//------------------------------// // Black & White Regulations // Story: Earning Freedom // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Black & White Regulations A couple of days had passed since the funeral and with it, the dark cloud that hung over Macintosh's head. He felt lighter, more at ease. Of course that was also on account of the work he was currently doing as well. He looked down at the dozens and dozens of pearly white envelope wedding invitations he and Annabelle had been writing up. Each addressed to either a single individual or nit family of ponies/whatever species had been invited. It was a little alarming just how many ponies his wife to be had planned to invite to sit on the bride's side of the aisle. It had actually managed to dwarf the cohort of Apples Macintosh planned to invite. 'We're getting Pinkie Pie to plan this... there is no way you two can do this on your own.' That was true, they'd need to hire an official party planner to set all of this up, and who better to ask than the party planner of Ponyville herself? "Who'th Pinkie Pie?" Anna asked, her tongue lulling out of her mouth as she licked another envelope shut. Mac found the question odd, but remembered that the two had never officially been introduced. Come to think of it, she'd never received the official Pinkie Pie welcome to town either. 'Thing's were a little busy when she came here. What with Soarin and Applejack and all.' Anyway, it might not be a bad idea to stop by Sugar Cube Corner to get something to eat and introduce the two, as well as ask the pink pony if she was interested in helping cater and party plan. The two walked out into the living room and found Applebloom, and Scootaloo laying on the floor, doing their homework. "Hey, we're goin' ta Sugar Cube Corner, y'all wanna come?" Applebloom perked for just a second, but her hope deflated as she looked at Scootaloo, who offered her a small smile. "You go ahead, I'll be fine." Scootaloo encouraged. The farm filly asked if she was sure, to which the pegasus nodded. "You're not coming, Scootaloo?" Anna asked. Scootaloo shook her head, saying she needed to spend some more time on her homework. The buttermilk mare tried to coax her along with promise of chocolatey goodness, but Scootaloo was adiment. Apparently her grades had suffered a lot with all of the stress from before and she needed to get caught up, lest she be held back a year. It warmed Mac's heart that the filly was so committed to her studies, but it made sense. Scootaloo had been on her own for a while, it would only make sense that her future would be a priority. Applebloom felt a little guilty that her friend wasn't going to be able to come along, but Anna cheered her up with promise of getting to bring home to her. The trip to Sugar Cube Corner was a quick one, it was a little chilly and cloudy out, reminding Macintosh to stop by the Mayors office and request clear weather on the day of the wedding. The warmth and heat of the building, while a happy change from the nip outside, was off set by the bakeries emptiness. Macintosh looked around quizzically for a moment, wondering where everypony was. The weekends were usually the busiest time of the week, or so he'd have thought since foals were out of school. Pinkie sat at the counter, looking far too bored. As soon as she saw them, she perked right up and smiled. "Hiya Bloomy, Hiya Macky!" She greeted cheerfully. "Macky?" Anna asked, eyeing her husband-to-be with a a light skepticism. The farmer chuckled nervously, explaining that she gave nicknames to everyone in town. Macintosh retrieved a few bits and handed them to Applebloom, instructing her to go and purchase something for herself. The filly took the bits and wandered to the counter, only to be denied her order with an apologetic smile. "Wha'dya mean ya can't sell them brownies tah me?" Whispered the filly sadly. "I'm sorry, Applebloom, but the City Council made it law that we can't sell sweets to minors." Pinkie replied with equal depression. Macintosh frowned in thought. Wait a second, her remembered voting on that ordinance when it was brought to the general public, if memory served, that ordinance failed to pass, so why was it being used to justify denying his sister's order? "They voted on it a few days ago." Pinkie bemoaned looking around the shop. "Without ponies parents or guardian's around, fillies and colts can't buy anything with-" she made quotation marks with her fetlocks, "-'too much sugar'. Honestly, I can't figure out what that even means. I mean, I ate sweets everyday, and I turned out just fine." ... ... '... Nod your head, Mac.' Macintosh nodded, though kept his mouth firmly shut. He remembered hearing quite a few stories of Pinkie's... eccentric mannerism. Stories he wouldn't have believed had he not born personal witness to the dreaded balloon incident a good few weeks ago. Speaking of which, he hoped Bon Bon and Lyra were okay, that double down chocolate fudge cake didn't look very heavy, but it took both of them to the ground... hard. He didn't blame Pinkie for it, nopony did, but how she'd gotten the idea of mixing a delivery service, balloons and her party cannon, he'd never understand. 'Entrepreneurship, it's a mixed bag.' Seeing no choice, Mac payed for the sweets himself and handed the treat to his sister. She was reluctant at first, but accepted the brownie with begrudged acceptance. "So... aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Pinkie asked, no small amount of teasing in her voice. "Oh righ'. Pinkie Pie, this here's Annabelle, my marefriend, Annabelle, Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's resident parteh planner n' baker." Both mares exchanged subdued greetings. "Sorry, I usually throw everypony who comes to town a welcome party, but with how dead business is, I'm not much in the party mood." "Sorry to hear that, I hope business picks up for your soon. It's no fun not having customers come and appriciate your craft." "Speakin' o' parties, Ah was hopin ya could help me with somethin'..." Mac explained that that he and his fiance would be married at the end of the month and were going to need a party planner to help them set everything up. Pinkie's subdued happiness escalated back to her typical mania at the prospect and she jumped at the opportunity with enthusiasm. She began listing off all the things the earth ponies would need, including things Mac wasn't sure about like streamers, bows, ribbons, and worst of all, balloons. Though, she also said that she'd helped plan Shining Armor's wedding, and if she could be trusted to handle the ceremony for royalty, than it should be an honor to have her plan his own. The trio left the establishment, feeling pretty good about themselves for helping Pinkie's renewed vigor. "So, what now?" Anna asked? Macintosh wished he'd brought the wedding invitations, according to Pinkie's tangent about the Canterlot wedding, Fluttershy was called in to handle the music. Of course there was also the dress, which Anna had been hinting at for a while, so Rarity's place was on the list. 'Didn't you just want to go over to eat and talk to Pinkie?' Yea, but while they were out and about... "I haven't seen her since the two of you left a few days ago." Twilight said, looking more than a little concerned. She, Rairty and Spike stood in the middle of the Library, the fashonista coming over to speak with Twilight about the condition of their pegasus friend. "I think she may still be worrying over what that Social Justice character said to her." Rarity sniffed. "Honestly, Fluttershy is one of the best animal caretakers in Equestria. Why the new Arbiter saw fit to lecture her on how to do her job is simply beyond me." Spike nodded in agreement, but Twilight gave a reluctant face. "I agree, but still, I see where she's coming from. Academia on a subject is important, and not everypony who wants to help animals is adept at it as Fluttershy is." Rarity gave the scholar a side long glance, frowning slightly. "Perhaps, but by the same token, this is Fluttershy we're talking about here. She's looked after all of our animals, including Owlicious." The lavander mare quirked a brow. "Yes, I know that." "Than why does it sound like you're taking Justice's side on this?" Twilight took a breath. "I'm not taking anypony's side, Rarity. I'm just saying that it isn't as black and white as I think you're making it out to be." Rarity asked just how she was making it out to be black and white, to which the libaririan pointed out that certificiations was a symbol of authority, one that patience -er the owners of the patience- could trust. To show that the individual holding said certification was knowledgeable in their craft. "Yes, Twilight, I'm aware of that, but I'm talking about Fluttershy, not some random pony who wants to help animals but has little to no inclination there in." Rarity corrected, hoping to deter any farther altercation. Again, though, the scholar made an unsure face. "Well, I mean, if it's technically against the law for her to practice without a certificate..." Spike saw where this was going and wanted absolutely no part of it. He heard Twilight say something about all Fluttershy needing to do to keep legal was go to school, become more knowledgeable, and get certified, with Rarity contesting the notion before tuning out. He pushed out the door and grumbled as he made way around town. Despite distancing himself from the debate, his own stance on the matter pushed itself to the surface. Spike didn't like the idea that it was illegal to help animals just because some college didn't give you an arbitrary certificate that the law recognized. 'Ehhhh, I don't know about that. I mean, consider it: If some random pony started tending to an injured animal without knowing what they were doing, they could easily cause more harm.' Yea, I got that, but if a pony is knowledgeable and does help, even without being certified, shouldn't that entitle them to not need the certificate? 'Yes, of course, but the law is put in place for a reason. It's so that pedestrians, who are well intended, don't go out and cause more harm than good. Maybe making a bad situation worse if the animal was just taken to a professional in the first place. It's like being a doctor for normal ponies, you wouldn't just go up to somepony who knew a thing or two about medicine and expect them to be a pharmacy for your ailments, would you?' Well no, but I'd trust Fluttershy to admit to something that she wasn't able to handle and not make the situation worse. 'The law wasn't written with Fluttershy in mind, though. That's my point, and that's Twilight's point too. It has to be blanketed against everypony, but maintain exceptions.' Granted, but I am talking about Fluttershy, and the law shouldn't stop her from helping others when she's good at it. 'Well, it's not. Seems she had someone in city hall looking out for her.' Yea, but how long would th- "HALT!" Spike's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a crashing crate. He looked to find a couple of familiar pegasus mare's fleeing from a pair of silver clad guards. The LEO's demanding the fleeing ponies stop or face arrest, abandoning the wooden crate from a small wagon on which it was being unloaded. 'Hey, weren't those the mares at Sin's funeral?" Yea, I think they were. The few ponies around who stopped to watch the altercation started moving again, small whispers of theories already forming tommorrows topic of gossip. If there was one big fault the drake could find with the town, it was how much gossip and rumor passed through it. Small towns were usually like that though. "Buck." Said yet another familiar face. Shady Oaks wandered from around the building and looked at the fallen crate. She immediately dashed back and returned with another pair of ponies, who both grabbed the crate, Shady playing look out, and replaced it with a new one of equal look. Fortunately, the guards hadn't returned until after the swap. Seeing their return, Shady looked for anything as an excuse to her current location and smiled as soon as she found Spike. "Hey, you were at Sin's funeral, right?" The drake nodded and the two exchanged pleasantries, the mare continually looking behind her to see the guards making progress in opening the duplicate container. Spike wasn't sure what was in the original, nor why they changed the boxes out, but decided that this pony was living up to her namesake, and remained wary of her. "Yea, umm, how do you know him, again?" Shady chuckled coolly, almost seductively. "You could say he and I had a..." her smile faded as she heard the top of the crate being ripped off. She turned and exhaled when nothing was found to be within. "Mutually beneficial relationship." She finished with annoyance. The mare's behavior and actions screamed illicit activity, but Spike wasn't sure how to handle it. He wasn't even sure if he should get involved at all. He had no proof what she was doing was illegal, or more importantly, unethical. Even so, he could tell she was wary of the guard, and that was more than enough reason for him to stay clear of her. He bid her a good day and began to walk away, wondering why Sin would hold association with a mare like her. Though she called after him and followed. Already annoyed, Spike put up his claws and said he didn't want to get involved in whatever she was doing. To which the mare declared she didn't want his help, but wanted to tell him something. "Look, I-" She paused to take a breath. "Alright, I know he's dead, but I think it best somepony close to him knows what's about to happen." "Happen? What are you talking about?" Shady looked around, ensuring that there was nopony close enough to eaves drop. "He kept the guard off my back, and in exchange, I helped keep aggressive crime down. Does the 'Red Market' mean anything to you?" Spike's brow furrowed, Sin did talk to him a little bit about the black market and how it wasn't inherently unethical, a notion the drake had trouble comprehending for a while, but he'd never heard anything about this 'Red Market' before. She ran him through the basics of it, which the drake found to make a lot of sense. Aside from drugs and prostitution in general, the red market had most of what he objected to with the black market over all. Or the 'Underworld' as Shady put it, which encompassed both the red and black markets. "Okay, and why are you telling me this?" "Because, I've been working with other... individuals of less than legal means to keep the red market out of Ponyville. We remained civil, since violence would result in loss of profit all around, but ever since the Changeling attack on Canterlot, the Underworld has been in a constant state of fighting. Pedophile sex rings and violent drug cartels have tried to push their way into town, and with my associates constantly being threatened by the guard, we wont be able to keep them out anymore." Spike's eyes went wide. Pedophile sex rings and drug cartels? What the buck does this pony do to know about that kind of stuff?! "If I were you, I'd keep a good eye on my younger friends." Shady declared looking around. "You'd be surprised what kind of sickos live in this town." Shady began walking away, leaving Spike feeling more than a little disturbed. Had he not witnessed her illegal activity with his own two eyes, he wouldn't have believed her. It was a disgusting thing to think about, and even worse worry about. The guard was supposed to handle stuff like that, why would anypony want them out of the way? 'It's really not that hard to figure out. It's just like you thought, the black market and red market are closely linked. Since Shady Oaks is part of the black market, she'll know about the going ons there in long before the guard would. If she was being 'civil' with other black market types, that means they were peaceful and only doing voluntary business. Sounds to me like they were under Sin's protection to keep out the ponies who didn't work under voluntary business, with bucking foals!' Foals... Spike felt the bile raise up in his throat. Foals... bucking foals! Ponies would pay to... How could- who could- WHY WOULD ANYPONY WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH FOALS!? He knew the world could be sick and cruel, but that? To... The drake shook the thought from his mind, his previous irritation now escalating to full on rage. He needed to tell somepony, but who? The guard? Twilight? The Mayor? How would he explain how he came across the information? Ratting out Shady wasn't really a viable option, since she was doing a good thing by trying to keep out the... Spike groaned and began walking back to the library. He wouldn't be able to say how he knew, but he knew he needed to do something, just the thought of a foal being touched in such a way brought his more primitive side to task. And what was worse, was he wanted to want to let it out. Macintosh, Annabelle and Applebloom stood outside Fluttershy's cottage, knocked on the door and awaited the mare to answer. They'd stopped by Carousel Boutique to get a price estimate for the wedding dress Annabelle wanted, but the mare wasn't home. The troop figured she was out to lunch and would be back in by the time their business with Fluttershy was concluded. Something Applebloom took notice of was how devoid the place was of animals. She said that, typically, there were all kinds of woodland critters scampering about or hanging out, yet there wasn't an animal in sight. The door opened a crack, revealing a bloodshot teal eye peering out at them. "Fluttershy?" Applebloom asked looking up at her. "Are ya alrigh'?" The eye cringed and a sniffle could be heard. There was some pained whimpering and some words Mac couldn't make out, but Fluttershy opened the door, revealing herself looking a depressed and depressing mess. Her usually delicately kept mane was a mess of tangles and neglect, her coat much more dull and unseen to, all covered up by a pink house robe. She sniffled again, her ears dropping sadly and eyes welling with tears. "Fluttershy? Wha's goin' on? Why are ya cryin'?" Applebloom asked in concern. The pegasus mare shook her head and said it was nothing, lying always irritated Macintosh, but right now, all he could feel for the cream colored pegasus was pity and sorrow. "Umm, so what can I do for you?" She asked, her eyes continually shifting from up at the trio and back down to the ground. Remembering his purpose, Mac felt bad for asking, but it was the reason they'd come. "Well, er, ya see, Me n' Annabelle here are gettin' married at the end o' the month and we heard y'all had the birds singin' at Shinin' Armors weddin'. N', well, we was hopin ya could do the same fer us." The apple pony immediately regretted not following his gut instinct not to ask, Fluttershy's already pathetic demeanor became even worse. He shoulders slumped to an impossibly low level, and she audibly sobbed at the in quarry. Unable to restrain herself any longer, Applebloom leapt forward and clung to the Fluttershy's leg, attempting to offer comfort and drive off the pegasi's woes. The demonstration was too much for Annabelle, and she too wondered forth, placing a comforting hoof on Fluttershy. She must have been some kind of distraught, the pegasus didn't even flinch from the contact of a stranger. "Poor thing, it's alright." The earth pony soothed. "Thank you." Fluttershy sobbed after a few moments of crying. He took a few breaths. "B- but I... I can't help you. Or anypony else with animals anymore." Mac quirked a brow and tilted his head. She couldn't help anypony with animals? What in the world would make her say that? Fluttershy loved animals. He didn't know her that well, but he knew her well enough to know she preferred the companionship of critters to ponies most days. "What do ya mean, Fluttershy?" Applebloom asked, on the verge of tears herself." Shakily, the pegasus lifted a hoof from her chest that Mac didn't even notice she was clenching, producing a tear stained sheet of paper. He took the parchment and began to read it over. His eyes going from a frowning concentration to full on shock the more he took in. "What's it say?" Annabelle gently inquired. "It's a... cease n' desist order." Mac replied slack jawed. According to the order, Fluttershy, since holding no certification of any kind in animal care, was to stop any farther treatment, feeding, housing or tending to of any animals outside of her registered pets. That her exemption to tending to both domesticated and wild animals had been revoked and she'd be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law should she be found in violation of the ordinance. In short, Fluttershy was no longer legally able to take care of animals anymore.