//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Force and Coercion // Story: The Trouble With Unicorns // by CartsBeforeHorses //------------------------------// Prince Blueblood sat on his recliner in his living room, reading a book. Suddenly, he was interrupted by a knock on the door. He took off his reading glasses and set them on the coffee table, and walked over to answer. Flash Sentry and six other royal guards stood at the door: two pegasi, two unicorns, and two earth ponies. All were equipped with bolt-action rifles. “Prince Blueblood?” Flash Sentry asked. “Yes?” he replied. “I am afraid that I must place you under house arrest, beginning immediately.” Blueblood’s eyebrows raised at this. He asked, “For what, exactly?” “You’ve been encouraging violence, which is against the law. I can’t let you leave; the Princess wants to speak to you.” Prince Blueblood said, “Do you have an arrest warrant?” “No, this is under the Princess’ direct orders.” “I see,” Blueblood rolled his eyes. “We will just be standing guard outside until the Princess comes,” said Sentry. “You do that,” said Blueblood, slamming the door in his face. Blueblood went into his study and over to his desk. However, he didn’t scream, he didn't rage, and he didn’t pout; he simply chuckled. He sat down, took a quill in his magic, and began to write a new book. ***** Flash Sentry knocked on the grand oak doors leading to the throne room. The doors swung open as a royal guard unlatched the lock with his magic. Princess Luna sat on the throne, surrounded by a legion of guards. Her throne was behind a pane of bulletproof glass. Security had been tightened significantly since the attempt on her life by the angry mob. “Princess Luna,” said Flash Sentry, bowing, “I wish to speak with your sister.” “She is ill and sick in bed,” said Princess Luna, hanging her head low. “I see. She told me to hold Prince Blueblood under house arrest until she could come and speak with him personally. Shall I let him go, or shall I keep him under arrest?” “You should keep him under arrest. Princess Celestia views this as an important conversation. Since she knows Prince Blueblood quite well, she wants to have the discussion with him personally. After that, he will be free to go and take or ignore her advice as he sees fit. However, she is unable to get out of bed at the moment.” “What was the conversation to be about?” “About the grave mistake that he is making in attempting to secede from Equestria, and his error in assuming that unicorns are somehow superior to other pony races,” said Princess Luna, “Though I am sure that she could articulate it far better than I could. Speaking has never been my strong suit.” “I see. Well, our guard detail will keep Blueblood’s house under guard until the Princess can make it.” Sentry bowed and exited the room, flying back towards Blueblood’s house. ***** Five days had passed, and the Princess had yet to come and speak to Blueblood. By day three, he had suspected that the whole “Princess wants to talk” story was simply a ruse, and that she had no intention of speaking with him whatsoever. After all, if she could hold him in his house indefinitely with no formal charges, then that would keep him from speaking and rallying crowds, which could cost him the mayoral election, which was just two weeks away. That seemed to Blueblood like it was her plan, even though in reality it wasn’t: her plan to attempt to mediate the situation was cut short by her progressively-worsening illness. By day five, a large crowd had gathered outside of the royal palace demanding to see Prince Blueblood. Princess Celestia was far too ill to even climb out of bed and address the crowd. Meanwhile, Prince Blueblood sat in his study, busily writing a new book. He had finished most of the book proper, now he worked on the foreword. Force and Coercion By: Fritz Blueblood FOREWORD: This is the first non-magical book I have ever written, but I believe it is the most important one. It is the summation of all of my work thus far in education about magic, and my work in advocating for unicorn freedom. This book will summarize everything that I believe is wrong with Celestia’s administration, and everything I believe is right about the unicorn race as well as unicorn self-determination and self-governance. Never in my life have I advocated force, never have I advocated coercion. The title refers to the force and coercion which has been used by others against me. I have never participated in violence. The only time I have ever raised a hoof against another was against Discord and his changeling minions, but that was in self-defense, and self-defense versus aggression is a key distinction to make. I have never been aggressive. Some have committed acts of aggression and violence under my name and under the Unicorn Freedom Movement banner. I do not support or condone such behavior. I do not condone force or coercion to achieve my aims. I write this book to you as a prisoner in my own home. I am being held here on no formal charges, by order of the Princess herself. I have been in my home now for five days. I believe the arrest is phony and simply meant to keep me from going out and speaking my mind. Supposedly, I am being held here for encouraging violence, when I have never done any such thing. As I write this, there are guards surrounding every corner of my house, ensuring that I do not escape. They wield rifles which I presume are for me if I attempt to escape. How ironic that I am being held on false charges of using force and coercion to convince ponies that I am right, when the Princess is preventing me from leaving my home by ACTUAL force and coercion, which her laws claim is wrong. I agree, they are wrong, which is why I do not use them. By what right does she do this to me? She punishes me for a crime I did not commit and have not been charged with. She claims to not be a tyrant, yet every action she has taken against me and the unicorn race seems to confirm this fact that she so vehemently denies. She suppresses our free speech, our freedom of habeas corpus, our freedom to use magic, our freedom of association, our freedom to keep the majority of the money that we earn. We deserve self-determination and the ability to make our own laws, because we are superior to those who incorrectly claim to rule us. As I will elucidate in this book, their pretensions to power are comical: the inmates are running the asylum. -Prince Fritz Blueblood, Ph.D.” Blueblood sat his quill down, his magic tired from hours and hours of writing. He was finally done with his book. He smiled looking at the thick stack of paper. It was the best thing he had ever written, he thought. The Prince got up from his chair, stretching his limbs. Now what shall I do? he thought. Who knows how much longer I will have to stay here, and I am completely bored. Perhaps I could read. Blueblood sat down in his recliner and grabbed a book. He read for about five minutes, but grew bored and set it back onto his shelf. I need contact with other ponies. I’ve been alone for five days. “Hmm...” he said aloud, and then his eyes widened as his face lit up with an idea. He could perhaps socialize with the guards. He walked over to his front door, opened it, and stepped out onto his porch. He was faced by Flash Sentry, who stood guard over the steps leading up to his porch. Sentry simply stared at Blueblood with a blank look on his face. “Well, are you going to come in, or just stand there?” Blueblood asked, smiling. “Huh?” “If you are going to be monitoring my house to ensure that I don’t leave, you could at least come in and keep me company. I figure you are tiring from standing in one place all day.” “Uh... sure,” said Flash Sentry, motioning to a unicorn guard to take his place at the front steps. Walking through Blueblood’s door, he said, “You know, I wouldn’t have expected you to be this... uh...” “What, welcoming? Why would you assume that?” “Well, I’m a pegasus, after all,” said Sentry, closing the door behind him and dusting his hooves off on Blueblood’s doormat. “Your assumption that I would not treat you with any consideration is wrong. Please, take a seat.” Flash Sentry sat on Blueblood’s leather couch, placing his rifle next to him, within hoof’s reach. “Would you like a drink, Mister...” “Sentry. And cup of coffee, if you have it. “I do.” Blueblood walked into his kitchen, which was joined to his living room by an open entryway, and began preparing a pot of coffee. While in the kitchen, he spoke towards Sentry through the entryway, “I share my message with all who will listen, including the lesser races. I may treat you and other pegasi with lesser consideration, Mister Sentry, but not zero consideration. I don’t hold slaves like cattle or sheep, giving no care to their welfare at all. I am no earth pony.” Sentry grimaced, and said, “See, and that’s the problem. That sort of divisive hate speech is exactly the reason that the Princess ordered me to keep an eye on you.” Blueblood walked back into the living room as the coffee was brewing. “Hate speech? When have I ever said that I hated anypony? I have invited you into my home and made you coffee, have I not? Even when you have held me prisoner in my own home for a week with no warrant and no habeas corpus. If what I’ve shown you is hate, then hell is a grand hotel.” “Your hate speech isn’t what you are under arrest for. Apparently some ponies have been inspired to violence from hearing your words—” “I do not preach violence, mister Sentry. If anypony has taken my words to heart and then decided to commit acts of violence, those violent acts came from within themselves. They should be punished, not I.” “That’s not how the law sees it. The law sees ponies who’ve committed acts of violence after hearing your words, and determines that you are responsible for the violence.” “Oh, the law? That’s adorable. I ask, when have Celestia’s laws ever relied on logic?” Flash Sentry paused for a moment, and responded, “Always.” “Oh? What of, for instance, the ivory tower tax on Canterlot?” “It’s to spread the concentrated wealth from here to cities which need it.” “And Canterlot doesn’t need it? Who are you and the law to determine who needs it? I would think that after Discord’s massacre, after the riots, after the economic devastation wrought by this very tax, Canterlot now needs wealth as much as any other city. The goal of the tax, as I recall, is to ‘spread the suffering,’ and it has certainly done exactly as intended. But rather than making other cities suffer as little as Canterlot, it has made Canterlot suffer as much as the other cities.” “The intent of the law was good; it simply hasn’t had the right effect.” “Then it’s a bad, illogical law. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The ivory tower tax was passed by the same mentally deficient ponies who call a stallion who has never lifted a hoof in aggression to wantonly harm another ‘violent.’ It has a tenuous, disjointed justification which dares to call itself ‘logic’ but is nothing more than blind, dumb tyranny. There will soon come a time when the laws are made by ponies who are superior in intellect, strength, and mental capacity to the current administration. We shall all be better off for it. We will not share suffering and stupidity, we will share only strength and wisdom.” Flash Sentry paused for a few moments, considering Blueblood’s statements. He finally responded, “I didn’t come to your house to argue politics with you, Prince Blueblood. I only came here to keep you under guard. I don’t make the laws; I only enforce them.” “Ah, so you tacitly acknowledge that your argument and your system of laws has no merit. I see. You say that you did not come here to discuss politics, yet your very justification of holding me here is the political system that I have logically demolished over the course of five minutes. Go back to the princess and let me leave my house.” “You can’t order me!” said Flash Sentry, standing up, grabbing his rifle, and adopting an aggressive stance. “Sit back down, young stallion; your testosterone is at dangerously high levels,” said Blueblood as the coffee machine beeped, indicating that the cup was done. Flash followed Blueblood into the kitchen, rifle in tow. Blueblood turned around and saw Sentry watch him as he approached the coffee pot. Blueblood let out a hearty laugh, and then scoffed. “What, Mister Sentry, are you worried that I’ll poison you or something? Fine, let me ease your paranoia.” Blueblood levitated two coffee cups over to Flash Sentry so that he could see that there was nothing already in them, and poured the coffee in them. He then levitated one to his own lips, and took a sip. “Now we may drink, yes?” “Yes.” Blueblood and Flash Sentry walked back into the living room, sitting back in their chairs. Sentry set his rifle down next to him on the couch. “So, Mr. Sentry, you view me as violent, eh?” “...Well, maybe not personally, but the law—” “Your actions betray your suspicion of me. You had to watch me pour your coffee out of some fear I might poison you. You have clutched your rifle close to you ever since you have entered my home, like a baby might clutch a blanket. You personally view me as violent. Admit it.” After a moment, Sentry responded with, “Yes.” “And so does the law, apparently?” “Yes.” “Well, in reality, I am not violent in the slightest, and I have never raised my own hooves or horn to attack another pony in aggression. The only time I have ever attacked another living creature was Discord and the changelings, and that was in self-defense. Other ponies who follow me may condone violence or perpetrate it themselves, but I do not, and I frown on such behavior. “That is reality, though, but apparently the law does not concern itself with little things like facts. And apparently, neither do you, Mister Sentry. If you and the law already see me as violent, and there’s nothing I can do to convince you otherwise, why shouldn’t I go ahead and actually use violence to achieve my aims? Might as well, if I’m going to be punished for it anyway. I am a powerful, magically-trained unicorn, and I have many others who would be willing to rally to my side in a coup of Canterlot if we so desired. We would kill any who oppose us, and I can assure you that I would not lose a minute’s sleep over it. “So, please, give me a good reason why I shouldn’t. What’s stopping me? The law already views me as a monster, even though I have done nothing wrong. If I’m already damned in your eyes, why not do what I’m damned for? Why should I not kill you right now where you sit?” Sentry simply gazed at Blueblood with a blank stare. “When you are asked a question, young stallion, it is customary to give a response. Please answer my question.” In the background, they both heard many dozens of ponies yelling and shouting. “Free Blueblood! Free Blueblood!” Evidently, some of the ponies had figured out that Blueblood was being held under house arrest. Blueblood grinned at Sentry. Finally, Sentry responded, “You are violent, though. You have encouraged others to violence. By proxy, you are a violent stallion; whether or not you have raised your own hooves in violence is irrelevant.” Blueblood scowled, breathing heavily as rage flowed through his veins. After a moment, he sat up in his chair, a blank expression on his face, and said flatly, “Well, that’s settled then.” In a flash of light, Prince Blueblood disappeared from off of his recliner and appeared in front of Flash Sentry. Sentry reached over to his rifle, but Blueblood knocked it from his grasp with his hoof. A blue glow enveloped Sentry as Blueblood grabbed him with his magic. A devious smile spread over Blueblood’s face. “You realize I could snap your neck right now, pegasus? You realize I could tear your wings from your back? I could make you die a slow, painful death.” Sentry opened his mouth to scream, but Blueblood tightened his jaw shut with his telekinesis. “After all, I am so violent that Celestia and her state sees fit to put me under house arrest for a week with no charges. I laugh at these restrictions, of course, as I am a unicorn and it is impossible to contain me without cutting off my horn. I could have escaped from my home at any moment over the past week. But apparently I am so violent that you tremble in fear at a simple gesture of hospitality such as offering you a drink or a place to sit and rest your tired hooves. Yes, I am a violent pony, and I will strike you down where you stand. I will confirm your suspicions.” “MMMPH!” Sentry mumbled. “Unless, of course, I am not violent, and you have made a mistake in placing me under arrest. In which case, I would let you free of my magical grasp, and you would in turn tell your guards to release me from house arrest. Otherwise, though, if your law is correct and I really am violent, I shall kill you mercilessly and painfully. So, am I violent and you are right, in which case I shall kill you, or am I peaceful and you are wrong, in which case I will not hurt you and you will let me go?” “You’re not violent,” mumbled Sentry. “I’m sorry, what was that? I couldn’t quite hear you,” said Blueblood. “You’re not violent!” Sentry fell back to the floor with a thud. “That’s better. Now, am I free to go?” Blueblood asked. “...Yes. I’ll tell the others that you’re no longer under house arrest,” said Sentry, shaking. “Excellent. Now get out of my house.” Flash Sentry scurried towards the door, running into the yard. Blueblood thought at first that he might be telling the guards what had happened to him, but apparently he wouldn’t. All six guards gathered around Sentry, and they left, walking back up the street towards Celestia’s palace. Excellent, thought Blueblood. ***** “Free Blueblood! Free Blueblood! Free Blueblood!” another crowd shouted; they were gathered in the garden in front of Princess Celestia’s palace. She could not hear the crowd’s chanting, since her room had been destroyed in the arson attack against the palace, and she was sleeping in an intact area of the palace. Suddenly, a white light flashed and Blueblood stood atop the charred balcony which had once led the way into Celestia’s bedroom. The crowd cheered a thunderous applause as he took a bow. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I am back! The Princess erroneously held me under house arrest for advocating acts of violence!” The crowd booed. “That’s right, I have never done or advocated such a thing! Thankfully, the royal guard has seen the error of their ways and have released me.” The crowd cheered. “Just one more example of why Celestia and her sister need to leave Canterlot! They have demonstrated once again their incompetence in ruling! Canterlot for the unicorns! In just two short weeks, we will vote for our independence!” The crowd cheered. “Unicorns! Unicorns! Unicorns! Unicorns!” the crowd chanted, louder than before, some using voice amplification spells. ***** The Princess lay in her chambers and heard the din from the other side of the palace. She was joined by Flash Sentry and Luna, who stood by her bedside. “I’m sorry, Princess. H-he j-just picked me up and threatened to k-kill me if I didn’t let him go. There was an angry mob coming and...” he stumbled over his words, afraid that the Princess would punish him. “That’s alright...” she gasped for air, struggling to form words, “I would’ve released... him soon anyways. This is all my own fault...” “Do not say such a thing, sister!” said Luna. “No... if I hadn’t... feared the unicorns, if I’d treated them with... trust... they would’ve never thought to secede... It was my own fear which brought this about... I just wanted to keep peace in Equestria... stop them using dangerous spells... but my own fear has enraged them...” “But the unicorns are dangerous! We’ve seen it!” said Flash Sentry, “What about the riots? What about ponies like Sombra?” “The riots would never have... happened without my fear and mistrust. Sombra was a lone wolf... The thing which I have greatly feared has come upon me... Please, forgive me...” With that, her eyes closed, never to open again. Sentry bowed and shuffled out of the room. Luna hung her head low, crying tears for the loss of her sister.