//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Reflected Reflections // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// “All of this talk of marriage scares us!” an earth pony mare shouted. “This is going to be our end!” another cried. “There are more mares than stallions! What is a mare to do when all of the stallions are claimed through marriage?” one questioned in a loud voice. Flim raised an eyebrow and looked at his brother Flam, feeling a distinct feeling of fear as the crowd began to turn hostile. The former con artists knew a bad crowd when they saw one, and this one was shaping up to be ugly. “Exclusive breeding contracts are wrong! We should have a right to have access to good breeding stock so we can continue make better ponies!” a stallion shouted. “The Virtues are destroying our society!” another stallion hollered out over the roar of the crowd, “Look what their talk of marriage and exclusive breeding did to Clan Fetlock!” “A society’s right to survive is more important than any so called individual reproductive rights!” a unicorn shouted, leaping up onto a marketplace table. “The freedom of any individual can and should be sacrificed for the greater good! If we follow you down this path of destruction, fewer and fewer viable stock foals will be born! The strongest should only breed with the strong! The fastest should only breed with the fastest! The most magical should only breed with the most magical! We must breed weakness from our society if we are to endure! The biggest, the strongest, the fastest, the most magical, these should not be individuals, but public resources available for the taking!” “Pegasi must keep breeding with pegasi!” a pegasus shouted. “Yeah! What if an earth pony breeds with a pegasus and they produce more earth ponies? The pegasi will be bred out of existence and who will protect you then?” another big pegasus stallion shouted. “It will mean the end of us!” an earth pony mare shouted. “Yes!” the long winded unicorn shouted. “Like must breed with like or it will mean the end of us all! Do the Virtues really want to destroy us? What lesson would be learned from that?” Unable to respond, unable to reply, knowing that there was nothing they could say to calm the crowd at this point, Flim and Flam looked at one another knowingly and then retreated into the courthouse, fleeing into their private offices and locking the doors behind them. “A full blown riot broke out when Flim and Flam fled the scene. I had to send in guards to restore order. The guards were not happy about this. Some of them agreed with the crowd. A few even joined the crowd while a couple of others refused to intervene,” Princess Celestia said to Chrysalis, sounding worried. “I had to step in myself… which worries me. I am always afraid that they will see me how I was when I really am trying to do what is best for them. I already know that this is going to come back and hurt me.” “Princess Celestia, if I may be open,” Chrysalis began, looking pensive, her butterfly wings fluttering nervously. “Reckless love may have brought us to this. Reckless love might have almost ended the world… but it was also reckless love that gave Sombra the strength to save the world. He restored balance and order through the force of his love. He held back his evil long enough to do what was right for Sunrise Surprise,” she finished. Pacing, the alicorn did not know what to say. She moved back and forth through the room, her hooves making muffled thuds upon the thick carpet, and her wings twitched nervously as she carefully considered Chrysalis’ words. “At least the four companions are back together and are safe,” Chrysalis said, looking somewhat relieved. “The ponies are angry and feel cheated by the Virtues. Garlic was dismissed from his duties with no other consequences. Members of Clan Fetlock are still calling for his head and a few have threatened to come and claim it if it will not be delivered. I’ve had to post guards out at the Pie family farm because some of the members of Clan Fetlock actually threatened Garlic’s family to try and draw him out, which very nearly worked… Garlic did what he did because Fogwalker was taken from him, or so he thought. Can you imagine what he might do if his mother was hurt? His aunt? His grandmare? I knew that Garlic had it in him to be the sort of champion we need, but his rage scares me. Twenty three well trained, well armored, hardened warriors brought down during one of his berserk states,” Celestia said, shaking her head with worry, her eyes blinking, and her ears twitching to various positions as she spoke. “Imagine what he would do to an army of goblins. Or minotaurs. Or griffons… or anything else that threatened his home. It is his love that makes him great. This is a powerful asset to our society. We are losing ground Princess Celestia. Our nation is coming apart. Have you read the reports from the city of Bridge?” Chrysalis responded, looking at Celestia with a curious stare. “Yes, I have read those reports!” Celestia snapped. “I am well aware of the danger. If the city of Bridge falls we are in big trouble. Our main source of iron will be lost to us.” “One unicorn with a talent for mind control has seized control of an army of goblins and snatches more ponies each day to force them into labour in the mines. The city of Bridge lives in terror of the next raid,” Chrysalis said, her voice calm and each word carefully spoken. “Wait, you want me to send Sunrise Surprise and her friends… you want me to place them in harm’s way… do you actually think this is wise?” Princess Celestia asked. “Historically, berserkers have shown themselves immune to mind control… look, all that can be done with berserkers is make them more angry. Garlic is gifted with rage. There can be no doubt about that. And that rage can be contained and controlled with love. I was able to reach him and calm him down… and I know for certain that a few sweet words from Fogwalker would calm and soothe his fevered brain when he goes off,” Chrysalis replied, now looking a little pensive as she spoke. “I am not even sure if it would be safe to send them out,” Celestia stated, shaking her head with doubt. “I fear they might not even reach the edge of the county without trouble happening upon them.” The four companions were together in a room that was now Sunrise Surprise’s quarters. It was comfortably furnished, well lit, and nicer than anything the four of them had ever experienced. The entire room was larger than the Pie family cottage that Garlic had grown up in. “Everything has changed,” Sunrise said, looking around the room. Chert was juggling fruit, a skill that Sunrise liked to watch. His quick hands moved almost in a blur, keeping the fruit airborne. Garlic was laying on a couch, his long lanky body taking up all of the available space. Somehow, Fogwalker had squeezed herself on the couch and was now cuddling with the extremely uncomfortable looking earth pony that she loved. “Even my parents treat me funny now… one day I was their daughter… now I am their princess. I hate it. Everypony wants to kill Garlic… Chert is seen as a freak and a weirdo… sorry Chert, but I like you… and Fogwalker is now a social pariah for loving an earth pony… which I’ll admit bothered me a little at first but I’ve since straightened myself out,” Sunrise Surprise continued, her glasses slowly sliding down her nasal bridge as she spoke, the movement from her words causing them to slip. “All we have is each other,” Fogwalker said, her voice somewhat bittersweet. “Clan Fetlock wants to disown me. I’ve been told that my position in the Rangers is still in good standing, but I don’t know that I trust those words. I’m still thinking about turning in my armor and requesting my walking papers.” “Don’t!” Sunrise Surprise lisped. “Don’t?” Fogwalker questioned, rubbing her hoof along Garlic’s neck. “We have to fight and hold on to the positions we still have. We shouldn’t throw away everything we’ve worked hard for. Things are changing… we just have to endure somehow. If you stay a Ranger through this, you’ll be a better Ranger later. Princess Luna told me that this is a test. She said to give nothing willingly, make ponies fight for everything they want to take from us,” Sunrise Surprise answered, her words filled with interspersed snorting as her anger manifested. “Like Garlic fought to keep Fogwalker,” Chert said, ceasing his juggling and carefully setting the apples he was tossing down upon the table. “Oh I don’t want to keep Fogwalker… I just don’t want anypony else having her,” Garlic grumbled sulkily, which earned him an ear nip from Fogwalker. “Ow… my ears are tender.” “Oh hush you big foal, that was just a playful ear tug,” Fogwalker said, admonishing Garlic for being foalish. “You know, I just realised, but Stinky’s neck is as long as most average ponies bodies.” “I’ve really screwed up. The public hates me because I’ve spoken out in defense of my friends. Just like everything else I’ve messed up in my life, I’ve made a mess out of being an alicorn,” Sunrise Surprise said dejectedly. Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what I’m doing, everypony is already angry at me… some ponies hate me… clan Fetlock is swearing that they’ll never acknowledge my rule or provide me with legitimacy, whatever that means.” “Clan Fetlock is busy talking as tough as they can right now to try and re-establish some of the hard edge they lost after being invaded by a lone earth pony and then having to be rescued by Chrysalis before the carnage became too much to bear,” Fogwalker said as she gently laid her head down upon Garlic’s own head and protectively wrapped a foreleg around his neck. “Was that a run on sentence?” Chert inquired. “Yes Chert,” Sunrise replied, looking briefly at the centaur, who sometimes asked weird questions as he tried to learn about everything around him. “How much longer must we wait in this room? I have seen enough of walls and ceilings. I wish to be out of doors,” Chert said, carefully trying to emulate the speech he had heard around the palace. Sunrise deserved a well spoken protector, and Chert was determined to fulfill her needs in any way he could. “I don’t know. It feels like we are prisoners,” Sunrise Surprise answered, her wings fluttering softly as she fidgeted about. “We’re all prisoners in some way,” Garlic announced in a defeated voice. “Stinky?” Fogwalker curiously questioned. “I’m an earth pony. I will always be trapped in the expectations of being an earth pony. The lowest of the low in society. I have overstepped my bounds, I had aspirations, I had dreams… I dared to love… I was no longer content with being a prisoner. Foggy, you are bound by honour, your clan, clan values, your oath as a Ranger, and your wings are really just shackles. Because you can fly, you owe society protection and a lifetime of service. You are not your own pony. Because of those wings, others will make demands of you and if you fail to answer them, you will be seen as something even lower than I am. Chert… I don’t even know where to get started with you. We let you out of your cell and freed you, but Trixie says that you have some sort of powerful unbreakable spell that makes you serve Sunny… and you Sunny… we all know what being a princess is like for you. How are you enjoying this gilded cage we are all laying around in right now?” Garlic said, being as blunt and direct as possible, and sparing his friends nothing of the truth. “Stinky… just when I think I have you figured out,” Fogwalker grumbled. “I refuse to be a good little birdie. I say we rattle the bars of our cage and make a little noise,” Sunrise Surprise said in a low angry voice, her lisp becoming terrible as her emotions took over.