Next evening, Indigo walks to Virtue's office with determination on his face. He knocks, then enters. “Hello Lady Virtue, I need to talk to you.”
Virtue starts a bit as she sees Indigo's expression. From what she'd seen, he was always a serious pony and if he was upset, she knew it had to be something major. "Indigo? What's the matter?"
“I want to talk to you about Flux. He hurt Glaive. The minimum punishment for that, even with all kinds of palliations is two weeks. So how come he got out of prison after three days, when it should have been more like three months?”
Her expression shifts curiously for a few moments. "Well... Glaive and Flux talked to each other, and he decided to drop the charges..."
“I know Glaive dropped the charges, I talked to him. But that doesn't mean, nothing happened. Just think what kind of message this tells to ponies here: That Stiletto and her group can ignore our traditions, laws and common decency and get away with it. They even organized a party to mock the law, and show they can get away with anything. Now Glaive walks around in a cast, and Flux walks free.”
Virtue's mouth hangs agape for a moment. "Mocking the law? I don't think... I mean, I don't think anypony believes that..." She raises an eyebrow cautiously. "...what did you want me to do? Put Flux back in jail?"
“No, I don't recommend imprisoning Flux again. That would show the ponies here that you hesitate or regret your decisions, and it wouldn't be a good thing. However a lesson that nopony is above the law must be taught to them. That day Stiletto went to the hospital, intimidated Glaive and destroyed a chair. Nopony pressed charges against her, and I intend to remedy the situation.”
"Sh-she destroyed that chair?" Virtue's eyes go wide. "Panacea was reluctant to tell me what happened..."
“The hospital suffered no structural damage, and some gypsum and paint was enough to renovate it, the chair was replaced and Glaive was not hurt further, but that doesn't mean she should feel entitled to walk around and intimidate ponies, especially in the hospital. She is guilty of assault, harassment and property damage. I need to look over the code of laws again, before filling the paperwork.”
Virtue is silent for a moment. This was exactly what she didn't need right now. Was everypony going to turn against Stiletto? Was this going to devolve into a feud between her friends and everypony else? She really, really didn't need this... but Indigo had a point, and she did need to be held accountable for what happened. She nods slowly and passes a book to him. "The information you need should be in here..."
“Don't get me wrong, I wish for her to be exiled for all the things she's done, but for now teaching her a small lesson about crime and punishment is the least I can do. Maybe giving her a taste of being held responsible for her actions will calm her down before she really hurts somepony. Mm... a month in prison, and 300 bits for property damage for the hospital sounds like a very moderate punishment, doesn't it? This is the first time she is facing charges after all. Panacea can buy some more supplies with whatever is left after replacing the chair and the renovation.”
Virtue's eyes widen a bit as she hears the word exile. Did he really hate her so? Did... did anypony else feel this strongly about her? Did Glaive? Somepony else she didn't even know about? She rivets her mind back to the conversation at hand with some difficulty. "...Panacea has already replaced the chair and fixed up the damage..."
“Yes, I think a new chair was given to her by Stiletto. Just subtract the value of a chair from 300, so she pays whatever is left.”
"300..." She looks down and thinks for a moment. "I... need to talk to Panacea about this... she might not want to press charges..."
“She doesn't have to. She just has to testify. Or Glaive can. Anypony can press charges. I have less to loose than Panacea or Glaive, and I no longer care if Stiletto's group blames it on me. As long as Stiletto pays for all the damage, and spends a few weeks in jail, the lesson will be taught.”
She chews her lip briefly. "If... if that's what you want to do..."
Indigo gives Virtue a long look in her eyes. “Like I said, laws need upholding. It is one of your duties. It is not pleasant to you, which I find reassuring, but it still needs to be done. Do you think I liked scrubbing the floors, and shovelling manure for the fields? I didn't, but those were my duties, and they needed to be done, so I did.” At least I could do that with my horn, not mouth, like those Earth Ponies. “And trust me, you really don't want the ponies around here to think they can ignore the law without any repercussions.”
Virtue's ears droop and she gives him a weak nod. "You're right, of course..." There had been more than a hoofful of times she wished she hadn't been saddled with the burden of leading anypony, much less nearly a hundred. To be tasked with judging ponies too... she really wanted to just go and hide somewhere, throw down her title and never have to face this again. But that wouldn't accomplish anything, really. She shuffles through a stack of long neglected papers and pulls out the forms. "...you'll need to fill these out..."
They fill the papers. When they are done, Indigo looks at Virtue, seeing her rather broken, and really not wanting to imprison anypony, so he tries to comfort her. “I think I should tell you what I think about your rule in general, you may find that reassuring. Overall you are doing a good job. We have everything we need, are reasonably safe and the steel production is running. I suppose I might offer a few small suggestions if you want to listen to them, but I still think highly of you as our leader. One thing I see as your weakness is that you are trying too hard to please everypony, and accommodate for the weirdest of requests, even at the cost of a few months work for a team of ponies.”
Virtue's face goes through a couple of conflicting expressions. It was good to know that somepony thought she was doing a good job... but with everything else going on she didn't know how much she believed it. And Indigo was probably right on that last part. She had irritated some ponies with Grapple's church, she knew. And they had a point. Who knew who else she'd annoyed by action or inaction? There wasn't any right answer to some questions, and she hated it... still, Indigo was trying to be helpful, she knew. And he had a point. Her face eventually settles on a troubled smile. "Thank you... I understand your concerns. And if you do have any suggestions, I'm always willing to listen."
“Ah, alright then.” Indigo lightens up and presents a long list of suggestions, much like in this post, as well as some ideas about relocating workshops and stockpiles, to shorten the travel distance and improve efficiency. He also suggests building a chapel dedicated to all the gods popular in Dawnpick and Coupledye, and installing unicorn magic suppressors in at least one prison cell. (And if the installation is fast enough, guess who is going to be affected by it.) He ends by "But other than that I admire the work you're doing managing this place."
Virtue listens intently, taking in the suggestions as best she could. Most were quite reasonable and made a lot of sense. She'd do what she could to put as many in effect as she could. The chapel was a good idea. She didn't know if there was anypony here who would be willing to lead services, else she'd have done it years ago, but it might help ease the tensions a bit. And a magical ward in the jail was an excellent idea, even if she dared to dream it wouldn't be needed. "Thank you... those are all very good suggestions, and I think I should be able to start on some of those very soon."
Indigo looks rather happy. "I'm glad, I could help. I'll come see you, when I have anything else to tell you. Goodnight Lady Virtue." It went much better than expected. Not only did I manage to press charges against Stiletto. Years of observing ponies and workshops and stockpiles, and understanding how it all works together paid off in some suggestions, that will actually improve things. I even managed to lift her mood up by the end of our talk. He turns to leave.
Virtue watches as Indigo leaves, and sinks back into her chair before reluctantly jotting down his suggestions and returning to her paper work with rather less enthusiasm than when he entered. She felt a little better than when the conversation first started, but regardless she felt as if she'd been hit by a bin of blocks from the mason shops. With Indigo gone, she rests her chin on her hooves, blows out a breath and closes her eyes. What would be next? Would this infighting escalate? Would she be sentencing somepony for murder next? She shakes her head and slowly gets back to work, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. It would all settle... eventually.