As all the guests of the event made their way into the conference hall to find any empty seats they could, those who still had a part to play were busy backstage, getting things ready for the final presentation of the evening. Most were stallions who were making sure that all the stage equipment was ready, getting everything into place and doing some final tests to ensure nothing would go wrong, but there was one mare among them that was just as diligently performing her role.
“And that’s all we are going to need you to do.” said Starlight Glimmer, giving a pleasant, if empty headed, smile to a row of ponies in front of her. There were a few in the line up that she recognized, as they were each members of Sunset’s chapter, but most of them were complete strangers to the mare. “Are there any questions before the presentation starts?”
“I got one.” said Bon Bon, looking a little miffed, “When was Sunset going to tell us about that last thing?”
“Yeah,” Lyra said, as she gave Pistachio a hug, one a lot less teasing than the ones she had given him earlier that day, displaying a great deal of sympathy towards him, though the young stallion was not in any way upset enough to need it, “If we’re supposed to be taking care of Pistachio, then it would be nice to know when you want to do something like this to him.”
“I understand your concerns,” Starlight said, while doing little to express that was truly the case, “But it wasn’t as if we forced it upon him, and it wasn’t meant to be a secret either. Had Pistachio thought it important enough, he could have told you at any time.”
“She’s right,” said the earth pony, “I was the one who agreed to it, and it’s my fault I didn’t tell you earlier.”
“Cause it’s embarrassing,” Bon Bon said, replying to her ward’s comment, before switching back to Starlight, “And that doesn’t excuse you or Sunset for suggesting it in the first place. I get you want to keep mares safe, but this goes a step too far.”
“If that’s how you feel, then you are more than welcome to have a discussion with Pistachio about it after the seminar,” Starlight said, “You will be in charge of him from this point on, so if you can all agree he doesn’t need it, then you don’t have to use it, but I’m sure some of the mares here feel more secure knowing their stallions have them.”
Bon Bon looked down the row, and despite the fierce look on her face, most of the other mares gave a nod of agreement to Starlight’s comment, a sentiment that didn’t go unnoticed by their individual partners. When faced with this, Bon Bon had no choice but to settle down, though she was not happy to be the minority in this discussion.
“Like I said,” Starlight continued, “There is nothing preventing you from removing it later, so long as the three of you all feel safe without it. If that’s settled, we may have time for one more question.”
“I have a question,” said a stallion as he raised his hand. While Starlight had to check her clipboard to see who this pony was, everypony else knew him immediately, “Ah, Feather Bangs. What would you like to ask?”
The pony popstar nervously stepped forward, an uncharacteristic display from someone who was accustomed to standing in front of large crowds and performing. “I was just wondering-.”
“How important your part in this will be?” Starlight said, cutting off the stallion, “Very, seeing how you will be setting an example for all other stallions who might want to be part of the ward program after tonight.”
“No,” said Feather Bangs, “I was having second thoughts about about my part. I know you asked me cause I’m popular, and I don’t have a problem using it, but do I really have to show it off in front of everypony?”
Starlight had anticipated that Feather Bangs would develop some stage fright, since it was something that Sunset Shimmer had warned her to look out for. The popstar might have been fine performing from noon to dusk, but what they were asking him to do now was more unnerving for him, for reasons the blanked mare really didn’t understand. Then again, she hardly understood the reason why others showed any emotions, and ponies held them in such high regard that it was something the blanked mare couldn’t ignore. Thankfully, she was not the only mare that Sunset had there to make sure everything ran smoothly.
“Oh Bangy,” said the pink unicorn that had been standing next to Feather Bangs, the one who would be his guardian, and the one in charge of the Rainbow Falls division of the group. With only those two words as warning, the mare pressed her front against the stallion’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck in a gentle embrace.
Feather Bangs, feeling the lovely softness of the mare’s chest press into him, instantly perked up, all signs of his nervousness disappearing, “S-Sugar Belle, what are you-?”
The stallion received a kiss on the cheek, which was enough to stifle him, “I know that you’ve been working hard all day to support the cause, and you must be really tired, but I promise that this will be the last thing you’ll have to do tonight. And after that we’ll figure out something to do to help you relax.”
The unicorn’s phrasing had deeper implications that some of the ponies present wanted to ignore, while others looked in Feather’s direction with intrigue. There was certainly something more intimate with how this particular pair were acting around one another.
Whatever their relationship was, the unicorn’s words had a noticeable effect on the stallion, as he perked up at the mere insinuations of what Sugar Belle was promising. “O-ok! I’ll do it!” Feather Bangs said, as any objections he previously had became non-existent.
“That’s a good stallion,” Sugar Belle said, granting Feather Bangs another kiss for his compliance, which only widened the smile on the earth stallion’s face even more.
While Starlight didn’t truly get emotions, Sunset had taught her that smiles were generally a positive thing, and figured that the problem had been taken care of. Better still, other stallions in the line were giving their own smiles at the praise Feather Bangs was receiving.
I guess they like hearing the words ‘good stallion’, Starlight thought to herself, her blanked mind knowing the pleasures of auditory stimuli from another creature.
Then again, that applied to interaction of any kind, as a blanked mind took in every touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight to levels a normal pony could never understand. When one knew next to nothing, something as simple as a sunbeam traveling across the ground over the course of a day could be captivatingly fascinating for them. Anything more could be akin to sensory overload, which often triggered reactions that could be considered orgasmic from how intense they could be. Of course, like any sensitivity, this could be overcome with training, and Sunset had been diligent with making Starlight able to withstand such sensory assaults.
Something about the blanking process stripped a pony of any sense of motivation, individuality, or will, and replaced it with only the need to obey. That was what the caribou’s wanted for any who dared defy them in a way that actually harmed their regime, which was something they could only do once they created the blanking device a good ways into their year long reign. The only aspect of self guidance a blank had was through the crudely made replacement cutiemarks the caribou managed to create, which were always depictions of sex acts or BDSM iconography. These were always poor imitations to a true cutiemark though, but did give those branded with them an affinity towards lewd acts and submissive qualities.
Re-blanks were no different, despite having their original cutiemarks painstakingly recreated via the same method that created the sexualized marks. The marks would restore some of the prior abilities of the re-blank, but none of their drive or personality. Even Starlight, who often seemed independent, didn’t have any true autonomy, and was merely acting on commands from Sunset Shimmer that were phrased in a loop, or not given any proper end clause. This extended to conversation as well, as the unicorn’s responses were just lines given to her to say when a particular topic came up, occasionally improvised to fit better into a conversation.
Acting on one such command, Starlight looked over her clipboard, examining a set of objectives she was supposed to complete, most marked off as they had already been finished. The last few instructions were all about the seminar, but as a final precaution she was to flip the sheet to the one right behind those. Once she did, and saw that there was nothing there, she put the board to her side and addressed the row of ponies once more.
“Ok everypony,” said the pink mare, “The show will be starting soon. Remember, your cue will come when the curtain opens. The presentation will be short after that, and once finished you’ll all be able to go home.”
Having given the ponies the last details they needed, Starlight could see the lights dim and hear music start playing. This was her signal that the show was about to begin, and in a few seconds she would be needed on stage.
“Just remember, what you are doing is helping to make Equestria a better place for all ponies.” Starlight said, filling the last few moments before she went on stage with positive words directed to the members of Sunset’s group, as reciting motivational phrases was but another one of her instructions to minimize awkward silences.
A pair of spotlights hit the center of the heavy fabric sheet separating the main stage from the backstage, the light being the signal Starlight was waiting for. A moment later, she was on the other side, her clipboard in one hand and a microphone in the other, standing before the many ponies who had attended the event. Every pony who was a member of the support group that was not part of the seminar was out there looking at her. Had she a sense of fear, that might have been intimidating to her, but devoid of such emotions, this had the same weight as a leisurely walk through a park on a sunny day to the unicorn. With no hesitation, she made her way to the front of the stage, stopping a few feet away from the edge, and receiving a warm welcome of applause as she approached.
“Thank you, thank you, everypony.” said Starlight, now in her designated position, “And thank you all for coming tonight. Despite the earlier delays, we couldn’t have made this any more a success than how smoothly everything went. With the main goal of our group being the restoration of the peace, harmony, and happiness ponies could once enjoy, your attendance and enjoyment of everything we had to offer made all the effort and expense of setting this up worth it.”
Plenty of the seated ponies cheered at this declaration, agreeing whole heartedly that the trip to Las Pegasus was well worth their own effort put into it.
“As you are all aware, Sunset Shimmer is busy attending to some important matters at the moment, but she wishes to give her gratitude for all of you who could make it, who with their presence alone made all of this that much better. You might not think it, but things wouldn’t have been as fun without each and everypony here.”
Another round of approval came from the ponies in the audience, this time intended for Sunset Shimmer, almost doubling in intensity from before. It was as if they were trying to make sure their leader would hear their celebration of her, none of them knowing that she was seated close by, watching everything take place.
“But of course,” Starlight said, using her mic to speak over the sounds of clapping and cheers, “We have to likewise make known the contributions of all of our volunteers today, who through their own hardwork and dedication allowed all our guests to have such a relaxing and fun filled day. Every stallion who did their part should be congratulated for a job well done, and appreciated for the time they gave up for the sake of the mares who had been put through the worst tortures the caribou could devise. If everypony would, please stand and give them a round of applause.”
Once more the ponies showed their appreciation for all the stallions that had offered their hard work to the event, merging the previous applause for Sunset into a new one for them, getting out of their seats as requested, which in turn made it seem like the stallions were getting the most appreciation of everyone.
Starlight joined in on this particular round of applause as well, clapping along with the others for a little bit, as it was one of her instructions on her clipboard. When things started to settle down, she placed the microphone back to her lips, and continued with the presentation by saying, “Thank you. You know, it’s been really hard for our good stallions since the end of the Fall. They had to go through a lot of hardships, just as we mares have. To this day some can’t even walk down the street without being suspected of being a rapist.”
Starlight waited for a moment to gauge the response of the crowd, getting quiet compilation and low murmurs from them, telling her that the support group members were at least listening to her.
“Of course, we all are aware that there are stallions who are nothing like how they were while being mind controlled by the caribou, namely the ones that wish to be part of our group. These good stallions seek help to deal with the damage that the caribou forced them to cause to mares, but for the damage they were caused by being used as tools. While mares often focus on what the caribou did to them, it is not fair to say that the tyrants that took over our kingdom didn’t leave a lasting mark on stallions as well.”
No pony present could disagree, as they had all heard of how the stallions in their support circles were likewise traumatized from the experiences inflicted upon them by the caribou. It might have been hard to rationalize that sometimes, as outwardly all males were made into a privileged class that could do as they pleased with the females they had enslaved to them, but the reality was that all but the truly traitorous stallions were prisoners of their own minds, with their very will stripped from them in ways most mares could not compare their own suffering to.
“Because we all understand this, it has always been the stance of our group to offer the same help to stallions in need that we would provide a mare. However, because of recent events, Sunset Shimmer has had to re-evaluate this position in policy.”
Starlight, with microphone still placed before her muzzle, walked to one side of the stage, keeping her eyes directed to the crowd as she began a pace, the spotlight being trained on her at all times.
“As you all have undoubtedly heard, two mare members of our group were attacked recently by a stallion that had formerly been in the same group as them. We can’t say if he attacked them because of that, but we can say that due to the group’s open acceptance, a predator managed to infiltrate us.”
Reaching the end of the stage, Starlight turned herself around and made her way back to the opposite side, her eyes searching for stallions seated in the dark part of the room, locking her sights on any she found for a few short seconds before finding a new target.
“Thankfully neither of the mares that were attacked were greatly harmed, and the stallion in question was stopped and arrested, but Sunset has seen this as a failure on her part, one she never wishes to repeat. It is because of this that she felt the need to finally begin a project that she had in the works for some time, which brings us to the reason we are all here.”
Starlight turned herself in the direction of an earth pony managing the stage curtains, and gave him a nod. The stallion had been waiting for this gesture from the pink unicorn, and pulled a rope that brought the two sections of the backdrop apart. Several more spotlights hit the stage, finding their way to the individual groups of stallions with their guardians. As instructed by Starlight earlier, each of them made their way on stage, walking until they were a little bit further back than the pink unicorn was.
“As I’m sure you all have come to learn recently, we have decided to pair up some of our stallions with some of our mares who are more capable of defending themselves, in order to create a safe environment where these stallions will be able to help those they unwillingly hurt. Not because we believe they owe mares something for the acts they where forced to do, but because these good stallions have decided this would be the only way they would be able to live with a clear conscious after what the caribou made them do. That was the original intention for this program, but as Sunset Shimmer looked deeper into the problems that plague the minds of our good stallions, she discovered that there was another, more important reason why they required a mare to watch over them.”
Starlight made her way back to center stage, where she could hear the whispers of those sitting below the elevation of the stage. The ponies of the support group had been given at best the most minute details of the purpose of this program, and with the pink unicorn’s mere implication that there was more to this than they had assumed, every member was wondering what it could be.
“Upon interviewing each of these stallions, about why they felt so guilty that they wished to make it up to mares more directly, a common theme started to occur. It appeared that their guilt was not limited by only what they had done during the caribou’s rule over us, but from the thoughts they had prior to them, as each stallion standing up here has confessed to having lewd thoughts about mares.”
With all the emotional distress sex had caused all of Equestria, this tidbit of insight into the minds of the stallions on stage caused some commotion within the conference room, with mares gasping and making comments to those seated next to them, while some stallions quietly shifted uncomfortably in their seats as they saw the reactions their fellow support group members were making over this seemingly tiny act of relapse.
“As you all might assume, this does refer to thoughts they had after they were released from the caribou’s mind control, long after the destruction of the Crystal Heart.” Starlight said, making sure to clarify in case anyone mistook her to mean during the Fall, where it would have been obvious that a stallion would have had such thoughts forced on them, “However, they have also confessed to having these kinds of thoughts prior to the caribou invasion as well.
This came as a bigger surprise to many of the ponies present. While one could perhaps dismiss envisioning a mare in a lustful manner as some sort of residual effect of having been manipulated by the caribou for so long, or perhaps something akin to post traumatic stress disorder, where they were superimposing the image of a sex act they had forced on a mare in the past onto a mare they passed on the street, the thought of ponies having such thoughts prior to the caribou felt much more inexcusable.
“These fantasies they divulged to us included a multitude of acts that were not commonplace prior to the caribou’s rule, acts that their bodies performed once they were no longer in control of them, and acts that they now regret having come true. There are many things in this that we need to be aware of, the foremost of which being that these ideas didn’t come from the caribou, and that these good stallions on stage showed incredible bravery coming forth about all this.”
From behind Starlight, Bon Bon looked about ready to walk over to the unicorn and snatch the mic right out of her hand, before giving Starlight a piece of her mind about how poorly she was depicting these stallions looking for help, especially in the case of Pistachio, who she knew was a good stallion who lived through unfortunate circumstances. Hearing the mare finally say something that put the stallions in a good light, and that this was all leading up to that, gave her pause, but if that trend didn’t continue she was ready to intercede. All of this news was stuff that she absolutely would have been more appreciative of being told ahead of time about, as this was all news to her.
Starlight, not noticing this shift in disposition from the earth mare, hyper focused on the task given to her by Sunset, continued with her speech without pause, “Some of you might wonder what this means, and how it applies to this ward program. Well it comes down to a simple understanding. Stallions have always been able to be exploited by creatures like the caribou. They had always harbored thoughts about how to use our bodies and tame us, and though they may have never truly wanted to act on them, those thoughts festered in their subconscious as a backdoor that could be exploited. The Committee of Ponies still have no official explanation as to how the Crystal Heart managed to infect so many, but this is the reason.”
Everypony in the room was stunned, this theory from Starlight seeming like a revelation that until now had eluded them, despite being right in front of their eyes. The only missing piece of the puzzle is that they assumed any stallion that wasn’t an outright traitor to the nation would never have such thoughts about the fairer sex. At least, that’s what the mares believed, as the same stallions who had been shifting in their seats were now starting to sweat in this moderately cooled room, since they were no different than the stallions on stage by the description given.
“This is an irrefutable explanation when you take into consideration that stallions who managed to resist the influence of the Heart always had a mare in their lives who they were close to. For example, Dainn’s executioner, Big Macintosh, had three mares in his life that kept him in check, and prevented him from letting such perverse thoughts form. It is for this reason that Sunset Shimmer has come to believe that the ward program is needed more than first assumed at its conception. With these good stallions being the first to take this preventative step against other external forces that might want to manipulate them.”
Starlight mentally checked off one of her key objectives, as she got to the part of the seminar that she had been working to from the start; trying to sell to the members of how important this program would be. Mares needed to understand the danger that stallions, even the ones who were already within the group, represented. Likewise, stallions needed to know that they were not safe from being exploited again, so long as they didn’t submit themselves to mare hand selected by Sunset Shimmer to ensure their minds didn’t stray from the path of wholesomeness. It wasn’t difficult for her to speak with conviction about this, as she did believe all of this to be true. She had been there when the stallions admitted to their lewd thoughts, and could see the correlation between stallions who had been corrupted and those who resisted the caribou, but most importantly she believed this all to be true because Sunset had told her it was.
“From this point on, these good stallions will be under the watchful eyes of their guardians, who will be in charge of their lives on a macro scale. They will make sure that their wards don’t do anything to harm another mare, and assign them tasks to keep their minds off of thoughts they shouldn’t be having. They will also be allowed to give out proper rewards for good behavior, of whatever they see fit, as well as deliver disciplinary action if needed. When it comes down to it, the stallions will be putting their trust in the mares they had once wronged, to give them a path to redemption, and ease their minds of the guilt they hold. While these few are the first, we hope that they are not the last, and that others will see the good this program will bring.”
The ponies in the audience couldn’t help but discuss what they were seeing. They couldn’t put into words if this was the right way to handle this situation, but they couldn’t object to it either. If the stallions were such a vulnerability as Starlight had said, then something had to be done about them, and this seemed like the best thing to do short of locking them up like criminals. At least they would be able to be a part of society, and they wouldn’t be mistreated by these mares who knew first hand the horrors of being at another creature’s mercy. Surely someone who had been through that would not abuse the power given to them, or so most mares wanted to believe, since they really liked the idea of safety that this system was said to grant them.
“With that all explained,” Starlight said, reaching what would be the final part of the seminar, “There is just one last detail of this we need to discuss, and that is how we intend to keep the mares volunteering as guardians safe throughout all this. They are, after all, putting themselves at great risk by being around a stallion at all times of the day, and while they are more than capable of defending themselves, we have to keep in mind that we did have a predator in our midst, and that even good stallions could be used against us again. Thus, every stallion up here has agreed to do something to provide a bit of extra precaution, to prove that they aren’t using this as a way to get close to mares they could victimize, and prevent themselves from being used by creatures of evil should the worst befall Equestria again.”
Starlight turned her head over her shoulder, looking in the direction of Feather Bangs, who had been standing in attention beside his unicorn guardian not too far from center stage.
“And to display the preemptive measure, we have one our more notable stallion members, Feather Bangs. Please give him a round of applause for him volunteering to be our example for the evening.”
The audience once more followed the prompt for participation, clapping for the sake of the popular pony popstar’s imminent presentation. Feather Bangs stepped forward, but the expression of distress he had backstage was resurfacing, as he hesitated in whatever it was that he was supposed to do.
“Hmm…” Starlight hummed to herself, noticing that Feather Bangs was not simply doing as he was told to do, another thing she didn’t understand when it came to others.
She didn’t really know how to deal with a situation like this, so she resorted to her clipboard, flipping all the way to her last page again. It was just as blank as before, providing her no help in this situation. For a moment she felt her one option was to do nothing until Sunset was forced to come and relieve her of this error in her commands, but Sugar Belle took initiative before that was needed, and went aside her ward. His guardian mare put her mouth to his ear, and said something in secret that made the stallion’s eyes light up.
Whatever it was she said, it must have done the trick, as the stallion moved his hands to the button at the front of his pants, just as he was supposed to. Relieved, Starlight was able to continue with her script. “Now ponies, do not be alarmed by what happens next. It is not as bad as you think, and this stallion’s actions, as well as what you are about to see, have all been approved by Sunset Shimmer.”
The ponies in the audience were confused at what Starlight was getting at, until it finally dawned on them that Feather Bangs was undoing the button, and proceeding to unzip the zipper beneath it. Needless to say, this caused a bit of shock among many of the attendees, with many questioning aloud what was going on, and one random unicorn stallion yelling “He’s pulling his cock out!” loudly, as if the other ponies around him were not aware. Had Feather Bangs actually done that, the congregation probably would have gone into an outright uproar, but as he lowered his pants down, the confusion of the audience slowly returned, as they didn’t see a penis, but were not immediately sure what they were looking at.
The first thought that crossed the minds of those not on stage about what they were looking at was that it was merely the stallion’s underwear, which wasn’t an absurd thing to think would be underneath his pants. The more they looked at it though, they could tell that what Feather Bangs had on wasn’t made of cloth, but some sort of metal material that covered Feather Bangs’ crotch completely, using metal bands that wrapped a little tightly around his legs and waist to lock this strange attire into place. Most of the stallions looking at it still couldn’t figure out what this was at this point, but some of the mares were beginning to associate this device with something they had to deal with in the past. While not exactly the same, this thing shared many similarities to a chastity belt.
A tool of bondage, of sorts, the object denied the ability to have sex, which might have seemed like a strange thing to use in a caribou run culture, if you didn’t understand how it was implemented. A mare’s owner who felt that a mare was privately relieving the tension of their arousal through masturbation, in an attempt to deny their master the satisfaction of hearing them beg for the cock the stallion or stag believed all females craved, would use a chastity belt to prevent them from touching themselves. A particularly cruel male would also apply an itch inducing cream to their slave’s pussy, or make them drink a heat inducing potion, before denying them access to their genitals, driving a mare to the edge of madness as they were barraged with sensations they couldn’t do anything about.
Then there were those who wished to keep a particular mare all to himself, which despite how much the caribou endorsed sharing mares sexually, they didn’t make any rules about keeping some for personal use, since that was often something that they themselves did. Most of the time the thought never crossed the minds of a stallion, as the brainwashed believed the propaganda of their rulers that it was just best to have their mares fucked by as many males as possible, to train the unwilling to love the act of having sex, as well the degradation that came with being made a common whore, and to teach them how to perform better to serve their owners. The only stallions who truly took advantage of the chastity belts for this purpose were the ones who joined the caribou’s side without the need of brainwashing, wanting their prizes to be theirs alone, or only shared with those who had elevated status on par with what they believed their own was. For them, the restrictive devices prevented ‘accidents’ from occurring, either from a stallion whose default assumption was that females were open use, or by a red collar that didn’t understand that she was only to have sex when her owner permitted it.
Starlight, having been briefed that this bewilderment would probably be the reaction given, continued to follow by Sunset’s flowchart for her, “I’m sure you are all wondering what this is, and why it seems so much like something the caribou would have used. As some of you might have figured out, this item is very much like a chastity belt, designed to keep stallions from having free access to their sex organs. Trapped behind a weave of sturdy steel links, which will be custom made to fit each stallion who wears one perfectly, is locked into place to prevent removal or the ability to slip their privates out the sides, while giving the stallion wearing it room to comfortably move his thing around underneath. Like this, even if a stallion would be brainwashed into serving an evil and perverted creature like the caribou once more, they would be completely incapable of raping any females so long as this is on. Sunset has dubbed these items ‘Colt Keepers’, and every one of the stallions on stage are wearing one as we speak, as have many of the stallions who had served you during today’s event.”
Having been given the purpose of the device, and told that they had already been put in use, the opinions of this new type of restraint were mixed. It didn’t seem to be causing any harm to any of the stallions wearing them, as only Feather Bangs was currently showing any form of discomfort, and it was pretty clear that it was coming not from the metal apparel, but that he had been standing with his pants down for a good period of time now. It was difficult for mares, who had gone through long periods of sexual abuse, to find fault in what looked like a good preventative solution. What harm would it cause stallions to just put these things on for their sake? The few who still had major issues being around stallions could see how knowing a male was wearing one would make them feel ok around them, and to them it only felt beneficial.
For the stallions who just learned of these ‘Colt Keepers’ though, there were some concerns, like how this displayed a great deal of mistrust in them, and how it prevented them from having more healthy outlets to relieve their own sexually induced frustration. One concerned stallion took initiative, made his way to the stage’s edge to get as close to Starlight as he could.
“Excuse me,” he called out loudly, catching the unicorn’s attention.
“Yes?” Starlight replied, “Do you have questions?”
“Yeah, kind of an important one,” the stallion said, “How are we supposed to go to the bathroom in those?”
It was a reasonable question, as any slot in the object that would let one let their penis out to use the restroom would defeat the purpose. Luckily, it was one Starlight had been prepped for. “That is a very good question, and one with a simple answer. Since the Colt Keepers are mostly intended for those in the ward program, the key to them is given to their guardian.”
Sugar Belle presented her own key to the audience, lifting up her hand before dropping it down from a chain, showing that what Starlight was saying was already implemented.
“As for those who aren’t in the ward program, we did set up stations where they could temporarily unlock themselves if needed, trusting that they would redo the lock once finished.” Starlight said, continuing to explain how there really were no foreseeable issues with these male chastity belts, “And just to clarify, this is in no way mandatory. Every stallion who has one on volunteered to wear it once presented, just as the stallions in the ward program volunteered to be part of it once given the option. This all is just something stallions can do to make the mares they are around feel a bit safer, That being said, Feather Bangs, could you please pick up your pants now? It’s starting to get a bit awkward.”
From the audience, more and more ponies were being convinced of how useful these Colt Keepers were for general safety and peace of mind. If all it took to put a mare at ease was to wear the thing, then that didn’t seem like an unfair sacrifice, especially since no pony was being forced to use them. Who could be upset about something that didn’t affect them if they didn’t want to use it? It was honestly a really ingenious invention, that solved a major issue that plagued Equestria, and that was the issue of trust.
“Wow,” said Coco Pommel, astonished by how simple this solution was, and how it took a pony like Sunset Shimmer to figure it out.
By removing a stallion’s ability to rape altogether by locking away their dick, a mare would never have to fear going through the same kind of violation the caribou put them through ever again. It was such a persuasive answer to this issue that she had to re-evaluate her previous assumption that Equestria could never return to the more innocent state it had once been in, as much of the changes came from the realization that safety had been an illusion.
“If these Colt Keepers catch on” she said aloud, “Then maybe it would be a huge step for progressing Equestria forward, don’t you think Trixie?”
Turning to the blue unicorn sitting next to her, she saw that Trixie wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying at that moment, and instead was looking away from the center stage where Feather Bangs and Starlight were. The earth mare couldn’t blame Trixie for that, as she too had to look away for a moment when the pants came down. With all the other members present in the room talking about the reveal, Coco just had to believe that her words weren’t reaching Trixie’s ear through all the other voices was the reason she was being ignored, which was fine, as what she had to say wasn’t some grand insight on this device or how it would help the ponies of Equestria.
What Coco didn’t know though was that it wasn’t Feather Bangs’ false flashing that had Trixie turning her head. She had hardly noticed that, and had looked away from the center stage right before it had happened. No, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to look at that particular place on stage, but that another part of the stage had something that concerned Trixie far more, and had Coco seen her face, she might have been frightened by the snarl Trixie was making to express her displeasure.
To the far end of the line of guardian and ward pairings, was a pony she didn’t expect to be up there. A stallion she had known personally for a short time, only to have him leave her. The last stallion to rape her… but also the first stallion to come to her rescue. Star Bright was standing there, looking happy on stage… without her.
She had not been informed of this ahead of time, and why would she have been? She and Star Bright had no real connection at this point, except that they were both in the same part of the support group. Outside of that, Trixie didn’t talk to the male unicorn if she could avoid it, since she still hadn’t let go that he abandoned her, and Star Bright did the same, because he thought being around the mares he violated would only cause them pain.
Of course, it wasn’t just him up there, as each ward had their own guardian, and his just made Trixie angrier. Another familiar image, this time being a certain yellow mare with a distinguishing mane of orange curls. The only one of Trixie’s circle of friends that decided she would rather run off on her own during their day in Las Pegasus. A pony Trixie did intend to see on stage that night, just not next to Star Bright.
Carrot Top stood with arms crossed next to the gray unicorn, not as happy as her stallion counterpart to be up there, looking as if she was just waiting impatiently. Trixie couldn’t believe that Carrot Top had let everypony know that she would be in the ward program, but skipped on the detail that she was going to be watching over Star Bright.
Why does that even matter! Trixie yelled at herself in her mind, It’s not like I was going to be a part of this stupid ward program anyways!
A good part of Trixie didn’t have a clue why the sight of those two together was setting her off. Perhaps it was how the pairings were portrayed, looking like some kind of romantic couple instead of the good samaritan mare watching over the self concerned stallion this whole thing was presented as. Sure, Lyra and Bon Bon had been mothering Pistachio all day, which went against this notion festering in Trixie’s head, but that pink unicorn with Feather Bangs had whispered something to her ward in a way that looked like she was flirting. Trixie’s first thought was that they might have been a real couple, by the way they acted, which was the last thing she thought about them before she noticed Star Bright and Carrot Top together.
And what if they were a couple now? Trixie declared to herself, trying to rationalize her feelings, You didn’t have any interest in him. He left you. You hate him!
It was true that she hated the fact that Star Bright had left her, and was the first of quite a few ponies to leave her after having saved her from enslavement, from how she pictured what happened. If Trixie was being honest though, she didn’t hate Star Bright, just what he had done through what he thought was the right thing to do. She would have been happy for the gray stallion to come to her, apologize, and try to start up some kind of relationship with her again, even if only purely as friends. As much as she knew, Star Bright might have wanted Trixie to come to him as well to patch up things, but both of them were too reluctant and worried about what the other one thought of them to make the first move.
Had Trixie have known that Star Bright was going to become some mare’s ward, she might have used that as a means to bring them both together in a way that would have been acceptable for the two of them, but to have known that he was interested in the program would have required the unicorn mare to talk to him, so as she thought about it more, Trixie really couldn’t blame a pony she made no effort to interact with for not letting her know. She could, however, blame a pony she did speak to frequently, and thus her building rage was redirected towards Carrot Top instead.
“Um… Trixie?” Coco Pommel said, touching the unicorn’s shoulder, “Are you ok?”
The earth mare had been watching Trixie fume for a while now, and was starting to figure out that something more than her trying to avert her gaze from a pantsless stallion was going. It was far past the point where that had been a problem, with Starlight now talking about the details of the ward program, and how mares and stallions could sign up to join it if they were interested. Seeing that Trixie was so enraged that she was grinding her teeth, Coco thought it would be better to see what was going through the unicorn’s mind.
It took a few more attempts to break Trixie’s focus, but when the blue mare finally turned to face Coco, her anger followed along. “What?” she said bluntly, wanting to know what was so important that she had to be pulled away from her fixation.
“I was…” Coco said hesitantly, feeling the ire Trixie was projecting at anything in her sight, “Checking to see if you were ok. You’ve been-”
“Giving a pair of ponies on stage death glares for several minutes?” Trixie said, well aware of what she had been doing.
“Well… yeah.” Coco said, not realizing that’s what Trixie had been doing before. Hearing what Trixie said though, she looked in the direction Trixie had been staring before, spotting the gray and yellow pair that she assumed was the problem, “Do you know them?”
Trixie rolled her eyes, not at Coco, as she knew the earth mare had never met Carrot Top or Star Bright, at least not directly, nor could she know how they were associated with Trixie. Her displeasure was directed entirely to one pony now.
“Yeah, they are both in my part of the group,” Trixie replied, “And I have more history with that unicorn than I care to share, and that orange maned mare is supposed to be one of my friends.”
Coco was confused, not able to tell what exactly Trixie was upset about, having too little information to correlate everything together. “Well… then isn’t it good that he wants to make himself better, and has a strong mare to keep him on the right path now?”
“Oh sure,” Trixie said with indignation, “It’s great that he’ll have a mare hanging around him all the time now, who he’ll be living with, and gives him even more reason to stay away from me.”
Hearing that, Coco believed she had a little more understanding of what was going on. “Oh, so you like him then?”
“No,” Trixie said, once more being short with her responses, “I wasn’t told by either of them that they’d be doing this, and if I had known-”
“You might have become a guardian so you could spend more time with him?” Coco finished, sticking to her assumption that Trixie might like this stallion, “That’s not really what this is for though, you know. I think it would be a huge misuse of your authority over a stallion if you used your guardianship to get close to them.”
Trixie grumbled, having seen Feather Bangs and his guardian, and how they acted together. Even if Coco was right, Trixie didn’t have any belief that others wouldn’t do that very thing.
“Look, I don’t know what you have in mind for that stallion, but…” Coco said, just wanting to give her advice, “If you do like him, then you should just tell him. That goes for if you just want to be friends, or you want something more with him.”
“But he’s part of this program now,” Trixie said, only confiding in Coco because the mare was in a different part of the group, and thus wouldn’t have the chance to repeat this to anypony Trixie knew, “Doesn’t that mean that she’s always gonna be around?” If Carrot Top and Star Bright were always going to be together now, then trying to interact with him would just make Trixie the third wheel.
“I don’t think that’s the case,” said Coco, “From what I’m getting, the guardians do decide what their stallion does in their free time, but they aren’t supposed to just be around their wards all day. If you ask this guy out for lunch some time, I’m sure their guardian would allow it unsupervised.”
“You… think so?” Trixie asked, admitting to herself that she really didn’t understand all the rules for this program. With the unicorn not being interested in being a part of it, she hadn’t really paid that much attention whenever it was brought up.
“It couldn’t hurt to try,” Coco Pommel said, being optimistic, “But in this case I think you’re absolutely gonna have to make the first move, cause otherwise he’s going to be too busy to come to you.”
“I guess so…” Trixie replied, not entirely happy with that part of it. She had been through several experiences where being proactive has caused her nothing but heartache, and some part of her really wanted Star Bright to be the one to put in the effort. Coco was right though, that at this point she didn’t have any other options.
Coco watched Trixie return her attention to the stage, no longer looking in the direction of Carrot Top and Star Bright, but to Starlight as she neared the end of the seminar. For the earth pony, she was happy to have helped a friend, though Trixie was more a distant acquaintance, and pleased to see a mare show interest in a stallion again. There were few who would want to be around any guys, let alone date one, after being raped by them for over a year. Reflecting on her previous statement on how Equestria could never go back to the way it was before the caribou, she couldn’t see why this particular aspect of pony life couldn’t make a comeback.
It would be no harm to anypony if mares and stallions could get along and interact again, so long as the stallions took proper precautions to ensure the mare’s safety. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the solutions Sunset Shimmer had come up with, because they really seemed to be beneficial for all parties. Seeing only the positives, Coco couldn’t think of how anypony could be against them.
As the seminar went on, more and more ponies of the support group were forming similar opinions to Coco Pommel, seeing the description of the ward program as an overwhelmingly good idea, seeing no downside to it, or believing that whatever negatives existed did not weigh up to the positives. At worst, ponies were indifferent to it, since nothing about it applied to them, since every part of it was voluntary, so they could just ignore it if they didn’t like it.
There was one pony present though who was forming an ever growing disdain of what she had heard, sitting up in the VIP room, right next to the mare who had come up with all this. Celestia, having only heard of this ‘ward program’ now, paid attention to what Sunset Shimmer had in mind, and having lived as long as she had, experiencing the myriad of cultures, philosophies, and political ideas that had sprung up and fallen in her long life, she was able to see more into what would come of it.
“Need a refill on your cider?” Sunset asked, taking note of a bottle Celestia held in her hand had about a quarter of golden fluid left in it, but more importantly seeing that Celestia was staring at the stage in shock.
This was the moment that Sunset predicted would come, as Celestia had not been prepped ahead of time about this announcement. Over the course of the last few weeks, she and the other group leaders had been leaking information about this program, and allowing ponies to ask them anything to get more information. Aside for the fact that the wards would be wearing the Colt Keepers, every detail said tonight had been repeated hundreds of times to hundreds of ponies in tiny bits, and then discussed among one another till they got the full details, allowing the ponies to rationalize how each part was a good thing before it all was officialized. Like a frog in a pot, they didn’t feel the temperature as it slowly rose, but now that the water was at a boil a new frog was being added and Sunset had to convince it to stay inside.
“Sunset,” Celestia said, her eyes narrowing, her displeasure clear, as she stared at her former student, a disdainful question being uttered from her lips, “What are you trying to do?”
“I’m trying to create a safe environment for mares to exist in,” Sunset replied, “Which is what I’ve been doing from the start. I might no longer be part of the Committee, but my priorities have not changed.”
Celestia couldn’t help but be upset by this response. Having seen how Sunset’s group was inclusive to both mares and stallions, she had believed that Sunset might have pivoted, if ever so slightly, against the poor ideas she had when she was in the Committee. She had proposed that stallions have access to their sex organs restricted there too, as well as have them mandated to give reparations to mares they had harmed through a time of service in the benefit of mares, time that unicorn believed should exceed to one year period that the caribou reigned.
“But,” Sunset said, doing her best to keep Celestia from immediately assuming the worst, “The way I am doing this should be far more to your liking than what I proposed in the Committee. There I wanted males to be made to do things, which I realized over time was a bit extreme. Here, I only offer up the option for stallions to enlist in these ways to help mares.”
“Which you expect them to take up without question, due to the guilt they feel.” This part wasn’t hard for Celestia to figure out, as she had seen things of a similar nature before.
In times long past ponies had created religious groups dedicated to the worship of Celestia. They popped up shortly after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, when ponies had gotten used to the idea that Celestia was the sole creature who raised both the sun and the moon, and thus in their eyes being a creature of divinity. At first Celestia was flattered because she assumed the worship they did in her name was just a sign of respect, but as time went on she saw how dangerous it was to have ponies believe she was a goddess, and not just a very powerful magical pony.
The churches built in her name often preyed upon the guilt in the hearts of ponies, coming up with absurd methods of repentance meant to appease their goddess, that often benefited the heads of the religions in some fashion. The fault in this plot was that the object of their worship existed on the same plane as them, and thus some of the more fanatical followers started to show their devotion at her doorstep. Far too many times she had to prevent a pony from doing something that would have led to injury or worse, but that didn’t nearly compare to the havoc one group caused when they attempted to burn down the Everfree Forest, believing it was the den of the ultimate evil that was Nightmare Moon.
While Celestia managed to save the castle she and her sister had lived their lives together in, as well as the Tree of Harmony that resided near it, the rest of the forest was devastated, with all inhabitants that took up residence in the Everfree being forced to relocate. The damage done was so great that it took centuries for the forest to regrow, and never again could ponies influence that area with their abilities over nature. Having seen enough, Celestia put an end to all religions dedicated to her, or that demonized her sister, and had their leaders imprisoned once she found out how they were exploiting their congregations.
However, it wasn’t an easy task to convince ponies who saw her as a goddess that she wasn’t. It took generations of direct influence and reassociation of ideals ponies had made part of their daily lives to get things back to a point where ponies weren’t trying to sacrifice themselves to her. She had to start commissioning plays to remind ponies of the original founders of Equestria, and how unicorns once moved the sun and moon of their own accord, and rewrote some legends to be more acceptable, such as turning Nightmare Moon from a demonic creature of evil into a scary myth meant to entertain foals, which led to the invention of Nightmare Night. Among other things, she had to publicly, and frequently, denounce any claims to divinity, and scold anyone who would see her as such, just as she had the red collar unicorn that was put on trial a few days prior.
After centuries of using tactics both subtle and direct, Celestia finally managed to turn worship and fanatical devotion into respect and mere admiration, wiping that particular moment in Equestria from the history books, in order to prevent others from trying to repeat it. That ponies believe that Celestia’s thousand year reign had been purely peaceful was only due to such manipulations of the records.
“Celestia, I can’t help if stallions feel guilty about what they’ve done,” Sunset said, pinning the issue on the stallions and not herself, “But I can help them find healthy ways to get rid of that guilt, while aiding the rest of Equestria at the same time. I’m sure you might see only the bad side of this, as you often do with my ideas, but there really is nothing to worry about here.”
Sunset had to make Celestia believe her objections were irrational, if she was to bring the alicorn over to her side. Any concern had to be dismissed, but not with actual arguments. If she did try to rationalize what she was doing with the stallions, it would be a losing battle from the start, because Celestia was right about how manipulative she was being. Instead she had to tell them like they weren’t worth a rebuttal, and imply Celestia might have to disagree with her plans that didn’t have validity.
“I get it,” Sunset said, “I’m sure everypony in the Committee only portrays me in a bad light whenever I come up in your meetings, and you probably still have bitter feelings about how I demanded power in my youth, and then ran away when I didn’t get my way. I’ve changed since then though, and all I want is for Equestria to be steered in the right direction.”
Once more, Celestia couldn’t find the point where Sunset was lying. As far as she could tell, Sunset was only trying to help, in her own warped way.
“Sunset, please… Even if that’s true, there has to be another way than this.” Celestia pleaded, wanting for Sunset to see reason, “This does nothing but take rights from some, and give them to others. It goes against everything Equestria stands for.”
“What your Equestria stands for was weakness and vulnerability.” Sunset replied, “A weakness that your former self displayed when she let herself be tamed. If we are to keep ourselves safe from threats like the caribou, we have to fortify those weak points against the same kind of manipulation they used.”
Celestia felt a slight ping enter her awareness, as she strangely sensed a lie coming from Sunset. Yet unless Sunset was lying about how she felt about the kingdom Celestia had made, the alicorn couldn’t figure out what could be setting off her senses.
“I can’t allow you to do this.” said Celestia, pushing away the feeling for the moment, “You are treating stallions like criminals and prisoners, and making mares their wardens. It doesn’t matter if they are volunteering for this. None of them would have done this of their own accord if you didn’t suggest it to them in the first place, which is where this trap lies. Even if all parties involved have good intentions, the ends don’t justify the means.”
“I’m afraid that’s not for you to decide,” Sunset said in disappointment, seeing that Celestia had hopped out of the pot, “I maintain that we are doing nothing wrong here, and you aren’t princess anymore Celestia. You can’t just decide to shut down my activities just because it doesn’t sit well with you, and while you could utilize the power you’ve bestowed on the Committee of Ponies, all it will do is make your self appointed government look bad.”
Celestia gave a huff, because Sunset Shimmer was right on several points. If Sunset wasn’t going to stop this project of hers on her own, then she would have to be detained to prevent it. That meant having her arrested, and an action that extreme, especially with no indication that anypony was actually being harmed, would look like an authoritative overreach by those who didn’t see an issue with Sunset’s group; both members of the group, and citizens who might agree that the chastity belts were a good idea for public safety.
That political turmoil would only be amplified by another point that Sunset made clear already. Celestia was not a princess anymore, or anything else of that authority, which meant that she really didn’t have a say in if Sunset could be detained. She could talk to the royal guards to do it, and their loyalty to her might have them follow her orders, but then if word got out that Celestia did something like that, it would look like she was just faking her resignation, which was not good either. The alicorn had stepped down in order to satisfy those who felt she wasn’t fit to lead due to her becoming a red collar during the fall, and thus the idea that she might have been running things behind the scenes this whole time, however false that was, would displease ponies of that group, of which many were not part of Sunset’s group.
Same would apply for the Committee if they were the ones to put a stop to Sunset’s plans, and if word got out that they did so at Celestia’s request, which it most likely would, then it would undermine them by making them seem like her lackeys. Celestia couldn’t even try something drastic, not that she wanted to, because if Sunset were to be harmed or to suddenly disappear, then every pony would know who to blame, that being the pony who was at her side for the entirety of the event. Equestria was only now starting to become peaceful after a long period of unrest, and the last thing it needed was an angry mob stirring things up again. As pathetic as it seemed, Celestia couldn’t do anything without a good portion of the population suddenly siding with Sunset Shimmer.
“I have to say, I truly wish you could see things from my perspective, Celestia,” said Sunset, knowing Celestia could not touch her, “I would have loved for you to work with me to put back together the mess your other self helped cause, but it seems we’ll never be able to see eye to eye.”
A signal flashed in Celestia’s mind again, as she detected a lie from Sunset for the second time. Yet once again, she couldn’t actually figure out what part of what Sunset said was the lie. Everything seemed like something Sunset would say truthfully, so why was she getting this strange sense that something was incorrect with Sunset’s statement?
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Celestia said, letting the sensation subside again, “The way you do things is just not something I agree with, because the most generous description of it is that you are tricking ponies into giving up their freedoms. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to need or want my approval at this point.”
“Then perhaps it's best you leave,” Sunset said. The unicorn had put her former mentor into check, but all that meant was that she forced her into a retreat. It would take many more moves to put the alicorn into checkmate, and claim her piece.
“Very well,” Celestia relented, getting up from the couch as she set down what was left of her cider, “I only hope that what you are doing is truly for the best intentions of both mares and stallions.”
With a heart heavy in disappointment, the alicorn took off the black neckerchief she had worn all day, and went for the door. She had been so hopeful when she first arrived, but now she could see that working with Sunset Shimmer would not be possible. It was a shame, but she would have to give up on her once beloved pupil for a second time.
As she reached for the handle to let herself out, she gave it a tug, and was reminded that Sunset had locked the door when they came in. Giving a sigh, she undid the turn latch, but took that moment to give one last look back to the unicorn. Sunset leaned over the table that Celestia had set the last of her drink on, writing down something on a piece of paper Celestia hadn’t seen prior to this moment. It must have been something Sunset kept in her pocket, and Celestia could only assume that this meant the unicorn was already past their dispute, and was busy working on whatever she had in mind next.
“I just want to say…” Celestia said, getting Sunset to raise her head up from the paper, “That up until now, I really did have a good time with you today. It’s something I wish I could say about more of the days we’ve shared.”
Celestia left without allowing Sunset to give a reply, assuming any further words would hurt too much. From Sunset’s end, this was fine, as she really didn’t have much more to say to Celestia. What was a fun day for the alicorn was a waste of time for the unicorn. Sunset’s only goal was to get her former mentor over to her side, and that ended up in failure. Then again, she had thought success was slim to begin with, since Celestia was always so firm on her principles. Had Sunset tried to hide the reveal of chastity belts and the ward program from Celestia that evening, things would have ended the same the moment the alicorn caught wind of it. In that case, it was better to stick with the original plan.
Looking down at the paper before her, Sunset finished what she had quickly jotted down, which was the words ‘Wrap up the seminar and come to the VIP room’. With that done, she folded up the piece of paper, and looked out the window of her private box, waiting for a specific moment. Eventually, Starlight put a break in what she was talking about, and skimmed through her clipboard again. It was at this point that the re-blank’s eyes brightened, and she brought the mic to her muzzle.
“And that will conclude our seminar for the ward program,” Starlight said, abruptly ending the presentation, “I would like to thank all the good stallions who came on stage, as well as their guardians for accompanying them. If you all would, please exit in an orderly fashion, and make your way back to the airships for departure.”
Sunset Shimmer heard all of this through some speakers in the room, letting her know that Starlight had received her instructions and followed them precisely. “What was that bit about ‘good stallions’ though?” the yellowish orange mare asked herself, “She must have picked it up from one of the attendants. Have to be more careful about that…”
Sunset watched as the conference room slowly emptied, and waited for Starlight to make her way to her. It didn’t take too long after everything had been wrapped up for the other mare to arrive, with Starlight letting herself in once she got there.
“There’s my mare,” said Sunset, turning to greet Starlight as she entered, “How was the event?”
“Everything has been done to your specifications,” Starlight replied, “Phase Two is complete, and from what I saw, you should be satisfied by the results.”
“I am,” Sunset said, seeing that everything was going according to plan.
The ‘Phase Two’ her subordinate was referring to was the event itself, or to be more accurate, the experiment it represented. In order to proceed further, she needed to know if those in her group would allow her to do things that would give her more control over their lives, and do so without question. Celestia was right before when she said that the ward program was about restricting the freedoms stallions had, but what she failed to realize was that it put the mares that were involved in it under her direct supervision, as they would be giving status reports on their wards to let her know if their rehabilitation was going well.
It was a top down operation that put Sunset in charge of each participant, putting stallions under the control of a mare, those mares under the control of their chapter master, and the chapter masters under the control of her. The real trick to her plot though was that she actually intended to provide what she promised, to give stallions absolution for their sins, to a degree, through dedicating their lives to helping mares. After all, doing so would make them happier, and in turn make the mares happier, and when those outside of her group saw this aspect of those within it, they too would seek this happiness that was devoid in their lives. From there…
“It’s time to leave,” Sunset said to Starlight, grabbing the black cloth on the table Celestia left behind, placing it back around her own neck, “Let’s get out of here before Gladmane shows up to question about when I’ll be able to get the strip up and running again.”
“You don’t want to say goodbye to him?” Starlight questioned, already getting the door for Sunset.
“Not really,” Sunset answered, “He’s served his purpose for now, and having to deal with him more tonight would do nothing except drag this out longer than I’d like. I’ve already given some of the volunteers instructions to clean up the mess we made, so that should keep him from making a fuss for a few days at least. Besides, doing this experiment, no matter how vital it was to test the waters with our followers, has cost us a day on the project that we really should be working on.”
“Oh, of course,” Starlight replied, happy to comply with the other unicorn’s wishes, “Then should we head off to the airship?”
“No,” Sunset answered, “I’ve had enough social activity for one day, and if I have to hear Stellar give me one more reason why I should support a project I already approved, it might give me a migraine. Everything’s been set up for the others, so nopony should have any problems getting back, and I would hope that they are self sufficient enough to do that at least. So let’s just use the other way.”
Starlight gave Sunset a nod, and extended one arm out to her, pressing her clipboard against her chest with the other. Sunset took hold of her assistant’s hand, and together they made their horns light up with magic. Synchronizing their spells, the two vanished from the room in a flash of light, leaving no trace behind, save for the half drunken bottle of cider Celestia left on the table.
A few minutes later Gladmane would come to the room to check if he could discuss how things would proceed from here for his resort, only to leave him befuddled when he found it empty, as he had been keeping a close eye on Sunset all day. Very few ponies knew just how magically capable either of the two unicorn mares truly were, and seeing how teleportation magic was a rare skill, it would not be the go to thought for most ponies to imagine another to have, unless they had seen them use it before.
Outside of the resort, the herd of ponies that was at one point crowded in front of its doors was now making their way away from the building. The festivities were finished, and now everypony was trying to make their way home. They were all tired from a full day of excitement, but none were left unsatisfied. For some, this truly did feel like the turning point of the Fall, an indication that all the harm the caribou had caused was being reversed, and they were grateful towards their group’s leader for having put all this together for those who had gone through the worst time in Equestrian history.
After the presentation, Trixie and Coco split up, since the earth mare was part of a different part of the group, and thus had to get back with the ponies of her own chapter to make sure she got back to Canterlot safely. Trixie stayed behind to wait for the five ponies on stage that were from her own chapter, but as she waited she thought about the things Coco told her. She was right, on many things, but Trixie particularly hoped she was correct about how to handle this situation with Star Bright.
As the group made their way towards the airship, Trixie stayed quiet, while Lyra and Bon Bon talked to Pistachio on matters she wasn’t paying attention to, and Carrot Top and Star Bright walked side by side in front of her. She wanted to talk to the unicorn stallion among their group, but she wasn’t feeling particularly courageous about it. It was hard enough sometimes to be social with other mares, ponies who had seen the fall from her perspective, and now she was trying to will herself to speak with a stallion who she had many conflicting emotions about.
The feelings sparked up familiar thoughts about Star Bright, some stemming from her abandonment issues, but others coming from a much darker place. After all this time, it was difficult to think of a stallion without thinking about not only how they treated her, but how she was made to behave when interacting with them. The caribou had filled her head full of ideas that never truly held, but nevertheless were ever present in her thought. They gave her doubts, telling her that she had no right talking to a male, or that if a guy didn’t want anything to do with her then it was a failing on her part. Of course, the caribou were always saying these things to berate her when she failed to meet a sex quota she didn’t want to fulfill in the first place, but in the devastated state they had put her in, comments like these hit parts of her psyche that had nothing to do with what they were talking about.
As the group got fairly close to the airships that would take them back to the ground below, the stream of ponies started to slow to a crawl, with each pony having to be checked in as they got aboard. That crawl turned to a halt at some points, and Trixie could see that this was the moment she either needed to speak to Star Bright, or just give up on him altogether. She struggled for this quite a few times, trying to push between some other ponies to get to him, only to stop when there was a bit of resistance. Part of her knew that she was just looking for an excuse not to engage, but another small voice told her that she at least needed to try. The thing was, as much as she wanted to speak with Star Bright, that voice was doing more to keep her away than the caribou’s words were, cause she could tell what it represented to her, and of everything in the world that was something she didn’t want to think about.
The door to the airship was getting closer each second, and Trixie was still caught between her two minds. While there was nothing stopping her from just waiting to get aboard and talking to Star Bright then, deep down she knew she would be no more willing to confront him beyond that entrance than she was right now. It was pretty much a now or never situation, with it looking like it was going to be never. That was until Star Bright turned around in the line, and initiated conversation himself.
“Hey Trixie,” he said casually, “Do you mind if we talked for a moment… While we’re waiting to get on board I mean.”
Trixie’s eyes widened, amazed to see Star Bright trying to speak to her. With his desire to talk with Trixie usually on par with her own, this was a huge surprise, but one that took from Trixie the burden of having to be the one to take initiative.
“Sure!” Trixie said ecstatically, before calming herself and trying again, “I mean, sure… What do you want to talk about?”
“Well… You know…” Starbright said, pussy footing around whatever was on his mind. He seemed just as hesitant as Trixie, until a yellow shoulder bumped him in the side, “I wanted to say I was sorry for running out on you after the Fall!”
The profuse apology from the stallion was loud enough to turn a few heads in Star Bright’s direction, locked on to the single spot that he was standing at, until the suddenly self aware stallion gave them a meek and apologetic expression.
As the bystanders returned to their own business, Trixie questioned the unicorn stallion about his behavior, “What’s going on? You’re acting kinda weird.”
“Sorry…” Star Bright said, “I’ve just been thinking about how much I hurt you by leaving you behind all that time ago. It’s been hanging on my mind ever since that time you confronted me about it with Starlight and Sunset, and Carrot Top thought it might be a good idea if I apologized and did something to make it up to you.”
“Carrot Top put you up to this?” Trixie said, seeing this as the earth mare using her authority as Star Bright’s guardian to make him say this, which would not have been the kind of apology she would have wanted from the stallion.
“No, no, not like that,” Star Bright corrected, seeing how what he said might have come off wrong, “You see, Carrot Top and I have known we’d be together in this program for a while. That’s why I often volunteered to be her sparring partner during self defense class, even though she’s a little rougher than I’d like.” The stallion rubbed at the back of his head, as if he could still feel an injury the earth mare caused, “And during that time I’ve been talking to her about a lot of my problems. Funnily enough, you were the topic that I brought up the most.”
“Oh really?” Trixie replied, not sure yet how to take that.
“Yeah, and her advice to me was if I really felt that bad about everything I did to you, then I had to pony up and do something to make it up to you.” Star Bright said back.
“Ok then, what are you planning to do?” Trixie asked, her curiosity peaked.
“Well now that I’m Carrot Top’s ward,” said Star Bright, “She wants to take me back to her farm in Ponyville. Says that she needs help setting it up for some big thing she thinks will help out our group, and thinks some hard work and fresh air would be good for me.”
“Oh… so you won’t be staying around the club house anymore?” Trixie said, a little upset by that.
“No,” Star Bright replied “But I wanted to invite you over to Carrot Top’s farm the moment everything is ready. Carrot thinks it will only take a few weeks, and I want you to be the first to see the fruits of my labor.”
“I guess I can come,” Trixie said, not seeing any reason to decline, with transit being free at the moment, and having nothing else to occupy her time. Though had there been something coming up in that time, she might have put it off for this.
“Good, then it’s a date.” said Star Bright, before realizing he misspoke again, “I-I mean it’s a… Oh boy.”
“Don’t worry,” replied Trixie, “I get what you mean. More than you might think.”
“I’ll send a letter to the club house when we get things together,” Carrot Top said, butting in now that she heard Trixie accept the invitation, “It will take a few weeks, like he said, but I’ll make sure you know when we are ready.”
“Oh, well then I’ll ask Sunset to keep an eye out for it,” Trixie said back.
“Just don’t keep us waiting when you get it,” Carrot Top said, “I’m wanting Star Bright to make things up to all the mares he’s harmed, and seeing that you’re the one he talks about the most, you get the first spot on his list.”
Before Trixie or Star Bright could say anything else, Carrot Top took the stallion by the hand, and walked him into the airship, as they had finally made it to the front of the line. Trixie tried to follow right after, but within this crowd, and not being as assertive as she once was, it was easy for a few other ponies to step in front of the blue unicorn.
Trixie was disappointed that she was so easily separated from Star Bright, but she also didn’t know what she would say to him had she the opportunity to continue the conversation. Not only that, but it kinda felt like Carrot Top didn’t want her speaking to Star Bright until she was invited over to her farm, though that might have been Trixie reading into things more than she should. The important thing was that she was being given a reason to be around and talk to Star Bright, and it was a gift horse she didn’t want to look in the mouth.
So as she finally made her way onto the airship, she decided to leave the two ponies be, and that her time for the next two weeks would be better spent coming up with things that she wanted to say to him, and maybe sort out what it was she really wanted him to say to her.