Sunrise…” Celestia said, “I don’t know if you are aware, but Equestria has a long history of forgiving and reforming creatures that have done worse than yourself. All we wanted from you was some sign of remorse. Some indication that you understood that what you did was wrong. At the very least, we wanted to make sure you wouldn’t side with the next threat to come after Equestria. Had you done anything less than pushing me to the enemy, like cower in fear at the thought that the caribou were back, then we would have considered a lighter sentence than the one we are going to give you.”

The unicorn made her way back to the podium, since there was little she could do to escape the trap Luna had put her in. “Yeah, yeah, you say that, but I know better. I know exactly what you ‘elite’ ponies think of those lower on the food chain than yourself.”

“Sunrise, please…” Celestia replied, “Try to have some dignity.”

“No!” Sunrise refused, “I’ve TRIED to have some dignity for long enough. I’ve done everything I was supposed to in order to be respected, appreciated, and known by the ponies of Equestria, but it never works! Fine! Fine… You made it an issue that you wanted to know who I am. Let’s talk about me for once. How about this for starters? A question I was given earlier: Do you all know what it is I do?”

The ponies thought about the details in the mare’s books, and of them all, Cheerilee was the one to give an answer first. “You said you were a jeweler.”

“We have a winner,” Sunrise said, “Gold star. At a young age I found out my special talent was to make jewelry. Oh, how proud I was of myself, to be a filly born in a low class area like Fillydelphia, with the talent to take the natural beauty of gems, and amplify it with the right ring or necklace to display it in. It’s the kind of thing that catered to the rich, sophisticated ponies of Canterlot, who admired and appreciated the beautiful things in life. Not like some mud pony talent, like carpentry or growing plants. I was destined to be part of the ponies who were somepony.”

Sunrise leaned forward, pressing the weight of her upper body onto her elbow, while using the pointer finger of that hand to play with the ring keeping her collar together.

“At least… That’s what I thought. Unfortunately, while I was born talented, I wasn’t given the right talent to stand out to the ponies I wanted to associate with. It’s not like being a pegasus who’s really fast, or a stallion who is strong enough to be captain of the royal guard.”

Many of the ponies of the Committee were growing weary of what they saw as either a long-winded rant, or an attempt to filibuster to delay the unicorn’s sentencing. Celestia, however, was incredibly curious about what had led this mare so far astray. “What are you trying to say?”

“Like you’d understand,” Sunrise said, turning to face away from the group of ponies, placing her other elbow on the podium to lean back on, “You were destined for greatness from the start. You and your sister, born princesses. Two of a kind, leagues above the rest of us. Me on the other hand, I had to contend with dozens of other jewelry ponies, each trying to make a place for themselves in the world. Thing is, I was fairly good at what I did. I just had a few things standing in my way.”

“Where you grew up?” Flash Sentry said, unsure of his answer, but recalling that was an issue of contention for the mare.

“That was part of it,” Sunrise said, “No rich ponies care about jewelry made by some random mare from the city, especially not one with a forgettable name like ‘Sunny’. Heh, ‘Sunny’... Sounds like a dirt pony name, doesn’t it?” The mare took a moment to look down at her broken collar, barely able to see the runes printed on it, “So I changed my name a couple times. Once I was a mare called ‘Morning Glory’, and that seemed to get me some attention. That, and a little make up, and I was able to get into my first Canterlot soirée as some stallion’s date. Some rich bitch’s wedding, can’t remember whose - which I guess is fine, cause no one remembered me either.”

“That’s unfortunate,” said Cheerilee, “But it hardly gives you the right to-”

“I’m not done,” Sunrise interrupted, “Cause you know what else was a problem? Come on, you’ve all done so well so far. What else would be an issue for a mare in her twenties, looking to get into the upper echelons of society, as a famous maker of fine jewelry.”

The Committee members looked to one another, but none of them could come up with an answer.

Hearing nothing but silence, the mare leaned backwards so far that she was looking at the group upside-down, her bangs draping off her head to reveal the stump of her horn. “Do you know what the difference between a famous clothing designer and a famous jewelry designer is? About thirty years…”

“Thirty years?” Braeburn said, not understanding in the slightest what the mare was implying.

“When it comes to cutting edge fashion,” Sunrise said with a smile, “The rich like to have things made by bold, fresh new faces. Young, talented ponies who can make a gown or suit that draws in the eye.” The mare’s smile turned deadpanned, as she went on to say, “But when it comes to a horn ring, or a brooch, or a lapel pin, they want some old, wrinkly pony with gray hair, who's spent the better part of their life staring into a magnifying glass with a pair of tweezers in hand.”

The mare flipped herself around, an irate discontent reflecting in her eyes. “The problem is that I’m too young for anypony to care about my talent. Oh, sure, I can go and be somepony’s apprentice, help make something really nice to display in their shop, which will be credited to them when somepony decides to buy it. Met my first lover that way, the selfish bastard… But you don’t get three separate lovers by having your first one be perfect. At least it taught me that my age was good for something.”

Nearing the end of her recap on her life, the mare stood herself upright again, the smile on her face hiding behind it the sorrow of a mare who had suffered in her own ways, and learned to adapt to the feeling that came with each new disappointment in it.

“I used every tactic I could think of to get where I belonged. I tried being good at my special talent. I tried distancing myself from my parents. I tried prettying myself up. I tried hooking up with a few ponies who were already popular. I tried resorting to gossip. I tried changing my name so it sounded similar to a more famous mare. I did everything I was supposed to, and more, but I was never noticed.”

“It sounds like you’ve had a very troubled life,” Celestia said, “But you act as if all these things were promised to you.”

“Weren’t they?” Sunrise rebutted, “I was told that anypony could succeed if they tried hard enough, but the one thing I wanted to succeed at was always out of reach, because when I was a foal, I liked making necklaces out of plastic beads more than I liked dressing up my dollies. We’re always told about our destinies, and how we should follow them, but what we aren’t told is that some of us are destined to fail.”

Celestia felt like she should say something, but she didn’t know how to approach a mare like this. She would have never expected one so cynical, so far down a different path than what she had planned for her ponies, to be within her kingdom of peace and light.

“You know what’s nice about the caribou?” Sunrise said, seeing an opening to go on, “At least their system was fair. They treat all mares equally like dirt, and actually reward you when you do what they tell you. I was adored more than any other slave in Equestria, because I did the things I was supposed to. To tell the truth, I found the change quite refreshing.”

“That’s enough,” Luna said, reaching her limit when it came to this mare’s insolence, “You say that you have suffered because of the system my sister put in place for the kingdom, but all I am hearing is that you had unreasonably high expectations for a group of ponies who didn’t appreciate you for who you were, or who you changed yourself into in order to fit in with them. Not only does that sound shallow on your part, but it still doesn’t excuse anything you have done. You could have been banished to the moon for one thousand years, and that would still not validate the resentment you hold simply because there are ponies out there in a better position than you. You have allowed all your failures to guide and warp you into the mare you are now, but your past should not define you, cause your past is not today.”

Sunrise's face turned glower at Luna’s lecture, finding it hard to dispute the argument that the night princess made from experience, but the unicorn refused to actually learn anything from it. She was too deep into her own beliefs to see herself at fault, unwilling to take any blame she couldn’t bestow on others.

“Fine,” said Sunrise, “I’ll accept that I’ve become a terrible mare by your standards, but can Celestia admit the same?”

“Excuse me?” Luna said, standing up for her sister.

“Well we all know what I’d do if the caribou returned,” Sunrise said, “But are any of you willing to admit that your beloved ruler was also a red collar? That if put in the same situation, she’d end up the same? Or are you all going to hide behind that memory-erasing spell you cast on her to make her forget that she’s just as despicable as me.”

“We’ve tolerated this enough.” Shining Armor said, taking Sunrise’s words personally, which to the mare was probably a form of small victory. “Declare her sentence, and call this court to a close.”

Luna agreed with this sentiment, “Sunrise Splendor, we sentence you to life in Tartarus. There you can spend the rest of your days dwelling on the misdeeds you have done. We would hope that one day you would come to terms with the darker part of yourself, just as I had to, but we doubt that will ever come to pass.”

Before the Red Collar could say another word, Luna used her magic to eject Sunrise Splendor from the dream. She would wake up in the waking world, and find herself at the gates of Tartarus, having been taken there ahead of time, in preparation of a possible guilty verdict.

“Another pony we couldn’t reach,” Cheerilee said, not enjoying the way things went down, “True Red Collars might still be in the minority, but I hate that any exist to begin with.”

“It’s bound to happen,” Spitfire said, “You get one bad apple in every bunch, and Equestria is like a thousand bunches put all together.”

“Perhaps,” Celestia said, “But I wish that I could have done more for that mare.”

“You wish you could have done more for every traitor pony,” said Luna, “You take far too much of this burden on yourself. I know she made it sound like there was a point where she could have been saved, but everything she said was just another attempt to make you feel bad for her.”

“I know,” Celestia said, “But it is possible for me to think she was justly imprisoned while thinking I could have done more.”

Luna shook her head, knowing that Celestia was relating this to another pony the white alicorn knew, whom she had felt guilty over punishing for hundreds of years. To the dark alicorn though, Sunrise Splendor only reminded her of a certain unicorn who desired power above all else.

Without another word, Luna brought the shared dream to an end, bringing yet another Red Collar hearing to a close.

When Sunrise Splendor awoke, she found herself back in the carriage, in a land far away from Canterlot, her surroundings being not the pristine white buildings of the kingdom’s capital, but dark, rocky crags and black clouds that blocked all signs of the sun. The unicorn looked around for any other kind of structure, hoping beyond hope that what she had experienced was just a bad dream, but when she laid eyes on a large, black door with mystical scribings on it, she knew where she was.

“Finally awake, I see.” said one of the pegasi guards, who was standing at the door to the transport, “And by the look on your face, your trial didn’t go well.” As the pegasus finished his sentence, the markings of the black door lit up, and the doors started to part open, “And here comes the guide to your new home now.”

From the other side of the imposing barrier came a familiar caribou, that being the traitor stag, Gunne. He strode to the door of the carriage, which was opened for him once he got near, and stuck his head inside to greet the newest addition to Tartarus, who had lost all her bravado now that she was face to face with her destiny. The one she so rightfully deserved.

“Are you going to face your sentence with some dignity?” he asked politely, “Or do I have to show you one last time the might of a caribou?”

The mare couldn’t muster up the will to leave the cart of her own accord, incapable of facing this terrible fate with humility. So, as the caribou had promised, he reached in, grabbed her by the collar that Vestri had made customly for her so long ago, and pulled her out by it.

Forcing the mare upright, he directed her to walk to the gates of Tartarus with just his might alone, not needing to give a single instruction when his arm did more than words could ever do for this particular prisoner. Together, they passed the threshold, and once through, the doors shut behind them, to act eternally as an impassable divider for the mare from the world beyond them.

Inside, there was little more than rock walls lined with cages, and the feeling of heat from a source of fire that Sunrise could only see the light of from over the side of a steep cliffs that went deep into the earth. The cages were each filled with prisoners, stallions and mares, who Sunrise could only assume were co-conspirators and other Red Collars who proved themselves loyal to the caribou. None of them made so much as a comment to the mare as she passed by, their will to do anything but sit there seemingly sucked out of them by the bleakness of this place. If they were condemned to a lifetime in this place, just as she was, then it might have been a greater mercy to have been sentenced to death.

Gunne dragged the mare deeper and deeper into the prison, only to find that the cages seemingly never ended, packed one on top of the other, all the way to the ceiling, making the innards of this stoney structure appear oppressively cramped. There were still cells that were empty among them, which caused the mare to wonder two things; if they really felt that they needed all of them to keep those who had sided with the caribou, and how deeply they intended to take her into this wretched place.

She got her answer when the caribou descended a set of steps, making her aware that there were separate levels to this place, which must have meant that more serious offenders were taken beyond the cells at the first floor. Perhaps the prisoners on the first floor still had a chance to be released one day, unlike herself.

As they went down further, a sound slowly began to reach Sunrise’s ears, the sound of moaning, desperate and longing. It made the mare assume that this floor was one where they tortured their prisoneers, and that she was being delivered to some cruel pony who would deliver physical punishment upon her, if the caribou guiding her didn’t take to the task himself. Upon reaching the bottom landing of the steps, she found that what was awaiting her was much worse.

The floor, though not as well lit as the floor prior, shared many similarities with it’s predecessor, with cages stacked on one another, lining the walls from one side to another, except that these caged were spaced two feet apart from each other. Despite their need for space, this was a necessary feature, due to the prisoners the cages of this floor held. For not a single pony could be found as far as the eye could see, as each cage instead occupied a single caribou cow.

The captive female caribou rubbed their naked bodies up against their bars of their cells, unless they decided that their hands were effective enough to satisfy their lustful urges, as they each let out a horrid symphony of moans that exclaimed their inability to touch one another, as they were held just out of reach of any meaningful contact.

Of course, Sunrise knew that these where not normal cows, though they acted like any other she had encountered in the past, sex-guided creatures barely above the intellect of a foal as she perceived them. These were clearly the sex-switched caribou stags Gunne had mentioned in her dream, trapped in forms they would have been utterly humiliated to be transformed into, had they retained the brain power their previous forms held. From the looks of it, there was no sign that any of them recognized the state they were in, too busy seeking pleasure by grinding against what little they hand.

Gunne walked the mare past many of these defeated caribou, all once soldiers loyal to the caribou king, now merely horny caribou cows reaching out to the only stag they’ve seen in months in the hopes that he may stop and relieve them of their pent up lust, until the stag and the mare made it to an area near the back of it that still had a single empty cell. With nary a word, Gunne pushed the mare inside, and then closed the door behind her.

“You’re lucky,” Gunne said, “This floor is supposed to be for caribou prisoners only, but in anticipation for your arrival, I pulled some strings and put you in a place I’m sure you’ll appreciate. Consider it a reward for being the most loyal female this kingdom ever produced.” With that, the stag left, his duty complete.

With the stag gone, there was little more the unicorn mare could do save for observing the other prisoners around her. The caribou were once a species driven by an ambitious goal to make all civilizations bow to their power and follow their ideals, now reduced to pathetic creatures who could focus on nothing else but to satiate the lustful urges their species celebrated.

Seeing their condition, and not finding the same arousal in the situation as all of them, Sunrise took a seat at the part of her cage that was pushed against the wall. For a moment, she was glad that in this room full of naked former males, her wardens had the decency to let her keep her clothing, as plain as they were. After thinking on the matter, having nothing else to do in her position, she figured that each cow might have been given the same, only for them to discard them of their own accord.

Aside from the lewd antics of her former masters, the only other thing in the room of note were a few pony guards stationed in areas out of reach of the deer, all male, as if to taunt them further with the temptation of something they could never have. However, watching them a little longer, Sunrise did see that they would occasional deliver food and water to a prisoner, or literally hose them and their cells down once the occupant made too much of a mess via their efforts to find sexual gratification.

And with that, the mare had seen the entirety of what there was to take in of her new home. It was a dismal site, indeed, with nothing to look forward to but watching the greatest threat Equestria had ever faced be the very stereotype they had believed all females to be. It was ironic how in this small part of Equestria, the caribou’s ideals were more true than they had ever been, as the males present dominated the females, who were creatures guided purely by their sex drive. The only one not following this rule was the mare herself, as this oversexualized environment had the opposite effect on her from her fellow prisoners, turning her off completely, the inherently erotic nature of these living conditions only serving to disgust the mare.

For a moment, she made a valiant attempt to simply ignore all the things that displeased her, a skill she had become very adept at over the years, but before Sunrise could rescind into her own mind, she heard a voice call to her through the sea of moans.

“Hey!” it called out to her. The unicorn didn’t want to respond, not even thinking it was her to begin with, but then she heard the voice say, “You! The pretty pony!”

Sunrise figured, since it was a female’s voice speaking, that it was one of her fellow prisoners, noticing that they had a new roommate that was much different than the rest. Turn her head around the room, she found the culprit, a caribow cow that had pulled herself away from her masturbation long enough to go up the the closest bars of her own cage to the unicorn, her breasts slipping through them as she sat in a kneel, a wide smile on her face.

“Are you going to be staying here with us?” the cow asked with excited curiosity, “I never thought a girl pony would be kept with us.”

Sunrise sighed, “I suppose so…” she didn’t really want to make friends with, or even associate with, something as lowly as a cow, even if they had been a stag prior. However, in this place, her options were woefully small. “And who might you be?”

The female caribou bounced up and down, her breasts jiggling between the bars, “I’m Vestra! Nice to meet you.”

At first, Sunrise treated the reveal of the cow’s name as she would have the name of any random, unimportant pony she would have met, but just before she could shove it into the back of her mind, the name snagged on a sudden correlation she made in her consciousness. She had to look at the deer again, and while there were few recognizable features to compare her to the stag she was thinking of, she noticed that the doe had a particular fur pattern that she had become very intimate with.

No fucking way…

“Wait a minute…” the female version of her former master said, tilting her head, “You’re a red collar! I haven’t seen one for a long time.”

The cow shifted her body more and more to get a better look at the collar, while Sunrise did her best to keep it hidden. That traitorous caribou stag had placed her right beside Vestri, or Vestra as she called herself now. It was like their destinies ran together, like two rivers that had met, and could never be distinct again. It infuriated the mare that Gunne had forced her to share an eternity with the one who had gotten her into this mess, a constant reminder of what she had thrown away everything for.

“Hey… don’t I know you?” Vestra asked, managing to make out more details in the dark, as while the mare did what she could to hide her collar, she did little to cover her face.

“You must be mistaken,” the unicorn objected, hoping against hope that she could keep the reason for her punishment from learning who she was for the rest of her life, if only to prevent a certain thing from coming with that recognition.

“Oh! I got it!” Vestra said.

No…

“I do remember you.” Vestra continued, “You’re…”

No, no, no!

“Sunny!”

NOOOOOOO!!!

Hey there. Thanks for making it to the end of this little two part mini series. So... Let's talk about the main character, Sunrise Splendor, just a little bit. As one of the few characters that was made solely to exist in this setting, she plays a very strange role in it. She is, by the description of the author of her creator, an "elite mare from Canterlot, who ends up being the first red collared mare".

This, as a concept, isn't a terrible idea. Seeing the reactions of a character being the first pony to bend to caribou rule would be fairly interesting, if done correctly. Of course, as with many things dealing with FoE's canon, this was not a well made character. Note this little post story segment is not going to attack the author, as they might have had their circumstances put against them in this case, seeing as FoE is a setting that allows... is that the right word? No, I'm looking for "Inspires". It is a setting that inspires very little creative from those who wish to use it as a template.

Before we get into that though, can we talk just a little bit about fanfiction itself. I'm sure that anyone on this site is well versed in the subject, at least when it comes to MLP, and have seen all sorts of fics that we dislike, and those we enjoy. As a person who writes fanfiction practically all the time, I just want to say that... It really feels like cheating some times.

What do I mean by that? Well, if you were to write your own story from scratch, then you'd have to explain the details of your setting. The world, magic/tech rules, power levels, items used in it, the types of people who exist in it, as well as the characters your story will follow. When writing a fanfic, you get to skip so much of that process, because most of what you're writing about are things the readers already know. Everyone here knows about Equestria, Canterlot, the two princesses (don't even have to write the names and you know which of the five alicorns I'm talking about), and who and what the Elements of Harmony are. You know the Mane Six. You know the Young Six. You probably know who the Mane Seven refer to as well, all without my explaining a single line of dialog.

So yeah, fanfic writing is cheating on a literary level for the amount of shortcuts you can take, but that's not a bad thing, at least not inherently, as it can let you get right to the point of your story if you're not the type to want to explain a million different things. There are plenty of really good fanfics out there, not just for MLP, but all sorts of properties. It also allows people to put their favorite characters into scenarios they could never be in otherwise, or it can just let the writer have some fun with a property and share that fun with others. One issue that often comes from this though is that sometimes our favorite character can be ourselves.

So yeah, this is where I'm going to say that Sunrise Splendor is, most likely, a self insert of the author. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but there is a reason that most fanfic enjoyers dislike self inserts. Let's take one step back though, and look at OCs on the whole, because even an OC that isn't a self insert can have problems. There is a reason why most stories that focus on purely original characters tend to get far less views than ones with purely characters from the show.

The first thing that comes to mind is how an OC kinda defeats the reason you are doing a fanfic to begin with. Again, it's a method of cheating, and using an OC means you have to explain this character now. You have to at least give a reason they have inserted themselves into the lives of characters we already know, and do it in a way that actually makes them interesting. You can't just leave a line that say "They are a pony noble" and expect readers to just accept that, but so many writers do this as a one and done just to get it out of the way, and then just treat their new character like one of the gang. What's worse is if you do try to drop in lines here or there to remind people that they are ______, and then that becomes their only personality trait.

What's probably the biggest sin though is "overexposure". After all, the writer is probably thinking 'why make an OC if you're not going to use them?', not seeing that making them the focus, without giving your readers a reasonable enough time to know anything about them, is why most people hate them. So you make them the main character of your story, give them an important role that helps progress the story, up their abilities to be above those of the canon characters of the settle, have them fall in love with someone who is a big deal to the setting, and tada, you have yourself a disaster. This is often the problem with OCs, and why its hard to separate the good intentioned OCs with outright self inserts.

I too, admittedly, have done some of these things with my character, "Schorl Tourmaline" in one of my other settings, where she has great social influence and a couple of abilities that make her, in ways, "better" than her opposition, who are all canon characters. The very fact that I use the name as my own pretty much implies that she is "supposed to be me", and I won't object to that completely, but I do believe there are some details that help her not be a terrible character. 1. She's a villain, and should have some level of power to contend with the good guys, and 2. I don't make her the main character. Very seldom do I pull her out, and when I do, it's for a plot point that actually requires her. The second part alone is something that makes her much more tolerable as a character, and I've had to actually tell fans of my story to "not make her the focus" of their own fanfics in my universe, because that's not the point of her. As an OC, Schorl should never be the most important thing in the story.

Sunrise Splendor, however, is written with the opposite mindset though. She is the most important thing in the story, if not the most important thing in the universe. The stories she is featured in only follows her, even when more important things should be going on elsewhere, and when something important is happening, she has to be both present and an active part of said events. Everything is detailed through her eyes as if it is fact, and is never left up to the reader's interpretation, which any deviation from the presented depiction, logical or otherwise, would be shot down by the author. She also is somehow a victim of not only the main villains of the setting, but creatures who should understand she has no more agency in what the caribou are doing than she does.

It's really ridiculous how the character demands sympathy and understanding from the reader in every interaction, to the point that the author had to leave a note in one chapter saying "Geez, Sunrise sure is acting weird, huh?" when she was acting like that from the start, and never deviates from that mindset, even when the item that was supposed to be making her follow the caribou's orders is gone.

This is why I approached the character as having written her stories herself, as if she had wrote herself into the caribou's story of conquest, when there were points she shouldn't have even been involved. There were more details to this too I had to skip for brevity, but things like the amount of knowledge the character has, and how the caribou, who see all females as useless and stupid, actually find her a credible source of information, or drag her into situations where she should otherwise be a burden to them, just shows how strong her OC powers truly were buffed to allow her some importance in a story that never should have been about her. It was enough that I had at one point said "They must have been a stallion who got switched into a female", and I wanted to turn the name "Sunny" into "Sonny", leading to a whole bunch of details about how Vestri picked 'him' because he was bi, and later turned Sunrise into a mare under peer pressure from the other stags, which I only left out cause... well... Reasons.

So yeah, it is of my belief that Sunrise was, at the very least, not a very good OC, because there was far too much importance projected onto them. Let's be honest FoE fans, did you even know about this character before this chapter? If you did, did you remember Sunrise's name before this story reminded you? I hope that any aspiring writers out there would take this lesson from this. Unless your goal is to make an obvious self insert for your own personal gratification, don't make your OCs the absolute center of attention. You can make them powerful in their own ways. You can make them know things the canon characters don't know. You can make them clever, or rich, or anything else. You can even make them somewhat important. Just remember that people reading your fanfiction are probably there to read about the characters from the setting you are writing in, not the characters you've added to them.

Night fell on the city of Canterlot, putting an end to another long day. It was an odd side effect of the sun and the moon now moving on their own, as now that time could be tracked by their placement in the sky, it caused each day to feel drawn out to the ponies in this post-caribou Equestria. It was how the princesses had decided to keep things though, as they had no clue how these celestial bodies, once beholden to the power of ponies, had gained this autonomy, and thus likewise feared what might happen should they interfere with it.

So as night fell, the inhabitants of the land proceeded with their ritual of rest, slipping into their beds and closing their eyes, hoping to dream of better times. Not all found themselves sleeping though, as the light of a lantern made its way through the castle on the nation’s capital.

The holder of this light source was none other than Princess Luna, wandering the halls of the palace, finding herself restless. While this was when she would have typically been awake prior to her enslavement, one of the lasting effects of the caribou on the night mare was a disruption of her sleep schedule, due to her own rape occuring throughout the day, when the caribou and their mind controlled subjects had the energy to force themselves upon her. She had yet to correct this change, due to her dream walking abilities being needed during the day to operate the Red Collar trials in the protection the dream realm provided, while making sure the ones on trial wouldn’t realize what was going on.

So her being up at this hour now was an oddity, but as she made preparations to rest that evening, she took a peek into the dream realm, and she noticed something that she had to look into. The only issue was that she didn’t know where the cause of this discouraging problem was, and so she had to seek it out.

At least she had the darkness of the night to aid her in this, the shadows obscuring the surroundings, which all held the stain of the caribou upon them. Unlike her dream version, the palace had not been fully restored. Many of the caribou’s additions had been removed and destroyed, but many paintings and other heirlooms were yet to be recovered, and the stain glass windows still had to be replaced from the caribou’s idealized depictions of how their takeover went, as while the glass was needed to keep out wind, animals, and debris, changing them for more appropriate windows was not a priority. So instead they were just left covered by drapes at all times, which made the usually regal interior dreary to look at.

While that helped hide the remaining damage done to Celestia’s ancient castle, it did little to make those who occupied it forget the damage done upon them. This applied to Luna as well, which was why she hated moving about during the daytime hours, having to relive every vile and depraved thing done to her within these walls, at the command of the caribou king. When she passed by a royal guard, she saw a face that had either grinned perversely as his body ravaged her own, or another victim that she had to watch be likewise taken advantage of. There was nary an inch of floor or wall, nor a single soul within this once majestic structure, that wasn’t touched by the caribou’s taint.

Luna was a princess though, and the one who currently had the most power and authority of the four alicorns. Her position in the Committee might have been precautionary, but ponies still looked up to her for leadership and guidance, so no matter how many bad memories of her enslavement plagued her, Luna had to display herself as confident and unshaken, as the only alicorn who never yielded to Equestria’s oppressors. Unlike so many others in Equestria, the caribou would have no claim over Luna now that their rule was over; not her submission, not her fear, and not even her misery. If the alicorn had to, she would live her life untethered to what they inflicted upon her, if only to spite any control they once held over her.

But not all ponies could simply move on, and one such pony was what was bothering her at the moment, not appearing in the dream realm at this late hour, that pony being her sister. She had hoped that this was just a matter of Celestia not going to bed yet, but with the sun mare’s duties now minimized, there was little that would have kept her up.

Upon making it to Celestia’s room, Luna found it vacant. “Where could she have gone off to…” she said to herself, having a feeling that this was more than her sister taking a late night stroll through the palace.

Luna began a search for the mare throughout the castle, checking all places one might expect a pony to be, even at this late hour. The dining hall was empty, though that should have been expected, as the castle servants had been given leave while Equestria was being restored. She checked the library, but not so much as the light of a candle shined within it, as the book depository was devoid of a single soul looking to peruse the knowledge it held. The garden also lacked Celestia’s presence, as did the main hall and the Committee’s meeting room, formerly the royal throne room.

After what was close to an hour of searching, Luna started to get more worried than she had been prior, and thought about initiating a castle-wide, and if needed a city-wide, search for her sister - until she happened a glance outside to the courtyard, seeing the white alicorn standing on the path leading to the palace gates. In haste, she flew through the castle, her concern for her sister guiding her actions.

Luna made her way to the main entrance at a pace that would have impressed a Wonderbolt, throwing the door open as if she was worried Celestia would try to escape her, only to find that the white alicorn was still standing in the spot Luna had seen her.

Luna’s exit from the castle didn’t go unnoticed, and as the dark mare hurried her way to her sister, Celestia turned to greet her. “Good evening, Luna.”

Luna stopped herself right before reaching her sister, touching back down on the ground, “‘Good Evening’ nothing,” she replied, “It’s the middle of the night, and I find you out here, doing who knows what.”

“I didn’t realize I was being watched,” Celestia said in jest, “Is there a reason you’re worried I’m not in the castle?”

“I’m worried because you’re my sister,” Luna replied, “And I don’t want anything more to happen to you under my watch.”

Back when the caribou had made their move, Luna was one of the first to fall to their ploy, as she naively took an offered drink from one of her night guard, who was under control of the corrupted Crystal Heart. Whatever they had given her paralized her immediately, making her incapable of fighting back, though completely aware of what was being done to her as a small group of her trusted guard became the first of many to steal pleasure from her unwilling body. More unfortunately though, she could not in her incapacinated state aid her sister in repelling the invaders from their kingdom. With one simple, unforeseeable mistake, Luna might have allowed Equestria to be brought under caribou rule.

It wasn’t an isolated incident either, as when Chrysalis had disguised herself as Princess Cadence, she had slept through the whole event, only learning about what had happened after. With these two failures under her belt, she was not about to allow a third to happen. Not when Equestria had been entrusted to her by her sibling.

Celestia couldn’t help but smile at how her sister worried for her. It was strange, yet comforting how a small indication of care could help make a person feel much better. “I’m fine,” Celestia reassured, looking up at the night sky, “I just felt like stargazing tonight.”

“You can stargaze from the balcony in your room,” Luna said, “But you decided to come out to the courtyard instead. We… I think there is something more to this.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Celestia said, “There are so many things on my mind lately.”

“I hope you’re not dwelling on the words of that Red Collar from earlier,” Luna said, referring to the unicorn mare they had sent to Tartarus, “Those were the words of somepony trying to bring others down to her level. Nothing more.”

“That might be so,” Celestia partially agreed, “But it doesn’t mean that her words didn’t hold some value to them. It’s something I’ve discussed with Twilight briefly before, that by being a Red Collar, I have breached the trust of those I had once ruled over. The Red Collar Tenets don’t apply to me any less than they would anypony else in the kingdom.”

“The pony I saw during the Fall was not you,” Luna insisted, recalling the the visage of King Dainn’s alicorn pet, a mare who in every way betrayed the ideals of the form it inhabited, “And you shouldn’t blame yourself for the things the caribou’s Crystal Heart made you do.”

“That’s the excuse Shining Armor came up with for my, Twilight’s, and Cadence’s behavior,” Celestia said, “But we still don’t know why the heart affected all of us, but never touched you.”

Luna really didn’t have an answer for that, nor did anyone else in Equestria. When interrogating a few caribou officers, they only replied with an answer of ‘They must have wanted it’, which was stereotypical of their kind, and earned them a swift trip to the Blanking Device to be switched, which was one of the many function it could perform. Now that the Crystal Heart had been destroyed, a necessary task to get rid of the caribou’s influence, it was impossible to figure out exactly how it worked, and why some ponies were immune to its effects.

This opened the door for all sorts of speculations, including whether the caribou were right, and that those affected by it actually wanted Equestria to be how the caribou envisioned it, if even subconsciously. It was the position Sunset Shimmer attacked issues from when she was in the Committee, but no one else approved of that manner of thinking, as it seemed counterproductive to look at every citizen as a potential enemy, particularly the stallions, who had been so vulnerable to the caribou’s schemes.

“There are times when I think about all the things my former self did,” Celestia continued, “I wonder what led to me accepting that collar. I want to believe that there was some reason behind it. Sometimes I think that it had to be something like Dainn threatening your safety if I didn’t comply, but having heard what you’ve gone through, I can’t see myself being so naive to believe that he’d uphold a deal for your safety.”

Luna had to admit, she couldn’t think of why Celestia would have submitted either. Both of the alicorn sisters had started out as defiant to their captors, but at some point Celestia had swapped her black collar for a red one. If not for the knowledge of how the Crystal Heart had been altered, then Luna might have had stronger doubts about her sibling caving to the constant sex and torture.

“I just wish that I knew what was going through my mind at that time,” said Celestia, “So I could know without a doubt if I had betrayed my people or not.”

“Sister…” Luna said, thinking back to when she and Shining Armor had arranged for the removal of all memories of the Fall from the other three alicorns, “As I’ve told you before, by the time the caribou were overthrown, you had become a Purple Collar. If it were any indication, you were too far gone to have any coherent thoughts.”

If she had any belief that Celestia had succumbed to the caribou’s treatment, it would have been during the period that she had become a Purple Collar. Her sister succumbing to degradation and lust, that was an impossible thing for Luna to fathom, but Celestia’s mind breaking because she was in a year-long struggle against their mind control, understanding the suffering her ponies were going through as her body did whatever Dainn commanded of it, that was something the moon princess could believe.

“I can understand your need to take responsibility for your actions,” Luna said, “And you’ve done so by stepping down and letting others rule in your stead, not to mention all the work you do to help the Committee. It just pains me to see how much responsibility you are taking on, as I don’t think you were at fault at all.”

“You are too kind, Luna,” Celestia said, “But we have to look at this objectively. Every time something like this comes up, I think back to what Sunset Shimmer said, about how there was something dark being seeded in our kingdom that I wasn’t aware of… And then I think about how you became Nightmare Moon so long ago.”

“You aren’t suggesting that my descent into darkness is similar to Sunset’s explanation as to how the caribou’s mind control worked, are you?”

“If she is correct,” Celestia said, needing to say what bothered her, “And the Heart preyed on dark thoughts and urges that ponies kept hidden from the public, then another attack like this could be just as devastating as before. It would be a weakness that puts us all in danger, but seeing how black collars could resist that kind of power, it's apparently not one that can’t be overcome.”

Luna didn’t want to humor any of the ideas Sunset Shimmer had presented, as she and the other Committee members had, for the most part, always believed them to be flawed and manipulative, using the faults of others, something no creature was without, as a reason to assert more control over them than was needed. The only member who had ever faltered on this outright refusal of the unicorn mare’s beliefs was Flash Sentry, who had sided with her temporarily before seeing how far the mare wanted to go with her ideas.

“Sister, we can’t allow fear of another invasion like the caribou to guide us into being tyrants of their level.” Luna objected, “What Sunset proposed was unacceptable, as it practically judged every stallion, no… every pony in the kingdom as a potential threat. A leader who sees their citizens only as enemies to be subdued is no different from the villains we have repelled to keep Equestria free.”

“Yes,” Celestia conceded, “We can’t allow ourselves to become authoritarian dictators, but I also can’t allow our subjects to suffer because we can only be reactive to those who wish to do us harm. I loathe to say this, but the fact that we haven’t been attacked again by now might only be luck.”

“I think there is more to it than that,” said Luna, “Chrysalis is currently in our custody, Discord has vanished completely, and any hidden threats we had prior to the Fall might have been affected by the caribou in ways we’ve yet to learn about. We also have allied nations helping us at every turn, and if something were to happen, they would hopefully be more active in preventing it from becoming another large-scale problem, since they know now it could spread to them.”

“It also might just be an unfortunate truth that in the state Equestria is in, we aren’t worth the effort of taking over.” Celestia added, giving a more negative perspective as to why no external forces had tried to seize the opportunity to claim the weakened pony nation. “And don’t forget… A group of unidentified creatures did steal the Blanking Device while it was being transported to a new location. That alone shows that we have something to worry about.”

“The point is that we have never allowed something or some creature to put Equestria in danger before. Not even when that danger was ourselves. While Sunset’s methods are drowned in attractive words and points that are difficult to argue, I don’t believe her means would justify the ends.”

“And yet she has quite the following,” Celestia said, “Her support group has many members, and it is growing daily. While she still seems confrontational with the Committee, and they have a habit of causing disruptions across Equestria, they have been overall harmless. The worst thing they’ve done was cause that riot here that one time.”

“She might have become a source of motivation, but her disruptions are the last thing we need right now,” Luna replied, “I can give her credit for reaching ponies in ways our own efforts had not, but the division she creates between her cause and our restoration movement only delays our goals.”

“Do you think we could reason with her?” Celestia asked, “So that we could join our efforts, and do more for Equestria together than we would do alone?”

“If only that were possible, but I can’t shake the feeling that she is motivated by more than just a want to help ponies.” Luna answered.

“Then I’ll have to defer to your opinions on the matter,” Celestia said, “You are the head of the Committee, and I’m no longer Princess, so you are the authority here.”

That statement from her sister wasn’t as reassuring as Luna would have wanted, as it came off as less an agreement with her stance on the matter, and more a submission to the authority the former matriarch had granted to her. She didn’t expect the white alicorn to agree with her on every subject, but when it came to Celestia’s former student, the princess of the night didn’t believe Sunset could be allowed to do as she pleased.

Luna could see that Celestia was at least being complacent though, and had to accept that as enough for now. “Then if we are done with this conversation, would you please come back inside and go to sleep?”

“Yes,” said Celestia, “And I’m sorry for making you worry.”

The two sisters returned to Celestia’s room, not through the front door, but by taking flight and going to the balcony of Celestia’s bed chambers, their two figures dancing among the stars in the light of the moon for a brief moment. Once Celestia touched down, Luna turned around to return to her own room in the same fashion.

“Please try to get some rest,” Luna said, giving some final sentiments before she made her leave, “And allow the rest of us to bear some of the burden you’ve been shouldering.”

“I will.” Celestia said, entering her room.

With that said, Luna flew off, ready to go to sleep herself.

Celestia closed her curtains as she made her way to bed. She was legitimately pleased to have her sister care about her emotional wellbeing, enough to hunt her down in the middle of the night. However, all the concern in Equestria couldn’t keep her from having second thoughts about how she had led her kingdom, where she might have gone wrong, and the unforeseen consequences those mistakes might have had.

When she had become the sole mover of both the sun and the moon, she had never wanted any pony to be consumed by jealousy as her sister had been ever again. So she shifted the ideals of her kingdom to be one that exemplified each pony’s inherent talents, and urged them to follow the destiny those talents would lead them to, believing that by celebrating each pony’s unique gifts, it would eliminate any more situations where a pony would feel underappreciated.

Now, a thousand of years later, she had more issues than the kind of destructive jealousy Nightmare Moon had displayed, as ponies became unsatisfied with just being praised for doing their best. Today wasn’t the first time a pony was put before the Committee, and it was discovered they sided with the caribou because they wished to not just be good at what they did, but desired to be the best of their field, held in higher esteem than all others. It was just the first time one brought up that they had tried their best, and what they got in return was not what they believed they deserved.

Before going to bed, Celestia went to a desk in her room and looked at a flier that she had placed there earlier. It was a flier for ‘Mares for a Better Equestria’, for some upcoming event that was going to take place in a few days. It didn’t look like one of the normal meetings, as it was going to take place in Las Pegasus. The entire city was shut down at the moment save for the hotels it had, which were utilized to house many mares who were awaiting their new homes to be built, but it appeared that Sunset Shimmer had gotten access to one of the empty resorts to host one of her seminars. With that much room, Sunset could potentially have all of the members of her group under one roof, so whatever she was planning was gonna be big.

Celestia, for the most part, didn’t care what Sunset was doing with her group, so long as what she was doing was supporting those seeking help. Celestia had wanted Sunset to help fix Equestria’s current state, and it looked like she was in her own way.

“If only she could have done so as part of the Committee,” Celestia said to herself.

Sunset was a gifted and talented mare, a fact that no one could deny. In many ways, she was as good a student as Twilight had been, perhaps better in some regards, but the unicorn’s faults came in how she believed those with power should use it, those ideals being what forced Celestia to dismiss her as her student, which in turn had made the mare leave Canterlot and go into hiding. Her disappearance was something the princess had seen as another mistake to add to her list of personal failures.

After hearing how Sunset ran a successful rebellion group against the caribou though, Celestia had thought that Sunset’s time away from her had helped her mature, as it displayed her abilities as a leader, as well as her capability to care for and protect others. It felt like a vast improvement until she started making some unsavory suggestions on what to do with Red Collars and stallions who had sides with the caribou - suggestions that would have made Celestia think that she was the one who stole the Blanking Device, had she not been present in Canterlot that day to help bail the members of her group that ended up causing a riot that day. Not that Sunset or any other creature could operate the machine, as it ran on a combination of pony and caribou magic, which was drained from the device in order to transport it safely. With all the caribou stags under diligent watch, whoever did take the device would find that it was little more than a heavy hunk of metal, as it was now.

Celestia had to admit that her former pupil’s issue came down to her inability to work well with others. In the past, Sunset was much like the Red Collar from earlier, and felt she deserved more - the difference being that Sunset didn’t think her destiny was what was holding her back, but that others were holding her back from her destiny. Now, it felt like the mare thought she knew better than everyone else, and didn’t have time to play politics with the other members of the Committee. The worst thing about it all, she might have had a point.

The other members of the Committee were all important figures, ponies who had proven themselves during the Fall in one form or another, but it was hard to compare them to Sunset. The unicorn struggled everyday to make sure those she commanded wouldn’t become victim to Dainn and his ilk, and while each member had gone through their own trials, none of them had so openly and successfully opposed the caribou. Braeburn came close, but he had to pretend to be compliant with the rule of the deer to keep his loved ones safe.

“There has to be some common ground we can reach,” Celestia said, picking up the flier as she went to her bed, knowing that if she didn’t appear in the realm of dreams soon, Luna would be coming back to her room to check on her, “Some way we can work together, for the good of all Equestria.”

It was wishful thinking, but with her kingdom and citizens suffering, Celestia needed to look to alternative ways to bring back the peace and prosperity she had maintained for centuries prior. It wasn’t that Sunset didn’t have good ideas, as her support group itself was one of them. Perhaps what she needed was somepony to filter those ideas, listen to everything she thought would help out, and then present the good suggestions to the Committee to be reviewed.

Putting faith into her former student, Celestia resolved to attend the upcoming meeting in Las Pegasus, knowing that Sunset would have to be there, hoping that she would allow her former mentor an audience. Then, if Sunset liked the idea of helping guide Equestria from the shadows, the two of them could figure out some constructive ways to attack this deep seeded darkness the unicorn believed dwelled in the hearts of ponies.

“I have to at least try,” Celestia said, assuming that the worst that could happen was that Sunset turned her away. With all her thoughts sorted and her plan set, the alicorn of the sun closed her eyes and went to meet Luna in her dreams to bid her one final ‘good night’ before her sister allowed herself to rest as well.

A little chapter to rap up the last section, and give a peek to what will be going on next time. We will return to Trixie's story soon, and see what happens now that she had overcome one of her more daunting obstacles.

“Ok everypony, let’s practice those defense tactics I taught you.” said Bon Bon, addressing a collection of mares gathered in the ‘Mares for a Better Equestria’ meeting room, having just finished up on a more advanced self defense course than the one that the group normally provided.

It had been a few weeks since the rape incident in the park, and things had changed rapidly. The entire group was told every detail of what had happened a few days after, as Sunset Shimmer didn’t want to keep any secrets from the ponies who followed her, even if the news was scary. Hearing that a rapist had infiltrated their ranks quickly brought up declarations as to if stallions should be in the group, but Sunset squashed ideas of kicking out male members who had shown a willingness to cooperate with the program, unlike the stallion who was now in Equestrian custody.

Sunset understood the fears of the mares, but ensured that she had plans to make them feel safe, starting with more scheduled defense classes, which would be led by a more talented instructor than herself from then on, who had taken on the role. When Sunset had escorted Lyra home the night of the attack, the two got to talking about how she’d have to tell her marefriend what had happened, and Sunset offered to assist in that matter, seeing how it would be difficult to talk about such a recent rape to a loved one. Sunset didn’t even care that Bon Bon had been given treatment for her purpling via the memory erasure spells, contrary to Lyra’s fears, and the three had a long talk about the situation, which ended in Bon Bon joining the group in outrage of what happened, wanting to help in any way she could.

Strangely, the earth pony knew a lot about combat technique, for reasons she would only disclose to Sunset, and now she was the one running the self defense classes. Three times a week, she would train any mare who showed up to her course, which in the light of the recent event, ended up being every mare of the group. Then, after an hour of lecturing and hands on training, the stallions would be allowed in to act as sparring partners. This was all voluntary, as it had been before, but since the rapist had been against the idea of letting the mare practice their new skills on him, no stallion abstained in belief that if they did, it would make other members think they too might be a traitor hiding among them, which was something none them wanted. So when Bon Bon opened the doors, and called in the stallions waiting patiently outside, they all came in without hesitation, each in the belief that allowing themselves to be used as punching bags for the next hour was for the good of the mares, themselves, and Equestria on the whole.

The mares got to pick their partners, many of the stallions getting two mares at once, since multi-pony combat scenarios were practiced as much as solo encounters, as it was practically enforced now that every mare couldn’t travel without another one with them. Once the practice partners were selected, and everyone took a place in the room, Bon Bon gave the go ahead to get started, watching and giving out corrections to any mares who were still having trouble.

“Remember what we talked about, Carrot Top,” she said, passing by the orange mare, trying to be vague so no stallions could pick up on what the mares had been taught. The farm mare had picked Star Bright as her partner, who was still having a problem getting into the role of an ‘attacker’.

This didn’t bother Carrot as much as it once had though, as the news of another rape had sapped just a little more empathy out of the already nearly dry well she had reserved for males. She wasn’t so callous that she went out of her way to seriously hurt the outmatched unicorn, but she didn’t have any issue practicing her moves on him. A palm strike to the horn to disable his magic, into a head lock to pull him off balance, followed up by a sweep of his legs allowed her to flip the much weaker stallion forward, slamming his back on the mercifully soft matting laid across the floor.

“That was,” the stallion said between coughs, laying on lightly bruised muscles as he tried to catch the wind that had been knocked out of him, “A good one.”

“Yeah,” Carrot replied, enjoying the feeling of physical dominance she had over the prone male, “If this were a real fight, you’d be out for sure. But…” The mare crouched down, grabbing the stallion by the horn, punching it back as she squatted her knee right onto his throat, “If you weren’t I’d just pin you like this, till you passed out.”

The stallion felt the force of the mare’s whole body as it pressed down against his windpipe, but didn’t make a move against her. Partially because any more struggles would be a sign that he was still ‘playing his part’, and that would be the go ahead to keep up on her hold. Another part of it was that he wasn’t worried that she would take this too far, not like he used to be. He had been roughed up by many of the mares in the group by this point, but they always knew when to stop, which was more than he could say for some past experiences with other stallions when he was pulled into some rough housing. It was becoming a point that he was starting to trust mares handling him harshly than he did stallions in general, which included himself. This was due to the third reason he wasn’t fighting against the mare, because at the angle his eyes were at, it gave him a very good view of the mare’s body, a fact that he could both appreciate and feel ashamed about enjoying.

“Ok, next round,” Carrot said, lifting herself off the stallion to let him breathe, while guiding him back to his feet by the held horn, “This time make me sweat a little.”

“I-I’ll try,” Star Bright replied, having to mentally suppress an erection as the thought of sweat glistening across the earth mare’s body entered his mind. His lack of focus got him a palm across the muzzle, which was led to him being sent back to the mat, as a hand strike to the chest from the mare sent him tumbling to the ground.

Satisfied with Carrot’s display, Bon Bon moved on to a pair of pegasi fending off another team of pegasi males. The males were using the limited space provided to them to attempt some aerial maneuvers, while the mares were on the ground fanning wings in front of them. While the strategy of using your weight to ground a flying attacker was effective for unicorn and earth ponies, a female pegasus was too light to try the same tactic, thus Bon Bon showed them that they could use their feathers as a means to misdirect and shield them. It was to be used like waving a cape in front of a rampaging beast, waving the wings around to conceal where the body of the mare was, and allowing the feathers to take the impact of the blow. Since feathers didn’t feel pain and could be easily removed if needed, an attacker aiming for this large part of the body would find it fruitless, and leave themselves open for a counter attack from the mare. The only problem was that a mare using their wings like this couldn’t depend on the advantage their own flight would give them if they lost too many feathers, which is why those using their wings this way had to stay grounded.

The best thing about learning to fight this way was that it could be used in an enclosed space, where flying might not be possible, which many pegasi had to deal with as an obstacle when they were captured. Seeing that the pegasi were doing well on their own, Bon Bon let them continue as they were, and went over to where two unicorns were practicing, one being Lyra, and the other being Trixie.

The earth mare watched as the two struggled to play keep away with a white earth stallion that Bon Bon had come to know as Double Diamond, who looked to be holding himself back a bit. As the two mares did their best to land their practice knives on the stallion, he was able to weave around them, being a more athletic pony than most. Each time he’d dodge one of the floating prop blades, he’d go in on his own attacks, aiming for the horns of the two mares to disable them, as trying to pin one mare without doing so would just lead to the other hitting him while he was preoccupied.

In turn, the unicorns had to do their best to move their heads away from the incoming strikes, managing to narrowly miss getting hit time and again, though Bob Bon suspected that was because Double Diamond was not swinging as surely as he could. It looked like he was going intentionally slow, or aiming a little off target, as he never made an attempt to actually land a blow. He might have been doing it to keep from actually hurting the mares, but this was going to teach the two unicorns bad habits if they never got hit.

“Break, you three.” Bon Bon said, stepping in between the fight, snatching the unicorns’ weapons out of the air with ease, casually tossing them back to their mares.

As the unicorns fumbled to catch the props with their hands, Bon Bon directed her attention to Double Diamond. “Weren’t you part of Sunset’s rebellion group at one point? I’d expect more from a stallion as capable as you should be.”

“Yeah, but I was more a recon pony,” he replied, “Since I could navigate the terrain around our base better than other ponies.”

“I still think that you’re not putting your all into this,” Bon Bon remarked, “And if you don’t put in the effort, then they can’t learn from it.”

“Give him a break, Bon Bon.” Lyra said, taking a few heavy breaths, “We’re doing well enough to keep up with him as it is.”

“Yeah,” Trixie agreed, likewise winded, “I might have managed to take down a stallion before, but I’m not used to having to dodge fists being thrown at my face.”

Bon Bon could see that both the mares were not fighters, but in the case of Lyra she had known that for some time. It was one of the traits she found attractive in her marefriend, as she saw the unicorn’s more upbeat and peaceful nature as a bit of normality she needed in her life. However, with the world as dangerous as it had become, and Lyra already becoming a victim at the hands of a wicked pony who forced himself upon her, the unicorn no longer had the luxury of being naive and helpless.

“You both need to concentrate more on your multitasking,” Bon Bon said as she commented on their technique, “Unicorns have two ways of fighting. Either overwhelming an opponent with powerful magic, or out thinking their enemies. Since neither of you are capable of doing the first choice, you need to train your brains to do several things at the same time. You need to be quick on your hooves, direct your magic, and think about what your attacker is gonna do before they can.”

“That’s asking a lot,” Trixie said, hoping in the back of her mind that all this training was unnecessary, despite that notion being proven wrong once already.

“It is,” Bon Bon admitted, “And it’s not something every pony can do. The best we can do is make you as prepared as possible, which means you’ll have to learn how to cast spells under the most hostile of circumstances, which unfortunately includes when you’re taking a hit. I know that sounds terrible, but if you’re face to face with an enemy, they will not hesitate to do terrible things to you.”

Both Trixie and Lyra knew Bon Bon was right, but all this fighting wasn’t for them. If not for Sunset’s insistence that everypony had a moderate understanding on how to defend themselves, they’d both be sitting on the sidelines. Lyra might not have even been here, if not for her to support her marefriend’s involvement with the support group, as she had skipped these classes several times already. That the two had to accept taking a beating, if a restrained one, on top of that didn’t sit well for either of them.

They didn’t have to worry about that in the immediate sense though, as before their instructor could set up the next round against Double Diamond, the door to the room opened up, and in came Sunset Shimmer, followed by Starlight Glimmer, and a young looking earth stallion with a green mane and pale yellow fur, who looked to have only just reached adulthood, maintaining many of his more coltish features.

All the ponies already in the room stopped what they were doing, having a good idea what was about to happen, as this had happened many times prior in the time between the incident at the park and now.

“Listen up, everypony,” Sunset said, her tone direct, but upbeat, “We just got ourselves another new member to our group here. I want you all to say hi to Pistachio.” The ponies in the room gathered around the stallion, each already existing member wanting to get a good look at the newest addition to their ranks, “He just finished up his interview, and Starlight and I found him to pass with flying colors.”

The interviews were new, another consequence of the slightly successful rape attempt of a prior member of the group. All stallions, even the ones who had been part of the group for a while, had to come in and have a long talk with the leader of their area’s chapter. In it, they’d have to reveal lots of details about themselves, such as the things they had done during the Fall, what their reasoning was for joining the group, and if they had any unsavory thoughts about mares before the caribou even appeared, which could range from stray sexual thoughts to beliefs that a mare was in any way lesser than a stallion. This was all under the ideal that any negative thoughts held by stallions needed to be discovered and dealt with, if the poor males were ever to get over the guilt they felt towards the mares they had wronged. No stallion objected, as to do so would lead to exclusion from the group, in order to protect the female members.

“Young colt,” one of the unicorn stallions said, “You look like you’re no more than eighteen.”

“Nineteen,” Pistachio corrected, a bit timidly, a bit bashful being the center of attention.

“The poor boy spent his first year of adulthood in the caribou’s empire,” Sunset explained, “And was brainwashed by the Crystal Heart as all you stallions were.”

“Had he been a year younger,” Starlight added, “He’d had been given the memory erasing spell.”

“But the Committee of Ponies’s arbitrary cut off point fortunately spared him from that.” Sunset continued, “And now he’ll be able to be helped in a more constructive manner, with ponies who understand the problems he’s facing, instead of sweeping them under the rug.”

“Well it’s always good to see another stallion wanting to do right by mares,” Bon Bon said, stepping to the front of the crowd, turning around to gesture to them to take a step back, seeing that they were unnerving the young adult. Once that was finished, she put her attention back to Pistachio, “So, is this the one you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yes,” Sunset replied, “He’ll be one of the first to be part of the new Ward Program. Already got his consent and everything.”

The brief conversation between the two got some of the ponies muttering among one another, as this was the first time hearing about a ‘Ward Program’. A few came to the conclusion Sunset meant the defense classes, but they had never been called that before.

Sunset picked up on the confusion very quickly, and was happy to let those present in on the details, “I’m sure you’re all wondering what the Ward Program is. Well, I don’t want to go too deep into it right now, but I’ve been talking with the other chapter leaders, and we want to try out a new type of therapy for our stallion members.”

“New therapy for us?” Star Bright asked, sounding very receptive to the idea of something geared towards the males of the group.

“Only for those who want to participate, and only a few at first,” Sunset said, “But It’s a more hand-on approach to dealing with some of the issues you all might be having, especially when it comes to interactions with mares. Starlight, if you’d care to fill everyone in.”

Starlight nodded, and said, “We are going to have a few mares that have displayed exemplary behavior in our group become the guardians of a select number of stallions. To provide round the clock guidance to them, and help stave off the urges they might feel when it comes to sex.”

“What does that mean?” asked Carrot Top, who was saying what was on the minds of all the other members.

“It depends on the guardian,” Starlight answered, “As they will be in full control of the stallion’s actions, though certain guidelines will of course need to be followed.”

“You knew about this?” Lyra asked Bon Bon, since it seemed like she had some prior knowledge about what was going on.

“Only since the start of self defense class today,” the earth mare replied, “Sunset caught me and asked me about taking in a stallion to keep them out of trouble. I said I’d have to talk to you first, and I didn’t realize it was part of some big project.”

Lyra didn’t need much more than Bon Bon’s word on the matter to believe her, but this matter was something that the pair would need to talk about more thoroughly, since it sounded like they would be taking Pistachio into their own home.

“You don’t need to worry about it immediately,” Sunset assured, “As we are planning to have this program started a week from now, at the Las Pegasus gathering.”

Unlike the idea of the Ward Program, no pony had any question about what the orange unicorn was talking about in this regard. The event had been talked about for some time, as a sort of emergency meeting among all the factions of the support group, once more prompted by the attack in the park. It was also heavily advertised, as another recruitment drive for new members, so flyers for it could be found in most cities, making it difficult for anypony not to know about it.

“When during our seminar, we’ll have a few stallions openly place themselves into the care of their designated guardians, which in Pistachio’s case will be Lyra and Bon Bon, should you two accept the role, perform a small act to show everyone that they will never relapse into the caribou’s ways. I’ll have to speak to all participants to explain the details in full, but that’s the jist of it.”

“And this is all purely voluntary?” asked a stallion from the crowd.

“Of course,” Sunset replied, “We want to make sure that each pony involved is comfortable, and while this might seem like a heavy handed approach, having stallions under the watchful eyes of a mare, we would never force a stallion into such a position. This is more for those stallions who believe they might give into temptation, as unsavory thoughts slip into their heads.”

“You’re worried about something like that?” Lyra asked, becoming a little concerned for the stallion.

“It’s not like I want to rape a mare,” Pistachio quickly refuted, “But… I’ve had thoughts about mares in the past, and even now when I think about some of the things I did to mares…” Pistachio hung his head shamefully, as he reflected on what the caribou had allowed him to do in his controlled state, how his memories made him feel, and not all of his thoughts on the matter were as purely negative as they should have been. “I’m just not sure if I could live with myself if I let my bad thoughts get the better of me.”

Lyra, seeing the earth stallion’s guilt, couldn’t help but sympathize with him. He was only just old enough to be called a full grown pony, and the Fall might have messed with him in more ways than most males. If he felt that taking preventative measures was something he needed, and she could be of help in that matter, she found it hard to come up with a reason not to assist. At least it was something that wouldn’t require her to hurt a pony, which already put it a step above learning how to fight.

“So as you see,” said Sunset, “We are just trying to help those who feel less in control than some of the rest of you. Though, if any members would like to be a part of this program, then please come to my office later this evening. For now… Why don’t we return to defense practice, and Pistachio, why don’t you be a good stallion and follow Bon Bon’s instructions for the rest of the day.”

“Is that ok, ma’am?” the pale yellow earth stallion asked the earth mare.

Bon Bon gave a soft huff, not expecting to have the coltish male pushed off on her this soon. “I don’t know. I’m the instructor for this course, and you’re gonna get in my way if you are just following me around.”

“Then…” Lyra said, stepping forward, “I’ll take care of him for the rest of the class. He can help me practice with my combat magic.” The unicorn didn’t give anyone a chance to object, and went up to the earth pony stallion to take him by the wrist, walking him to a far corner of the room.

“Looks like they hit it off,” Sunset said, “And that should take care of him till the class is over. I’ll leave the rest up to you, instructor.”

Sunset left the room, Starlight following behind her and closing the door. With the two unicorn’s gone, authority defaulted back to Bon Bon. “You heard them, ponies. We still have a bit of time left to train. Partner back up, and let’s use it the best we can.”

Each pony did just that, and soon sparing practice resumed, the small intermission between it over. Trixie lamented that a little, as she came to realize that with Lyra now practicing one on one with Pistachio, that left her alone with Double Diamond. That meant that all his attention was going to be focused on her now, which her face visibly expressed her displeasure with that prospect.

“Don’t worry,” Double Diamond said, noticing that Trixie looked unenthused, “I’ll go easier on you than before.”

“Thanks…” the blue unicorn replied half heartedly, not seeing any value in what would be a practice match between one pony not trying, and herself, who still wouldn’t measure up to the stallion with the handicap.

Practice still resumed though, and as Trixie did what she could to keep away from Double Diamond’s telegraphed attacks, her eyes would occasionally drift from her partner to Lyra, who wasn’t really continuing the training, so much as using up as much time as possible, acting like she was showing the new stallion what he was supposed to do, with her being so slow with each step that anypony could see she was just stalling.

A part of Trixie wanted to be bitter that she had to continue doing this when Lyra found a way out for that day, but the way the two ponies looked together, as Lyra guided him, was too cute to stay mad at. She soon found something else to be mad at though, as a palm strike finally landed on her face, knocking her to the floor.

“Oh crap, I’m sorry!” Double Diamond apologized in haste, though in reality it was Trixie who had, in her distraction, moved her head in the way of the attack that would have completely missed otherwise.

Seconds later, Bon Bon came to see the mare, flat on her back, dazed from the hit. “Ok, that’s enough for you today. Just lay down and take a break. Class is almost done anyways.”

Trixie groaned, but did as she was told, not moving anything but her eyelids until class was over, and it was time to put away all the equipment.

A little over a week later, and Trixie was stepping out of an airship, onto the solid streets of Las Pegasus that sat upon a formation of clouds. The unicorn was in the company of every pony she had become accustomed to being around, traveling together in one big group, though with most incapable of leaving the path, they weren’t in much danger of getting separated and lost. The streets were practically empty aside from them, much more so than any other city in Equestria, with all the resorts and casinos empty and shut down until further notice. It was strange to see this city, which could shine like a secondary sun in the night sky when fully functional, silent and dim.

This wasn’t helped by the fact that very few ponies actually lived inside the city prior to the Fall, commuting to work or staying at a hotel that was paid for by their place of employment, so no one outside of a stark few had a reason to be here. Trixie had heard that some of those hotels had been repurposed into mare shelters for displaced pegasi, but she had to assume that they would have been much nicer than the one she had lived in, and with no restoration work going on in Las Pegasus, there might have been little reason to leave such a place.

“Wow,” Lyra said, looking around at the sights that sat atop a formation of cumulus, “This place looks amazing.”

The unicorn mare was impressed with all the buildings, for all their extravagance, despite not being in operation. This was her first time here, so something like the many different themed structures lining the strip was enough to excite her.

“You should see it when it’s on,” Sunset Shimmer said, leading the group to their destination, “The neon lights, the noises, the other ponies flooding the streets as they go from one building to another to get in line for rides, gamble their bits, and watch acts performed by many talented ponies.”

“What kind of acts?” Lyra asked, becoming captivated with the thought of everything that went on in this glamorous city.

“Oh, you know,” Trixie said, thinking about the things that normally went on in Las Pegasus, “Plays, comedy acts, stunt shows… Magic acts…”

“Magic?” Lyra replied, taking note of the mare who mentioned it, “Did you have an act in Las Pegasus?”

“No,” Trixie replied, “But my dad used to be a headliner in one of the casinos.”

Trixie was never good enough to fit the standards of Las Pegasus. Even if she was incredibly good at levitation, and had been since a young age, the talent alone was far from spectacular enough to warrant a spot on stage, as the ability to float objects, even complex ones like Trixie could, was just too common for ponies to want to pay money to see.

“Well maybe when the city gets up and running again, we can all come and see his show together.” Lyra said, the anticipation of such a get together with her support group friends hyping her up.

Trixie didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was unlikely her father would be doing any more acts, with her knowing more about his current situation than the other unicorn did. The caribou had shipped her to Las Pegasus once, as they did with her to many cities, for a week to wait aside one of the restrooms, and perform the duties of a sexual relief mare at one of the casinos. From her spot at the wall she was chained to, the unicorn had a good view into one of the performance halls, and through the irony of some cosmic coincidence, one of the acts she had the unfortunate privilege of witnessing was her Father’s. It wasn’t anything special when it came down to it, just his normal act with moments of black collar humiliation and rape sprinkled in between.

After the performace, he had went to use the restroom she was stationed at, and for a moment Trixie was frightened that her own father was going to fuck her, in some fulfillment of a deep seeded perversion that had been brought to the surface due to the caribou. He had stopped in front of her for a moment, filling her heart with terror, but then casually moved over to an eager red collar kneeling next to her, and pushed his dick down her throat.

He didn’t even say a word to her, or made a gesture that made her think he even recognized his own daughter, which she was immensely thankful for. She did not want to become the victim of incest like so many other females had been forced into during their own enslavement, but that she wasn’t forced to do so only made her slightly more happy to instead be approached by his performance partner, a stallion by the name of Big Bucks, whom was a friend of the family. Big Bucks was perhaps the only stallion she sucked off willingly, taking measures to prolong his satisfaction, just to make sure her dad couldn’t use her after the red collar finished her task.

Some time after her liberation from the caribou, Trixie received a letter from her father, the postal service being one of the first functions of society to be restored, and at first she was hopeful that it was him trying to figure out where she was, to save her from the isolation and despair she felt when she lived in the mare’s shelter. Instead it spoke of how he was severely haunted by all the things he had done during the Fall, and that as much as he wanted to reconnect with her, he didn’t trust himself to have contact with her.

The reason for this, as her father explained, was that he had recognized her in that resort, chained up for use, and had contemplated using her. He wasn’t even sure why he didn’t, because there was a good part of him telling him to do so, but he chalked it up to the attractiveness of the red collar next to her. That he had even allowed Big Bucks to do what he pleased with her was too much for him after the brainwashing was gone, and while he knew of the mind control stallions had undergone, he felt it was best that he retained his distance from from not just her, but Big Bucks too, since he believed he couldn’t be around either without being reminded of what he had let happen. He could never forgive himself for allowing Trixie to be used like a common whore, nor Big bucks for having been part of that, and didn’t believe that Trixie should forgive either as well. It was such a depressing notion that Trixie didn’t even reply, her father becoming yet another figure in her life that she couldn’t put faith in.

“Maybe we should save that idea for some time later,” Bon Bon said, spotting a shift in Trixie’s demeanor at the mention of seeing one of her dad’s shows, being a bit more observant than her marefriend, “We should focus on today for right now.”

“Bon Bon’s right,” said Starlight, listening in on the conversation, “You’re all gonna have so much to do today, you won’t have time to think of anything else. The place we are going to go to will have an all day buffet, lots of games you can play for free for actual prizes, an open pool, and a concert later on to open for the seminar.”

“That does sound like a lot,” Lyra admitted, “Will there be any rides open?”

“Unfortunately no,” Starlight replied, “During the Fall, any rides Las Pegasus were repurposed in the typical caribou manner, and thus were disassembled once they were defeated. They have not been repaired yet due to the state of Equestria, since most of the materials that would be used for their construction have been put to better use.” Starlight took a moment to look over a clipboard she was carrying, flipping up a sheet on it, “Oh! But we did manage to get some bungee cords for the cloud diving attraction. Would you like to try something like that?”

“Would I?!” Lyra said, now anticipating a thrilling moment of leaping from an incredible height.

“How did you get all the ponies to pull all this together?” Bon Bon asked, knowing that everything Starlight mentioned required a good deal of horse power to operate.

“Most of the staff today are male members of our group who were asked to volunteer,” Starlight answered, “Even the concert will be done by a famous pony who joined one of our other chapters. A stallion by the name of Feather Bangs.”

“Feather Bangs is in our group?!” Lyra said before giving out a loud squeal, finding yet another thing to be excited over, “This is going to be awesome!”

“I’m glad you think so,” Sunset said, unable of ignoring the noises coming from Lyra, “I’m hoping that this will be very therapeutic for all the members. Something big and spectacular to help make new, pleasant memories.”

“Well I for one can’t wait for later tonight,” Carrot Top said, pretty much being one of Trixie’s group of friend’s at this point, if perhaps the most distant.

“Why’s that?” Trixie asked, “You curious about that guardian program?”

“Not as much as I was,” Carrot replied, “Since I decided to be part of it.”

Trixie was a bit surprised by that information, as watching over a stallion to ensure they didn’t do anything bad didn’t seem like something most mares would want to do. Then again, now that Lyra, Bon Bon, and Carrot Top were part of the program, it was Trixie who was the odd one out in her small circle of friends.

“Carrot Top came to me after I announced the program,” said Sunset Shimmer, “And asked me what mares were expected to do if a stallion was put in their care. After explaining the responsibilities, Carrot decided to join in herself, which was good, because right after we got another stallion who wanted to have a mare keep them in line.”

“So what are the responsibilities of a guardian mare?” Trixie asked, as that had yet to be fully explained.

“I’ll explain in due time,” Sunset replied, “But I want to wait for the seminar, when the entirety of our group will be present to hear it all at once. Enough about that though. We are coming up on our destination.”

The group of ponies could see Sunset wasn’t just trying to divert the topic, as they had stepped into a part of the strip that was becoming more and more filled with ponies, all of which were wearing the black neckerchief that identified them as members of Mares for Better Equestria. There had to be a few hundred present, so many that gathered in front of the building the event would take place in made a sizable obstruction in the street.

“That’s strange,” Sunset said, “They should have let everypony go inside. I’m gonna have to take a look at what’s going on. Starlight, keep watch over our group while I do.”

“Sure thing, Sunset.” Starlight replied.

Sunset separated herself from her chapter, leaving them at the back of the ponies clogging up the street. She had to work her way through them all, each pony just as confused as herself as to why no one could go inside, though she was able to spot the pony that would solve that confusion standing at the front door.

“Gladmane!” she yelled as she breached the front of the line, calling out to a heavy set earth pony stallion stationed behind a velvet rope blocking off doors. “What’s happening here? Why are the doors still shut?”

The earth pony, who was the owner of this particular resort building, had been wearing a worried look on his face as he prevented any of the ponies from entering. That eased up only slightly when he spotted Sunset Shimmer.

“I’m so glad you finally got here,” he said, rushing over to the orange unicorn, “Something has come up, and I think you’re gonna have to be the one to handle it.”

“I hope that you aren’t referring to opening the door and letting everypony inside,” Sunset said, not pleased that things weren’t already underway, and that her members were stuck outside, “Because I’d think that would be simple enough to understand.”

“No, it’s not that,” Gladmane answered, “But we have a little bit of a situation.”

“What kind?” asked Sunset, as she thought up some worst case scenarios on the spot, “Did the volunteers not show up yet? Is the food shipment late?”

“It’s better I just show you,” the stallion replied, being too flustered to just explain.

The earth stallion opened the door, and gestured to have the mare enter. Sunset couldn’t just go in without saying something to the ponies who had all come to be part of the event though, and thus she turned to face them all.

“Sorry everypony,” she said, using a spell to amplify her voice, “But it looks like something needs my attention before we can start. It shouldn’t take too long, so just sit tight. I’ll at least have an update for you all shortly.”

With that said, Sunset went inside, leaving a couple hundred ponies to stand out in the hot sun, to murmur to one another about theories of what could have happened.

The second the doors were closed, Sunset grabbed Gladmane and pulled him around a corner, pushing his back against a wall just out of sight, and pinning his head between her arms as she placed her hands on the same wall, leaning in on the now startled stallion.

“I thought we made our agreement clear,” the unicorn said, more adamant on addressing the issues immediately than she was in front of the hoard of ponies standing outside, “You let me have full use of this inactive resort casino for a day, and I’d petition the reopening of Las Pegasus as more than a halfway home for displaced rape victims.”

Sunset might not have had any real authority in the matter of whether or not certain businesses that were deemed unnecessary could be allowed to run again, but with her members, and a few connections she had made, she had a good deal of sway when it came to public opinion. Enough that she could convince a pony like Gladmane she could get up and running again, instead of letting it sit and gather dust.

“So I’d like to know what you think is important enough to make me look stupid by locking my guests outside?”

“So that’s how you got Gladmane to agree to this.” said a voice from behind the unicorn, a voice that instantly let Sunset know that Gladmane had actually made the right choice.

The unicorn gave a sigh, and grew a smile on her muzzle, as she pulled herself away from the earth stallion. “Celestia,” she said, turning to face the alicorn, along with a small band of royal guards that accompanied her, “I’d say I was surprised to see you here, but that would only be because I expected Princess Luna in your place.”

Celestia didn’t look too pleased at that moment, having overheard the details of Sunset’s agreement with Gladmane. “Sunset, you know that Equestria is recovering from a crisis. We need to manage our resources so every pony can be assisted by their needs.”

“Really?” Sunset said, looking back at Gladmane, nodding her head to the side to tell him to leave, now that she was taking care of the problem, a prompt he gladly obeyed. Sunset waited for the stallion to leave her sight, and then added, “And yet many mares are still being shoved into every nook you can find for them. Before the caribou, something as small as a small town being rebuilt would have taken the better part of a day. Right now, the Committee is so disorganized and slow that it can take a week to get a few houses done.”

Celestia couldn’t refute Sunset’s accusation, though it was more complicated than the unicorn made it out to be, this stunted progress to the kingdom’s restoration being the product of widespread disruption of the harmony of its people. When ponies worked together, trusted one another, and utilized their talents as a group of individuals with a single goal, they were capable of great things. When they were forced together, with thoughts of mistrust of the pony beside them, the results were often poor.

“So let me guess,” Sunset said, “You don’t like what I’m doing here, and you’ve come to shut me down. If that is the case, then I’d suggest you get one of the Committee to come and tell all those ponies waiting outside that they’d wasted a trip coming here. You’re no longer our ruler, so you have no authority to-”

“I’m not here to stop you,” Celestia interrupted, wanting to quelch the hostility coming from Sunset, “Even with your little quid pro quo you set up here, you’re not doing anything that would be deemed worth preventing.”

“Then… Why are you here?” Sunset asked, having predicted the possibility of the Committee wanting to cancel her event, since she was a bit of a political adversary to them.

“I was actually hoping that you’d allow me to participate in what you’re doing here today,” Celestia admitted, “But I didn’t think it would be good for me to just walk in, seeing that the views some of your members have of me are poor.”

“Well getting here early to wait for me with a bunch of goons isn’t much better.” Sunset said, “But…”

The unicorn considered the request. This could have easily been an attempt of Celestia’s to spy on her organization’s activities, but Sunset knew her former mentor enough to see when she was trying to hide something, and in this case it seemed like the alicorn only showed sincerity. “I have to say this is unexpected. I thought you’d want as little to do with me as possible, after I struck out on my own.”

“You might not believe me,” Celestia replied, “But I still believe that cooperation between you and the members of the Committee would help Equestria in its recovery. If not with you as a committee member, then maybe in some other ways.”

“Is that what this is about?” asked Sunset, “You trying to convince me to join up with the Committee? If that’s it, then I’ll tell you now that I’m not going to be their lackey. I left it to begin with because I disagreed with how things were ran within it.”

“That’s not what I want,” Celestia answered, “As I know you’re not the type to defer to others when you feel you are in the right. The thing is, I think that you have some good ideas, seeing how well organized and motivated you’ve gotten the ponies in your organization. Ideas that maybe the Committee should hear, but the animosity between you and them makes it hard to take advice, even sound advice, from you. I would like to discuss this further with you, if you would, but I also don’t want to keep your guests waiting any longer than they already have. So please… May I spend the day here with you so we can talk over what I have in mind?”

Celestia’s request actually surprised Sunset, as she was thinking that the alicorn was wanting to have free reign to do as she pleased at this event. Instead it looked like Celestia wanted to spend it with her. That was a matter that complicated things a bit, but could also have some advantages for Sunset if Celestia was being legitimate.

“I suppose it wouldn’t kill me to spend the day with my old teacher,” said Sunset Shimmer, which got a smile to form on Celestia’s face, “But… I would have a few stipulations, since I’m trying to make this a safe place for all my members.”

“That’s fair.” Celesita said, realizing her very presence would put some attendees on edge.

“Then let me set my terms real quick.” Sunset said, as she untied her neckerchief.

Outside, everyone was waiting for any sign of what was going on within, having pretty much exhausted all ideas of what it could be amongst one another, and now just needing a definitive answer. Until that was given to them, all the speculation in the world meant nothing, as they’d still be waiting for permission to enter the building.

“How much longer do you think it will take?” asked Lyra, concerned with the delay, fearing that something serious happened that might cause Sunset to cancel the plans they had.

“It’s only been ten minutes,” Bon Bon assured her marefriend, despite being curious herself.

Trixie was, surprisingly, ok with the delay in contrast. Perhaps because she didn’t really have a desire to go in and mingle with all the other members of the support group’s other chapters. The one interaction she had with other groups didn’t end too well, but that’s because it took place at Canterlot Castle, and involved the previously red collared princesses. The blue mare had to remind herself that without the presence of the princess, the other ponies wouldn’t have a reason to cause any problems, and that would allow for better interaction between the less familiar members of their organization.

As Trixie made these mental notes to calm herself, Sunset reappeared at the entrance, opening all the doors, and casting a spell, her volume increasing spell once more. “Mares and Stallions,” she said, addressing the crowd. “I’m glad to announce that the problem has been taken care of, and you’ll all be able to come inside and enjoy yourself shortly.”

All the ponies gathered outside were relieved to hear that whatever had happened didn’t prevent things from going forward, and Lyra herself showed her excitement that they’d soon be allowed inside by hopping on spot.

“Before we begin though, I have a small announcement,” Sunset Shimmer said, “As we have a surprise guest joining us today. She had seen our fliers, and thought that it was a good opportunity to see how we all did in a social function. So please give an… understanding welcome to our guest, the former ruler of Equestria, Celesita.”

At the utterance of her name, the white alicorn stepped out the door in a dignified, if a little sheepish, manner. Celestia knew that she was not seen favorably among those here, the pelting she received from a member of the group still a fresh memory, and as murmurs started to rise from the a herd of her former subjects, she could see that few we pleased to see her.

Though Celesita had expected this response to her introduction, she had agreed to let all attendees see her, so Sunset could ease them into the idea of her presence. This was Sunset’s first stipulation, as the orange unicorn wished for all her members to feel safe and comfortable, and by her account that wouldn’t be possible if the alicorn was walking around the place without some form of explanation for her being there.

“Come on, everypony,” said Sunset, likewise seeing the tension rise, “I know we all have our thoughts about Celestia, but she has come here today to learn how we benefit the ponies that have joined our group. She has even agreed to wear our symbol of resistance, to show that she endorses our message.”

Upon mentioning it, ponies in the crowd took notice of a black cloth around the white alicorn’s slender neck, though Celestia’s head was angled downwards, as if she was trying to hide it behind her chin.

“Sunset…” Celestia said quietly, conflicted by what the mare was saying. The alicorn wasn’t opposed to her former student’s activities or message, but to say she endorsed it was a step too far. She had agreed to wear the neckerchief because it was another one of Sunset’s stipulations, insisting that the small show of solidarity would make ponies feel better, but now she felt she was tricked into some political stunt.

“Ahem,” Sunset said, hearing Celestia’s near silent protest, “Perhaps I misspoke a bit. What I meant to say is that our guest is wearing it in approval of our gathering, and as a sign that she wants to make an effort to understand what makes our organization so special. So please, for the rest of today, try to grant her a small amount of forgiveness, if only to help make this as enjoyable as possible for all of us.”

Sunset paused for a moment, and received a very light applause to her declaration of momentary peace. It was clear to anypony that this show of tolerance was only given because the group’s leader was requesting it. Celestia would have to accept that though, as she understood that her previous life as a red collar, though removed from her memories, was far from removed from those she once ruled over.

“With that all said,” Sunset continued, “I declare that the festivities… begin! Please, come inside and partake in anything and everything that the resort has to offer.”

With the awkward introduction now over, the members of Mares for a Better Equestria were permitted entrance to the building. Both Sunset and Celestia stood off to the side as hundreds of ponies entered through the doors, most of which doing their best not to send dirty glares or worried glances in the direction of the alicorn as they walked past, with a few failing at this task, while others did so intentionally.

Celestia herself couldn’t help but feel like she was on display, put before the condemning eyes of those she failed to protect, the shame of her prior life in the Fall bringing shame upon her.

Sunset didn’t mean for this to happen.

She told herself, needing to believe that this wasn’t some vindictive act from the unicorn. Besides, it was more likely that she just wanted ponies to believe she had the support of an alicorn, as she had portrayed earlier.

Eventually, the mass of colorful pony forms had reached its end. Only a few were left to go inside, but these particular ponies stopped just short of the door, walking up to Sunset directly. Three unicorns, and a pair of earth ponies. Strangely, Celestia knew most of these ponies. Two of them used to go to her school for gifted unicorns, while one of the earth ponies was a secret agent named Sweetie Drops, who worked for Celestia in missions that involved catching dangerous magical creatures. Last she had heard, Sweetie had gone undercover, but Celestia didn’t know if that was still the case after all that had happened.

Then there was the pink unicorn among them, who Celestia had come to know of recently, though the alicorn couldn’t say that she actually knew her. Only that she was a mare Sunset knew during the Fall, whom the orange mare had taken responsibility for during time in the Committee. Sunset had taken it upon herself to become a guardian for the pink mare, perhaps because Sunset felt responsible for her. It was one of the first things Sunset did as part of the Committee, and at the time Celestia saw it as a positive sign.

“Hello, Princess Celestia,” said Bon Bon, greeting the alicorn with a brief bow.

“You don’t have to be so formal,” Celestia replied to the display, “As you know, I’ve stepped down as princess.

“You did?” Bon Bon commented in a mild show of surprise, “You’ll have to forgive me. I just got out of the hospital a few weeks back, and I’m still catching up with all the details.”

“Got out of the…” Celestia pieced together what was going on quickly, “Then you must have had your memories removed due to purpling. You have my condolences.”

“That was a great speech,” said Starlight Glimmer to Sunset Shimmer, checking over the clipboard she had been carrying, “And everything was resolved quickly enough that we shouldn’t have to move around your schedule at all.”

“Actually,” Sunset said, positioning herself over the shoulder of her assistant, “I think that we’ll need to cancel this part of the seminar.”

Sunset’s finger landed at the very bottom of the board, to which Starlight replied, “Sure, I can make arrangements to put a halt to that one. Weren’t you hoping to reveal our work to all our members tonight?”

“Yes, but it can’t be helped at this point.” Sunset Shimmer said, “We’ll just have to hold it off for some other time.”

“Sunset, whatever it is you had in mind, I don’t want to be the reason you don’t do it tonight.” Celestia said, wishing to see everything that Sunset had in mind for this event’s activities.

“No offense, but it’s a little too late for that,” Sunset said, “I want my guests to get enough time of relaxation and recreation before I get into the more heavy aspects of why we are here this evening, and with the delay that came from postponing their entry, I fear we’re an hour behind.”

“Then I’m sorry,” Celestia said. She expected her presence to cause a bit of a disruption, but didn’t think that it would change things this significantly.

“It’s fine, really.” Sunset said, “You’ll see more than enough tonight, and what I had in mind there was just a small demonstration of things I have planned for the future. It isn’t even a finished project, so it won’t hurt if we can just save that for the next event. I’ll even invite you to the next seminar, so long as things go smoothly tonight.”

Celestia understood this was Sunset telling her that she would be allowed to see what mysterious demonstration was so long as she was on her best behavior, which was a bit humiliating coming from a mare the former princess had to prevent from achieving the evil aspirations Sunset once had. Still, Celestia wanted to believe that her former student meant this simply in the manner that the alicorn didn’t cause a disturbance for the other guests, which was something Celestia had to accept.

“So… what are we all waiting for?” Sunset said, looking at the members of her chapter, who seemed to be waiting on her to enter with them, and were the only ones who hadn’t entered yet, “Let’s get inside and have some fun.”

Taking Celestia by the hand, Sunset entered the casino, hastily pulling her mentor inside.

“Come along everypony,” Starlight said, ushering in the rest, who followed her inside.

Among the group, Trixie found herself following right behind the pink unicorn, in a position to watch her make adjustments to the schedule on her clipboard. There wasn’t much to it, since all she was doing was shifting around a couple of times she had listed, and crossing out the last entry.

Before Starlight could cover it in black lines, Trixie got a peek at what the event was supposed to be, and all it said was ‘Demonstration for Phase Three’. Trixie, not knowing the inner workings of the support group, could only ponder as to what that meant, as she didn’t even know what the Phases before that could be. If given a guess, Phase One was probably establishing the group, but without being given any clues, there was no way she’d know what Phase Two was. Perhaps it didn’t matter to her, a pony who was just a beneficiary of the support group’s actions.

Or perhaps whatever this Phase Two was would be something Sunset Shimmer would be revealing during the course of this event.

Ok, I'm back to this story again. Sorry that I stopped for a moment, but I had an idea in my head, and had to get it out. Most likely won't happen again, and hopefully I can start getting to the conclusion of this story, even though that is still a ways off. Expect new updates soon, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

As everyone entered inside the building, they were greeted by a barrage of noises and lights. Every functioning attraction that the casino had to offer had been turned on, making it emit the kind of atmosphere one would expect from a establishment dedicated to entertainment and gambling. At least, that’s the impression that Trixie had, as a sensation of nostalgia came over her, since she had visited this place on many occasions prior.

The blue unicorn had never been in this particular resort hotel before, as it was one of the newer buildings of the cloud city, established only a short time before the caribou took over, and that was probably a good thing as she didn’t see anything that reminded her of bleaker times. A place like this, that was already devoted to the concepts of greed and pleasure, would have easily adapted to the corruption of the Fall, but any modifications that it made during that time were removed and disposed of. It looked as if the place had been completely renovated, with signs of the bondage equipment that was surely once housed here paved or painted over, at least from what one could see from the main entrance.

“Looks like Gladmane got the hint and told all the volunteers to get everything started,” Sunset said, as her small group, and a certain alicorn who was acting as a tag-a-long, made their way through a line that was rapidly approaching a table stationed front in center of all the attractions, “Most of the guests are already making their way around, and are hopefully enjoying what I’ve set up for them.”

“It is pretty amazing what you’ve been able to put together,” Celestia said, assuming the statement was made for her benefit, and recognizing the amount of hard work it took to run an establishment of this size, “How did you find so many ponies willing to help out with such a project?”

“Nothing we are running today requires that much skill,” Sunset replied, “Just some simple tasks that need some extra hands and a bit of common sense to perform. Even for the things that the average pony couldn’t do, we have stallions who have talents that are useful, such as cooks to make food for ponies when they get hungry, or engineers that we have on hand in case a slot machine shuts down.”

“Wait,” Bon Bon said, “You’ve got the gambling portions of the casino up and running?”

“Were we supposed to bring money?” Lyra asked, having not actually used any bits in some time, with most services being government funded to help those who had the entirety of their live’s savings stolen from them by the caribou.

“Everything will be explained when we get to the greeter’s table.” Sunset said, not wanting to go through the details herself.

The line dwindled down within seconds, no one sticking around the greeters’ table long before they made their way deeper within the resort. Before long, the group had made it to the front of the line, with no others behind them to likewise keep waiting.

“Welcome to the Gladmane Resort Casino,” said a recognizable voice in a cheerful tone, as Star Bright was sat behind the table, with Pistachio right next to them, each surrounded by stacks of pamphlets, and sizable bags that looked like money pouches, “Oh, sorry about that. I saw it was you guys coming, but I’ve been saying that nonstop for the last twenty minutes, and it just came out by habit. What I meant to say was ‘Hey girls, glad to see you made it’.”

“Star Bright was wondering when we’d get to the ponies from our group,” Pistachio said, already gathering up some of the items from the table, “Of course, about an hour ago we were wondering if we’d even get to do this because of…” the young stallion sent a sideways glance to Celestia, but didn’t finish his thought. Whether it was out of politeness, or because he was worried how the alicorn might react was uncertain, but he changed the topic by saying, “Anyways, are you all ready to have some fun and excitement?”

“We sure are!” Lyra said, slipping herself right up to the table, all in on having the time of her life today, “So this is why we didn’t see you on the airship ride here. I thought this would have been a good time for me and Bon Bon to get to know each other better before you officially became our ward tonight, but I see Sunset has you hard at work.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Pistachio said with a slight blush, enjoying the attention he was getting from one of his soon to be guardians, “I’m doing my part to help the cause.”

“So how does this work?” Lyra asked, figuring that the objects on the table were in some way involved with the activities they would be participating in.

“Well everypony gets a map of the building, a time schedule of when important events are taking place, and a bag with one hundred tokens in it,” Star Bright said, “The tokens can be used on any of the games, from slot machines to roulette and cards. The games are mostly to serve as entertainment, but winning at them can grant you tickets that can be exchanged for some small prizes.”

“The games are still left up to chance though,” Sunset clarified, “So it’s un-advisable to use all your tokens on a single game. All games that allow you to place bets have a limit on them to help prevent that, but it’s possible to come out empty handed if you use your tokens unwisely. However, none of the prizes offered are anything more than trinkets, so you shouldn’t feel bad if you lose all your tokens, but even then I’ve added a bit of a pity system for those down on their luck, and you can exchange a ticket for five tokens at the prize counter.”

“So the point is not to win, but just play periodically throughout our stay and have fun,” Bon Bon said, “That’s a pretty good approach to this kind of thing.”

Pistachio started handing out the items among each of the ponies, including the others of the group who Trixie didn’t know as well. “Aside from that, all other facilities are free. There are several places where you can get food if you are hungry, and entertainment halls can be entered at any time before the shows being held there start. If you get lost, there will be plenty of staff that can help you find your way around, and each one is a trusted stallion from one of our group’s chapters, so don’t feel intimidated to approach them.”

The ponies at the table each received their designated items, with even Celestia being granted a bag of tokens at the behest of Sunset Shimmer. “We’ll have time to enjoy some of the games after I show you around the place,” the orange mare said to the former matriarch, “But remember, you have to stay by me, for the sake of the other guests.”

“I remember the terms of my invitation,” Celestia said, acknowledging that Sunset wanted her to stay close by, for the comfort of the other ponies, and to ensure her own safety. Sunset said it would be less likely for anypony to be hostile towards the alicorn if she was accompanied by their group’s leader, and Celestia agreed it would just be better if the two didn’t separate. After all, she had to dismiss her escort of pony guards, as they were deemed to imposing for the guests to just wonder around and keep and eye on the alicorn.

“Then that should be it,” Sunset said to the others, “Go ahead and have some fun. I’ll catch you all later.”

“You’re not going to stay with the group?” Trixie asked, the thought of Sunset splitting off not occuring to her till that moment.

“Trixie,” Sunset said to the blue unicorn with the calm temperament of a patient mother, “I know you probably have issues with crowds and public spaces after what happened in Canterlot, but I promise this place is safe. Nothing bad will happen within these walls.”

“Right!” Lyra said, pulling Trixie over to her and Bon Bon, “We are supposed to wander around, mingle, and gain a few pounds from all the tasty food. Just relax, come with me, and go with the flow.”

That Lyra made it clear she wasn’t going to leave Trixie’s side put the blue mare a bit more at ease, especially since that meant that Bon Bon would be nearby at all times too. Even if something bad did happen, the earth mare would be more than capable of dealing with it.

“I’ll be heading off on my own,” Carrot Top said, “Not that I don’t like hanging with you all, but I need a little me time.”

“Just make sure to get to the main event hall before we start the closing ceremonies.” said Starlight, “As we need all our future guardians to be present for the presentation. Lyra, Bon Bon, that goes for you too.”

“I’ll make sure we get there,” Bon Bon assured, as she was the responsible mare of the couple, and thus would be the one keeping track of time.

“Ok then,” Starlight replied, “Then all I have left to say is have fun.”

Starlight and Carrot Top parted ways from the group, going deeper into the resort, as did Sunset with Celestia alongside her, and the others of the support group that were outside of Trixie’s circle of friends. When Trixie, Lyra, and Bon Bon were all that remained standing at the greeters’ table, the mint green mare among them turned her attention to the two stallions stationed there. “And what about you two? You wanna come?”

“Sorry, Miss Lyra,” Pistachio replied, “But we’re supposed to stay here for a while to make sure that any stragglers get their things. At least an hour, just to be sure.”

“And what about after that?” Lyra said, still hoping there was a chance to spend some time with the young stallion before the warding ceremony.

“After that we’ll be working the floor, handing out drinks to all the guests.” Star Bright answered, “Non-alcoholic ones, to be clear. Sunset doesn’t want anyone getting drunk and rowdy.”

“Good call.” Bon Bon replied.

“So you’re not going to be able to have fun while your here?” Lyra said, now feeling bad for those volunteering. This was perhaps a once in a lifetime event, and so many were gonna have to sit out.

“It’s ok,” Pistachio said, a smile on his face, “So long as I know all of you are enjoying yourselves, I’ll be happy.”

“You sweet thing,” Lyra said, giving the earth stallion a pinch on the cheek, “I’m gonna make it my duty to make sure you have some fun today too, even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming.”

“Miss Lyra… Please…” Pistachio responded, a smile cemented on his muzzle, even as his cheeks turned to a deep blush. It was obvious he enjoyed being fawned over, but felt duty bound to his task.

“Come here, you…” Bon Bon said, grabbing her marefriend by her neckerchief, using it as a handle to pull her away, “Let the boys do their job.”

Lyra stumbled a bit as she was made to walk backwards into the building, finding the whole thing amusing. “Wait! I want to tell him how cute he looks with red cheeks!”

Pistachio of course heard this, and aware that everyone else in earshot did too, buried his eyes in his hands, the red area of his face doubling in size, if not tripling. “And just think,” Star Bright said, more than happy to rub salt in the wound, “Soon you’ll have that mare around you all the time.”

Pistachio let out an elongated groan, but both of the ponies still with him at the table could see the thought only made his smile grow bigger.

As amusing as this all was, Trixie didn’t want to cause any more embarrassment for the stallion, or lose track of Lyra and Bon Bon for that matter, so she said a quick “See you two later” before chasing after the other mares.

Trixie had no trouble catching up, as the marefriend couple had only made their way into the resort’s game room before Bon Bon saw it fit to release the unicorn. As Trixie approached, she could hear Lyra say “You know, being guardians to a stallion like that might not be that bad. He might be an adult, but it kinda feels like we’re adopting a son.”

“Just try not to lay it too thick with the mothering,” Bon Bon said, knowing well that Lyra was just being playful with the stallion, “He does still have actual parents, and we don’t want to give him a complex.”

“No promises are made,” Lyra said jokingly, but she was taking her lover’s words to heart. Having watched Trixie’s approach, she chose to focus her desire to have the most fun that day as much as possible on other things. “So Trixie, any idea where we should start first?” Lyra said to the other unicorn, thinking she had more experience with places like this, while also wanting to let the mare pick something Trixie would enjoy doing first.

“I’m happy doing whatever,” Trixie said, as even if she wasn’t as reserved as she was about social outings, there was nothing here that she hadn’t seen or done before prior to the Fall.

“Come on, there has to be something you’d like to do,” Lyra said, pressing the issue.

Trixie sighed, and took out her map and scheduling list. With most of the resort’s attractions shut down, the selection of things to do was limited, making it easier to just pick something, “How about we check this out?”

Trixie put her finger down on the paper, and the two mares closed in around her to see what the blue unicorn had picked, “Pony racing?” Lyra said curiously.

Bon Bon opened her own pamphlet, and found a part that gave details about the individual events, “Seems to be a standard pony race that you can place bets on,” Bon Bon said, “Featuring members of the Wonderbolts.”

“Sunset got the Wonderbolts to come?!” Lyra said, excited at that news.

“It’s not a farfetched idea to think some might have joined our group,” Bon Bon replied, “But this does seem like a good start. The races look to be lasting a while, and there are food stands stationed nearby. We can watch the runners go around a few times, grab a snack, then move on to the next thing.”

“I’m in.” said Lyra, taking both Bon Bon and Trixie by the arm, placing one on either side of her, “This will be great.” The two were then pulled along by the green mare, off into the direction of the track.

Being familiar with Lyra’s antics, both mares allowed themselves to be tugged along for a short distance, before then matching her pace. There was something about Lyra’s enthusiasm that made it contagious, which neither of the other mares could deny.

When the trio arrived at the track, they found that the races had already started, the delay on entry not pushing back the starting time one bit. This didn’t bother them, since there would be plenty of races throughout the day, and fortunately with the resort having far fewer guests than it was normally accustomed to, there were plenty of open seats, even track side.

Before long, Trixie found herself seated right next to the fence around the track, at a small table with a bench that encircled it, watching Lyra as she stood right up against the barrier separating the seats from the racers, yelling words of encouragement to any that passed her by. If not for the signs warning the spectators not to, Trixie was sure Lyra would have bent over the divider to get the closest view possible, but excited as she was, the other unicorn was still conscientious about the guidelines.

“I’m gonna go get us something to munch on,” Bon Bon said, seeing that her marefriend would be preoccupied for a while, “Just do me a favor, make sure that she stays on this level of interaction with the races.”

“Got it,” Trixie agreed, though she didn’t think there was anything to fear about Lyra getting out of hand.

The competition for that day consisted of all stallions, most of which being pegasi, with a few earth ponies sprinkled in, each rotating out after each race finished. This sort of thing only appealed to two types of ponies; the ones here who wanted to try their luck guessing who would win, and the kind who liked seeing sweat trickle off the bodies of athletically fit ponies. Had there been a few mares in the bunch, then there might have been a risk of Lyra’s eyes wandering, and her getting a little too excited, but like this it was just a harmless spectacle for the mare.

Trixie likewise had no real interest in this sport, outside of it providing her a means to kill time without doing anything. She was still in a state mentally where males didn’t appeal to her, especially with the recent realization that some stallions out there were still more than willing to force themselves upon mares if given the chance. With the races being the only thing to participate in though, she couldn’t help but have them attract her attention.

As advertised, a few Wonderbolts were a part of each lap, but only what seemed to be the lesser known or less popular members. That probably couldn’t be helped, since the most popular Wonderbolts Pre-Fall were mares like Fleetfoot and Spitfire, with Soarin being the only super popular male member of the team. While Soarin was perhaps a bit too high profile to be interested in something like this, even if it was practically a charity event, ponies like Lightning Streak and Silver Zoom had certain features that made them excellent consolation prizes for anyone enthusiast of watching stallions exert themselves.

With each race lasting less than a few minutes, with only a few more in between to get the next set of competitors in place, the spectators were able to watch many in a short amount of time, and after a few the novelty wore off on Trixie. Still, it looked to be making Lyra happy, and that was enough for Trixie to be satisfied. She just wished that Bon Bon would get back so she had someone to talk to while Lyra was distracting herself by cheering each stallion on to victory at once, but the lines to the concession stand must have been long, as nearly twenty minutes had passed and the earth mare had not returned.

Trixie had almost resigned herself to watching more of, what was to her, the tedious sport of running in a circle, until she heard the cry of her name from somewhere among the other seats. At first she thought she must have misheard, but a second call of “Trixie! Lyra!” made sure that she knew the first one was real. Both the mares turned about, wondering who was trying to get their attention, as it didn’t sound like Bon Bon, and almost at the same time their eyes landed on a petite cream colored earth mare with light blue, striped hair.

“Oh hey, it’s Coco!” Lyra said with excitement, remembering the mare from that gathering in Canterlot, “I didn’t even think about you being here! Get over here, girl!”

Coco Pommel was already on her way to do just that, a pleasant expression on her face as she and Lyra converged at the table Trixie was seated at.

“I haven’t seen you since the day of that riot. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.” Lyra said to the earth pony.

“I’m glad to see the both of you as well.” Coco said, returning the sentiments, “Especially since I heard about that attack on the two of you. I was really worried that the two of you had been traumatized by it. I know I would have been.”

“Thanks for your concern,” Trixie replied, not exactly happy that news that she and Lyra were the victims of the rape attempt had made it so far. For a mare who had always sought notoriety, almost becoming a victim of rape after the Fall was not the way she wanted others to recognize her name, “But Sunset has made sure that our mental health has been attended to.”

“Yeah, Sunset knew how to handle the situation right away,” Lyra said, “It’s amazing how fast she follows up on these things, but she always seems to have a handle on what’s going on.”

“It’s a good thing that you two have such close relationship with her then,” Coco said, genuinely happy to see her two acquaintances were being taken care of, “The leader of our chapter of the group, Minuette, is a good organizing events and making sure everyone knows when to be at them, but she doesn’t seem the type to handle serious situations like that.”

“Oh, I think I actually know her,” Lyra said, “If it’s the mare I think it is, we both used to go to the same school. I might have to hunt her down later, if she came today that is.”

Coco gave a nod to say that Minuette did come, “All group leaders were instructed to come today, since this was such a big event, but you might not get a chance to talk to her. She and the other leaders are supposed to meet up with Sunset to talk about what plans she has for after the ceremony.”

“Sounds important,” Lyra said, “So what do you guys do in Canterlot?”

“It’s probably not too different from what your group does,” said Coco, “We hold support groups to talk about what we all went through, help each other build self esteem through get togethers, hold public protests against the committee’s less savory decisions, and run charity events to help out the less fortunate mares of Equestria. Actually, most of the resources the group gets nationwide are from pledges donated to us from ponies in Canterlot. Or… so I’ve been told.”

“That makes sense, since there are a lot of rich ponies there,” Lyra said.

“Rich stallions,” Trixie corrected, remembering that many once rich mares were still in a state of not having their previous wealth, at least since the last time the two unicorns had spoken to Coco Pommel, “It’s probably something they are doing to ease their guilty conscience.”

“Probably,” Coco mused, “But if guilt is what motivates them into giving something back to us mares, I don’t mind it. Especially since it’s those kinds of stallions who profited the most off our suffering. The worst of them even exploited the other stallions, like a pair I was bought by, who went town to town selling overpriced torture devices and sex toys to stallions who were too brainwashed to say no.”

“Why does that sound familiar…?” Trixie asked rhetorically, recalling a pair of unicorn brothers she was loaned out to for a small period of time, who went by the names Flim and Flam. It probably wasn’t the same ponies, since Trixie didn’t see Coco during her stay with them, but it was possible they had both just had the misfortune of spending time with the sadistic salespony siblings at different times.

Before Coco and Lyra could inquire about that comment, the third member of their party interrupted the conversation with her return, carrying with her a tray so full of food that it might have been a challenge for any of the mares seated at the table to have brought back from the food stand.

“I’m back,” Bon Bon said, setting the tray in the center of the table, “And I see some pony else has decided to join us.”

“Bon Bon, this is Coco Pommel,” Lyra said, introducing the mare, “Me and Trixie met her a while back. Coco, this is my marefriend.”

“Nice to meet you,” Coco said to the new mare joining the small gathering.

“Same,” Bon Bon replied, taking a seat, “Especially since the food stand gave me way too much food when I told them I was ordering for three. Everypony feel free to grab whatever looks good.”

Bon Bon was first to grab something from the tray, snagging a hay burger from the pile. The others followed suit, taking up snacks and drinks, and chowing down while facing the track to watch the next race as it started.

In another part of the resort, Sunset Shimmer and Celestia were walking around among the other ponies. They had not stopped once to partake in the activities of the event, only observing from a distance as Sunset made sure everything was going according to how she planned. Celestia found it a little dull not being an active participant to everything that was going on, but as a regal figure she was used to sitting at the sidelines while everyone else enjoyed themselves.

Sunset, being the hostess of this gathering, didn’t seem too put off by her own lack of direct participation either, performing her role with the kind of diligence and duty that was reminiscent of when she was Celestia’s direct student. This was, in some ways, exactly what the unicorn had always wanted, to have authority over a large group of ponies, and control the systems that they functioned under. It wasn’t anything as extreme as her earlier ambitions of ruling Equestria, but perhaps this dedication to ‘her people’ was her finally acting in her element.

“Well, that takes care of the pool inspection,” Sunset said, turning herself away from the ledge of a balcony she was using as a vantage point, a set of binoculars in hand, as she finished watching those below who decided to enjoy the resort’s indoor swimming pool. She had already explained to Celestia that she was making sure that the lifeguards were not slacking at their jobs, and that all the poolside refreshment stands nearby were properly distributing food and drink to the guests. “Sorry this is taking so long, but I couldn’t make Starlight keep track of everything by herself.”

“I understand,” Celestia said, “The duties of a leader are never easy, and it might be best if I’m kept a good distance away from your group’s members, even if they all know I’m here now.”

“You’re probably right,” Sunset said with a laugh, “But it just seems like such a long time since we’ve done something together. That is, something that isn’t trying to pick up the pieces of Equestria.”

“I’m hoping that task will be done sooner than later,” Celestia replied, walking up to the balcony’s edge to watch the ponies below, “That ponies can still come together and enjoy something like this makes me feel that might be the case.”

“It’s certainly better than the alternative,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“Are you talking about the caribou?” Celestia asked, “Or what the Committee of Ponies has decided upon?”

“Well the caribou go without saying,” Sunset answered, “But you know that I’m not personally fond of how the Committee runs things. Their lockdowns and forced labor practices have only worked to lower the population’s morale.”

“Forced labor?” Celestia questioned, apprehensive about the insinuation, “They have never mandated that anypony be made to work against their will.”

“Maybe not on paper,” Sunset said, “But you probably haven’t seen what happens on the ground level. The Committee is always asking for volunteer workers, and don’t care where they come from. Then there is how they present the work as a great service to Equestria.”

“Isn’t it?” Celestia questioned, seeing nothing wrong with praising those who would help others through doing the tasks Equestria needed at that moment.

“It might be for those who can actually do the jobs, but for those who have no knowledge in what you ask of them, it can be an obligation pushed onto them by their peers. I’ve had more than a few ponies in my group share stories about how they were in a shelter, and were pressured by other mares into volunteering, cause they’d be seen as freeloaders otherwise.”

“If that’s the case, it certainly wasn’t the intention,” Celestia rebutted.

“The intentions of the Committee don’t really matter once their decrees go beyond their sight,” Sunset said, “And it’s no wonder things are still being repaired when most ponies that sign up are both reluctant and unqualified.”

Celestia didn’t want to say anything aloud, but in this matter Sunset might have had a point. Though she had heard reports that the re-housing problem was coming to a close, it was an issue that should have been fixed months ago. Sunset was right that despite her stepping down from the lofty position of princess, she really didn’t know what was going on outside of Canterlot. Perhaps that was her own doing, as she didn’t wish to step on the Committee’s hooves by interfering with their work.

“Take a look down there,” Sunset said, waving her hand over the scene below, “I had a lot of ponies volunteer for this event too, but I made sure beforehand that everypony who did were put into jobs they could handle. The ones making food are ponies who have special talents in cooking. The lifeguard at the pool is actually a lifeguard, and every other job that requires some degree of skill has a pony who knows how to do that skill doing it. Any other ponies that wanted to help out were just given tasks anypony could do, like those two at the front desk, so they can still help and know they contributed to helping mares, no matter how small their contribution was.”

Celestia gave a nod, but wondered for a moment if Sunset was blind to a hypocrisy that might have existed in her own system. Everypony might have been qualified, but they might not have been as willing as Sunset wanted to believe. Seeing as the volunteers were almost all stallions, and most of those able to enjoy the festivities freely were mares, it made the alicorn wonder if there hadn’t been some form of peer pressure that had escaped Sunset’s awareness of the situation.

“Looks like I’ve dampened the mood,” Sunset said, noticing Celestia’s silence, “How about we take a break and actually enjoy ourselves?”

“What do you suggest?” Celestia asked, kinda happy to have a means to not think about some of the heavier topics that currently plagued pony life. The alicorn, trying to predict what Sunset had in mind, held up the small pouch given to her earlier, “Should we hit the casino floor and use these tokens?”

“I have a better idea in mind,” Sunset said, since she knew more about all the activities the two could be doing, “Just follow me, it’s not too far from here.”

Sunset lightly pushed herself away from the balcony, heading towards the steps that would bring her back to the ground floor. Celestia had to admit, she was intrigued about what the unicorn could be leading her to. Probably not the pool itself, as Sunset said it was near here, and they passed by so many things on the way here that it could have been anything. While both curious and excited, the former princess maintained her composure as she went after Sunset, her mind racing on the possibilities of where they were heading.

As Sunset claimed, their destination wasn’t that far away, close enough to the indoor pool one could mistake it as being part of that attraction. “Well, what do you think?” Sunset said, standing right in front of an open doorway, with several signs around it announcing what this section of the resort was, and that it was both open and free to use.

That probably should have gone without saying, since every functional part of the resort had been free of cost, but seeing as to what this was, Celestia could understand why there might have been a need of a reminder. “You wanted to go to a day spa?”

“Well, why not?” Sunset said, already making her way inside, “I was always too young to be interested in this stuff when I was your student, but now that I’m an adult it seems like the perfect thing to do together.”

“Not that it doesn’t sound like a lovely idea,” replied Celestia, “I just thought that you’d prefer something more exciting.”

“My life is exciting enough as it is,” said Sunset, as the alicorn started to follow after her example, “Being the leader ponies need is not as easy as you used to make it look.”

“That might have been the thousand years of peace making it seem that way,” Celestia said musingly, remembering times when she too had to deal with a more stressful version of what her role as princess had become.

“All I’m saying is a little bit of relaxation is exactly what I need after planning a day of fun for hundreds of other ponies.” Sunset replied with her own playful banter.

Celestia certainly wasn’t opposed to the idea, as she hadn’t been to a spa in ages, at least not that she had been aware of. From what the alicorn could recall, she had scheduled a beautification visit to the local one in the weeks leading up to the Summer Sun Celebration, but in her mind she never attended that appointment.

In reality, Celestia probably had been there, but the spell that erased all memory of the caribou’s reign, which had begun on that particular pony holiday, overshot its intended target and wiped out roughly a week prior to it. Celestia had heard that the caribou also had allowed spas to be run that specifically catered to mares, but from what she knew about what happened at those, the white mare hoped that she hadn’t been ‘rewarded’ with a trip to one of those facilities. After waking up in this post caribou world, there was no opportunity to go to one for anypony, as they were one of the businesses that had been deemed by the Committee to be a waste of resources.

So, with no arguments to be made from the alicorn, the two approached the front counter, and the stallion attendee who was managing it. Having no greater task than to greet the ponies who wanted to use the facility, he noticed the two high profile mares the moment they had entered, incredibly happy to see one that he had a high opinion of, but equally upset that another he had a low opinion of was walking right beside her.

Being the first one inside the entrance, Sunset quickly picked up on the counter stallion’s rapid shifts in demeanor, concluding that he hadn’t gotten the memo that Celestia would be with her for the day. Having always been the quick thinker, the unicorn loudly announced, “Me and my guest here were looking to participate in a full spa treatment. Could you politely set us up for a together?”

The way Sunset stressed ‘politely’ and indicated that the princess was with her made it clear to the stallion that he was to be on his best behavior, giving him just enough time to wipe the scowl off his face before Celestia could see it. “Right away, miss. We have a few skillfully trained estheticians, hooficurists, and masseurs on staff to provide the both of you an experience unlike any other you’ve had before.”

“Hmm, maybe for me,” said Sunset Shimmer, more to Celestia than the clerk, “But I bet you’ve had the best hands in Equestria on you.”

“Well the ones I used to go to certainly were talented,” Celestia replied, believing this to be some idle banter as the clerk got everything ready. “But just because someone sets up shop in Canterlot doesn’t make them any better or worse than any other pony.”

“I’ll say…” the counter stallion said under his breath as he collected up a few items for the two mares.

The stallion’s muttering was low enough that Sunset Shimmer didn’t hear it, with her back turned away from him, but Celestia was able to take note of the shift in his tone as she watched him do his job from the boundaries of her vision. While perhaps not as a blatant disapproval of her presence as some others had displayed, there was a level of tension that could be felt resonating between the alicorn and this spa worker.

“Something wrong?” Sunset said, noting a few wrinkles appearing on her former mentor’s face. Tracking the direction the alicorn was looking, the unicorn followed her gaze back to the stallion, who had already turned back towards them with a smile on his face and a pair of baskets for the two mares, each holding within it a folded bathrobe.

“Here you go,” the stallion said, his voice as cheerful as Sunset could have hoped, “Just take these and go into the changing room to slip out of your clothing. After that, there will be a door at the far wall where ponies will be waiting to attend to your needs.”

As convincing as the stallion was being, Sunset Shimmer could tell something had happened. Even if it were a brief moment where this member of her group had revealed his true feelings towards his ex-princess, it was enough that Celestia spotted it, which might have been the stallion’s intention. Had this have been any other day, under any other circumstances, Sunset wouldn’t have issues with ponies showing their dissatisfaction with any representative of those who currently ruled over them, but Celestia coming to her as the alicorn had creaked open a door of new possibilities for the mare, and she couldn’t let the grudges of some other pony slam that door shut, even if they were just following the ideals she had herself circulated among her group.

“Come on, Celestia,” Sunset said, taking her mentor by the hand, tugging her along while snatching up the robes from the stallion, “We can’t waste time hanging out in the lobby if we want to do more things after we’re done here.”

Both mares passed right by the front desk and into a locker room, away from the stallion and any more remarks or sneers he could make towards the alicorn. Sunset had hoped that would make Celestia forget whatever had just happened, but she soon learned that wasn’t going to be enough.

“Sunset, I have to ask you something, cause it seems like it’s going to be a problem throughout my stay here.” said Celestia, addressing a legitimate concern for her, “Why do the members of your group hate me so much?”

Sunset huffed, hearing a question that she knew the answer to, but it was one she couldn’t possibly give. “Do we really need to focus on something like that? We’re moments away from having a nice, relaxing time together.”

“Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said, crossing her arms to let the unicorn know how unmoving she was gonna be on this topic, “I knew that I wouldn’t be welcomed here with open arms, but so far the only pony to not look at me with fear or disgust was a pony who was a recovering purple collar.”

“With all due respect, we both know what you did to make them feel that way towards you,” Sunset Shimmer said, seeing that this was now unavoidable, though trying her best to not come off too harsh, “Some ponies can’t get past that your previous self submitted to Dainn’s rule.”

“Which is something I’ve accepted,” said Celestia, not even trying to defend the life of as a red collar she couldn’t remember, “But I’ve never met so much consolidated and lasting loathing towards me than among your members.”

Sunset couldn’t refute this observation from Celestia, as she knew it was the truth. It was practically a doctrine of her group that all those who had ever been red collars should be detested, a philosophy that Sunset endorsed as hatred targeting such an obvious source of pain and misery brought about a solidarity that former black collar mares and mind controlled stallions could stand against.

However, not every pony universally held such strong grudges against red collars, often because they knew a close friend or loved one they were close to prior to the Fall who had given in to the caribou’s rule for one reason or another, but occasionally because they took more rational approaches to the events of the Fall than those who would rather just use red collars as a convenient outlet for their anger could. It was difficulty to convert such ponies to believe the core principles of Sunset’s group under these circumstances, even when many mares had been proven by the Committee to have only been pursuing their own repugnant desire to satisfy their own lust, and thus they would frequently drop out of the meetings and activities altogether when they learned about this shared trait.

So it made perfect sense that Celestia would receive less backlash for her perceived past mistakes from those outside of Sunset’s group, as many who couldn’t forgive would more likely find themselves gravitating to those with like minds.

“It’s probably a byproduct of our group therapy sessions,” Sunset explained, having to come up with a reason that was believable to the alicorn, “Ponies use it to share their trauma with others, there are only ever three sources of that. Caribou, stallions, and…”

“Red collars…” Celestia finished, seeing that was where Sunset was going with this.

“And while I’ve done my best to make mares have better opinions about stallions, you know my own personal opinions about red collars, and can see how that would lead me to not persuading others to be as accepting of them.”

Celestia did indeed know of Sunset’s opinions about them, as she had often expressed open disdain towards anyone who had taken up a red collar, which included the one member of the Committee of Ponies who once wore the color, despite Cheerilee’s actions being completely vindicated. During the few red collar trials she attended, Sunset was always the one who bore down on those being judged the hardest, and only ever made a vote of not guilty when there was evidence that a pony used their status among the caribou’s trusted mares to undermine them. As bothersome as that position was, Celestia felt that she had to respect it, since Sunset had actually lived through the Fall, with memories still intact, which met she had seen first hand how red collars, both legitimate ones and ones who obeyed out of fear, participated in tormenting those who wore black collars.

“Look, I saw how you behaved as a red collar.” Sunset went on to say, “Maybe not first hand, since I didn’t want to put myself or those under my command at risk just to get close to you, but I saw how your master displayed you as his sex pet, with you gleefully smiling for the cameras by the end. With that in mind, it’s one of my positions that the memory erasure spell shouldn’t give anypony a free pass. No offense intended, but you probably deserve more than having your title of princess removed, something that only happened cause you decided to step down.”

The tone in the room went silent, as what Sunset said was harsh, but at the same time couldn’t be rebuked. Had Celestia given in to the caribou, as all recorded evidence seemed to indicate, there would be few punishments that would be unfit for a ruler who abandoned her people in that dire time of need. Celestia knew this, and even agreed with such a mindset, but that didn’t make the fact that this was coming from her once cherished student hurt any less. The contrast between Sunset’s and Twilight’s positions on the matter couldn’t have been further apart, and perhaps the forgiveness the purple mare displayed was not the stance Equestria on the whole should side with.

“But…” Sunset said, breaking the deafening silence, “Seeing you come here today, wanting to try and work with me to help fix the damage done to the kingdom, has given me second thoughts about our strained relationship. So please… let’s try to relax and have some fun together.”

“Very well,” Celestia relented, forcing a faint smile for the orange unicorn, defying the dark feelings that the same mare had just placed within her, “Let’s change and go enjoy the spa.”

Sunset returned the smile, and then started removing her clothing so she could get into the bath robe, placing what she was wearing in the basket provided to her. Celestia followed her lead, stripping down to nothing, the pure white mare’s body becoming slightly less burdened as her mind became increasingly so.

While Sunset words struck true to Celestia’s guilt, there was another issue with what the unicorn told her that the alicorn couldn’t ignore. As Sunset knew could tell that something was wrong with Celestia by the expression on her face, Celestia had long developed the ability to tell when Sunset was being dishonest, and something about the last thing Sunset said sparked some of those instincts. Thing was, she couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, cause everything sounded like the mare’s true, unedited feelings about how Celestia effectively got away with a slap on the wrist. As she put on her own robe, and placed her belongings into a locker, she thought that maybe it had something to do with the comment of their strained relationship, but even that didn’t seem deceitful when all the mare wanted to do right now was spend time together.

After swapping into the proper attire, Sunset and Celestia finally made their way into the main area of the spa, where roughly a dozen stallions were already attending to ponies who had arrived prior to the two mares. All functions of the spa were held within the same, large room, with a series of chairs, each paired up with a skin, where one could receive a hoof and nail treatment, while getting their hair washed, massage tables where a stallion would use their skilled hands to work out the tension of a pony’s body, each with their own movable divider to give a bit of privacy to receiving that service, and central soaking pool to wade and relax in once the everything else was finished. Normally there would be other treatments for winged and horned creatures, but after the Fall many who had these particular appendages had become overly protective of them, thus a horn filing or feather preening was out of the question.

“Oh my, if it isn’t our hostess,” said one of the spa attendants, who was approaching the two with a look that said he was eager to please the newest arrivals, “I was just told that you’d be partaking in our services, and about your… plus one. Rest assured, I have instructed my staff to treat the both of you like… well…”

“Royalty?” Celestia said, seeing that the stallion was stuck on the last word of his sentence, taking a guess at what it was he was having an issue saying, if only to get past them past this assumed faux pas he believed he was making.

“Yes, of course,” he said, “Shall we start with a nail and hoof filing, as well as a facial fur cleansing, and mane wash?”

“What do you think?” Sunset asked Celestia, “You’d know more about this than me.”

“Yes, that sounds like a lovely start,” Celestia said, the spa worker’s decision of where to start being pretty standard procedure.

“Then right this way,” the stallion said, leading the two over to the chairs.

From that point forward, the experience was fairly routine for the alicorn, with none of the workers commenting too much about her being there. Some even seemed happy that she was there, making Sunset think they were much more capable of hiding their true feelings than the stallion at the front desk.

The other mares making use of the spa also didn’t show too much discomfort that the alicorn was using the spa at the same time as them, not letting that spoil what was otherwise a pleasant spa day. The alicorn wasn’t doing anything but utilizing the facility like they were, or saying anything upsetting as she remained mostly quiet. So, despite the unignorable presence Celestia had, everypony allowed themselves to relax and enjoy this activity, though nopony could truly keep from having their eyes stray to the direction of the alicorn from time to time.

Things went peacefully, and before long Sunset and Celestia were stepping away from their seats with freshly trimmed nails, sanded and polished hooves, manes that had been shampooed, rinsed, and wrapped in a towel, and a rejuvenating mud mask coating their faces.

“Bleh…” Sunset said in disgust, briefly showing her detest about the substance coating her face. She had already tried to wipe it off a few times, making it so the spa stallions had to request she stop, before reapplying it.

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it,” Celestia said, holding back a few snickers at Sunset’s annoyance. Most mares had that kind of reaction to having gunk smeared all over their face, until they saw the results that came from it. It was funny for the over a thousand year old mare to watch the much younger, if still adult, mare go through this rite of passage.

“Fifteen to twenty minutes is far too long to have mushed up zucchini covering your face,” Sunset replied, not allowing herself to be swayed by Celestia’s notions that it wasn’t as bad as it felt, “I bet you know a way to use magic to keep yourself young and beautiful.”

“Alicorn magic does help,” Celestia replied, as alicorns naturally lived longer lives and lacked actual signs of aging because of it, “But these less magical methods do help aid in keeping a mare looking the best they can. As superficial as it might be, keeping up your image can do wonders for your mental health, and how others see you.”

“Ahem,” interrupted a stallion, who had been standing in wait as the first part of the beautifying process was wrapping up, “Excuse me, ladies, but if you two will follow me, I’ll guide you over to the massage tables.”

“I suppose we are taking up space right now,” Celestia said, seeing other mares entering the spa area from the changing room, awaiting their turn at getting their nails done, even though there were other chairs open for them to take. It didn’t escape the alicorn that the new arrivals were probably waiting for her to move along so they didn’t have to be close to her. “Let’s proceed, so others can have their turn.”

Sunset was more than happy to leave the beautification station, and with a nod headed over to the tables without the need of guidance. Celestia politely waited for the spa worker to lead the way, though it didn’t seem like it mattered to the stallion that much, so long as both mares got to where they needed to be.

Upon reaching the next area, the stallion stepped before the two mares and said to them, “If you two would please be so kind, please step into one of the privacy areas, disrobe, and lay face down on the table. For those who might not be familiar, we supplied you with some towels inside to cover your private areas. Even if you are comfortable with our staff looking at you nude, we request that you cover yourselves for the sake of the one who will be giving your message.”

The two mares nodded, and picked a pair of tables right next to one another. They both entered, closed the dividing walls, and removed the robes that were the only article of clothing the two were wearing. Grabbing one of the provided towels, they took their places on the tables, draping the sheets of cloth over their backsides, while folding their arms in under their chins provided adequate concealment for their breasts as they rested atop the padded surface. Shortly after they stopped moving about, they both received a knock on their dividers, accompanied with a request to enter in, which both mares granted.

As Celestia’s divider opened, she was surprised to see a very large stallion with white fur and a short trimmed, blonde mane, pushing a small cart of supplies enter in. Celestia thought he was an earth stallion at first, due to his size but as he put his cart into place, she caught a glimpse of a small set of wings on his back. The pegasus had a muscular bulk that far surpassed that of an average pony, the definition of which she could plainly see through a spa uniform that wrapped around his body in a skin tight fashion, from his shirt that looked like it could pop a seam at any moment, to the shorts that hardly could contain his chiseled thighs, and even the black cloth tied around his beefed up neck muscles. This was not a trait shared by any of his coworkers, who all had outfits that looked a little loose around their bodies, but judging by the size of this stallion, there might not have been any clothes that appropriately fit him in all of Equestria, let alone a workplace approved attire.

“Uh… Could you please not stare,” the stallion said in a gruff, but polite tone, displaying a nervousness on his face that was unbefitting of a stallion of his apparent physical strength, “I get a little uncomfortable when mares look at me like that.”

“Oh, sorry…” Celestia replied, aware that she had been deeply analyzing this masseuse. She turned her head forward, looking at the shut divider, as the stallion prepped for his task.

Next thing she knew, the feeling of warm oils touched the path along her spine, sending a satisfying sensation through her being. It almost made her squeal, and probably would have if she hadn’t re-focused her every thought on not doing or saying anything that might offend the ponies who she believed already had poor opinions of her.

The stallion put his hands down on the alicorn’s back, firmly, though gently, rubbing the oils throughout her pure white coat, till it reached the skin hiding underneath. When he was satisfied with his work, he proceeded to the massage itself, placing his hands between the wings of the regal figure laying before him, before applying impressive force on that spot of the alicorn’s back.

Celestia felt her front practically flatten as her whole body was pressed into the cushioning beneath her, her eyes shooting open as powerful hands pushed into her. The pony handling her was certainly living up to the power his body displayed, as the pegasus roughed up Celestia’s body. Thankfully, it was nothing she couldn’t handle, even if it pushed a grunt from her lungs from time to time, and she had gone through similar massages like this before, from skilled hands of trained professionals. It might have hurt a little, but the pain gave way to an immense feeling of relief, and lead into a sensation of pleasure. She had to concentrate to bottle up these spikes of elation, not wanting to display any behaviors that might be seen as those of a red collar, but the alicorn had every bit of faith that this stallion wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary, and after it was finished she’d be feeling like a new mare.

The muscular stallion was indeed doing just that, performing a job to the best of his abilities. Normally he strictly worked with earth pony stallions, as they often required stronger hands to properly tenderize the thicker muscle fibers that they tended to have, as well as due to his own bashfulness when it came to females, but he volunteered to work on the former princess when most of the other spa workers refused to service her.

Thankfully for both ponies, the alicorn’s body felt sturdy enough to handle it, and he didn’t personally hold the kind of grudge against Celestia as most in the support group did. The stallion just wasn’t the type to harbor anger against others, more likely to flee from conflict than his imposing stature might make others presume, so as long as Celestia was being a model customer, which she was, then he saw no reason to cause an issue where there was none. While the alicorn was not aware of any of this, there were a few within Sunset’s group that had slipped through the filter, and didn’t harbor the hatred towards those who ran the nation, former or current, having more rational feelings about how the caribou incident and the slow recovery of the aftermath.

On the other side of the divider from Celestia, the occasional grunt joined with the alicorn’s as Sunset received her own massage. These were not coming from the orange mare though, as she was not given the same rough treatment as the ex-matriarch, but from the one giving the message.

The earth stallion assigned to her was doing the best job he could while making sure that none of his hands were going anywhere near the places he felt he shouldn’t touch, even if his extensive knowledge of muscular anatomy told him these spots needed to be attended to. The risk of a mare complaining that a stallion inappropriately touched her, especially one that happened to be the founder of their group, was too great to do things properly.

Sunset didn’t really know the difference, but something about this ‘professional grade’ massage felt off. She didn’t say anything about it, as she laid there with her eyes closed, but this first time for her felt like her fur had been greased up only to get a subpar rub down. She had received shoulder rubs from Starlight that provided more relief than this, and had she not been the esteemed leader of her organization, she might have believed this stallion was doing a poor job on purpose.

Still, several minutes of gingerly touching from the earth stallion pushed Sunset’s patience to the limit, and eventually she opened an eye to see what he was doing. The downward curve at the corners of his lips screamed intimidation and fear, traits the orange mare could easily pick up in others.

“Is something wrong?” Sunset asked, openly displaying her annoyance at the stallion’s shoddy work.

“Well,” the stallion replied timidly, “I can’t really give you a proper massage without running my hands over… your curves.”

“So you’re afraid I might take offense if you touch something you’re not supposed to?” Sunset questioned. The stallion gave a nod in return. “You’re in the uniform I supplied to this department, yes?”

“I… I am,” the stallion said, suddenly becoming embarrassed about something.

“And you put on everything, right?” Sunset replied, stressing the point that he should have everything on that she provided.

“Yes ma’am,” the earth stallion answered, knowing well what she referred to.

“Then feel free to do what you have to,” Sunset said, her demeanor returning to neutrality, “So long as you put on every item, that is your pass to do your job unrestricted.”

“Oh, thank you.” the stallion said, relieved that he wouldn’t have to worry about the mare panicking at an awkward touch.

Now reassured, the stallion moved to place his hands against the mare, but before his hand could touch the unicorn’s body, he was grabbed by the wrist by hers, “Just don’t feel that gives you the privilege to do more than your job. Are we understood?”

The stallion felt a bit of that intimidation return to him, but he gave an understanding nod, to which the mare released him and went back to her face down pose. As worried as he remained though, he gave Sunset Shimmer the service she was expecting, applying proper amounts of pressure to muscles that were in great need of release from the daily stress they endured.

“Ahhh, that’s much better,” Sunset said, feeling the difference in the stallion’s effort.

The mare let herself relax, occasionally allowing a pleasure filled grunt escape her lips. This was the kind of treatment and pampering that she deserved. The kind of fear and respect that she had been denied by the princess long ago. It had taken some time to get to this point, but she felt that she finally reaching the kind of respect, admiration, and power she should have had ages ago. Soon all ponies, from the most humbled rock farmer, to those sitting in the seats of the Committee of Ponies, would come to learn of her plans on how to properly restore Equestria, seeing that she was, and had always been, the best choice as leader of Equestria. While not close at hand, that fateful day would not be far away, and perhaps it would be her former mentor who would help make that goal be fulfilled.

“Girls! I got another one!”

Lyra practically danced in place, bouncing up and down in small hops as a flood of lights and sounds blared from the machine she had selected, a pile of tickets spilling out from a slot that normally dispensed bits.

“Yeah, you’re getting pretty lucky,” Bon Bon said, helping to scoop up the bits of paper.

After watching their fill of racing, the Lyra had the next pick of where she, Bon Bon, and Trixie would go, with the trio inviting Coco Pommel to join them for the rest of the event. She picked the casino area, since she had never had the opportunity to go to one before, and wanted to see if she was any good at it. After a few pulls at a slot machine, the green unicorn had come to learn that she was very good at it, getting plenty of combinations that rewarded a payout.

Trixie and Coco had gotten their own machines nearby, looking to lighten the weight of their token pouch too, but as the slots went off and released some of their own ticket prizes, the mares were less impressed about what had been a string of successful pulls.

“They upped the rates on these, didn’t they?” Coco said, placing her newly acquired tickets in her token pouch.

“Looks like it,” Trixie said, noticing that the other slots along the row were getting similar levels of success from the other ponies.

It wasn’t so high that every pull was a guaranteed win, but the odds seemed well enough in their favor that no one could waste the entirety of their token supply on pulling a lever. Any seasoned gambler would have been able to see the difference, and while Trixie didn’t fit that description, she had been around this kind of environment enough growing up to know something was off.

“I guess Sunset wanted to let everypony have a good day here,” Coco mused, putting one more coin into her slot, before getting up from her seat, “I wonder if the card tables are the same?”

Trixie got up from her machine as well, following the earth mare, “That depends. If they got somepony who is good enough at shuffling cards, they could set the decks so everypony walks away a winner. Seems to defeat the purpose of that token exchange Sunset brought up earlier though.”

“I don’t think so,” Coco replied, stopping to grab a couple drinks from one of the stallions who had the job of passing out more beverages to those who got thirsty, “Sure, it might lead to some ponies sticking around the games all day, but if that is how they have fun, then let them be.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Trixie said, taking one of the glasses from Coco as it was handed to her, “I guess it has been a while since ponies have been able to just enjoy themselves.”

“And that’s what this is all about,” Coco replied, taking a sip, “Everything in Equestria has been too oppressive as of late. Not literally oppressive, like when we were slaves, but it feels like we can’t even enjoy life anymore without worrying that something is going to attack you for it.”

“You mean like the guy who tried to rape me and Lyra?” Trixie said, thinking that was what Coco was getting at.

“There is that…” Coco replied, “But regular ponies too, especially the ones who are currently in charge.”

“Yeah,” Trixie agreed, “It would be so much better if things could go back to the way they were before the caribou.”

“Except that’s what got us overrun by them in the first place,” Coco added, “As nice as things were, we can never go back to how that was, but I don’t think things can stay as they are either.”

As vague as Coco was being, Trixie could certainly sympathize with her sentiments. It was like some form of innocence Equestria once had was lost, which might have been impossible to reclaim. Be that as it may, what the Committee of Ponies was doing to try and hold what pieces remained together was not helping with the morale of the public. Everything was becoming a routine of wake up, meander about, get food from a food line, and then go back to bed to do the same tomorrow. Ponies couldn’t live that way, as such soul crushing tedium would weigh heavily on all but the most patient.

“So what would you rather do?” Trixie asked, curious if the earth mare had any solutions.

“Me personally?” Coco replied, “I’d like to get back to making designer clothes.”

“Is that what your talent is?” asked Trixie, as the topic of special talents hadn’t come up yet.

“Yes,” Coco replied, flipping up her skirt for a moment to show off the image of a fancy looking hat on her rump, “I was working as an assistant for a professional designer when the caribou took over, trying to work my way up to running my own store.”

“Well if you want to make clothes, weren’t they taking volunteers for that in Canterlot?” Trixie asked, knowing that the Committee of Ponies at one point needed ponies to make clothes for mares who had none.

“Why do you think I live there?” Coco replied, “I was one of the first to sign up for that project, and I might have even made what you’re wearing right now.”

“Really?” Trixie said, taking a moment to glance down at her outfit.

“Yeah, but that’s not exactly what I want to do.” Coco went on to explain, “I don’t want to make some mass produced shirts and pants, even though making clothes for mares at the time was important at the time and I have the skill to do it. I want to work in fashion, to make clothes that catch a pony’s eye and stand out. Something that a pony would be excited to wear, and not something they put on to leave the house in.”

Looking at her clothes again, Trixie could see Coco’s point. What she was wearing were fairly drab, especially compared to her old magician’s outfit. The same could be said about what most ponies wore, as they usually consisted of a simple dress, or a pair of pants with a shirt, all of a solid color.

“I know that it might seem silly now,” Coco continued, “Most ponies didn’t care that much about fashion even before all this happened, but it was always my dream to make something that when ponies saw it, they would say ‘that has to be a Coco Pommel original’. Or… something like that.”

“I don’t think that’s silly at all,” said Trixie, as her own goals when being a magician was to become renowned for her talents, in Equestria and beyond, “I think that we all want to be appreciated for what we’re good at, and you not letting what happened distract you from your dreams must mean that you’re very dedicated to them, and that’s probably a good thing.”

“And what about you?” Coco asked, “Don’t you still want to follow your dreams?”

“I… Have reasons for not wanting to be a magician anymore,” Trixie replied, half-heartedly, “Which is what I did before being captured by the caribou.” She added, realizing that she and Coco never talked on the subject.

“Why is that?” Coco asked with concern, “Was it cause of the problem you had with your horn? I had heard you’ve gotten over that.”

“It wasn’t that…” Trixie answered, “It was another problem. One that I don’t think I’ll ever get over.”

It was clear as an Equestrian sky that Trixie didn’t want to discuss what really made her quit performing, as she had trouble keeping eye contact with the earth mare the moment conversation shifted to the topic. Coco didn’t know if it was best for Trixie to coax the unicorn into talking about it, or to leave it be, as her chapter was all about being open with your problems, but things might have been different in Trixie’s part of the group.

Fortunately for the both of them, their talk was cut short as the other half of their four pony party tracked them down, with Lyra now carrying a pouch brimming with tickets she had earned from the slot machine, giddily prancing over to Trixie and Coco as Bon Bon followed behind.

“Girls, look at all the tickets I won!” said the green unicorn, showing off her prize, “What do you think they have for all these?”

“Probably nothing worth the effort,” Bon Bon said, catching up, “These places never give away anything you couldn’t buy for less than what you paid, and I’m taking into consideration that this is a free event.”

Lyra gave a reply of “Hmph” to her partner’s negative outlook, turning away as she cradled her tickets into her chest like they were made of gold, “I’m gonna get something really big, and you’ll be so jealous of it. Just you see.”

Bon Bon gave Lyra an eye roll in return, while Trixie and Coco both got a quick laugh from the green mare’s antics. It was hard to tell if Lyra’s behavior was performative or serious, but ponies could always count on her to elevate the mood.

“Anyways,” Bon Bon said, “We’re taking a break from the games so Lyra can do that cloud diving thing Starlight mentioned earlier. We thought it would be a good idea to let you know where we are going.”

“Don’t think you’re not invited though,” said Lyra, “I’m sure it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

“What she means is that she’s gonna want somepony to talk to in line,” Bon Bon added, receiving a playful nudge from the unicorn in response.

“Sure, we can come along,” said Trixie, needing a distraction from the previous conversation.

“Yeah, but I probably won’t get on the ride myself.” said Coco, happy to come along since they were having such a good time together.

The quartet of ponies took a look at their map and headed to the spot where the attraction was located, with each being surprised upon arrival to find that the line for it was non-existent. For a moment Lyra was worried that it had been shut down, but the gates around the elevated platform that made up the attraction was open, and there were a few pegasi atop it that looked to be attendants.

“It looks open to me,” Bon Bon said, “I guess that this isn’t the kind of thing a lot of the guests want to do today.”

“I don’t blame them.” Trixie said, as jumping off a large structure into a hole in the cloud floor with only a bungee cord keeping her from plummeting to the ground below did not sound like fun to her.

“I say go check,” Bon Bon said, “The worst they can do is tell you it’s closed.”

“Not gonna jump off with me?” Lyra asked, already making their way to the gate.

“No thanks. I like my hooves to be on something solid.” Bon Bon replied, getting a teasing sticking out of her marefriend’s tongue for showing a bit of cowardice. Bon Bon shook her head in return, “That mare is certainly something else.”

“She’s a lot braver than me.” Coco said, watching from a safe distance as the green mare hastily made her way up the platform’s steps

“Me too.” Trixie said, seeing Lyra give no hesitation to allowing the pegasi to place a harness around her chest. The idea of jumping into open air was frightening in itself, but having two guys surround her and place an object made of tightly fitting straps was too close to some other activities that the unicorn had been forced into. “I could never do anything as dangerous as that.”

“Really?” Coco said, Trixie’s comments of her bravery surprising the cream colored mare, “But you took down a rapist with your own hands. You’re probably one of the bravest ponies here.”

Trixie didn’t respond much to Coco’s declaration of her bravery. While it was true, that she single handedly took down an attacker, it wasn’t because she was some stalwart hero. Having had time to reflect on the attack, finding it hard not to replay what took place over and over in her head as the days went by, the positive of taking down the stallion was overshadowed by what else had taken place. She had tried to run at first, willing to leave Lyra alone with a rapist if needed, and once caught Trixie had all but forgotten about the other unicorn until she was safe. These were not the acts of a brave pony in her mind, yet others like Coco had likewise made the mistake that her desperate retaliation was a more courageous deed.

“I think Trixie has an idea of how brave she is,” Bon Bon said, able to discern that Trixie was not very receptive to this praise, “But it’s also important to understand that heroes come in all shapes and sizes. A pony doesn’t have to exemplify the concept of bravery to help somepony else.”

Bon Bon might have spoken those words to Coco, but they were certainly intended for Trixie. Having seen how she reacted in a practice fight, flinching when an opponent so much as readied an attack, it was easy to tell that Trixie was somewhat cowardly. That didn’t take away from the fact that she had saved Lyra from the stallion that raped her, and coward or no, Bon Bon was grateful for that.

“I guess you got a point, but it’s really neat that I know ponies who can take down a follower of the caribou. As much as I’d like to, I don’t think that I’d ever be able to defend myself if that happened to me, since I’m so small compared to other ponies.”

“You’re a bit tiny,” Bon Bon agreed, “But earth ponies can show impressive strength when trained properly. Even a mare as small as you should be able to clock your standard mugger.”

“What I’d really like to do is teach those two sales ponies that used me a lesson.” Coco said, flexing her unimpressive arm muscle, “They deserve a good punch in the nose for what they did.”

“Are you sure they were in control of their own actions?” Trixie asked, which was a legitimate question.

“Absolutely,” Coco replied, “They were marked as part of the caribou’s conspirators and already went through a trial to determine their guilt. I was one of the key witnesses, so I was told that they were found guilty, but got away with a lighter sentence since they were willing to cooperate with the Committee to identify other traitor stallions.”

“That’s a shame.” Bon Bon said, knowing enough about Equestria’s legal system to know these things did happen, and while it might turn out for the best in the long run, as their testimony against their fellow conspirators would lead to more accurate arrests, those they victimized would not appreciate this benefit at the expense of their personal right to justice.

“I wish they’d gotten what they really deserved,” Coco said, reflecting that frame of thought, “None of the stallions who weren’t brainwashed should get anything short of a trip to Tartarus.”

“Yeah,” Trixie agreed, “To think that one day ponies like that might walk among those they raped, that’s disgusting.”

“Okay,” Bon Bon said, having to be the voice of reason in this conversation, “While I agree with you both, I think we are losing track of why we’re here today. We need to stop thinking about all this bad stuff, and enjoy ourselves.”

“You’re right,” Coco said, putting her cheerful look back on, “Sorry I let myself fall into thinking about all those two. The important thing is that even if they are eventually released, they will never be able to live down what they did. So let’s accept that for now, and get back to having fun. It looks like Lyra’s ready to do her jump.”

The green unicorn was making her way to the jumping point, completely strapped into her harness with a helmet on her head for added safety, taking a quick peek to look over the edge once she got there. From the look of her recoil as she saw how far down the ground was, Lyra appeared to be having second thoughts, until she suddenly jolted off the platform and fell beneath the cloudline with a cry of “WAHOOO!”. While the other three mares were not participating, watching Lyra vanish from there sight into the open sky beneath them was enough to give them a surge of excitement, with all three of them running up to the safety rail around the attraction to get as good a look as they could of Lyra as she plummeted, and was caught by the elastic cord attached to her.

The unicorn made a few bounces once she reached the full length of her cord, dangling safely several dozen miles above the earth below. Once the attendants thought she had come to a complete stop, they flew down to pick her up and bring her back up to the platform, then removed all the safety items and directed her back down the stairs. Lyra looked ecstatic over her dive, grinning widely as she returned to her friends, and asking upon reaching the three of them, “So, anypony else wanna give it a shot?”

The trio were not any more convinced to take the plunge as they were before, and thus unanimously said a version of “I’ll pass”. Lyra’s grin only got bigger with their reply, as she saw this as an accomplishment over the rest of her small group, being the only one who dared to try the ride.

“Then I guess I’ll be the only one to know how fun that was,” she mocked, walking over to Bon Bon, before her legs collapsed at the knee, and she fell to the floor. Each mare was surprised and concerned, but Lyra only laughed as her legs trembled uncontrollably. “But before we go do something else, can we sit down somewhere so I can catch my breath?”

Bon bon rolled her eyes, bending over to pick her marefriend up, “Come on, hero, let’s get you to a seat.”

Lyra, who refused to admit that the jump left her a bit shaken, nuzzled her lover’s face, giving a “Thank you” as she was carried off to the closes open rest spot Bon Bon could find, Trixie and Coco both snickering as they followed along, as the green unicorn was fooling no one.

“That was very enjoyable.” Celestia said, walking out of the spa with Sunset at her side, both mares both fully dressed, with the alicorn having made sure to put on the black neckerchief to adhere to Sunset’s request.

It took over an hour, but the two mares had gone through every service the facility had to offer. With clean manes and fur, thoroughly massaged muscles, trimmed and polished fingernails and hooves, and a relaxing soak, the two looked refreshed and stunning.

“Yeah, now that it’s done, I can’t complain much about the results.” Sunset said, as she couldn’t deny that she looked beautiful. She felt like she was glowing, giving credence to Celestia’s claim that looking good helped one feel good.

“So what shall we do now?” Celestia asked, wanting not only to experience more of the festivities, but hoping to simply enjoy more time with Sunset, since the spa went so well.

“Unfortunately, I need to meet up with some of the other leaders of the group.” Sunset explained, “After how long we spent in there, I’m probably late for our scheduled rendezvous, but the meeting won’t start until I get there anyways.”

“I hope they don’t think I had kidnapped you.” Celestia said, only partially kidding. Equestria knew what the extent of atrocities the ponies here believed the former princess was capable of.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that.” Sunset said, “I have a way of letting my assistant know if I’m in trouble.”

“Really? And how do you do that?” Celestia asked, genuinely curious, as there was one magical way she could think of that could do that, but it required a magically enchanted dragon.

“That’s my secret,” Sunset replied, “I can’t let just anypony know how we communicate, even if the one asking is my old mentor.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” Celestia said in response, as she wasn’t in any way entitled to that information, though she did wish Sunset had trusted her enough to let her be privy, and possibly act as a back up contact if for some reason both her and the pink unicorn had something bad happen to them at the same time. “So about this assistant of yours. If I recall right, her name is Starlight Glimmer, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Sunset answered, “I’m surprised you remembered it.”

“She was always around you when you were part of the Committee. At least, that was how it was after you found her,” Celestia said, as she contemplated the nature of the two mare’s relationship, “Have you been treating her well?”

“Is there a reason for you to think I wouldn’t?” Sunset asked, beginning her walk towards the meeting area.

“No,” Celestia replied, “I’m just curious how the two of you have been together, and if you’ve been doing everything to help her with her condition.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Sunset said, “Or maybe inquisitive is the better description.”

“I’m sorry if it’s coming off like I’m not trusting you with her,” Celestia apologized, as her question on how Sunset had been treating Starlight might have been taken as an accusation, “But ponies with her condition need to be treated with care.”

“Starlight isn’t like the others,” said Sunset confidently, “As my assistant and partner, she has shown the ability to do more than any other mare I’ve seen like her, capable of accomplishing a multitude of tasks on her own.”

“Well, I suppose that is a good thing,” Celestia said, “But I hate to reduce a mare like her to merely what she can do on her own.”

“I agree, but at the moment that might be all we can hope for,” Sunset replied, “But we can talk more on that later, with her if that helps ease your mind. For now, we’re approaching the meeting place.”

The two were heading towards a large, out of commission carousel swing ride, where several ponies could be seen waiting inside. While it was in a location not too far away from other attractions, no pony would be at an inactive attraction if they didn’t have a reason to be there, so Sunset thought it was a good, out of the way place to discuss matters with the other leaders of the support group.

As they passed through the gate surrounding the ride, Celestia got a better look of those in attendance. She saw that Starlight was among those who would be joining in on whatever was to be discussed, along with a good number of other mares, with no stallions in sight. While this wasn’t how Celestia had done things with her own attempt to create a group of leaders in Equestria, this did not seem strange to her, as she assumed Sunset was prioritizing mares into more prominent roles, in order to help to boost their self esteem. However, there was something subtly off with those she had selected to be the ones in charge of her individual chapters, giving Celestia an uncanny valley vibe that she couldn’t yet pinpoint the source of.

Celestia watched as one of the mares informed something to Starlight, who then turned to greet the two late arrivals, welcoming them both with a bright smile that was indicative of blanked ponies. “Sunset, glad to see you could make it after all. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve already started with the less important details you wanted to go over.”

“That’s fine, Starlight,” Sunset replied, “And sorry if I had you all worried. Me and my guest were doing something that took a little more time than I thought.”

“I wasn’t worried,” said Starlight, “But I did as you said I should in these situations and checked my paper frequently to make sure you were ok.”

“Sunset,” one of the other mares said, rushing up to the orange mare. It was a blue unicorn by the name of Minuette, another mare Celestia recognized as a former student of her school for gifted unicorns, but in more recent times as the leader of the Canterlot division of Sunset’s support group, “I’m sorry to bother you, but something has come up and I need your opinion on how to take care of it.”

“Something here?” Sunset asked, hoping that nothing had happened that would cause a disturbance in her event.

“No, back in Canterlot,” Minuette said, pulling out a folded up flier from her dress.

Sunset took the paper, opening it up to see what it had to say. “It’s an announcement from the Committee, I see. What do they have planned this time?”

“I know what it is,” Celestia said as she looked over Sunset’s shoulder, being mostly in the know about all decisions the Committee made, despite technically not being part of it, “The Committee is planning on taking the caribou does on escorted walks through the city so they can learn the layout. It was something we did in the castle, and most have shown the ability to remember paths to certain areas when shown how to get around.”

“So you are finally letting the cows out of their pen,” Sunset said, shaking her head, “You do know this is going to cause stress and discomfort among the citizens of Canterlot when you do, right?”

“It wasn’t my decision,” Celestia replied, since Sunset was making it sound that way, “But I do agree with the Committee that we will eventually have to integrate the caribou does into our kingdom. We can’t keep them locked up forever.”

“I know you see the co-... Ahem, I mean does as victims and not accomplices to the stags,” Sunset replied, “But not everypony feels the same. This kind of move is only going to make ponies angry.”

“It’s gonna start at the beginning of next week,” Minuette said, “Should I prepare a picket line to protest the cows and prevent them from leaving the castle?”

“I don’t think it will be worth the effort,” Sunset said, “They will have an escort of royal guards with them, and the Committee are making it clear that public outrage isn’t enough to stop them.”

“So what do we do?” Minuette asked.

“For now, make sure everypony in your group knows what’s going on, and tell them to not interfere. If something comes of it, it shouldn’t be from us. We don’t want to be known for causing riots in Canterlot.”

“Ok… But I don’t think anypony is gonna like this.” Minuette replied.

“Unfortunately we have to do things we don’t like sometimes,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Just do your best to keep the peace among our members until I can sort some things out.”

“Excuse me, Miss Shimmer,” said another mare, holding some papers in her hands, “Sugar Belle, from the Rainbow Falls chapter. I have some inventory reports that you might want to look over, and I’ve circled some spots that need your attention.”

Sunset took the papers, skimming through all the details to get to whatever it was that the mare thought was important for her to look at. “Ah, I see. Having all the chapters pitch in for this event has left your group home drained of food. I think I can fix this, but it will take a while to re-allocate some of the resources your way. Till then, try to stretch out what you have left between the pegasi you’re looking after.” Sunset made her way between the two mares who had came to her for advice, and handed off the papers to Starlight, “When we get back home, see how much of our pantry we can funnel off to Sugar Belle’s shelter, and if we can’t balance it out between us, we can then ask other chapters to pitch in. I’m sure no one here is in objection.”

The other mares shook their heads, willing to follow Sunset’s orders at the moment they were given.

“Good,” said Sunset, “Then with that out of the way, let’s hear everypony’s status reports on their chapters. Let’s start with what’s going on at Sire’s Hollow, if you would Stellar Flare.”

A mare with orange fur a much deeper shade than Sunset’s stepped out from the group, carrying an easel along with her. Once she found a good spot to place it, she pulled out a large piece of rolled up parchment from a purse at her side, stretching it out to reveal a map of Sire’s Hollow itself.

“Thank you, Miss Shimmer.” Stellar said cordially, excited that she was getting the opportunity to show off her project, “Ever since you’ve requested my help in making Sire’s Hollow a safe and welcoming place for mares all across Equestria, I’ve been working on figuring out exactly what changes would be needed to be made to accomplish that goal. As you can see, I’m thinking of having some of the older landmarks knocked down in order to have new homes, food pantries, and donation centers built in their stead. That way any displaced mares in need can come and get what they require in order to return to a normal life.”

The mares of Sunset’s group looked over Stellar’s plans, giving their oohs and ahs over her ideas to change the town to be more accommodating towards mares in need. Not every pony present was pulled in by these changes though, as a certain alicorn knew a little bit more than the rest about how Sire’s Hollow operated.

“Excuse me,” Celestia said, “But have you passed any of this by Firelight?”

A few of the mares weren’t too pleased by what they saw as an unsolicited interruption, with Stellar Flare being the most visible expressive about her ire from the question. However, Sunset Shimmer was actually curious as to what Celestia was talking about, as she hadn’t heard of this pony before.

“Who’s that?” Sunset asked, turning to Celestia, only to have Stellar’s hand grab her by the shoulder and turn Sunset back towards her.

“He’s nopony,” Stellar said, “At least nopony we need to worry about.”

“Nopony?” Celestia replied, “He’s the stallion who’s been spearheading the restoration efforts of Sire’s Hollow.”

Stellar scoffed, then replied by saying, “Yes, he snatched up that position as soon as possible because he is adamant in having everything rebuilt exactly the same as it was before the caribou arrived.”

“Is there a problem with that?” Celestia asked, not seeing the issue.

“Yes,” Stellar answered, “We can’t rely on how things used to be in order to fix everything that’s happened to us. We need new, innovative means to make sure that every mare gets the help they need, and to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Relying on the old…” the mare paused for a second, shifting her eyes away from the princess that was staring right at her, “‘Traditions’ is part of the reason we were taken over in the first place, and while the destruction the caribou caused is a tragedy, it’s also a perfect opportunity to build something better over the rubble. Clearly this is the way we should be heading, but that’s something that Firelight doesn’t understand.”

“Whoever this stallion is, it really does sound like he’s stuck in the past,” Starlight said, “It’s a good thing we have a pony like you taking care of the situation, Miss Flare.”

Celestia suddenly found herself in shock, stunned by what she had heard. There had been many points that day that somepony had made some remark questioning how she led things, things that the alicorn had let slide because she didn’t want to excuse her actions during the Fall, but something had been said that the former matriarch couldn’t let go by unaddressed.

“Sunset, could I perhaps talk to you in private?” Celestia said cautiously, still not wanting to cause a scene.

“If you have a problem with my plans to renovate Sire’s Hollow, you can say it here.” Stellar said, assuming that Celestia was trying to use Sunset to go over her authority when it came to the town.

“It’s not that.” Celestia said, her issues going beyond Stellar’s changes for the city, “It’s something more personal.”

Sunset couldn’t ignore Celestia’s sudden concern, not when she was the one who was supposed to keep the alicorn in check. “That’s enough Stellar. If Celestia wants to speak with me in private, it’s not a problem. I’ve seen enough of your plans to give it the go ahead. If you have anymore to share, Starlight can relay it to me later. Twinkleshine, Clear Sky, I’ll make sure to give you my undivided attention when I get back.”

Having dictated what she wanted done, Sunset grabbed Celestia by the arm and led her back outside of the gate surrounding the meeting area. “Look, I don’t think she meant to strictly criticize your leadership. Even if she was, I think we all have to admit that Equestria on the whole wasn’t prepared for that kind of attack.”

“That’s not what I want to talk about,” Celestia said, “I’m accepting that I have no say in what others think of me, and that nothing I say or do today will change that.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Sunset asked, really not getting what was so important that Celestia needed to speak with her privately.

“Haven’t you taken your assistant to see her father yet?” Celestia said, knowing that Starlight Glimmer and the aforementioned Firelight were related, “When I released her into your care, you promised that you were going to take care of her, and I don’t think keeping her from her family is helping her condition.”

“Is that what this is about?” Sunset Shimmer replied, “It’s not that I’ve been keeping her away. It was just something that slipped my mind. I’ve been so busy keeping this support group together that I can hardly think of anything else. If it will make you feel better, I’ll take her to see him at my first opportunity, which should be after tonight.”

Hearing this, Celestia calmed herself down. “I’m sorry. I know that you’ve been as busy as anypony else in Equestria, and I’m sure you’ve been taking care of her in every other regard. It just made me concerned because she’s-”

“A re-blank,” Sunset said, knowing where Celestia’s worries lay, “She might have had her memories and personality erased by the caribou, but that wouldn’t make me treat her any differently than I would any other mare.”

Celestia didn’t follow up Sunset’s interruption, as she didn’t have to. Sunset had stated the very reason Celestia had questioned the two unicorn’s relationship, addressing a detail about the pink mare that might have flown under the radar for those who didn’t know about it. Starlight had apparently been the co-leader of Sunset’s rebellion efforts during the Fall, but some time near the end Starlight fell into the hands of the caribou. As a rebel who had managed to defeat and embarrass the tyrant deer on multiple occasions, the only thing that awaited her was torment that only ended when she was placed into the Blanking Device, destroying both her memories and her personality, before she was remade into something more acceptable to the caribou’s ideology.

Once the aftermath of Dainn’s regime crumbling had run its course, and things were being brought back to order, Sunset made it a priority to locate her colleague, similar to so many other ponies who sought out friends and loved ones once it was safe to do so. Upon finding Starlight in the conditions she was in, Sunset Shimmer volunteered to be the one to take care of her once the caribou’s programming was overwritten.

From that point on, it seemed like Starlight never left Sunset’s side, with the orange unicorn training her to function in normal society, if still unable to remember anything from her pre-Fall life, like all other mares who had gone through the blanking process. The only apprehension Celestia’s had with this arrangement was that as part of the rehabilitation effort was having Starlight act as her personal secretary, which looked to be an ongoing thing after Sunset left the Committee.

“I do want to remind you that what I do isn’t some sort of exploitation,” said Sunset, “Starlight enjoys her part in aiding Equestria’s restoration, and is far from the thoughtless creature her blanking sessions left her as.”

“I’m a little worried about how many of those thoughts are truly her own,” Celestia said, not in an accusatory manner, but from a position of speculation of how other re-blanks have faired regaining any semblance of their will, “She may just be acting how she assumes you expect her to.”

“If that is the case, then maybe that’s the best we can hope for,” said Sunset, “Until we can figure out how to reverse the effects of blanking, if that’s even possible, those who have undergone the process need to find a way to rejoin the rest of ponykind. Unless you’d rather we put them all in a room and have them stare vacantly at a wall all day.”

“No, of course not.” Celestia said, knowing that Sunset was not being hyperbolic. If left to their own devices, a blanked pony would be content in such meaningless activity for an indefinite amount of time, having absolutely no goals or aspirations of their own.

“Hopefully your ponies in Canterlot can figure out how to use the Blanking Device to restore the minds of blanks soon,” said Sunset, “But until that day, teaching them to at least act like normal ponies is gonna have to be the next best thing we can do for them.”

Celestia had to remain silent, as she knew that the Blanking Device was no longer in Canterlot, nor was it even in the possession of the Committee of Ponies at this point. Sunset, not being privy to its theft, would have no idea that they lost the only thing they believed could eventually restore the blanked ponies. Seeing how much Sunset didn’t agree with the Committee’s leadership already, it would not be a good idea to let slip even the slightest bit of information that could be used against them.

“Trust me when I say that helping Starlight recall herself has been an important goal of mine, and it’s going along pretty good so far.”

The alicorn couldn’t refute that from appearance alone, Starlight seemed to be fine in her current state. Far more than any other re-blank, as even as Celestia and Sunset discussed the matter, Starlight was talking with the other mares, and taking initiative on giving critics and coming up with fixes for problems. It was difficult to scrutinize Sunset’s rehabilitation of the mare, when outwardly the pink unicorn looked like she was doing so well.

“Look,” Sunset said, being frank with her tone, “I’m having second thoughts on letting you sit in on this meeting. Not that I think you’ll cause problems, but I think we can both agree that it’s not a good idea for you to hear how we are planning to go against the acting government, even if the way we do it is legal and peaceful.”

“Perhaps you’re right about that,” Celestia said, though she couldn’t help but feel like this was a punishment for her demanding Sunset address the issue of Starlight.

If that was the case, Celestia had to abide by it, as she didn’t wish to undermine Sunset’s authority. It was doubtful it would get anything more than ire from the unicorn’s colleagues even if she tried, seeing as Celestia didn’t really have any authority herself anymore.

“Let’s look at the bright side of this,” Sunset said, “This will also keep you from letting slip some info you shouldn’t be sharing with us either. So hang out at the gate, and I promise that this will not take long. After that, we’ll have the rest of the day to do something fun, all the way up to the main event tonight.”

Celestia didn’t say a word, only replying with a soft smile, which Sunset took as acceptance of her instructions. Watching the unicorn return to the other mares, Celestia could only watch from a distance as they talked about matters that would surely shape events further down the line, for better or worse. She could only hope that Sunset acknowledged her want for all of Equestria to work together, and the good will she was putting forth by giving the orange mare as much trust as she had.

As the day winded down, and the sun started to slip beneath Las Pegasus’ cloudline, everypony who had been a part of the activities had gotten more than their fill of them. Of the guests, there were next to none left unsatisfied by the entertainment provided, and those helping provide it had a sense of fulfillment they didn’t expect from what was basically a full day of unpaid work. For once in a long time, a large amount of ponies in Equestria could say they were happy, with some already hoping this could be some new Equestrian holiday they could partake in once a year.

One of the happiest participants of the festivities was Lyra Heartstrings, who had gotten more out of them than most. To the dismay of a few of those accompanying her, she had found a way to do practically everything she could have during the little time they had to do so, hardly stopping to take a rest while Coco, Bon Bon, and Trixie tagged along. As with the cloud jumping, there were points where they opted to sit at the side lines, when they didn’t have the same endless energy she did, or when they were uninterested in whatever had caught the green unicorn’s attention.

By the end of the day, Lyra was still merrily making her way through the resort hotel, carrying a pair of bags with her as she skipped along the floor, a small group following along right behind her, composed of her three mare companions, plus a cute stallion taking up the rear.

“Are you doing ok back there, Pistachio?” Lyra called back to the earth pony, who was holding several bags worth of trinkets, all prizes obtained from the ticket exchange booth after the other three mares generously gave the green mare every ticket they earned as well.

“Yeah, I’m doing great.” Pistachio said with a smile, a few beads of sweat dripping off his face, his earth pony physique not being enough to compensate for the sheer amount of things Lyra had gotten.

Of course, the young stallion was only glad he could be of use to his soon to be guardians, and even happier that Lyra had kept her promise to pull him away from his duties. As much as he liked being a volunteer, the day was turning into tedium in the later hours. When Lyra found him, and tried to pull him away to have some fun, another stallion acting as his supervisor came over to remind him that he needed to be serving the guests. Lyra tried to insist that she was Pistachio’s guardian, only to have the supervisor reaffirm that the earth stallion had to be helping a guest until it was time for the evening events.

That’s when the unicorn got an idea, asked the other mares for their tickets, and came back with as many cheap, but weighty, things she could get for what she had, explaining that she was going to need help carrying them around, and would need a strong, earth pony stallion to do it for her. Seeing the lengths the mare was willing to go through, the supervisor relented, and released Pistachio on the condition that he actually carried the things Lyra had went out of her way to acquire. Once out of site, Lyra helped lighten the load a bit, but pistachio insisted that he did most of the heavy lifting.

“You know, I probably could carry half those bags myself,” Bon Bon said, being modest as she could hold all the bags with hardly any effort if she wanted, being both older and better trained than the stallion who was barely out of his coltish years.

“No, no, I got this,” Pistachio said, trying hard to hide how much he was struggling.

“Actually… Maybe we could find a place to sit for a second. My hooves are starting to hurt.” Coco said, seeing and appreciating the hard work Pistachio was doing for the sake of a mare.

“Good idea,” Bon Bon said, taking the hint.

“But we’re almost out of time, and I wanted to check out the swimming pool,” said Lyra, being a little more oblivious, though keeping a watchful eye on the clock as things came to a close.

“Lyra, we can go swimming any time, but for now I really think it’s time we called it quits.” Bon Bon said, “You pretty much did everything else on your list. Even dragged us into a Feather Bangs concert.”

“Which you said you liked.” Lyra said playfully, knowing how resistant her marefriend had been going into it at first.

“The point is we are all tired, and could use a rest.” Bon Bon said, putting her hoof down on the matter.

Knowing that she had gotten her way far more than her fair share that day, Lyra gave in. “Okay, I’ll just have to imagine all the mares in bikinis while we relax.”

“You silly pony,” Bon Bon replied as she ruffled her marefriend’s hair, not at all angry at Lyra’s comments as the unicorn had proven several times over that she was faithful to their relationship, “Come on, let’s park our butts down over there.”

The five pony group claimed an empty bench for themselves, happy to wait out the rest of the time before the final ceremony. It wouldn’t be long now before the day ended, and they would all return to the routines they were more accustomed to. Though perhaps that was more true for Trixie and Coco, since Bon Bon, Lyra, and Pistachio would be living together from this day forward.

“So about this guardianship thing,” Trixie said, finding a need to talk about something after a few minutes passed, “What exactly are you two supposed to do with Pistachio?”

“Oh, that’s a good question!” Coco exclaimed, not really knowing the details herself.

“From what I got when Sunset sat us down to talk about it, it sounds like one of those big sister programs.” Lyra said, “Which is kinda weird for a full grown pony.”

“It’s a little more than that,” Bon Bon corrected, having paid more attention during the discussion, “As his guardians, we are supposed to keep him from doing anything troublesome, while also acting as a form of rehabilitative therapy. It will be up to me and Lyra to minimize the amount of bad thoughts that go through his head, and making sure he never acts on urges he’ll have around mares.”

“Do you really have those kinds of feelings towards mares?” Trixie asked, finding it hard to see Pistachio as the kind of rapist she had endured in the past, though he most certainly would have been one during the Fall.

“Occasionally,” Pistachio answered, “It’s not that I want to though. Thinking about sex makes me remember what I did while being controlled by the caribou, and I hate that, but my body still reacts if I see a mare in a compromising position.”

“Well don’t you worry, sweetie,” Lyra said, suddenly thrusting herself upon the stallion as she gave him a powerful hug, “Me and Bon Bon are gonna make sure you stay as pure as an angel.”

Pistachio’s face quickly turned to red, a detail Lyra noticed about as much as the fact that her breasts were pressing up against him. The others couldn’t tell if this was intentional teasing from the green unicorn, or merely a display of obliviousness on her part, but the incredible, if adorable, displays of discomfort from the stallion as the mare snuggled into him was enough that Bon Bon had to step in, and separate the two.

“As part of our duty,” said the earth mare, using a small portion of her strength to break apart her lover and her ward, “We are to come up with activities to keep Pistachio’s mind preoccupied in other things, which can be anything we think will do the job. We were suggested things like household chores, but we were thinking that some self improvement activities like teaching him how to knit would be better after talking to him about how he likes fashion.”

“Really?” Coco said with some excitement, seeing that the two had a thing in common, “Then perhaps I could stop by some time and show him what I know about sewing.”

“Oh, that would be a great idea.” Lyra said, “Especially since one of our other ideas is to surround Pistachio with good influences.”

“Not to be pessimistic about this,” said Trixie, “But what’s to keep one of the wards from turning on their guardian. I don’t think Pistachio would, but these stallions will be living with mares, and it wouldn’t be hard for a bigger stallion to restrain a mare.”

“Why do you think Sunset asked me to do this?” Bon Bon said, “With my fighting knowledge, I’ll be able to defend myself if Pistachio was to try something. Lyra, while officially being part of this, is more my support. All other mares who have been allowed to become guardians have also shown that they are capable of defending themselves, through physical or magical means.”

“And Sunset Shimmer is taking some extra precautions on top of that,” Pistachio said, his face slowly reverting to it’s natural color, “To ensure that we stallions couldn’t rape another mare, even if we wanted to.”

“Extra precautions?” Bon Bon asked, “I hadn’t heard anything about these extra precautions.”

“I think Sunset Shimmer was going to explain them during tonight’s main event, when the stallions participating in the program are on stage,” Pistachio explained, “Don’t worry though, it’s not anything serious, and she made sure to ask if we were comfortable with it beforehand.”

“Well, I guess if you’re ok with it, then it can’t be that big a deal,” Lyra said, “Kinda curious about what it is though.”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Pistachio said, “Actually, probably sooner than you’d think, cause it’s getting close to the time.”

“Oh, you’re probably right.” Bon Bon said, judging on how dark the sky was getting outside of one of the skylight windows, “Let me check the map to see where we need to be heading, and we’ll make our way there.”

It took the group a little while longer to get their stuff together, especially for Pistachio as he fumbled to hold all the extra bags Lyra had for him, though Bon Bon took it upon herself to take on a few. At first the stallion tried to refuse the help, ignoring an initial insistence from the mare, and then having a few of the bags pulled from his hands by the much stronger pony. A little emasculated, but more so impressed at how easily Bon Bon took the items from him, and a bit grateful that he didn’t have to carry the entire load.

With that settled the five ponies made their way to the location of that day’s final event, finding out quickly that checking the map was not really needed, as most other ponies were making there way into that direction too. Little by little they trickled into a river of bodies, until the amount of ponies heading in a single direction was too much to go unnoticed, and others recognized what time it was. Soon a disorganized line that rivaled the one outside the resort earlier was formed, steadily flowing into a large room at the back of the building. With nothing preventing entrance to the room, the pace of the line was quick, and in no time at all Trixie and those accompanying her were making their way through the door.

The room was little more than a large space with a elevated stage at one wall, with what looked to be a couple hundred chairs set up in the lower section facing the stage. It was the kind of place a big business would rent out to host a conference, or somepony might use to run a seminar like the one Sunset was planning for that night. While there were a few attendees helping ponies to their seats, a majority were fine figuring out their own seating. Trixie and the others were about to do the same, when they were approached by Star Bright, who had been waiting for their arrival.

“Lyra! Bon Bon! Pistachio!” the unicorn stallion called out, getting all five ponies attention as he approached, “i was hoping to catch you all. You three need to come with me.”

“What for?” Bon Bon asked, though she had a good idea that this was about the ward program reveal that would be happening later.

“I needed to tell you that anypony that’s part of the ward program is to go backstage, so we can be instructed about what we’re going to do once Starlight calls us out.” Star Bright explained, confirming Bon Bon’s assumptions, “So if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you three where to go.”

“But what about us?” Trixie asked, referring to herself and Coco. She hadn’t even thought about the notion of splitting up from the group before now, having stayed with at least one pony of their party the entirety they had been at the resort.

“I guess we’ll have to watch from the audience,” said Coco, “Come on, we need to grab a pair of seats before there are only singles left.”

“Oh, well then good luck you all,” Trixie said to the ponies who would soon be in front of everyone, and made the center of attention. There was a time when she would have adored the notion of being in their place, but after the caribou delivered upon her more attention than she could ever ask for, the idea only terrified her, “I-I’ll make sure to clap for you when you’re on stage.”

With that, Trixie and Coco Pommel parted from the others, with Bon Bon, Lyra, and Pistachio being directed to the stage. Whatever happened once they got up there, she had a good idea that those three would do fine once they were together. Lyra was practically treating Pistachio like he was her son or younger brother, and Bon Bon was a perfect referee to keep the green unicorn from going too far. The only thing she was curious about when it came to the ward program was if anypony else she knew would be part of it. Even then, Trixie had little interest in this, as she didn’t believe anything that would happen now would affect her. To her, this last bit felt like ceremony, for the sole purpose of Sunset Shimmer reiterating things about the ward program and other activities of the group.

As each seat in the seminar room was being filled, no pony noticed the pitch black window on the back wall, elevated high above the floor. It led into a separate room, reserved for VIP guests to let them watch shows without having to interact with guests of lesser status, or for business ponies to observe the reactions of those below as a product was being advertised to them on stage. For this event, there was only one pony this room could have been reserved for, and with everypony else finding going to the conference room, that mare made her way there.

The door opened, and in entered Sunset Shimmer, followed in by Stellar Flare, with Celestia entering last. Ever since the meeting with the other chapter masters, It was difficult to get a moment when Celestia and Sunset were truly alone together. There was a point where the meeting ended, and all the others left, but now that they knew where to find Sunset, they repetitively returned to speak to the unicorn about something else, either an important detail they forgot, or something that was happening at the resort that they felt needed her attention.

Celestia was not a stranger to this kind of behavior, as it was commonplace for leaders to have those who worked under them clambering for their attention, but she seldom experienced it from the other side. It was an understandable burden of responsibility, that one had to delegate tasks to choose the right path for more than just themselves, and that took up a lot of time. In this case, it was so much time that Celestia and Sunset couldn’t start any new activities without Sunset being pulled away after more than a few minutes. It almost felt intentional, like an attempt to prevent the two mares from bonding, but Celestia wanted to believe that despite some prejudices the ponies of this group held against her, they were still acting only in the best interest of all the ponies involved.

“So we are authorizing work permits to any mare to open up shops for any goods and services they can provide.” Stellar Flare said, further explaining the details on her plans for Sire’s Hollow to Sunset, after what must have been an hour long period of on and off discussion about the subject, “And once all of that is set up, we will be using donations given to us by the stallions of the community to redistribute the town’s wealth back into the hands of mares, which will hopefully allow a re-establishment of our local commerce.”

“And have you secured the donations as of yet?” Sunset asked.

“We have gotten a bunch of pledges from stallions who are more than happy to help the cause,” Stellar answered, “With only a few greedy holdouts who attempted to disguise their greed under distrust for our organization’s goals. As you might have guessed, Firelight is among those few.”

“I’m sure what you have gotten will be suitable for your plans,” Sunset replied, “But I’ll have Starlight schedule some time for me to come and look at things myself in the coming weeks. Let’s table this for now, so I can focus on the closing ceremony.”

“As you wish,” Stellar said, satisfied that Sunset would be paying her town a visit, “If I might ask, can I watch the ceremony up here with you? Since I’m already here, that is.”

“Honestly,” Sunset said with a sigh, “I would prefer to be alone with Celestia for a while. My day has been so busy that we’ve hardly been able to speak, and it would have been a wasted trip for her if we couldn’t exchange ideas over what I’ve accomplished today.”

Stellar didn’t look too happy with that response, but she couldn’t argue with Sunset’s decision. Without another word, she gave a nod, and left the room, giving Celestia a light brush along the way. Waiting a few seconds once the door was closed, Sunset used her magic to turn the lock.

“There,” the unicorn said, “No more interruptions for tonight.”

“Your followers sure are dedicated.” Celestia said in humored tone.

“Yes, but being the one everypony looks to for decisions can be tiring,” Sunset replied, “I might have to make teaching them to be more independent a priority in the future.”

“That’s a task that’s easier than it sounds.” Celestia said, as even Twilight, her objectively greatest pupil, had a tendency to fall back on Celestia, though she was more than capable of fixing a situation by herself.

Actually, when it came to independence, it was always Sunset Shimmer who was the most proactive pony Celestia taught, and had she never been consumed with a desire for power, she might have been a superior successor to even Twilight, as much as Celestia didn’t want to compare her students in such a manner. It did make Celestia question if the caribou invasion could have been outright avoided had she been the bearer of the element of magic, as records of the invasion, supposedly given by Twilight’s red collar self, depicted her as unwilling to directly engage with the deer men once she witnessed Celestia defeated in combat.

With the issue of interruptions solved, Sunset took a seat on a large, comfy looking leather couch placed in the center of the room, and grabbed a bottle of cider from within a bucket filled with ice that sat on a table in front of it. “Come take a seat,” Sunset Shimmer said, “The final festivities are about to begin.

Celestia obliged with the request, sitting herself right next to her former pupil. “I really do appreciate you taking time out from your event to spend it with me.” said the alicorn, legitimately grateful.

“And I appreciate you reaching out to me,” Sunset said back, “And perhaps we can do as you suggested earlier, with me acting as an advisory role behind the scenes, with you as a medium. I’m sure the Committee will be more accepting of my ideas, so long as they don’t think its coming from me.”

Sunset opened the bottle of cider, and poured some of its contents out into a set of glasses supplied by the resort. She handed one to Celestia, while taking one for herself, and the two drank as they sat back and waited for things to begin. Celestia seemed content for now, but unlike her, Sunset knew what was to come, and had a good belief that the alicorn might not stay comfortable once the ceremony got into full motion. She had to play it cool for now though, and hope that she could reason Celestia into seeing her side when that moment came.

Until that moment, Sunset would make everything seem normal, so that she could try to negate the tonal shift that it would bring. Success with Celestia depended on quelling her reservations on what she was about to see, and convincing her that it was needed to make Equestria a safe place for not only mares, but all ponies. It was a gamble, at best, but getting the backing of the former ruler of Equestria would be a huge boon towards her goals. While Celestia had stepped down from the role of princess, there were still plenty of ponies in positions of power who heeded her word as if she was still in charge, on the rare occasion she would offer her advice. From her time in the Committee, this included many of her former colleagues, especially Princess Luna. If she couldn’t persuade Celestia, it wouldn’t be so devastating that she’d have to stop her plans, but she couldn’t help but want to persuade the alicorn to her way of thinking, and to eventually convert her former mentor into yet another loyal follower of her cause.

If that ended up in failure, then she would have no issue accepting that, as it was never part of the original plan to begin with, but with how smoothly her plans had been going so far, there was little the alicorn could do to bring them to a halt. Not when those they most affected were eager to let her do as she will with them. The obedience of her ‘subjects’ was near immutable, and that was all she needed to see things come to completion. In a few minutes, the willingness to follow what she dictated to be right would be on full display, and that’s when Phase Two would begin.

Hey all, had to make a part two to the previous chapter, as I was trying to keep these current chapters around the 10K mark. While not much really happens this time, aside from setting up the final part of this section of the story, I do want to talk a little about the huge detail that was kinda casually dropped.

I'm sure a lot of you were surprised to find that all this time Starlight has been a Blanked mare, which means that she had been captured by the caribou and put through the blanking device during the fall, stripping her of any sense of identity. While this could easily have slipped under the radar, I do want to say that this isn't something I just made up recently. The fact that Starlight is in a sort of "secretary" role to Sunset was a hint to this plotpoint, as well as many of her lines just being her relaying facts (that would have been told to her prior) and her actions are only ones that directly work in the interests of Sunset's support group. One would have assumed that Starlight would have been treated more as equal to Sunset if she was of sound mind, as they were "partners" during their rebel days. Even her expression on the cover was supposed to be a subtle hint, as her smile and open eyed stare is a bit more blank than everyone else's.

As for how I revealed this, some of you might have a complaint that there was little to no build up to it, but Sunset and Celestia are both very aware of the condition. For them there is no reason to hide this from one another, so when discussing the topic of Starlight, the only thing they have to worry about is being considerate to her, which was why Celestia didn't want to talk about details in front of her, or the other mares. If there you think that's a sign of poor writing on my part, you're probably right, but now was just as good a time as any to let this particular cat out of the bag. Especially since the story is heading into what might be considered the third act, where things are about to change, and plot threads are about to come together to set up a still fairly distant finale. I only hope I can keep you all entertained till then.

As all the guests of the event made their way into the conference hall to find any empty seats they could, those who still had a part to play were busy backstage, getting things ready for the final presentation of the evening. Most were stallions who were making sure that all the stage equipment was ready, getting everything into place and doing some final tests to ensure nothing would go wrong, but there was one mare among them that was just as diligently performing her role.

“And that’s all we are going to need you to do.” said Starlight Glimmer, giving a pleasant, if empty headed, smile to a row of ponies in front of her. There were a few in the line up that she recognized, as they were each members of Sunset’s chapter, but most of them were complete strangers to the mare. “Are there any questions before the presentation starts?”

“I got one.” said Bon Bon, looking a little miffed, “When was Sunset going to tell us about that last thing?”

“Yeah,” Lyra said, as she gave Pistachio a hug, one a lot less teasing than the ones she had given him earlier that day, displaying a great deal of sympathy towards him, though the young stallion was not in any way upset enough to need it, “If we’re supposed to be taking care of Pistachio, then it would be nice to know when you want to do something like this to him.”

“I understand your concerns,” Starlight said, while doing little to express that was truly the case, “But it wasn’t as if we forced it upon him, and it wasn’t meant to be a secret either. Had Pistachio thought it important enough, he could have told you at any time.”

“She’s right,” said the earth pony, “I was the one who agreed to it, and it’s my fault I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“Cause it’s embarrassing,” Bon Bon said, replying to her ward’s comment, before switching back to Starlight, “And that doesn’t excuse you or Sunset for suggesting it in the first place. I get you want to keep mares safe, but this goes a step too far.”

“If that’s how you feel, then you are more than welcome to have a discussion with Pistachio about it after the seminar,” Starlight said, “You will be in charge of him from this point on, so if you can all agree he doesn’t need it, then you don’t have to use it, but I’m sure some of the mares here feel more secure knowing their stallions have them.”

Bon Bon looked down the row, and despite the fierce look on her face, most of the other mares gave a nod of agreement to Starlight’s comment, a sentiment that didn’t go unnoticed by their individual partners. When faced with this, Bon Bon had no choice but to settle down, though she was not happy to be the minority in this discussion.

“Like I said,” Starlight continued, “There is nothing preventing you from removing it later, so long as the three of you all feel safe without it. If that’s settled, we may have time for one more question.”

“I have a question,” said a stallion as he raised his hand. While Starlight had to check her clipboard to see who this pony was, everypony else knew him immediately, “Ah, Feather Bangs. What would you like to ask?”

The pony popstar nervously stepped forward, an uncharacteristic display from someone who was accustomed to standing in front of large crowds and performing. “I was just wondering-.”

“How important your part in this will be?” Starlight said, cutting off the stallion, “Very, seeing how you will be setting an example for all other stallions who might want to be part of the ward program after tonight.”

“No,” said Feather Bangs, “I was having second thoughts about about my part. I know you asked me cause I’m popular, and I don’t have a problem using it, but do I really have to show it off in front of everypony?”

Starlight had anticipated that Feather Bangs would develop some stage fright, since it was something that Sunset Shimmer had warned her to look out for. The popstar might have been fine performing from noon to dusk, but what they were asking him to do now was more unnerving for him, for reasons the blanked mare really didn’t understand. Then again, she hardly understood the reason why others showed any emotions, and ponies held them in such high regard that it was something the blanked mare couldn’t ignore. Thankfully, she was not the only mare that Sunset had there to make sure everything ran smoothly.

“Oh Bangy,” said the pink unicorn that had been standing next to Feather Bangs, the one who would be his guardian, and the one in charge of the Rainbow Falls division of the group. With only those two words as warning, the mare pressed her front against the stallion’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck in a gentle embrace.

Feather Bangs, feeling the lovely softness of the mare’s chest press into him, instantly perked up, all signs of his nervousness disappearing, “S-Sugar Belle, what are you-?”

The stallion received a kiss on the cheek, which was enough to stifle him, “I know that you’ve been working hard all day to support the cause, and you must be really tired, but I promise that this will be the last thing you’ll have to do tonight. And after that we’ll figure out something to do to help you relax.”

The unicorn’s phrasing had deeper implications that some of the ponies present wanted to ignore, while others looked in Feather’s direction with intrigue. There was certainly something more intimate with how this particular pair were acting around one another.

Whatever their relationship was, the unicorn’s words had a noticeable effect on the stallion, as he perked up at the mere insinuations of what Sugar Belle was promising. “O-ok! I’ll do it!” Feather Bangs said, as any objections he previously had became non-existent.

“That’s a good stallion,” Sugar Belle said, granting Feather Bangs another kiss for his compliance, which only widened the smile on the earth stallion’s face even more.

While Starlight didn’t truly get emotions, Sunset had taught her that smiles were generally a positive thing, and figured that the problem had been taken care of. Better still, other stallions in the line were giving their own smiles at the praise Feather Bangs was receiving.

I guess they like hearing the words ‘good stallion’, Starlight thought to herself, her blanked mind knowing the pleasures of auditory stimuli from another creature.

Then again, that applied to interaction of any kind, as a blanked mind took in every touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight to levels a normal pony could never understand. When one knew next to nothing, something as simple as a sunbeam traveling across the ground over the course of a day could be captivatingly fascinating for them. Anything more could be akin to sensory overload, which often triggered reactions that could be considered orgasmic from how intense they could be. Of course, like any sensitivity, this could be overcome with training, and Sunset had been diligent with making Starlight able to withstand such sensory assaults.

Something about the blanking process stripped a pony of any sense of motivation, individuality, or will, and replaced it with only the need to obey. That was what the caribou’s wanted for any who dared defy them in a way that actually harmed their regime, which was something they could only do once they created the blanking device a good ways into their year long reign. The only aspect of self guidance a blank had was through the crudely made replacement cutiemarks the caribou managed to create, which were always depictions of sex acts or BDSM iconography. These were always poor imitations to a true cutiemark though, but did give those branded with them an affinity towards lewd acts and submissive qualities.

Re-blanks were no different, despite having their original cutiemarks painstakingly recreated via the same method that created the sexualized marks. The marks would restore some of the prior abilities of the re-blank, but none of their drive or personality. Even Starlight, who often seemed independent, didn’t have any true autonomy, and was merely acting on commands from Sunset Shimmer that were phrased in a loop, or not given any proper end clause. This extended to conversation as well, as the unicorn’s responses were just lines given to her to say when a particular topic came up, occasionally improvised to fit better into a conversation.

Acting on one such command, Starlight looked over her clipboard, examining a set of objectives she was supposed to complete, most marked off as they had already been finished. The last few instructions were all about the seminar, but as a final precaution she was to flip the sheet to the one right behind those. Once she did, and saw that there was nothing there, she put the board to her side and addressed the row of ponies once more.

“Ok everypony,” said the pink mare, “The show will be starting soon. Remember, your cue will come when the curtain opens. The presentation will be short after that, and once finished you’ll all be able to go home.”

Having given the ponies the last details they needed, Starlight could see the lights dim and hear music start playing. This was her signal that the show was about to begin, and in a few seconds she would be needed on stage.

“Just remember, what you are doing is helping to make Equestria a better place for all ponies.” Starlight said, filling the last few moments before she went on stage with positive words directed to the members of Sunset’s group, as reciting motivational phrases was but another one of her instructions to minimize awkward silences.

A pair of spotlights hit the center of the heavy fabric sheet separating the main stage from the backstage, the light being the signal Starlight was waiting for. A moment later, she was on the other side, her clipboard in one hand and a microphone in the other, standing before the many ponies who had attended the event. Every pony who was a member of the support group that was not part of the seminar was out there looking at her. Had she a sense of fear, that might have been intimidating to her, but devoid of such emotions, this had the same weight as a leisurely walk through a park on a sunny day to the unicorn. With no hesitation, she made her way to the front of the stage, stopping a few feet away from the edge, and receiving a warm welcome of applause as she approached.

“Thank you, thank you, everypony.” said Starlight, now in her designated position, “And thank you all for coming tonight. Despite the earlier delays, we couldn’t have made this any more a success than how smoothly everything went. With the main goal of our group being the restoration of the peace, harmony, and happiness ponies could once enjoy, your attendance and enjoyment of everything we had to offer made all the effort and expense of setting this up worth it.”

Plenty of the seated ponies cheered at this declaration, agreeing whole heartedly that the trip to Las Pegasus was well worth their own effort put into it.

“As you are all aware, Sunset Shimmer is busy attending to some important matters at the moment, but she wishes to give her gratitude for all of you who could make it, who with their presence alone made all of this that much better. You might not think it, but things wouldn’t have been as fun without each and everypony here.”

Another round of approval came from the ponies in the audience, this time intended for Sunset Shimmer, almost doubling in intensity from before. It was as if they were trying to make sure their leader would hear their celebration of her, none of them knowing that she was seated close by, watching everything take place.

“But of course,” Starlight said, using her mic to speak over the sounds of clapping and cheers, “We have to likewise make known the contributions of all of our volunteers today, who through their own hardwork and dedication allowed all our guests to have such a relaxing and fun filled day. Every stallion who did their part should be congratulated for a job well done, and appreciated for the time they gave up for the sake of the mares who had been put through the worst tortures the caribou could devise. If everypony would, please stand and give them a round of applause.”

Once more the ponies showed their appreciation for all the stallions that had offered their hard work to the event, merging the previous applause for Sunset into a new one for them, getting out of their seats as requested, which in turn made it seem like the stallions were getting the most appreciation of everyone.

Starlight joined in on this particular round of applause as well, clapping along with the others for a little bit, as it was one of her instructions on her clipboard. When things started to settle down, she placed the microphone back to her lips, and continued with the presentation by saying, “Thank you. You know, it’s been really hard for our good stallions since the end of the Fall. They had to go through a lot of hardships, just as we mares have. To this day some can’t even walk down the street without being suspected of being a rapist.”

Starlight waited for a moment to gauge the response of the crowd, getting quiet compilation and low murmurs from them, telling her that the support group members were at least listening to her.

“Of course, we all are aware that there are stallions who are nothing like how they were while being mind controlled by the caribou, namely the ones that wish to be part of our group. These good stallions seek help to deal with the damage that the caribou forced them to cause to mares, but for the damage they were caused by being used as tools. While mares often focus on what the caribou did to them, it is not fair to say that the tyrants that took over our kingdom didn’t leave a lasting mark on stallions as well.”

No pony present could disagree, as they had all heard of how the stallions in their support circles were likewise traumatized from the experiences inflicted upon them by the caribou. It might have been hard to rationalize that sometimes, as outwardly all males were made into a privileged class that could do as they pleased with the females they had enslaved to them, but the reality was that all but the truly traitorous stallions were prisoners of their own minds, with their very will stripped from them in ways most mares could not compare their own suffering to.

“Because we all understand this, it has always been the stance of our group to offer the same help to stallions in need that we would provide a mare. However, because of recent events, Sunset Shimmer has had to re-evaluate this position in policy.”

Starlight, with microphone still placed before her muzzle, walked to one side of the stage, keeping her eyes directed to the crowd as she began a pace, the spotlight being trained on her at all times.

“As you all have undoubtedly heard, two mare members of our group were attacked recently by a stallion that had formerly been in the same group as them. We can’t say if he attacked them because of that, but we can say that due to the group’s open acceptance, a predator managed to infiltrate us.”

Reaching the end of the stage, Starlight turned herself around and made her way back to the opposite side, her eyes searching for stallions seated in the dark part of the room, locking her sights on any she found for a few short seconds before finding a new target.

“Thankfully neither of the mares that were attacked were greatly harmed, and the stallion in question was stopped and arrested, but Sunset has seen this as a failure on her part, one she never wishes to repeat. It is because of this that she felt the need to finally begin a project that she had in the works for some time, which brings us to the reason we are all here.”

Starlight turned herself in the direction of an earth pony managing the stage curtains, and gave him a nod. The stallion had been waiting for this gesture from the pink unicorn, and pulled a rope that brought the two sections of the backdrop apart. Several more spotlights hit the stage, finding their way to the individual groups of stallions with their guardians. As instructed by Starlight earlier, each of them made their way on stage, walking until they were a little bit further back than the pink unicorn was.

“As I’m sure you all have come to learn recently, we have decided to pair up some of our stallions with some of our mares who are more capable of defending themselves, in order to create a safe environment where these stallions will be able to help those they unwillingly hurt. Not because we believe they owe mares something for the acts they where forced to do, but because these good stallions have decided this would be the only way they would be able to live with a clear conscious after what the caribou made them do. That was the original intention for this program, but as Sunset Shimmer looked deeper into the problems that plague the minds of our good stallions, she discovered that there was another, more important reason why they required a mare to watch over them.”

Starlight made her way back to center stage, where she could hear the whispers of those sitting below the elevation of the stage. The ponies of the support group had been given at best the most minute details of the purpose of this program, and with the pink unicorn’s mere implication that there was more to this than they had assumed, every member was wondering what it could be.

“Upon interviewing each of these stallions, about why they felt so guilty that they wished to make it up to mares more directly, a common theme started to occur. It appeared that their guilt was not limited by only what they had done during the caribou’s rule over us, but from the thoughts they had prior to them, as each stallion standing up here has confessed to having lewd thoughts about mares.”

With all the emotional distress sex had caused all of Equestria, this tidbit of insight into the minds of the stallions on stage caused some commotion within the conference room, with mares gasping and making comments to those seated next to them, while some stallions quietly shifted uncomfortably in their seats as they saw the reactions their fellow support group members were making over this seemingly tiny act of relapse.

“As you all might assume, this does refer to thoughts they had after they were released from the caribou’s mind control, long after the destruction of the Crystal Heart.” Starlight said, making sure to clarify in case anyone mistook her to mean during the Fall, where it would have been obvious that a stallion would have had such thoughts forced on them, “However, they have also confessed to having these kinds of thoughts prior to the caribou invasion as well.

This came as a bigger surprise to many of the ponies present. While one could perhaps dismiss envisioning a mare in a lustful manner as some sort of residual effect of having been manipulated by the caribou for so long, or perhaps something akin to post traumatic stress disorder, where they were superimposing the image of a sex act they had forced on a mare in the past onto a mare they passed on the street, the thought of ponies having such thoughts prior to the caribou felt much more inexcusable.

“These fantasies they divulged to us included a multitude of acts that were not commonplace prior to the caribou’s rule, acts that their bodies performed once they were no longer in control of them, and acts that they now regret having come true. There are many things in this that we need to be aware of, the foremost of which being that these ideas didn’t come from the caribou, and that these good stallions on stage showed incredible bravery coming forth about all this.”

From behind Starlight, Bon Bon looked about ready to walk over to the unicorn and snatch the mic right out of her hand, before giving Starlight a piece of her mind about how poorly she was depicting these stallions looking for help, especially in the case of Pistachio, who she knew was a good stallion who lived through unfortunate circumstances. Hearing the mare finally say something that put the stallions in a good light, and that this was all leading up to that, gave her pause, but if that trend didn’t continue she was ready to intercede. All of this news was stuff that she absolutely would have been more appreciative of being told ahead of time about, as this was all news to her.

Starlight, not noticing this shift in disposition from the earth mare, hyper focused on the task given to her by Sunset, continued with her speech without pause, “Some of you might wonder what this means, and how it applies to this ward program. Well it comes down to a simple understanding. Stallions have always been able to be exploited by creatures like the caribou. They had always harbored thoughts about how to use our bodies and tame us, and though they may have never truly wanted to act on them, those thoughts festered in their subconscious as a backdoor that could be exploited. The Committee of Ponies still have no official explanation as to how the Crystal Heart managed to infect so many, but this is the reason.”

Everypony in the room was stunned, this theory from Starlight seeming like a revelation that until now had eluded them, despite being right in front of their eyes. The only missing piece of the puzzle is that they assumed any stallion that wasn’t an outright traitor to the nation would never have such thoughts about the fairer sex. At least, that’s what the mares believed, as the same stallions who had been shifting in their seats were now starting to sweat in this moderately cooled room, since they were no different than the stallions on stage by the description given.

“This is an irrefutable explanation when you take into consideration that stallions who managed to resist the influence of the Heart always had a mare in their lives who they were close to. For example, Dainn’s executioner, Big Macintosh, had three mares in his life that kept him in check, and prevented him from letting such perverse thoughts form. It is for this reason that Sunset Shimmer has come to believe that the ward program is needed more than first assumed at its conception. With these good stallions being the first to take this preventative step against other external forces that might want to manipulate them.”

Starlight mentally checked off one of her key objectives, as she got to the part of the seminar that she had been working to from the start; trying to sell to the members of how important this program would be. Mares needed to understand the danger that stallions, even the ones who were already within the group, represented. Likewise, stallions needed to know that they were not safe from being exploited again, so long as they didn’t submit themselves to mare hand selected by Sunset Shimmer to ensure their minds didn’t stray from the path of wholesomeness. It wasn’t difficult for her to speak with conviction about this, as she did believe all of this to be true. She had been there when the stallions admitted to their lewd thoughts, and could see the correlation between stallions who had been corrupted and those who resisted the caribou, but most importantly she believed this all to be true because Sunset had told her it was.

“From this point on, these good stallions will be under the watchful eyes of their guardians, who will be in charge of their lives on a macro scale. They will make sure that their wards don’t do anything to harm another mare, and assign them tasks to keep their minds off of thoughts they shouldn’t be having. They will also be allowed to give out proper rewards for good behavior, of whatever they see fit, as well as deliver disciplinary action if needed. When it comes down to it, the stallions will be putting their trust in the mares they had once wronged, to give them a path to redemption, and ease their minds of the guilt they hold. While these few are the first, we hope that they are not the last, and that others will see the good this program will bring.”

The ponies in the audience couldn’t help but discuss what they were seeing. They couldn’t put into words if this was the right way to handle this situation, but they couldn’t object to it either. If the stallions were such a vulnerability as Starlight had said, then something had to be done about them, and this seemed like the best thing to do short of locking them up like criminals. At least they would be able to be a part of society, and they wouldn’t be mistreated by these mares who knew first hand the horrors of being at another creature’s mercy. Surely someone who had been through that would not abuse the power given to them, or so most mares wanted to believe, since they really liked the idea of safety that this system was said to grant them.

“With that all explained,” Starlight said, reaching what would be the final part of the seminar, “There is just one last detail of this we need to discuss, and that is how we intend to keep the mares volunteering as guardians safe throughout all this. They are, after all, putting themselves at great risk by being around a stallion at all times of the day, and while they are more than capable of defending themselves, we have to keep in mind that we did have a predator in our midst, and that even good stallions could be used against us again. Thus, every stallion up here has agreed to do something to provide a bit of extra precaution, to prove that they aren’t using this as a way to get close to mares they could victimize, and prevent themselves from being used by creatures of evil should the worst befall Equestria again.”

Starlight turned her head over her shoulder, looking in the direction of Feather Bangs, who had been standing in attention beside his unicorn guardian not too far from center stage.

“And to display the preemptive measure, we have one our more notable stallion members, Feather Bangs. Please give him a round of applause for him volunteering to be our example for the evening.”

The audience once more followed the prompt for participation, clapping for the sake of the popular pony popstar’s imminent presentation. Feather Bangs stepped forward, but the expression of distress he had backstage was resurfacing, as he hesitated in whatever it was that he was supposed to do.

“Hmm…” Starlight hummed to herself, noticing that Feather Bangs was not simply doing as he was told to do, another thing she didn’t understand when it came to others.

She didn’t really know how to deal with a situation like this, so she resorted to her clipboard, flipping all the way to her last page again. It was just as blank as before, providing her no help in this situation. For a moment she felt her one option was to do nothing until Sunset was forced to come and relieve her of this error in her commands, but Sugar Belle took initiative before that was needed, and went aside her ward. His guardian mare put her mouth to his ear, and said something in secret that made the stallion’s eyes light up.

Whatever it was she said, it must have done the trick, as the stallion moved his hands to the button at the front of his pants, just as he was supposed to. Relieved, Starlight was able to continue with her script. “Now ponies, do not be alarmed by what happens next. It is not as bad as you think, and this stallion’s actions, as well as what you are about to see, have all been approved by Sunset Shimmer.”

The ponies in the audience were confused at what Starlight was getting at, until it finally dawned on them that Feather Bangs was undoing the button, and proceeding to unzip the zipper beneath it. Needless to say, this caused a bit of shock among many of the attendees, with many questioning aloud what was going on, and one random unicorn stallion yelling “He’s pulling his cock out!” loudly, as if the other ponies around him were not aware. Had Feather Bangs actually done that, the congregation probably would have gone into an outright uproar, but as he lowered his pants down, the confusion of the audience slowly returned, as they didn’t see a penis, but were not immediately sure what they were looking at.

The first thought that crossed the minds of those not on stage about what they were looking at was that it was merely the stallion’s underwear, which wasn’t an absurd thing to think would be underneath his pants. The more they looked at it though, they could tell that what Feather Bangs had on wasn’t made of cloth, but some sort of metal material that covered Feather Bangs’ crotch completely, using metal bands that wrapped a little tightly around his legs and waist to lock this strange attire into place. Most of the stallions looking at it still couldn’t figure out what this was at this point, but some of the mares were beginning to associate this device with something they had to deal with in the past. While not exactly the same, this thing shared many similarities to a chastity belt.

A tool of bondage, of sorts, the object denied the ability to have sex, which might have seemed like a strange thing to use in a caribou run culture, if you didn’t understand how it was implemented. A mare’s owner who felt that a mare was privately relieving the tension of their arousal through masturbation, in an attempt to deny their master the satisfaction of hearing them beg for the cock the stallion or stag believed all females craved, would use a chastity belt to prevent them from touching themselves. A particularly cruel male would also apply an itch inducing cream to their slave’s pussy, or make them drink a heat inducing potion, before denying them access to their genitals, driving a mare to the edge of madness as they were barraged with sensations they couldn’t do anything about.

Then there were those who wished to keep a particular mare all to himself, which despite how much the caribou endorsed sharing mares sexually, they didn’t make any rules about keeping some for personal use, since that was often something that they themselves did. Most of the time the thought never crossed the minds of a stallion, as the brainwashed believed the propaganda of their rulers that it was just best to have their mares fucked by as many males as possible, to train the unwilling to love the act of having sex, as well the degradation that came with being made a common whore, and to teach them how to perform better to serve their owners. The only stallions who truly took advantage of the chastity belts for this purpose were the ones who joined the caribou’s side without the need of brainwashing, wanting their prizes to be theirs alone, or only shared with those who had elevated status on par with what they believed their own was. For them, the restrictive devices prevented ‘accidents’ from occurring, either from a stallion whose default assumption was that females were open use, or by a red collar that didn’t understand that she was only to have sex when her owner permitted it.

Starlight, having been briefed that this bewilderment would probably be the reaction given, continued to follow by Sunset’s flowchart for her, “I’m sure you are all wondering what this is, and why it seems so much like something the caribou would have used. As some of you might have figured out, this item is very much like a chastity belt, designed to keep stallions from having free access to their sex organs. Trapped behind a weave of sturdy steel links, which will be custom made to fit each stallion who wears one perfectly, is locked into place to prevent removal or the ability to slip their privates out the sides, while giving the stallion wearing it room to comfortably move his thing around underneath. Like this, even if a stallion would be brainwashed into serving an evil and perverted creature like the caribou once more, they would be completely incapable of raping any females so long as this is on. Sunset has dubbed these items ‘Colt Keepers’, and every one of the stallions on stage are wearing one as we speak, as have many of the stallions who had served you during today’s event.”

Having been given the purpose of the device, and told that they had already been put in use, the opinions of this new type of restraint were mixed. It didn’t seem to be causing any harm to any of the stallions wearing them, as only Feather Bangs was currently showing any form of discomfort, and it was pretty clear that it was coming not from the metal apparel, but that he had been standing with his pants down for a good period of time now. It was difficult for mares, who had gone through long periods of sexual abuse, to find fault in what looked like a good preventative solution. What harm would it cause stallions to just put these things on for their sake? The few who still had major issues being around stallions could see how knowing a male was wearing one would make them feel ok around them, and to them it only felt beneficial.

For the stallions who just learned of these ‘Colt Keepers’ though, there were some concerns, like how this displayed a great deal of mistrust in them, and how it prevented them from having more healthy outlets to relieve their own sexually induced frustration. One concerned stallion took initiative, made his way to the stage’s edge to get as close to Starlight as he could.

“Excuse me,” he called out loudly, catching the unicorn’s attention.

“Yes?” Starlight replied, “Do you have questions?”

“Yeah, kind of an important one,” the stallion said, “How are we supposed to go to the bathroom in those?”

It was a reasonable question, as any slot in the object that would let one let their penis out to use the restroom would defeat the purpose. Luckily, it was one Starlight had been prepped for. “That is a very good question, and one with a simple answer. Since the Colt Keepers are mostly intended for those in the ward program, the key to them is given to their guardian.”

Sugar Belle presented her own key to the audience, lifting up her hand before dropping it down from a chain, showing that what Starlight was saying was already implemented.

“As for those who aren’t in the ward program, we did set up stations where they could temporarily unlock themselves if needed, trusting that they would redo the lock once finished.” Starlight said, continuing to explain how there really were no foreseeable issues with these male chastity belts, “And just to clarify, this is in no way mandatory. Every stallion who has one on volunteered to wear it once presented, just as the stallions in the ward program volunteered to be part of it once given the option. This all is just something stallions can do to make the mares they are around feel a bit safer, That being said, Feather Bangs, could you please pick up your pants now? It’s starting to get a bit awkward.”

From the audience, more and more ponies were being convinced of how useful these Colt Keepers were for general safety and peace of mind. If all it took to put a mare at ease was to wear the thing, then that didn’t seem like an unfair sacrifice, especially since no pony was being forced to use them. Who could be upset about something that didn’t affect them if they didn’t want to use it? It was honestly a really ingenious invention, that solved a major issue that plagued Equestria, and that was the issue of trust.

“Wow,” said Coco Pommel, astonished by how simple this solution was, and how it took a pony like Sunset Shimmer to figure it out.

By removing a stallion’s ability to rape altogether by locking away their dick, a mare would never have to fear going through the same kind of violation the caribou put them through ever again. It was such a persuasive answer to this issue that she had to re-evaluate her previous assumption that Equestria could never return to the more innocent state it had once been in, as much of the changes came from the realization that safety had been an illusion.

“If these Colt Keepers catch on” she said aloud, “Then maybe it would be a huge step for progressing Equestria forward, don’t you think Trixie?”

Turning to the blue unicorn sitting next to her, she saw that Trixie wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying at that moment, and instead was looking away from the center stage where Feather Bangs and Starlight were. The earth mare couldn’t blame Trixie for that, as she too had to look away for a moment when the pants came down. With all the other members present in the room talking about the reveal, Coco just had to believe that her words weren’t reaching Trixie’s ear through all the other voices was the reason she was being ignored, which was fine, as what she had to say wasn’t some grand insight on this device or how it would help the ponies of Equestria.

What Coco didn’t know though was that it wasn’t Feather Bangs’ false flashing that had Trixie turning her head. She had hardly noticed that, and had looked away from the center stage right before it had happened. No, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to look at that particular place on stage, but that another part of the stage had something that concerned Trixie far more, and had Coco seen her face, she might have been frightened by the snarl Trixie was making to express her displeasure.

To the far end of the line of guardian and ward pairings, was a pony she didn’t expect to be up there. A stallion she had known personally for a short time, only to have him leave her. The last stallion to rape her… but also the first stallion to come to her rescue. Star Bright was standing there, looking happy on stage… without her.

She had not been informed of this ahead of time, and why would she have been? She and Star Bright had no real connection at this point, except that they were both in the same part of the support group. Outside of that, Trixie didn’t talk to the male unicorn if she could avoid it, since she still hadn’t let go that he abandoned her, and Star Bright did the same, because he thought being around the mares he violated would only cause them pain.

Of course, it wasn’t just him up there, as each ward had their own guardian, and his just made Trixie angrier. Another familiar image, this time being a certain yellow mare with a distinguishing mane of orange curls. The only one of Trixie’s circle of friends that decided she would rather run off on her own during their day in Las Pegasus. A pony Trixie did intend to see on stage that night, just not next to Star Bright.

Carrot Top stood with arms crossed next to the gray unicorn, not as happy as her stallion counterpart to be up there, looking as if she was just waiting impatiently. Trixie couldn’t believe that Carrot Top had let everypony know that she would be in the ward program, but skipped on the detail that she was going to be watching over Star Bright.

Why does that even matter! Trixie yelled at herself in her mind, It’s not like I was going to be a part of this stupid ward program anyways!

A good part of Trixie didn’t have a clue why the sight of those two together was setting her off. Perhaps it was how the pairings were portrayed, looking like some kind of romantic couple instead of the good samaritan mare watching over the self concerned stallion this whole thing was presented as. Sure, Lyra and Bon Bon had been mothering Pistachio all day, which went against this notion festering in Trixie’s head, but that pink unicorn with Feather Bangs had whispered something to her ward in a way that looked like she was flirting. Trixie’s first thought was that they might have been a real couple, by the way they acted, which was the last thing she thought about them before she noticed Star Bright and Carrot Top together.

And what if they were a couple now? Trixie declared to herself, trying to rationalize her feelings, You didn’t have any interest in him. He left you. You hate him!

It was true that she hated the fact that Star Bright had left her, and was the first of quite a few ponies to leave her after having saved her from enslavement, from how she pictured what happened. If Trixie was being honest though, she didn’t hate Star Bright, just what he had done through what he thought was the right thing to do. She would have been happy for the gray stallion to come to her, apologize, and try to start up some kind of relationship with her again, even if only purely as friends. As much as she knew, Star Bright might have wanted Trixie to come to him as well to patch up things, but both of them were too reluctant and worried about what the other one thought of them to make the first move.

Had Trixie have known that Star Bright was going to become some mare’s ward, she might have used that as a means to bring them both together in a way that would have been acceptable for the two of them, but to have known that he was interested in the program would have required the unicorn mare to talk to him, so as she thought about it more, Trixie really couldn’t blame a pony she made no effort to interact with for not letting her know. She could, however, blame a pony she did speak to frequently, and thus her building rage was redirected towards Carrot Top instead.

“Um… Trixie?” Coco Pommel said, touching the unicorn’s shoulder, “Are you ok?”

The earth mare had been watching Trixie fume for a while now, and was starting to figure out that something more than her trying to avert her gaze from a pantsless stallion was going. It was far past the point where that had been a problem, with Starlight now talking about the details of the ward program, and how mares and stallions could sign up to join it if they were interested. Seeing that Trixie was so enraged that she was grinding her teeth, Coco thought it would be better to see what was going through the unicorn’s mind.

It took a few more attempts to break Trixie’s focus, but when the blue mare finally turned to face Coco, her anger followed along. “What?” she said bluntly, wanting to know what was so important that she had to be pulled away from her fixation.

“I was…” Coco said hesitantly, feeling the ire Trixie was projecting at anything in her sight, “Checking to see if you were ok. You’ve been-”

“Giving a pair of ponies on stage death glares for several minutes?” Trixie said, well aware of what she had been doing.

“Well… yeah.” Coco said, not realizing that’s what Trixie had been doing before. Hearing what Trixie said though, she looked in the direction Trixie had been staring before, spotting the gray and yellow pair that she assumed was the problem, “Do you know them?”

Trixie rolled her eyes, not at Coco, as she knew the earth mare had never met Carrot Top or Star Bright, at least not directly, nor could she know how they were associated with Trixie. Her displeasure was directed entirely to one pony now.

“Yeah, they are both in my part of the group,” Trixie replied, “And I have more history with that unicorn than I care to share, and that orange maned mare is supposed to be one of my friends.”

Coco was confused, not able to tell what exactly Trixie was upset about, having too little information to correlate everything together. “Well… then isn’t it good that he wants to make himself better, and has a strong mare to keep him on the right path now?”

“Oh sure,” Trixie said with indignation, “It’s great that he’ll have a mare hanging around him all the time now, who he’ll be living with, and gives him even more reason to stay away from me.”

Hearing that, Coco believed she had a little more understanding of what was going on. “Oh, so you like him then?”

“No,” Trixie said, once more being short with her responses, “I wasn’t told by either of them that they’d be doing this, and if I had known-”

“You might have become a guardian so you could spend more time with him?” Coco finished, sticking to her assumption that Trixie might like this stallion, “That’s not really what this is for though, you know. I think it would be a huge misuse of your authority over a stallion if you used your guardianship to get close to them.”

Trixie grumbled, having seen Feather Bangs and his guardian, and how they acted together. Even if Coco was right, Trixie didn’t have any belief that others wouldn’t do that very thing.

“Look, I don’t know what you have in mind for that stallion, but…” Coco said, just wanting to give her advice, “If you do like him, then you should just tell him. That goes for if you just want to be friends, or you want something more with him.”

“But he’s part of this program now,” Trixie said, only confiding in Coco because the mare was in a different part of the group, and thus wouldn’t have the chance to repeat this to anypony Trixie knew, “Doesn’t that mean that she’s always gonna be around?” If Carrot Top and Star Bright were always going to be together now, then trying to interact with him would just make Trixie the third wheel.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” said Coco, “From what I’m getting, the guardians do decide what their stallion does in their free time, but they aren’t supposed to just be around their wards all day. If you ask this guy out for lunch some time, I’m sure their guardian would allow it unsupervised.”

“You… think so?” Trixie asked, admitting to herself that she really didn’t understand all the rules for this program. With the unicorn not being interested in being a part of it, she hadn’t really paid that much attention whenever it was brought up.

“It couldn’t hurt to try,” Coco Pommel said, being optimistic, “But in this case I think you’re absolutely gonna have to make the first move, cause otherwise he’s going to be too busy to come to you.”

“I guess so…” Trixie replied, not entirely happy with that part of it. She had been through several experiences where being proactive has caused her nothing but heartache, and some part of her really wanted Star Bright to be the one to put in the effort. Coco was right though, that at this point she didn’t have any other options.

Coco watched Trixie return her attention to the stage, no longer looking in the direction of Carrot Top and Star Bright, but to Starlight as she neared the end of the seminar. For the earth pony, she was happy to have helped a friend, though Trixie was more a distant acquaintance, and pleased to see a mare show interest in a stallion again. There were few who would want to be around any guys, let alone date one, after being raped by them for over a year. Reflecting on her previous statement on how Equestria could never go back to the way it was before the caribou, she couldn’t see why this particular aspect of pony life couldn’t make a comeback.

It would be no harm to anypony if mares and stallions could get along and interact again, so long as the stallions took proper precautions to ensure the mare’s safety. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the solutions Sunset Shimmer had come up with, because they really seemed to be beneficial for all parties. Seeing only the positives, Coco couldn’t think of how anypony could be against them.

As the seminar went on, more and more ponies of the support group were forming similar opinions to Coco Pommel, seeing the description of the ward program as an overwhelmingly good idea, seeing no downside to it, or believing that whatever negatives existed did not weigh up to the positives. At worst, ponies were indifferent to it, since nothing about it applied to them, since every part of it was voluntary, so they could just ignore it if they didn’t like it.

There was one pony present though who was forming an ever growing disdain of what she had heard, sitting up in the VIP room, right next to the mare who had come up with all this. Celestia, having only heard of this ‘ward program’ now, paid attention to what Sunset Shimmer had in mind, and having lived as long as she had, experiencing the myriad of cultures, philosophies, and political ideas that had sprung up and fallen in her long life, she was able to see more into what would come of it.

“Need a refill on your cider?” Sunset asked, taking note of a bottle Celestia held in her hand had about a quarter of golden fluid left in it, but more importantly seeing that Celestia was staring at the stage in shock.

This was the moment that Sunset predicted would come, as Celestia had not been prepped ahead of time about this announcement. Over the course of the last few weeks, she and the other group leaders had been leaking information about this program, and allowing ponies to ask them anything to get more information. Aside for the fact that the wards would be wearing the Colt Keepers, every detail said tonight had been repeated hundreds of times to hundreds of ponies in tiny bits, and then discussed among one another till they got the full details, allowing the ponies to rationalize how each part was a good thing before it all was officialized. Like a frog in a pot, they didn’t feel the temperature as it slowly rose, but now that the water was at a boil a new frog was being added and Sunset had to convince it to stay inside.

“Sunset,” Celestia said, her eyes narrowing, her displeasure clear, as she stared at her former student, a disdainful question being uttered from her lips, “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to create a safe environment for mares to exist in,” Sunset replied, “Which is what I’ve been doing from the start. I might no longer be part of the Committee, but my priorities have not changed.”

Celestia couldn’t help but be upset by this response. Having seen how Sunset’s group was inclusive to both mares and stallions, she had believed that Sunset might have pivoted, if ever so slightly, against the poor ideas she had when she was in the Committee. She had proposed that stallions have access to their sex organs restricted there too, as well as have them mandated to give reparations to mares they had harmed through a time of service in the benefit of mares, time that unicorn believed should exceed to one year period that the caribou reigned.

“But,” Sunset said, doing her best to keep Celestia from immediately assuming the worst, “The way I am doing this should be far more to your liking than what I proposed in the Committee. There I wanted males to be made to do things, which I realized over time was a bit extreme. Here, I only offer up the option for stallions to enlist in these ways to help mares.”

“Which you expect them to take up without question, due to the guilt they feel.” This part wasn’t hard for Celestia to figure out, as she had seen things of a similar nature before.

In times long past ponies had created religious groups dedicated to the worship of Celestia. They popped up shortly after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, when ponies had gotten used to the idea that Celestia was the sole creature who raised both the sun and the moon, and thus in their eyes being a creature of divinity. At first Celestia was flattered because she assumed the worship they did in her name was just a sign of respect, but as time went on she saw how dangerous it was to have ponies believe she was a goddess, and not just a very powerful magical pony.

The churches built in her name often preyed upon the guilt in the hearts of ponies, coming up with absurd methods of repentance meant to appease their goddess, that often benefited the heads of the religions in some fashion. The fault in this plot was that the object of their worship existed on the same plane as them, and thus some of the more fanatical followers started to show their devotion at her doorstep. Far too many times she had to prevent a pony from doing something that would have led to injury or worse, but that didn’t nearly compare to the havoc one group caused when they attempted to burn down the Everfree Forest, believing it was the den of the ultimate evil that was Nightmare Moon.

While Celestia managed to save the castle she and her sister had lived their lives together in, as well as the Tree of Harmony that resided near it, the rest of the forest was devastated, with all inhabitants that took up residence in the Everfree being forced to relocate. The damage done was so great that it took centuries for the forest to regrow, and never again could ponies influence that area with their abilities over nature. Having seen enough, Celestia put an end to all religions dedicated to her, or that demonized her sister, and had their leaders imprisoned once she found out how they were exploiting their congregations.

However, it wasn’t an easy task to convince ponies who saw her as a goddess that she wasn’t. It took generations of direct influence and reassociation of ideals ponies had made part of their daily lives to get things back to a point where ponies weren’t trying to sacrifice themselves to her. She had to start commissioning plays to remind ponies of the original founders of Equestria, and how unicorns once moved the sun and moon of their own accord, and rewrote some legends to be more acceptable, such as turning Nightmare Moon from a demonic creature of evil into a scary myth meant to entertain foals, which led to the invention of Nightmare Night. Among other things, she had to publicly, and frequently, denounce any claims to divinity, and scold anyone who would see her as such, just as she had the red collar unicorn that was put on trial a few days prior.

After centuries of using tactics both subtle and direct, Celestia finally managed to turn worship and fanatical devotion into respect and mere admiration, wiping that particular moment in Equestria from the history books, in order to prevent others from trying to repeat it. That ponies believe that Celestia’s thousand year reign had been purely peaceful was only due to such manipulations of the records.

“Celestia, I can’t help if stallions feel guilty about what they’ve done,” Sunset said, pinning the issue on the stallions and not herself, “But I can help them find healthy ways to get rid of that guilt, while aiding the rest of Equestria at the same time. I’m sure you might see only the bad side of this, as you often do with my ideas, but there really is nothing to worry about here.”

Sunset had to make Celestia believe her objections were irrational, if she was to bring the alicorn over to her side. Any concern had to be dismissed, but not with actual arguments. If she did try to rationalize what she was doing with the stallions, it would be a losing battle from the start, because Celestia was right about how manipulative she was being. Instead she had to tell them like they weren’t worth a rebuttal, and imply Celestia might have to disagree with her plans that didn’t have validity.

“I get it,” Sunset said, “I’m sure everypony in the Committee only portrays me in a bad light whenever I come up in your meetings, and you probably still have bitter feelings about how I demanded power in my youth, and then ran away when I didn’t get my way. I’ve changed since then though, and all I want is for Equestria to be steered in the right direction.”

Once more, Celestia couldn’t find the point where Sunset was lying. As far as she could tell, Sunset was only trying to help, in her own warped way.

“Sunset, please… Even if that’s true, there has to be another way than this.” Celestia pleaded, wanting for Sunset to see reason, “This does nothing but take rights from some, and give them to others. It goes against everything Equestria stands for.”

“What your Equestria stands for was weakness and vulnerability.” Sunset replied, “A weakness that your former self displayed when she let herself be tamed. If we are to keep ourselves safe from threats like the caribou, we have to fortify those weak points against the same kind of manipulation they used.”

Celestia felt a slight ping enter her awareness, as she strangely sensed a lie coming from Sunset. Yet unless Sunset was lying about how she felt about the kingdom Celestia had made, the alicorn couldn’t figure out what could be setting off her senses.

“I can’t allow you to do this.” said Celestia, pushing away the feeling for the moment, “You are treating stallions like criminals and prisoners, and making mares their wardens. It doesn’t matter if they are volunteering for this. None of them would have done this of their own accord if you didn’t suggest it to them in the first place, which is where this trap lies. Even if all parties involved have good intentions, the ends don’t justify the means.”

“I’m afraid that’s not for you to decide,” Sunset said in disappointment, seeing that Celestia had hopped out of the pot, “I maintain that we are doing nothing wrong here, and you aren’t princess anymore Celestia. You can’t just decide to shut down my activities just because it doesn’t sit well with you, and while you could utilize the power you’ve bestowed on the Committee of Ponies, all it will do is make your self appointed government look bad.”

Celestia gave a huff, because Sunset Shimmer was right on several points. If Sunset wasn’t going to stop this project of hers on her own, then she would have to be detained to prevent it. That meant having her arrested, and an action that extreme, especially with no indication that anypony was actually being harmed, would look like an authoritative overreach by those who didn’t see an issue with Sunset’s group; both members of the group, and citizens who might agree that the chastity belts were a good idea for public safety.

That political turmoil would only be amplified by another point that Sunset made clear already. Celestia was not a princess anymore, or anything else of that authority, which meant that she really didn’t have a say in if Sunset could be detained. She could talk to the royal guards to do it, and their loyalty to her might have them follow her orders, but then if word got out that Celestia did something like that, it would look like she was just faking her resignation, which was not good either. The alicorn had stepped down in order to satisfy those who felt she wasn’t fit to lead due to her becoming a red collar during the fall, and thus the idea that she might have been running things behind the scenes this whole time, however false that was, would displease ponies of that group, of which many were not part of Sunset’s group.

Same would apply for the Committee if they were the ones to put a stop to Sunset’s plans, and if word got out that they did so at Celestia’s request, which it most likely would, then it would undermine them by making them seem like her lackeys. Celestia couldn’t even try something drastic, not that she wanted to, because if Sunset were to be harmed or to suddenly disappear, then every pony would know who to blame, that being the pony who was at her side for the entirety of the event. Equestria was only now starting to become peaceful after a long period of unrest, and the last thing it needed was an angry mob stirring things up again. As pathetic as it seemed, Celestia couldn’t do anything without a good portion of the population suddenly siding with Sunset Shimmer.

“I have to say, I truly wish you could see things from my perspective, Celestia,” said Sunset, knowing Celestia could not touch her, “I would have loved for you to work with me to put back together the mess your other self helped cause, but it seems we’ll never be able to see eye to eye.”

A signal flashed in Celestia’s mind again, as she detected a lie from Sunset for the second time. Yet once again, she couldn’t actually figure out what part of what Sunset said was the lie. Everything seemed like something Sunset would say truthfully, so why was she getting this strange sense that something was incorrect with Sunset’s statement?

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Celestia said, letting the sensation subside again, “The way you do things is just not something I agree with, because the most generous description of it is that you are tricking ponies into giving up their freedoms. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to need or want my approval at this point.”

“Then perhaps it's best you leave,” Sunset said. The unicorn had put her former mentor into check, but all that meant was that she forced her into a retreat. It would take many more moves to put the alicorn into checkmate, and claim her piece.

“Very well,” Celestia relented, getting up from the couch as she set down what was left of her cider, “I only hope that what you are doing is truly for the best intentions of both mares and stallions.”

With a heart heavy in disappointment, the alicorn took off the black neckerchief she had worn all day, and went for the door. She had been so hopeful when she first arrived, but now she could see that working with Sunset Shimmer would not be possible. It was a shame, but she would have to give up on her once beloved pupil for a second time.

As she reached for the handle to let herself out, she gave it a tug, and was reminded that Sunset had locked the door when they came in. Giving a sigh, she undid the turn latch, but took that moment to give one last look back to the unicorn. Sunset leaned over the table that Celestia had set the last of her drink on, writing down something on a piece of paper Celestia hadn’t seen prior to this moment. It must have been something Sunset kept in her pocket, and Celestia could only assume that this meant the unicorn was already past their dispute, and was busy working on whatever she had in mind next.

“I just want to say…” Celestia said, getting Sunset to raise her head up from the paper, “That up until now, I really did have a good time with you today. It’s something I wish I could say about more of the days we’ve shared.”

Celestia left without allowing Sunset to give a reply, assuming any further words would hurt too much. From Sunset’s end, this was fine, as she really didn’t have much more to say to Celestia. What was a fun day for the alicorn was a waste of time for the unicorn. Sunset’s only goal was to get her former mentor over to her side, and that ended up in failure. Then again, she had thought success was slim to begin with, since Celestia was always so firm on her principles. Had Sunset tried to hide the reveal of chastity belts and the ward program from Celestia that evening, things would have ended the same the moment the alicorn caught wind of it. In that case, it was better to stick with the original plan.

Looking down at the paper before her, Sunset finished what she had quickly jotted down, which was the words ‘Wrap up the seminar and come to the VIP room’. With that done, she folded up the piece of paper, and looked out the window of her private box, waiting for a specific moment. Eventually, Starlight put a break in what she was talking about, and skimmed through her clipboard again. It was at this point that the re-blank’s eyes brightened, and she brought the mic to her muzzle.

“And that will conclude our seminar for the ward program,” Starlight said, abruptly ending the presentation, “I would like to thank all the good stallions who came on stage, as well as their guardians for accompanying them. If you all would, please exit in an orderly fashion, and make your way back to the airships for departure.”

Sunset Shimmer heard all of this through some speakers in the room, letting her know that Starlight had received her instructions and followed them precisely. “What was that bit about ‘good stallions’ though?” the yellowish orange mare asked herself, “She must have picked it up from one of the attendants. Have to be more careful about that…”

Sunset watched as the conference room slowly emptied, and waited for Starlight to make her way to her. It didn’t take too long after everything had been wrapped up for the other mare to arrive, with Starlight letting herself in once she got there.

“There’s my mare,” said Sunset, turning to greet Starlight as she entered, “How was the event?”

“Everything has been done to your specifications,” Starlight replied, “Phase Two is complete, and from what I saw, you should be satisfied by the results.”

“I am,” Sunset said, seeing that everything was going according to plan.

The ‘Phase Two’ her subordinate was referring to was the event itself, or to be more accurate, the experiment it represented. In order to proceed further, she needed to know if those in her group would allow her to do things that would give her more control over their lives, and do so without question. Celestia was right before when she said that the ward program was about restricting the freedoms stallions had, but what she failed to realize was that it put the mares that were involved in it under her direct supervision, as they would be giving status reports on their wards to let her know if their rehabilitation was going well.

It was a top down operation that put Sunset in charge of each participant, putting stallions under the control of a mare, those mares under the control of their chapter master, and the chapter masters under the control of her. The real trick to her plot though was that she actually intended to provide what she promised, to give stallions absolution for their sins, to a degree, through dedicating their lives to helping mares. After all, doing so would make them happier, and in turn make the mares happier, and when those outside of her group saw this aspect of those within it, they too would seek this happiness that was devoid in their lives. From there…

“It’s time to leave,” Sunset said to Starlight, grabbing the black cloth on the table Celestia left behind, placing it back around her own neck, “Let’s get out of here before Gladmane shows up to question about when I’ll be able to get the strip up and running again.”

“You don’t want to say goodbye to him?” Starlight questioned, already getting the door for Sunset.

“Not really,” Sunset answered, “He’s served his purpose for now, and having to deal with him more tonight would do nothing except drag this out longer than I’d like. I’ve already given some of the volunteers instructions to clean up the mess we made, so that should keep him from making a fuss for a few days at least. Besides, doing this experiment, no matter how vital it was to test the waters with our followers, has cost us a day on the project that we really should be working on.”

“Oh, of course,” Starlight replied, happy to comply with the other unicorn’s wishes, “Then should we head off to the airship?”

“No,” Sunset answered, “I’ve had enough social activity for one day, and if I have to hear Stellar give me one more reason why I should support a project I already approved, it might give me a migraine. Everything’s been set up for the others, so nopony should have any problems getting back, and I would hope that they are self sufficient enough to do that at least. So let’s just use the other way.”

Starlight gave Sunset a nod, and extended one arm out to her, pressing her clipboard against her chest with the other. Sunset took hold of her assistant’s hand, and together they made their horns light up with magic. Synchronizing their spells, the two vanished from the room in a flash of light, leaving no trace behind, save for the half drunken bottle of cider Celestia left on the table.

A few minutes later Gladmane would come to the room to check if he could discuss how things would proceed from here for his resort, only to leave him befuddled when he found it empty, as he had been keeping a close eye on Sunset all day. Very few ponies knew just how magically capable either of the two unicorn mares truly were, and seeing how teleportation magic was a rare skill, it would not be the go to thought for most ponies to imagine another to have, unless they had seen them use it before.

Outside of the resort, the herd of ponies that was at one point crowded in front of its doors was now making their way away from the building. The festivities were finished, and now everypony was trying to make their way home. They were all tired from a full day of excitement, but none were left unsatisfied. For some, this truly did feel like the turning point of the Fall, an indication that all the harm the caribou had caused was being reversed, and they were grateful towards their group’s leader for having put all this together for those who had gone through the worst time in Equestrian history.

After the presentation, Trixie and Coco split up, since the earth mare was part of a different part of the group, and thus had to get back with the ponies of her own chapter to make sure she got back to Canterlot safely. Trixie stayed behind to wait for the five ponies on stage that were from her own chapter, but as she waited she thought about the things Coco told her. She was right, on many things, but Trixie particularly hoped she was correct about how to handle this situation with Star Bright.

As the group made their way towards the airship, Trixie stayed quiet, while Lyra and Bon Bon talked to Pistachio on matters she wasn’t paying attention to, and Carrot Top and Star Bright walked side by side in front of her. She wanted to talk to the unicorn stallion among their group, but she wasn’t feeling particularly courageous about it. It was hard enough sometimes to be social with other mares, ponies who had seen the fall from her perspective, and now she was trying to will herself to speak with a stallion who she had many conflicting emotions about.

The feelings sparked up familiar thoughts about Star Bright, some stemming from her abandonment issues, but others coming from a much darker place. After all this time, it was difficult to think of a stallion without thinking about not only how they treated her, but how she was made to behave when interacting with them. The caribou had filled her head full of ideas that never truly held, but nevertheless were ever present in her thought. They gave her doubts, telling her that she had no right talking to a male, or that if a guy didn’t want anything to do with her then it was a failing on her part. Of course, the caribou were always saying these things to berate her when she failed to meet a sex quota she didn’t want to fulfill in the first place, but in the devastated state they had put her in, comments like these hit parts of her psyche that had nothing to do with what they were talking about.

As the group got fairly close to the airships that would take them back to the ground below, the stream of ponies started to slow to a crawl, with each pony having to be checked in as they got aboard. That crawl turned to a halt at some points, and Trixie could see that this was the moment she either needed to speak to Star Bright, or just give up on him altogether. She struggled for this quite a few times, trying to push between some other ponies to get to him, only to stop when there was a bit of resistance. Part of her knew that she was just looking for an excuse not to engage, but another small voice told her that she at least needed to try. The thing was, as much as she wanted to speak with Star Bright, that voice was doing more to keep her away than the caribou’s words were, cause she could tell what it represented to her, and of everything in the world that was something she didn’t want to think about.

The door to the airship was getting closer each second, and Trixie was still caught between her two minds. While there was nothing stopping her from just waiting to get aboard and talking to Star Bright then, deep down she knew she would be no more willing to confront him beyond that entrance than she was right now. It was pretty much a now or never situation, with it looking like it was going to be never. That was until Star Bright turned around in the line, and initiated conversation himself.

“Hey Trixie,” he said casually, “Do you mind if we talked for a moment… While we’re waiting to get on board I mean.”

Trixie’s eyes widened, amazed to see Star Bright trying to speak to her. With his desire to talk with Trixie usually on par with her own, this was a huge surprise, but one that took from Trixie the burden of having to be the one to take initiative.

“Sure!” Trixie said ecstatically, before calming herself and trying again, “I mean, sure… What do you want to talk about?”

“Well… You know…” Starbright said, pussy footing around whatever was on his mind. He seemed just as hesitant as Trixie, until a yellow shoulder bumped him in the side, “I wanted to say I was sorry for running out on you after the Fall!”

The profuse apology from the stallion was loud enough to turn a few heads in Star Bright’s direction, locked on to the single spot that he was standing at, until the suddenly self aware stallion gave them a meek and apologetic expression.

As the bystanders returned to their own business, Trixie questioned the unicorn stallion about his behavior, “What’s going on? You’re acting kinda weird.”

“Sorry…” Star Bright said, “I’ve just been thinking about how much I hurt you by leaving you behind all that time ago. It’s been hanging on my mind ever since that time you confronted me about it with Starlight and Sunset, and Carrot Top thought it might be a good idea if I apologized and did something to make it up to you.”

“Carrot Top put you up to this?” Trixie said, seeing this as the earth mare using her authority as Star Bright’s guardian to make him say this, which would not have been the kind of apology she would have wanted from the stallion.

“No, no, not like that,” Star Bright corrected, seeing how what he said might have come off wrong, “You see, Carrot Top and I have known we’d be together in this program for a while. That’s why I often volunteered to be her sparring partner during self defense class, even though she’s a little rougher than I’d like.” The stallion rubbed at the back of his head, as if he could still feel an injury the earth mare caused, “And during that time I’ve been talking to her about a lot of my problems. Funnily enough, you were the topic that I brought up the most.”

“Oh really?” Trixie replied, not sure yet how to take that.

“Yeah, and her advice to me was if I really felt that bad about everything I did to you, then I had to pony up and do something to make it up to you.” Star Bright said back.

“Ok then, what are you planning to do?” Trixie asked, her curiosity peaked.

“Well now that I’m Carrot Top’s ward,” said Star Bright, “She wants to take me back to her farm in Ponyville. Says that she needs help setting it up for some big thing she thinks will help out our group, and thinks some hard work and fresh air would be good for me.”

“Oh… so you won’t be staying around the club house anymore?” Trixie said, a little upset by that.

“No,” Star Bright replied “But I wanted to invite you over to Carrot Top’s farm the moment everything is ready. Carrot thinks it will only take a few weeks, and I want you to be the first to see the fruits of my labor.”

“I guess I can come,” Trixie said, not seeing any reason to decline, with transit being free at the moment, and having nothing else to occupy her time. Though had there been something coming up in that time, she might have put it off for this.

“Good, then it’s a date.” said Star Bright, before realizing he misspoke again, “I-I mean it’s a… Oh boy.”

“Don’t worry,” replied Trixie, “I get what you mean. More than you might think.”

“I’ll send a letter to the club house when we get things together,” Carrot Top said, butting in now that she heard Trixie accept the invitation, “It will take a few weeks, like he said, but I’ll make sure you know when we are ready.”

“Oh, well then I’ll ask Sunset to keep an eye out for it,” Trixie said back.

“Just don’t keep us waiting when you get it,” Carrot Top said, “I’m wanting Star Bright to make things up to all the mares he’s harmed, and seeing that you’re the one he talks about the most, you get the first spot on his list.”

Before Trixie or Star Bright could say anything else, Carrot Top took the stallion by the hand, and walked him into the airship, as they had finally made it to the front of the line. Trixie tried to follow right after, but within this crowd, and not being as assertive as she once was, it was easy for a few other ponies to step in front of the blue unicorn.

Trixie was disappointed that she was so easily separated from Star Bright, but she also didn’t know what she would say to him had she the opportunity to continue the conversation. Not only that, but it kinda felt like Carrot Top didn’t want her speaking to Star Bright until she was invited over to her farm, though that might have been Trixie reading into things more than she should. The important thing was that she was being given a reason to be around and talk to Star Bright, and it was a gift horse she didn’t want to look in the mouth.

So as she finally made her way onto the airship, she decided to leave the two ponies be, and that her time for the next two weeks would be better spent coming up with things that she wanted to say to him, and maybe sort out what it was she really wanted him to say to her.

So this chapter took a bit longer to get out. I really am sorry that it has been longer than a month for this one, and not just because of the longer chapter length. Work has hit me a bit harder this month, but I don't really blame that too much, since if I had done my usual word quota, this chapter would have been out long ago. No, the real issue this time is that I realized I was writing the chapter all wrong.

I was trying to prioritize the chapter on Trixie, since she is the main character, and write this from purely her perspective up until the part with Sunset and Celestia, but then I realized that she wasn't really doing anything but sitting and watching, and that it was really boring watching someone just watch everything unfold, especially when I kinda did that already in a previous chapter with her. So about halfway through I did a page one re-write, focusing on each character who was actually doing something at each given moment, and I think it came out much better.

Then again, it doesn't matter what I think, if the chapter's premise was still boring, which I'm always kinda concerned about. For as long as this story has gone on, I do wonder if you, my readers, are interested in some of the calmer aspects of the story, like what happened in the past three chapters. I know a lot of you do voice your opinions and give theories, which believe me I'm truly grateful for that, but as a person who is trying to entertain by making a good story, it's always something I dwell on. Because of this, I am actually going to allow to let the readers guide the story's direction, just a bit.

I have two ways I can take the story right now. I can either write about Trixie's upcoming visit to Carrot Top's farm, to see what Carrot is planning for it, what she is doing with Star Bright, and how Trixie's "date" with Star Bright will go, or... I can focus in on Sunset Shimmer for a moment while she prepares for "phase three" of her plan. I have a good feeling on what people would like to see, but hearing it from you all would let me know I'm thinking in the right direction. Besides, I could use a little bit of interaction at the moment.

I'll go whichever way is supported the most in the comments, and I'll most likely still do chapters for the other choice after. Regardless of what is picked, I will have one more chapters as sort of a small epilogue to the "Resort Trilogy" before we start, so there will be plenty of time to cast your vote.

That all aside, I hope you all have a nice day, and that you enjoyed reading this chapter.

“And that’s the situation we have to look forward to.” Celestia said, finishing up a report of the Las Pegasus event to half of the Committee of Ponies.

The alicorn had spoken to her sister the moment she made it back to Canterlot Castle, informing Luna that she had important information to share about Sunset Shimmer’s activities. The Following morning, Luna, Cheerilee, and Flash Sentry where there to listen to what she had to say, with the others busy with tasks all across Equestria, as Braeburn was looking into some of the Committee’s agricultural projects, Spitfire was in meetings with the gryphoness’ to negotiate extensions to their work contracts, and Shining Armor was helping Princess Cadence run things in the Crystal Empire.

The three present dwelled over everything Celestia had told them, which when the problem was put in front of them, it felt like the problem was that Sunset had built herself a cult. Not one built on religious belief, but political ideals. While never confirmed prior, it was fairly apparent that most in Sunset’s support group tended to harbor a similar mentality of how the kingdom should be run, and much of it tended to go against the grain of how the Committee was directing things. Now she was having stallions bind themselves in servitude to mares within the group, under the guise of repentance.

“So how are we supposed to deal with this infringement of pony rights?” Cheerilee asked, distraught that things had gotten this far, especially when she was one of the ones who had thought it might have been ok to let Sunset’s group run as it was, as up until now they weren’t doing anything that looked harmful.

“That’s the thing,” Flash Sentry replied, “This isn’t infringing on anypony’s rights.” While not a lawyer, Flash was a royal guard, and had a general idea of the legal system, “When it comes to the chastity belts, there is nothing stating that a pony can’t restrict themselves. Even if it was heavily suggested by Sunset, so long as they agreed to it, then there is nothing we can do to stop them from doing it.”

“What about placing a ban on these items?” Luna asked, trying to find ways to prevent Sunset from getting her way in this regard, “We have already made it illegal to possess caribou paraphernalia, like their bondage tools, so even if these are new, they should be close enough that we could have them all confiscated.”

“That’s an idea,” Cheerilee said, agreeing with the suggestion, “We could easily outlaw them. That way the stallions don’t have an option to use them.”

“There’s a problem with that,” Celestia warned, “Sunset is intending to use any banning of the chastity belts as political leverage. Their functions are depicted as being purely good by her group, and while we believe that they will lead to the mistreatment of stallions, there is nothing pointing to that outcome except our opinions. When it comes down to it, the fact that they are optional, easy to remove, and presented as an object of public safety will have more ponies siding for them than against them, and thus making us out to be the bad guys for trying to remove something that can be seen as purely positive.”

“Not to mention, this seems unenforceable,” Flash added, “Even if we did go through with banning their use, how are we going to prevent ponies from wearing them? Raid their facilities to confiscate what ones they have, go on a house to house search, and then do random pants checks on any stallion we think might have one on?”

“Flash is right,” Luna reluctantly agreed after hearing what the guard stallion had to say on the subject, “That’s a level of overreach that we would have no way of getting ponies to get behind. Even if we isolated searches only to the members of Sunset’s group, it would seem targeting her group because of our political differences.”

“Then what about her ‘ward program’?” Cheerilee asked, trying to find some kind of angle to attack this problem, “Surely we can do something to stop that, right?”

“Under what grounds?” Flash answered, showing his sympathy with the earth mare’s attempt with the tone of his voice, but knowing enough to see there was no way to put a stop to that either, “It’s the same problem. We can’t prevent anypony from offering their services to another pony. Even before the caribou, Equestria had laws that protected the act of indentured servitude, so long as both ponies were in agreement with the terms. When it comes down to it, those are just work contracts, and this ward program could be argued as volunteer work with room and board.”

“So we are just going to sit here and let Sunset do as she pleases?” Cheerilee said, hating that there was no way to fight what seemed like mass brainwashing and coercion of the stallions in Sunset’s group.

“Until they do something that is irrefutably harmful, we can’t do anything directly to Sunset Shimmer,” said Celestia, “But perhaps we can do something to make her group less appealing.”

“And what’s that?” Luna said, needing the wisdom of her sister in this matter, since her talents in diplomacy were lacking in comparison to the white alicorn.

“We need to make Sunset’s group unnecessary, or at least redundant, when compared to what we can give the citizens of Equestria,” Celestia answered, “As it stands, ponies are being drawn towards Sunset because she is offering them things that they want. Safety, purpose, and help for their current mental states. Her group is a beacon for those who have been victimized, feel guilt from the part they were forced to play, or simply have no direction due to the current policies on how the kingdom is being managed post Fall.”

“Then do you have a proposal on how to fix these issues?” Luna asked, unable to create a plan of action on the spot, but believing that Celestia would have been coming up with one from the moment she left Sunset’s side.

“I have a few,” Celestia said, knowing that bringing these problems up would mean little if she didn’t give the Committee a point to start from, “First we need to address the reason why ponies feel like their lives lack purpose, being that many have been barred from expressing their special talents.”

“We’ve done nothing that prevents a pony from expressing their talents,” Cheerilee said, knowing there were no laws put into place by the Committee of Ponies that barred ponies from doing any task they did prior to the Fall. Many ponies with talents that benefited the reconstruction of Equestria were greatly encouraged to do what they did best.

“This issue is not with the laws we’ve made,” Luna said, understanding this particular issue a little more than Cheerilee, “But the denial of resources they need to perform their special talents. We’ve been routing everything we have towards the restoration of Equestria, and even decreed that any business we deemed non-essential refrain from opening their doors until things got more stable. Before you dispute the reasons for that decision, I’m not saying that hasn’t made rebuilding go along more quickly than it would have otherwise, but it has left Equestria’s citizens wanting and listless.”

“As it stands,” said Celestia, following up on her sister’s words, “The rebuilding efforts are nearing completion, and there is little reason to keep hoarding resources once they are. We need to start giving back to those this government serves.”

“That’s… completely understandable,” Cheerilee said, agreeing with the points the two alicorns presented, “While we can’t make any decisions without all active members of the Committee present, we could start making plans to start donating any left over resources towards those who want to open up businesses around the kingdom.”

“What if some of those ponies are part of Sunset’s group?” Flash Sentry asked, “I’m worried we might end up funding her by proxy if those ponies start donating the resources we give to her cause.”

“That will be up to the Committee to decide,” Celestia said, “But I personally don’t think it would be wise to deny anypony the benefits of this once it’s started. While it might persuade some ponies to not associate with Sunset’s group, it could easily be mistaken as bribery or a punishment against an opposing political group.”

“And it would be, as Sunset is not the type to let something like that slide,” Luna said, “If we are looking at it from that perspective, it might even be good to offer this aid to Sunset’s group as well.”

“Excuse me princess,” said Flash, as both he and Cheerilee were confused why Luna would want to go so far just to avoid political backlash, “But wouldn’t it be counterproductive to give Sunset Shimmer more resources?”

“It would be, if she’d actually take them,” Luna said, “But Sunset has been openly against the Committee and our actions ever since she left it. I have no doubt that she would try to get extra support from donations from those within her group, but receiving contributions directly from us is something I don’t think she can do.”

“It would come off as hypocritical,” Celestia said, “Though I have a feeling that hypocrisy is not what would keep her from accepting our aid. Sunset, for as smart and cunning as she is, has an issue with her ego. To openly take a handout from us, especially after I rejected her ideology, might not sit well with her.”

“And if she calls our bluff?” Cheerilee asked, not as certain Sunset wouldn’t just take anything they are willing to give her.

“Then we use it to garner goodwill amongst those in her group,” Flash said, liking the direction this could go, “We could have the royal guard do the deliveries personally, and instruct them to be as hospitable as possible to anypony present. It would be good for public relations.”

Cheerilee gave a sigh, “This all seems a bit too underhanded for a group who are supposed to be focusing on making the lives of ponies better.”

“Believe me, if we could just ignore Sunset Shimmer, I would say we do that,” said Luna, “But she’s making it clear that she won’t let us do that.”

“Fine,” Cheerilee said, knowing Luna was right about this, “So we finish up the restoration efforts, and reallocate whatever materials we have left. What do we do after that?”

“Well I suppose we compensate the workers and lift the hold on non-essential work.” Flash suggested, “Have we reminted all the altered caribou coins yet?”

Cheerilee, as the recorder of the Committee’s actions, looked through her notes on the topic, “We started the process last week, but with the amount of coins the caribou defaced, it will take some time to melt the gold and recast them into Equestrian bits. Thankfully, not every coin in Dainn’s treasury had the lewd images of the princesses on them, as a lot of the coins were from the neighboring nations, hoarded from the tributes they paid to keep Dainn’s forces out of their territory.”

“Then I propose the following,” said Luna, “We use whatever usable coins we have on hand to pay those we contracted, or have helped in any of the restoration efforts. From there, we will send out an additional amount of money to each mare in Equestria to reimburse them for any possessions they had that the caribou destroyed, as well as the duress they suffered during that time. A flat payment of compensation to help them get back on their hooves, an amount that won’t suddenly make every pony rich, but enough that every mare will be able to restart their lives in a good position.”

“Can’t wait to see how Sunset will try to twist that.” Cheerilee said, knowing that it would be coming. “Also, I’m not an economics major, but won’t that sudden influx of bits, along with the sudden reopening of all businesses in Equestria lead some to overcharge and inflate the prices of their goods and services?”

Luna hummed to herself for a moment, “You’re probably right. We’ll have to come up with some way to keep that in check until everything can balance out on its own. It’s certainly something we should discuss with every Committee member present, and probably with several finance specialists.”

“That might help with giving ponies purpose,” Cheerilee said, “But what about the other two issues, safety and mental health?”

“Safety is a hard issue to tackle,” Luna answered, “Most ponies felt generally safe knowing that we had the caribou problem under control, but when news of a pony rapist popped up, some have begun to worry that more might follow.”

“That story was used by Sunset when bringing up the chastity belts,” Celestia said, “It’s amazing, though not surprising, how a single incident can easily sway a crowd.”

“Even when we have it under control and the perpetrator in custody.” Flash added, “From what we got out of him, it seems like he was acting alone, but strangely we can’t get much more information out of him than that. Mostly because he just keeps talking about how much he wants to use mares for… well you know… We’ve started to suspect he’s under a similar enchantment as the Crystal Heart.”

“If that’s the case, it would mean we have a bigger problem on our hands,” said Luna, “Cause it would mean that the caribou, or their followers, have found a way to corrupt ponies without the Crystal Heart, and in a way that is self-sustaining. I hate to put it this way, but it would put my mind more at ease if he was simply a rapist with a one-track mind. What’s worse is that this is another issue that we can’t just put a stop to, because we don’t even know if another attack like that will happen. The only thing we could do is place guards all around Equestria, and up their patrols.”

“Which wouldn’t be doable even before the caribou’s takeover,” said Flash Sentry.

The royal guard, while acting as peacekeepers, have always been as their namesake suggested, being the personal guard for royalty. Thus, there only ever needed to be an amount of active guard ponies to adequately protect the princesses, and the cities they resided in. While they were several hundred strong in number, they were seldom seen outside of cities like Canterlot or the Crystal Empire before the Fall, unless they were acting as an escort for an alicorn, even when something threatening appeared outside of them, and those events would more likely be dealt with by local law enforcement, the Wonderbolts, or more often than not, a ragtag band of concerned ponies. Equestria simply didn’t have an active military presence that could be used to monitor and protect every city within its borders.

“I don’t think we’d want to do that, even if we could,” Cheerilee said, remembering how the caribou had a much more strict guard force at their disposal, with many cities having one or more caribou officers stationed around to make sure any mare who stepped too far out of line was forcefully pushed back into it, “It would not be in our best interest to make Equestria feel more oppressive by making every pony think the guard is just waiting for them to make a wrong move.”

“That’s the delicate balance of security,” Celestia said, “The more safe you make a kingdom, the more restrictive it becomes.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t protect ponies from something that might not even exist,” Luna said, “We have done all we can to keep the caribou and their followers away from the rest of Equestria, and make it so they can’t harm anyone else - everything short of lining them up and executing them, which we have already decided is a step too far.”

That was one of the first topics the Committee addressed, with only Sunset Shimmer and Shining Armor voted in favor of. After all that had been done to them, the representatives of Equestria were not willing to stoop to levels as low as what the caribou had done, not even out of a desire for revenge.

“Ok, since we can’t do anything more in the line of safety,” Cheerilee said, “What about this issue of mental health?”

“I do have a plan of action for that,” Celestia said, “Seeing as there will soon be no more use for the mare shelters we had built, I suggest we have them converted into psychiatric centers, where we can provide the services Sunset’s group gives, but of a higher quality. We can get actual therapy ponies, have them do group meetings and one on one sessions, allowing for both in service if a mare or stallion thinks they need more consistent help, and out service for those who only need occasional support.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea,” said Cheerilee, “But I can foresee any qualified therapist pony also being in need of these kinds of services at the moment. It wouldn’t be good for morale if somepony went to talk about what happened to them during the Fall, only to have the professional assigned to them breakdown in tears due to being reminded of their own experiences.”

“Not necessarily,” Celestia replied, “It might actually be good for both participants if they could let out their feelings in an isolated environment where they can share their trauma with one another. I do agree that it might be a good idea to make sure the one who is supposed to be the therapist should be able to handle this as a professional though, so we might have to do some screening before opening up the shelters as a mental health facility.”

“All of this is going to take time to get together,” Flash said, realizing the Committee’s attention was already spread thin with the number of things they were already attending to.

“Then we will take that time,” Luna replied to his comment, “Pending approval of the Committee. Realize that while Sunset might treat this as a competition, that doesn’t mean that we have to rush our efforts to play catch up with her. If we chose to do this to counter her efforts in subverting Equestria towards her ideals, our main motivation for doing this should be to help ponies in this time of need, and that means taking the time to make sure we do this right.”

Cheerilee gave a nod of approval, as did Celestia. Flash was still concerned how Sunset Shimmer would take advantage of any delay they made, but in the end he couldn’t argue against making sure everything worked the way it was supposed to, with no corners cut.

“For now, this planning is all we can do.” Luna went on to say, “We still have to speak with the other members of the Committee before we can put any plans in motion. We’ll send them each a letter informing them of what’s happening ahead of time, and make this the first order of business at the next meeting.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cheerilee said, standing up from her seat, seeing that this was as far as the conversation could go at the moment.

Flash Sentry followed Cheerilee’s lead, debating in his head if he should inform the guards under his command of the current situation, as worthless as it might be to do so. At the very least it might have been a good idea to have them be aware that Sunset’s group was now a group of interest, but he also understood that might create unnecessary rise in tension between the royal guard and the ponies of the support group that could not be acted upon. It was a decision best left until the Committee made a vote of action, and even then it might be best to keep quiet about the whole affair.

Cheerilee and Flash left the Committee’s meeting room, leaving behind the two alicorns. After a small period of silence, Celestia made a move to leave the table as well, when Luna said to her, “Stay seated. That’s an order, as we have to talk.”

Celestia, hearing the command of the princess, and recognizing the authority she had given the moon princess, sat right back down.

Luna took a deep breath, not pleased by the conversation she and her sister were about to have. Still, it was one that needed to be had between the two alicorn sisters. “Celestia, while I am grateful for the information you provided to the Committee, I have to ask you why you didn’t tell anypony, especially me, that you were going to this event.”

Celestia had not kept secret the reason behind going to the event, telling all three ponies present that she was trying to get Sunset’s advice on how to fix Equestria, since her own efforts seemed to be going so well. It was one of the first things she had said, so Luna was very clear about why Celestia had gone, ill advised as her actions were. Why she did so without informing a soul, outside of royal guards that accompanied her to Las Pegasus, is what bothered the dark blue mare.

“I apologize, sister,” Celestia replied, “I know I should have said something, but had I done so, it would have defeated the purpose of going in the first place. As underhanded as it might sound, I know the only way any of the Committee members would have taken Sunset’s advice, no matter how good that advice might have been, was if you didn’t know it came from her. If I had been upfront that I was talking to Sunset for her opinions, anything I said would have been in question.”

“Rightfully so,” Luna said, “Sunset Shimmer gave up any authority to guide Equestria the moment she left the group. Any thoughts she has on the state of this kingdom are moot, and the Committee has enough level heads within it that we can handle what troubles we still have. This feels like you were trying to go over our heads by siding with your ex-student more than the very governing powers you put in place.”

“I know what it looks like,” Celestia answered, “And I cannot make excuses for my actions. What I did was not a proper way of dealing with this situation.”

“And what situation are you talking about?” Luna questioned, truly wondering what could have led Celestia to not trust any of the ponies within the Committee, especially herself.

“The sustained misery of the creatures of this land,” stated Celestia, “Perhaps I’m not used to a resolution that takes as long as this has, but it saddens me that it has been over half a year, and ponies are still as lost as when this began. Sunset Shimmer had seemed to have found a solution to this one issue we have yet to solve, and so I sought her insight on these manners.”

“Do you not trust us to fix the problems Equestria is facing?” Luna said, making it sound like she was talking about the Committee, but in honesty she was merely talking about herself.

“I had set up the Committee due to my belief in the abilities of each member,” Celestia explained, “I knew that Braeburn would know enough about agriculture to handle the food crisis. I knew Spitfire could mobilize those under her to take care of the rebuilding efforts. I knew Cheerilee understood the measures we had to take with the foals affected by the caribou’s rule. I knew Flash Sentry could maintain the peace and keep the caribou in check. I knew Shining Armor could continue to lead the Crystal Empire with Cadence. Lastly, I knew you would have the heir of authority to guide each of these ponies down the best path for Equestria.”

Luna’s eyes shut as she could see that what was omitted meant more than what was said, “And you could also see that Sunset Shimmer, with all her charisma, could help bring together the ponies of Equestria to a common goal. This was probably what you believed when you selected her, seeing that she had pulled together a group of ponies to effectively resist the caribou, and unlike the rest of our group, was never manipulated, enslaved, or forced to follow along with Dainn’s law.”

“That was my belief,” Celestia answered, “And the results of her actions made me believe that my assessment was true. The worst part is that I still believe I was right, but that Sunset understands far too well how capable she is at uniting ponies when she tries.”

“Celestia,” Luna said in a quiet, calm manner, understanding why it was the white alicorn seeked Sunset’s advice, but still not hearing what she truly wanted to hear, “I want to know why you are hiding these thoughts you’ve been harboring from me. When I was freed of the corruption that was Nightmare Moon, you put so much trust in me that you never questioned if I would relapse and go back to my evil ways. Now you cannot confide in me with your plans, even when I have given you that same trust you gave to me.”

Celestia was ashamed, as Luna spoke was right, though it wasn’t that she couldn’t trust her sister. She trusted her completely, and with that complete trust she knew that Luna would have stopped her from doing what was a foolish attempt to bring Sunset back towards the plan she envisioned for the group of seven ponies she hand picked to lead Equestria. It was her own desire to try that made her keep secrets, and that made her guilty.

“Sister,” Luna said, seeing that her words had upset the white alicorn, the weight of her secrecy pressing down on her, “You must have faith that we will be able to bring peace back to the kingdom, without Sunset’s help. You must also… not place such a large burden on yourself in these trying times. You are not the princess. It isn’t up to you to single handedly fix everything, nor set into place the pieces that will fix it in your stead.”

“You’re… right,” Celestia said, having no grounds to object, “I just feel so responsible about all this, I don’t know what to do at this point, and doing nothing only makes me anxious. This is the second time in my life that I questioned my actions so thoroughly, and I cannot bear another thousand years waiting for my mistakes to be rectified.”

“You won’t have to,” Luna said, catching what her sister was referring to, “As princess of Equestria, I promise that I will do everything in my power to bring peace back to these lands. Until then, you have to promise me that you will not do anything like this again, and that you will tell me if there is something that is bothering you. This is not an order from your princess, but a request, from your sister, who loves and cares for you more than anything.”

Celestia looked shocked for a split second, but gave a nod, having trouble finding her voice as tears welled up in her eyes. It was nice to hear Luna say that, as the dark mare was usually not so forthcoming with her feelings.

“Now please, get some rest.” Luna said, permitting Celestia’s leave, as she ended the conversation.

Celestia got up from her seat and went to the door, turning back to Luna before exiting. “I love you too, sister.” the white alicorn said as she exited, knowing that was the sentiment Luna wanted to express, though was not the type to just come out and say such things.

Luna was glad to have made Celestia happy, if only briefly, but from this and the conversation the two had prior to Sunset’s event, she could tell this would not last. Celestia would never truly get over the guilt she felt from being a red collar, despite Luna reassuring her that the caribou’s twisted version of the once proud matriarch held no similarities to how she was now, save for appearance. Celestia just couldn’t be convinced of that, and thus bore the full guilt of all the harm her red collared self had caused. It was a shame that there was no way to prove to the white alicorn that she was not responsible, but the only evidence of Celestia’s mentality at that time came from caribou sources, and while their truth was seldom the truth, there was nothing else to go off of. With nothing to contradict this presented ideal of what Celestia was during the Fall, which was easy to believe for those who had witnessed her in person, the alicorn would be doomed to bear the burden of her sins, perhaps for the rest of her life.

So a while back I made a post chapter comment in another FoE story, "Meet Thy Maker", stating that Celestia has to be a good leader on some regard. I base this on the fact that Equestria, for the most part, is fairly peaceful. Sure, it has creatures all around that are deadly to ponies, like the Chimera, and the Quarry Eels, and Diamond Dogs, and... Hmm... something is a bit off here.

You know, I've had to re-evaluate some of my conclusions in the past, as later episodes came along and showed me that Equestria is not as tranquil as it appears. At the very least, the open land outside of established cities are ripe with danger, but to be fair the setting would be pretty dull if these things didn't exist. Still, it is a bit of a blemish on Celestia's record that these things put her people at risk on a daily basis.

However! Let's give credit where it is due. The chimera was captured and imprisoned at one point, meaning that Celestia did deal with that problem in some manner. The Quarry Eels are merely animals, akin to a bear in the wild, and it's not like they are bothering anything that doesn't go into their territory. And Diamond dogs... well, they seem to be the only thing that even gave Dainn problems dealing with in FoE, so let's just call it a draw.

On the other side of the coin, Celestia does make some really weird mistakes when dealing with some important situations. Like how she mishandled Discord, Sombra, and Tirek in the series. I'm not going to add Chrysalis here, because I'm just going to give it to Celestia (And Chrysalis) that the disguise was so convincing that only someone like Twilight would have noticed the issue, but the other three each had their own problems. Celestia and Luna probably shouldn't have left the fate of the returned Crystal Empire in the hands of a mare who knew nothing about what was going on, she should have personally went to deal with Tirek while he was still weak instead of sending the freshly "reformed" Discord to go and betray them (or maybe went with Discord to make sure everything went the way it was supposed to), and trusting Discord in general showed time and time again that he was just going to put the kingdom in jeopardy at every given chance, good intentions or no.

So with so many failures, what is Celestia good at? How does she keep her kingdom working the way she does, besides rubber stamping every document delivered to her doorstep? To be honest, I believe that Celestia's best quality is... knowing when she is in over her head. As powerful as she might have been once, when she was disconnected from the Elements of Harmony, she lost the ability to fight the kind of foes she had once defeated. Celestia loses to Nightmare Moon because of this very reason, which we can see better in the alternate timeline Starlight created by fucking up history, and really all this shows is that Celestia isn't really a fighter anymore.

You know what she is though? She is a very good talent agent. Celestia knows talent when she sees it. She was able to pick out two mares from her school that she knew would have the highest chance of fulfilling the Nightmare Moon prophecy, and would then be able to go on to lead in her stead. Both Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle, who despite the failings of one, would both be able to accomplish this task. Likewise, while trusting Twilight to solve every other issue that pops up in Equestria from dragons to tyrants might not have always been the wisest idea, especially with some of the poor advice Celestia gives while doing so, the end results show that she was always right to trust Twilight, plot armor or no.

I would like to believe that this ability to see talent doesn't end with her personal students, and extends to all of Equestria (except Discord, the walking disaster he is). Perhaps she does understand on an intimate level where every pony should be to fulfill their destiny's to the fullest, and has been manipulating things from the sidelines for a thousand years, putting each piece in it's place, so that the right pony can be in the right place at the right time. It just seems unlikely that she stumbled through history for so long, with everything going exactly as she would want it, without some kind of personal intervention.

If that's the case, then I do think that Celestia is a perfectly fine leader, cause she has the best ability a leader should have, and that's the power to delegate tasks to those who can best complete them. Then again, this is just an interpretation of one person about a cartoon horse princess. I'm sure you all have your own ideas, but maybe this little bit of commentary will give you second thoughts about how useful Celestia is when it comes to running her kingdom.

So as I discussed in a now deleted author note, I was trying to figure out whether or not I should keep posting chapter updates here, or if I should make a new story. In the end, I decided to just keep posting here, but since i had several short chapters set up ahead of time, I just decided to post them all in a single entry. This may or may not become a new format for me for this particular story, as I don't want the ending chapter count to be like 50+. Probably wouldn't get that far anyways, but I'm being hyperbolic. That aside, I might take a break from Weak and Powerless after the next mini-arc, to focus on some holiday stories, as well as get back to my other setting, Equestria Trainers' Society, for a short time. I hope you all enjoy this update, and will be understanding once I put this story on a brief hiatus again, even though i promised to continue this until completion

After the event in Las Pegasus ended, not much really changed for Sunset’s support group. All activities continued as as it always had, except that now some of the stallions that attended wore the chastity belts Sunset Shimmer had designed. The devices didn’t intrude much their lives, so most of the time the wearer just ignore they existed, with mare members feeling slightly more secure about interacting with stallions.

When news of this added safety measure to the group spread outside of the group’s members, it lead to a few more ponies deciding to join, but the group has always been considered to be a safe environment by most Equestrians anyways. The most dangerous thing members of the group did was their social activism, and there were few real problems with that, except that they might annoy some random ponies trying to mind their own business.

So inside the group things pretty much stayed the same, while outside of the group Equestria was starting to progress rapidly to a more stable position. Every mare of adult age, save for those who were Red Collars awaiting trial, had been ensured a home that they would own, located either in or close to the city they lived in prior to the caribou’s takeover. This came mostly in the return of property caribou had stolen from their rightful female owners, but also included mares who didn’t own real estate beforehand, as the suffering they had been put through deserved some form of compensation. On top of that, each mare received a generous sum of bits, enough to start a new life and let them support themselves for some time, though not enough to make them what would be considered rich by Equestrian standards.

Still, after roughly eight months of work, Equestria was finally back to a near normal state. There were still plenty of issues to be resolved, as Red Town was still operating as a detention center for red collar and traitor stallions, the Committee still had no clue how to deal with the remaining caribou they had interred in Lindisbarne and the Everfree Forest, and there was still the issue of sorting out what truly happened during the Fall from the mess of propaganda the caribou had created to make history look upon them as they wanted to be seen, but at the very least ponies were able to return to their normal lives. The Committee had even approved the reopening of Las Pegasus a month after the group’s event, with restrictions only held on the gambling aspects, as they didn’t want ponies to foolishly throw away their reparations to a casino, but approved of the functions the cloud city was known for that were purely for entertainment.

With normality returning, some ponies made attempts to return to the lives they had prior, while others decided to take the money given to them, and the abundance of free time they had, to focus on themselves a bit more. Using the still government funded train transportation system, many now motivated mares decided to travel around, and visit the many locations Equestria offered, from mountain peaks, to rural cities, to open countrysides. This led to trains often being packed with travelers, which became a hassle for the regular passengers just trying to get from one location to another. Passengers like Trixie, who had found herself in a window seat, with two mares loudly conversing next to her.

“You know, we’ve been back and forth on these trains so many times now,” said an earth mare, starting up a new topic after finishing a recap of one of her and her friend’s recent adventures, “But I still can’t figure out what’s up with these little circles in the floor are for.”

The earth mare’s friend, a pegasus, looked down in front of her own seat, seeing a part of the floor in front of it that had what appeared to be a circle of metal popping up from it, as if that part had been melted and then cooled.

“Oh hey, I never noticed that,” said the pegasus rubbing the spot with her hoof, as she saw there was a spot like that in front of every seat within her line of sight, “Any idea what they’re for?”

“It can’t be a stylistic choice, can it?” the earth mare questioned, not seeing any practical purpose for the circles.

“I don’t think so,” said the pegasus, finding that the way the circles bubbled did not share a pattern from one circle to the next, “And something that plain can’t be a logo.”

“It’s a welding spot,” Trixie said, tiring of the two other passengers fumbling around with what the mark in the floor was, “They had to put a piece of metal in those places to seal up a bunch of holes.”

“Holes?” asked the unicorn, “Why were there so many holes in the car floors?”

“These trains used to belong to some stallion who aided the caribou by transporting their supplies across Equestria.” Trixie explained, her eyes aimed out the window as she spoke, “During the Fall, he modified every car he had to have dildos that used the motion of the coupling bar to move them like a piston. A mare would have to kneel over those holes, where they came out of, to get fucked by the train while traveling with their owner. When these trains were seized by the Committee and repurposed, they removed those parts and plugged the holes because they were a safety risk.”

“Really?” said the pegasus, clearly never being privy to the experience, “That sounds so stupid.”

“Well that’s the caribou for you.” Trixie replied, as the pegasus didn’t know the half of it.

While on paper the idea of using the train’s locomotion to serve a dual purpose of working a bunch of automated phalluses probably sounded like a great idea for any follower of the caribou, the truth was that having an extra contraption attached to the wheels of a coal powered mode of travel was not very practical. The trains would move slower because of it, and were even prone to having the wheels lock up, causing further delays. The fact that this luckily never caused a derailment, and that the caribou found the delay worth it to have another common Equestrian device altered into an object of lewd sexualization, was the only reason the caribou chose to keep the obvious design flaw in.

Trixie herself only knew about this because she was often transported by train to the locations where she would be violated, and when she wasn’t being degraded by being put in a cage in the cargo car, she had to endure having the inside of her vagina rubbed raw by a rubber phallus moving at whatever thankfully slow speed the train was going.

“Well thanks for telling us,” the earth mare said, “I won’t ask how you knew that.” she added, since it was pretty obvious where one would get that kind of information.

“Hey, isn’t that one of those scarfs from that support group?” said the pegasus, noticing that the neckerchief Trixie had on, “Are you heading to some protest or rally?”

“No…” Trixie replied, shifting her eyes over to the two mares for only a moment, before returning to glare out the window, “I’m just… visiting a place I went to a few times before the Fall.”

Trixie really wasn’t up for conversation with strangers. The only reason she made a comment before was to prevent the other passenger’s curiosity to turn into a ride long back and forth of guessing what the welded spots were for. Lots of public conversations were becoming talking about things that the caribou had done, and how things were so drastically different, now that Equestria was resembling itself again, as no one mare had experienced every act of degradation the caribou had designed to torment them, and thus some were starting to become curious to what others had been through.

While this was a way for most mares to share their experiences, and find out that no matter what they had gone through, there was always somepony who experiences a different kind of sexual degradation, it was a little tedious for Trixie. She had already heard these sorts of stories all the time in her support group, and there it was a little easier to take, since it was a controlled environment, and everything was treated with more gravitas than the casual discussions they were becoming in public.

“Wondering if it looks like it did before the Fall now?” asked the earth pony, “That sounds neat. Me and Lofty here are on the way back home ourselves. We decided to take a page from my adventurous brother, and do a little bit of sightseeing around Equestria. We never had the time to do it before, since we were taking care of-.”

“Holiday, I don’t think she wants to hear our life story,” said the pegasus, noticing the blue unicorn’s disinterest, “She probably has a lot of other things on her mind anyways.”

“Oh, alright,” the earth mare said, taking the other mare’s advice, “Our stop is coming up anyways. It was nice seeing you again.”

The two other mares got out of their seats and grabbed their bags from an overhead compartment before the train arrived at the station, and moved up the car towards one of its exits. Trixie was relieved that the conversation was over and that she was alone, but once she reflected on the earth mare’s farewell, the unicorn noticed that she had mentioned ‘seeing her again’.

Trixie didn’t know how that mare had ever met her, but then going over the context clues of their talk, the mares said they were heading home, and that implied this stop was where they lived. Pressing herself against the window to get a better look at the front of the train, she went pale when she saw that the upcoming town was her stop as well. The two mares had been from Ponyville.

Trixie decided to stay on the train as long as she could, not wanting to run into those two mares on the train platform, or right outside in town for that matter. That they recognized her in the first place was bad enough, since that meant they lived in Ponyville during the two times she had come around to cause trouble. It was her objective to get through the town without anypony noticing her, but she had already failed, and now she wanted to make those other passengers believe she was heading elsewhere. At the last call for departure, Trixie made her exit, and upon leaving the station, was happy to see that not only were they nowhere to be seen, but there were lots of other ponies around that were clearly not residents of the small town.

It was to be expected, seeing that Ponyville was the hometown, and current residence, of Big Macintosh, the slayer of Dainn and savior of Equestria, as well as a bit of a historical site, seeing as it was the last city to be overtaken by the caribou. It had become a bit of a tourist trap, and thus the perfect environment for Trixie to move around unnoticed, as she blended in with all the others walking through the streets to take pictures and buy souvenirs from market stands that some of the residents set up to take advantage of this influx of visitation. Again, Equestria was reverting a bit too quickly back to the status quo of normal living, but in this case Trixie was thankful for it.

As the blue unicorn made her way through town, she had a single destination in mind, that being Carrot Top’s farm. Whatever the earth mare had been setting up there was apparently complete, and Trixie had received a letter inviting her to come and visit. Trixie had been anticipating this day since the Las Pegasus trip, as she really wanted to follow up on where she left off with Star Bright, but once she got the address she was reminded where Carrot Top was from.

She debated for days if she should even go, but her wanting to see Star Bright overcame whatever issues she had with returning to Ponyville. However, that didn’t mean she wanted the locals to know she was there if it could be helped, so she packed light and found a hood to cover her head, for some added concealment. Things were going well, as no pony really paid attention to some random mare minding her own business as she slipped through a crowd of other ponies visiting the city. The blue unicorn was starting to relax when she took note of how much she was being ignored, and let out a quiet sigh of relief once she got to the center of town, the halfway point of her destination. As far as she could tell, she wasn’t going to have any awkward encounters with any familiar faces that day.

With haste, she kept making her way to Ponyville’s farm lands, ignoring every pony around her as much as they were being oblivious to her own existence. This was, of course, a recipe for disaster, as something barged right into Trixie, knocking her to the ground, and causing her hood to slide off her head.

Trixie didn’t even know what had hit her at first, and had to mentally recover from seeing the world horizontally to seeing it vertically. As she picked herself up though, she saw the exact cause of the problem, as two unicorn boys were on the ground with her, rubbing their heads after accidentally ramming the mare full force.

“Uhhhh, sorry about that,” said one of the boys, who had a tan coat and short cut green mane.

“Yeah, we didn’t see ya stepping out from behind those other ponies.” said his pudgy friend, who had a blue coat with spiky orange hair.

“It’s ok!” Trixie said trying to get up and leave as quickly as she could, instantly recognizing these particular residents of Ponyville. She didn’t even know their names, but she knew them. There was no way she couldn’t, since both of her previous visits heavily involved their participation in her misdeeds, “My fault. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be going now.”

Trixie got back to her hooves, and started to walk away, hoping the two colts didn’t recognize her as well, but then she heard the tan one call out “Hey, aren’t you Trixie?”.

“Yeah! I think you’re right, Snails,” the blue colt said, a bit of excitement in his voice seeing the familiar mare, “How have you been, Trix-hmm!”

Trixie had already turned around, and placed her hand over the blue colt’s mouth, “SHHHHH!!!” she said, “I don’t want ponies to know I’m here.”

“Why not?” asked Snails, “Are you trying to surprise somepony for their birthday or something?”

“No…” Trixie replied, keeping hold of the blue colt’s mouth, while not having a free hand to do the same to the one called Snails.

“Oh! Are you undercover?” Snails said, tossing out another guess.

“What?” Trixie replied, “What do you think I am, a secret agent?” She said, thinking how absurd it would be for a secret agent to ever be in a place like Ponyville, until she remembered that a few V.I.P.s did live in the town now.

As Trixie gave her attention to Snails, the blue colt managed to pry Trixie’s hand away, and said, “Are you trying to hide cause you think ponies here will be mad at you?”

“No!” Trixie said reactively, before replying to what the colt had said in her head, “Well… yes… actually.”

“Well then you’re doin’ a pretty bad job at it,” Snails said, seeing the attention Trixie was getting from holding onto his friend.

With eyes being drawn on her, Trixie started understanding how bad this looked, and embarrassed she stood up and say, “Hehe, I was just asking these boys for… uhhh, directions! Right, but we should probably get out of the middle of the street while you two help me out. This way!”

The blue mare grabbed the colts by the wrists, and led them over to a building that didn’t look crowded. Not out of sight, as she realized that would look even more suspicious, but just away where hopefully no pony who knew her would see, praying that all those ponies glaring at her were just the tourists.

“Look, Snails and… uh…”

“Snips.” said the blue one.

“Right, Snips.” Trixie replied, “I’m just trying to come and visit a friend today. I’m not here to do something evil, or show off my magical powers, or do anything that will upset anypony.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Snips said, “But I don’t think anypony here is too worried about you anymore.”

“Yeah,” Snails collaborated, “They’ve been busy rebuilding the town after something else came and wrecked everything.”

“You mean the cari-” Trixie had to stop herself, for the naivety of these two colts was not accidental, as she remembered that all foals were subjected to memory erasing spells, “I mean, yes. I heard of that disaster too. I guess that would make them forget about me. Still, don’t you two think they’d get mad if they saw me again?”

“Why would they be?” Snips asked.

“Well aren’t you two mad at me?” Trixie asked back, “I did some horrible things to everypony here. I made you two pull me in a heavy cart… without wheels.”

“Weren’t you being controlled by that necklace though?” Snails said, racking his brain to remember what happened.

“And you only put that on to beat Twilight in magic. You didn’t know it would turn you evil.” Snips added, the two colts somehow understanding the situation, and how it wasn’t totally Trixie’s fault, far more than the mare did. “It sounds like you're sorry, so why should we stay mad?”

“You’re far more forgiving than some ponies,” Trixie said.

“Not really,” said Snails, “We led an Ursa Minor to town, and no pony stayed mad at us.”

“That’s a bit different,” Trixie said, “Children are supposed to make mistakes, and adults are supposed to know better.”

“That sounds kinda stupid,” Snails replied, not grasping the nuances of adulthood, “How are ya supposed to know if you don’t make the mistake?”

“It’s.. complicated,” Trixie said, not really having the answer to that, but knowing that ponies had higher expectations from adults than they had for foals, especially after the Fall.

“How about this?” Snips said, “If you really feel bad about it, why don’t you come with us?”

“What? Why?” Trixie responded.

“We were heading to Sugar Cube Corner to get some sweets,” Snips explained, “And if you feel bad about what you did to us, then you can buy them for us, and we’ll call it even.”

“Ooooohhh, that’s a great idea.” Snails agreed, licking his lips as his thoughts gravitated to images of cakes and donuts.

“Well, okay…” Trixie said reluctantly. It’s not that she couldn’t spend some money on the foals, since she did bring a small amount of bits the Committee gave her so she could pay for expenses on her trip, but this was distracting her from her destination, “Can we make it quick though? I have someplace to be.”

“You got it,” Snips said, taking Trixie by the hand, and leading her to the store, with Snails following close behind.

Though Trixie knew the way due to her times prior in Ponyville, she allowed Snips to lead, and soon they were at the confections store. There was a line of customers already in wait, but not as long as one might think given all the tourists. At least the trio were able to enter through the door right away, even if the counter was a bit blocked from view. Trixie just accepted the wait, and minded her own business as the two colts accompanying her gawked at any cookies, cakes, and pastries on display they could get to with all the ponies around.

Every time a customer made a purchase, Trixie would hear the mare attending the register say “Next” in a flat monotone, assumedly because of the monotony of counter work already getting to her that day. With each one though one or more ponies would leave, and get Trixie that much closer. Eventually she heard the call of “Next”, followed up by a repeat of the word when silence followed.

“Trixie, we’re up!” Snips said excitedly that it was their turn.

“Oh!” said Trixie, turning to see that the front of the counter had become devoid of ponies, her little group looking to be the last to show, at least for this time of the day. Now the only other pony in the storefront was a gray earth mare with straight purple hair, her eyelids partially closed in what Trixie assumed was boredom. Trixie was glad that she didn’t recognize this particular mare, and that the mare didn’t seem to recognize her either, perhaps meaning that she hadn’t been a resident of the town during the unicorn’s takeover.

“Next” the counter mare said again, not budging one bit as she waited for another customer to come forward.

“Right, that’s us.” Trixie said, “The boys with me wanted to get some pastries.”

“Well that’s good,” the mare said, in the same monotone, “Because the only thing we sell here are pastries. It’s a bakery.”

“Uh, yes. I knew that.” Trixie replied, “So boys, what do you want?”

Snails, despite his namesake, was the first to come to the counter and make his order, “A dozen chocolate chip cookies, please.”

The counter mare made her way over to a table holding the requested cookies, and gathered them up into a box, setting them next to the register upon her return. Trixie took notice of the way she moved, it was slow, and somewhat robotic as each motion to take a cookie off the display tray seemed to be a near exact repeat of the action. Something about it bothered Trixie, but she couldn’t put her finger on what though. The mare was just doing her job, and there was no reason that should have her feeling uneased.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” the counter mare asked, her expression never shifting.

“I want three jelly filled donuts.” Snips said, giving his order.

“Sorry, but we are currently out of the jelly filled donuts.” the gray mare said, “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“Aww, but I really wanted those…” Snips said, upset that he wouldn’t be able to get what he had been looking forward to.

“Just get something else,” said Trixie, “I’ll pay for whatever you want… That costs under three bits.” Trixie had to immediately tack on that stipulation, not wanting the colt to think she’d buy him a fortune’s worth of desserts.

“But the jelly donuts are my favorite.” Snips complained.

“If you’re willing to wait, I already told our baker that we needed more.” the gray mare said.

Trixie was put off by the idea that she’d be delayed even further from getting to Carrot’s farm, but for the sake of making things up to the colts, asked, “How long will that be?”

“Judging on when I told them, and the average time it takes our baker to make donuts,” the gray mare said, her expressions staying as blank as it had been from the start, “They should be done now.”

Almost immediately after the counter mare said they were finished, the door to Sugar Cube Corner’s kitchen flung open, and out came a pink mare carrying a tray full of delicious looking donuts, fresh from the oven.

“Anypony looking for donuts?” said the mare carrying the cooked confections.

“I was!” Snips answered, excited that he was going to get what he wanted after all, “I need three.”

“Coming right-” the mare holding the tray stopped mid exclamation, as she looked over her tray to see who was present, and spotted Trixie, who gave her a momentary pause, “Up.”

Trixie too was stunned, her reaction nearly identical to seeing this particular mare. A mare that not only she knew, but all of Equestria knew at this point, being one of the mares the caribou used as an example of female submission during their reign over the kingdom. Though had the caribou never turned this mare, and her five friends, into the figures of the Fall that they had become, the blue unicorn would have known this particular pony.

“Trixie, is that you?!” said the pink mare, zipping over to the counter to set down the still warm donuts, and then over to Trixie to give her a big hug. “How have you been?! I haven’t seen you since…” Pinkie stopped herself for a moment, letting go of the unicorn, before saying in a whisper, “Thaaaat thing that happened a while ago that we’re not supposed to talk about anymore,” Pinkie then got in close to Trixie, and in a louder whisper finished by saying, “Especially not with foals here.”

Pinkie wasn’t referring to either of Trixie’s prior incidents, and the unicorn didn’t need any further hints to understand the context as Pinkie and Trixie had an encounter during the Fall. During Trixie’s tour of punishment across Equestria, she had at one point been sent to Ponyville in what was one of the worst moments of her time being enslaved. She was forced to work at a bordello the caribou had constructed, to entertain and pleasure the stallions who visited it with her body.

The brainwashed stallions recognized her immediately, and teased, taunted, and tormented Trixie in ways that were easily comparable to what happened to her in the Canterlot dungeons. Memories of that time were pretty harsh, and piled onto the reasons Trixie was reluctant to return to Ponyville, not that Carrot Top knew that while inviting her. However, one part of her time spent in the caribou’s whore house was not as bad as everything else, and that was Pinkie.

Pinkie Pie was the red collar put in charge of managing the bordello, and arranging the events that would take place there. While she was given certain instructions to follow from her handlers, she was pretty much given free reign to do as she pleased, as the caribou believed she was conditioned to be fully within their power. The hubris on display from the deer in this case was a mercy for many mares sent to Pinkie’s as punishment, as the earth mare’s priorities were not to follow the spirit of her master’s word, but to ensure that every pony was as happy as they could possibly be.

Thus, while Pinkie allowed the stallions to do as they pleased to Trixie as instructed, she was always the first to attend to the blue unicorn after, and dead set on cheering her up. Pinkie would allow Trixie to take actual bathes, slip her treats intended for more obedient mares, and stuff the cramped cage Trixie had to sleep in with pillows so plush that it turned the hard walls into a reasonably soft surrounding.

For as little as Trixie appreciated it at the time, the week she spent at Pinkie’s, at least during the times she wasn’t being used for sex, were perhaps the easiest part of the Fall for her. Many mares had similar experiences with Pinkie, enough that her full acquittal was guaranteed when it came to evaluating her actions as a red collar, and she was one of the few red collars who did not have to apologize or show regret to the Committee of Ponies, as it was clear she never did anything to purposefully harm another mare.

“So?” Pinkie said, still happy to see Trixie after all this time, “What brings you back to our cozy little corner? Did you remember that we made the best cupcakes in Equestria, and needed to grab a bunch now that the shops reopened?”

“She’s probably here to visit Carrot Top,” said another voice coming from the kitchen, as another slightly familiar face revealed itself, in the form of a blue, heavy set mare, with a mane of light and dark pink swirls, wheeling out several small cakes on a cart. Trixie recalled the mare was named Mrs. Cake, an easy name to remember, given the mare’s profession, “Carrot has been letting ponies know that Trixie would be coming to town.”

“Really?” Pinkie questioned, “She didn’t tell me.”

“That’s probably because of the whole ‘Red’ thing,” Mrs. Cake said, as she placed her freshly baked goods into empty displays, “She didn’t exactly tell me either, and I had to hear it from somepony else.”

“Oh…” Pinkie said, looking momentarily disheartened, before perking herself back up, “Well since you’re here, would you like to try out some of our strawberry tarts, or perhaps a few ginger snaps, or some chocolate fudge brownies?”

“No,” Trixie said nervously, now informed that all of Ponyville was aware of her arrival. They couldn’t have known she’d be there that day, but they would be on the look out for her knowing that the unicorn was to arrive at some point, “I was just here to pay for these boy’s snacks,” she quickly grabbed a hand full of bits from her pocket, and slammed them down next to the cash register, “And lookie here, they’ve been paid for. So I should be going now.”

Trixie made a beeline for the front door, grabbing the doorknob the moment it was within reach. Just as she did though, a gray hand landed on her own, and prevented her from turning the handle.

“You overpaid by thirteen bits,” said the counter mare, having zipped over to Trixie with amazing speed, holding the extra bits she wanted to give back to Trixie.

“Just c-consider it a t-tip,” Trixie said stammering, panicking slightly as somepony was physically preventing her from leaving. She made an attempt to remove the mare’s hand, using her magic to pull at the fingers holding her in place, but the grip was firm and powerful, even for an earth mare. Turning to look the mare in the eye, Trixie started to say, “Would you just let me go!”, but found herself stopping three words in when something about the counter mare dawned on her.

That blank expression on her face. The way that she spoke in a dull tone. Never smiling, or showing emotion of any kind. Trixie had no doubt what it was she was looking at, and the sight of it made the stress she was feeling all the worse.

“I’m sorry!” the blue unicorn yelled, backing away from the mare, who was still holding her hand. “I didn’t mean to! Just please, let me go!”

The gray earth mare thought over Trixie’s request, and let go of the blue unicorn. Trixie, still trying to pull away, lost her balance and fell right to the floor, and then proceeded to push away from the pony using her hooves.

Seeing the outright fearful response Trixie was giving, both Pinkie and Mrs. Cake rushed right over, as well as Snips and Snails. They practically surrounded Trixie,and tried to calm her down with questions of what was going on, and comforting words about how she was safe, but the blue mare was too deep in her own head to listen or reply. Instead she just stared in terror at the one mare keeping her distance, standing away from her with that same blank look on her face.

Mrs Cake had Pinkie, Snips, and Snails help Trixie into the back room, where they got the now trembling unicorn mare into a chair. She didn’t ask for the gray mare to help, as she was observant enough to see that something about what she said or did set Trixie off, and while she didn’t know exactly what it had been done to make the unicorn freak out, Mrs. Cake didn’t want to exacerbate the problem.

Once Trixie was manageable, Mrs. Cake told Pinkie to keep watch over her, so she could send the two colts on their way, with the explanation that this was an ‘adult issue’, and shut down the store. When she returned, the older earth mare prepared Trixie a cup of hot cocoa, as Pinkie sat in an awkward silence that had her squirming in her seat from how uncomfortable the tension was. The pink pony managed to contain herself though, until Mrs. Cake returned, with drinks for everypony.

“Its ok, Trixie.” Mrs. Cake said, “Nothing is gonna hurt you here. You’re safe.”

“I-I-I know.” replied Trixie, still jittering, “I j-just wasn’t expecting t-that.”

“Expecting what, sweetie?” Mrs. Cake asked, keeping her voice calm and gentle.

Trixie forced herself to take a drink of her cocoa, and found that the warmth and sweetness from it did help to calm her nerves. “I didn’t t-think that I’d run into a b-blank, or er… ‘re-blank’ today.”

The two earth mares at the table looked at each other for a moment, bewilderment on their faces. “A re-blank?” Mrs. Cake questioned, “Do you mean Maud?”

“If that’s the name of the gray mare that was at the counter, then y-yes.” Trixie said, wondering why she had to clarify.

“She’s not a re-blank,” Pinkie said, “She’s my sister, Maud Pie. She’s just helping out for a while till Sugar Cube Corner is working at full swing.”

“You don’t have to make me feel better,” Trixie replied, knowing that Pinkie Pie had a habit of wanting to cheer ponies up, “I knew I’d have to face one eventually, but I just wasn’t prepared.” As far as Trixie knew, she had never seen a re-blank up close before now.

“She’s not lying,” Mrs. Cake said, collaborating with the pink mare, “That is Pinkie’s sister, and she was not blanked by the caribou.”

“Yeah, she wasn’t even caught by the caribou.” Pinkie added, “When they took over, Maud was studying to get her rocktorate in rock science.”

Pinkie’s words dumbfounded Trixie, since she knew nothing about Maud, and thus thought Pinkie was just spouting nonsense, which wouldn’t be unusual for her.

“It might sound silly, but apparently that’s the truth.” Mrs. Cake said, “She managed to avoid the whole thing because she was out in the middle of nowhere, living on her own. Believe me, while she might not be as expressive as some other ponies, Maud is not a re-blank.”

“Yeah, and we know re-blanks,” Pinkie added, “We take a cart of baked goods to the local re-blank shelter, and they are way different from Maud. They always have these weird smiles on their faces, and talk like they're always happy or excited.”

“I hate to say it, but Pinkie is right. Re-blanks tend to be more off putting,” said Mrs. Cake, “And can’t do anything, or don’t have the drive to do anything, unless they are told to. A re-blank would have never tried to give you your money back, or would have stopped you from leaving.”

“So Maud is… normal?” Trixie asked, having trouble accepting that. With both the earth mares telling her that was the case, what else could she believe? “So I made myself look like a fool for nothing…”

“Not for nothing,” Mrs. Cake said, “You, like most ponies in Equestria, have been through a lot. For a lot of ponies, it’s a struggle to keep themselves together, and that’s reasonable. It hasn’t even been a year yet.”

Trixie took another sip of her cocoa, finding what was happening at the moment beyond belief. “You two are being so nice to me, but… why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?” Pinkie questioned, “You’re a pony, and you were scared. Isn’t it just the right thing to do to help out a pony in trouble?”

“But I’ve done so much to hurt the ponies of Ponyville,” Trixie insisted, “You all should be mad at me.”

“Are you talking about that fight you had with Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked, having a small pool of incidents that involved Trixie and Ponyville to pull from.

“Of course I am,” Trixie replied, the shame of that day making her feel small in the presence of two ponies she had harmed, “I took over the town, made you all into slaves… You all should hate me.”

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Cake said, pushing aside her own cup of cocoa to take Trixie’s hand, “We’ve been through so much as ponies that something like that really shouldn’t matter now, should it? We all understood what happened after Twilight got that amulet away from you. It wasn’t your doing, and you were being controlled. From that point of view, we’d have to think of you the same as we do the stallions and the Crystal Heart.”

“Besides,” Pinkie said, interrupting the tender moment, “If we stayed mad at everypony who destroyed or took over the town, half the ponies in Ponyville couldn’t live here anymore. I’d be on that list too, cause about a week before you showed up to challenge Twilight, I accidentally let loose a bunch of clones.”

“Clones?” Trixie asked, shocked to hear Pinkie confess to such a thing, “How?!”

“Well you see there is this cave near here, and inside it there’s a p-” Pinkie had a hand clamp down over her muzzle, forcing her words into mumbles as Mrs. Cake prevented her from saying too much.

“The point is that we’ve all done things that we regret,” Mrs. Cake said, “But Ponyville has always had a policy of forgiving those mistakes. I don’t think a single pony here will hold what you did against you.”

“Carrot Top did… for a while at least.” Trixie grumbled.

“Well Carrot Top left the first chance she could after the caribou were stopped, so she probably didn’t see eye to eye with the rest of us on such matters.” Mrs. Cake explained, “But I promise you, most ponies aren’t going to hold one time of going crazy against you.”

Mrs. Cake released Pinkie’s face, to which Pinkie said, “And then Twilight gathered up all the Pinkies, and had us stare at paint drying. It was soooo intense, and -.”

“Pinkie, I get it,” Trixie said, having calmed down and come to the conclusion that at the very least, the two ponies in the room held nothing against her, “Thank you both for being more understanding than I gave this town credit for.”

“Oh, you don’t have to thank us,” Pinkie said, casually brushing off the complement, “It’s so much better to forgive and make friends than it is to hold grudges. Now let me tell you about the time Twilight made everypony go nuts over a doll.”

“Maybe some other time, Pinkie,” said Mrs. Cake, “We really should be re-opening the shop. I’m sure some customers are wondering why our lunch break is taking so long.”

“Ehehe,” Trixie laughed nervously, seeing that she was getting in the way of Mrs. Cake’s business, “I’ll just see myself out.”

“Not before taking this, you won’t.” Mrs. Cake said, wrapping up a box of muffins for the unicorn, “This should make up for the extra money you were willing to throw away. You’re sure to want something to snack on after a panic attack like that.”

Trixie nodded, and took the box of baked goods, not feeling that hungry, but accepting them nonetheless. As the two earth mares put their aprons on, and got back to cooking, Trixie headed for the door back to the store front.

“Oh, just do us a favor and flip the sign on the door over.” said Mrs. Cake right before Trixie left the room.

“Sure thing,” Trixie said in agreement, slipping out without another word.

Now back in the store front, Trixie spotted Maud again, standing near the counter, and from the looks of it examining some pieces of rock during her break. She still had trouble seeing this mare as not being a blank, but if what Mrs. Cake said was true, then this show of interest in something, even if it was just rocks, was proof that Maud hadn’t undergone the process of blanking.

Trixie tried to walk right past the gray mare, but couldn’t find it in her to simply leave without saying something. “Hey… I’m sorry I freaked out earlier. I thought you were something you weren’t, and that’s my fault.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Maud said, looking up from her collection of stones, “You looked like you were dealing with something. I’ve been there before myself, when I heard about what was happening to my family a year ago.”

“Really? A pony with your personality… broke down like that?” Trixie asked, actually curious about how Maud reacted to the knowledge that Pinkie had been enslaved and sexually abused by the caribou.

“Not exactly the same way,” Maud answered, “But I didn’t like hearing that my sisters, or my mother, or my father had to go through what they did. We all handle our problems and emotions in our own way, but that doesn’t mean that the way you deal with them is better or worse than the way I do. We can all feel bad or scared about something, and it’s ok to cry if you need to.”

The earth mare put away her collection of rocks, figuring it was time to open up the store again. Trixie followed the mare to the door, and was ready to leave, until Maud spoke again as the unicorn made her exit.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did I do that scared you?” The gray mare asked.

“It was… nothing.” Trixie said, “A mistake on my part, about something I can’t talk about.”

“Okay,” Maud said bluntly, not showing any offense or interest beyond the initial question, as she flipped the sign and let Trixie leave.

Trixie didn’t know why, but it felt like Maud had her own reasons for asking, else a mare like her would not have bothered in the first place. Still, whatever answers Maud was looking for, she couldn’t get from Trixie, especially when it came to her issues involving blanks. That was a secret that she didn’t want anypony to know, and she had only let slip to a particular pair who had fortunately kept her secret thus far.

“Hey Trixie!”

Still dwelling on her thoughts, Trixie heard Snips’ voice as he ran to her, with Snails there with him. While the two had been encouraged to leave the bakery, they didn’t feel right just leaving Trixie behind, and decided to wait on her, at least until they finished their snacks if she took too long.

As Trixie turned to see their approach, she had to ask, “What are you two still doing here?”

“We wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened.” Snails replied.

“Boys, I’m fine.” Trixie said back.

“But it looks like you’ve been crying.” said Snips, noticing the dried tears around Trixie’s eyes.

“Well… it’s ok to cry sometimes.” Trixie replied, echoing what Maud had told her, “Though I could use something to clean my face.”

“I’ll go get you some napkins!” Snips said, running off to one of the food vendors catering to the tourists.

Snails followed along, and while Trixie could have used this moment to sneak away, she decided to stay. It was nice to know that the two colts actually cared about her, and she was no longer worried about her presence being known.

Upon the colts return, they offered to guide Trixie to wherever she was heading, to which Trixie took them up on it. Along the way the young unicorns tried asking Trixie what happened in Sugar Cube Corner, but just like Mrs. Cake before her, she just said it was ‘Adult Stuff’, much to the colts’ annoyance. Apparently there had been a lot of ‘Adult Stuff’ being talked about around town that they, and the other foals, were not privy to. Trixie just insisted that it wasn’t worth talking about anyways.

After that, the colts asked if Trixie was still performing her shows, to which the mare stated that things, that she didn’t specify, had happened, and that she wouldn’t be on tour for a while. That disappointed Snips and Snails, but in an attempt to make them feel better, Trixie alluded to the idea that Ponyville would probably be one of her first stops when she started up. The boys were excited to hear that, though Trixie still wasn’t sure when, or even if, she would ever perform again.

“Well, this is the place.” Snips said, the trio reaching Ponyville’s farm lands.

Trixie couldn’t help but notice there were more tourists out this way, cluttering up the place more than the farms should have been, but it is easy to tell they were out here to visit Sweet Apple Acres, and see Big Macintosh, the hero that he was. However, the farm next to Sweet Apple Acres had much less traffic at its gates, and Trixie figured that was her destination.

“Thanks again, you two,” Trixie said to the colts, finding their company enjoyable, and glad that they could have at least one encounter that didn’t involve a monster or some evil scheme, “I can take it from here.”

“Ok, but don’t be a stranger.” Snails said, to which Snips added, “Yeah, you’re one of our favorite ponies to hang around with.”

“Ok, ok,” Trixie said with a smile, “Now run along you two. I can take it from here.”

“Seeya later Trixie,” said the pair of colts in unison, as they started running their way back to town.

Trixie waved to them as they left, until she thought they were far enough away that it was no longer necessary. At that point, she turned to face the front gate of Carrot Top’s farm, and with a deep breath, made her way onto the property.

Walking up a dirt pathway up to the farm house, Trixie took in the peacefulness of the area. Even with the tourists cluttering the road on the way here, it was much nicer than it was in the cities, and it helped that she wasn’t here to participate in some support group related activity. As much as she liked to help Starlight and Sunset, and further the cause of Equestria’s progression from its previously vulnerable state, it felt good to do something that didn’t involve any of that stuff. She would just be spending a day with Star Bright, and his current handler Carrot Top, as she spent time with the stallion she had mixed feelings about.

With no hesitation, having found more than enough courage from the previous events of that day, she went right up to the door, and knocked. A few moments later, the door opened, and from behind it stood the orange mare Trixie expected to see.

“Hello Trixie,” Carrot Top greeted, “We’ve been expecting you.”

Trixie wasted no time entering Carrot Top’s home, with the earth mare closing the door behind her as she did.

“You know, I was actually thinking you’d take longer than this to come,” Carrot said, as she guided her unicorn guest deeper into her home, “With how indecisive you usually are about things, I thought it would take over a week after I sent the letter for you to get here.”

“I hope that isn’t a problem?” Trixie asked, worried that maybe Carrot had planned around her arriving later.

“No,” Carrot Top replied, “I wouldn’t have sent the invite if we weren’t ready. Though had you come before that, the place would have been a mess. There were still cages and bondage gear all over the place, since the caribou decided to turn my farm into a mare kennel where they treated us like animals. Me and Star Bright had a good time pushing all that stuff off the property.”

“Sounds horrible,” Trixie said, referring more to the state the caribou had left Carrot’s home, than the actual labor of removing it. In some ways, she felt the latter act might have been a bit cathartic, especially for a mare like the one she was speaking to. “Is that what you and Star Bright have been doing all this time?”

“Not everything,” said Carrot Top, “We’ve also been setting up the farm for a bit of a project I’ve been planning ever since I became part of this ward program. I’m turning this place into a stallion reformation center.”

“Stallion… reformation center?” Trixie parroted back, “What’s that supposed to be?”

“Well, you remember how Starlight said that the reason stallions could be so easily controlled was because they had deep seeded perversions that the Crystal Heart pulled to the surface?” Carrot asked rhetorically, “Well I spoke to Sunset Shimmer about the matter, and wanted to try and train that part of them out of them, or at the very least, get them to a point where those thoughts can’t control them anymore.”

“That seems… admirable?” Trixie said, understanding the concept, but not sure that Carrot Top was the one who should be in charge of such a thing.

The earth pony was, as far as the unicorn was aware, just a farm mare, and not an expert in stallion psychology. While questioning whatever Carrot was warranted though, she made it sound like Sunset was backing her project, so maybe the yellow mare knew what she was talking about.

“Don’t worry,” Carrot said, noting the lack of confidence in Trixie’s voice, as the two entered into her living room, “I’ve been testing out all the measures I’ll be doing with stallions on Star Bright, and he’s been perfectly fine.”

“Where is Star Bright?” Trixie asked, thinking that Carrot was taking her to him, but seeing he wasn’t present.

“He’s outside,” Carrot answered, “Doing some work in the fields. If you want, I can take you to him, but I thought after your trip you might want to sit down for a minute and relax.”

The whole reason Trixie came to Ponyville in the first place was to see Star Bright, so delaying that meeting further wasn’t what Trixie wanted. “I think I should at least say hello, and let him know I’m here. I don’t want to put him in an awkward moment where he comes in and just sees me show up suddenly.”

“I guess you have a point,” Carrot Top said, “Come with me.”

The two mares went all the way through the house, leaving out an exit in the back. Once outside, it was just about ten yards to the fields, where the land had been tilled into rows, with vegetation already growing despite the short time since the land’s owner had returned. Most of the plots held within Carrot Top’s namesake, as green leaves poked out of the ground, leading to a spot of orange that indicated that a root vegetable was buried underneath. That wasn’t all the farm was producing though, as Trixie could see potatoes, yams, turnips, and horseradishes along the way as well.

All of these ground grown foods made it fairly simple to spot the stallion they were heading for in the distance, with him being on his knees and hunched over in the dirt, pulling up weeds from the useful vegetation.

“Hey Star Bright!” Carrot called as they got close, “Take a break! We have company!”

Star Bright’s ears perked up at the sound of Carrot’s voice, the stallion getting to his hooves and removing a pair of garden gloves he had on.

“Did Trixie show up!?” the unicorn stallion yelled back, not turning around yet to see for himself.

“Yeah, she’s here!” Carrot answered, quieting her voice a little as they were getting close.

“Hey, Star Bright,” Trixie said, making her presence known, getting within a distance that raising her voice was not needed, “I’m here for our da- amn!”

The blue unicorn’s last word shifted as Star Bright turned around, and she got a good look at him. She didn’t notice until that moment that the stallion was out here shirtless, believing that he was just wearing something that was the same color as his fur, which wasn’t an uncommon thing for ponies to do. All he was wearing was a pair of jeans, his black neckerchief, and the dirt and sweat of his labor.

However, his body was what truly surprised Trixie, as his upper body and arms had a nicely toned look to them, which was not often a feature seen on a unicorn. Most unicorns had soft bodies, due to them using their horns to do most of their work, with maybe their legs being a bit more defined due to the need to still pull a cart. The way Star Bright was, he looked more like a young earth stallion in his late teens, and the sparkling sweat on his body, along with the dust speckled around parts of his body, gave him a rugged look that made something that had long remained dormant inside Trixie spark for the first time in a while.

“He looks good, doesn’t he?” Carrot said, giving her stunned guest a sly, knowing look, while walking the rest of the way to the stallion, “This is what happens when a stallion does a hard day’s work for a change.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Star Bright said with a slight blush, turning his head to the ground as he put arms behind his back as the mare approached him, displaying a bit of meekness, as his personality leaked through his new appearance.

“Look at you though,” Carrot Top said, “You’ve been so wrapped up in your work you didn’t notice your knot came loose.”

Carrot reached up to Star Bright’s neck, and took hold of the black cloth wrapped loosely around it. The stallion held still as the earth mare adjusted it for him, and soon it returned to a properly fastened state.

“There. Now you look like a handsome stallion again.” Carrot said once done, before turning back to Trixie, “Wouldn’t you agree?”

The unicorn mare gave a nod, though Star Bright looked pretty much the same to her. Her eyes were locked onto his face, pectorals, and abs, taking in a side of the stallion she had never noticed before. The side that she found herself physically attracted to. Trixie was so enamored by the stallion that she had to willfully stop looking at him after a minute, and distract her with the first thing she could think of to keep herself from drifting her eyes right back to his body.

“Here!” she said, lifting up a box she had been holding, presenting it to the two ponies, “I stopped to get some snacks for our get together today. They’re muffins.”

“Oh, how delightful. I was wondering what it was you were carrying around. Thought it might have been what you brought for your stay.” said Carrot Top, taking the box. When looking at the box closer though, she saw the logo for Sugar Cube Corner on its side. “Oh… I see you got these in town.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Trixie asked.

“Not on your part, no,” Carrot Top said, handing the box over to Star Bright, “It’s just a shame that you ended up supporting those kinds of ponies.”

“What Carrot Top means is that the two mares that run Sugar Cube Corner are former red collars, and she has a personal stance against buying anything from mares who submitted to the caribou.”

“I’m sure you didn’t know that about them though,” Carrot Top added, putting a finger to the black cloth around her own neck, “It’s so hard to discern the traitors from those like us when most ponies don’t wear one of these.”

“Can we still eat them?” Star Bright asked, holding the box, “It would be a waste to just throw them away after Trixie paid for them.”

“Well I wasn’t implying we weren’t going to,” Carrot Top replied, “Just warning Trixie not to buy from them in the future, and to be careful who she does business with. Gotta make sure those red collars can’t live comfortably in Equestria after all they helped the caribou do to us.”

The orange mare walked by Trixie, heading back to the house, expecting the others to follow after her. Star Bright stepped up aside their guest as the unicorn turned to watch the earth mare leave the field, and gave a small chuckle that denoted some discomfort.

“Don’t take what she said to heart,” Star Bright said, “Carrot Top just really dislikes the red collars. To be honest, when I go into town I sneak a cupcake or two from Sugar Cube Corner myself.”

“I thought Carrot was supposed to keep an eye on you.” Trixie replied, wondering when they had time apart for the stallion to sneak his discouraged desserts.

“She doesn’t take that part of the program that seriously,” Star Bright replied, slowly making his way back to the farm house himself, with Trixie coming along with him, “At least not after we’ve been together for a month and I showed her I was willing to go along with her training program.”

“What is this training, anyways?” Trixie asked, that being a thought on her mind since she had last seen Star Bright, “I tried to ask Sunset, but she just said it was up to each mare to decide what was the best way to re-educate their ward.”

“Carrot’s system is pretty simple.” Star Bright answered, “She thinks that ‘idle hands are the caribou’s playthings’, and so she has me doing hard work in the field, planting crops that will eventually be used to feed those staying at the farm. I work from sun up to sun down, with a few breaks in between, plowing the land, tossing down seeds, watering the crops, pulling weeds-”

“And she has you doing this all by hand?!” Trixie said, genuinely surprised. A sensible unicorn would just do all of that with their magic, as it would be much easier and less physically taxing.

“It’s really not that bad,” Star Bright said through a brief chuckle, “I’ve been learning lots of new skills, and I haven’t even thought about any mares like I used to.”

“Really?” Trixie asked, expressing her skepticism, “You haven’t pictured any mare in some sort of pervy way?”

“Well…” Star Bright said, blushing as he redirected his eyes away from Trixie, “I didn’t say that. Old habits die hard, but I’ve been thinking about them in a different light now.”

Trixie was curious what the stallion meant by that, but before she could ask, Carrot Top yelled at the two from the back door of her house, “Hurry up you two! It’s hot as tartarus out here!”

“Sorry Carrot!” Star Bright yelled back, his pace quickening into a sprint.

Trixie watched as the stallion rushed to Carrot’s call, her own pace remaining the same. Her energy was being used to evaluate how Star Bright and Carrot Top were acting towards each other, and trying to figure out what their relationship really was. Was it something like an employer/employee? Or like Pistachio with Bon Bon and Lyra, where it was something more protective and motherly? What she was hoping it wasn’t, was something akin to lovers, which is what her jealousy was inching her into believing.

When the trio got back inside, Carrot led them back to the room she had guided Trixie before, and beckoned her to take a seat. This time the blue unicorn complied, and found an arm chair that looked comfy. Carrot made her way to another chair placed across from her guest. Star Bright was the last to enter the room, but before he could make his way to any of the remaining seats, Carrot stopped him.

“Star Bright,” Said the earth pony, “Could you be a dear and go get us some juice from the fridge? Maybe something more healthy for us to eat before we get to the desserts.”

“Oh, of course,” Star Bright said with a cheerful grin, turning around to leave the room as quickly as he entered.

Carrot Top paid close attention to the stallion as he left, listening to make sure he was far enough down the hall before redirecting her attention to Trixie, “So… What do you think?”

“About what?” Trixie replied.

“Let’s just cut to the chase, shall we?” Carrot said, “What do you think of what I’ve done with Star Bright?”

“Well, it looks like you’re keeping him healthy,” said Trixie, “I guess you’re doing a good job being his guardian.”

“Oh, come on,” Carrot said, looking bemused as Trixie tiptoed around the real intent of her question, “Do you think he’s coltfriend material?”

“Excuse me?!” Trixie replied, not anticipating such a direct question on the topic, and frantically trying to figure out if she meant a coltfriend for her, or a coltfriend for Carrot herself.

Carrot gave Trixie a “Shhhh” and gestured for her to keep it down, “I’m just trying to get your opinion on how I’ve shaped him since the last time you’ve seen him. I mean, he was kinda cute before, but now that he’s filled out a little, he’s getting closer to the kind of pony who could make a mare happy.”

“Carrot, I’ll admit that he looks nice,” Trixie said, “But I think mares aren’t really looking for that kind of relationship at the moment. Even if they were, I don’t think looks are what mares really care about anymore.”

“And what do you think mares want right now?” Carrot said, leaning forward like she really wanted Trixie’s opinion on the matter, “Or better yet, what do you want?”

“I would want…” Trixie said, her mind came to a decision about what she really desired, “Somepony who wouldn’t abandon me. Who would treat me like I was special, even though I know I’m not…”

Trixie’s own insecurities were coming out in her responses, as she didn’t want to risk connecting with somepony only to be left alone again, and she wished that somepony could see her as the mare she used to think she was again, since she could no longer see that aspect in herself.

“Is that all you want?” Carrot Top replied, finding the answer lacking, “That just seems like the basics of a healthy relationship. No stallion should be with a mare if they didn’t see them as somepony special, and they shouldn’t get together if they didn’t intend to stay with that mare. I get where you are coming from though. I wouldn’t trust just any stallion to love me like they should after what we’ve been through either. Not without making sure they are being sincere first, and a little training to ensure they stay that way.”

“Training?” Trixie said, having a single idea of what that means, “What do you have to train a stallion to do in a relationship?”

“Lots of things.” Carrot replied, being blunt with her thoughts, “But mostly how to treat mares with respect, and stop thinking about them like they are sex objects.”

“You’re really worried about what Starlight said on stage, aren’t you?” Trixie said, not entirely sure if she wanted to believe that a majority of stallions had a deep seeded belief that mares existed to be used for sex. She had no better answer as to how the caribou controlled the stallions so easily, but of all the things Sunset tried to get her to believe, something about that seemed like an exaggeration.

“How could any mare not be?” Carrot said, “After learning that stallions had only one thing on their minds, and that it was so disgusting, every mare should be more than worried. They should be alarmed.”

“I suppose so…” Trixie said, knowing it would not be a good idea to try and dispute this matter. Even if she felt like this was being overblown, the concept of stallions being somehow infected with perversion was now the common belief among the group.

“If we are going to be in relationships with stallions, socially or romantically, then we need to make sure that it is strictly on our terms.” Carrot continued, “Stallions have taken us mares for granted for so long that their heads were full of how they’d have their way with any one of us. They might have found out they didn’t like their fantasies after being forced to act them out, but regret shouldn’t be enough to earn forgiveness. They need to make it up to us, for having these awful thoughts about us in the first place.”

“So… what then?” asked Trixie, not knowing where this conversation was leading.

“I’ve been thinking on that, and I believe-” Before Carrot could extrapolate on that thought, Star Bright stepped into view from the doorframe, carrying a tray of apple slices on small plates and a pitcher of orange colored juice with some glasses, “Ah, looks like the snacks have arrived. Star Bright, show Trixie some of our hospitality.”

The stallion was glad to comply, setting down the tray on a table, then pouring a glass of juice for Trixie, and handing it to her with one of the food plates.

“Thank you,” Trixie said, accepting both, and taking a drink. She quickly recognized the flavor of carrot juice, despite it being some time since she last tasted it.

“I hope you like the juice,” Carrot said, “It was made on the farm, made fresh a few days ago after our first harvest.”

Trixie knew that earth ponies were good at growing plants, but managing to produce juice as tasty as what she was drinking in the short time since she last saw the two, while doing all the other things they had to in order to get the farm to working order, seemed pretty impressive to the unicorn mare.

“The apples come from the farm next door though,” Star Bright said, preparing a glass and plate for Carrot Top, “We traded some of our produce with them so we could have a bit more variety in our meals.”

“I guess you wouldn’t have an issue doing business with Big Mac,” Trixie said, since the pony who killed Dainn would be the furthest thing from a Red Collar imaginable.

“Yeah, and I even got a good deal out of it, seeing that me and Mac have a bit of history.” Carrot replied.

“Right, you were on his farm, weren’t you?” Trixie said aloud, recalling the times Carrot had mentioned that detail in the meetings.

“Yeah, he was the nicest ‘master’ a mare could ever have, especially since he never saw himself that way. Even after that whole thing with Dainn, he’s still as modest and caring as ever. He’s in a relationship with one of the other mares he used to have in his care now, and she looks like she’s been very well taken care of.”

Trixie didn’t have any comments for that, so she just started eating the food given to her. The Apples were delicious, and the juice was very refreshing. It was to be expected, seeing that both came from experienced farmers who had talents in growing and making these particular types of produce. About halfway through the meal, Star Bright started passing out the muffins, both he and Trixie took one, but Carrot Top politely declined.

“So how have things been back at the clubhouse?” Carrot asked, as she neared clearing her plate, “I assume you’ve still been staying there. You don’t seem like the type to want to live alone.”

“Yeah…” Trixie reluctantly admitted, “Even after getting a house of my own from the Committee, i asked Sunset if I could stay a little bit longer. She didn’t seem to mind, so long as I helped out to keep the place tidy.”

“I really don’t mean to offend you by saying this,” Carrot Top said, “But Sunset and Starlight really baby you far more than they should. You’ve been in their care for months now, and all they do is make you do chores like you’re their daughter. Don’t you think it’s time you stood on your own two hooves again?”

Trixie understood what Carrot meant. In the past, she had no problem living alone, either on the road in her performance cart, or within her secret treehouse hideaway. Now that those were both gone, it felt like her sense of independence was gone with them, though it was more likely she had just become used to leaning on others.

“It’s just gonna take some time to get used to the idea again is all,” Trixie said, trying to excuse her behavior, “And I don’t want to miss any of the club events, like the self defense class.”

“How many members have still been going to those meetings?” Carrot asked, “I thought by now there would be almost nopony left.”

“We lost a few members when they got their new homes,” Trixie answered, “But we’ve gotten more due to some ponies moving into town in their place. Lyra and Bon Bon still come regularly, and Sunset told me that we weren’t really losing any members, just that now they would be going to different groups across Equestria.”

“That makes sense,” Carrot says, “I was expecting more ponies in the group to start doing their own projects, but I guess not everypony is as dedicated to the cause as me. Actually, that’s part of why I asked you to come here.”

“You mean, I’m not here to spend time with Star Bright?” Trixie asked, realizing that the stallion had barely said anything since they came back inside.

“You’ll have plenty of time for that,” Carrot Top said, “But while you’re here I wanted to offer you an opportunity I think will really help you out.”

“You’re making it sound like you’re trying to sell me something,” Trixie replied, not having a clue what Carrot could possibly want to offer a mare like her, “But ok, what’s this offer?”

“The offer is that instead of you wasting your days away in that club house, I’d like you to stay here in Ponyville for a while, to be part of my project.”

“I still don’t really understand what your project even is, let alone how I would help you with it.” Trixie said, as while the earth mare had gave lots of ideas, she hadn’t mentioned once how she intended to implement them, or how Trixie could be part of it, “And don’t you kinda… not like me?”

“Trixie, I’ve been past that point for a while.” said Carrot Top, her voice filled with sincerity, “I’ve forgiven you for taking over Ponyville before, and after you took out that rapist to save Lyra, I saw that you were actually a pretty good pony.”

“Well, thank you for that.” Trixie replied, glad to hear that the mare wasn’t still holding a grudge against her. It really did seem like all the ponies of Ponyville had forgiven the unicorn for her misdeeds. “So what is this project, and why do you think I can help?”

“I’ll answer the second question first,” Carrot Top said, “Cause there is a bit of a misunderstanding. I don’t want you to help me. I want you to let me help you. Let’s face it, of all the ponies within our group you’re the one who is finding the hardest time moving on. Not ‘letting go’, cause the forgive and forget policies of the past have outlived their usefulness, but getting to the next step in your life.”

“It’s not that simple for me,” Trixie said, “I-”

“Yes, I know,” Carrot said hastily, preventing the mare from entering what she assumed was another pity party, “You’ve gone through some horrible shit for reasons you don’t want to explain. I get it, and I believe you. Even if I didn’t, it’s pretty clear that you need somepony to be with you and help you get back on your hooves. Somepony who will support you, and not ask for anything in return.”

“And that pony is you?” Trixie replied, thinking she knew where this sales pitch was going.

“Me? No.” Carrot Top replied, “I was thinking that pony should be Star Bright.”

“Star Bright?” Trixie said, surprised by the suggestion, “Didn’t you just tell me that we can’t trust stallions?”

“No,” Carrot objected, “I said that stallions needed to make it up to us mares, and I see no better way for Star Bright to do that than to wait on you hand and hoof.”

Trixie looked over to Star Bright, who had been awfully silent for a pony who was being talked about like he wasn’t in the room. “Did you know any of this?”

“Yeah,” Star Bright said, “Carrot Top dropped the idea on me the day after we got here, and I agreed that the best way I could make up for what I’ve done to you would be to do so directly. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll wash your clothes, cook your food, go on trips with you in town, anything you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

Trixie had to repeat the last part of what Star Bright had said in her mind a few times, needing to make it sound less like an offer to become her coltfriend, but having a hard time seeing it as anything else after what Carrot said earlier. “Wait a second. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“It’s only too much if you think it is,” Carrot replied for Star Bright, “He is owning up to all the things he did to you, so now he is putting himself into your hands.”

“Wait” Trixie said again, thinking that all of this was going way too quickly for her, despite the concept being incredibly simple, “I don’t understand. Doesn’t giving him over to me conflict with the whole ‘Ward Program’ thing? You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on him.”

“Which is why I’m asking you to stay here.” Carrot said to answer the unicorn mare’s concern, “Star Bright has made some nice first steps, mostly in accepting that despite being mind controlled, he still played a part in how the caribou manipulated him, but he still needs somepony to keep him in line and help him better himself. No offense, but I don’t think you’re up to that task as you are.”

“Geez, thanks.” Trixie replied, not even trying to hide her distaste for the comment.

“So I would like to help you become the kind of mare that would be able to stop him from being the kind of pervert he used to be.”

“So I’m suppose to become more independent, by letting Star Bright take care of me.” Trixie said, not following the logic.

“You’ll become more independent by learning how to be more assertive, and understanding that you are in control.” Carrot Top corrected, “In turn, Star Bright will learn how to keep his urges in check, and will be doing his part to rectify the damage he’s done to you in the past. If everything goes according to my plan, this will help both of you with your individual problems.”

“This is a lot to put on me all at once.” Trixie replied.

“How so?” said Carrot Top, “At the moment you don’t do anything except go to the rallies and events Sunset plans for the whole group, and you’ll still be able to attend those while staying here. If you have things that need to be brought here, I can have Sunlight ship them here, and anypony you think you’ll miss can come visit. As far as I know, you only hang out with Lyra regularly, and she’s gonna be busy working with that Pistachio kid. What is stopping you from staying here and sorting things out.”

“When you put it that way, I guess nothing.” Trixie relented, “I’m just not sure about this whole project of yours. I came here to spend some time with Star Bright and work out things with him, but didn’t expect this kind of commitment to it.”

“Then how about this.” said Carrot Top, “You were gonna spend at least one night here already, so I’ll just make myself scarce, and you two can have yourselves your date night alone. Star Bright is wearing that chastity belt, so you should feel safe around him, and you two can just enjoy the evening together alone.”

“You’re gonna leave us alone? Where will you go if you’re not going to stay here?” Trixie asked, feeling like Carrot was forcing herself out of her home for the unicorn’s sake.

“I’ve got a place I can go,” Carrot Top explained, “There is a stallion in town that I’ve been talking to who’s shown interest in the program too. Ran into him in Las Pegasus while he was working as a volunteer, and recognized him as a resident of Ponyville. I saw how uncomfortable he was around mares, and I’ve been trying to convince him to come join in. I think he’s just about to give in, and I hope he does.”

“Why’s that?” Trixie asked.

“Because he’s more my type than Star Bright. No offense.” Carrot replied without shame, turning her head to the stallion to direct the last part towards him directly.

“None taken, Ma’am.” the stallion said, knowing already that Carrot Top didn’t have any romantic interest in him. From the get go, he had seen the mare as being purely professional in her duties as his guardian.

“That’s a good colt,” Carrot replied, Star Bright’s respectful response getting a smirk out of the earth mare, “Honestly, you’re gonna be left in good hands. Star Bright might be my first attempt, but he has settled into the role of being a house stallion very well.”

“I try my best,” Star Bright said, rewarding himself with a bite of one of his apple slices.

Trixie had little more to say after that, and found herself just complying with Carrot’s plan for that evening. She could tell that any objection she could have had would be dismissed. She couldn’t really find a reason to object outside of her own general pessimism, since she wanted to be alone with Star Bright anyways.

The conversation shifted a few times after that, but none of the topics were of any significance. It was things like Trixie being asked about her train trip, which was mostly uneventful, or if she knew what Sunset had planned for their next group activity, which she did not. Eventually Star Bright and Carrot started to talk about all the work they did to get the farm back to being an actual farm, and how Carrot had to teach Star Bright to do things there, since he was not used to that kind of work.

Over time, the sun started to set, and Carrot Top saw herself out for the evening. The two unicorns followed the earth mare to the door, Star Bright bidding her a good evening as she exited her home.

“I expect you to be on your best behavior, Star Bright,” Carrot said, before playfully warning him, “Cause you know what will happen if I hear you are anything less than a complete gentlecolt.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Star Bright replied, giving a nervous smile as he shied away back into the house.

“And Trixie, come here for a moment.” Carrot then said to her guest, beckoning the blue mare over to her. Trixie went to her, and once close enough, Carrot stuck out her hand, “Take this.”

Trixie lifted her own hand to Carrot’s, and felt something small be dropped into it. When looking at what she was given, she saw it was a key. “Is this for the house?” Trixie asked, wondering if she was being given a spare in case she had to leave for some reason.

“No,” Carrot said, laughing lightly at Trixie’s incorrect assumption, “It’s the key to Star Bright’s belt.”

Trixie’s eyes immediately went wide, “Why would you give me this?! Are you thinking we might-?”

“No, Trixie,” Carrot said, stopping the unicorn from completing her thought, “Star Bright is going to need to use the restroom at some point. When he asks for permission, give him the key, he’ll go do his business, and then he’ll hand it back to you.”

“Doesn’t giving him access to his key defeat the purpose?” Trixie asked, her question being a valid concern.

“It would be if you weren’t such a capable mare,” Carrot replied, “Besides, Star Bright is practically harmless. Not just because he’s a good boy, but because he can’t fight for crap. Trust me, if he were to try something, you could just push him over and step on his throat.”

That seemed a bit far for what Trixie was capable of, but she gave Carrot a nod of understanding. From there the earth mare made her way off the farm, leaving the two unicorns alone.

With the key in hand, Trixie went back inside, where a patiently waiting Star Bright was standing in the front entrance for her return.

“Ok Trixie,” said the stallion, “What do you want to do?”

It was a good question, as for the longest time Trixie just did whatever anypony else wanted of her. Now she was being handed the reins, and the mare was at a loss over what she wanted to do.

“I… Don’t really know,” she replied, “I wanted to spend some time with you so we could work things out, but I don’t know where to begin.”

“If all you want to do is talk, then I’m fine with that,” Star Bright replied, “Equestria knows I owe you at least that much.”

“Can we… can we maybe go for a walk while we talk?” Trixie asked. After the awkward series of conversations she, Carrot, and Star Bright had in the house’s living room, she needed a change of scenery.

“Sure, I can take you for a walk around the farm.” Star Bright said, being compliant to Trixie’s every request, “If you want, I can go prepare something for us to eat in case we get hungry.”

“Ok,” Trixie said, thinking that would give her enough time to figure out what she really wanted to say to the stallion.

Star Bright gave a nod, then made his way to the kitchen. Now alone, Trixie finally relaxed, the tension between her and Star Bright fading with him not being present. As much as she wanted to do this, she could see that it wasn’t going to be easy. She had to try though, and looking once more at the key in her hand, the unicorn mare tried to convince herself that she had all the power in this exchange. As she did though, she couldn’t tell which was worse; the idea of having no control over herself, and having all her decisions made for her, or having absolute power over another, and having to actually make a choice as to what she wanted again.

Trixie and Star Bright departed from Carrot Top’s farm house as the sun lowered unto the horizon, and between the moments when evening turned to night. Star Bright held in his hands a small basket of snacks, while Trixie brought nothing but her questions.

“You’ll love the farm at night,” Star Bright said, endorsing Trixie’s decision to go on a walk together this late in the day, “It’s nice and quiet, with only the crickets and cicadas chirping their songs.”

Trixie was familiar with such noises herself, seeing as she used to spend time on the road as a performer, and sleeping roadside in her carriage. She declined to tell Star Bright that though, figuring he was just trying to make her feel comfortable.

The two headed for a grassy section of the farm, kept that way because grass was a common part of any pony diet, thus farmers would keep patches of it around so they could eat less of their own crops. For the purposes of the two unicorn’s walk, it made for a better place to stretch their legs than walking through the patches of tilled dirt.

The two took a walk along the fence that divided Carrot’s farm from Sweet Apple Acres, admiring the scenery that only countryside could provide, and did so in silence for a little while, until Star Bright’s curiosity got the better of him, and he asked, “So that stuff you wanted to talk to me about…”.

Trixie knew that she had to confront her problems with how she felt about Star Bright, and that not saying anything was just prolonging the issue, but it was hard for her to admit the reasons why she wanted to see the stallion. “Star Bright, you and I have known each other for a while now.”

“We have.” the stallion agreed.

“And we’ve also been through a lot.” Trixie added.

“That’s true.” Star Bright said, simply responding to the mare when she made a pause.

“I really don’t know how to feel about you. Sometimes I want to hate you, for leaving me when I needed you, but when I saw you on stage with Carrot Top in Las Pegasus, I felt really jealous. Like it should have been me with you up there, and not her.”

“I’m sure that was just you seeing me with another mare as further abandonment,” Star Bright replied, “You were pretty upset when I said I left you to check in on the mares that were enslaved by my mind controlled self. It must be easy to associate me and another mare with a sense of betrayal, and I don’t blame you for that.”

“I… think I might have some feelings for you, beyond that.” Trixie said, admitting to the stallion the real reason she needed to see him. “I don’t know if I like you, or if I love you. It doesn’t make sense really, because we’ve never been together long enough to form that kind of relationship, but it really upset me when I thought you might be leaving me again to be with Carrot Top.”

Star Bright frowned, not knowing that him joining the ward program would cause Trixie this kind of confusion and pain. “Trixie, I don’t think you love me. I also don’t think I’m deserving to be loved by you.”

“Carrot seems to think I might,” Trixie said, “Before you came in, she was talking about ponies, and relations, and coltfriends-.”

“Coltfriends?” questioned Star Bright, “Well that’s a new one on me, but maybe Carrot just hasn’t been telling me her plans in full. All I know is that she thinks the best way for us stallions to get over our part in things is to give back to mares in the same way we took from them, so since we enslaved you, the best thing to do is to serve you in return.”

“And you think that will work?” Trixie asked.

“It has so far,” Star Bright answered, “Helping Carrot get this place up to shape keeps my mind off things, and I think she has the right idea that the only way a stallion like me will get over their guilt is for us to make up for all the wrong we caused.”

“Where did she even come up with that idea?” Trixie said, still skeptical about the premise.

“I didn’t really ask,” said Star Bright, “But if I were to take a guess, it probably came from her time living with Big Macintosh.” The stallion turned to Sweet Apple Acres, leaning on the fence and pointing himself towards the farm house where Equestria’s hero resided. “She talks about him, and how great a stallion he was, all the time. About how he ran his farm the best way he could within the caribou’s rules, and didn’t tolerate the antics of the red collar he had on the farm. He always had a firm, but caring hand with all of the mares in his care, doing only what he had to in order to keep the caribou away, while having standards the caribou couldn’t break.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard he’s pretty great,” Trixie said, her words holding no trace of sarcasm or doubt in them. Even if Mac’s deeds were exaggerated, it was easy to believe the pony who basically toppled the caribou’s hold on Equestria single handedly was as exalted as every pony said he was, “And so Carrot Top is working by example off him?”

“I think that’s the case,” Star Bright said, “He looked over the mares in his care, and kept their minds off the things that were bothering them with hard work, and now Carrot wants to do the same with stallions.”

“Let me ask you something,” Trixie said, “If I didn’t decide to stay, what would happen with you?”

“Carrot would probably just find another mare to have me serve,” Star Bright answered, “Though I’ll be honest, I’d rather this with you than some other mare.”

“You would?” Trixie replied, her cheeks turning slightly red behind the stallion’s back.

“Yeah, you’re the one who I hurt the most through my careless actions,” said Star Bright, looking back towards the mare, “It wouldn’t mean as much if I wasn’t doing things to help you get over your problems.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Trixie said, seeing Star Bright’s point.

The personal relationship between both of them would make what Carrot had planned for them more meaningful for both of them. Aside from that, it would give Trixie a reason to be around Star Bright more, and figure out where her emotions towards him lied.

“The only thing is I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this,” Star Bright continued, “I’m sure you have your own things you want to do now that things are finally sorting themselves out across Equestria. It would be selfish of me to ask you to take part in this if you didn’t want to be part of it yourself.”

“You expect too much from me,” Trixie replied, “Like Carrot said, I haven’t really been doing anything, and I don’t have plans to change anytime soon. I mean, what can a washed up sideshow magician like myself do right now? Ponies are trying to get their lives back together, and are not in need of a distraction like me.”

“Trixie, right now I think that Equestria needs as many ‘distractions’ from its misery as it can get. Entertainers like yourself are wonderful ponies who dedicate their time to others to make them feel better.”

“Eh…” Trixie grunted discontent with the stallion’s presumptions, “A lot of the time I didn’t perform solely for the sake of others.”

“You mean how you made money off your act?” Star Bright guessed, “There is nothing wrong with turning what you’re good at into a business.”

“No, it’s a bit more than that,” Trixie said, becoming a little reserved when touching on the worst aspects of her past, “There was a time when I used my talents to show off. I’d challenge ponies and then embarrass them on stage just to prove how ‘great and powerful’ I was, when the truth is I am, or was, just a unicorn who knows a bunch of above average tricks. I’m so bad at it that I’m still trying to re-teach myself some of those things.”

“Trixie,” Star Bright said, lifting himself off the fence, and grabbing the mare by the arms, looking her right in the eye, “You are far more talented than you let yourself think you are. You’ve talked about how you let it all get to your head before, but if there wasn’t some merit in your skills, then it never would have gotten that far.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” said Trixie, as plenty of narcissists used baseless bravado to hide their own lack of talent. She knew that Star Bright was just trying to make her feel better though, so she added, “But thank you for believing in me.”

Star Bright looked like he was going to say more to try and boost Trixie’s confidence, but then he noticed that he had, in the heat of the moment, placed his hands on the mare, and was holding her in a way that would prevent her from pulling away if she wished to. Immediately he loosened his fingers, and backed off.

“I’m sorry,” the stallion hastily apologized, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not?” Trixie said, not even noticing the mildly intrusive gesture, believing he meant he shouldn’t have said the positive things he had.

“It’s not right for a stallion to touch a mare without permission.” Star Bright said, correcting Trixie’s assumption, “I shouldn’t have just grabbed you like that.”

“Oh, that?” Trixie replied after the clarification, “I didn’t really mind that.” Truth be told, it was the gentlest that any stallion had touched her in a long time, and she was aware that it was well intended. “It’s fine. I really didn’t mind it.”

Star Bright eased up a little when being assured it was ok, but then said, “If you say it’s fine, okay, but I can’t just do that. It sets a bad standard between me and you. Between me and any mare.”

“But isn’t it normal to touch somepony sometimes?” Trixie asked.

“Not from a stallion… Not without consent.” answered Star Bright, “The idea that we could just touch some mare whenever we wanted just cause they were a friend or loved one is one of those thoughts that the caribou exploited. Don’t worry though, I’ll keep a better track of myself from now on.”

“Okay, but it really was fine this time. I didn’t feel like you were trying to take advantage of me or anything.” Trixie was trying her best to convince the stallion that everything was alright, that she was able to tell a friendly gesture from one with ill intent, but Star Bright didn’t want to see what he did as anything less than a lapse in judgment. “Let’s just forget about it for now. Why don’t we…” Looking for another topic to switch things to, all the mare could find was the farm next door, “Talk about Sweet Apple Acres some more. Have you actually been able to meet Big Mac?”

The subject seemed to change Star Bright’s attitude immediately, “I sure have. Carrot Top took me over to his farm when she went to barter her crops for his, and I have to say, he’s pretty impressive just by looks. It’s easy to see how he was able to take down the caribou king.”

“It’s kinda strange that he went back to being a normal farmer after all that,” Trixie said, “You’d think he’d want to be out there helping as many ponies as possible.”

Trixie’s perspective came from how she treated fame and notoriety in the past, indulging in any bit of renown she could acquire, and thus would not casually discard the appreciation of the masses to live out a simple life, at least not when the pony in question actually had the power to be the hero he was made out to be.

“Mac still helps ponies,” Star Bright said.

“Oh right, I’m sure the food he grows is being used to help feed the ponies of Equestria.” said Trixie, assuming that’s what the stallion was about to get at.

“There’s that.” Star Bright replied, “But he also helps other ponies in need more directly. See that building on his property?”

Trixie looked out in the direction the stallion pointed her towards, having to peer into darkness, as by this time the sun had set fully. Aside from the apple orchard, there were three other large landmarks on the farm.

One was a house, Mac and the Apple Family’s place of residence, which was much like the one Carrot had, if having its own seperate country themed appearance that distinguished the two houses. Another was a barn, which was commonplace to see on a farm. The last however was a building on the Apple’s property that was a little smaller than the house, placed fairly close to it, which was what Star Bright was aiming Trixie towards.

“That’s a Re-Blank shelter, and I think it’s one of the biggest ones in Equestria.” Star Bright explained, “From what Carrot told me, Mac built it during the Fall so he could start bringing in mares that were in his family to give them a better life away from most of what the caribou were doing. After he helped stop the caribou though, he decided to put it to good use, and keep Blanks on his farm until the Committee could figure out how to fix them. There’s a few dozen being sheltered in there, at least.”

“That’s where the Re-Blanks are being kept?” Trixie asked, becoming slightly unnerved, “As in, they are being kept there, in that building.” Trixie had remembered that Pinkie and Mrs. Cake said there was a local shelter, but she had no clue where it was. “I mean, it’s good that Mac is keeping them safe then. They couldn’t be in better hands, I guess.”

“Are you ok?” Star Bright asked, as he noticed Trixie’s tone and expressions shift. “You don’t have a problem with Re-Blanks, do you? You know that our group doesn’t hold anything against them, and actually holds them in high esteem since…” The stallion halted his tongue, stumbling on the part that might upset a pony, “They were all rebels who paid the ultimate price.”

The topic of that subject alone would make any non-red collar mare upset, but Trixie was a strange case. She rarely talked about her time in the early days of the Fall, but often talked about what things happened to her after her enslavement. A lot of it was torture, the likes far beyond what an average mare would be subjected to, things akin to punishment and not just rape and sexually themed torment.

Some ponies in the group just chalked it up to Trixie being caught near the start of it all, which would explain why she had no stories to share of her trying to stay out of the clutches of Equestria’s invaders, and it was also not unheard of for individual mares to be singled out for no reason, and saw this as the only way to rationalize what Trixie shared, due to her personality. There was another option though, and Star Bright was starting to believe that was the case.

“Trixie, were you a rebel?” Star Bright asked, sharing his newfound belief with the mare, “Not part of Sunset’s resistance efforts, but maybe one of the smaller groups that got discovered?”

Trixie didn’t like to be compared to those who actually put their lives and freedom at stake to defeat the caribou and save Equestria, as that was certainly not what she was doing when confronted with the threat they represented. However, Star Bright’s deductions were close enough to the truth that she decided it was best to admit to something small, so she everything else wouldn’t slip out later.

“You’re thinking too highly of me again,” said Trixie as she began, “I was never part of a resistance group. I was too cowardly to do anything heroic on my own. My plan when the caribou came was to hide until the whole thing blew over, and eventually the caribou found me anyway.”

“Is that why they treated you so poorly?” Star Bright asked, “They were making up for lost time?”

It was the only reason the unicorn stallion could come up with that the caribou would want to torment a mare so thoroughly, but not blank her. In his mind, Trixie might have even tried to fight back when cornered, which would have only encouraged them to give her what was only a single step down from an actual rebel. If that was the case, then he could see the monstrous deer using the threat of blanking against her enough that she acquired a fear of it.

“I really don’t want to say why they did what they did to me,” Trixie answered, “Let’s just leave it at what you know, and what you think you know.”

Star Bright took that to mean that he was close enough that he was mostly right. “I’m so sorry Trixie, but there is nothing to fear now. You will never become a Blank.”

Trixie couldn’t reply to that without saying too much, so she let it be. It was better for Star Bright to believe that she had a fear of Blanking, than to explain the real reason the Re-Blanks upset her.

“I know that you have a lot of things to worry about,” Star Bright continued, “We all have things we think about every waking moment due to what happened, but…” The stallion took a moment to try and put his words together, and while he wanted to avoid anything that would lead to the unicorn giving him unjustified affection in return, there was truly only one way he could think to put what he was thinking, “I will never allow something bad to happen to you ever again.”

Those words struck Trixie, as it was the first time anypony had ever made such a grand gesture to her. Not even when Star Bright first rescued her did he imply that he would always keep her safe from that point forward. It was the kind of promise a stallion made to a mare when they really cared for them.

“I-I mean, only if you want me to protect you.” Star Bright continued, becoming embarrassed with what he said, even if he meant it, “But I guess the only way that’s gonna happen with me being here is for you to move in, which I know you’re on the fence about, and I shouldn’t be the thing that makes you change your mind about it. I think that if you want to stay with Sunset Shimmer that’s perfectly fine, and wholeheartedly endorse the decision. In fact, when Carrot Top gets back tomorrow, we should both tell her you’ve made up your mind and-”

Star Bright was stopped when a set of lips met his, as Trixie suddenly went up to him as he was lost in his words, placed her hands on his chest, and silenced him in the manner that, at the time, she felt was most appropriate.

The stallion was taken aback by Trixie’s unannounced and unexpected kiss, dropping the basket of food he had been holding all this time to the ground. Seeing her face right in front of his, and her lips pursed up to his own, it took him back to the night that his brainwashing ended. He had kissed her then as well, or more the stallion he was while being under mind control had, in order to reward her with something that bastard considered a ‘special reward’ for her.

The stallion wanted to pull away, to escape reliving that last moment of his own mental enslavement, but he could do nothing to stop her, not after he had just scolded himself for laying hands on the mare a little earlier. It felt immensely uncomfortable what he saw as his former victim to kiss him so intimately, when he had tried to convince her that her feelings towards him were in no way romantic, but if Trixie was forced to bear this sort of humiliation at his hand, it was only fair that he do endure it when she forced him into the same position.

The mare pressed her lips against his for half a minute, though the stallion did little to reciprocate it. That was fine though. The fact that he wasn’t taking advantage of the situation actually made it easier for her to keep up the kiss for as long as she did. Like this, she felt in charge, and as Carrot had implied earlier, that control made her feel better about this. When she felt she had enough, she parted from Star Bright’s muzzle, and looked up at the slightly taller stallion’s eyes.

Star Bright could only look back at the mare, seeing the emotion in her gaze. For the first time since he’d known Trixie, her eyes didn’t hold fear, apathy, or anger. She was displaying a want for his touch, looking longingly at him in ways he had always dreamed a mare would for him. To see this from a mare who should loathe him troubled the stallion, but he could see that rejecting her now would only cause her more pain. As much as he didn’t want to take advantage of what he believed to be Trixie’s confused emotions, he wanted to make her happy.

“Trixie,” Star Bright said softly, suppressing the doubts he had telling him this was a mistake, “Can I kiss you again?”

Trixie gave no verbal reply, only nodding her head once. With her permission granted, Star Bright leaned forward, and returned the kiss he had been given. Trixie wrapped her arms around the stallion, placing them above his shoulders as she formed a ring around his neck. She still wasn’t completely sure if this was what she really wanted with Star Bright, but until she figured it out, the mare wasn’t going to let him get away. As the stallion returned the embrace, Trixie couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the touch of the stallion’s arms around her waist.

The two spent a long moment among the light of the stars, sharing a kiss they could tell was awkward for the both of them, but also enjoyable. The only thing that kept it from becoming something more passionate was each pony’s reservations against doing something that might be mistaken for a sexual advance, one because she rightfully associated those kinds of actions with the caribou’s cruelty, and the other because he didn’t want to do anything that could be seen as an attempt to pressure the mare into sex.

When the unicorn pair had held the kiss for as long as they thought reasonable, they separated with Trixie being the first to pull away, both at a loss for words about what they had just done. Not saying a word to one another, Star Bright removed his arms from Trixie’s body, and crouched down to grab the basket he had dropped.

Remaining silent, he took the sheet he had used to cover the top, and spread it across the grass, Trixie watching him in puzzlement of his behavior. She would have thought that Star Bright would have had some words about her being so forward, or at least walked away to avoid the situation entirely. With her thoughts clearing, the mare knew she had allowed her emotions to make her do something she shouldn’t have, and yet Star Bright was taking it in stride, placing plates of food out for the two of them to share.

“Trixie,” he said gently, “Would you please join me for a late night picnic?”

After she had imposed herself on the stallion, how could Trixie refuse his request? She lowered herself down to the sheet, sitting on her knees atop it, as the stallion made her a plate of food. And handed it to her.

“Trixie, I want to apologize to you.” said the stallion, taking his own plate, “Not just for my actions, but for making assumptions about how you feel about me. I’ve never been in a real relationship before, but the way you kissed me, I have to believe that you were sure that was what you wanted.”

Trixie didn’t reply. Truth was that she still had no clue what she wanted with Star Bright. The kiss felt right, but also felt like she had just reacted to the stallion giving her a few kind words. Star Bright had even shown signs of not being interested in her romantically, and she went ahead and kissed him anyways. If she could go back a few minutes, she would stop herself from putting even more strain on their already tenuous relationship.

Star Bright didn’t see it that way though. As little as he actually knew the mare, the stallion believed she was just a pony struggling to have the world make sense to her, grasping at whatever straw could lead her to feeling good about herself again. Trixie had made an amazing progression, that couldn’t be refuted after all she had done, but something was holding her back. Star Bright thought that the something might have been him, that she needed to see him as something other than the last stallion that raped her, through him doing everything in his power to make her happy again. The words of that belief hadn’t changed since this encounter with her, but the meaning behind them were starting to alter ever so slightly.

“Look, I still don’t really think I’m the stallion you’re looking for. Equestria knows I’m not good at being around mares unless they’re telling me what to do. If you think that us… dating will help you get the rest of the issues you’re holding over after the Fall though, I will gladly fulfill that role for you.”

Trixie swallowed a carrot stick she was chewing on, and finally spoke again, “Star Bright, you don’t have to do anything for me that you don’t want to. I actually feel silly doing that with you now that I’ve had time to think it over.”

“That’s just your fear of rejection telling you that,” Star Bright said, “I saw the look you gave me, and if I had any doubt that it wasn’t a genuine desire for affection, then I would have stopped for your sake. I’m done doing things that harm mares, and that means leading them on too. So if this is really what you want, then we should at least give it a try.”

Star Bright extended a hand to the mare sitting across from him, and though she hesitated, she placed her own in it. The stallion then pulled himself close to her, not to give her another kiss, but just to snuggle up together.

“You know, of all the stars I see out here tonight, you’re the one that shines brightest.” Star Bright said, looking out at the tiny specks of light shimmering in the darkness of the Equestrian sky.

“That’s… really corny, you know.” Trixie replied.

“Yeah, I know.” Star Bright said back, “But it doesn’t make it less true.”

Corny or not, the stallion’s words made Trixie feel good, and she was starting to think that the trip to Ponyville had been worth it after all.

As the night went on, the two sat and watched the stars together, hardly saying a word, as they just enjoyed each other’s company. Some time after the last bite of food was eaten, the unicorns fell asleep on the sheet, the warmth of the spring air and each other’s bodies being the only blankets they needed as the crickets sung them to sleep. They slept so soundly that not even the rising sun hitting their eyes rose them from their slumber, and it was well past daybreak when a certain yellow mare figured out where her house guests went.

“There you two are,” Carrot Top said, as her shadow, as well as another’s, crept onto the two sleeping unicorns.

This was not enough to wake them, but Carrot had no intention of just letting them sleep in, not when she had questions about this scene she was seeing. Tapping Star Bright with her hoof a few times, the stallion was rustled from his slumber, and opened his eyes to see Carrot Top, along with a massively muscular white stallion beside her.

“Carrot Top!” Star Bright shouted, startled by the appearance of this stallion who looks to be three times his size. Then he looked over at the sleeping mare laying beside him, and started panicking about that, “This isn’t what it looks like!”

Carrot chuckled, “So you and Trixie weren’t sharing a tender moment together?” Star Bright blushed, embarrassed at how Carrot put it, “Don’t worry, I see that she wasn’t in danger. I was pretty sure something like this would happen anyways.”

“Oh,” Star Bright said, relaxing, “So… Who’s this?”

“This is Bulk Biceps. He’s the stallion I stayed with last night, and after a bit of talking, I finally convinced him to at least try out our little project. He’ll be coming in from time to time to help out on the farm, and learn how to interact with mares properly.”

“Hey there.” The large male greeted, seeming awfully timid in his response for a stallion his incredible size.

“Now that introductions are in order, aren’t you gonna wake up your sleeping beauty?” Carrot said, looking over to Trixie.

“Oh, right.” said Star Bright, leaning over to her to gently rouse her from her slumber.

As Trixie woke up, she gave about the same reaction to Bulk as Star Bright, having to apologize after when her shock looked to hurt his feelings, again displaying that this stallion was a might meeker than his impressive form let on. Once that was all sorted out thought, Trixie and Star Bright got to their hooves, as the unicorn mare announced her decision on joining Carrot’s project.

“Okay, I’ll join,” Trixie said, having given it a lot of thought the night before, “But I want to make something clear about this. Star Bright and I still haven’t worked out what we’re gonna be with one another. Until we do, he’s going to be my, ummm… support buddy!”

“That’s fine with me,” Carrot said, finding the title Trixie gave Star Bright amusingly silly, “Whatever it takes to get you out of that club house and back into the real world. I’ll send a letter to Sunset today asking to send whatever you have there, here. Until then, we’ll make sure you have everything you need.”

“If you’ve got everything figured out already, then ok.” Trixie said, glad she didn’t have to do the moving planning herself.

“Though I’ve gotta warn you,” Carrot added, “No one eats for free here. You’ll be with me doing some chores while the guys work out in the field.”

“Okay…” Trixie agreed, figuring that Carrot was going to be a firmer task master than Sunset.

“Don’t worry, it’s not going to be any of the hard stuff. Just something to keep you from being stuffed up in a room all day.”

“And if you get something that’s too much for you, I can always lend a helping hand.” Star Bright said.

“When he has time,” said Carrot Top, “You’ve got your own chores to do, Star Bright. Right now though, let’s go in and get some breakfast.” The group made their way to the farm house, all save for Trixie, who was staying behind for some reason. When Carrot became aware of this though, she looked back at the blue mare, “Something wrong?”

“Not wrong, really.” Trixie replied, “But can I talk to you in private?”

Carrot Top didn’t know if this was Trixie’s typical hesitant mannerisms on display, or if this was something more important, but decided that it would be best to humor the unicorn this time. “Head on inside you two, this will only take a little bit.” The two stallions did as they were told, and left the mares alone to talk. The moment they were far enough to not be able to listen in, Carrot addressed Trixie by saying, “So what’s up? Having second thoughts?”

“No,” Trixie answered, “But I need to ask you something. Star Bright was telling me that the farm next door housed re-blanks. Is that true?”

“Got a problem with re-blanks?” Carrot asked, curious as to why Trixie asked such a thing.

“Not really,” Trixie said, and since she already knew that the answer to her question was yes, she decided to ask the question she was leading up to, “It’s just… do they have any foals being kept there?”

“Foals?” Carrot said, legitimately confused by the question, “Trixie, only rebels got blanked during the Fall. There wouldn’t be any foals among them.”

“So you’ve never seen a blanked foal before?” said Trixie, reiterating her question.

Carrot believed she understood Trixie’s concern now, as it was hard enough knowing that something as terrible as blanking happened to fully grown mares and stallions. If one were to see such tragedy befall a foal, especially someone as sensitive as Trixie, it would be world shattering. It wasn’t even a concept that was beyond belief, as the caribou were the type of monsters who held no mercy in there hearts for the young and vulnerable. If anything, the only reason a blanked foal didn’t exist is because none had ever had the courage, ability, or opportunity to act as a rebel. That Trixie could show such compassion for another pony, when usually she was wallowing in her own self pity, gave the earth mare a bit more respect towards her.

“I promise you, Trixie. There are no blanked foals at Sweet Apple Acres.” Carrot said, reassuring the blue mare.

“Ok,” Trixie replied, “I just needed to know.”

“Don’t think anything of it.” Carrot said, glad she could comfort Trixie in this particular matter, “Now come on in. We need to discuss a lot of things with the boys, since you’re gonna be part of the family now.”

“Please don’t say it like that,” Trixie said, as it made it sound like she was marrying Star Bright, when it was still unclear if she even wanted him as a coltfriend.

Carrot just laughed, headed to the farm house, with Trixie following after. She too wasn’t sure if the unicorn pair were meant to be, but getting a reaction out of Trixie from the mere implication was pretty fun. It was also a normal, and somewhat assertive response, instead of the usual sulking she was familiar with from the unicorn, so it showed that Trixie was slowly gravitating away from the personality she developed due to The Fall.

It’s about time, Carrot Top thought, as she had once been in a similar place, and hated seeing another mare resign themselves to such a mindset. She had reservations about Trixie living with her due to her attitude, but now she thought that there was hope for the mare yet. She just had to see how she’d react when the others came, and her stallion project truly began.

Later that day, Carrot Top sent a letter to Sunset Shimmer as she said she would, and the following morning it arrived at the club house. Starlight Glimmer, while doing the daily routine of instructions given to her by Sunset, collected the letter from the mailbox, and upon seeing it, made her way to the kitchen to meet with her caretaker.

“Sunset,” she said, her voice as cheerful as always, just as Sunset instructed her to be, “I got the letter you’ve been waiting for.”

Sunset Shimmer, who was busy drinking a cup of coffee that Starlight poured for her before attending to her morning chores, had her attention grabbed by the re-blank’s announcement. Placing the cup down, she gestured the other mare to her side, and took the letter as it was handed to her.

“Thank you, Starlight,” Sunset said, tearing open the envelope, “Let’s hope it has good news.”

Sunset skimmed the letter, and found it indeed held what she had hoped for. A request from Carrot Top to send Trixie’s things, what little she had, to the earth mare’s farm, which meant that the mare had succeeded in convincing Trixie to join in her project.

“Good,” Sunset said aloud, “Looks like Trixie is no longer going to be staying with us.”

While Trixie had been an invited guest, for several reasons, her welcome was starting to tire. While Sunset would never have outright evicted the mare, as she had proved useful in some aspects, her continued stay was making it difficult for the orange unicorn to focus on more important parts of her plan. That was why she requested Carrot Top have the blue mare participate in her program for stallions, and used Star Bright as bait to lure her in.

Had any other stallion been Carrot’s ward, it was unlikely Trixie would have had any interest in what Carrot was trying to do. The hard part was trying to get the earth mare to want to involve Trixie, but when Sunset implied that this would be an opportunity to shape up the blue unicorn as well, that intrigued her enough to want to give it a shot. After that, it was just a coin flip to see if Star Bright would be the deciding factor of her participation.

“Now that we’ve been freed of our responsibilities,” said Sunset, since Trixie and Star Bright were the ones taking advantage of the ‘shelter’ aspect of the club, “We’ll be able to focus more on the future.”

“Shame she’s gone though,” Starlight said as she placed what other letters she had on the table. All of them from other members of the support group, and none of which garnered enough importance for Sunset to look at that moment, “I really liked having her around.”

“You’re just saying that,” Sunset said, “And I mean that literally. If I didn’t tell you to treat every member like their your favorite pony, you’d have no opinion of them whatsoever. Remember, when we are alone, I am the only pony who you’re required to like.”

“Yes, Sunset.” Starlight said with a bow of her head, “Forgive me for forgetting your orders.”

“Do not concern yourself too much about it.” Sunset said, “You’re a blank, and your mistakes are my mistakes. If you’re not acting right, then it just means my programming has errors. I’ll have to find a way to rephrase your social protocols and friendship loop so you know the proper times to end them.”

“Of course, Sunset,” Starlight said again in compliance, having no real will of her own to understand what she had done wrong, or make judgements about how Sunset treated her.

All she knew was that she had to obey Sunset Shimmer, the one who had personally ‘re-blanked’ her with the blanking device while the Committee had control over it, and set herself as Starlight’s owner in the process. It was easy enough for the fiery unicorn mare to do, as Sunset had learned how to operate the device during the Fall, due to intel gathered on it by the spy network her rebel faction had.

The Committee, on the other hand, didn’t have that information, and believed they would have to pry it from caribou lips, until Sunset freely let them know she had researched it in hopes of learning how to revert the process, being one of the members herself at the time. She was more than happy to give a demonstration, but wanted Starlight to be the first to go through the process. The rest of the Committee agreed to these terms, so long as she shared with them how to operate the device. Starlight agreed, giving them written instructions on how to restore a pony the best she knew how, or at least that was what she said, as well as give a visual demonstration.

Of course, at some point the Committee members became distracted, and at that moment Sunset slipped in a few extra commands to make Starlight see her, and only her, as her owner. Other re-blanks were left purposefully masterless by Sunset’s process, and thus followed the commands of anypony who spoke them. This was part of the reason Starlight had shown so much ‘progress’ when compared to the others, because Starlight only had one master to please, opposed to thousands.

“We’ll worry about that later though,” Sunset said, excusing herself from the table, “For now, let’s go work on the final preparations of our pet project.”

“As you wish, Sunset.” Starlight said in compliance, and in unison, the two unicorn’s horns lit up with magic.

A moment later, a flash occurred, and they were no longer in the kitchen of the club house, but some other location within Equestria. They both had to immediately sit down, having used a lot of magic to travel a far distance in the blink of an eye, but as they parked their rumps onto some conveniently flat stones, a pair of cloaked figures approached them, both with horns sticking out of the hoods of their attire.

“Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, we were hoping you would return soon,” said one of the ponies, a mare.

“Give us a moment,” Sunset replied, still needing to rest from the calculated overuse of magic. The cloaked figures knew that this was normal, as the two always ended up this way on arrival, so they said nothing more as they patiently awaited the mares’ recovery.

Looking around the room, Sunset laid eyes on other ponies in cloaks, their identities hidden, but the orange mare knew them all. They were members of her former rebellion group, and prior to that the citizens of a city called ‘Our Town’. When Sunset stumbled upon them, they were little more than a cult dedicated to an ideal of equality, but it didn’t take long for Sunset to figure out the devious secret behind the cult’s leader.

With a bigger threat at Equestria’s doorstep, Sunset made a deal with Starlight not to expose her, in exchange for returning all the collected cutiemarks to their rightful owners. Many objected to the idea, but then Starlight convinced them that they all needed their talents if they were going to stand a chance against the caribou. What happened after that was history, but the short of it was that Sunset became co-leader with Starlight to form the most effective resistance group the caribou had ever faced, only to then become a secret faction dedicated to removing the incompetence in government that they believed the Committee of Ponies represented.

“What’s the status on the project?” Sunset said, regaining enough coherency to gather up her thoughts.

“We’ve made the adjustments Starlight suggested after the last failed attempt, and all the arrangements you asked of us are finished,” said the other cloaked figure, a stallion, “Things should be ready for you and Starlight’s final touches.”

“Good,” Sunset said, looking at a large object stowed away in this isolated space, a structure the other Our Town ponies were attending to.

A machine, one that was comprised of a large metal ring, bearing four metal shackle cuffs on its body, along with a stand covered in buttons that operated the object. It currently lacked the magics it needed to function, but it’s visage was as recognizable as it was imposing. It was the Blanking Device. The very one that the caribou created, and was stolen from the Committee as they were trying to relocate it out of Canterlot.

“Everypony,” Sunset said, hoping this time everything was set up right, “I need you all to stop what you’re doing, and come with me.”

“We’re leaving?” the mare questioned, “What for? If I may ask.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Starlight said, having recovered as well, “If the Blanking Device is ready…”

“Then we need some test subjects.” Sunset said, finishing the other unicorn’s thought.

As the days passed, the luxury that was ‘normality’ started to once again become an everyday commodity for Equestria. Ponies were able to return something reminiscent to the lives they once had, a form of stability within the grasp of a population that had been trapped in a waking nightmare for far too long. This widespread reversion to the social state of things before the caribou, while guided by the forces governing the kingdom, was more something brought to be by a collective effort of the citizens of Equestria themselves. A desire of the ponies to maybe not forget what had happened, but to deny their oppressors from having any more influence over them.

It was not a perfect act by any means, as the stress and trauma of the Fall was not simply ignored, but with the distractions provided through work, hobbies, or spending time with loved ones, all but a few were able to suppress those bad memories in the darkest corner of their minds. Perhaps this perspective was just a convenient fantasy for the victims of the caribou, but using these methods to further escape from the reality they were a part of was the best way for some to cope with what the caribou had done to them. Not every pony was allowed to forget what happened during the Fall though, as some were the very reason the cervid invaders of Equestria got as far, and lasted as long, as they did.

In the icy, snow capped mountains to the north of Equestria, there was an isolated city hidden in between peaks that were as treacherous as those who resided in it. It was a location few had ever seen with their own eyes, but all in the kingdom knew its name and purpose. “Red Town”, the village that held those who had willfully aided the oppressors of Equestria, in one manner or another.

The town, if it could even be called that, was comprised of many small shacks, huts even, that were all encircled by a large chain link fence, the weaving of said fence so tightly knit that one could hardly see out the other side, not that there was anything to see beyond it besides the rocky cliffsides of the surrounding mountains. Atop the fencing was a coiling of pointy wire, the likes of which would dissuade any flightless creature from trying to climb it from one side or another. Only a single road led into Red Town, going straight down the middle of it, which the pathways of all the small homes joined with. At one point, this allowed every building to be connected by a single street, but now there was yet another fence running right down the center of this road, each end of it reaching the encircling fence around Red Town, cutting the city into two halves.

To anyone who looked at this location, from outside or inside, the purpose of it was obvious. Officially, it was called a detainment camp, a place for any who had adequate evidence against them that pointed to them working with the caribou to stay in wait until they could get a promised day in court. It was clear though that this place was indistinguishable from a prison, meant to punish any who had so much as submitted to the caribou out of fear, by keeping them in this frigid place, far away from the rest of Equestria.

When first sent to this place, the amount of red collars and traitor stallions that were kept in this place were upwards into the hundreds, who had to share what little housing was available, cramming themselves inside the limited space to escape the cold nights upon the mountain top. This was doubly so for the mares, as the central fencing was a divider that separated the prisoners by sex, with stallions assumed to have helped the caribou willingly on one side, and a great deal more mares who had been clearly marked by their former masters with red collars on the oher, indicating that they had at the very least submitted to the caribou’s will.

After many trials had taken place, the buildings had become more empty, as the amount of ponies held in this location became fewer with each passing day. The amount of stallions to mares had become more even, as mares had a higher priority when being judged due to the overwhelming amount more compared to the few stallions.

The extra space might have been appreciated as it came, but this did little to provide actual comfort to the residents of Red Town, when it came to everything else that they had to put up with. Shared toilets and showers, one per house, with no less than five ponies in one shack even so late in the Fall. Around the clock surveillance over the city, with equestrian guards manning guard towers, and pegasi flying overhead from sunrise to sun-down, only to be replaced with search lights at night that often disturbed those trying to sleep in the poorly heated structures provided.

The captives did at least get three meals a day, but for many of the males imprisoned in Red Town, who had gained much power and influence by selling their loyalty to the caribou, everything served was not up to the standards they had become accustomed to, consisting of simple, uncooked vegetables and hay. On top of that, since the stallions hadn’t had their horns or wings removed like their female counterparts, they had to have said appendages bound, with horns fitted with magic negating rings, and wings tied in heavy leather straps that prevented them from opening.

It was a miserable experience for any who had to stay there, and one that many didn’t think they deserved. For many a red collared mare, there might have been some validity to that sentiment, when the worst they had done was cave to the demands of a cruel master who threatened torture and purpling if their obedience didn’t meet their standards of what a red collar was. For the stallions though, while they would make the same claims of cruel and unusual punishment, their objections were much harder to defend.

Any stallion that had endured so much of a week in Red Town could be linked to having aided and profited off the caribou’s cruel reign without any external influence controlling them. Most stallions controlled by the Crystal Heart’s enchantment didn’t have the clarity of mind to take advantage of a regime that, by its professed doctrine, should have given them every advantage, and pretty much stayed at the same position in society they started at, with the rare exception like Soarin taking over for some mare who had been their boss prior. Due to this inhibition brainwashed stallions had to advancing themselves beyond their current status, any stallion who thrived in under caribou rule were the ones who had suspicion cast upon them, especially if they happened to rise up so high that they were on the guest list for Dainn’s version of Grand Galloping Gala.

While there were many influenced stallions there, like as Fancy Pants and Shining Armor, those few were ones who held high social status prior to the annex of Equestria, and when the Crystal Heart was destroyed, showed the symptoms of panic and horror that most stallions did when they were released from the artifact’s enchantment. If a stallion didn’t suddenly experience an avalanche of raw emotion fall upon them at the realization of what atrocities they had been committing for a year, then that was seen as just another reason to believe they had been well aware of what evils they had been doing, and were happy to do so as long as they benefited from it.

As the sun rose over the secluded town, and ponies started to exit the shacks to greet yet another dismal day in Red Town, one such stallion made his way to the village streets to stretch his legs.

His name was Arcane Writ, and of all the traitor stallions, he had perhaps been the one who had both gained and lost the most during the brief time of the caribou. He had been there the night of the Gala, an invited guest due to his contributions to the caribou regime, and an archeologist by trade. Not the adventurous fictional stereotype one would find in a Daring Do novel intended to entertain foals with overactive imaginations, but the more boring realistic kind, that worked in dig sites and found dirt-covered pottery after hours of carefully dusting around a plot of ground. While legends of hidden temples and untold riches were part of what sparked his interest in this field as a colt, he learned over time that the profession was not nearly as exciting.

He was a unicorn, gray pelted with a slicked back purple mane, who up until the Fall had made little of a name for himself. It was rather hard for any in his field to be notable in any regard, what with Equestria’s past being kept fairly well documented, due to a thousand year old princess around, and the added detriment of many current day cities being the same ones established centuries prior, perhaps having moved a few hundreds yards away from the spot of their founding over time. It wasn’t that there was no place for the profession, it just wasn’t seen as that important when most discoveries had already been discovered.

The worst part of being an archeologist in Equestria was that it was hard to find locations within the kingdom that held interesting findings. The only ruin that seemed worth exploring after a while was the one within the Everfree Forest, as the forest was mostly unexplored and was sure to have interesting things there that had gone untouched for Celestia knew how long, but as these expeditions were sponsored by the alicorn princess herself, a trek into the Everfree was never allowed, for the express reason of safety.

With places inside Equestria not harboring anything of historical interest, the only thing that could really elevate the career of an up and coming explorer was the lands beyond the Equestrian border. For Arcane Writ though, that was out of the question. Places like Zebrica, Yakyakistan, and Abyssia were full of savage races who not only didn’t appreciate outsiders encroaching on their lands, but were often believed to go as far as to eat ponies like some sort of monsters. Even Griffonstone, which Equestria were on friendly terms with, was nothing but a nation of greedy barbarians in his eyes, who would have no problem leaving you stranded on a cliffside if the act of helping you didn’t somehow make them richer.

As much as Arcane wanted adventure, he wasn’t about to stick his neck out to find some trinket. So even when he was given an opportunity to advance his career, he would often pass it up, which then the project would end up going to some mare who was more bold than him. In turn, when said mare got recognition they would rightfully deserve for whatever findings they risked themselves for, Arcane would build up a resentment towards them for reaping rewards that could have, and in his mind should have, been his. To put it lightly, Arcane was never happy to have some other pony’s name overshadow his own.

This festering ire towards his colleagues was carried by Arcane for years, as he created a cycle of his own failure through the turning down of assignments that went outside his comfort zone. With Equestria’s population being vastly dominated by females, those who would take his place were more often than not mares, so over time this bitterness towards his fellow archeologist spread to a general hatred of women, who he saw as having every advantage in the matriarchy he had the misfortune of being born into, despite clearly being given many opportunities to better his position and gain notoriety.

While indignant, Arcane was not stupid, and knew that showing his resentment would get him nowhere, especially if the system was rigged against him as much as he believed. He would continue doing work within Equestria he could obtain, accepting what funding the princess would give him, while quietly loathing that he would never get the respect and recognition he deserved. As resentful as it made him, he would play his part and reluctantly live out his mediocre and unfulfilling life, taking slight satisfaction that as he became the head of more local projects that gave him some authority over mares just starting in the field, who would join his expeditions and excavations for learning experience. He would make subtle efforts to make their lives as miserable as his for as long as they worked under him.

Things continued like this until one day something truly insane happened. One morning, while working on a site near the Badlands, Arcane Writ woke up to find the stallions he had employed to do the heavy lifting for the operation pinning down, restraining, and raping all the mare researchers he had brought along. The screams and struggles of the mares left no room to mistake this as something more consensual, nor did the cruel and sadistic mockery and heckling from the stallions as they thrust themselves into their victims in rapid, powerful motions.

The sight of it immediately made him panic, and in his fear, he ducked back into his tent as he tried to make sense of the situation. His imagination made him think that the stallions had been thieves who had just been pretending to be hired hands, so that they could steal whatever the excavation would uncover if it happened to be valuable. Then he remembered that a few of researchers were stallions as well, and taking a peek outside once more, the gray unicorn could see that they were likewise participating in the rape of their fellow archeologists.

Arcane truly couldn’t wrap his head around it, as his first thought was that one of his stallion associates was doing something Dr. Caballeron would have in a Daring Do novel, but whatever was happening, he felt it was best that he made a break for it - cut a hole in the back of his tent and just leave so he didn’t get wrapped up in all this. As he made his attempt though, one of his underlings entered the tent, greeting his superior with a ‘good morning’ and acting very friendly for such a hostile situation.

The gray unicorn couldn’t even remember the words his underling was saying, but he presented the rape orgy outside like some casual act of camaraderie between stallions. He was also treating Arcane with a strange level of respect, referring to him as ‘Director’, as other researchers usually did, and apologizing that they didn’t wait for him to wake up before starting. All this came to a head when the stallion said that he saved something for his superior, and after leaving the tent for just a moment, he came back dragging one of the mare researchers in with him.

She was Arcane’s personal assistant for this particular expedition, the pony who was supposed to be directly under him in authority, though Arcane never treated her as anything more than a secretary who would dictate his instructions, not even bothering to remember her name, as he had gone through many mares like her in his line of work. Still, this earth pony, with her short blond hair and golden fur, and green eyes partially obscured behind a set of frameless glasses, was not the kind of mare one didn’t notice. Her figure was toned, as many earth ponies were, but slender, and curvy in all the right places. The kind of body that Arcane would secretly undress with his mind when the mare wasn’t looking, and now could compare his depiction with the real thing, as the mare had the front of her button up shirt torn open, and her bottom half stripped bare.

The men outside had taken the liberty of tying her body up in the twine they used to cordon off an area for digging, with someone in the group having to know something about tying and knots, as they formed an impressive harness out of it that hugged her body tightly, constricting around her neck, breasts, crotch and hips, while leaving everything accessible, and binding her arms behind her back as well. The stallion researcher made no vague statements as he let Arcane know that this earth mare was now his to use as he pleased.

Arcane Writ was left speechless and stunned, unsure what had happened, as his mind once again wandered to the adventure books that lead him to this profession, and the possibility that his crew had triggered some curse left on the dig site that he had somehow avoided due to sleeping in. His body quivered, at what he wanted to call fear at the time, but looking back at the moment, he recognized it as pure excitement. With some hesitation, the unicorn gave into a primal desire to dominate this mare, to take from her a sense of satisfaction he had been denied by mares so many times prior. He would excuse it as him complying with the wishes of the other stallions to avoid conflict that would come from refusal, but as he pushed the mouth of the helpless mare around his cock, he knew that his actions were not of coercion, but desire.

Things only got stranger for Arcane as after each stallion got their fill of pleasure from the mares, himself included, they simply returned to business as usual, only with the mares now kept prisoner and kept as slaves. In bewilderment, he watched stallions continue clearing the site and digging for whatever remnants of lost civilization they could find, all the while poking fun at the mares for the misfortune that had befallen them by the stallion’s hands. Occasionally, they would take a break to go back and violate a mare again, but they didn’t appear to see a single issue in the way they were treating their female colleagues.

Yet, while Arcane could see the outrageous moral issues of enslaving his female co-workers and using them against their will for sexual pleasure, he didn’t refrain from doing the same. In fact, he spent more time forcing himself inside the mares than any others, as his duties as head of the project allowed him more time to do so. All the while he tried to work in his head how he would explain this to Princess Celestia once the mares were eventually rescued, believing he would be able to piggyback on excuse that whatever inflicted the other stallions had affected him as well, but within a week’s time, all of his mental planning was discarded when he had his first troubling encounter with a caribou, and was informed that Equestria was under new management.

After that, it did not take long for Arcane to put the pieces together, and learn about how the Crystal Heart was being used by the caribou as a ‘cure’ to relieve stallions of any thoughts that mares, or any other females, should be treated as equals. For a short time after returning to civilization, Arcane wondered if he too had been affected, as he had to admit that his actions with the mares of his last professional outing were not what he considered moral, but soon came to the conclusion that he was not for two reasons. The first was that he could even question such a thing in the first place, seeing as all other stallions saw the cure as what it was presented as, and the second being that he understood that Equestria had been taken over and occupied by tyrants, who were using their warped beliefs as justification to abuse and enslave every female unfortunate to be within their reach.

That knowledge should have been a heavy burden on the stallion, and while he didn’t enjoy the idea of a savage species subjugating ponies to their will, Arcane did enjoy that, for once, stallions, and him in particular, were at a distinct advantage over mares. The fact that he was effectively pardoned for all he had done at the dig site, since under caribou law he committed no crime, endeared him slightly to his new rulers, as did his ability to keep the golden-furred mare as his personal sexual servant, but this chance in sentiments didn’t come until the tail end of the caribou’s first month of rule. That really was all the time it took to become convinced he preferred it more than Celestia’s own brand of leadership.

Then one morning, a caribou messenger arrived at Arcane’s doorstep, speaking on behalf of Dainn. The caribou king had wished to start an initiative to research into the truth of Equestria’s history, which the caribou king had described as ‘cluttered with obvious falsehoods. He based this purely on the caribou belief that females could not be as competent, clever, powerful, or resourceful as even the dumbest, clumsiest, weakest, or most incompetent male, and thus any records depicting otherwise had to be incorrect. Dainn’s belief in this was absolute, despite the living embodiment of those records having ruled over Equestria for a millennia, and him personally experiencing first hand how powerful her magic was, even if the caribou had ultimately defeated her. Arcane could attest to many of the historical records being accurate, as while he never found anything truly groundbreaking within Equestria’s borders, he found plenty of old trinkets that backed up things that ponies already knew about their past.

As one of the few remaining archeologists though, since every mare of the profession had been reduced to the same positions of sexual servitude as every other mare, Arcane was practically conscripted into this wild goose chase to find some hint that Equestria’s roots were as drenched in the ideals of male supremacy as the caribou were now. Though he knew better, Arcane didn’t see it as his place to inform Dainn that his belief of Equestria’s past was simply wrong, not only because he knew this truth would not be well received, but because he saw this as the opportunity he was looking for.

Each stallion that was part of this project was given a small bit of funding, a permit to investigate any location they believed would lead to the ‘true’ history of Equestria’s past, and a short period of time to prepare before they’d have to leave on their journey. The other stallions that were part of this were eager to get to work, believing wholeheartedly that they would find something in their brainwashed state, as they were forced to believe that Dainn’s assumptions were correct. For Arcane though, knowing there was nothing to find that supported Dainn’s beliefs, he got to work on making sure he would get the results his other colleges couldn't.

While Arcane was not as accredited for his historical findings as some other ponies, his time in the field gave him a knowledge of the land that few other ponies had. He knew where he could find some empty cave, or abandoned ravine that would seem like it should have had something important hidden away within it, though never did. These would be the ideal locations for his ‘research’, and all he needed was to acquire his ‘findings’, and that required the help of a pony with talent that Arcane didn’t himself possess.

The gray unicorn sought out an artist who was willing to discreetly work on some projects for him, as well as travel to an out of the way location for a few weeks. Luckily for the unicorn, all stallions under the influence of the caribou had developed some seedy aspects to their personalities, and the first one of merit he stumbled upon was more than willing to be part of Arcane’s scheme, just not for the small sum of bits the king gave him. He needed the artist though, so while it pained him, Arcane offered his first possession in the new kingdom, the golden mare that he had been granted. The notion of possessing another mare was enough to persuade the presumably mind-controlled artist, and thus the deal was made.

For the next month, the pair traveled to several difficult to get to areas of Equestria, and using a book of old world art Arcane still possessed, started to create pieces that would match the artistic styles depicted, while adding to it the subject matter the caribou desired. The two worked together, putting all their effort into the forgeries, and by the second month of the occupation, the deed was done. Arcane presented some of the high quality fakes to Dainn shortly after, and as expected, the caribou king accepted them unquestioningly as the genuine article.

From that point forward, Arcane’s position in the kingdom skyrocketed. The other archeologists, who had uncovered nothing of the sort, wanted to join him on his next search for lost treasures, happy to work as his underlings in such momentous important moments in Equestrian history, even though Arcane had the stipulation that he was to be accredited for anything found. With each new exploration of Equestria always ending in more of his forgeries ‘found’, King Dainn’s funding for his projects, as well as his commission for finding these objects, went through the roof, as Arcane Writ became one of the few ponies he could actually depend on to get results.

By the middle of month four, Arcane had become one of the most famous ponies that had ever lived in Equestria, as every stallion wanted to know the unicorn who had discovered the kingdom’s hidden, male dominated past. Arcane received many invitations to high class parties, where he wined and dined with the upper crust of a caribou ran society, each wishing to hear the unicorn recount his adventures, to which he took the opportunity to exaggerate far beyond the simple lie of merely stumbling upon the false artifacts he had created. It didn’t take long for him to be seen as the kind of adventurer he always believed he would be as an archeologist.

Not longer than that, Arcane found a position among these aristocrats, as his money and influence got him a place in Canterlot as one of the elites. He was allowed by Dainn to buy up a sizable portion of land in the capital, not too far from the castle itself, that once had been owned by rich mares, and build upon it his own manor in which to enjoy the leisure of his new life. The stallions of the city, now having easier access to this important unicorn, would invite him to their homes, tempting him with gifts or the unrestricted use of their personal harems, which extended to their own enslaved wives. This was, of course, just a side effect of the enchantment the caribou put on the Crystal Heart, leading males to want to degrade their mares though sharing them with as many other guys as possible, but Arcane was so pleased that he was able to turn so many of these snobbish stallions into cucks because of it.

The gray unicorn eventually made up his own harem, whom unlike others among the brainwashed masses, he did not just offhandedly share with others. It was comprised of many beautiful mares of once high renown, as well as a small collection of zebra once the caribou managed to get their nation to submit, as the unicorn’s phobia of the species he considered ‘savage’ turning to fetish when he realized he could own them. With his home, popularity, and more mares than he even knew what to do with, Arcane had achieved what he felt was a perfect life, given the respect and appreciation by all his peers that he had always believed he deserved. There had been slight hiccups along the way, but in his mind he had managed to turn even those into more success.

This ascension to the status Arcane believed he always deserved was capped off with one final act of recognition, when a letter arrived a week prior to the anniversary of the old empire’s fall, within it holding an invitation, hand-signed by King Dainn himself, for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala. Knowing that any pony of true importance would be there, and the delights that the party would have in store for its male attendees, no one would decline such an offer.

And of course, that was what led to his downfall. Arcane was rounded up at the celebration, and became one of the first accused of betraying Equestria, kept under close watch from the moment of his arrest, never given any opportunity to even attempt escape.

He had tried bartering for his freedom once Equestria became more stable, through several means, but no matter what he tried, something seemed to get in the way. He was willing to give information on other stallions thought to be traitors, but he actually had little info on others who were like himself. On top of that, when the Committee of Ponies learned from his former artist associate, whom had been one of the brainwashed stallions, of the way he had tried to distort Equestria’s history via his forgeries, their interest on what information Arcane might have on others vanished. The unicorn then tried to offer some of the old painting and works of art that had been missing, objects that he convinced Dainn to grant to him for his ‘service to Equestria’, a private collection which he had then stashed away in a secret location, and had guarded by several of his loyal zebra red collars.

The return of such irreplaceable items did make the Committee reluctantly consider cutting Arcane some form of deal, until said items ended up being returned to Equestria without his help. It seemed his trust in his ‘loyal’ zebra slaves was incredibly misplaced, as every mare Zebrica had sent to Equestria as tribute were actually spies sent with the intent of upheaving the caribou regime from within. So when news of the Fall concluding reached those he had let stand watch over his ill-gotten treasures, the zebra mares simply returned it all of their own accord, foiling what little chance Arcane had at even getting a reduced sentence.

With that option gone, the ruins of what he had thought was a carefully stacked deck he had created were spiraling out of control around him. He had thought he had one last card to play, but that too was devastated the moment the Committee’s roster had unexpectedly changed. Now all he could do was wait in Red Town until his day in court came, which he dreaded more than anything else. What he wouldn’t give for the caribou to somehow regain the foothold of power they once held, now that it seemed like it was the only way he’d avoid a one way trip to Tartarus.

Starting his day discouraged of the future, as he did so many days in this dismal, frigid town, Arcane went meandering around the limited space he had available. He was not the only one either, as others would periodically do the same, as their only other option of activity in this place was staying inside their shacks and waiting on the ever encroaching time when they would be taken to be judged for their actions. Walking around at least lets the prisoners’ minds focus on other things, like how miserable they were in the moment. Talking with his fellow conspirators was about the only other thing Arcane could have done to pass the time, but by this point all matters that were worth discussing had been, and had they not been the conversations with other stallions by this point had devolved to them declaring how screwed they were.

Some had incredibly valid reasons to see this as the case too, as earlier on the bolder stallions among the detained had openly admitted some of the things they did for the sake of wealth, power, or general lust. They assumed that the caribou would somehow recover, take over again, and such boasts among their peers would be recognized. Nearly a year later, those who did this and remained were not so secure in their actions, and were troubled that somepony might have snitched on them, the building pressure getting to them.

The fact that no one who left for their trial ever returned, and no news on whether they were found guilty or innocent, only added to the stress of the situation. The idea that the trials were a sham was also becoming a common belief, with the assumption that they were being held to uphold some public image of legal fairness, and Red Town was just an in between point the Committee used while they were figuring out which jail they would eventually send each prisoner.

As troubling as these presumptions were for anypony in Arcane’s position, he couldn’t find the effort to be bothered by it. His attempts to broker a deal for immunity or a lighter sentence had each been denied, and that felt like a bold declaration from the Committee that he would be found guilty when his time came. If that were the truth, and the unicorn was getting a one way trip to Tartarus or some other prison, then there was little use in worrying about it, as it would only be a slight downgrade from the punishment he was already enduring.

Making his way to where the houses ended, Arcane slipped back into the central streets, going near the dividing fence. He would make a few laps around the buildings like this, ignoring the cold of the town’s climate, in order to pass the time. After that he’d go back inside for a while to warm up as he waited for lunch, only to repeat the process as he waited for dinner. That truly was the limitations of his situation, as the Committee had not seen it fit to provide any forms of entertainment for the condemned, not so much of a deck of cards to play a game of solitaire with.

As Arcane made his way from one side of town to the other, trying to mind his own business, his movement through town caught the attention of somepony within the town. However, it wasn’t a pony on the stallion side of town who noticed him, but from the mare side. It took a minute for Arcane to hear the sound of approaching hoof steps within the snow, and even longer to see movement in his peripherals, but once that happened the unicorn realized he was being followed.

Before the mare on the other side, whom Arcane had still not taken a good look at as he resisted the reflex to turn his head towards her, could speak so much as a word, he already developed several assumptions about her based purely on her actions. Normally, a pony would never approach the fence to speak with a pony of the opposite sex, as there was a stigma for interactions of that type. It wasn’t forbidden by the guards, but it was a belief among the inmates that any stallion or mare that would desire to converse with one another would only wish to do so in order to partake in some unsavory activity with one another.

Arcane couldn’t begin to say how that rumor started, but seeing as many Red Collar mares were simply victims of circumstance, both during and after the Fall, it probably was something started by a group of them who didn’t want to be associated with any ponies who could be legitimate traitors to Equestria, which there was a high ratio among the stallions.

Though, while plenty of Red Collars in Red Town had been of the ‘coerced’ or ‘unwilling’ variety, there were also a good few who had been legitimate followers of the caribou’s ideals. Those who found the way the caribou wanted to treat them, and other females, thrilling and fun. These ones either saw playing the part of the insatiable whore as some novel means to escape the humdrum existence that was Equestrian life, or they found some advantage being slaves in a caribou run kingdom that they couldn’t in a pony ran one. Mares like these truly were not too different from any stallion uninfluenced by the Crystal Heart, fulfilling their perverse desires and corrupt goals, never being more free than they were within leather binds and iron chains.

While many such a mare feigned innocence, trying to avoid a form of imprisonment that wouldn’t indulge their hedonistic cravings, there were a few so thoroughly trained as slaves that not even the defeat of their enslavers would permit them to reflect on the wrongs they been accomplice to, if only through going along with their master’s every wish. Slavery was natural in the eyes of these Red Collars, and the satisfaction that came from being used was like an addiction. One that overcame any fear of being punished for contributing to the caribou’s corrupt version of leadership and order. They might have been a dwindling breed in Red Town, as so many went off to their trials, but on occasion a mare who was truly submissive and obedient would make an effort to let a stallion know they were there to show their support, in what little ways they could.

“Excuse me, sir,” the mare said meekly behind Arcane as he kept his pace, “I wanted to a-”

“If you’re looking for a new master, mare, then I’m not interested.” Arcane says, cutting off the mare before she could make any such offer, “Even if I was tempted, you couldn’t do much with this fence between us.”

“No sir, I didn’t want that,” the mare said, still following behind the stallion, “I’m actually looking for my old master. I haven’t seen him in weeks, and I’m really worried.”

So she is a loyal Red, Arcane thought to himself, still not looking back at the mare.

“I know you know who he is, because I’ve… umm… entertained you at one of his parties before.”

“You have no idea how little that narrows it down,” Arcane replied, having been to more parties where the host let him screw their slaves than he could count.

“Then perhaps you’ll remember his name. It’s-”

“Stop right there,” Arcane said, “Whoever it is, I assure you I do not associate with them anymore. Every stallion left over here has pretty much gone solo, and that’s assuming your former master is even among what remains. I would recommend that you forget about him, and start rehearsing how you’ll beg the Committee for forgiveness. It shouldn't be that hard, you’ve spent plenty of time on your knees.”

“Please, I’m really worried about him!” the mare said, rushing ahead of Arcane, and tossing herself against the fence to get his attention.

For the first time, Arcane got a good look at the mare, and saw she was another unicorn like himself, the bangs of her long, flowing, if a bit unkempt, mane parting enough in front to allow him to see the horn stump bestowed upon her by the caribou. She was a pretty mare, he’d give her that, with what looked like a nice, curvy figure with sizable breasts under the shirt and pants provided by their wardens, but Arcane had owned prettier mares who he hadn’t given the slightest concern for.

However, with her in his sights, Arcane did recall this particular mare once pressing her lips against his crotch as she throated his dick. He didn’t recall her name, as he seldom did when it came to unimportant ponies, but he did vaguely recall who she belonged to. Some earth pony stallion who was a nobody prior to the caribou, and only made it big due to all his competitors being enslaved, giving him a monopoly on whatever business he ran. Stories like that in the Fall were a dime a dozen, down to the stereotype of him eventually owning said female business rivals after the fact. This particular mare wasn’t one of them, but instead some prized mare he had acquired some time later, though that value was perhaps only held by her owner, and even when it came to his own feelings towards her those opinions were probably overstated.

“Ah, right, you.” Arcane said, at least giving the mare the courtesy of knowing she had been recognized, “I remember you, and your owner. If you want the honest truth, I haven’t seen him.”

“I know he was over there at some point though,” the unicorn mare said, “I’d see him from time to time, but he never came over to say anything to me when I tried to get his attention.”

“Sounds like he was abandoning you then,” Arcane said, “Or if I wanted to be generous, he might have been trying to protect you. You mares at least have the convenient excuse of being pressured into slavery, even if for you that’s not true. Associating with your former master would pretty much remove any claim to that defense though.”

In reality, Arcane felt it was the other way around, as it was more likely that the mare’s master didn’t want there to be any assumptions that he was trying to further control his prior slave.

“Want my advice, accept the gift of his distance. Keep your head down, and throw yourself at the mercy of the court when you get there. Then if you manage to get let go, go back to your old life and forget about your master.”

“I don’t want to.” the mare said, pouting at the potential loss of the stallion who had kept her as a sex slave, and passed her around to his friends and associate’s as a literal party favor, “My life wasn’t great before he met me, and I can’t think of going on without him.”

“Dear Celestia, you’ve got it bad,” Arcane said, the dependency of this mare on a male that no doubt saw her as another hole to screw beginning to annoy him, if only because it reminded him of the better days he will never be able to return to, “Look here, we don’t have any sick or injured on our side of the town, so if you haven’t see your master in some time, that probably means he’s been taken to be judged. If that’s the case, you’re probably never gonna see him again, cause if he ended up here, then odds are he’s gonna end up in Tartarus too.”

“Why would you say that?” the mare replied, her voice raising slightly as the idea of her never getting to be with or see her master again became a possibility to her.

“Because my optimism of this situation is gone.” Arcane said, “The caribou were defeated, all who have allied with them have been arrested, and the future for both is imprisonment in the darkest, dankest pits Equestria has to offer. It’s no different for me, and no different for your master. Personally, I might just admit guilt when my trial comes just to get to my final destination faster.”

Having given the female unicorn his sentiments on things, Arcane continued walking down the fence, heading to a house at the end of the central road, a building that at one point was home to the mayor of this village, before it became a prison. There was no reason to go there, as the building had been closed off, boarded up, with the outer fence grafted to the back of it with nails and staples. The central divider ran right up to the front, blockading the building’s entryway and making it part of the dividing wall separating the town’s parts, so it was the equivalent of a huge block that cluttered the already small space they had been given. It wasn’t as if it even gave some facsimile of privacy, as all angles of it were in clear view of the guard towers.

The building wasn’t Arcane’s destination, but a structure he’d have to pass by during his walk. However, he found himself stopping at it when he detected that he was still being shadowed by the mare seeking her master.

“Why are you following me?” Arcane said, the mare’s pestering getting on his nerves, “I don’t have anything for you.”

“But I don’t know what to do.” the mare pathetically replied, “I’ve been owned for so long that I don’t know how to take care of myself.”

“That can’t be the truth,” Arcane said back, “You’ve been here for how long, without male supervision. Be honest, you’re just trying to latch onto the first stallion who crossed your path after finding out that your last one is gone. You’re a submission junkie, and for as amusing as that is, I can’t take advantage of your mental illness with this barrier between us.”

“There’s no need to be mean about it…” said the mare, her own frustration subtly appearing for the first time, “I… just need a stallion to tell me what to do, and praise me for doing as I’m told.”

“Yeah, I got that.” said Arcane, not enjoying the mare declaring something so obvious, as if any pony would not notice her need for attention, “But what am I gonna do? Ask you to remove your clothes so I can look at your body.”

Perceiving that as a command, the mare gripped the bottom front of her shirt, and started lifting it up.

“Stop that!” Arcane said, his annoyance turning to anger, “There is no point in teasing me with your body if I have to go jerk off some place like some common cuck.”

Just thinking about having to provide himself pleasure, and having to seclude himself in a private space like a bathroom to do so, reminded him of all the brainwashed stallions who had to do such shameful acts while he had his way with their wives. Having once been at the top of the hierarchy when it came to the male dominated society, he would rather go without than to reduce himself to something so personally humiliating.

“Unless some miracle happens, and we both would be set free, I have no desire to be your master.”

Arcane wished he didn’t have to refuse such an eager, submissive mare, but there was truly no point in ‘owning’ her if all he could do was look. Further still, there was little reason to get into the mindset that she was his slave if he was destined to be sent to another prison where he would surely be close enough to her for such ownership to matter. That was assuming she wouldn’t just toss herself at the next stallion that came along, which her willingness to disregard her previous master for him made a likely thing that would happen. The thought of something that belonged to him, if ever so briefly, going to some other, lesser stallion was revolting, further compounded by the fact that he had lost every slave he ever had, some of which betraying him in the process.

How did it come to this? That he, of all stallions, had to go through this. After all he had to do in order to claw himself up from what he thought was rock bottom, climbing to the peak of success, and then plummeting straight down to depths unfathomed. At one point he was so powerful that all he had to do was claim a stallion he didn’t like to be secretly harboring views that mares shouldn’t be slaves, and not only would that stallion be switched into a female, but the former male would be dropped on his doorstep by week’s end to join Arcane's harem as but another sexual servant within it, reduced to a life of cleaning his sack with their tongue on a daily basis. This was not even a mere assumption on his part, as the very thing happened once to a stallion named Trenderhoof, a unicorn magazine columnist who like so many others couldn’t control his actions while brainwashed, and repulsed Arcane so much by his mere existence that the gray unicorn chose to ruin his life on a whim. Now Arcane had so little authority and respect that he couldn’t get an extra piece of bread from the food line.

The worst thing of it was that he had, in many ways, seen the collapse of the Caribou kingdom coming. How anypony who wasn’t being mentally manipulated could not was beyond him, with how much the caribou gorged themselves on the resource rich Equestria, as if they were a swarm of locusts devouring everything in sight. It would take someone as willfully ignorant as the caribou themselves to not notice that little was being done to replenish what they took from the ponies near perfect agricultural system, which they heavily disrupted with their anti-female policies.

Arcane’s foresight in this matter was part of the reason why he had convinced Dainn to grant him the works of art that the deer king would have discarded, as while owning these priceless treasures had a certain feeling of prestige to it, the fact that they were so valuable made them the perfect nest egg for him to sit on once his benefactors fell from grace. His plan was to leave the kingdom when the chaos of revolution started, wait until the dust settled, and then once the new rulers were established he could return and privately sell off the national treasures to whatever rich pony would be interested in acquiring a piece of lost Equestrian history.

His only mistake was assuming that the beginning of the end would be more obvious, that there would be signs of mass victories from those who rebelled against the caribou, which would signal the time for him to leave. The unicorn had gone so far in his preparations as to establish ties with members of the rebellion when one faction discreetly tried to recruit him, so he could get a heads up on when they intended to strike too close to his Canterlot estate. How was he supposed to know that ground zero would be what was supposed to be the most secure event of the year, due to the most unpredictable set of circumstances imaginable?

Despite accepting his fate, Arcane could never admit that it was any fault of his own that he ended up in Red Town. It was not his fault that he was somehow immune to the Crystal Heart’s magic. It was not his fault that he was made to follow the caribou’s laws and rules, no matter how much they benefited him. It was not his fault that in order to succeed under those laws, he had to appeal to Dainn’s desire to alter history to his male dominated vision. It was not his fault that all his contingencies against being caught up in the inevitable end of the Fall was brought to ruin by a single back water country bumpkin doing what should have been considered by everypony as the dumbest thing imaginable, just to protect his fuck slut of a sister, a mare who just had to defy the only person who ever tilted the scales of destiny into Arcane’s favor, and both of which he was convinced were inbred mud ponies who’s unnatural levels of earth pony strength could only be the cause of genetic mutation!

Arcane gritted his teeth as once more had to be reminded that his once perfect life had been ripped away from him by sheer, unforeseeable circumstance, replaced with the shittiest outcome one of his prior stature could have received. Had he the jaw force, nothing would have stopped him from cracking those teeth to fragmented shards, that was how enraged he was becoming from talking to this mentally deficient degenerate of a mare, that he only loathed because he could never truly have her. Repulsed by being denied something so close that he could literally touch it through the fence, the stallion turned away, ready to continue his uneventful lap around the city grounds, now so he can try and cool off, instead of trying to stave off boredom.

While trying to walk away, though, the stallion heard the words “So you’re seeking a miracle?” said behind his back.

The words could have been literally anything, as it seemed that the Red Collar wouldn’t give up, and the response was always going to be the unicorn stallion turning back around, and practically screaming at the mare, “Will you just shut the fuck up?!”.

The mare looked back in shock, confused as to what brought on this reaction from the, until now, composed stallion. The only response she could think of as the unicorn, who in no way could get to her, shot fear into her being was “I didn’t say anything!”.

“Don’t you lie to me, you irritating cunt! I just heard you say-!”

“Silence, stallion.” the stallion heard, ending Arcane’s rant abruptly, as a voice with no visible owner hit his ears. “Unless you want to bring attention to yourself.”

This time he could see the mare on the other side of the fence wasn’t moving her mouth, so he couldn’t pin the blame on her. “Who’s saying that?” Arcane asked, his eyes darting around, but seeing no other ponies close enough to be in ear shot, especially with how calmly and quiet the voice was.

“Somepony who can get you out of here.” the voice said again, this time loud enough for both Arcane and the mare to both hear, “Both of you, and more.” Arcane started looking around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, because it didn’t sound telepathic. The voice’s owner picked up on the stallion’s actions, and then scolded him by saying, “Don’t look for me. You’ll draw attention to yourself.”

“Your voice…” Arcane said, detecting something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, so instead he fell back on a detail he could, “It’s a mare’s voice. Why would a mare want to help any ponies of Red Town.”

“Because not all who served our masters were imprisoned by the usurpers,” the voice replied, “Now listen, both of you. Allies to the caribou are setting up an escape from this prison that will happen in three days. Inform as many still here that you believe to be truly loyal to be prepared, and wait near this building on the third night from today.”

“What do we do then?” asked the mare, who was finding it hard to contain her emotions, fidgeting on the spot, in vain of her attempts to not draw attention to herself. It was good for her that none of the guards perceived either her or the stallion across the fence from her as doing anything out of the ordinary.

“You will see an obvious signal that night,” the voice continued, “You and whoever you convince to come along will have to run towards it, where those like myself will take you from this place, to somewhere the guards will not be able to follow.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” said Arcane, “You won’t even let us see you.”

“You both can choose not to accept our offer of freedom,” the voice answered, “But at this point what do you have to lose? Those who are kept here are doomed to life long imprisonment, either in Tartarus, or elsewhere.”

“So it’s true,” Arcane said, wide eyed, “This is just a detainment area for those they believe supported the caribou.”

“The Committee of Ponies has not been kind to those they judge,” the voice explained, “Which is why we must band together, to release the masters from their own imprisonment, and restore Equestria to the natural order.”

Arcane had to stifle a groan, with how clear the holder of this voice was displaying their indoctrination. The mare speaking to him had no less a tainted mind than the one on the other side of the fence, in pure belief that the caribou were actually beneficial to Equestria. He had no idea what the kingdom looked like at the moment, but whatever it was had to be better than how it would have been if caribou remained in charge for this long. Only the most deluded fools would think it was a good idea to put them in power again, but this deluded fool was the only chance Arcane had to get out of Red Town.

The stallion would keep his mouth shut, for the sake of escape alone, but once he was out of here and in a position to leave whatever band of caribou followers this was, he’d leave them, leave Equestria, and start a new life elsewhere. Let the kingdom turn to rot after that, either through the caribou’s misguided rule, or a war that would lead it all to ruin. He truly didn’t care so long as everyone who participated in turning his destiny so sour got the end they so rightfully deserved.

“Remember, the third night from tonight. Bring as many as you believe you can trust, but be careful with who you tell. We would not want our plans to be foiled by loose lips.”

Believing that was all the voice had to say, the unicorn mare gave a nod, and made a sprint back to the houses on her side, motivated by the prospect of freedom, not only for herself, but for her master should the caribou be restored as rulers of Equestria. Arcane turned to walk away as well, not in as much of a rush to get to others to spread the good news. All that really mattered was that he knew about this plan to extricate prisoners from Red Town.

Arcane took a few steps away from the building he had been standing by for so long, but then froze when something dawned on him. The voice had said that they had to wait near ‘this building’ on the third night. Not ‘the building you are standing by’, or ‘the large building at the end of town’, but ‘this building’. That caused Arcane to think a bit more about the meaning of the wording, and believing he figured out something, he spun back around to the closed off mayoral home.

He didn’t even know where to look, but for some reason his eye landed on one of the boarded up windows. None of the windows were completely sealed, the planks placed over them only being enough to deter or delay anyone who might want to try and get inside, despite everything of value or use being removed prior. However, as Arcane looked through a crack into what should have been an empty building, he spotted an eye looking back at him.

Upon being noticed, the owner of the ocular organ moved out of sight, perhaps not knowing if they had ducked in time to avoid being spotted. Arcane had seen something though, and that was a bit of white surrounding the eye, at the facial fur around the eye’s socket. That was all he could really see before the figure vanished, and didn’t really answer anything about who this intruder on the prison grounds was, as there were far too many mares in Equestria with white fur patterns to try and deduce who could be trying to orchestrate this prison break, and that was assuming he even knew who this was in the first place.

At this point, whoever this benefactor was didn’t matter, and having seen them changed nothing. So long as the voice was being truthful, the unicorn would get all his answers in three days time, along with a means to escape the terrible fate that the Committee of Ponies would have prescribed for him. All he had to do was wait… and hope that the mysterious mare was not simply pulling his leg.

So I think I mentioned it before, but I'll be taking a bit of a break from this to work on some holiday themed stories for the next few months. While this might not be what some of you were expecting, I feel this is a good place to stop, seeing what is coming next. When I get back to this story, which should be after chirstmas, I should be able to work through the rest of it in a quicker pace, as my job is easing up a bit on me, which is a trend I'm hoping will stick for a while. Until then, I hope you all enjoy the time in between now and when the story restarts.