Equestria: Civil War

by LightningSword


Chapter 7

REFORMED ANTAGONIST
REGULATION ACT
R.A.R.A.

Article I: A specially sanctioned panel of Equestrian nobility, selected by Princesses Celestia and Luna, will oversee and approve any and all actions made by Twilight Sparkle and any and all ponies Twilight Sparkle has approved to join her.

Article II: The same panel will be consulted before Twilight Sparkle allows any more ponies to work with her on missions on behalf of Equestria, and will have the final word on who is allowed to report to Twilight Sparkle on said missions.

Article III: All ponies reporting to or considered to report to Twilight Sparkle will undergo extensive psychological testing for the pre-approval process, as well as undergo specialized training for their morality and decision-making skills made during missions, if and when that pony is qualified to accompany Twilight Sparkle on said missions.

Article IV: All approved ponies reporting to Twilight Sparkle will first report to the nobility panel before any and all missions they wish that pony to be a part of, and will only be approved for said mission on their word.

Article V: All missions considered for Twilight Sparkle and her (approved) comrades will be reviewed by the nobility panel beforehand, and will only be approved for action on their word.

Article VI: A spokepony for the Canterlot nobility will accompany Twilight and her approved comrades on approved missions at all times, has the final say on any and all actions taken during the mission, and will report regularly back to the panel until mission completion.

Article VII: In the event of a state of emergency in Equestria or any location under clear and present danger, only Twilight Sparkle and any and all ponies who once wielded the Elements of Harmony will be allowed to carry out missions until the state of emergency is lifted.

Article VIII: Any and all actions placing any living being in immediate danger or resulting in property damage of any nature is punishable by immediate arrest and trial before the Canterlot nobility panel. Any contact between Twilight Sparkle or her approved comrades and anypony accused or found guilty of said actions is strictly prohibited.

Article IX: Any action carried out in direct violation of the preceding articles, or carried out without Canterlot panel approval, is punishable by immediate probation until such time as deemed appropriate by the Canterlot nobility. Any action carried out by a pony under probation, in accordance or defiance with the preceding articles, will be subject to immediate arrest to await trial in Canterlot.


Thunderbolt looked through the act once again, even though he already knew it by heart (having contributed some of it himself). It seemed watertight, but a nagging annoyance still ate at him after the finalization of the document. Most of his additions were either subdued or ignored entirely.

I suppose nowadays public flagellation is frowned upon, Thunderbolt thought bitterly, but despite what Celestia thinks, I’m sure a few dozen scars on that purple pony plot would have kept her in line, and kept Ponyville City Hall standing.

Looking at the memory footage from that day in Ponyville had brought it all back. The buzzing wings, the stomping hooves, the screams of terror. Canterlot had never seen an invasion like that, and the royal guard had been totally unprepared.

But that was no excuse to let ponies get hurt.

Thunderbolt groaned at a pang in his chest as he glanced at a picture frame on his desk. In the picture, a sleek grey stallion, ten years younger, held a neon-pink Pegasus mare close to him as she kissed his cheek. On top of the younger Thunderbolt’s head, nestled in his thick, speckled mane, was a butter-yellow Unicorn filly with a sky-blue mane and an energetic smile.

It won’t happen again, he promised the picture. Not now. Not ever.

The door to the captain’s quarters flew open, and Princess Celestia’s voice filled the room:

“Captain!”

Thunderbolt closed his eyes and sighed, then pushed his chair out and left his desk, turning back towards the door. “Your Highness,” he muttered, giving a halfhearted bow.

“Don’t ‘Your Highness’ me, Captain,” Celestia snapped as she stood imperiously in the doorway. “You have a bit of explaining to do.”

“Mmm . . .” Thunderbolt mumbled, nodding, “I take it you found out?”

“Who exactly gave you authorization to experiment on the Alicorn Amulet?”

“Straight to the point, I see . . . your sister, actually. She knew as well as I did that it was the only force possible to fight him—”

“The Act hasn’t even been ratified yet, Thunderbolt!” Celestia yelled, an intense look in her eyes. “He hadn’t resisted! He hadn’t even done anything! I will not allow injustices against innocent subjects!!”

At this, Thunderbolt’s eyes widened in skeptical awe. “’Innocent’?” he scoffed. “All right, then, correct me if I’m wrong, but . . . Tirek.”

His last word was spoken with subdued rage, as though nopony would dare argue that point. Celestia glared back at Thunderbolt, sizing up the challenge.

“Twilight saved us all,” she said confidently. “You give her such little trust. Why not admit she did well?”

“Because, Your Highness, Twilight wouldn’t have had to act if he had. Just as you had ordered him to!”

Celestia sighed roughly. “Clearly, I made a mistake.”

“And it’s mistakes like those that we are making sure will never be made again,” Thunderbolt snapped.

“They won’t, Thunderbolt. He’s different now. He’s proved that.”

Thunderbolt didn’t speak, but merely stared back at Celestia with a raised eyebrow. Still silent, he turned back to his desk, swept a memory gem from a set of them on the top, and set it on the floor between himself and the princess. He tapped the top, and the projection illuminated the room, showing a formerly opulent scene in a Canterlot ballroom, now filled to the windows with green slime. Ponies in sullied suits and evening gowns were plastered to the walls, and one pink mare had cleverly used another pony as a boat to float through the grime.

“Uhh . . .” Celestia murmured, her cheeks starting to grow pink. “I . . . thought it would be fun . . . .”

Thunderbolt tapped the top of the gem, and the scene changed again, this time to an outdoor Ponyville, where Twilight’s friends were all gathered around a serpentine creature and laughing with him, while Twilight Sparkle herself stood off to one side, looking miserable. Thunderbolt simply maintained his silent, raised-eyebrow stare.

“W-well, I wasn’t aware of that until after the fact,” Celestia stumbled, now glancing away from the scene before it changed again.

This new scene was unrecognizable, set in a land far unlike Equestria, in which trees seemed to be made of paper and grass and streams appeared drawn with colored pencils. In it, a stocky red Earth stallion and a small dragon, both in silly costumes, ran from large paper cutouts of creatures glued on sticks. Celestia had no comment for this scene; she seemed too busy trying to make out what was going on.

“With all due respect, Your Highness,” Thunderbolt finally spoke as the projection faded away, “you’re just as bad as Twilight. He’s a loose cannon. Always was, always will be. And no amount of repeated forgiveness will disarm him.”

Celestia scowled at the captain as he placed the memory gem back on his desk with its kin. He turned and simply scowled back, waiting for her next words. The wait was a bit longer than he was expecting—he could feel his heart rate climbing with each passing second.

Thunderbolt finally had to restrain a jump when Celestia sighed. “You’re right,” she said morosely. “Discord hasn’t changed. And I was a fool to think he could.” She then gazed deeply, almost desperately, into Thunderbolt’s eyes. “But where do we draw the line, Captain?”

“My question exactly,” Thunderbolt replied readily. “We can’t risk another incident like at your niece’s wedding. Homes destroyed, ponies injured, families . . . broken . . . those with the power and potential to destroy us must be contained.”

Celestia bowed her head and sighed again, weakly. “Bad enough I learn of an attack in the Crystal Empire,” she muttered, “now I have to cover this up, as well . . . .” She turned towards the door and slowly walked, stopping just before touching the wooden surface.

“It won’t bring you together again,” Celestia spoke without turning. “What’s past is past, Captain. Don’t punish others to make up for your past mistakes.”

Thunderbolt didn’t speak. He simply turned back to his desk, and the picture that rested on it. He looked happier. They all looked so much happier . . . .

“I’m punishing those who make mistakes, so that they’re never made again,” he said at last.

With one last weary sigh, Celestia opened the door and walked out of the room. When Thunderbolt heard the door close behind her, he sat back at his desk and reread the act once again.


Twilight felt her spirits lift higher than they’d been in weeks. It was true what they said—“make new friends, but keep the old”. She felt glad to have kept the old.

“I can’t even imagine what you and Starlight are going through, Twilight!” said Minuette from the spacious couch in the palace lounge. Twinkleshine sat next to her, contentedly feasting on scones from the dish on the table, and Lemon Hearts sat next to Twinkleshine, sipping from her teacup. Opposite them, Twilight and Fluttershy took up another couch, and Rarity took up a chair, frowning.

“Honestly, darling, it’s not as bad as they make it out to be,” Rarity replied, taking a dainty sip from her own cup. “I mean, keeping threats contained is what the princesses do anyway, isn’t it?”

“Well, sure, but they were never this active about it before,” Twinkleshine said after swallowing her scone. “Isn’t it odd that they’d only start cracking down on former villains after Starlight comes along?”

Just the name was enough to send a jolt of pain into Twilight’s heart. Yesterday, when they’d received and read their copy of the Reformed Antagonist Regulation Act, Starlight had gone into an even deeper depression than before—if it were remotely possible. She’d locked herself in her room and refused to come out for any reason, not speaking to anypony. She stayed there even now, while the rest of Twilight’s friends (who weren’t already discussing the matter elsewhere) talked about the consequences of R.A.R.A.

“It’s a witch hunt, that’s what it is,” Twilight said with more venom than she’d intended.

“Oh, Twilight, really!” Rarity scoffed. “They’re trying to protect Equestria! It’s not as though they’re deliberately targeting Starlight—”

“She most certainly is, Rarity!” Twilight snapped. When Rarity (and Fluttershy) recoiled, Twilight’s next words were calmer. “Look, Moon Dancer doesn’t care about reformed villains. She’s only doing this because she’s bitter.”

“Bitter?” asked Lemon Hearts as she set her tea down. “What for? Didn’t you two make up?”

“I thought we did, but . . . .” Twilight cut herself off. Trying to understand Moon Dancer’s mindset this past week had been hard enough. Now amongst mutual friends, she drew a complete blank.

“Well, I cannot deny that her motivations are a bit shoddy,” Rarity said, shrugging, “but she’s doing the right thing regardless! I mean, wouldn’t it be a good thing if ponies who made mistakes were held accountable?”

“Well, that’s easy to say for a pony who’s never made life-threatening mistakes,” Minuette replied. “You can safely say ponies will suffer consequences if you have no consequences to suffer.”

“Excuse me, but I’m fairly certain I was possessed by an evil spellbook and almost ‘fabulized’ all of Ponyville!”

“And you’re proud of that?” Twinkleshine asked with a slight gasp.

“Well, of course not, but—”

“Rarity, you weren’t even in control of your own actions, and you know it,” Twilight snapped. “Don’t sit there and pretend you have any kind of stake in this.”

“Twilight!” Rarity shrieked. “You wound me! I do so have a stake in all this! Think about the mistakes my little sister has made whilst gallivanting around with her friends! A love spell? Aiding and abetting a wanted felon? Very nearly sabotaging my order for Sapphire Shores?! Sweetie Belle may be my family, but if this helps stop her from causing large amounts of trouble, why would it hurt? Especially since she’s so much better now that she’s gotten her cutie mark!”

“So, you’d be more than willing to let them process your little sister in some kind of camp—”

“Twilight, you are being unreasonable,” Rarity spoke up, holding up a hoof. “You make it sound as though the only option for these ponies is execution. All we’re saying is try to see it from our perspective. This is the princesses trying to keep the peace, after all.”

“But Rarity, you can’t keep the peace by making everypony afraid,” Twinkleshine countered. “This just makes ponies afraid of the bad guys instead of treating them like good guys. I think Twilight’s right. This is looking more and more like a witch hunt.”

“Well, let’s just think about this, now,” Lemon Hearts stepped in, “maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? I mean, I was there during the Changeling invasion. If we were harder on the real bad guys, it would make it harder for normal ponies to step out of line, right?”

“That’s why it makes more sense to work with them instead of branding them,” Twilight asserted. “Keeping evil, well . . . evil means keeping fear where it’s not necessary. Changing bad to good means no evil, which means no fear. We take that away, we’re just as bad as Chrysalis.”

“Twilight,” Rarity sighed, “darling . . . that is dangerously naïve. These are our Equestrian Princesses. They know what’s best for us. It’s not you, or Cadance, or even Chrysalis—”

“No, but they are making decisions based on agendas,” Twilight fought back. “Moon Dancer’s agendas.”

“But why is she in the wrong?” Rarity asked. “She had the same opportunity to make the same mistakes as Starlight had after you moved to Ponyville, and she didn’t make them. Clearly she knows what she’s doing.”

“Rarity,” Twilight replied with an annoyed sigh, “she chose not to do that! If we sign this act, we’re giving up our rights to choose! What if they make us do something to a reformed pony we have no right to do? What if the map sends us somewhere, and they don’t let us go? I’ll accept that we’re not perfect, but the safest hooves are still ours.”

“Twilight, Moon Dancer is pushing this act quite seriously,” Rarity replied, her tone softer now. “She will make absolutely sure this happens. Best to get it over with now and renegotiate later, I say.”

“Sounds okay to me,” Lemon Hearts added. “I mean, changes can be made, right?” She glanced to the other mares; Minuette shrugged and Twinkleshine nodded halfheartedly before turning to a still and weak-looking Fluttershy.

“Um, Fluttershy?” Twinkleshine asked, “you’re being awfully quiet. Do you know the decision you’re making?”

Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head. “You don’t know her that well. She’ll make a decision when she’s ready.” She then did a double-take at Fluttershy, blinked, and added, “You will make a decision, right?”

Fluttershy slowly looked up at Twilight, seemed to notice every eye in the room was on her, and sighed weakly. Even being the center of attention—one of her worst fears—seemed to take a back seat to this new feeling.

“As long . . .” she began, as if testing the waters, “. . . as long as they don’t hurt Discord.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and she let out a gasp of incredulity.

“If they treat us fairly . . . and they don’t come down too hard on Discord . . . then I’ll do whatever they say. As long as Discord is okay . . . .”

“Well, I think that’s perfectly fair!” Rarity beamed. “There, you see? Fluttershy has the right idea, Twilight!”

Twilight scowled. If you think fear is a way to deal with this, maybe . . . .

The words almost came out loud, when there was a massive knock at the castle doors. Fluttershy jumped slightly and everypony else turned towards the sound. Calming herself with a deep breath and a sweeping hoof, Twilight stood from her seat and said, “I’ll get it.” Even that sounded more bitter than she’d wanted.

What’s going on with me? Twilight thought on her short walk toward the door. Rarity’s just trying to be civil. They all are. But I just . . . I don’t even know what I’m doing? Am I just protecting Starlight, or am I really that angry at Moon Dancer? Is it her fault for doing all this, or should I really start thinking before I act? Maybe . . . maybe they all have a point . . . maybe this is for the best . . . .

Twilight pushed her thoughts aside as she opened the massive palace doors and took a step back to allow in . . . .

“Trixie?!”

The blue, becaped showmare flashed her usual ostentatious smile. “Well, hello to you too, Princess. Surprised to see me?”

“Not entirely,” Twilight muttered truthfully. I suppose I should have seen this coming . . . .

“Thank you for the invitation,” Trixie snapped as she strutted into the castle unbidden. “I trust you’ve been well?”

Twilight didn’t answer, merely held back a groan. The groan finally came out when Rarity, Fluttershy, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Minuette trotted up to join them.

“Oh . . .” Rarity said in a lackluster tone, “hello, Trixie . . . lovely to see you.” Her tone conveyed the opposite sentiment.

“I’m afraid Starlight is indisposed right now,” Twilight spoke briskly, “so if you want to see her, you’ll have to come back another time—”

“Don’t presume to know my motives, Princess,” Trixie retorted. “I’m actually here to see you.”

“Really?” Twilight blurted out, brow furrowed and wits sharp for treachery. “Why?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie assumes you know the news about the . . . ahem . . . Reformed Antagonist Regulation Act?”

Twilight felt her stomach turn at the mere mention of the act, and kept silent as she nodded.

“Naturally. Well, as strange as it sounds, the Great and Powerful Trixie has need to speak to you on that very matter.”

I suppose I should have seen this coming, too, Twilight thought with a deadpan look. “Go on,” she said out loud.

“I shall. Well, as I’m quite sure you remember, you’ve had several unfortunate run-ins with the Great and Powerf—”

“Do you have to refer to yourself like that every time you speak?” Rarity grumbled. “It’s garish, to say the least.”

“Do not interrupt the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she bit back quickly before continuing. “Well, I’d best get to the point. I never wanted it to come to this, Princess, but as circumstances have forced my hoof, I am left with no other choice.”

Twilight suddenly tensed up, ready to act if necessary.

“It is something quite beneath me, but I am prepared to take the consequences if it means doing what it takes to survive this act.”

She’s a former villain, Twilight reasoned in her head. She’s here for me because she knows I have influence in Canterlot. She probably thinks this is all my fault.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle . . .” Trixie began, “. . . I . . . .”

Twilight prepared to call upon a spell, and when Trixie darted forward, the princess’ horn began to glow. But the glow immediately faded when she heard her voice:

I need your heeeeeeeelp!!

Trixie had flung herself to the floor at Twilight’s feet, now wailing and grasping at Twilight’s front legs. Everypony else had taken a step back, and even Rarity had said “Well . . . no need to be so dramatic, darling . . . .”

“Please help me, Princess!” Trixie shrieked. “This Thunderbolt, who works for the Princesses, he’s mobilizing against us! All former villains! He’s already captured Discord and held him prisoner in Canterlot! His troops are combing the Crystal Empire for leftover Changelings! I know without your help, they’ll come after me, too! I’m sick with the idea of begging, but I can’t let them get me! Please, help meeeeeeeeeeee!!”

Twilight stared gaping at Trixie writhing and bawling on the floor, not just at the state of her, but at her words—Thunderbolt was already persecuting former villains. Twilight’s worst fears were already being realized. Suddenly, her earlier thoughts of relenting seemed alien to her, as though she’d been controlled by someone else to think them. She quickly discarded those thoughts and turned to survey her fellow mares, and quickly saw four faces mirroring her shocked eyes and widened mouth. The fifth, Twilight was hesitant to see, showed the distorted face and tear-drowned eyes of Fluttershy.

“They . . . they took him . . . ?”