Once I was in the city, I took stock of the others, only to find that Neon had already wandered off. "Did either of you see which way she went?"
"Who?" asked Hope before he spotted her missing as well. "Oh! Sorry." He sounded like it was his own fault. "I'll look for her."
Dust blocked his hasty retreat with her body. "How about we go look for her? There's no reason to keep splitting up."
Hope nodded, but looked uncertain. "If you don't trust me to look on my own, alright..."
Dust's tail gave an annoyed flick. "It's not about trust. Actually, it is. I trust you at my side. I trust you as part of my team. We already lost a member, so how about we don't go for the full package of failing? Come on, we're looking, together."
Dust looked up at me. "Are you coming too?"
At first I considered agreeing, but looking at Hope hiding his discomfort poorly made me change my mind. I shook my head. "Nah, you two start the search. I'm hard to miss, being huge and all. I'll start looking around, and if I see her, I'll grab her and give you a signal."
While Dust looked mildly perplexed, Hope got it right away. "I'll come running when you tell us to."
They went off together. Hope seemed more comfortable as he explained what the 'signal' was. The power of 'us' royalty to send commands to other ponies was a bit scary when you stopped to think about it.
I went off on my own to have a look around. The first thing that drew my eye was a crowd of ponies murmuring angrily while pointing up at a human, a man. He was on a stage with basically nothing on but a metal collar that was secured to the ground and allowed almost no movement if he wanted to stand, and not much more if he crawled. He stood looking defiant as the crowd muttered their angry words.
A heavyset earth pony mare trotted up on the stage. "My fellow citizens! Let's have some order. We're here to deliver justice for a crime, not form a lynch mob. We all deserve that, justice, even humans." The noise began to quiet down as they seemed to accept her authority. The crowd began to be seated, all the ponies on their haunches before her.
"That's lovely. Alright, before we begin, can we have the human's caretaker up here?" she asked as she looked over the crowd.
An elderly unicorn stood up. "His caretaker was my daughter! She's dead now, and it's his fault!"
That got the crowd riled up again. One of the other ponies grabbed a tomato in their snout and hurled it at the grimly resolved human, where it splattered against his shoulder. He winced, but stood there. Another pony hurled a potato. That was too much for me. I lashed out a tongue and snatched the flying tuber out of the air. Suddenly all eyes were on me. Trying to play it off, I chewed the raw potato. Fortunately pony tastebuds found it less disagreeable, but it was still sour compared to any cooked specimen. "I don't waste food."
The leader on the stage nodded. "Yes, thank you, stranger. Please, enough. We are here to learn the truth, not be an unruly mob. Was anyone present at the scene of the crime? How did it happen?"
The human frowned all the more deeply. "I was there."
The fat mare tilted a brow at him. "You are the accused, and a human. That's two strikes against you, but for sake of at least hearing your side, go ahead, just know that we can't accept your word at face value."
I leaned in and whispered to a pegasus who was parked above the rear of the crowd. She had brought down a tiny cloud and had a great seat for the activities. "What happened?"
The pegasus turned to look at me. "Well aren't you a big one! They said he killed his caretaker, a mare who never hurt anyone. The way I heard it, she was a huge softy for humans, even pushed for them to be welcomed to society."
Before I could ask more, the human began giving his testimony. "She wanted to take the last thing I had away. She kept saying it was for 'my own good', but denying someone their basic species is not much better than killing them. I'd rather be dead than on four legs."
The rotund mare frowned. "You killed her for trying to be kind to you? You are aware that humans are not forced, nay, most are not even offered the option of becoming one of us. You took her softness and made that a reason to hate her? That is your reason for killing her?"
He grabbed the chain that bound his neck to the floor and gave it a tug, but it was made of metal and far stronger than he was. "I'm still an American, and you'll have to kill me before I give in."
She shook her head slowly while making little tsking sounds. "Now that is a shame, and wrong. We're all Americans, aren't we?"
The crowd responded with firm yesses and upraised hooves.
She stepped closer to the accused. "American law isn't that complicated when it comes to this. Murder, premeditated, no remorse. It sounds like an open and shut case, doesn't it folks?"
The crowd shouted its agreement with her, but they didn't try lobbing things at the man again, instead shouting for her to show them justice.
I didn't want to see another person die, but he had killed someone, and his defiant face had not a shred of regret on it. It was a terrible situation.
She put a hoof at her chest. "As your mayor, it falls on me to see that this wrong is put to right. We can't revive the victim, but we can see that her killer is punished." She looked up at the human. "You look ready to be killed in any painful way, but fast and painless are too kind." She turned to the crowd. "I move we strap him up and put him on display, for everyone, pony, or human, to see. He will be given no food and no water until God sees fit to end his misery. Perhaps he'll have time to realize his mistake and beg Him for forgiveness, because society is done with him!"
I grimaced at the terrible punishment, and the human did as well, though he tried to not show it. His stoicism had limits, and he struggled as two ponies moved to drag him away to be shackled and left to die of exposure. They had a stockade prepared, and began wrestling him into it, but he started to struggle. He landed a punch across one pony's face and sent her to the ground. The sight of it seemed to incense the crowd, and where one fell, two others rushed up to subdue the human far less kindly. Punches and kicks were exchanged as he fought to the last, but they managed to force him into position and get him locked in.
There were four wounded, five if you counted the then bruised and battered human. The mayor let out a sigh. "Let us remember that most humans are good people and loyal servants. They know their place. Let's not allow this bad egg to ruin the batch. Speaking of which, the victim had one other human who is now without an owner. This human is well-behaved by all reports, a talented seamstress and baker, as well as a personal caregiver."
She waved and a girl was brought forward. She couldn't have been older than twelve. "His crime is not her crime. Let's give her a good home." The crowd wasn't so swift as to volunteer to take her. Did they suspect her as damaged goods? Too much exposure to the guilty party? I didn't want to see her hurting anymore, and maybe... Maybe I could save her.
I raised a hoof. "I'll take her."
The mayor smiled. "That's very kind of you, stranger. Go on, dear. She'll take care of you."
The girl stepped down from the stand and approached me timidly. As she came closer, I felt the little thrilling tingle of wanting to infect her. I suddenly remembered that I could do that, and any fluid between us could send her to four legs. ~Karen? That's not right. Please, no.~
Karen's voice rang clearly in my head, ~What isn't right? I feel a pattern that could hold energy quite well nearby. Why shouldn't we?~
The girl reached me and bowed her head. "Hello, mis...ter?" She was clearly confused by what she saw. "I'm sorry. What... Which should I call you?"
~She doesn't want that, and neither do I, please.~ I focused on the girl and smiled at her. "Whichever you prefer. Have you seen another that looks like me, with the colorful patterns? Not as big?"
She shook her head. "No ma'am." She put a hand on her chest. "I'm Lizzie. Thank you, for taking me."
A little tingle ran through me, horrible and lusty. I still wanted to grab her and make a pony out of her, but the urge was less and I was determined to fight it. She deserved better, and she was a little girl, for god's sake. I kept my tongues firmly in my mouth and gently nudged her with a hoof. "Let's go. Say, did you know... either of them? What did he mean?"
Lizzie began to lead the way away from that stockade and its doomed occupant. "Her name was Fresh Breeze. She was very nice, ma'am, but she didn't like people as people. She thought everyone would be happier as ponies, and she tried to get us to want to be one."
I perked an ear at her as curiosity welled. "Were you ever tempted?"
She rubbed at an arm with the opposing hand as she glanced around. "A little, ma'am. If I was a pony, ma'am, they'd let me go to school and learn things besides working."
I patted her on the head carefully with a hoof. "Well put that thought out of your head. Where we're going, you'll get your chance, human or pony. But that's a secret, so shhh."
She looked intrigued and hopeful, but that expression faded quickly. "If you're testing me, ma'am... I'm a good girl. I'll do whatever you ask me to."
One of my tongues suddenly slipped loose with its own will and tried to reach her. I slapped it aside with another tongue quickly and pulled both back in with a struggle of will. ~Stop it! This isn't funny, or right. Leave her alone!~
She frowned a little, possibly confused at my odd display. "I hope you don't mind, ma'am, but what kind of pony are you? I never saw one quite like you, ma'am. I-I'm sorry ma'am. I shouldn't be asking that." She looked to the ground and put her hands together. She was obviously scared and uncertain. What should I do?