The courtyard of Canterlot Castle was packed to capacity, filled with an innumerable amount of ponies. So many had come from all over Equestria to hear what Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia had to say about the state of the kingdom that they spilled out beyond the castle gates, flooding the streets of Canterlot as well. On a normal day, this might have been a problem for the citizens of the capital, but seeing how important this speech was, all city-wide activities were brought to a halt, with everyone finding a place in the crowd.

The reasons ponies attended this public address varied. Some came in hopes that they’d hear things were getting better. Others came to get a grasp on how much the caribou were still fucking them, even seven months after they had been removed from power. Others still wanted to learn about more specific things, like when they would be allowed to reopen their ‘non-essential business’, or what the Committee’s policy was on dealing with bordering nations who lifted nary a hand to help them when they needed it most. For one specific pony though, she quite literally was there because someone told her to be there, and she had nothing else better to do.

Trixie stood in the courtyard, surrounded by ponies murmuring to each other about what they assumed the princesses would be discussing. To the blue unicorn, it was all a droning chorus of fears and expectations, and was hardly worth the effort of trying to listen to any particular conversation.

The only ponies there that the blue unicorn cared about were those who were part of ‘Mares for a Better Equestria”, or particularly the ones from her own group. Sunset’s group had several chapters across the kingdom, and thus, a small group of ponies from each had come to witness this event first hand. It was the only reason Trixie had gotten into the courtyard itself, because one of the other groups got in early and reserved some space. Each of them wore the black ascot that was the symbol of their group, which signified to anyone else that they were together for this event, thus no one objected too heavily when a few dozen of them claimed a spot for their own.

While the other ‘MBE’ ponies seemed okay, they were more intimidating than they were comforting, so Trixie gravitated towards those she came with the best she could. Her small group consisted of Starlight, Lyra, Carrot Top, and a few stallions from her support meetings that she never learned the names of, each making the objective of staying away from others very difficult.

The stallions joined up with males from the other groups, sharing their viewpoints and the things they had experienced. Carrot Top was being distant, as per usual, and put her back to the concrete wall that surrounded the castle as she waited for things to start. Lyra, being more of a social butterfly, had found herself striking up conversation with a cute mare from one of the other groups named Coco Pommel. Lastly, Starlight was with the mares put in charge of the other chapters by Sunset, which Trixie guessed was appropriate due to Starlight being Sunset’s assistant.

This left Trixie isolated, and without any direction save for ‘stay with the group’. She wished that there was at least a pony present she was familiar with who wasn’t busy, save for Carrot Top. She wished that Sunset had come with them, that way she could at the very least speak with her.

“Hey Trixie.” Lyra whispered into her fellow unicorn’s ear, having snuck over to her with Coco when Trixie was too busy contemplating her lack of purpose, “Look over there.” Trixie took one moment to see who was speaking into her ear, and then followed Lyra arm to see what she was talking about.

What she saw stunned her, fear erupting into her consciousness. Walking about through the crowd was a caribou. A female caribou, but still a caribou - a creature from the most reviled species known to ponykind, freely going where she pleased without escort or bonds. Trixie stood there in what felt like this terrifyingly surreal moment, not saying anything or moving an inch, as though if she did the perceived danger would just go away.

“Isn’t it a shame?” Lyra said, Trixie hearing spite in the other unicorn’s voice for the first time she could recall. “They are letting those things walk around through groups of decent ponies.” Lyra pointed out a few more of the caribou cows, each one going about there merry way with what seemed not a care in the world.

“What are they doing here?” Trixie said just loud enough for Lyra to hear.

“I know, right?” Lyra replied, “I was surprised, too, but Coco was telling me that the cows have been in Canterlot for a while.”

Trixie looked to the earth pony next to Lyra, scared and confused. “But why are they here?!”

“It was the Committee’s idea,” said the earth mare, a willful fire in her voice despite having a meek physical appearance, “I’m part of the Canterlot group, and we were all here when they announced they were training cows to co-exist with ponies. We were even given pamphlets telling us how to act around them.”

Coco held out one such pamphlet to Trixie, who took it at the same time she declared, “That’s insane!”. Quickly, she opened up and looked through the folded bit of paper, scanning her eyes over what it had to say.

It tried to implore that the ‘does’, as it called them, were all unwitting victims of the caribou stags, who even now had issues understanding that they were being abused. The pamphlet went on to explain that because the does had been raised to become sex slaves, it was impossible for any of them to completely ignore their programming, meaning that most still acted incredibly promiscuous. If a doe was to speak in such a manner, you were to either ignore them or ask them politely to stop, and under no circumstance to actually take them up on offers of sex or ask them to have sex with you.

“Ever since then, they’ve been bringing cows here in order to integrate them into the kingdom.” said Coco, “And they’ve all been staying in the castle, doing who knows what.”

Between reading the pamphlet and hearing what Coco had to say, Trixie felt anger. Not a knee-jerk outburst caused by dejection, like when she was accused of messing up the house-building efforts awhile back, but real anger. She hadn’t felt this way in some time, and understood well why that was. Caribou females weren’t ‘victims’; they were accomplices in rape, reveling in the depravity inherent in all caribou.

Everyone knew that they their eagerly submissive and willing traits was the benchmark that all would-be red collars were judged against. Likewise, you would never hear of a single tale of a female caribou objecting to their own ‘mistreatment’, nor the mistreatment of other females. They were just as much monsters as their males, having contributed to the rape and humiliation of countless undeserving victims, never once taking in consideration the pain they were inflicting just to satisfy their lust.

Trixie admittedly had little hands-on experience with the cows, all her info on them had come from third-party sources. A fact she was thankful for, as she had no desire whatsoever to interact with such loathsome creatures.

“Thankfully,” Coco said, keeping a watchful gaze on the caribou in their midst as they handed out the doe interaction pamphlets to anyone willing to take one, “The committee has allowed ponies to refuse any interaction with the cows if they don’t feel comfortable around them, but seeing caribou walking around freely still makes ponies paranoid and scared.”

“Of course it does,” Trixie replied, as having a caribou within line of sight was enough to get her mind racing. While she was overcoming the initial shock, Trixie’s heart was pounding hard in her chest. She would expect no less a reaction from any other mare in Equestria who caught so much as a glimpse of a caribou in their immediate vicinity.

“We’ll just have to ignore them,” Lyra said, turning her two associates away from the wandering deer women, “Focus on what Sunset sent us all here to do: To see what the princesses have to say, and act as representatives for our group.”

Lyra was right. They couldn’t let the cows distract or intimidate them. As much as it angered Trixie to see the rapists unpunished, Sunset had trusted her with a task, minor as it was. As long as the cows stayed away, she would be able to restrain herself and keep this anger she felt under control, so she believed. If this was what the ponies that governed over Equestria thought was a good idea though, then they had just lost a great deal of standing in Trixie’s opinion of them.

“So,” Lyra said, ready to change the topic to something less unsavory, “How have things been in Canterlot? Aside for the cow thing, I mean?”

“Not too bad,” Trixie heard the earth pony reply, having now been roped into Lyra and Coco’s conversation, “The city was one of the only places the caribou didn’t damage too much, so the only thing that needed to be done once they were taken care of was removing all their propaganda.”

“Well that’s good for the ponies that lived here,” Lyra replied, genuinely glad to hear that those in Canterlot didn’t have to host mare shelters like other cities did.

Trixie, however, couldn’t refrain from thinking the words ‘rich bastards’ to herself, feeling indignant that those who were well to do before the Fall were able to fall back into that life the moment their enslavement was over. It might have been her prior anger towards the cows talking, but Trixie couldn’t help but feel bitter when there were still so many mares out there who were effectively homeless, herself included.

“Have those lucky mares at least tried to help those less fortunate than themselves?”
Trixie blurted out, trying to justify her terrible mood by receiving the answer she believed she would from Coco.

“Not most of them, no.” Coco replied, “But it’s not like they got everything back with their old homes. Most mares lucky enough to not have their homes burnt down still had personal items destroyed or taken away, and any money they had was taken by the caribou.”

“Oh…” Trixie said, not having thought about that.

With Trixie having confined herself to the mare shelter and then her guest room at Sunset’s group house, she hadn’t been in touch with what was happening in the outside world. For some reason, she was under the impression that mares that were fortunate enough to get anything back from their old lives would get everything back. It was all or nothing in her mind, but taking a moment to think about it, that didn’t makes sense. Of course the caribou would have picked a mare’s residence clean, kept any money or valuables they could lay claim to, destroyed what they deemed useless, and sold whatever remained after that. The truth was that even if a mare had property to be returned, it was probably just the house itself, with all items having resided in it long since dispersed across Equestria, if said objects even still existed.

“Well…” Trixie said aloud, her mind trying to find some way to stay resentful, “Have the rich mares offered to share their homes with less fortunate mares? It’s not like they’d need a whole mansion to themselves.”

“Not every pony in Canterlot lives in a mansion, silly.” said Lyra, having lived in the city when she studied at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

“No, but she has a point,” Coco said, “There are plenty of ponies in Equestria that could help those less fortunate than themselves. In our group, each stallion has made a place in their homes for a mare member.”

“Really?” Trixie replied, surprised by that. Not because she felt that stallions might not want a mare living in their homes, though it could easily be seen as an imposition to have a mentally scarred person taking up residence in your home. No, she was amazed that mares would want to stay under the same roof as a male for an extended period of time.

“Yeah, I’ve been staying with a royal pegasus guardsman myself.” Coco stated, smiling at the thought of the stallion, “I was scared at first when Sunset set us up together, but he turned out to be a real sweetie.”

“A guardsman?” Trixie questioned, looking at the number of guard ponies all around them, “Is he here now?”

“No,” Coco said, “He was given a special assignment today, and had to leave the city for a while.”

“Huh…” Trixie replied, not sure what she had expected. It wasn’t like it would really matter if the stallion was there at that moment.

“And Sunset put you two together?” Lyra asked, “Why did she do that?”

“Well, it was her idea,” Coco explained, “As part of their recompense to the females of Equestria, all stallions in the group needed to take in a mare and attend to their needs.”

Trixie recalled a point when Sunset mentioned that males would be required to do things to make up for they terrible things they did under caribou control. She supposed this must be what the orange unicorn meant. Living with a stallion who was suppose to help you would have been a way to get mares to trust males again.

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Trixie said, wondering if Sunset was setting up something like that for her too. If so, it would be a little scary at first, but maybe it would work the way it was intended.

“I just hope that’s not mandatory,” Lyra said, not looking as sure as the other two about stallions and mares bunking together in such a way.

Trixie was going to ask what the other unicorn meant, but before she could the doors to the palace came open. Both Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia walked out form the doorway, indicating that the public address was about to start. Everyone went silent, and kept their gazes locked on these two that they assumed held all the answers.

The two alicorns made there way up the platform setup for this event, Twilight approaching a podium set near the front of the stage. Celestia did not join her there, and instead stood a few feet back from her fellow princess. Trixie recalled rumors about the sun princess having taken a step back from the role of leadership in the light of her failure against the caribou, and this looked to be the literal representation of that.

With both alicorns in place, along with a small contingent of guards placed around the wooden structure they stood upon, everything was ready. Twilight, taking a microphone off her podium, took a moment to clear her throat, and then started her speech.

“Ponies of Equestria,” she started, “I am sure that we are all gathered here today for a common purpose; our future. It has been a little over half a year since the caribou were defeated and driven from our kingdom, and for many of us it still feels like nothing has changed since that day of liberation.”

Everyone remained quiet as the Princess of Friendship spoke, but these were not the words they particularly wanted to hear. They wanted to be told that everything was going to be ok; that immediate solutions to all their problems had been found, and would be implemented as soon as possible; that they could return to the happy, relatively carefree lives they had before the caribou. In just Twilight’s opening, hopes of that being the case were dashed instantaneously.

Trixie, feeling her anger rise as Twilight spoke, trembled a little as she contained herself the best she could. She had more than enough reasons to hate the alicorn, and if she only had bad news to impart, then that would be just another thing to add to the list of sins Trixie believed Twilight committed.

“Our oppressors are gone,” Twilight continued, “But the wounds they caused can still be felt by all of us. I look out at the ponies before me, look at the ponies I pass by each day, and see the pain each one carries.”

What do you know about pain? Trixie thought to herself enraged, not believing for a moment that Twilight had felt the kind of agony she had.

“But I also see the faces of those who want… no, need a better tomorrow.” said Twilight as she went on, “Who need something to hold on to. Some kind of light in their lives that will shine down on them and let them know that everything will be fine, that the caribou haven’t destroyed everything good that we hold dear.”

You have no idea, do you? Trixie thought again, bitterness rising within, What I have lost. What I had to go through while you were smiling through it all.

“And while it has been, and still is a hard time for all of us,” said Twilight, “I am happy to say that we are making steps forward to return this kingdom back to its former glory.”

What hard times have you experienced? Trixie thought again, silently replying to each thing Twilight said, When has anything bad ever happened to you?! You are a princess. The Princess’ student. When I was being raped, you were the king’s privileged pet! And what about now!? You are still given every advantage regardless of what you did, just because you were given a convenient excuse!

Something bad was rising up in Trixie, something dark and horrible, but ultimately meaningless. These words floating around in her head were just that, words in her head. It wasn’t like she would ever be able to confront Twilight with these thoughts, and even if she got the chance, odds were she wouldn’t have the courage to tell her off. After all, what would a near worthless mare such as herself have to say of any meaning to a princess, even one such as Twilight.

As Trixie fumed in impotent rage from her spot in the crowd, the princess ended the speech she was using as a header for the rest of public address. At its conclusion, a few ponies gave a light applause for her efforts, but many more stayed silent, not all that moved by what was, to them, a royal pep-talk.

“Ahem,” Twilight audibly cleared her throat, seeing the majority reaction of the public, “But of course, none of you are here for motivational speeches. You all are wondering how things are coming along with the restoration plan. Before I begin, I would like to remind you that, our announcements are meant to give you the preliminary results of the decisions made a month ago, thus we have no information based on decisions made in the Committee’s meeting earlier today.”

Trixie could feel the tension of the crowd rise as Twilight moved to what everyone came for, and she had to admit that she too was curious as to what, if anything, had actually been accomplished thus far.

“I am proud to say that the last month has been more productive than expected.” she started, ”Under the instructions of the Committee of Ponies, we have all but finished the foal memory removal plan. Within a week or so, all foals will have all memories of interaction with the caribou removed, and once completed, they will be returned to their parents or guardians immediately.”

A sign of relief washed over the crowd, with many of the attendees being those concerned about the safety and well-being of the children the government currently had within protective custody. While the intention of eradicating any traumatizing experience upon the minds of the innocent might have been a noble endeavor, those who raised and cared for the smallest victims of the caribou wished for their return. For some, their foals were all they had left to live for in Equestria.

Twilight had anticipated that this bit of news would be welcomed by those present, and wanted to put her best hoof forward. With that accomplished, she hoped the less good news would make a softer blow.

“We are also happy to announce that the first of the replacement houses for those who lost theirs to the caribou have reached completion, and thus, we expect more to be done over the course of the upcoming months - until everypony has a place to home.”

Another round of applause came at that news, slightly bigger than the one from the start. Little by little, the princess of friendship was winning the citizens of Equestria over.

“However,” Twilight said, her voice becoming more solemn, “As you might expect, with these good announcements I fear that we have had our fair share of problems along the way. For instance, it has come to the Committee’s attention that some of you have been harrassing the…” Twilight paused, knowing that if anything was to get a bad reaction, it would be this, “Caribou does.”

As expected, boos started to rise up from the crowd. Not that many, but enough to show the public disdain for anything caribou. Twilight was steadfast though, grabbing her podium to pull herself closer to her microphone.

“While your anger at the caribou is understandable, we must remind you all to direct that anger towards the ones who hurt you, and not those who were also victims. Attempts to punish or intimidate the does for things beyond their control will not be tolerated.”

Trixie bit her lip at that statement, her rage gradually getting the better of her. So even Twilight supports that idiotic idea, she thought, looking for any reason to detest the alicorn at this point.

“Lastly, in the matter of allowing privately owned businesses to re-open their doors to the public, the committee, as of their last meeting, has decided that this isn’t possible at this time.”

That spurred another negative reaction from the crowd, one much greater than when the princess told ponies to stop picking on the female caribou present in Canterlot. It wasn’t hard to tell why, either, as many ponies owned their own small businesses, and owners of large businesses employed hundreds of others who didn’t. Equestria had been brought to an economic halt for the duration of the restoration efforts, with all goods and services being directed by the decisions of the Committee.

In the commotion caused by the announcement, an anonymous voice managed to force itself from the rest, asking the question “Why can’t I open my bike shop?”.

Other such questions arose, but this one in particular seemed to catch Twilight’s ear. “The reason we cannot open businesses to the public,” Twilight said, competing against the gathering of upset ponies, “Has been explained already. In the state Equestria is in, we can’t have what resources the caribou left us with diverted away from the restorations efforts. As it stands, things that we used to take for granted, such as pastry, bikes, fancy clothing, are a luxury that would only slow down our progress.”

That made sense, as the metal and plastics used in rubber that would go into the building of several more useful things, like rebar rods for building constructing or pipes used for plumbing. In fact, the materials for most everyday items that ponies used to take for granted had a secondary use that would be better implemented when it came to the restoration efforts.

“Not only that, but very few mares have money to purchase things like that with.” said Twilight as she continued her explanation, “When enslaved, any bits that a mare had on them was taken away, and their bank accounts emptied out to fill the caribou’s treasury. We are still in the middle of trying to figure out which parts of their gold belonged to mares, if all that money is still there, and how to reallocate it back to who it belongs to. If stores were to open now, then the only customers you would have are stallions, and that would be incredibly unfair towards those of Equestria who currently have nothing.”

That sounded a little odd to Trixie, and not only because of her anger towards the alicorn. The government was, in its current state, providing all the essential amenities to the ponies of Equestria through whatever means necessary, which included privately employing ponies who could help their cause. That was fine, and something that even Trixie had taken advantage of for some time, but preventing ponies from opening up their own businesses felt counter-intuitive, especially when some of those businesses would certainly be mare-owned and operated.

The way it sounded, it was like the Committee was trying to get everything back to the way things were before the caribou, before they allowed anyone to get back to their lives, not realizing how backwards that logic was. If anything, they should allow ponies to do as they wished in order to put their own lives back together, or at least that was what Trixie believed after hearing what Twilight had to say on the matter. Keeping a close eye on what the alicorn was going to do next, ready to scrutinize every word that would come out of her mouth, Trixie listened as the Princess of Friendship spoke to the crowd before her one more.

“That is all of the new information we have to release. If you have a question to ask, please raise your hand and you’ll be called on.”

Several ponies did as the purple alicorn asked of them, raising their hands over the crowd to get her attention. Twilight scrolled over everyone present, and picked one of the ponies at random to receive their question.

“You there,” she said, pointing to a pegasus mare.

The pegasus lowered her hand, and said in as loud a voice she could make without going into a yell, “Has the Committee decided on what they’re gonna to do to all the male caribou?”

Twilight straightened her posture, knowing how serious a question this was. “The Committee, as of yet, has not decided on any further actions with the caribou imprisoned in Tartarus. However, Equestria has had a long standing policy of attempting to reform those who have wronged us, so that option isn’t out of the question as far as I am aware. Then again, as I am not part of the Committee, they might just decide to keep the caribou stags locked away. If that happens, then it would be a decision I would support. Next question please.”

Immediately, an earth pony mare rose her hand, and her quick action got her selected for the next question. “Why doesn’t the Committee just have them all executed?”

Twilight gave a disheartened look, as if assumed this question would come, but wished that it hadn’t. “While I can understand where that idea comes from, that is not a solution that we, as a kingdom, should be looking for. We ponies have, when no other option has presented itself, killed those who would do us harm. In this case though, there are other options. The caribou, despite the suffering they have cause, are in a position where they are at our mercy. Some of you might believe that ponies should enact some form of revenge on them to make them suffer like we did, but we have to remember while they took our freedom, they never once took our lives.”

That’s… Bullshit! Trixie thought to herself indignantly.

What about the blanked ponies, who’s might as well be considered dead with their memories destroyed. It was a thought that had entered Trixie's own mind more times than she cared to remember. How could the princess not count them, simply because the caribou hadn't killed their bodies? One didn’t even have to go as far as being blanked to have had their lives taken from them either, as while Trixie might have had her memories, the damage they caused her mentally made it near impossible to truly ‘live’.

“As they are, their freedom has likewise been taken from them, so for now the punishment is fitting the crime. We can respect that this is not enough for some of you, but it’s all we can do for the time being. Next question, please.”

Ponies rose their hands again, and Twilight pointed out an orange unicorn stallion this time. “Has the Committee made any plans on utilizing the caribou’s runic magic in the restoration efforts?”

That question surprised Twilight, but she seemed much more pleased with it than the previous one. Magic was one of her talents, and she could see the practical merits to the runic magic the caribou often used to subjugate the ponies.

“While I would love to explore the possibilities of runic magic, and believe that it would be very useful for Equestria, we must remember that runes are a racial form of magic. Only the caribou are capable of creating the runes, and only the stags at that. In order to have rune magic work for us, we’d need to have several caribou stags willing to cooperate with us, which I believe is something that most ponies wouldn’t be pleased about at this time, seeing their reactions when it comes to any interactions with caribou.”

The crowd started to murmur amongst each other about the answers they had received from Twilight. There were conflicting opinions, of course, but to most of what the alicorn had said appeared to be rational explanations as to the actions their newly established government was taking. There were those that were on the fence about some of the topics, but Celestia’s presence helped convince those who still held her opinion in high regard, as she was not doing anything to conflict with any of the Princess of Friendship’s answers, thus silently approving of them in the eyes of the gathering.

“We’re starting to run out of time for today,” Twilight said in attempt to refocus the crowd, “But If we can be quick, I’ll be able to answer a few more questions before we bring this to a close.”

There were, of course, many other ponies wanted to ask about the current state of Equestria, so many that it would have been impossible to answer them all in a day. At best, Twilight would have been able to answer three more questions, so long as the answers to them weren’t too complicated.

“I’ve got a question!” boomed a voice from out of the crowd. The declaration was so loud and sudden that everyone’s attention was drawn to its origin.

This included Twilight herself, though she wasn’t too impressed with this disruption. “I know that all of you have questions that you want answered, but let’s try to keep this orderly. Raise your hand and wait to be-” Twilight stalled as she saw the crowd part, allowing the disruptor to reveal themselves. “Wait… Carrot Top?”

“Carrot Top?” Trixie likewise asked, amazed that the earth mare bothered to move away from her place against the palace walls, let alone include herself in this assembly in such a disruptive manner.

“Good to see you didn’t remove everything inconvenient from your mind.” said the yellow earth mare, not even trying to hide her negative feelings towards the mare on stage. Anyone who knew the mare from the support group could tell that she was in the mood to speak her mind, and when she did that, it was never pleasant for her chosen target.

Trixie slowly backed away from Carrot Top, giving her as much space as she could in this crowded area, wanting no part of the storm the earth mare was silently promising to bring to Twilight. As she backed up, another mare much braver than herself stepped forward, the light blue unicorn Trixie had been speaking to not too long ago.

“Carrot Top, stop.” Lyra said, “This isn’t the place for this.”

“I just have something to ask the princess,” said Carrot Top, smugness growing on her face, “I don’t think that somepony like her would be afraid of a simple question.”

Trixie didn’t believe that what Carrot Top wanted to ask would be simple, not with the malice that was practically radiating from her body. It was something that Lyra could tell too, and she had an idea what kind of question she would have for Twilight.

Twilight, however, was completely in the dark about why Carrot Top and Lyra, two ponies she recognized from Ponyville, were here causing a scene. The last time she remembered seeing them was before the caribou arrived, which meant before the time which her memories were removed.

“Carrot Top,” Twilight said, addressing the mare locking a glare onto her, “If you have something that important to ask me, then... I’ll pick you next.”

“Huh, figure that.” Carrot Top scoffed, “I expected you to dodge me like you did your crimes. Just goes to show how innocent a pony can pretend to be when their given a ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight said, becoming a little apprehensive at what Carrot Top was saying.

“That’s right. You don’t remember.” Carrot Top went on to say, choosing this moment to get her point, “You don’t recall how you betrayed everypony in Ponyville, and handed us right into the caribou’s hands.”

“Are you saying that… you saw me do this?” Twilight asked, becoming both intrigued and worried about what the earth mare had to say.

“Carrot, that’s enough.” Lyra said, tugging at her friend’s wrist.

Carrot Top just casually yanked her arm away from the unicorn, and took a step closer towards the alicorn on the platform. “I saw you go right up to the a small army of caribou and beg them to make you their fuck toy.” she confirmed, “And when you gave up, the rest of us didn’t stand a chance. You didn’t even have a reason to do it either. I know the Committee say you were brainwashed, but you seemed fine to me until the moment we needed you.”

“I was… fine?” Twilight said, not sure how to take this newfound information.

Some caribou documents did say that she had willingly surrendered, but she was hoping that those were some of the embellished parts. At the very least she would have believed that her surrender was caused by her brainwashing, but from what Carrot was saying, she was acting normal until the caribou arrived.

“You look shocked,” Carrot Top continued, “This the first time hearing this from an eyewitness to your betrayal? Would have thought you’d at least ask your victims if what the caribou wrote down about your was true.”

Twilight had not. With all the documentation and literal books written depicting her supposed actions during the fall, Twilight had assumed that those were the place to looking in order to find answers about this version of herself she could no longer remember. In her pursuit of the truth, she had neglected to ask those who might have seen her do something terrible with their own eyes. The closest she had done was ask her friends about her actions, but they all had said they weren’t around the alicorn that often during the caribou’s reign, or were too wrapped up in their own guilt-ridden actions to worry about what Twilight had done. How could she not think to ask anyone from Ponyville? Even Cheerilee, a member of the Committee of Ponies, could have at least told her something.

Twilight, stunned by her mistake and the accusations Carrot was pointing at her, took a step back from the podium in front of her. She had no way to respond to this, not on the spot. Fortunately, there was someone there who could. As Twilight backed away, Celestia stepped forward to take her place, already heading to the podium before Carrot Top’s revelation had set into Twilight’s mind.

“We understand the concerns that some ponies might have about the former red collar status of Princess Twilight, Cadence, and myself,” Celestia said, her voice loud and unshaken by these accusations, “But with things the way they are, it is difficult to tell if the actions of any of us were because we were mind-controlled, or because of our own actions. If any evidence arose that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that our former selves intentionally harmed anypony, then we would submit ourselves to for legal judgment of our actions without question. That being said, was there a question to all this?”

Seeing the sun princess step in for the other alicorn unnerved many in the crowd who just moments ago were siding with Carrot Top. Celestia was far more experienced, more respected, and in her own ways considered more intimidating than Twilight by the general populous of Equestria. They could also tell that Celestia wasn’t trying at all to avoid the possibility of her guilt in all this, only that thus far, the alicorns could only take Shining Armor’s word on the matter, and believe in themselves that they wouldn’t have become red collars without some form of outside coercion. Celestia might not have been the protector Equestria thought she was, but she was not one to try and dodge responsibility either, and to that end she deserved the respect ponies gave her.

Carrot Top was not phased in the slightest though. She had already seen hell, so how could any pony, even one as charismatic as Celestia, make her back down? “My question, right.” she said with that look of smugness plastered on her face as it had been with the previous alicorn. “What gives Twilight the right to stand up there and act like she isn’t part of the reason we suffered as much as we did? That goes for you too, Celestia. You might not have given in as easily, but in the end, you put on that red collar just like any other traitorous mare. Do you know how many of us were latching onto you as a symbol of hope? How many of us were made hopeless to see you willingly choking down Dainn’s cock? Becoming his dog… no, his BITCH!”

Celestia visibly took a blow from the earth mare’s words, them hurting her as much as if Carrot had kicked her in the face. “I cannot begin to express how sor-”

“No, I’m not done!” Carrot said, not letting Celestia give another empty apology, “How can we trust either of you ever again? If some other group like the caribou come in, then what’s gonna stop you from dropping to all fours and presenting your flanks to them? Sure, your ‘memories are gone’, but all that means that you’ve learned nothing from this, and letting you three stay close to any kind of power would only let you have another chance to make the same mistakes as before!”

Trixie was amazed at what Carrot was saying, as was Lyra and many others present to hear her little speech. Some of them had never even considered that, or maybe they didn’t want to consider some other race storming in and taking over Equestria all over again. What if the changelings, or the gryphons, or a group like the minotaurs decided to attack, especially in Equestria’s current condition. One would like to believe that the princesses would be able to protect them, but the caribou had proven that they can’t depend on that kind of thinking.

The premise of another horrible invasion of Equestria stirred up commotion within the crowd, with some of the weaker-willed participants showing signs of panic at the mere mention of its possibility. Of all the things said in the castle courtyard that day, the commentary of the earth mare sparked the most reaction, as it was addressing several important topics all at once. What was Equestria’s plan if they were attacked now? How could they even defend themselves in the state that they were in? Most importantly, was it possible that their leaders could betray them again?

“Everypony, please settle down,” Celestia said, trying to regain control, “I know the thought of another attack like the one we just overcame is frightening, but it would be foolish of us ignore that possibility. The truth of the matter is that we could be-” A sudden jolt entered the alicorn’s mind, and instinctively she unfolded a wing to bring it over her face. A split-second later said wing was hit by a slightly over-ripened tomato that splattered over her white feathers. Someone in the crowd had chucked the piece of fruit at her, and she had just barely caught it in her peripherals in time to block it from hitting her in the face.

While she managed to keep the object from hitting its intended target, the sudden appearance of red upon her pure white form made for an awful sight for those in the crowd, especially since they were just in the middle of discussing the possibility of attacks. Before Celestia could do anything in response to this attempt against her, a sounds of screams came from the ponies before her, one chaining into dozens of others until everyone was sent into full blown hysterics.

The guards reacted as quickly as they could to the chaos that ensued, several immediately flying over to Celestia and Twilight to protect them while others tried to calm down the rioting masses, but their efforts were not very successful. In some cases, trying to make the civilians settle down only made things worse, as those who had been present in Canterlot on the day of the caribou’s invasion were quick to remember that the royal guard had assisted in their takeover.

In the middle of the randomly stampeding crowd was Trixie, who had herself come to the conclusions that Canterlot was under attack. Believing that her freedom depended on it, and above all else never wanting to be clutches of creatures like the caribou again, she did her best to get to through the gates that served as the most immediate exit to the castle grounds.

She made no effort to help anyone on her way to what she perceived as her only means of escape, took nary a moment to check on those she had come with to see if they were ok, and even took to pulling and shoving ponies out of the way to get to her destination.

It had been some time since she felt an emotion this powerful, as an all consuming fear stripped her of rationality, and it sparked things in her that seconds ago she would have felt impossible for her. Where she would have believed herself too meek to so much as stand up to another pony verbally, she was now physically moving ponies she believed were standing in her way, instincts and self-preservation overriding everything the caribou had instilled into her very being.

“Get out of the way!” she screamed at a mare blocking her path, her words lost in the frantic noise produced by all the other ponies running about.

Fortunately, said mare got startled, and moved out of the way so the unicorn didn’t need to toss her aside as well. For a moment, Trixie believed that she would be able to escape the unseen attacker, that she would manage to slip through the bodies of ponies that impeded her from fleeing. If anyone was paying attention to her, they could have seen a joyful, relieved, nearly crazed smile form on her lips as she made her way to what she perceived was her path to safety. All that faded though as a hand wrapped around one of her wrists.

“Hold it!” said the earth pony guard that had gotten a hold of her. He had seen that Trixie was practically knocking others down, risking them getting trampled under the hooves of the pack of panicking ponies. He felt he had to stop her, lest someone get hurt. Using his superior strength on the unicorn, he pulled her in close to restrain and detain her.

That was not taken well by Trixie, who, like some many others present, just saw the guard doing his duty as one of the assumed attackers. She fought and struggled against his hold, wrestled against him as he tried to pin her against a wall to get her to stop moving. Of course, this kind of manhandling could only be seen as an attempt to rape her by the unicorn, as Trixie had been handled the exact same way in the past just before a male forced himself into her body. In her current, adrenaline-fueled state, she couldn’t let this male trap her body between himself and the palace wall. Yet try as she might, she simply couldn’t physically overcome the stallion holding her. Still, her frightened mind told her that she needed to break free by any means she could.

“LET!” Trixie shouted, placing her hoof against the wall to keep body away from it, “ME!” she shouted again, flicking her head back in attempt slam the back of it into the stallion’s face, missing it and instead landing it on his shoulder. “GO!” Trixie pulled everything she could from deep within herself, and without her realizing at first, her horn begun to glow.

The guard spotted this, and as it became brighter and brighter he suddenly became aware that he was in danger. He tried to let go, but the impromptu spell went off before he could release the unicorn completely. A concussive blast came from the horn, striking the stallion in the head at point blank range. Luckily, his helmet absorbed most of the impact, but not enough to keep him from hitting the ground unconscious.

While Trixie had been unaware of her horn as it created the defensive spell, she couldn’t ignore it once she had finished casting said spell. She was shocked, her horn having not worked for her since she was captured and it was severed by the caribou. The unicorn had tried everything she could think of to get her horn to work when she had it fixed, but until now she got nothing.

“You can work?!” Trixie said amazed to her horn, all but forgetting what was going on around her in light of her ability to perform magic again.

Immediately, she tried to get it to work again, working off a distant memory of how magic was supposed to be performed. What she got for her efforts was a light glow on her horn, which was equal parts underwhelming and incredible to Trixie. She had almost come to believe that she would never get her horn to produce magic ever again, but was expecting more after having just knocked out a pony.

She became focused on casting better spells, forgoing any want to escape, until someone slipped their hands into both of hers while she was in her own world. The hands quite literally pulled her back to reality, and once aware of her surroundings again, Trixie found that the ones tugging her along were Lyra and Coco.

“Oh, hey guys,” she said happily, not having completely left her mental bubble yet, “I think I’ve got my magic working again.”

“That’s great, Trixie,” Lyra said, “But we have to go!”

“Oh right, the attack!” Trixie replied, remembering what was going on before she figured out she could use magic again, “We gotta get out of here!”

“It’s not an attack,” said Coco, “At least not like you think.”

“Huh?” Trixie was confused. If they weren’t being attacked, then what was going on?

“One of the girls from my group chucked a tomato at the princess!” Coco admitted, looking back at Trixie as she did, “She just wanted to embarrass Celestia a little bit, but it turned into an all-out riot!”

“That’s…” Trixie said looking around at the havoc that was taking place, “Pretty serious.”

“Yeah,” Coco agreed, “And worst of all is that one of the guards must’ve seen her, cause I saw them- oof!” The petite mare, not watching where she was going, ran into something hard. She stumbled from the impact, but Lyra and Trixie prevented her from falling. When the trio looked up to see what they had bumped into, they were met by the annoyed glare of a palace guard mare. “I saw them rounding up our members…” Coco said, finishing her previous thought.

The guard, her arms crossed in hostility, looked from one of the trio of mares to the next, making note of the black clothes on each of their throats. At this point, the entire security force stationed at the palace had been informed as to what was happening, and who started it, and were now making their biggest priority after calming down the civilians to gather up any members of the Mares for a Better Equestria group.

“You three are going to have to come with me.” she said, with a command in her voice that said that she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “We have a bunch of questions for the lot of you.”

Being that none of the three mares were nearly as brave as Carrot Top, they all meekly complied to the authority of the guard mare, though not without their fair share of groans. What was suppose to be a simple outing had turned into an arrest, and that was something that would sour anyone’s mood. Trixie did still have one thing to be happy about though, and that was the return of her magic, however weakened from lack of use. In a world full of things that could, and had, gone wrong, it was great to finally have something go right for a change.

Author's Notes:

Another month and another chapter. This is becoming a habit, but this time I understand why I'm a bit late. To be honest, righting for "politics" is hard. Scratch that, writing in a fashion that makes you politically neutral is hard. I am personally one who stays out of political issues all together normally, and when I do write something like the last few chapters I want to show the feelings and viewpoints of both sides, because in most issues any side can have a combination of good and bad ideas. If I just wanted to pick a side and say "This is the winner" I'd probably have an easier side setting that side on a podium, making that side out to be the outright "correct" one to follow, but I would rather not do that.

I'm sure one could ask "what political stance could you make in a story about a bunch of cartoon ponies who have been raped by a bunch of hentai orcs in the guise of deer", but given our current social climate it seems that anyone could make a case for something being a political statement about anything. I could probably pluck some examples out myself if I tried, but I feel that it would be a waste of my time to attempt to put meaning into my own story that I didn't intentionally put there. If you see something that connects with you though, feel free to share. I've had previous works of mine compared to much better literary works before when I accidentally made them similar to said work, despite never having read a book outside of the Harry Potter series, so maybe there is something hidden here that I don't see, and I'd be very interested to know what that could be.

Anyways, have a nice day. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.