Phase VI
No good deeds went unpunished.
Macintosh Apple had gone through so much to try and spare violence and pain. He'd wasted five days amongst ponies he didn't care for, living in conditions he couldn't stand, continually stressing about possible harm to his person, and going against his own honest nature and lying on an hourly basis.
Here he stood on, an hour before dusk, on trial before a group of ponies that trapped him in a large circle in front of the castle, at least a hundred of them glaring dagger of judgement upon him, wishing him harm for his deception. Deception only meant to save them from a suffering he didn't want them to bare. He stood bloodied and injured, his right shoulder required medical attention that he didn't foresee getting anywhere in the near future. There was no help to be had, even the guards whom stood at the gates looked down with not but mild interest to his plight.
Was this what it was like to be Sin? To try to help others, save them from themselves and receive nothing but their contempt and condemnation? The apple pony could appreciate his late friend's bitterness a great deal more, now.
Mac stood in thought as the organizers proceeded to speak amongst themselves, discussing what should be done with him. All that kept him from leaving to the safety of the castle was his desire to stop the blood shed he feared. It would be so easy, though. Just to up and leave. Oh, Annabelle and his family would have a few questions, the former sure to scold him for putting himself in such a dangerous situation with out telling her, but that would be much easier to deal with than the pain of fighting for others who now hated him.
His daze was gone now, but so was the opportunity to defend himself. He'd need to wait until the Trotski leaders spoke again if he wanted a chance to fight his case and salvage the operation.
His eyes continually darted to his fellow infiltrators, who all huddled together in groups, each one looking around every so often. If fighting was unavoidable, than the least he could do was limit it to the town square and between the two factions.
He could see the local ponies going out of their way to avoid the now silent communist and Trotski alliance, if that pony Luna had assigned him to had followed through with their promise, the letters he'd written up a few days ago should have been distributed. The few infiltrators of the Trotski themselves ready to act upon his signal.
All Mac had to do was give cough three times, sniff twice and wait twenty five seconds.
The lunar alicorn was crafty. She'd had her own agents infiltrate the reactionaries when they'd first started to gain steam a year ago. He knew which ponies were hers, but made a clear effort to stay away from them, and told his fellows to do the same. He wanted the division between the factions to be as absolute as possible.
But if that was the only way for the protests to come to an end and stop this before really bad things happened, then so be it.
"I want to make a greivence." Wedge declared, stepping forward. He looked disapprovingly at Macintosh then turned his attention to the organizers. "You have given no evidence to the guilt of the accused, I demand proof before we claim guilt. As should the rest of you! Accusation are not evidence!"
The crowd of ponies looked at the unicorn in disbelief.
"Wedge?" Cupid asked, genuinely confused to his challenge.
"You've heard his rhetoric, my dear." Hurricane replied before looking around. "You've all heard the subtle hints at the folly of our work here. Small gestures of alternative solutions, the small trickling of supporters who've left because they were convinced they weren't making a difference, and your leader's disappearence. And when did it all start?"
Wedge cringed, but stood in conviction. "Correleation does not equal causation, Cupid! For all of comrade Macintosh's subtle cues, he has never once brought harm onto one of our own. Look at him now? I want to know how you know he is guilty of hurting Sickle?"
"Yea, how are we so sure you aren't the ones who made him disappear?" One of the infiltrators shouted. "Maybe our Comrade is as you say, but isn't it you Trotski who've been trying to use we communists for your own ends as well?"
A few of the other infiltrators made various noises of agreement.
Looked like this was as good a time as any to begin the official falling out between the factions.
Hurricane gave Puddinghead and Cupid a look, the two communist ponies with them eying the Trotski leaders skeptically.
"We unified against our common enemy, the Imperialists!" Cupid declared, glaring at the infiltrator who'd stepped forwards. "The Trotski and Communists serve the same goal, getting rid of the current system we have now."
"And then what?" Another infiltrator asked, coming forwards. "If we do manage to over throw Celestia, then what?"
Seeing his opportunity, Mac acted as if he had something in his throat, coughed three times and sniffed twice. He'd been waiting for a chance like this for a while. Tension, fostered mistrust, an issue of divide, and bringing all of the ponies together. The best part was that he wasn't even the one to bring it up, just a reason.
"Steel Beam is right!" One of the non-infiltrator communists agreed, boosting Mac's hopes even more. "The Trotski aren't interested in Communism, they want things back to the oligarchy that the ponies had before the alicorn sisters! Segregation and tribal tyranny!"
"That isn't what we want at all!" One of the Trotski's of the crowed yelled back. "We want the princesses gone so we ponies can rule ourselves, just like you do!"
"No! You want your leaders to rule the rest of us!"
Mac coughed again, repeating the signal, but as the arguing continued, it was clear that none of his signals were getting through over the growing shouting. As bad as the arguing was, it was still relatively civil and maintained, tempers weren't anywhere near flared enough to solidify the union's dissolution.
"HOLD ON!" Pierced a voice from the crowd. Mac tilted his head as Uppity marched through the circle and approached the center, eyeing Hurricane. "I'd like to testify as to what I saw."
Mac was on edge, Hurricane and Pudding head enthusiastically greeted the mare. "Good to see you." The pegasus leaned forward, whispering something into Uppity's ear before pulling back. "Now, please tell the everypony, in your own words, what you saw."
The orange unicorn took a breath and turned to address the crowd. Macintosh felt himself grow tense, she was still working for them? After what she'd done to Sin, she still was helping them?
'Easy there, Mac. Let's see how this plays out before we start jumping to conclusions, yea?'
"I am the informant that the organizers continually reference for confirmation." Uppity declared, loud enough everyone could hear. "I- I was the one who saw Sin's body after he was killed."
Small murmers echoed around, the mare allowed them to pass before speaking again.
"An- And I'm sorry to say that Sickle is dead, I saw his body with my own eyes."
Louder murmers, this round much more distraught. Cupid gasped, Hurricane and Puddinghead wore obvious masks of disappointment.
"His killer is right there." She pointed a hoof... directly at Hurricane, the mare's eyes shot wide. "She order Prince Platinum to kill him to gain more control over the communists!"
"UPPITY!" Hurricane barked, but it was too late, the damage had been done.
"NO! The orange pony snapped. "I already let you use my brother to kill Sin, the only stallion I ever loved. I wont let you use him to hurt the rest of these ponies too!"
The Trotski leadership glared daggers at the mare before turning their attention back to the crowd, dismissing her claims as lies, coerced by those who wanted to disband the protest. Uppity countered, pointing to Macintosh and declaring Platinum as the culperate yet again, another attempt to eliminate the communist influence and leave only the Trotski leaders for guidance.
Mac had to give credit where credit was due, her acting skills were very convincing. He'd have believed her if he wasn't part of the lie.
He smirked as the two sides began shouting at one another, the gentle truce falling apart before his very eyes. Accusations of lying, deception, and authoritarian regiems being thrown all over the place between the factions. It wasn't the way he wanted it to happen, what he really wanted was the Communists to petition for their own commune village free of the Celestia and Luna's influence, but that wasn't going to happen now. The likely hood that this would escalate to violence was almost enviable, and for that he felt he'd failed.
If nothing else, he'd get the satisfaction of seeing the Trotski leaders watch as their little plan fell apart in front of them. And the looks of helplessness on Hurricane's face was one of the most satisfying things the pony had ever seen.
Slowly, the arguing and shouting grew louder and louder. What started out as simple disagreements and accusations soon devolved to petty insults and threats. Macintosh looked past the escalating irritable crowd to see the local ponies retreating into their homes and businesses, many of the guards steadily moving to contain the outburst to come. Hurricane and Pudding head were yelling at Uppity, threatening to kill Downer for what she'd just done. Mac wouldn't let that happen, she'd risked her own to save him, and he would repay that debt.
Somepony, somewhere in the crowed threw a kick, and like a powder keg, the entire circle blew up into a frenzied mosh pit with ponies, kicking, screaming, bucking and casting spells. Uppity yelled something and Puddinghead stepped forward to slug the mare accross the face. Mac charged for with all he was worth, but both the leaders were already in full retreat back into the crowd.
'COWARDS!'
He cursed to himself and went to see to Uppity, she was alright, a nice little trail of blood dripping from her lip, but nothing too bad.
"Mac, you need to get somewhere safe!" She yelled so he could hear. He knew that already, but where to? Uppity lead him out of the circle and into the one of the streets, where a good dozen of the Communist infiltrators stood, making sure none of the brawlers pushed their violence past the town's square.
"Take him to the medical wing of the Castle!" She barked before turning around and returning to the mosh, hell bent on pursuing the two ponies who'd assaulted her.
"DAMMIT! DAMN THAT BITCH!" Hurricane yelled as she ran. It was all lost, all of it! She'd planned it out, she'd planned it all out so perfectly. The changeling invasion that demonstrated Celestia's incompetence as a leader, fooling the communists into an alliance where she'd have the leaders meet their own fates until they eventually turned to the Trotski for guidance, and even had a full arsenal of arguments ready for the infiltrators when they finally showed their true colors.
She even prepared for that bucking anarchist who made it a point of getting rid of movements like hers. It wasn't fair, she was the descendant of the Commander Hurricane! She deserved her place to rule! Just as her mother and grandfather before her!
"Damn that tramp, Puddinghead, let's get to the hide out before... Puddinghead?" She slowed down and looked behind her to find that the good Chancellor wasn't anywhere to be seen. The dusk had long since given way to twilight, leaving the streets in heavy contrast between the shadows of the buildings and the diming purple of the sun. "Puddinghead, where are you?" She asked, backing up.
She felt her breathing intensify, not from her running, but from the growing sense of panic and concern. Where was he? He was right behind her last time she checked, did Uppity or one of the communists catch him? No, they were too far behind and-
"Gotcha bitch!"
A clothed hoof covered her chest and muzzle and the commander found herself pinned down between the ground and a darker brown cloaked body.
Fear drove her and she rolled to stand, only to stop and stare in horror at the sky blue eyes of the pony that stood over her.
"No..."
Sin smirked and dug his hoof into the elder mare's abdomine, pushing up from the base of her ribs and into her chest cavity. "Fun fact, there's a little nerve right here that would induce both excruciating pain and temporary paralysis if pushed correctly."
The pressure caused the mare to cry out and raise her legs in a febel attempt to push him off. It was no use, the effect of his technique was almost immediate, and the strength quickly drained from her extremities, leaving the mare vulnerable and helpless to what he planned to do.
"Y- you're supposed to be dead." Hurricane grunted between cringing breaths.
Sin's smirk widened and he twisted his hoof, digging in between her lungs and silencing her screaming. "Yea, about that..." Another twist, he relished in the pained expression on her face, taking sweet sweet satisfaction in the revenge he'd been waiting so patiently for. The Federalist had been overseeing the protest for the past few days, keeping a wary eye out for his chance to get the mare back for selling him out and ruining his life.
"You know, Hurricane. I really hate when ponies betray me." Sin said casually, removing his hoof.
She wasn't going anywhere.
"I risk my freedom to help you and your fellows because I thought you were unjustly imprisoned. I saw you guys as the victims of a state that was too wrapped up in the worship of the princess and locked you up for being different. You didn't break the Non-aggression Principal, so I thought: Hey, let's help these guys out."
With the speed of lightening, the Federalist slammed his hoof back into her abdomine, pushing as far as he could up under her ribs. "And how am I repaid? You sell me out for helping you." He growled, his scowl slowly forming into a maniachle grin as he began twisting his hoof again.
"What? Did you think you'd get away with it? You think that I'd be sent to prison and you'd, some how or another, become the ruler of the land?" He stopped allowing her only a moment of reprieve before twisting hard. "Stupid cunt, that pathetic 'revolution' of yours didn't have anywhere near the power it needed.
He toyed with her for a few minutes, making sure the lesson that pain was currently teaching her would sink in and be everlasting. He needed her alive, of course. Puddinghead was knocked out for the moment and Platinum was still under that rubble a few streets down. If he was going to find Uppity's brother and release him, she'd need to tell the Federalist where the prisoner was.
He removed his hoof, allowing the Trotski to breath and cough. The downside of his enthusiastic vengeance was that it would take her a few moments to regain the ability to speak, but that was okay. He had all night to get exactly what he wanted.
Once Hurricane finally caught a semblance of her breath, the stallion began. "Now, I'm going to ask you a very simple question, give me the answers I want, and I'll make your death swift and painless." He placed his leg ontop of her knee. "Give me a load of bull shit, and... well..." He placed some preassure down, smirk intensifying as her expression devolved from relieved to excrutiating.
'Good, now stomp her in th-'
Shut it. I'm in control here, and I'll be calling the shots. Now piss off!
"Now, tell me where Downer is."
The pegasus mare rasped something that he couldn't quite make out. He knew she didn't have enough time to yet to speak properly, buuuuuuut...
He pushed down his hoof onto her leg joint, making silently cry out again.
"Yea, you see. That was a bull shit answer. Let's try again, where is Uppity's brother?"
This time she was smart enough to wait until she could actually form words before speaking.
"G- G- Go... b-buck yourself."
Though, she wasn't smart enough to tell him what he wanted to hear. That was okay, though, Sin had was more than willing to indulge her little test of wills.
"Wrong answer." He smirked, jumping up and slamming his entire body weight down onto her knee with an audiable, bone chilling crack.
Her scream came out as a muted, horse, raspy yell, barely enough to even register on his hearing. But the look on her face made it clear he'd broken something, or a lot of somethings. It took a good twenty minutes and Sin re-inducing paralysis three time before she finally settled for gently sobbing.
She begged for mercy, pleading for Sin to end his assault on her. "You see, that's another thing. The main problem with you upper rank types." He picked up his hoof and slammed it down, making the mare cry out even more. "You always crumble at the first sign of trouble."
"Please!" she wheezed, tears flowing freely from her eyes. "Please, m-mercy!"
"Tell me what I want to know, and this all goes away." He replied pleasantly. "Why torture yourself by refusing to tell me? All you have to lose is the suffering I'll be inflicting on you. Does death really sound so bad?"
"Please, I don't wanna die."
Sin hissed and looked around awkwardly. "Oohhh, sorry bucko, but I'm afraid that you living past tonight isn't going to happen. You see, you may not have technically broken the non-aggression principal when you fucked me, but you still fucked me. And by fucking me, you earned my ire." He leaned down, allowing his eyes to take their serpentine form for a brief moment. "And nobody walks away from my ire."
"Sin! Sin have you see- oh my gosh, what are you doing?!"
The pony groaned and sat back up. "Getting answers, Uppity."
He really didn't want her getting involved, yet the universe just didn't want to give him anything it seemed. The unicorn slowly walked around him and gasped at what she saw. Hurricane's foreleg was bent in a most disturbing fashion, a small protrusion of bloody white poking out from her knee.
"Sin... no." Uppity gasped, understandably horrified.
The stallion turned to face her. "Do you want to know where your brother is or not?"
Uppity backed away from him and made way for the door.
Knowing she'd be scared, Sin offered a silent apology, but was more than content to see her go. She'd just get in the way with her sympathies.
"NO!" He heard her cry from behind, slamming her hoof down. "No, I'm not going to let you do this!"
Sin tilted his head, a little afraid of the flame in his former marefriend's eyes. He looked between her and Hurricane for a moment and stepped away. "If you wanna play good cop, be my guest."
Though that wasn't what it was about to her. The unicorn was terrified of him, of what he was becoming. It made her sick to see such sociopathic actions taken on his part. There was a fine line between enhanced interrogation and straight out torture. Sin countered her by saying that Hurricane's kidnapping of her brother and using him as blackmail more than warranted such actions, he was just trying to figure out where he was and save his life.
"No you aren't!" She shouted, stepping forward. "You're hurting her and you're enjoying it. You've had that maniacal grin on your face ever since I came in here!"
Sin lifted a hoof to his cheeks and found that he was smiling. He didn't even realize it until now, he quickly pushed the manic turn of the cheek back to his trade mark scowl. "There, better? Now can we move this along?"
"What's happened to your eyes?" She whispered, shaking her head in disbelief.
Immediately, Sin squeezed his eyes shut, not even aware that they'd turned against his will. "Dammit, alright, there."
"No, no, not 'there'. I want to know what that was!"
"Don't worry about it."
"No, Celestia dammit Sin, for once in your life will you just let somepony else help you. For once!"
"I don't know what it is! And frankly, we've got more important matters to attend to!"
Sin scoffed and turned back to Hurricane, who was blinking uncontrollably to keep herself awake. "Hey, hey wake up." He slapped her gently on the cheek. "Time to answer my question. Where is Downer?"
Her eyes locked onto his and her breath quickened. Sin placed his hoof over her broken knee and gave her a warning to tell him.
"Sin, no!" Uppity said, desperately pushing herself between he and the broken pegasus. The Federalist briefly consider just knocking the District Attorney unconscious, but he knew he didn't have it in him to hurt someone he loved.
"W- Ware... House... seven." Hurricane moaned and coughed. "Fleet... street..."
Uppity and Sin looked at each other. "Grab her, we'll see if she's telling the truth." The stallion declared, making way for the door. He poked his head outside and looked around to make sure nobody would see them before signalling Uppity to follow. He hoped she knew what Hurricane was talking about in regards to the warehouse.
Fortunately she did, and the two somehow made it a few blocks down without being seen. Uppity carrying the pony in her magic close enough to the ground as to not draw attention from ponies far away, but keeping her leg up to minimize the pain. Sin opened the door of a white and silver building with the number "7" painted on the side and walked in to the dimly lighted, open building.
Hurricane lead them into the back and motioned to a crate with a crow bar on top. Sin lept up and used the wedge to pry the box open, revealing a purple stallion with an orange mane sleeping inside. "Downer!" Uppity cried, dropping Hurricane in a heap to see to her brother. She checked his pulse and sighed. "He's breathing, but we need to get him to a hospital."
"Better get going, then." Sin nodded standing behind the fallen Trotski leader. Patting her side gently with a smirk. "Don't worry about her, she's in good hooves."
Seeing her salvation escaping, the elder mare gave Uppity a pleading stare that screamed for her not to leave. Sin knew she'd have to though, Tapio only knows how long that stallion had gone without food or water.
To his utter dismay, Uppity gently set the pony down and sat down on the other side of Hurricane, eyeing him intently. "I'm not going to let you torture her."
Sin called her bluff, and told her that her brother would need treatment as soon as possible. "Are you really willing to risk his life to spare her?"
Uppity shook her head. "No, it's not about her. It's about you."
"Oh?"
"Sin, this isn't you. You don't go around hurting ponies because you're angry with them. I... I can't stand to see you like this." Her lips began to quiver, and she meekly walked over Hurricane to embrace him in a hug. "I know you must hate me, but I still love you. I- I can't stand by and let you turn yourself into a monster."
His heart skipped a beat. Uppity was crying into his shoulder.
She... really did love him? But... she... she was... why did she...
'Because she was scared, you idiot! How many ponies make rational decisions when they're loved ones are being threatened? Not everyone is as cold and heartless as you are!'
That voice... the real critic?
'No! She lies! She's trying to trick you again! She's betrayed you once, she'll do it again!'
What?
'Don't listen to her! Sin, Uppity's right. For all of your emotional control, if you torture her like this, you'll lose something. Something that made you equine in the first place! I can't explain what it is bu-'
'Lies! Lies from the Alicorn! Don't listen, get Uppity out of there and finish her! It's what she deserves and it's what you want, isn't it? To get revenge against Hurricane, the one who confessed to your crimes ONLY to have you imprisoned? Or have you forgotten that your life is now ruined because of her?'
It was clear which one the Alicorn of Insanity really was, but that didn't make it any easier to decide the next course of action.
Sin didn't buy into the whole 'kill someone and part of you will die' thing. He'd killed plenty of ponies before and felt no worse for the ware. Still though, what if the real critic had a point? What if torturing Hurricane was different? What if that did kill something inside of him? Something he needed to maintain control over the Alicorn's influence?
What would she do if she controlled his body completely unabated?
"Sin?" Uppity asked, breaking the pony from his contemplation. He looked into her eyes and felt the familiar tingle of warmth he had the first night they'd lay together. It was the first night he'd ever felt comfortable and safe. He yerned for that feeling again, to be held to be kissed and shown affection, as well as to return it.
Sin wanted to be with her, to start a family, to have a son or daughter run up to him in excitement and jump for joy at his return after a long day out at the mill. To have a... wife to come home to every day, to smile at him and make him feel welcome, ease his stress and maybe have sexual intercourse once in a while... To grow old hoof and hoof until death came, smiling happily with eachother and enjoying the life they shared.
But he'd never have that...
Even if he didn't kill Hurricane, he knew he was guilty of crimes against the Crown. And escaping imprisonment himself? That'd tack on a few years in the slammer for sure. No, his life in Equestria was all but over now, and he wasn't about to ask Uppity to run away with him, abandon her family and life here just to live on the run. He didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't afford letting her hurt him.
"Alright." He replied, barely above a whisper. "I wont torture her any more."
She smiled and gave him a hug, one he returned, giving her a slight squeeze. "I don't want you to let go." She said in an overly cutesy pout.
Sin chuckled, the first mirthful sounds he'd made in the past few days that didn't hold mania. "Sorry, but I can't come back with you. I don't favor being put in prison again."
"I'll talk to Celestia!" Uppity declared, pulling back and looking him in the eye. Her pink irises a blaze with determination. "I'll talk to her for real this time, and we'll get this whole thing sorted out. I promise."
Sin smiled and shook his head, he wanted to believe her, he really did. But it wasn't just prison that was stopping him. He could already feel the Alicorn of Insanity's influence seeping through his veins since he'd let his emotional wall down. Moments like these would eventually drive him to madness again, and he didn't want to think about what would happen if he'd lost all control.
"No. I'm dead, remember?"
"So you're not dead, then!" She responded hopefully. "It'll be like old times."
The Federalist could feel the hope and desperation in her voice now. He didn't want to deny her what they had, but it just wouldn't work out. No matter how she phrased it, not matter how she'd approach the situation, no matter what straws of desperation the grasped, he couldn't agree to come back.
After a final, tear filled suggestion that dripped with hopelessnes, Sin shook his head again, this time his expression much more somber. "I'm sorry, kiddo. But I just can't take that risk. If I'm dead, the government wont be looking for me. I need you to promise me you wont tell anyone that I'm still alive, okay?"
Deflating like a balloon, Uppty's face fell and her determined fire dimmed to a depressed ember. She pleaded for her to trust him, that she was sure she could get him pardoned for his crimes, but Sin refused, coaxing the promise out of her that she wouldn't tell anybody about him.
She began sobbing again, crying and hiccuping before tossing herself into his chest again, this time he returned the embrace. It hurt, it hurt more than he cared to admit, but him leaving was the only option he could see working out. Even if the princesses did pardon his actions.
"I'm sorry, Uppity."
"I don't understand. I can help, don't you trust me?"
Sin held her close. He didn't know how to answer that. He still felt some reservation about trusting her, but if he said he didn't, it would be a lie.
"You'd better get going." He cooed, stroking her mane. "Your brother needs medical attention."
She took in a gasp of air. "I love you..." she said pulling back and picking her brother up on her magic. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
Sin nodded and the two shared one last look before she turned and walked out, leaving the pony alone with Hurricane. He quickly put back the emotional controls and felt the Alicorn's influence recede before turning his gaze to injured Trotski leader.
"Well, old bean." Sin sighed, pushing back his cloak and pulling out his preloaded crossbow. "Looks like my fun's come to an end." He pointed the bolt directly down at Hurricane's forehead, making her eyes go wide and whimper in distress. "She made me promise not to torture you, she didn't say anything about not killing you. Say hello to Crasus for me when you get to hell. Tell him I'll be along... at some point."
Hurricane struggled and whimpered in a last ditch effort to call for help, a futile effort the Federalist found quite amusing. Though, the pitiful display only entertained his sense of justice for so long.
THUD!