The following day, the sun rose over Canterlot, not a cloud in the sky obstructing its rays from touching the city. The once proud capital of Equestria, and the place the caribou used to keep a hoofhold on the nation, was now a base of operations for recovery efforts. Acting as a headquarters for said efforts was the castle itself, where several ponies of influence and importance, who had contributed in some manner to end the caribou’s reign met frequently to decide what actions the kingdom should take on the road to restoration.

That morning marked yet another meeting of this small group known as “The Committee of Ponies”. Together, they walked into what was formerly Celestia’s throne room, six in total, three of them mares and three stallions, all treated as equals. They made their way to their designated seats to begin another long meeting to see how far Equestria had truly progressed, what they should focus their resources on, and discuss how to stabilize social unrest until things would go back to normal.

The first one to reach their seat was Princess Luna, whose chair was placed at the far end of the long table, closest to the door. To the left of her seat were three chairs, as were to her right, and as she placed her rump down, the remainder of Committee went to these opposing sides separating themselves by gender.

“We hereby bring this meeting of The Committee of Ponies to order.” Luna said before any other pony could be seated, wanting to get started as soon as possible. As vital as these gatherings were, each pony here had their own responsibilities, and thus every second of their precious time mattered. Ceremony meant little to Luna if the ponies of Equestria were currently suffering because of a lack of guidance.

The second pony to take their place at the table was an earth pony, one with yellow fur and golden hair, and went by the name of Braeburn. During the Fall, this stallion had successfully managed to run a farm that acted as a sanctuary for mares, right underneath the noses of the caribou tyrants. While his actions were directed towards helping his immediate family, the fact that he was able to help anypony, and on such a large scale, was impressive. His talents at management and gathering ponies for a common goal were undeniable, and that, along with a recommendation from Big Mac, had gotten him his place in the committee.

“Ah’ve got a report on the food situation,” Braeburn started, pulling up a folded up piece of paper from the pocket of his duster. “It seems that most farms in Equestria have been able t’ remove the rape pods from their lands,” he said, opening up the white sheet, “An’ within a month everythin’ should be back t’ tip top shape, but as it stands now we are still only making about half what we were anticipating by now, an’ even once they are fixed up it’ll take a few months to get food growing the way it use t’.”

One of the biggest problems that the ponies were left with in the wake of Dainn’s rule was a large shortage of food caused by their need to use fertile farmland to grow abominable plants who’s only use seemed to be making a sexual stimulant. The monstrous weeds not only took up space necessary to grow much needed food for the entire kingdom, but also proved incredibly difficult to remove after the ones wanting them grown were expelled from the position of power. The roots had to be dug out completely, and the plants actively attacked any female that got close to them, limiting the amount of workers who could safely remove them. What might have taken a week with a full work force was being drawn out over a month.

“The rape pods aren’t the only problems to report when it comes to our food supply,” said Spitfire, the Wonderbolt captain, as she took her place at the table, seated diagonally from the farm stallion, “With much of the female pegasi population still having issues with flying, the weather teams we have on hand are bare-boned. While we can now move water to Cloudsdale with the use of hurricanes, we still have limited supplies of rain water.”

“The rain we have is enough for now,” Braeburn commented, “We just need to direct it t’ farms that have been weeded and resoiled. Still, that will only get us close to what we were hoping t’ have by now.”

“It’s not what we were hoping for, no.” Luna replied, wishing that Spitefire and Braeburn bore better news. “Thank you both for your reports though. We’ll make sure to adjust the rations accordingly, and make more requests for food from our allies.”

Luna concluded that the food situation was at least better than things had been. Now they could proceed with proper seeding of fields, and pragmatic management of the weather would ensure that new food sources could be grown in an expedient manner. “I think we all need some good news now. Cheerilee, how has the foal reintroduction program come along?”

Next to Spitfire, and across from Braeburn, was his counterpart, the female earth pony representative and acting secretary for the Committee; a purple school mare by the name of Cheerilee. She had been put in charge of all the fillies and colts that had been traumatized by what the caribou did the previous year, having been a respectable teacher for years prior to their invasion. She was also the only mare of the committee to have ever worn a red collar, but likewise one of the first red collars to be acquitted from any allegations of treason. She was proven to have only submitted to the caribou so that she could help protect the children in her care, another story backed up by Mac’s own testimony.

“Well, things are going smoothly on our end,” the purple mare confirmed, “Nothing has changed from last week’s report, except that most of the foals have had their memories of the last year removed, and have moved on to phase two. Most have accepted the explanations for the memories loss, as well as the discrete explanations about the caribou and what they have done to Equestria, and some have even been reintroduced to society at this point. We hope that in the upcoming month, the program will be complete, and all fillies and colts are able to return to their families or new guardians to resume a normal life.”

The program concerning the children of Equestria was one of the more hopeful ventures of the committee, as it was widely believed that the experiences of the Fall was something that no child should ever have to bear. Utilizing the same spell they used to remove the effects of ‘purpling’, all recollection of the previous year were removed from the minds of colts and fillies. To them, it was like closing their eyes one moment and finding themselves in a completely new location in a slightly older body the next.

It was the quickest and easiest solution to help those who didn’t deserve to suffer the horrors of the fall, but not one decided unanimously by the committee. Cheerilee, despite being overseer of the project, voted against it, believing that this blanket approach towards all those considered ‘too young’ was too much, and that she had seen instances where the children she watched over were more than capable of handling the situation in their own way. When the vote came down though, only one other pony on the committee sided with her, and thus there was nothing the teaching mare could do but go along with the decision of the majority.

Everyone present looked very pleased with what she had to say, glad to see that something was going to plan. Of course, given the priority of the ones involved, more resources and personnel had been put into this part of the restoration efforts than others, so there was little wonder why it was succeeding.

“That’s great news,” said a yellow, blue-maned pegasus wearing Equestrian guard armor, who was sitting next to Braeburn, “And it goes well with what I have to say about kingdom security.”

“That is perhaps the next most important matter at hand,” Luna said, her eyes shifting to pegasus, “Can you tell us about the caribou’s activities, Flash?”

Flash Sentry was the youngest member of the committee, and likewise the least experienced member of the group in his field. Having just become a royal guardspony shortly before the caribou incident, Flash was sent to the Crystal Empire to serve under Windchill, the appointed captain of the guard in the newly reclaimed nation. Unfortunately, when he got there, he fell under the management of a senior guardpony named Orestes, who later revealed himself to be an unrepentant misogynist when he sided with the caribou against the kingdom he was sworn to protect.

All ponies residing Crystal Empire, being the first place the caribou experimented with the Crystal Heart, were brought under its corrupted influence, including Flash Sentry. When the enchantment was lifted though, he was the first stationed in the Crystal Empire to recover from the after effects of his brainwashing, and likewise the one who rallied his fellow guardponies to capture and detain the caribou who had made the Empire their home. It was because of this act that he was given a position in the committee, though he was not the first choice. Originally the male pegasus representative was going to be a Wonderbolt, like Wind Rider or Soarin, but the former was discovered to have been a traitor to Equestria, while the latter had rejected the position because he felt the role of leadership did not suit him - at least not after having been made to defile the female Wonderbolts and treat them as mere objects of his sexual desires, twisted and corrupted by the caribou’s taint.

“I’m glad to say,” said Flash, “That there has been no change from either of the caribou settlements.”

“So the remaining caribou are still cowering in Lindisbarne, the old ruins in Everfree, and those other small settlements?” Luna asked, already knowing that these locations were more of internment camps where the remainder of the caribou were being detained in isolation. It would have been better if they could just round them all up and send them into Tartarus, but the prison was already packed with the vile pieces of venison.

“We have guards stationed around the two locations, watching around the clock for any suspicious activities or attempts to slip back into the kingdom proper.” Flash explained, “Of course, the ones trapped in Lindisbarne don’t even have the energy to do anything, with you giving them nightmares around the clock.”

The ones that had fled back to the origin of their invasion were considered more dangerous compared to the small band that had taken residence in, and were now trapped within, the old castle located in the Everfree Forest. Thus, the ponies focused more on making sure they were completely unable to do anything. With their cows removed, weapons and tools confiscated, and their leaders imprisoned, there was hardly a chance for them to recover with the ponies constantly looking over their shoulders.

“I’m glad to hear the bastards are being handled so well,” said the last member of the committee, who sat himself furthest at the table from Luna. A white unicorn stallion with blue stripped hair, the prince of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor. “If only we had some dark pit to toss them into, where they’d be away from any civilized creatures and rot were we don’t have to see it.”

Of all stallions in Equestria, Shining had been the one most manipulated by the caribou and their allies. The caribou had managed to do so much harm through him: Take over the Equestria, rape the princesses he swore to protect, corrupt his sister, wife and mother into sluts who cared about nothing else but where there next dicking came from, and making him do the most terrible things imaginable to the defenseless female population of the kingdom. It had been the actions of the caribou that forced him to unwittingly commit the uncountable amount of sins he did - so hearing that they were being treated like the criminals they were, and that they were left with nothing, not even the comforts of rest or privacy, eased his personal burdens.

“And what about the Crystal Empire?” Luna said, understanding Shining Armor’s anger towards them as well as any other victim of the caribou, but wanting to stick to the task at hand, “Has their recovery still been improving?”

“Yes,” Shining answered, “The crystal ponies have been making vast leaps in their recovery. They’ve all been fairly productive, and even without the Crystal Heart, they have been able to keep positive in the light of the recent tragedies. Psychologically, they seem to be more resilient than the average pony when it comes to the suffering we all endured, probably due to them being…” Shining hesitated, “Familiar with these types of terrible experiences.”

“And would you say that their adaptive reactions to this are good?” Cheerilee asked, concerned for all ponies involved in the topic.

“It’s strange,” Shining answered, pausing at the thoroughly thought through what he wanted to say about the crystal ponies, “They’re all going about their normal lives like nothing happened, except they are aware that something did happen. They are being productive though, self-sufficient even. In half a year since the caribou’s defeat, they have gotten the Crystal Empire back the way it was after the defeat of Sombra.”

“Well it’s not like they didn’t react to this at all,” Flash piped in, “When the Crystal Heart’s enchantment lifted, they were panicking as much as any other pony.”

“I think that, unfortunately, this is a matter where enduring the same wound over and over has dulled them to the pain,” Luna said aloud, airing her thoughts, “They had been enslaved before, and then was shown that things could get better once it was over. The rest of Equestria has never had to go through this kind of national crisis. While their passive attitudes can be seen as disconcerting, their resilience is admirable. If all of Equestria could bounce back so easily, then we wouldn’t have mares scared half to death working with stallions who feel guilty over something they had no control over.”

“Right,” Shining agreed with heavy sarcasm, “We’d just have a kingdom of sociopaths instead.”

Luna sighed, knowing that Shining had every right to be irritated at the behavior of the crystal ponies, but likewise had no right to try and dictate how they chose to move on from their own violation by the caribou. If they chose to be happy and not let their rape affect their lives, then they were allowed to be happy and not let their rape affect their lives.

“On a more personal note,” Luna said, hoping to change the subject to something more pleasant for Shining Armor, “How has Cadence been?”

Shining Armor closed his eyes for a second, thinking hard on the response he wanted to give, “She’s doing fine, as always.” he answered, trying his best to be stoic in the face of luna’s question, “The crystal ponies had no problem accepting her back as their princess, and no pony has openly blamed her for her part in The Fall.”

“Nor should they,” Luna said, glad to hear that things had gone well for her fellow alicorn’s reacclimation into her proper role as a leader. Then again, she was less concerned about public opinion, and more about mental health.

Not that she had any specific reason to worry about any of the psyches of any of the other three princesses. Cadence and Twilight might have been red collars during their enslavement, and Celestia herself a purple collar, but similar to the foals, all three of them had their memories of that time completely removed, courtesy of Shining Armor himself. They knew not of the trauma or abuse that came with being a slave, as the only alicorn who had to endure that burden was Luna.

It was the reason, Luna believed, that Celestia decided to step down from the role of leadership and handed what should have been the white alicorn’s place in the committee to her. As the only princess who could actually speak for those had live through the torment, Celestia probably felt that Luna was best suited for this task. Luna was glad to take it up, but understood that she was chosen because none of the other alicorns could sympathize with the population of raped ponies as well as she could.

“Princess Luna,” Cheerilee said, taking note that Shining still seemed irritated, and wanting to move away from things that upset him, “There is one more thing to discuss before we move onto new business. If you recall, at a meeting a month back, we chose to have the caribou’s blanking device disassembled and stored away in a remote location once we finished re-blanking all the blanked mares to remove the perverse programed traits out of them.”

“So that nightmarish device is currently in pieces, I take it?” Luna said, knowing that the work with the blanked mares and stallion had been finished.

“Yes, and later today, it will be escorted out of the city with an entourage of royal guardsponies.” Cheerilee confirmed.

“Ah wish we could just destroy it,” Braeburn said, airing his thoughts on the machine that destroyed the personality of two of his family members, “But Ah suppose we might need it iffin we ever figure out how to reverse what was done to the blanks.”

“We can’t be too careful,” said Luna, “Especially with the lives of the blanked ponies at stake. For all we know, there may be no cure to this, but if there is and it is linked to that device, then it’s better to just have it put someplace where it can’t possibly harm anyone else.”

“And with that, I believe we’re all caught up,” announced Cheerilee, to which no one disagreed, “Should we move on to new business?”

“Very well then,” Luna replied, “What is first on the agenda?”

“Well with the foal project coming to a close, I think it’s time we discussed what we are going to do with those resources once they become available, if anything.” Cheerilee replied, looking at a list of new items that needed to be addressed, “Once every foal has had their mind wiped of the past year, there will be many unicorns who can use the memory eraser spell whose time will become available for others.”

“You mean… if we allow them to do so.” Spitfire added, leading into what the meeting’s next topic would be.

“Right, we need to come to a decision on whether or not we are going to legalize the memory spell for use by the general public.”

Luna adjusted her posture, sitting up straight in respect to the seriousness of this particular subject. “This was something we were trying to avoid deciding on for as long as possible, but I suppose at this point, we don’t have anymore reason to put it off. Cheerilee… If you would, please explain the issue one last time, so we can know all the details before we come to a vote.”

Clasping her hands in front of her, the earth pony cleared her throat as she gave her colleges one a passing glance, “As we know, there have been requests from the populous to make memory erasing available for ponies outside of purple collars and foals. Many believe that the spell is a quick fix to overcoming the emotional trauma that both mares and stallions carry in the wake of the caribou. There is strong evidence that this belief is true, since the spell has removed any mental damage that the caribou have caused to all it has been used on, except for blanks. If we approve public use of the spell, then the average pony will be allowed to decide whether or not they want their memories of The Fall erased.”

“Which is not a good idea,” said Spitfire once she believed the topic’s synopsis was over, “I agreed that no child should have to remember those horrible things, but full grown ponies are different. We can’t just let every pony who wants to empty their skulls of all the ‘bad things’ do that without reason!”

“Why not?” Braeburn asked, being less aggressive about the idea than Spitfire, “It is their bodies, an’ their minds. If a pony doesn’t want to have these memories, what right do we have to make’em keep them?”

“There are several reasons,” Spitfire said, settling down when no one else in the room decided to join her in a shouting match, “First of all being that we can’t just turn a blind eye to what happened to all of us. It might not be pleasant, but having our rape in the forefronts of our thoughts keeps us prepared in case someone would try this again, which is important with the kingdom in its weakened state.”

“So we should accept what happened to us, and learn from the experience?” said Luna, interpreting the pegasus’ words. When comparing that translation to how she dealt with other bad things that happened in her past, all she could say after was, “That’s… not something I can exactly disagree with.”

“And the other reason,” Spitfire continued, “What if a traitor used this as a way to escape punishment?”

“Not sure I follow.” Flash said, the idea confusing him a little.

“Well, what if a pony who helped the caribou take over erased their memories. It would be hard, if not impossible, to get a confession out of them if they went so far back they didn’t even know what a caribou was.”

The Wonderbolt had a point. While evidence was important, a confession to their crimes was the most valid method of finding out who was a traitor and who had been forced into their roles during The Fall. The ponies even had a very reliable way of having those accused of betrayal freely reveal their true intentions, but it wasn’t something that would work on those who couldn’t remember if they had or had not played a willingly active part in helping the caribou come into power.

“I know it’s pretty easy to pick out mares who’re potential traitors,” Spitfire went on to say, “The caribou made that easy enough with their red collars, but we don’t have the same luxury for stallions. We really don’t know how many out there would jump on another opportunity to rape a mare.”

“T’ain’t exactly fair,” Braeburn responded to the broad accusation, “Ya can’t just assume all stallions are potential rapists.”

“But unfortunately we have to,” Spitfire said to the country pony, “How can we really tell the ones who are normal Equestrians from those who enjoyed forcing their dicks into unwilling mares? The files the caribou left us give us lists of names, but there could be some they didn’t mention.”

“I honestly don’t even want to think about that,” Cheerilee admitted, disgusted at the premise, “But ok, those are the cons. The pros though would be a more stable Equestria. Those too weak to cope would have the means to fix their problems, and it would allow those who did it to get rid of their mistrust of stallions, which I think we all can admit too many mares have these days.”

“Okay, I believe both we have heard both sides of this debate,” said Luna, “It’s time we cast our votes. All in favor of allowing the public memory erasing, raise your hands.”

At Luna’s declaration, Cheerilee, Braeburn, and Shining Armor held their hands up.

“I’d be a hypocrite if I refused to let others use the same spell I used on my family,” Shining said.

“Ponies should be able to decide for themselves if they want to do this,” Cheerilee collaborated.

“Ah just don’t see why we are forcing this on sum ponies, while not letting ‘nypony decide if they’d want to have their memories removed,” said Braeburn, explaining the hypocrisy that came with restricting the use of the spell.

The group waited a moment to see if these last words would sway anyone else to raise their hand, but no one else joined with their opinion. Luna closed her eyes and let out an audible sigh out her nostrils. “And all those opposed to the idea?”

Luna raised her hand, but hoped to some degree that one of the remaining ponies wouldn’t. When she opened her eyes though, both Spitfire and Flash had casted their vote against the approval of the spell.

“Another deadlock,” she said under her breath, lamenting that this had happened.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Ties were not supposed to be part of the Committee. Celestia had designed the Committee herself to prevent that outcome, but when she gave each of the original members of this group their role, she didn’t realize there was a huge flaw in her plan.

As the others looked annoyed and disheartened by the tie, Luna took charge and guided them past this failed vote. “There’s no better time to ask this, I suppose. Have we located a replacement for our missing member yet?”

“Unfortunately, no…” Cheerilee answered, “With all our responsibilities, plus the fact that there were on average more unicorn red collars than any other races, it has been hard finding another suitable candidate for the committee.”

Luna placed a hand on her muzzle, exasperated with how things had become, which was a sentiment that the others could sympathize with.

When the Committee was made, it was intended for there to be seven members. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, two unicorns, and an alicorn, with one male and one female representative for each race that could provide one. As her last action before stepping down from the position of leader of Equestria, Celestia had hand-picked each of the members based on their accomplishments during The Fall, and at first everything had went according to her plans.

How it was supposed to go was that the representatives for the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies were the ones who would make most of the major decisions for the kingdom, with the alicorn only acting as mediator and being there in case a deadlock was created. This model government was made satisfy small groups who begrudgingly blamed Celestia for the caribou and wanted her to be removed from the throne, and to test the waters to see if a government without Celestia leading could work. It lasted for a few months with relative success, until the representative for female unicorns found fault in the direction the committee was taking and decided to take matters into her own hands.

With that, the system Celestia created instantly failed, but those left couldn’t just abandon what they had started. To do so would leave Equestria without any form of leadership in these dark times. So Luna decided that until a someone was found who could fill the role, she would participate in the votes herself so there would at least be three mares and three stallions deciding the fate of the kingdom. The committee quickly learned that changing the delicate balance only led to stalemates and inaction, with proposals having to be readdressed over and over again due to the inconclusive voting. It not only wasted time, but was an imbalance in the current system, favoring those who opposed an issue, since as long as no vote was decided, the issue would not be acted on one way or another.

Cheerilee marked down the inconclusive vote on the committee’s records and looked to the next topic. “Next is whether we should create a budget for the purposes of hiring gryphons to come aid us in rebuilding Equestria. They have offered their assistance in the restoration of Equestria, but following typical gryphon behavior, they are expecting to be paid for their services.”

“Why should we have to pay those backstabbers to fix what they had a hand in breaking?” Shining Armor stated, expressing hastily his opinion of feathered felines.

“Not all gryphons were bought out by the caribou,” Spitfire rebutted, likewise quick to defend those who didn’t deserve Shining’s ire, “Female gryphons were sold into slavery by males that wanted a quick profit.”

“Spitfire does have a point,” Cheerilee said in support, “if there are any issues with loyalties, we could limit those we hire to just gryphonesses. That way, we would be sure that all the money would only go to other victims willing to help.”

“It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” grumbled Shining, “Why pay them when the zebra are volunteering to help us?”

“Cause we need all the help we can get right now,” Braeburn said, “An’ bits don’t really mean much right now if they could be used to get things done faster.”

“I must admit, we do have a surplus of gold coins in the treasury at the moment.” Luna interjected, referring to all the treasure they had acquired from the caribou: ‘Tributes’ Dainn extorted from neighboring nations who didn’t wish suffer the same fate the caribou king intended for Equestria. “It would be nice to rid ourselves of some of those dirty coins.”

Under other circumstances, Luna might have been inclined to return the gold back to where it came from. However, it wasn’t like those who had paid their way out of feeling the full brunt of Dainn’s ambition were stepping forward to give their aid now that the threat was gone, save for the zebra, of course. Thus, there was no reason that Equestria should feel in any way inclined to return what they willing gave away to tyrants.

“Let’s try to settle this here.” said Luna, announcing that it was time to take a vote, “All those in favor of using the caribou’s ill-gotten gains to pay the gryphonesses, and the gryphonesses alone, to help rebuild Equestria, raise your hand.”

The alicorn put her hand up, and she was happy to see that most of the others did the same too. The only one who kept their hand down was Shining Armor. With this majority vote, no one felt the need to explain their reasoning.

“All those opposed?” The group of supporters lowered their hands, as Shining Armor lifted his up. Even if it was five to one, it was important to cast one’s vote and voice their opinion.

“I might not have a say in this matter,” Shining conceded, “But I warn you all to not let those greedy birds take advantage of us.”

“Noted,” Luna answered, agreeing with what Shining had to say, “We will have to set up a meeting with the gryphons, and negotiate terms in order to reach a fair agreement.”

Cheerilee happily marked the results of the vote, glad that a decision was made, not really caring that the her side had won. While not always something universally felt by all members of the committee, depending on what was being voted on, most would agree that they rather lose and have a clear decision made than reach a pointless tie and have to address it again and again later.

“With that settled, what’s next on the docket?” Luna asked, hoping the next issue would be just as easily resolved agreed upon.

“Next is… What exactly our policy on Sunset Shimmer’s new group is.”

Everyone had been anticipating this subject, as they had heard the rumors that came from this supposed ‘help group’ for mares, both good and bad. Then again, what brought their attention to this group was the fact that it’s leader used to be on the committee.

Elsewhere in Canterlot Castle, a job of equal importance was being done. It was a task that was orchestrated by many a pony, the staff total going well over one-hundred bodies. They had taken up residence in the castle’s library, as it was the best place to conduct their business. Day in and day out, numerous boxes were brought into and taken out of this room, the contents of which were files, photos, newspapers, and other forms of documentation, all of which were created during the caribou regime.

Nearly anything from that time that hadn’t been outright destroyed by the outraged pony populous upon being freed from caribou rule had been collected and brought to the capital, all for the single purpose of being sorted, cataloged, and carefully filed away, so that it could be used at a later date if needed. This was mainly done in an attempt to create a historical record of what exactly happened during the Fall, as the caribou often had a want to distort facts and create stories that pushed their agenda.

A common story of this nature was that any rebellion groups were incompetent and doomed to failure, with one infamous story about them going so far as to say all resistance groups were brought down due to a stallion within their ranks ‘seeing the error of his ways’, turning himself in, and divulging all the information he had before being transformed into a slave mare. This account was simply untrue, but such stories put fear in those who would want to go against the caribou, while serving as pleasing example of the caribou’s power to the brainwashed masses. These fictitious fabrications stacked up like garbage piles during that time, obscuring the truth so much that even those who experienced the Fall first hand had trouble telling fact from fiction.

Thus, a comparably small group who wished to separate the facts from fiction was created, willing to wade through the sea of garbage the caribou produced, retrieve the valuable truths hidden within, and give context to future generations who would look back at this dark time in pony history. Such a venture, much like the Committee of Ponies itself, needed someone to lead it. For a task that required someone who could scour endless oceans of text, and had impeccable organization skills, there was honestly no pony more qualified than Twilight Sparkle.

Holed up in her own corner of the royal library, the purple alicorn had a large table reserved only for her and her work, whereupon stacks of boxes, books, and propaganda commissioned or created by the caribou surrounded her completely. For any other pony, the size of this mountain of perverted pages would have been daunting, but Twilight’s abilities and diligence allowed her to work through stack after stack with ease.

“Hmph,” she grunted, closing shut another volume of typical caribou literature.

This one was some pony’s personal account of what happened when Hearts and Hooves Day was ran by the caribou. Like most material of this nature, what was written painted a disturbingly detailed image of male lust and female degradation. It was the kind of thing that would disgust and offend any post-fall pony, but it hit a little closer to home for Twilight, as the main focuses of the story were her brother and her sister-in-law. Being the princess of love, Cadence was an obvious, if even cliche choice for a tale about Hearts and Hooves Day, so this story being about her wasn’t odd in the least. However, so many things it depicted were for the most part ludicrous, defying several things that Twilight had learned about the fragility of the Crystal Heart after it had been altered by the caribou, as well as what she knew about magic in general.

Looking at a scroll that held her notes about the story, there were very few definitive truths that could be picked out of these words. At best, all she could tell had actually happened was that the caribou had sponsored a giant orgy in the Crystal Empire, and that several named ponies had been forced to attend it. Everything else, whether it had happened or not, was just fluff that didn’t matter, not for the purposes of making a record of events. Twilight, having done all she could with the book, folded the scroll up and slipped it between the pages like a bookmark, before placing it on a pile of ‘researched material’ she had gone through already.

With another piece of caribou-inspired literature out of the way, Twilight took a moment to tilt her head back, resting it in on her chair. Every document, each personal account, all the pictures, forged or not, was like pouring filth into her mind. Disgusting images of rape and enslavement were now forever etched into her memory, with some such imagery she came upon being of herself in such positions, donning a red collar as she smiled for the camera. That was so sickening for the princess of magic that her subordinates had to take efforts keep photographs of her past life away from her eyes.

Of course, seeing herself this way only compounded the reasons for looking through all this appalling material. She, and so many others, wanted to know how things could have gotten this bad. How she could have turned out that bad. Twilight knew the official reason, that she, Cadence, and Celestia had been converted, but they came off more like something Shining Armor made up. By his account, the corruption of the Crystal Heart infected the three of them as it did most of the stallions, but that didn’t add up to what she knew about magic, or how the caribou’s enchantment affected ponies.

This lack of definitive answers bothered Twilight, as such knowledge would greatly aid in never allowing this event from repeating itself. As she sat there though, staring at the ceiling, with rows of books reaching up to that barrier blocking the sky from her view, all she could do is wonder.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” she muttered to herself, “Mares weren’t affected by the Crystal Heart the same as stallions. Most stallions were enslaved by the spell, while the opposite was true about mares. We could say that it’s the nature of the spell that caused this, but what would that even mean? If only we had more of an idea of what the enchantment did, but the only ones who would know aren’t telling us anything useful.”

The caribou, in any interrogations, had been practically useless. Not intentionally unhelpful, as when faced with the threat of being changed into females, they were very forthcoming. Most caribou had nothing to do with the altering of the Crystal Heart to begin with, and those who did have a part in it didn’t really know how exactly they pulled it off. In a lot of cases, it felt as if the caribou didn’t really understand how their own magic functioned, and when it came to details about the Crystal Heart, the best they could come up with was that they did things to it at the behest of Dainn, and then 'it just worked’.

“But how?” Twilight muttered again, hoping that if she said her thoughts aloud, she’d have an epiphany that would somehow solve all her problems, “The first thing that comes to mind with compulsion spells is that it’s based on will. But if a pony like Celestia can be turned, then…”

“Why were there so many black collars?” A voice other than Twilight’s own finished her thoughts, one that held a thick country accent. “Ah couldn’t begin to answer that one, Twi.”

Tilting her head slightly to the side, the visage of an orange mare came into view. “Hey, Applejack,” Twilight said casually to her friend, “Sorry I didn’t see you there. I was just-”

“Wonderin’ out loud about the Crystal Heart?” Applejack said, setting a box full of books upon Twilight’s table.

“Yeah,” Twilight replied, sitting herself upright, “It’s all just so confusing.”

“Well, it’s caribou stuff,” said AJ, “Nothin’ they do makes a lick of sense.”

That made Twilight giggle, happy that she had a friend with her to take her mind off the smut she had been swimming through. In the early days of the toppling of the caribou regime, both Applejack and Twilight had been a part of the forces who drove the sinister cervids out of Equestria proper, working side by side against their former masters. Ironically, it was much easier to push aside bad thoughts back then, when all her focus was on removing a serious threat from their homes.

Back then, so much was on Twilight’s mind that she hardly acknowledged that ponies had been in a year-long state of suffering, and that her friends had been fighting, each in their own way, to keep some form of dignity against a system that sought to strip it from them completely.

Applejack herself had started the spark that ended all that, and was rightfully called a hero by the ponies she liberated, and in retrospect, she appreciated not only that the farm mare never gave up, but that she was here helping her now. Twilight wished that she could be around all her friends in this trying time, but each of the others were busy doing things that were just as important.

Rarity was busy around the clock with a group of other talented seamstresses making clothing for the mares of Equestria, which was a much needed service when the caribou had gone out of their way to destroy any suited for covering a mare’s nudity. Some mares did take to wearing stallion clothing for a while after being freed, since it was available, but that was not fit to the frame of a mare, so properly sized attire was much appreciated.

Pinkie Pie had gone back to Ponyville, returning to her job at Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes take care of their twins, and providing joy to those around her with her upbeat and friendly demeanor.

Rainbow Dash was helping the Wonderbolts with the restoration efforts, while retraining her wings to fly at the speeds that she used to be able to achieve. After a year of being entrapped in a caribou wing binder, they had trouble doing the things they could easily do before.

And Fluttershy was busy doing what was perhaps the most important thing of all; recovering from the trauma and brainwashing she had undergone as a caribou slave. Of the group, she was the only one who was convicted of being a legitimate red collar. However, it was concluded that she was not an outright traitor, but a victim who had been pushed the point of acceptance. Because of that, she was not sent to Tartarus, but instead mandated to get psychiatric help. Twilight wished Fluttershy the best in her recovery, and hoped she would be back to her old self soon.

“Ya know what? How ‘bout we take a break?” Applejack said, sensing the alicorn’s mental fatigue, “We can set all this here caribou stuff aside for a bit, an’ go get ourselves sumthin’ from the kitchen.”

“I wish I could, Applejack,” Twilight replied, here eyes locking onto a nearby clock, “But I need to stay here for a while. Princess Celestia and I have a public address to make today, and this is where we’re meeting up.”

“Well ok then,” Applejack said as she pulled a chair up to the table, “Then Ah suppose Ah’ll just have to keep ya company ‘till she gets here.”

“Thanks, AJ,” Twilight said, reaching for one of the books AJ had delivered to her, “But I can’t relax when there’s work to be done. You know that better than anypony else I know.”

“Maybe,” AJ said, reaching into the box herself to pull out a poster buried deep inside. Unfolding it, she saw the image of Luna, donning a black collar and being held in tight, restrictive bondage, with each of her orifices opened and filled with cum. Feeling immediate disgust at the imagery, the orange mare shoved the piece of paper carelessly back where she had found it, “But ya have been at this ever since we got the caribou under control. Staring at this stuff all the time can’t be good for ya.”

“Somepony has to,” Twilight stated with absolute conviction to her task. “It’s the only way we’ll ever figure out what happened during the Fall, and why it happened in the first place. The are so many questions, and very few answers. How did the caribou get so far in the first place? What happened to Discord in all this? Which ponies supported the caribou from the start and who was forced into it?”

“Why did ya become a red collar?” AJ said, cutting off the string of questions with what she assumed Twilight was really looking for.

“That… is another thing worth looking into.” said Twilight sheepishly.

“Twi, Ah’ve been helping ya cart these books around for a while now. Ya don’t think Ah take a peek at what you’ve been pokin’ your nose into?” Grabbing a few books from the box, revealing that each bore an alicorn on the cover. “All the stuff in here is about Celestia, Luna, Cadence, an’ mostly yourself.”

With the evidence presented, Twilight really couldn’t deny that the area of her research had been focused on one topic in particular. “Okay,” she admitted, “You’re right. I have been trying to figure out… me. How I gave in. Why I gave in.”

“Ah don’t know why ya can’t just accept what Shining Armor told ya,” AJ said, “That the Crystal Heart infected your minds, an’ made you do all that stuff ya wouldn’t have done otherwise.”

“That’s just it,” Twilight replied, “The Crystal Heart alone isn’t capable of doing that sort of thing. Its function had always been to absorb happiness and turn it into a barrier that protected the Crystal Empire. Even if the caribou altered it to absorb lust instead of happiness, it shouldn’t have been able to control ponies like it did.”

“But… It did.” Applejack stated, plainly giving the facts of the matter, “Ya can’t ignore that.”

“That’s true,” said Twilight as she strained her mind on the information she had acquired from the books she had been reading, “But the caribou had to have done something more than alter the Crystal Heart to make it change so drastically, or something else entirely had to be using the Heart’s abilities to project the lust it absorbed. And even considering that, I still can’t explain why it would effect alicorns more than any other mare. The closest thing to an answer is that the caribou wanted to imply that Cadence had a connection to the Heart, and that’s what corrupted her.”

“But?” AJ asked, indulging Twilight’s train of thought ever so slightly.

“But she never had a connection to the Crystal Heart!” Twilight yelled, momentarily gaining the attention of all the other ponies in the library.

Twilight, noticing everyone noticing her, hunched down a bit in attempt to hide behind her table, her face turning a deep shade of red. Seeing the alicorn’s embarrassment, the others decided it best to just continue on with their work, and pretend that her outburst never happened, much to Twilight’s appreciation.

After settling down a little, Twilight continued her thoughts. “Cadence was no more connected to the Heart than any other pony in Equestria. She’s not a crystal pony, and she had no personal ties to it at all. When looking through all this stuff, what I mostly see is misinformation about how ponies work in general. Which is confusing, since most of these books are supposed to be written by the ponies they are about.”

“Well that’s the caribou for ya,” replied Applejack, “Ya know they had a hand in making all this trash, an’ Ah doubt they understand anythin’ beyond all those nasty thoughts floatin’ around in their heads.”

“Applejack, you know that’s not the kind of ideas we’re trying to promote in Equestria,” Twilight said, lightly scolding her friend for her racist remarks. While she understood what AJ was getting at, there were reasons why those kinds of statements were dissuaded, at least within the walls of the castle.

“Sorry,” Applejack apologized, realizing her mistake, “Ah meant that all those bucks were the ones with nasty ideas.”

AJ’s apology couldn’t have been said more hastily, as she spotted one of those reasons coming right for them.

It was a caribou cow - or doe, as the ponies who frequently interacted with them prefered to say. The female caribou, having been taken away from their long time oppressors, were at this point wards of Equestria, protected and given the basic rights that any creature residing in the kingdom would receive. One of those basic rights was ‘the right to a proper education’, which was why this one was present.

The caribou, one wearing a white tanktop and a knee length skirt, approached the alicorn and the farm mare, accompanying by a white earth pony Twilight knew as Raven Inkwell, Celestia’s royal assistant. When the two made it to them, the cow was the first to speak, greeting the alicorn by saying “Hello, Miss Twilight.” Her greeting was filled with a youthful exuberance that rivaled the kind Pinkie would give.

“Hello, Princess Sparkle,” said the earth pony, treating this encounter with much more respect than her caribou associate, “We noticed that your out pile was getting rather big, and wondered if it was ready to be archived.”

“Yes, it is,” Twilight answered, “Thank you, Raven.”

At Twilight’s approval, the earth mare started to grab books and pieces of parchment from the table, handing some of the lighter ones to the caribou.

“So how has it been like working at the palace, Hilda?” Twilight asked, addressing the doe in the room.

“Hmm?” the doe uttered, slightly surprised that she was being asked how she felt, “It’s been great! Miss Raven has been showing me how to sort books in the our-chive.”

“That’s ‘archive’, deary,” The earth pony quickly corrected, “And you’ve been doing a good job carrying the books and putting them away.”

“That’s great,” AJ complemented, rewarding the caribou with her words, “Better than just knowing how to wash clothes and clean houses, right?”

Hilda did a little prance in place, hopping back and forth from one leg to the other, her glee showing how much she enjoyed being talked about. The cow got so excited that the books she was holding almost spilled out of her arms, but Raven was keeping a watchful eye on Hilda, so she was able the stop the books from hitting the floor, avoiding the mess that would have caused. Cows very much enjoyed positive reinforcement, which ponies who interacted with them discovered very quickly. As slaves, such treatment was a rare treat for them, their masters often preferring to hand out punishments rather than rewards.

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little bit of the happiness the doe was projecting. Many caribou like her were being taught how to live without a master, and it was working… to a degree. Caribou females were not entirely self-dependent, and a few years, let alone a few months, of training wasn’t going to fix that. So for now, the cows who appeared to be adapting to their liberated lives were put into the care of certain mares who acted as their handlers and mentors, ones that were responsible and had many talents to teach these does, who knew next to nothing outside of what their owners wanted them to know in order to serve their carnal desires.

“We had better get going,” Raven said, her face showing worry of what might happen if Hilda got more stimulation before they stored away Twilight’s research, With an arm full of books, the earth pony made her way in the direction of the library’s exit. “Come along Hilda.”

The deer gave Twilight one last smile before taking a place behind her female instructor. “Oh! Can I be allowed to play with my toys tonight?” Hilda asked aloud, everyone in earshot knowing what kind of toys she spoke of.

“We’ll see...” Raven responded, uncomfortable with the public plea for permission, “But you have to get your work done before I can say yes.”

“I’ll work really hard, then,” Hilda said, the fact that she didn’t hear a no being enough to motivate her, “By the time I’m done, I’ll be panting like I fucked ten bucks straight.”

A groan from Raven was the last thing Twilight and AJ heard before the two other females vanished from view, taking with them enough things to leave the alicorn a cleared spot on her table.

“Like Ah was sayin’,” AJ whispered, her voice carrying a bit of humor to it, “Those stags only got nasty thoughts in their heads, but the does only got one thing on their mind too.”

Twilight couldn’t tell if she should feel offended or amused, but it was hard not to find humor in what she said when Hilda had just asked her mentor if she’d be allowed to pleasure herself, and in front of a crowd no less. Female caribou were improving day to day, but anyone could tell by watching one that it would be a long time before they understood the concept of private subjects, or developed a sense of humility when it came to such things. Hard enough to get them to wear clothing, let alone get them to understand why being so open with their bodies and sexual functions was a bad thing.

Just as the caribou left Twilight’s presence, someone else came into view from behind a bookshelf, the pony she had been expecting all that morning. “That was an interesting exchange,” said a white alicorn, revealing herself from behind a bookshelf, “I hope I didn’t give Raven too difficult a job.”

“Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, giving her mentor and former ruler a slight bow. No matter what supposedly happened during the Fall, and despite Celestia no longer being in the role of ruler of Equestria, Twilight still respected her as she always had.

Applejack joined Twilight in the bowing her head, not following by Twilight’s example, but just because it felt right to give proper respect to a figure such as the white alicorn. It certainly felt better than giving the caribou king the humiliating displays of ‘respect’ he demanded of the females in his presence.

“Sorry for spying,” Celestia said, making clear that she had been there for a while, “I just didn’t want to interfere with what might have been an important cultural exchange.”

“Pardon me, Princess, Ah think ya are expectin’ a bit much from them. Ah’ve had time around one of them cows, an’ when she shared her ideas, they turned out t’ be a bunch of hogwash.”

“I can understand the reason for that opinion,” Celestia said, having talked to her own fair share of female caribou. “But we can’t just assume that they will always be that way. We have to have some faith in them, if they’re to integrate into our society.”

“She’s right,” said Twilight, taking the princess’ side in this matter, “If we don’t at least try to co-exist with them, and assume that they can adapt, then we might as well send them all to one of the caribou internment camps.”

“Ah’m tryin’,” AJ said, a bit ashamed of the opinions a year of unwilling slavery had instilled in her. There was no denying that prejudice existed in her mind, based on interactions with a single female caribou - one who hadn’t even been a terrible person to her, and who Applejack knew had her opinions drilled into her from birth. “But forgive me for sayin’ this, you two weren’t there.”

That quieted the two alicorns, both realizing this was a reasonable complaint that the Element of Harmony had with their stance on the treatment of does.

“Not that Ah’m sayin’ that you’re wrong,” AJ said, carrying on with her thoughts, “But it’s really hard to not think these things when ya lived with it for so long. Actually, it’s the reason Ah do believe in the cows. If Ah’m havin’ this much trouble getting over how they act, then Ah can only imagine how long it will take them to get over a lifetime of abuse.”

Both Twilight and Celestia were relieved to some degree that Applejack was rationalizing her poor thoughts of the cows in a way that didn’t condone said thoughts. The promiscuous nature of female caribou was upsetting to ponies, but that was only because their suffering was directly linked to sex. Yet as biological creatures, sex was part of their nature, and some ponies rivaled the does in the perverse thoughts and urges they had prior to the Fall. Not many in such an open fashion, but some, and having a desire for sex wasn’t in and of itself a bad thing.

“I’m glad we could have this conversation,” Celestia said, legitimately happy that a pony that she had a hand in guiding was showing a level of understanding that some others she had likewise taught had not, “It’s showing me that my trust in my former subjects is not misplaced.”

“Princess, you don’t have to specify ‘former’,” said Twilight, “While you have stepped down, AJ and I both see you as our princess, and it’s not like you have completely separated yourself from this new system of government you created.”

“Speaking of,” Celestia said, realizing what time it was, “We should get going. Our public address is about to start soon.”

“It is?!” Twilight leapt out of her seat, going to Celestia’s side. She was more than ready to greet the citizens of Equestria, and inform them of what the government had accomplished thus far. With hope, this good news would help settle down some of the civil unrest “Oh! AJ, do you want to come along?”

“Nah,” Applejack replied, “Ah reckon that Ah’ll stay around here and help move some more books around for the other researchers. The more work we get done while you’re gone, the less work you have to do when ya get back.”

“Ok, but if you see anything involving… that thing I was looking into, then please put it on my table.” With that, Twilight and Celestia headed out of the room, having something very important to get to.

In the halls of the castle, the two alicorns walked side by side. It was odd for Twilight, who mentally had been an alicorn for a short time, to walk aside her mentor like an equal. She did, however, enjoy that she now could. If not for current events causing all of Equestria to be draped in an thin cloak of negativity, she would have been prancing just as Hilda had been earlier out of sheer excitement, but the general disposition of the public seemed to dampen any feelings of happiness kingdom-wide.

The purple alicorn’s show of enjoyment for this privilege was not lost on her mentor though, who spotted a smile on her student’s face whenever they performed their duties together. Twilight was always looking for some kind of purpose in the world, and it seemed like she had found it. Of all the very minute ‘good things’ to come of this tragedy, Twilight being able to find fulfillment was one of the better things to happen.

If Celestia was to be honest, she had no real plans for the princess of friendship in the world before Dainn aside for making her into an alicorn, and it might have been some time before Twilight was able to find her role. Then again, it might have just been destiny that in order to find her purpose, something terrible had to happen to Twilight first. Fate had a strange way of handing the travelers of its path blessings and misfortunes along the way to their destination.

“Twilight,” said Celestia, “I want you to know something.”

“What is it, Princess?” Twilight asked, assuming that whatever Celestia had to say was something that concerned the public address, and thus would be very important.

“I want you to know that I appreciate your loyalty.” said Celestia.

“Princess, there is no reason I would be disloyal to you. Even if you were briefly a red collar, I have to believe that only happened because of something beyond your control. There is no way I can believe that you’d knowingly let Equestria suffer if there was something you could do about it. That’s not the Celestia I know.”

“I would agree with you,” Celestia replied to her fellow alicorn, “But I can understand why some ponies can no longer trust me as their leader. I can’t remember why I did it, but the truth of the matter is that I did succumb to the caribou, and that must’ve been the most horrible thing imaginable to some ponies. As much as I don’t like to put myself on a pedestal, I can’t deny that to some, I am a symbol. To see that symbol fall had to be devastating.”

“I…” Twilight started, wondering how she would have reacted to see Celestia like that. She was actually thankful that she didn’t have a direct response for that scenario.

“I know that you’ve been looking up information on all of us,” Celestia clarified, Twilight knowing that she meant the four princesses, “And so you have read all the terrible things I supposedly did.”

“But you also tried to fight back,” Twilight rebutted, giving Celestia as much credit as she could allow, “You managed an escape attempt, and-”

“You’re referring to my ‘diary’, aren’t you?” Celestia interrupted.

“Yes.” Twilight answered, as most of the information about what Celestia did during the Fall came from a publicly published account of her deeds, presumably written by the princess’ own hand.

“And you believe that book is a reliable source?”

This question was troublesome for Twilight, for several reasons. The purple alicorn knew why she was being asked this though, and she had to answer truthfully.

“No,” she said, “There are too many issues with that book to be considered credible.”

Of the many things Twilight could say about the supposed diary, the one thing that stood out the most was that it hadn’t been written by Celestia. Not only did it simply not match her mentor’s manner of writing, which Twilight was very familiar with because of the letters she received from the princess in the past, but the book held a lot of inconsistencies within its pages as well.

The princess in the book acted very uncharacteristically to the alicorn standing beside her. At times, the writer would go into detailed depictions of sexual interactions, and talk degradingly about herself and others, even when Celestia was still a black collar. Another odd detail was that it wasn’t written like a diary, and felt more like someone’s attempt to make a story with Celestia as the main character. Perhaps worst of all, if one paid attention to the details of the book, they would easily be able to discern that it would have been impossible for Celestia to write such a diary while enslaved by the caribou.

Not simply because Celestia had been held in captivity and violated frequently at the caribou’s discretion. Not simply because hiding a book, quill and ink under such circumstances would have been incredibly difficult, to put it lightly. Not simply because many instances treat the entries as if she were writing them as they happened, including the escape attempt Twilight mentioned, which was a ludicrous notion. Not only because of all this, but because the book itself mentioned several points where Celestia had been bound in ways that would have been impossible for anyone to write anything, supposedly as she was writing in the diary. In that regard, the diary was much like most of the other caribou-sanctioned books, where logic was thrown out the window for the sake of sexuality.

For that reason, Twilight had to see every detail in it as questionable. At best, one could assume that Celestia did write a diary, but even that was questionable, and when it was discovered, it had been heavily altered to fit a narrative that the caribou supported, that of a defiant princess whose will was broken down till she became what they wanted her to be. It was even possible that Twilight herself was the one who did the editing, as Applejack once said that the red collar version of herself offered that service to the farm mare for her own personal story of the Fall. Twilight hoped that wasn’t the case, but there was no way to confirm or deny that she had at this point.

“And that’s exactly why I don’t blame ponies that might have poor opinions about me.” Celestia said, submitting to the fact that her detractors had a point, “There is nothing definitive that shows that I am anything more than what they have seen. To them, I could just as easily become that red collar again if history would repeat itself.”

That was a very awful perspective. Logical, but awful, especially since if that was true for Celestia, then it also applied to Twilight.

“But that is exactly why I appreciate every pony who does still believe in me, and hope that their trust will someday get those who have lost faith in me to believe in me again.”

With the conversation ending with a small display of optimism, after what felt like a barrage of depressing notions, Twilight and Celestia made it to the main hall, and stood in front of door separating the castle’s interior from its exterior.

“Here we are.” Celestia said, her nerves solid as steel.

“R-right.” Twilight replied, her own not nearly as steadfast, and only made worse from things that discussion filled her head with.

Sensing her student’s troubled mind, Celestia went on to say, “If you aren’t feeling up to this, I can address the ponies of Canterlot this time.”

“No,” said Twilight with a shake of her head, “I am a princess of Equestria, and it is my duty to help ponies through troubling times. I can do this.”

Celestia felt proud of her pupil, and now reassured in Twilight’s capability, she looked to a pair of guards standing at the door and gave a nod. At her gesture, they opened the pathway, revealing a wooden platform constructed just beyond the door, with a large crowd of awaiting ponies just beyond that. Twilight could feel hesitation forming, but she pushed herself forward. This was the first time she would be speaking personally to the citizens of Equestria, and despite her most disparaging thoughts telling her she wasn’t ready for this, she knew deep down she had to take this step. Just another step forward, and another step towards restoring Equestria.

Author's Notes:

Well, another month and another update. I really need to figure out how to reduce the time in between these new chapters, but I suppose part of the issue is that I am currently on two different projects. That, and it's not like when I started where I just typed and typed with no care of things like grammar, proper usage of commas, spelling, or anything that would actually make people want to read my stuff.

As it is, I do feel that my stories have evolved a bit from their original intent. When I started, I was just using this as a means to expel the bad thoughts from my head, and share them with the world. One bad experience later, I write with somewhat of purpose, but that causes me to take longer because of it. Kinda sucks, but that is the price you pay for having some standards when it comes to quality, especially when you are far from a professional.

So with all that is supposedly going on in Equestria after the Fall, I thought it would be good to step away from Trixie for a chapter and show the "Committee of Ponies" and what they do for Equestria, as well as recap on what some of the more important MLP characters are up to. It's a small detour, and will help to give some context to some things in future chapters, but maybe it wasn't necessary. Perhaps I should have focused on Trixie alone, and made this story one chapter shorter. Maybe, but my layout for the chapter included this bit, and when my mind is set on something I just have to do it.

Speaking of things I just have to do, I fear I might have (translate as "absolutely did") use Twilight as a bit of a soapbox to voice my opinions on today. As most of my fans probably know, I really didn't think too well on the writings of my former co-contributors of FoE. There were so many issues with their works that... well, to be frank it helped me determine if I was going to go through my big "Bruised Apples" scheme or not, which we all know I did.

So every once in a while I feel I have to take a shot or two at a couple of the silly plot points of the setting, or even a whole story if I deem it just terrible. So I thought to myself "who better than Twilight, who probably would be able to pick up on all the nonsense in these stories if she ever had to read them". The stories in question, if you have never read them or didn't pick up on my non-so-subtle hints, are FoE's "Fall of The Resistance" "Princess Diaries" "Hearts and Hooves Day" and to some degree "Fall of Cadence".

As always, if you like these stories for what entertainment they have to offer, that's fine, but I think we can all agree that FoE never did well with plots, logic, or simple character development. If you haven't read them before, you can find links to them in the FoE Main group, or my own FoE fan group, and if you do decide to read them than please, whether you like them or not, leave a comment on the stories explaining exactly what you did or didn't like about said stories. I feel that feedback is the most important thing that an author could ever get, and clicking a thumbs up or thumbs down simply doesn't do a story justice (though that too is appreciated).

With all that said, next chapter will get back to Trixie, as we continue along her path to recovery.