Alliance Betrayal
Ice permeated through Sin's veins as he came to fully accept what was happening. Not only did the collectivists in Canterlot's labor class come together under the communist pony, Sickle, and the anti-free speech supporters under Cupid, but now the Trotski reactionaries. All he needed now was for the Discordian "anarchist" Acolytes to come together to solidify a small nightmare he had about all of his enemies conspiring against him.
"Goliath?" Uppity asked.
"What is going on here?" Sin barked, ignoring the unicorn's inquiry.
Commander Hurricane stepped forward, her smug grin egging him to deck her in the face. "Did you not see the protests outside, dear? I don't think they are so hard to miss." She turned back to Celestia. "My offer stands, Pony Sisters. Your regiem has come to its end. Step down willingly and you shall be accepted into the fold, fail to do so, and be cast out when we take our rightful places as the rulers of our own destiny."
Celestia looked down blankly at the elder mare. Prince Platinum and Chancellor Puddinghead followed the good Commander out, with Cupid and Sickle in tow. The last two stopped to give both Uppity and Sin one last death glare before finally vacating the room.
Suddenly, Luna slammed her hoof against the arm of her secondary throne. "Outrageous! How dare those imputant whelps come and-"
"Sister!" The solar pony barked, small wisps of flame erupting from her mane. "We shall deal with them in time," she turned her gaze to Sin. "As of right now, we have another matter to attend to." She pointed.
One of the nobleponys, a night pegasus, approached Sin and took a breath. "Mr. Islander, you're under arrest for the crimes of aiding the escape of detained criminals. Please come peacefully."
"WHAT!?"
Fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! They told her, they actually fucking told her! Those fucking traitorous fucks! I'll kill them! I'll KILL ALL THREE OF THEM!
'You sound surprised for some reason.'
Uppity stepped forward. "What do you mean he's aided in their escape?"
Celestia recounted the confessions of the Trotski ponies and how, after the raid that the Trottingham "militia" executed upon the reactionary compound, that it was Sin who'd given them their means of escape. Uppity shook her head, unable to believe what she'd heard.
"Sin, you didn't do that, did you?" She asked, her eyes pleading for his denial. Though, he wouldn't deny it. It was the truth, he did help them escape.
"They committed no aggression," Sin declared, Uppity's face falling to tears. "I helped them escape undue imprisonment, as I have for many others." He turned his attention to Celestia. "And you would imprison me for that?"
"Their goal is to overthrow us! Even now they bring armies of supporters to our doorstep and demand our rule come to it's end, Sinbad!" Luna growled, sneering at him.
That much was true, but that was the price of free speech. Ponies were allowed to make their rulers feel uncomfortable and petition grievances. Though, that wasn't what his arrest was about, it was that he, once again, broke the law. It just happened to affect the pony sisters more personally than any time before.
"Come on, Sin. Don't make this harder than it has to be." The night pegasus asked, stepping closer, trying to make the Federalist step back. Macintosh began to step forward, but was halted by Sin's hoof.
This wasn't good, if he was detained, he couldn't put an end to this ludicrous revolt. Why? Why did they sell him out like that? What possible reason could... THAT'S IT!
"Celestia, if you do this, you're playing right into their hooves." The noble continued his advance, not even bothering to use force of muscle to subdue, but push him back out of the throne room. Rainbow and his friends tried to reason with him, to tell him to stop, but night captain wouldn't listen.
"If you imprison me, they'll use it agains-" His words were cut off with the officer clamping his muzzle with a fetlock. Sin debated with himself on if he should fight back or not. The princess was making a huge mistake, if he went willingly, she'd be making herself look worse, but he didn't want to hurt the guy either. All things considered, the guard was acting very mercifully with him.
With regret, Sin placed out his leg and levered the stallion to the ground, holding him down and glaring up at the princesses. "Listen to me you fucking idiots. If you imprison me, they'll use it as you detaining those whom speak out against you!" Luna looked taken aback, Celestia remained stoic. "Think about it! I'm the one who freed them, right? Why would they throw me under the carriage? To waltz out to their supporters and declare my detainment evidence of your tyranny."
It was a classic tactic that many activists used in baiting the government to garner sympathy for their cause, one he'd spoken out against time and time again within his time in the Syndicate.
Yea, he was responsible for Mallet's suicide, but his helping the Trotski escape would be used to turn public opinion around and paint him as their leader's savior. He'd be seen as a hero by the Reactionaries and a martyr by the collectivists.
The throne room doors burst open with multiple guards of both solar and lunar decent running in to see to the yelling. They began circling Sin and and his captive their spears and horns aimed warily at the tan clad pony, halting only upon Celestia's demand but still ready so skewer or magically obliterate the pony at a moments notice.
A tense moment of silence passed, all eyes upon the solar and lunar goddesses for their judgement. Both regarded the pony as he stood over the night captain, who was also looking at them, hoping the order would change.
"I believe I gave you an order. Captain Nocturnal." Celestia said finally.
Sin felt his leg sweat out from under him and was violently thrown to the floor, his attacker crashing down ontop of him and painfully twisting his foreleg behind his back.
Uppity and Mac both jumped to help, with Rainbow Dash stepping back, unsure of what to do. "Mac, uffify, Ftop." The oaken pony groaned through the floor. The pain of his leg being twisted into such an unnatural way didn't help his already injured frogs or fetlocks. He turned his head to speak more clearly. "If you try to help, you'll both be arrested too."
"Let's go, Sinbad." Nocternal declared, lifting him up to walk while keeping one hoof behind his back.
"Listen, the Trotskists believe that they are the rightful rulers of the pony tribes, the communists believe in no rulers at all. Use that, divide them!" Sin bellowed as he was dragged away. It was all he had come up with, but that might be all they needed. Uppity was crafty and Macintosh was unknown to either faction, he hoped they could manage without him.
Macintosh glared up at Celestia past her guards. Uppity beside him, confused and angry.
"He broke the law. Macintosh." The solar alicorn said, a faint tinge of regret in her voice. "He was warned not to repeat his actions, to come to either my sister or myself if he believed there was wrongful detainment among our subordinates. He failed to uphold his promise."
As much as he wanted to hate her for it, he did remember Sin's trial and being told about that. As much as Mac wanted to be angry about it, Sin brought this on himself, no matter how the red pony tried to justify it.
Uppity gave Celestia a hopeless look before slowly walking out of the chamber without a word, tears still falling freely from her eyes. Mac didn't know what to do, he didn't know anything about debating or whatever it was he was brought along to do. Uppity wouldn't be any help, as bad as it may be for him to think, it was the truth. The mare was distraught and needed to be looked after in a way he didn't know how.
"What if he's right?" The other noble pony asked, looking around the room. "What if they do use his arrest against you, your highness?"
"Then so be it." Celestia declared. "I have expended much effort into trying to help that stallion, my patience and lenience only goes so far, Gale."
The noble earth pony pressed her lips in thought.
"Our best option is to stand aside and hope these movements lose steam as they have in the past. Equestria has held a monarchy for over a thousand years, and it will continue to do so." The sun goddess sighed. "Even if my little ponies may not like it."
"Of course, your Majesty."
Luna humped. "You are too lenient sister. Should it be my will, these ponies would face punishment for their ungrateful treachery."
Celestia sighed again. "And that would only serve to make their point, sister. In spite of their hateful and hurtful words, we must maintain peace and diplomacy. They do demand our removal, but they are maintaining peaceful protest as is their right. Inconvenient though it may be, we are a nation of laws and tolerance, even when intolerance is directed at us."
Deciding he'd heard enough, Macintosh walked out of the throne room. He didn't know what the ponies outside wanted the princesses removed for, but he was too flabbergasted by entire situation to care. He wondered out into the dining room and took a seat at the table to figure out what he'd do next. Probably end up waiting for someone to tell him where Uppity was so she and he could figure things out together.
His didn't know what a "Trotski" was or what a "communist" was. He'd heard small snippets here and there about how bad they were by ponies who were more involved in politics, but aside from that, nothing.
He was just a dumb farmer pony, a dumb farmer who wasn't savy enough to handle this kind of problem.
'You don't give yourself enough credit, sometimes.'
How so?
'You used to think about why money worked and how it worked. Why it made the world go around, remember?'
He could, and he could also remember why he stopped thinking about it...
'That's not you anymore, Macintosh. Despite how far you've come from the pony you used to be, your still capable of so much more.'
The stallion blushed at his inner voices words, rubbing the back of his neck. Fact was he did wonder about these things from time to time still, he just never voiced them. Maybe it would serve him well to ask about it.
"Macintosh?" Rainbow asked, hovering over to him and sitting down. "Can you tell me what the hay is going on? I'm so confused right now..."
He complied, explaining what Sin had done at the trial and the promise he'd made to never go behind Celestia's back again in releasing prisoners. Rainbow, obviously, took exception to the act itself, but was easily placated when she discovered that he'd only helped release those who were wrongfully imprisoned. She had questions about the other ponies outside, and who they were but he couldn't really answer honestly. This was the first time he'd heard of "Trotski" before.
"Ugh, this sucks." Rainbow declared angrily. "I wish Twilight was here, she'd know what to do."
"Speakin o' which, where is she n' Applejack n' the rest o' y'all? Wouldn't this be something the princess'd call her up fer?"
To his dismay, Rainbow told him that her friends, and his sister, had left Ponyville earlier that day in a train bound for northern Equestria. Something about a "Crystal Empire" and a great evil. Again, more things Macintosh didn't understand. It was starting to really bother him how ignorant he was bout things that required so much attention in the world.
"S'plains why Granny didn't take her with her tah Appleossa." He shrugged. "They take Spike too?"
"D'onno, probably, since I'm not there, they'll need all the help they can get." She shook her head, trying to get back on track. "Anyway, what are we gonna do? This doesn't feel right, Sin said that they'd use his arrest against Celestia. What do you think he meant by that?"
"Ah guess it's 'cause he was the one who freed the three ponies in there, n' they'll say he's on their side n' was arrested fer it." It made sense, Mac didn't know the full story, but Sin obviously had a bad history with the ponies, but if it was to be in their gain, using him as a sacrificial lamb and get him out of the way would make sense.
The two bounced ideas back and forth for a good hour but came no closer to figuring out what they should do. They could try and just do what Sin said and convince the communists that the trotski wanted to rule over them... but what if they asked him how, or why? Mac didn't know either of the answers to those questions. Fact was he'd look like a fool if he went out and blathered about things he didn't understand.
"Luna?"
"Forgive us." The Lunar alicorn cleared her throat. "We could not help but over hear your plight."
She approached, putting Macintosh on edge as memories about what she'd done to him came flooding through his head. She'd apologized, but that didn't make it any easier to come to terms with her wanting his foal.
"We know that the ponies outside trouble you, but Celestia is dead set in her belief that they pose no real threat to our ruler-ship. Protests of this like have come and gone many times in the past few centuries, according to my sister. And we still live in a Monarchy, do we not?"
That was true, and when put like that, maybe coming here wasn't necessary. Though, that also wasn't the case, either. Equestria was a relatively peaceful place for the past few hundred years. Excitement had only come within the last two years or so: Nightmare moon, Discord, the changeling invasion, all of which the government itself failed to stop and relied on the skills of six young mares or the citizens themselves.
This wasn't a simple demonstration from a few dozen ponies, harmlessly decrying the unfairness of a monarchy to rule over the all. This was a call for removal under the pretense of no confidence, with the very real possibility for violent revolution.
"Yes, and that is what we have said, but our sister stands in her belief that the best way to handle these ingrates is to deprive them of official recognition and wait for them to run out of steam." Luna sighed softly and shook her head. "I fear her tolerance may soon get the better of her. I have visited these ponies dreams and seen their desires." She made a face. "They want us gone, and many are simply waiting for an excuse to draw first blood."
Mac began shaking with anger. This couldn't be happening, this shouldn't be happening. But it was. Why? He didn't always agree with Celestia and Luna's views either, but to spill blood and commit violence in order to get their way? Were they mad?
"What is communism and Trotski?" He asked, determined to find some way to stop this.
Luna tilted her head, pondering for a moment before answering the questions in their respective details.
Trotski being the pony who'd initially rebelled against the Alicorns, believing the ponies should rule themselves under their respective tribal leaders. Communists believing in the the destruction of all hierarchy, that money was not to be used in society and each pony should be rewarded for their deeds in accordance with their needs. As well as going into some details about the communist definitions of equality. Both Macintosh and Rainbow had a difficult time understanding the concept of a work place where there were no "bosses" and everypony was considered equals in terms of authority, but they eventually came to accept it.
"The majority of the communists are agricultural and industrial earth ponies." Luna concluded, her face uncertain about her own understanding of the system.
"Mostleh agricultural earth ponies, huh?" Mac asked, a small idea forming in his head. He'd noticed that quite a few of them wore red bands around their legs and asked if there was any significance to that. Luna explained that the color was representative of the blood of those who'd fought against the hierarchical tyranny of capitalism.
The red pony looked down at himself and smirked. "Ah've got an idea..."
Spike looking out the train window, watching as the sunny, mid spring day slowly began to fade to a gentle snow fall. That was one of the things about the north, the snow never stopped, no matter what season it was. He didn't care for the snow, he much preferred the heat of summer.
Hearing that they'd be heading to the North, he ran back home to grab his cloak for warmth. While there, he found his crossbow sitting beside his bed and decided to grab it. While there, he looked over the few bolts he had left and examined the tips before rushing into Sin's room, careful not to leave any trace of his intrusion, and rummaged through the stallion's saddle bag until he found what he was looking for. It irritated the dragon that his friend had taken his scales and was using them for magical resistance, but if they could be used defensively, than maybe they could be used offensively against magic casters too.
He'd spent a lot of the train ride trying to figure out how to get the scale to stick to the end of the bolt, careful to make sure nopony saw. Trains weren't really known for their allowance of weaponry, after all.
Aside from that, he'd finally gotten the full details about the Crystal Empire bit. He had most of it already, but apparently it was a creation by both Sombra and Star Swirl the bearded, meant to be some kind of mega pylon that kept demons of Tartarus away or something. He wasn't completely sure, but all he needed to know was that it served a purpose for the betterment of Equestria.
Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack were all present. Rarity demanded that her friends not see her and used her blanket as a make shift cloak to hide herself and ran to the luggage compartment for privacy. Applejack had gone to speak with her and found the alabaster unicorn to be cleaning herself up. Complaining like she usually did when something inconvenienced her.
That was a good sign, it didn't mean she was back to normal, but at least she was going back to her old self in some aspects.
The train ride ended a short while later, the gentle snow fall turning into a full on blizzard before the track ended. Spike and his friends exited the cars onto the plat form and immediately patted himself on the back for bringing his cloak. It was freezing outside, not the expected cold of a blizzard, but a kind of unnatural, oppressive frost.
"Brrrrr" Pinkie chirped, shaking wildly and hugging herself. "S-s-s-so c-c-COLD!"
Everyone made noises of agreement.
"Rarity? Y'all comin' er what?"
It took a moment, but the alabaster unicorn mare stepped out of the cart. All things considered, she didn't look too bad, actually. Yea, her coat was a little dull and her mane was in a ponytail rather than it's usual drill like curl, but there was no visible unsightlyness to her face or anything. Hay, even her make up looked in order.
"I suppose I should, lest somepony decides to drag me around like some kind of... pony taco again." She scowled at Twilight.
'HA! Pony tacos.'
That's not funny.
'You're right, it's not funny, it's hilarious.'
Once they were all off and accounted for, the train's doors closed and began it's retreat from the harsh norther climate back to the south, taking with it the only warm glow of light for miles.
"So, what do we do, now?" Spike asked.
His question was answered the form of Shining Armor calling to Twilight. He approached from the snow, a black scarf draped around his neck and and mouth with blackend glasses of some kind covering his eyes. It appeared that there wasn't much time for idle chatter.
"We'd better get moving" He said nervously. "There are things out here that we really do want to run into after dark."
"What kind of things?" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Let's just say: the empire isn't the only thing that's returned." The stallion replied, the group shared a look of uncertainty, despite already having an idea of what exactly the 'things' were.
Shining lead the troop through the snow, the storm becoming more and more violent as they walked. Spike took to the rear and tried to keep his eye out for anything that could come out and attack, but between the icy wind and wall of snow flurries, he could barely see Twilight a few feet ahead of him. His crossbow would prove useless if he couldn't see to use it.
He heard Twilight and Shining talking about something and strained his ears to listen, but then a loud groaning sound echoed throughout the tundra, bringing the troop to a halt. It sounded like... groaning metal being crushed, a sound that made Spike's stomach churn.
"What's that?" He heard Flutterhsy ask, looking around frantically.
"We need to get to the Crystal Empire, NOW!" Shining yelled.
Suddenly a black pillar of dark shadow sprouted from behind, the length of the thing standing at least ten ponies tall. Spike stepped back, gazing in horror as the top of the spire grew ruby red eyes, with green taint looked down at him and growled. Before he could react, he felt the familiar tingle of magic surround him and dispiate. "
"Spike, run!" The drake did as he was bid and jumped onto Twilight's back. Having a good angle, the dragon pulled his crossbow from his cloak and took aim. With as close as the... thing was, he didn't need to be all that accurate. He pulled the string and loaded his makeshift dragon scale bolt onto the bow, shifting himself in anticipation of his mounts movements and took aim.
Once he'd centered upon the shadow's chest, he fired.
And felt his blood run cold as the scale ripped from the bolt head and flung itself into the wind to the ground, causing the bolt to pass harmlessly through the shadow and off into the distance. His efforts weren't for not, though, as the shadow had a momentary laps as it passed over the scale, letting out a roar of pain.
The reprieve didn't last long as the sickly red and green eyes were in pursuite not a moment later. Shining stopped running and turned back, preparing a spell. Spike watched with anticipation, hoping that his magic would prove more effective, but alas, the shadow merely twisted its form, dodging the attack all together before charging the unicorn.
That was the last thing he saw before a bright and warm landscape consumed him.
Sin paced around the cell, waiting for any kind of news. He felt completely helpless and disgusted at his dwellings and situation. Imprisoned, he, the pony against government, was behind bars.
It was irony at it's finest really. He'd spent so much time trying to keep ponies out of places like this, and here he was for it. It would have been funny if he wasn't so anxious and irritated. The guards read him his rights and such, claiming that he'd be appointed council and blah blah blah. He didn't care about any of that, though. He was more concerned with the fact he was in fucking prison!
"Fucking bitch." He growled, tapping his hoof anxiously on the ground. There was no way out, he'd inspected the cell for all it was worth. From the toilet to the bars on the windows, to the wooden 'bed', to every single grey and dusty brick for any kind of weakness. It was no use, he was stuck, trapped like a rat in a cage.
'What a fitting metaphor.'
Okay, what's gotten into you? You've always been a dick, but at least you were helpful and constructive with it.
'I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about.'
The Federalist took a calming breath. Something wasn't right with his inner critic. Usually it was casual and snarky like he was when comfortable, now it was more cold and non-constructive with it's criticisms. He couldn't figure out why that was, though.
'Was there ever anything right about talking to a little voice in your head to begin with?'
Dismissing it again, Sin forced himself to relax. There was no point expending energy or getting riled up now. He was helpless and at the absolute mercy of those who ran the dungeons. The guards knew who he was, and would probably start fucking with him soon, or get the other inmates to do it. He'd need his strength for when that time came.
He'd heard what happened in prison, and he'd make sure if it did happen, they'd suffer and fight for it.
Though, the worst part was waiting. He had his own cell and only heard the occasional taunt of the other prisoners from time to time, but that wouldn't last. When he'd be relocated or where was going to eat at him, Nocturnal gave him no time frame or any information about when he'd be placed on trial, but it really didn't matter. His guilt was absolute, and he'd most likely be spending a good few years behind bars before he was released.
Years, hundreds or thousands of days with nothing to do but wait and fight for survival. Slowly, his mind would become institutionalized to prison life. Eventually, he'd have to forgo his morals in order to prove himself to one of the gangs or die a loner.
No, he wouldn't die, he'd kill if he had to, he'd kill as many as it took. Fuck them and fuck this place, if prison was going to be the end of him, it would have to be with a state ordained execution, with only the guards who had the brass balls needed to make him go.
Sin felt his anger raising in through his body. His logical mind was slowly crumbling, there was no more time for arguments, no more time for cunning plans or philosophy. Soon, there'd only be prison culture, and if Equestrian detainment facilities were anything like the Federation's, logical arguments and non-aggression would be his downfall. Prison was a place of hostility, where the strong survived and the weak were mercilessly beaten. He couldn't come across as weak to them.
'Glad to hear it.'
"Oh will you shut up!" Sin barked under his breath.
"I haven't said anything to you yet." Called an all to familiar voice.
Sin turned around and found Discord laying on the plank bed, his arms behind his head and wearing an orange jump suit. He felt a brief moment of relief, but the menacing smirk he was getting told him that the draconequus wasn't here to help.
"Hello Sinbad. I must say, I never expected to see you in a place like this." The god of chaos pressed his lips to stop himself from snickering, but eventually succumbed. "Bah, who am I kidding? We all knew you'd end up here eventually."
"Discord." Sin nodded. "Don't suppose your here to break me out?"
A chuckle and shake of the head answered his question, the draconequus reminded the pony of all the times he'd already given assistance and yet received nothing in return. "Besides, Celestia would know I had something to do with it. Considering the anti-magic field this place has, my chaos magic would be a dead give away."
Figures.
"Then why are you here?"
Discord's smirk returned full force and he slithered through the air, circling his body around Sin. "I just came to give you a friendly little warning is all. A gesture of good will."
"Warning?" Sin asked, growing uncomfortable with the trickster's proximity.
Discord nodded and looked around with gusto, making sure nobody was around to hear him. "You see, you've got a little fox in your hen house."
Sin furrowed his brow and asked for an elaboration. Discord placed his talon onto his goatee and contemplated what to say. "Let's see here, how can I say this without making it too easy? Oh, I know." He chuckled and whispered into Sin's ear.
"Somepony close to you sold you out."
Deep within the city of Canterlot: Hurricane, Platinum, Puddinghead, Sickle and Cupid stood in a circle beside a landmark statue. There was nopony around for to see them or hear what they were talking about.
"Are you sure she'll go for it?" Platinum asked irritably.
Cupid nodded. "Before I left, Celestia was very much set on punishing him should he go against her wishes again. He should be in the dungeons as we speak."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go tell them now!" The red unicorn urged.
Hurricane raised her hoof, easing the angst ridden pony. "Easy Prince, we must first get confirmation. How foolish would we look if we said he was arrested only to have him walking around tomorrow? We'd lose credibility, and that's not something we need now."
"Then send your agent in and be done with it already!" Sickle spat, looking around to make sure nopony else heard his outburst. "My brother is dead because of that bastard, you promised me his head."
"And you'll get it." Hurricane assured. "But if our plan is to succeed, we will need to make sure he's officially detained."
Puddinghead huffed. "I still think it was a bad idea to include her in all of this. I'm impressed you'd time it so perfectly as to have him walk in right at the perfect moment, but I still don't like how much trust you've put in-"
"It was necessary to have him in Canterlot for this. If they'd detained him in Ponyville, there was a chance they'd keep him there, and we can't have our martyr outside the public's peripheral." The pegasus said with a small grin. "No, he needs to be here, and now he is."
They all went silent as approaching hoofsteps echoed upon the cobble stone. All five of the ponies turned and smiled as Uppity entered the moon light from a dark alleyway, her eyes full of tears and shame.
"About time, what kept you deary?" The commander asked in mock concern.
"I'm sorry," the orange pony replied.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, you tramp. Now we'll have to wait until tomorrow to spread the word." Platinum growled.
Again, Uppity apologized, timid and submissive to the unicorn's insults.
"Speaking of which, was he arrested and placed in the dungeon?"
Uppity nodded in the affirmative and explained that everything went in accordance with Hurricane and Cupid's plan. She acted just as the letters instructed her to. Paying more and more attention to them than her friends in Ponyville, garnering Sin's interest there in and inciting him a little to see the mock letter from her brother, detracting any possible suspicion against her and making it look like he'd just come to the wrong place at the wrong time to be arrested.
"Perfect." Cupid cooed, sharing a grin with Mallet.
"All according to plan. You've done well, deary. Your part to play in all of this is done."
Uppity sighed in relief. "Can I see my brother now?"
Puddinghead smirked and stepped forward. "I'm afraid he shall remain with us until after the announcement's been made. We can't have you go and break that treacherous little anarchist out and ruin our plan, now can we? After all, your little brother is our only form of insurance."
Uppity gasped. "B-b-but you said that when I lead him down here, you'd let Downer go!"
Hurricane nodded her head from side to side in an indecisive manner. "Yes, we did say that. But we didn't say we'd do it right away, deary." The tanned pegasus placed a comforting hoof on Uppity's shoulder. "Don't worry though, he's safe and sound, and when the day after tomorrow comes, he's all yours again."
"Wait, I thought you said you were giving the announcement tomorrow."
"Oh we are." Sickle grinned evilly. "But there's another announcement for the day after. Something that will make the crown look ten times worse than imprisoning a pony who'd helped release the wrongfully imprisoned."
Pink eyes narrowing to pinpricks, Uppity waited with baited breath for the next words to come, fear already telling her what they were.
"After all, prisoner can be released, but a dead pony is gone for good."