Only a few days since she had returned from the human heartland, and yet it seemed like months ago that she said goodbye to that one mare who had once upon a time been the only pony she had ever wanted more than life itself.
Bonbon had a business to run. And right now, it was the only thing keeping her from running into the living room, drawing all the shades and crying her heart out. Another batch of butterscotch candies found their way into their wrappers and out to the front display, resting next to mountains of taffies and heaps of caramel chews. In the few days she had been back, the custard mare had set herself into a frenzy of candymaking, one that was usually only seen around Nightmare Night.
Bonbon grabbed the next tray, sliding them off the counter and into the display case. She was hardly even cognizant when customers would come in, buying their candies from the unnaturally quiet mare. The customers usually kept quiet themselves, seeing how close Bonbon was to crying at any given moment. Nopony had the courage to ask the mare what was wrong, but most had seen the way she had come back to town, completely alone and bereft of the unicorn who was always at her side.
Grabbing another tray of chocolates in her teeth, Bonbon hurried them up to the front. And passing over an odd floorboard that stuck out a half a centimeter over the rest, for the first time in her life, her hoof caught on it. She'd lived in this house and run her business out of this very kitchen for almost a decade, and never before had she tripped and fallen because of that board. Bonbon lurched forward and fell heavily onto her belly. The tray of chocolates slipped from her teeth, flying across the kitchen. For a brief moment Bonbon watched her hard work floating through space, the delicate little chocolates slowly spinning and rotating to their own gravity, the seconds ticking by like hours. And with a crash that must have been heard across the street, the pan and all its contents smashed into the wall, leaving a dent in the wall and clattering down to the floor.
Bonbon sat down on her haunches, tears welling up in her eyes as despair finally took over the last refuge in her life. If this had been a normal day, back before those humans had ever decided to poke their faces out of that hole of an underground city, Lyra would have been in there in a flash, making sure everypony was alright.
A quick stream of tears ran down her cheek when she thought about Lyra. And in her mind, the scene in Lazarus replayed over and over again. Looking Lyra right in the eye, and telling her that she just couldn't take it anymore. All the conspiracies, all the troubles, all the craziness in general that came as a part of the full package of Lyra. Always taking her public shame with a smile on her face while inside she died a little. And every time that they failed it seemed to set them back farther than any other pony in Equestria.
"Hello? Is everypony okay? I heard a crash."
For a moment Bonbon's heart fluttered, hoping that the sweet and mellow voice was Lyra, coming in to say she was sorry, that she had somehow convinced the Republic to drop the case and caught the next train home to Ponyville. But her disappointment was doubled when a screwy eyed pegasus peeked into the kitchen, a look of concern on her face.
"Bonbon? Are you okay?" Derpy asked, coming over to help Bonbon back to her hooves.
"I'm fine," Bonbon sniffled, on the verge of breaking out in a river of desperate and frustrated tears.
And though her eyesight wasn't the greatest in the world, Derpy could clearly see that Bonbon was far from fine. And since Lyra hadn't been seen in town since she left for that soiree, she guessed it had to do with her. "You're not fine," she remarked, gently escorting Bonbon to the living room in the back of the house.
Sitting Bonbon down on the couch, Derpy comfortingly lay a wing across her back. "Now tell Auntie Derpy what's wrong," she said.
Bonbon sniffled again, grabbing a tissue from the coffee table and loudly blowing her nose. "I...I made a mistake," she said to her good friend.
Derpy frowned, wondering what kind of mistake the careful and ever cautious earth pony could have made. "How? What did you do? And where's Lyra? Everypony in town is worried about you two. You always look like you're gonna cry, and we haven't seen Lyra in days. Did something bad happen while you were away?"
Bonbon looked at her with red scored and tear laden eyes. "Yeah, something really bad. Lyra... Lyra did something to make a lot of people angry. And I... I...." Bonbon couldn't finish that sentence. Instead, she looked over to the small stack of papers on the coffee table, nodding to them. She choked out another sob as Derpy grasped up the official looking forms, poking through them.
"What did she do?" the wall eyed pegasus asked as gently as she could, setting down the mostly filled out divorce papers. Derpy had been through those kinds of forms before, right before she ended her marriage with her first husband and shut the door on that part of her life. And all that was missing from Bonbon's forms was Lyra's signature and her own signature at the bottom of the page.
"Lyra was just being herself!" Bonbon snapped to Derpy, her frustration finally boiling over. "She was being a nosy, bullheaded, self righteous jerk who can't think of anypony besides herself! She did something that made the entire human race so gosh darned angry with her that I'll never be able to show my face around the Coppells without feeling guilty! You know about our problem, right Derpy? The fact that astronomical chance has worked so much against us that neither of us could have a foal? That not even...bucking magic," she swore with reserve, "could help us."
The pegasus barely had time to nod before Bonbon kept right on with her tirade.
"We wanted to adopt a filly," Bonbon said much more quietly, her angry rant subsiding as a fresh batch of tears rolled down her cheeks. "W-we were going to wait until after our vacation. But no, she couldn't wait at all! She had to have a baby right then and there! We saw this beautiful, sweet little human child over there, and Lyra, being herself, decided that she wanted it! She had to have it, and so we went and we got these stupid visas," Bonbon directed her anger to a small laminated green card on the coffee table, "and we tried to adopt. But they said we couldn't, just because we were ponies."
The custard mare stopped to catch her breath, the next words stuck in her throat.
"Is...is that all?" Derpy asked, trying to get a word in edgewise. "You got turned down and now you want to divorce Lyra?"
"Derpy, I can tolerate a little prejudice. I'm a filly-fooler, and I've been one since high school. And ever since I started dating Lyra people have singled me out because of who I was. It's nothing new to me, and it's nothing I can't just sweep out the door. Lyra is the reason I want to divorce Lyra. After we got turned down, she went behind my back and filed to sue the Republic."
Despite her extremely limited understanding of the absolute enormity of such a statement, Derpy could understand that whenever court got involved with anything, more often than not every party involved was going to suffer for it.
"She couldn't get her way here in Equestria, so now she's taking it out on some of the most powerful people in the world. And I know for a fact that the human justice system is going to beat her to a pulp. She doesn't know when to quit, and some day that stubborn attitude of hers is going to get her killed. So yes, I made a mistake. My mistake was saying hello to that lonely unicorn mare from Canterlot who walked into my shop one morning. My mistake was letting Lyra into my life. And now..." She once again looked at the divorce papers sitting on the coffee table, a shake of uncertainty in her voice. "Now I want try life again without her."
Derpy stared with her google eyes at Bonbon for a moment, and then something extraordinary happened. For only the second or third time in years of knowing the pegasus, her eyes leveled out. And for the first time Bonbon had ever seen, Derpy glared at her with a look that could shoot daggers. So intent was her hateful stare that a small corner of Bonbon's mind was absolutely terrified.
"Don't you ever say things like that," the normally sweet and silly pegasus hissed. "Yes, Lyra is a stubborn mare. Sometimes to the point of it being harmful to herself and ponies around her. She is my friend, and though she's stubborn and sometimes does dumb things like that, Lyra more than makes up for it! She's sweet and kind and always wants the best for everypony! And you know what? I love Lyra like my own sister. But that's nothing. You loved Lyra enough to want her to be your special somepony forever, to be there every morning when you woke up with a smile on her face. When I moved here from Cloudsdale, I knew you were a shy mare who never spoke her mind, and ponies walked all over you for it. But I saw that change when you met her, and after you fell in love I saw you smiling more than I ever did before. Never, EVER, say that you want to erase all those happy years you spent with her! You say you made a mistake, and I agree with you."
"Derpy, I..." Bonbon stuttered.
"You think your mistake was meeting Lyra, that maybe you screwed up a little when you kissed her for the first time. You think that you did something bad when you slipped that ring on her horn and said, 'I do'. Bonbon, I know mistakes. Most of the time, I just don't know what went wrong. But I never let my mistakes hurt me. Bonnie, I think you did make a mistake. But I think your mistake was leaving Lyra all alone back there. You made a promise to be there, in good times and bad. And you were the one who broke that. It's up to you to decide where you really went wrong. And if you really think that Lyra is the only reason why your life is so bad right now, by all means." Derpy slid the divorce papers closer to Bonbon, laying down a pen on the dotted line. "I'll even express mail it for you," she said coldly.
Bonbon had fallen completely silent. Any traces of tears on her cheeks had dried away, and now she sat far more stunned than anything else. Here sat one of the silliest and most happy-go-lucky ponies she had ever known, as serious as death itself. And in those dandelion eyes glowed a passion for her friendship with Lyra, and her friendship with herself as well. Derpy truly loved both her and Lyra, almost as much as she loved her own daughter.
Bonbon picked up the pen in her teeth, slowly leaning towards the dotted line. Something in her mind was telling her not to do this, that every rose had a thorn. And that Lyra was just a budding rose with a few more thorns than most others. The nib of the pen hovered over the papers, quivering slightly as Bonbon considered her past with Lyra. The honeymoon in the tropics, that moment when Lyra had insisted that she levitate Bonbon over the threshold. Picnics in the park under the shade of their favorite oak tree. Singing along and dancing to Pinkie Pie's often spontaneous songs. Her gentle and passionate touch. Even the day she dragged a drugged human through the living room. And with a sigh of resignation, she set down the pen.
"I can't do it," she said in a hushed whisper. "I can't sign it. And... and I can't blame Lyra for doing what she thought was right. And even though she never thinks for a minute about the consequences.... I can't blame her for being herself."
Her sullen melancholy was broken when Derpy suddenly squeezed the air out of her lungs with a hug.
"You did what your heart told you to do," Derpy whispered to her. Letting go of Bonbon, her pretty dandelion eyes spun out of control, a sign to Bonbon that all was once again well within the kingdom of Derpy. "Now let's go clean up those chocolates. Oh! Does the five second rule count after-" she quickly whipped her head over to check the clock on the wall. "Fifteen minutes? I hope it doesn't, because I am starving!"
A tiny smile cracked on the corners of Bonbon's mouth. "You know, I think that's always been more of a guideline."
*********************************************
"GOOOOOOOD morning, Lazarus! This is Melody Medley here to kickstart your day with a double shot espresso of truth and laughs. One part kick in the teeth, one part wake up and smell the coffee! Speaking of double shots, I knew a guy named Double Shot once, and he sure loved to give me a double shot. And he sure as hell wasn't a barista! Hey-o! My fellow deviants and I are going to do things a little different today. So we're going to start with some news to rock you back to dreamland. Lisa?"
Lisa cleared her throat, holding back her laughter at the mare's overly energetic and frankly racy opening. If President McGoff was hearing this stuff, there was a good chance he would reform the FCC to watch this one venue of public entertainment like a hawk. "Thank you Melody for such a vivid and overly graphic insight to your personal life."
"You're welcome!" the blue mare called from off-mic.
Once again Lisa cleared her throat, wanting to make history with this revelation. "This is political correspondent Lisa Eddins, reporting today on a ground-breaking claim made by a person or group of people as of yet unknown. An anonymous tip has led this station to believe that an active government cover up is underway concerning a legal issue brought before the Supreme Court early last week. Our source lacks true credibility, and our requests for affirmation of this claim to government officials have not been responded to. What we do know is that a pony by the name of Lyra Heartstrings has brought an issue of civil and family rights before the Supreme Court. We have not been able to reach Ms Heartstrings for commentary yet, and once again all government officials are either in the dark or in denial of this particular issue."
************************************************
And across Lazarus, in a cozy, unassuming town home of pony make and design, a certain arbiter of the law sat at her kitchen table in a bathrobe, sipping at a cup of coffee. Pure black coffee, as black as her withered heart, some would say of Abigail Haliburton. But that was always just a spiteful and unfair judgement upon her as a person, heaped on her by the criminals and degenerates she had put behind bars, and worse, back in her days as a circuit judge in the twenty-first century.
Every morning it was the same story with her relatively joyless existence. Wake up, wash up, (and those were pretty much the only 'ups' in her day) dress herself, eat some breakfast and then spend the day looking stern behind a desk under two hundred feet of rock. Life had become a little more interesting lately, what with Heartstrings and her case coming through the court. For once she actually had to don her ceremonial robes and sit behind the bench, silently judging this heated debate between human and pony. This battle of wills between man and animal. Or at least what was once an animal. But today, on a Saturday morning, there was hardly any reason to get out of bed at all.
No court on weekends, and by tradition the Justices took their weekends to psychologically evaluate everything that had transcended in the past week (aka, decompress and prepare themselves for another barrage next week). Abigail took another sip of her coffee, and when she set the cup down, she had to think. The ponies; the very reason why the human race was even roaming the world, the reason why she was staring at morning light blazing in through her kitchen window rather than waking up to the strictly timed schedule of the fluorescent lights in the cold, featureless dormitories in the Undercity. And now they wanted the same things as human beings.
Part of her wanted to watch as the ponies and other creatures marched out of human territory with their tails between their legs. That part that had been born in the first days of the War, the person who wanted to stand proud and defend her race to her dying breath. That part of her that was vehemently xenophobic wanted to see Heartstrings get crushed by Bennett. And so far, Bennett was doing just that.
But... the other part of her wanted to see this through. That part of her that had been born years before the War. That part that always open minded, yet kept to precedence. Impartial, fair, yet heavy handed. That part of her that embodied the law, and the reason why Tyler McGoff had approached her the day after his election and offered her the position as Chief Justice. But this part of her was always the part that dominated, and it was the cause of her loneliness and misery. Who could ever care about a person who never followed her heart?
And with these thoughts plodding through her head, Abigail wondered if anything could ever cheer her up. She'd heard good things about the radio lately, something about a new jockey in the studio.
Like most denizens of Lazarus, she kept a small radio in her house. Conveniently, hers was on the kitchen counter. Flipping it onto the only active channel, she listened in to the morning show.
"...believe that an active government cover up is underway concerning a legal issue brought before the Supreme Court early last week. Our source lacks true credibility, and our requests for affirmation of this claim to government officials have not been responded to."
Abigail's face blanched, and she frantically thought about who could have squealed about this. Worse yet, every house in Lazarus had a radio. And since the judiciary had been trying to keep this low, as few people as possible had been informed about it. Which meant that despite her branch's efforts to keep this under wraps for the safety and integrity of the Republic, now the world was going to know.
And the worst possible thing to ever happen in any case, the media had latched their claws into it.
******************************************************
Lyra hummed contentedly to herself, flipping through the pages of a thick book. Once again she had managed to utilize that natural pony cuteness to get a few books from the Undercity archives. Aaron had clutched his heart when she trembled her bottom lip and stared at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes that she could muster, begging her to stop before it gave him a heart attack. And as usual, her ghost-lawyer had seen this as a possible strategy in court, using her adorable pony looks to catch the Justices off guard.
Funny, she had never thought herself as anything except rather plain looking. But apparently from the human perspective, the big expressive eyes, quick smiles and bright colors of ponies made them irresistibly cute. That was all irrelevant though, and it objectified her people. To be thought of as cute and cuddly when ponies were a proud race with many good qualities other than looks was almost an insult! Well, it could be worse. Apparently, humans thought that gryphons looked pretty imposing with their predator parts and their sharp claws. And when shown a picture of a Taurassian dryad in a book, Aaron thought the rather odd looking forest nymph to be incredibly attractive in comparison to a human being, even blushing at the creature's bare chest.
All a matter of perspective, and her goal here was to see from the human perspective, get into their minds and learn the quickest way to win over their hearts. And for that reason, the law books were set aside today in favor of basic psychology books. And as an added bonus, a few books that she wished she had years ago, basic anthropology. From simple observation she had determined that human beings followed a different social group formation process than ponies. For a pony, as long as there were other ponies (or even other sentient, friendly creatures) around to be a part of a herd with, they were fine and dandy. But humans, no no. They picked and chose their companions for specific reasons, mostly similar social status within the larger group or to possibly gain something from bonding with a fellow. As much as some of them denied it, they craved hierarchy and would always listen to a "superior".
Lyra flipped the page, skimming over the bonding folkways of primitive human societies as opposed to "modern" social conventions.
She spied a little flicker of light from the corner of her eye, a certain ghostly presence returning from his haunting jaunt into the city. "Learn anything?" Clarence inquired.
"A little. Humans like you base trust on similarity. If I can act or look more like a human, it could make the Justices and the public like me more. You get anything juicy?"
The ghost floated over to the "hidden" liquor stash behind the bookcase, passing through the scotch bottle. "Through some selective snooping in the homes of the public, I've learned that your case is a hot topic and a hot button issue. Many people want to know more, and reporters are already lining up at government offices trying to get answers."
"What do they actually think about it?"
Clarence scoffed, taking his place next to her on the couch. "Most don't care. Not enough information to really catch 'em. Some have taken a shine to it, and others are sticking to a more conservative approach and want you out of the city entirely. Have you been pursuing a scientist or doctor for scientific testimonial?"
"No," she confessed, "all the doctors and scientists are down in the Undercity all the time. And I need a human escort just to go down there."
"Well do you-" Clarence stopped suddenly, diving into the couch.
The door to the den swung open, and Aaron poked his head in. "Hey Lyra, I just got back. I'm going out tonight, so you'll have to fix your own supper. By the way, there's a few agar plates under a light in the kitchen, for the love of all that is holy, do not open them!"
Lyra cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"
The mage human glanced around unnecessarily for any unwanted listeners. "I'll let you in on a secret. I've been hankering to get back into a lab for months now, so I went downstairs to check out the biology divisions, see if anything needed to be done. They had a few things that they needed tested a couple of times, so I scooped up a couple of jobs. Those agar plates are a controlled mixture of human gastrointestinal flora, pony gastrointestinal flora, and a cross of both. It's a little precaution we're taking for the Mayflower Initiative, just to see if zoonotic transmission of internal flora has any pathogenic repercussions on both the human and equine immune systems. You know, since humans and ponies are going to be in close contact in the colonies. Wouldn't do to start a colony near Manehattan and suddenly people of both species start getting diarrhea just from being around each other."
Lyra cocked her head. "...wha?"
He chuckled to himself, enjoying the opportunity to revel in his old profession once again. "Just a forewarning, some of those plates could contain lethal pathogens. So don't touch any of them!" At Lyra's horror he laughed again. "Just kidding! Or am I?" His face became grim as death for a moment, before switching back to a mischievous grin. But before he ducked out the door again, he sniffed the air, narrowing his eyes in Lyra's direction.
She smiled sheepishly. "I'll start on nicotine gum tomorrow."
"You'd better, I might bring some people over, and the last thing I want them to smell in this house are those damn phantom cigars of yours!"
Lyra winced at the word phantom, and she wondered how much his subconscious was really telling him about her little secret. "Have a nice time! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead!" she murmured as he left. Each time he walked in on her, he got a little closer to actually discovering what was bothering him. He had actually looked right at the cushion where the ghost hid himself!
A flicker of light rose from the cushion, and the ghost picked up where he left off. "As I was saying, have you met a doctor or scientist to refute Bennett's claim?"
"No, I haven't found a scientist. Or a doctor. Face it, I don't have a single connection in this city besides a couple of downbeat ponies and a diamond dog."
The attorney growled. "Then get to it! That's one of the biggest obstacles, and here you are worrying about the littlest ones!"
"Hey! A lot of little solutions usually take care of one big problem!" Lyra retorted.
"Unless you get someone to testify on your behalf, that big problem is going to be one of the many things the Justices will consider against you. It all boils down to who can scare them the most, or who can put out enough irrefutable facts to make themselves look good."
A knock at the front door interrupted Lyra's study session and her argument. The heavy steps on the stairs told Lyra that Aaron was answering the door, but after a minute he shouted back into her room. "Lyra! There's some people here to see you."
"People?" she shouted back, cocking an eyebrow.
"Mostly ponies," he clarified.
She glanced at her lawyer and shrugged. Trotting easily to the front door, her friend nodded to her and left. Peeking out, Honey Cup's dignified smile met her at the door. "Lyra, darling! I have the most wonderful news to share!"
Lyra levitated the morning edition that was next to the door, one that Aaron had yet to read. "I know, front page. Now everybody in the Republic is going to know about who I am and what I'm standing for."
"Going to?" Honey Cup said with a grin. "Lyra, those papers got shipped out as far as Gladstone this morning! And even if they don't read the paper, it's all over the radio! Now, I'd like for you to meet some friends of mine."
The pegasus mare stepped aside, and a whole crowd of ponies smiled and waved to Lyra.
"There she is! The mare who stood up!" somepony in the back shouted. The veritable herd of her fellows stomped their hooves and cheered.
Putting up a meek grin, Lyra sidled up to Honey Cup. "Honey, who are these ponies?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Your supporters, darling! After last night, I stayed up late, wondering how I could get this moving in the right direction. So my coltfriend and I went door to door this morning, seeing what ponies thought about you and if they wanted to join the movement!"
"And this is the result?" Lyra whispered back. She'd expected something like this to happen over a course of weeks, and here it had been less than a day since she had recruited two ponies and a dog to her side.
"Most certainly! We shall, as you say, rattle the cage, stir the nest! All we need is somepony who wants to be our head, somepony who will be our figure and the star of our show. And we have decided that with your daring and your smile, you could change this country for everyone. You'll be the Spitfire to our Wonderbolts, the Celestia to our Equestria, the Hurricane to our Pansy!" Honey monologued, obviously lost in the historical moment.
Dr Patterson suddenly leaned against the doorjamb, popping a peanut into his mouth. "Funny story about Hurricane, I knew her dad. Best buds, me and him. So what's all this?" He waved his free hand at the crowd of ponies.
Lyra bit her lip, wondering if it was safe to tell him. "Promise me you won't be mad," she asked of him.
His curiosity began to fall. "Okay, that's never the best thing to hear."
"They're my...supporters. They're gonna come and sit in the courtroom, give me moral support and all that." It was only half a lie. They were supporting her, and some of them would fill the courthouse to provide that desperately needed moral support. But that was only a tiny part of the role they were going to play in this.
Aaron cocked an eyebrow. "Why would I be mad about that? If they would let me in without a damn Tesla field, I would too. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to be somewhere." He carefully picked his way through the crowd of ponies, walking down the street as if nothing had happened. In his defense, it was far from the strangest thing he had ever seen.
A certain dead attorney leapt into her left earring. "This is too perfect," he chortled to himself. "Invite them in, maybe we can get this kickstarted a little earlier than expected."
"Invite them in?!" she hissed back. "There's like sixty of them! Aaron will kill me!"
"Who's the expert here?" he responded.
Lyra's will crumbled, and she softly cursed under her breath. "Honey, bring 'em inside. I need to talk to everypony."
Motioning back to the crowd, the group of ponies excitedly murmured to one another, wondering what heroic speech she was about to regale them with, what grand plan she had to change the way humans and ponies lived and cooperated.
******************************************
The one time Commanding General of the United States Armed Forces, briefly the Commanding General of the Terran Armed Forces, and current Commander in Chief of the Republic of Terra threw the morning edition of the Lazarus Phoenix across his desk. President McGoff glared at the woman standing stoically in front of his desk, clenching his fists under his chin until they lost all color.
"Leave!" McGoff shouted to the pair of Terran soldiers that had brought her in. The soldiers -deadly, trained killers with many commendations and a few medals for valor and bravery between them- flinched heavily at McGoff's ire, zipping out the door of his office with as much dignity as they could muster.
With his privacy assured, McGoff jabbed a heavy finger at the headline. "Tell me, Abigail, what the fuck is this?"
The Chief Justice swallowed hard, trying to shrug off the intimidating glare and maintain her legendary composure. "My job, Mr President."
"Is that so? And does your 'job' entail keeping vital information from the highest authorities! How is it that I, the goddamned President of the Republic, the leader of the entire human race, had no idea that you were threatening the stability of our delicately balanced system and had to hear it this morning from a pony when I went jogging!"
Abigail swallowed once again, trying to find a good excuse and wondering what level of the judiciary actually had to do that. "Sir, we believed that it would go through the proper channels-"
McGoff cut her short. "And yet it didn't. And here we are, barely one year into our inception as an independent state, and we are accused, rightfully, of a cover up!" The President took a few moments, leaning back in his chair, taking a deep breath and wishing he had time for a cigarette. "I trusted you," he began in a much more pacified voice. "I trusted that you wouldn't make your job about politics. That despite the fact that you hold ultimate power over the interpretation of law, you wouldn't let it get to your head."
She tried to interject. "Sir, it hasn't. This was just a-"
McGoff silenced the Chief Justice with a wave of a hand. "Don't think that you can get off the hook by calling this a mistake. Because I don't care if it was a mistake. I know exactly what it was, it was an assertion of power. This was not just a little 'slip up' or you forgot to tell somebody about a pony suing the very nation I've worked so hard to build and maintain. No, you went and took this completely into your own hands. In any other profession, that might be considered noble, you know, by lessening the burden on the rest of us. Not here, Abigail. Not. Here!"
"In all fairness, sir, it was none of your business. This is an issue of civil and family rights brought through the judicial system, where it belongs. This is not a question of usurping your power or destabilizing the Republic," the Chief Justice retorted, a touch of venom in her voice. She was in the right, the justice system was her ring, and McGoff thought he could dance into her ring?
McGoff jabbed an accusing finger to Haliburton. "Don't you tell me that this isn't my business! You have no idea what the real men and women who run this country have done, and are still doing, to keep these people afloat! I've had to make deals with kings, queens, princes, dukes, even fucking entities that are normally beyond human comprehension, just to make sure that my people sleep well at night! Do you realize just what you've done?"
Abigail shrugged, fully well knowing what the implications of this were, and fully knowing that McGoff was preparing to regale her. "If I did not know, I would not be stupid enough to go through with the case."
The President groaned, slamming a fist down on his desk. "Heartstrings is a pony, are we clear on that fact?"
"I don't see how-"
"Answer my goddamned question!" he snapped to the Chief Justice, a simmering vat of rage brewing in his eyes.
The Chief Justice pursed her lips, nodding slowly.
"Very good," McGoff continued. "And ponies come from Equestria, correct?" Again, she gave a light nod in response. "And Equestria is ruled over by the lovely, fair, and overall fairytale Princess Celestia. Celestia and I, despite being so buddy-buddy in the public eye, don't quite see eye to eye on a few issues. She knows for a fact that we don't hold her loyal subjects as the same social class as our own people. But, as a form of reparations for her aggressive actions in the past, it is tolerated. Plus we get all sorts of Equestrian goodies by the trainload for the cost of materials, with the difference coming out of her pocket. But now, all of Equestria is going to know, and demand that she take some kind of political action!"
The Chief Justice's eyes began to open a little wider as she understood the global implications. "If this can boil over so quickly, why don't you sic your pet wizard on them? The Equestrians trust him enough to hear Patterson out on anything."
The knuckles cracked in McGoff's hands. There had been times in the past year where the mage had been indispensable in getting the Princesses to sign over on trade agreements and other international issues that would be heavily favored towards the Republic. And with his little 'friend' at his back and superstitions running rampant with the plains dwellers, the man had been able to get the bison to concede several hundred square miles of their land to the Republic for the railways. Not to mention, there had been a time when his "pet wizard" was the closest thing he ever had to a son.
"Even Patterson wouldn't be able to stop the business owners and merchants of Equestria from hiking their prices or refusing to deal with us at all. And then there's Mayflower. If the ponies of Equestria knew the depth to which we are denying their countrymen their rights, we could lose every single colony that we have chartered with the crown of Equestria. And I don't even want to know what Prince Alanon is going to do when he finds out his loyal subjects are rightless peons. If you manage to fuck this up, our insurance policy goes right down the damn drain. Do you understand me?"
The absolute depth to which McGoff had considered this astounded the Chief Justice, and she nodded wordlessly.
"Good," McGoff murmured. "Now, you're going to absolve this little issue as cleanly as you can."
"I can push for the petitioner to drop her case," Abigail suggested.
"No," the President murmured. "The cat's out of the bag, and by Tuesday every human and pony between here and Canterlot is going to know. And even if Heartstrings did drop the case, someone else would be right behind her with even greater demands. Listen to me now, if at any point sufficient information is given to suggest that one side's victory will be of greater benefit to the Republic, I want you to vote that way. I don't care if your gut tells you to go the other way, you cast your lot in with the Republic. Now go out in the hallway, and tell my boys to escort you back to your house."
Maintaining her silent stoicism, the Chief Justice gave a single nod, turning to the door. But before she could reach the door, McGoff had one more thing to say. "And Abigail, if this manages to go completely FUBAR, I'm going to have Smitts drag you to the Senate floor and impeach you. And after that, you're going to have a sudden rush of patriotism and sign up for the military, where you will willingly volunteer to serve in a coalition outpost on the northern frontiers of the Crystal Empire. And according to the crystal ponies, the monsters get even meaner up there." The President of the Republic flashed a quick grin. "Have a nice day, Chief Justice."
And for the first time in several months, a chill ran down her spine. Follow the President's orders to the letter: keep her job and save the international image of the Republic, all at the minor cost of her dignity and her soul. Go against his orders and follow her strict legal protocol: get rewarded with gulag, literally getting thrown to the wolves and whatever other monstrosities were plaguing their allies in the Crystal Empire. All the while maintaining her honor and impartiality.
Neither choice held much appeal.
******************************************
Lyra stood on the tips of her hooves, fighting for an inch of breathing room in the crowded office. It was the largest and most appropriate room in the house, and right now it was packed head to hoof with ponies, crammed in like sardines in a tin. Even the ceiling space was at a premium with the number of pegasus ponies fluttering around.
Clearing her throat, she called them all to order. "If I could have your attention!" she shouted. Instantly, dozens of pairs of pony eyes were on her. And unlike her days on stage, right now she felt a cold feeling sink down her legs. "As most of you know, I'm Lyra. And most of you also know why I'm here today. I uh, I sued the Republic because they denied me the right to adopt and raise a human child. I stood up for my beliefs and my rights. But I see I'm not alone when I say that this country should become a better place for everyone!"
She noticed how the crowd reacted to her choice of words. Lyra hadn't gone and simply said 'everypony', she had said 'everyone'. This was not simply about humans versus ponies in some kind of contest of wills, this was about improving the lives and livelihoods of every person in the nation. And so many of those ponies had made the perilous trip across the untamed wilds between the Equestrian frontier and the borderlands of Terra, braving bandits, scorching heat, wild storms and leaving their old, prosperous lives behind, just so they could have a chance to better someone else's life.
And once they got here, they bore the brunt of the monumental task of rebuilding at least a tiny microcosm of human civilization. They had been the ones to sleep in tents and flimsy shacks during the dead months of winter, the howling winds not bothering the humans in their well built homes and in their underground citadel. They were the ones who brought enough food and supplies to feed armies across the wild lands, only to eat dry hay for every meal.
"So, who here is willing to go that extra step? I know you've all been through so much since coming here, and you've given everything you can to help those people. But this isn't about whining about getting our fair share, this is about making it right with them and making their lives better. All we have to do is take that step in the right direction. Who here is willing to take that step with me?"
Scores of hooves rose up, and a determined grin was on everypony's face. Lyra nodded, indeed this was going quicker than she had anticipated. The Civil Rights Movement had taken years to gather steam, and here she had a group of followers within a week of the first strike.
"Good," she said to the crowd. Now was the time to enact step four of the grand and glorious plan to change this country, maybe even change the world for the better.