From Tyrant to Atoner
Featherweight struggled from Tangerine's firm grip, trying to get away. However, she proved to be quite strong, plus his small shape didn't really help him. Soon, the hall monitor finally made it to the room she made detention and forced him in one of the seats. While recovering from the aggressive force, he looked around the detention room to see that it hasn't changed a bit from all the times he had been here. It was always dark from the closed door and shut blinds from the windows, the only source of light being the lit lamp on the teacher's desk where Tangerine sat. The seats were set far apart from each other so that the students could not whisper to each other, and all Featherweight found on his desk was a pencil and paper to write what he should not do, like every other student who ended up in detention had to. He sighed, hating being in a place like this. Soon however, he found that he wasn't alone.
"Guys?" Featherweight asked in surprise upon seeing Cutup, Specs and Gloria along with him. "How did you end up in here?"
"Thangerine thought that we were conthpiring to thrip her from being hall monitor, and threw uth in here." Specs explained to the pegasus colt.
"Which, funny enough, is kinda true in a way..." Cutup thought aloud, earning a smack in the head from Gloria.
"Quiet! Don't get us in more trouble than we already are!" she hissed.
"Silence! All of you!"
Tangerine's shout took immediate effect, silencing everyone in detention. She then slowly walked over to the nervous Featherweight, glaring at him deeper than any other student.
"Featherweight." Tangerine began. "You were the first pony to run away from me when I told you to stop. Why did you run? You knew that I would have caught you eventually, right?"
"Whoa, you ran away from her?" Cutup asked in surprise.
"Silence!" The stout unicorn flinched back from Tangerine's shout. She then turned her attention back to Featherweight. "Well? Answer my question."
Featherweight scratched his head as he tried to think up an excuse. "Uh...well..."
"Well, what?"
"I just thought that I might have a chance, what with me being a pegasus and you an earth pony. I thought that maybe I could fly away from you. Guess I thought wrong..."
"Is that really true?" Tangerine asked suspiciously. "Wait...you are part of the conspiracy, are you not?"
Featherweight raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Conspiracy? What are you talking about?"
"Do not fool around with me! I know that there are students around the school that are jealous or fearful of me and wish to overthrow me as hall monitor so that they can take my place!"
Everyone looked at Tangerine in disbelief, wondering how she came to that conclusion. It seemed as if her paranoia was getting worse as time passed.
"Tangerine, there is no conspiracy to try and get rid of you!" Featherweight assured her. "Nopony is trying anything!"
"Do you think that I am a fool? Do you expect me to let my guard down at the most critical moment ever?" Tangerine frowned. She walked away, still talking. "Everything that I have done, I have done for the good of our school, to stop the troublemakers and bullies..."
"Hey, guys." Featherweight whispered to the others while Tangerine had her back turned. "You want to help, right? Well, how's the time."
"Really? Awethome!" Specs grinned.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Gloria asked the pegasus colt.
"We need to keep her talking for as long as we can. Stall for time." Featherweight answered.
"Huh?" Cutup tilted his head in confusion. "You're not making sense. What's that supposed-"
"Trust me."
Everyone immediately stopped before Tangerine caught them as she turned to face them again during her speech. "But no! Ponies left and right are ungrateful for everything that I have worked hard for! So of course I punish them! To show them that they are wrong!"
"Uh, Tangerine?" Gloria called her. "I don't mean to offend, but hasn't the thought ever crossed your mind that you somehow made a mistake? Nopony's perfect, right?"
"And what sort of 'mistakes' have I made, Gloria?" Tangerine questioned the pink unicorn.
"Um..." Gloria bit her lip, thinking of an answer. "Did you ever listen to other's side of the stories to see if they truly did do something wrong?"
"Why should I? Every troublemaker is a liar, and liars will say anything to get themselves out of trouble. I will not let my guard down to let a guilty pony get away from the punishment he deserves!"
"But what if you are wrong?" Featherweight piped in. "What if that pony is innocent? Then you've just punished somepony who didn't deserve it."
"Are you questioning me!?" Tangerine glowered, startling everyone. They all knew that they needed to tread lightly, careful to not truly anger her.
"A-All I'm saying is that m-maybe you should think things over." stuttered the cream-colored pegasus.
"Like I said before, I can not trust any of what the students claim, for they could easily be lying! And so, I do not need to think that they are innocent."
"But Tangerine, we're friends, right?" Cutup said hopefully. "Should you really be doing this to your friends?"
"I can not let my emotions get in the way of doing my duty." Tangerine answered cooly. "Friend or no, cousin or no, you will regardless face the consequences."
"But Tangerine...why?" Featherweight frowned, sad that the nice filly he met from his first day at school is acting like this. "Why go and do all of this? Was it really necessary?"
"Yes, it was! There were students who did not respect me and the school rules before everything. Now, all the students will respect me!"
"Tangerine, that's not respect. That's fear!" Featherweight corrected her. "Everypony is afraid of you ever since you changed the rules! Is this how you want things to be like? With every student scared out of their wits when they come to school?"
"They will learn to respect me and the rules in time, Featherweight. This I am sure of."
"But Tangerine, what about the teachers? And Jane Starr, the one who made you hall monitor?" Gloria reminded her. "What will they think when they hear about this?"
"I have made a rule to prevent any conspirators to tarnish my good name." Tangerine answered evenly. "If I so much as catch or hear about one student talking to a teacher in the hallways, they will be suspended for a period of time from school."
Every foal gasped in horror upon hearing that Tangerine actually put up such a rule in the school.
"Tangerine, you can't do that! Hall monitors don't have that kind of power!" Cutup protested, him and every foal in the room thinking that her increasing paranoia has gone too far.
"Perhaps I would not have to take such drastic measures if there were not conspirators plotting to get rid of me!" Tangerine countered, believing her action to be justified.
"For the last time Tangerine, nopony is conspiring to get you out! It's all in your head!" Gloria protested, now getting angry at what the earth filly had done.
"That is what the conspirators want me to think! I am not falling for it!"
"And who do you even think the 'conspirators' are anyway!?"
"I do not know, which is why I can not trust anypony!"
"But Tangerine, what about the students that did respect you before? Do they also deserve the same treatment from those that didn't respect you?" Featherweight reminded her.
"They would soon be influenced by the ones who did not respect me, and I could not risk letting that happen. So yes, it is necessary to punish them as well!" Tangerine remarked harshly.
Featherweight found it rather scary how Tangerine could change so suddenly into the opposite from her kind self into this stern and frightening pony, all from attempting to be a more assertive hall monitor. He began to think of something else to say to distract her until Specs, who had been quiet the whole time, eagerly spoke up.
"Hey, Thangerine! Have you read the latetht itthue of Iron Mare? And her fight againth the Mandarin? Not the fruit, like you knowth, but the villain? It was awethome! The figtht they have really blew me away! Iron Mare wath like 'POW!' with her punches, and then Mandarin wath like 'KAPOW!' rigtht back ath her, breaking a bit of her armor, and then she thot thonic blasts at him like 'PEW PEW PEW' buth Mandarin thumped out of the way, and then he began thooting a dithintegrathion beam ath her like 'WEEEEEEEWW' and Iron Mare barely dothed it, burning a bith of her armor off, and then they began tho tharge towarth each other in a big clath, and then..."
Specs stopped when he noticed that Tangerine was unamused by his big story, staring flatly at the unicorn.
"...you're noth interethted, right?" Specs chuckled nervously, prompting Featherweight to facehoof.
'I probably should've told Specs to stay quiet...' he groaned in his mind.
"That is enough!!!" Tangerine shouted, her patience at an end. "I do not have to put up with all of you asking me questions and listening to nonsense! I am the one who asks the questions! Why are you even asking me questions!? ...wait a minute..." Tangerine paused, now glowering at the students harder than ever. " I know why! You are all with the conspiracy!"
"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted at the accusation. Now Tangerine was really going too far.
"What would make you think that!?" asked a shocked Featherweight.
"Why else would you keep asking me questions? To report back to your superiors! You have all been sent as spies to get to me!" Tangerine madly accused.
"Tangerine, that makes no sense! Why go through the trouble of getting in detention when we could ask you personally out in the halls or the playground!?" snapped an angry Gloria.
"Simple, it would be too obvious!"
"But that doesn't make sense either!" Cutup remarked.
"Everypony quiet!" Tangerine shouted, silencing everyone again. She slowly walked to the teacher's desk and shined the light on the lamp at the students, as if she was interrogating them. "Now, here is what we will do. You will tell me who is leading the conspiracy against me. If you do not answer in ten seconds, all of you will be suspended for the whole month!"
"SUSPENSION!?" They shouted in shock and disbelief.
"I gueth she wath theriouth about thuthpenthion..." Specs muttered in fear.
"I will start counting now! One...two..."
"Tangerine, you have to believe us, there is no conspiracy!" Gloria desperately cried, but was ignored.
"...three...four..."
"Tangerine, don't do this! My parents will ground me for a week with no comic books!" Cutup pleaded, to no avail.
"...five...six..."
While the others begged for Tangerine to stop, Featherweight prayed that all this time stalling her would pay off. But what if it wasn't enough? What if it was too late? Then all of his efforts would have been in vain.
"...seven..."
Could he have done more? Could he have completely escaped from Tangerine earlier?
"...eight..."
'It wasn't supposed to end like this!' he thought to himself.
"...nine..."
Everyone shrunk back in their seats as Tangerine was about to finish the countdown...
SLAM!
The abrupt sound of a door opening interrupted her, and in came who Featherweight was hoping for to come.
"Babs! You made it!" he smiled, happy to see the red-maned filly carrying a saddlebag with her.
"Yup, sorry if I took a while, but I got de job done." Babs smiled back.
"Babs, do not interrupt their detention!" Tangerine snapped at her cousin. "I was about to get them to confess who their leader of the conspiracy was!"
"Look Tangerine, I got pictures here that I developed just today! You really oughta see them!" Babs said, opening her saddlebag.
Tangerine looked mad upon hearing that Babs left school just to develop some photos. "You have left the school properties!? I should punish you along with them!"
"Tangerine, dis is really important! Just look at dem and you'll see wut we were talking about de whole time!" Babs said, tossing the pictures from her saddlebag on Tangerine's desk.
Thinking that this was some sort of trick, Tangerine refused to look at them. However, one small glimpse on one of the photos caught her attention. She saw herself shouting at a group of scared foals, one of the fillies crying of fear. The next one was herself ordering another group to get down on the ground, treating them like criminals. Slowly looking to another, Tangerine saw her picture self forcing the cards she wrote on a filly and colt. Now with her eyes widened, she saw herself again giving detention to her friends and cousin in one picture. And she realized that she was giving them another detention now to them. Every other picture she looked at always showed her shouting at the foals, glaring at them, and punishing them.
Tangerine fell back on her seat in shock and horror. She did all of those terrible and cruel things and now every student is afraid of her. She didn't want to scare anyone or turn into a bully, she was only trying to help the school be a better place! She had then remembered the talk she had with her mother some time back, that authority was a very big responsibility. And she had abused it.
"Is this...me?" Tangerine whispered in horror, looking at the pictures again. "Is this...what I have been doing...?"
"I'm afraid so, cuz." Babs grimly nodded. "I dunno why, but you just went and...snapped."
Realizing that she was about to actually suspend her friends from school, along with every other act she had done, Tangerine began shaking, the full weight of her actions now dawning upon her. And then, she cried. Crying from what a monster she had become to the students, her friends and her cousin.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Tangerine wept on her desk. "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean to be so cruel!"
Babs walked over to her cousin, putting a comforting hoof on her head. "Dere, dere Tangerine...it's ok..."
"No it's not! I was so horrible to everypony! How could I do such a thing!?"
While Tangerine was weeping and Babs was comforting her, the other relieved foals still had one question left unanswered on what happened.
"Say, Featherweight?" Gloria began, catching his attention. "I have question: how did Babs get those photos developed in the first place?"
"Yeah, I thought that you were the one with the camera?" Cutup added.
"Well, I was going to get those photos developed myself." Featherweight explained. "But after Tangerine caught me, I knew that I had to change plans quick."
"You, Featherweight!"
Featherweight's eyes widened upon hearing tangerine's voice directed right at him.
'No, no, no, no...I'm so close...'
All he had to do next was to quietly leave the school without anyone noticing, develop the photos from his camera at Snap Cam and come right back to show the pictures to Tangerine. But now with her attention fixed on him, that would be impossible.
'I guess I have to improvise...'
Moving quick, he flew over to Babs and stuffed his camera inside her saddlebag, without Tangerine noticing. She glanced behind her at Featherweight, knowing that it was now up to her to finish the job.
"No flying is allowed inside the hallways, and you know it!" Tangerine called. "Now get over here!"
Featherweight's new plan was now to stall for time, give Babs as much as she needed to to develop the photos before Tangerine does something drastic.
"Babs, run." he whispered to friend before flying away.
"Where are you going!?" Tangerine shouted, less than pleased that a student had ran away from her. She snarled as she began to give chase. "Come back here right now!"
As soon as Tangerine was out of sight, Babs began to move. Looking left and right to make sure no one was around, she quickly left through the front door and ran as fast as she could to get the photos developed.
"Tho thath what happened?" Specs asked.
"Yeah, and that's why I asked you guys to keep Tangerine talking, to give Babs more time to develop the photos and bring them to her in time." Featherweight said.
"Wow, that was really awesome!" Cutup grinned. "It was like you were a spy or something!"
"You worked so hard...my hero!" Gloria cried in joy, kissing Featherweight on the cheek, making him blush.
"Um, uh...y-you're w-welcome..." he stammered, not expecting the kiss.
"Hey guys..." Babs called, with a sniffling Tangerine alongside her. "I gotta tell ya, it's not over yet. We gotta deal wid de other students now."
"Oh yeah." Featherweight agreed with Babs. "I never really thought that far yet..."
"So now what do we do?" Cutup asked. Now that Tangerine has come to her senses, they now have to deal with the rest of the students somehow.
"The right thing." Tangerine sniffed, wiping away her tears. "I must apologize to everypony for what I did."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Gloria asked in concern. "I don't think that the students will be so forgiving after everything that's happened."
"She won't be alone." Babs declared with determination. "I'll stick wid my cuz, and defend her from anypony dat badmouths her!"
"Me too! I'm not going to just lay back now after I've worked so hard to get us here!" Featherweight spoke.
"Tho what are we thupothed to do?" Specs asked, not wanting to be left out again.
"You guys tell everypony to meet us at de playground, and den Tangerine will apologize to them dere." Babs instructed. "Youse got dat?"
"Loud and clear!" Cutup saluted. "Come on Specs, let's go! And watch your mouth this time, you almost got us in trouble!"
"Thorry! I wath jutht trying to help!" Specs answered, both unicorns continuing their banter in the hallway.
"Good luck, guys! I hope all goes well!" Gloria smiled before leaving to also tell the students to go to the playground.
"Babs...? Featherweight...?" Tangerine spoke softly, almost unheard from the two foals. "I want to say...thank you, for stopping me from making a big mistake...thank you for making me see that I was wrong..."
They both responded by hugging the remorseful filly, happy to have her old self back.
All of the students were gathered at the playground after hearing from Cutup, Specs and Gloria that their hall monitor had an announcement to make. None of them were eager to hear it, afraid that she was going to announce another rule that would hound them around the school. As Tangerine walked forward with Babs and Featherweight, they were surprised. Instead of seeing her stern and glaring expression, she looked sad and a bit nervous.
"Everypony, may I please have your attention?" Tangerine called, surprising everyone even further since she always shouted at them. "I have something that I would like to say. I have realized that I have not been treating you well. I abused my position as hall monitor to what I believed, to make our school better. Instead, I have only worsened it. I now see that my actions were cruel and unjust. I was not fair to any of you. I created unfair rules for the school. I punished you when you did not deserve it. I want to apologize. I am sorry for everything that I have done. I know that this will not fix the mistakes that I have made, but I still feel like I need to apologize to all of you."
However, true to Gloria's statement from earlier, the students were less than pleased to hear Tangerine's apology now.
"You're sorry!? After everything you've done to us!?"
"Do you really expect us to forgive you just like that!?"
"My parents grounded me for a week because of you!"
"You're the worst hall monitor ever! At least Chip Mint didn't give out detentions!"
Tangerine was about ready to cry again from all the insults she was getting. While she couldn't blame them for being mad, it still hurt.
"All of you stop dis right now!!!" Babs shouted, silencing all of the students. "I know you're all mad, but Tangerine feels really bad about wut she did!"
"She should be! I almost always got in detention because of her!" retorted a red pegasus filly.
"Why are you standing up for her anyway!? She said it herself, she abused her position as hall monitor to rule the school!" scoffed a grey earth colt, all the other foals agreeing with him.
"Yeah, well I bet dat you were all gonna do de same thing if youse were hall monitor, weren't you!?" Babs snapped back. This time, all of the students were silent, not sure how to respond.
"Yeah, that's right! I bet that's the only reason you all wanted to become hall monitor, so you could do whatever you wanted!" Featherweight accused them all.
"Dat's right! See now how it feels to be treated like dis? Not very fun, huh?" Babs questioned, knowing that they were on the right track.
"W-well, that still doesn't change the fact that she still did what she did!"
"True, but before all of this, Tangerine proved to be a wonderful hall monitor!" Gloria said, walking up to her friend. "She followed every rule and was fair to everypony she met. Why, I still remember the day she saved Cutup and I from some bullies. I'm still thankful to her for that."
This resulted in Specs laughing at the embarassed Cutup. "No way! You were a victhim!?"
"Shut up, Specs..." grumbled the stout unicorn.
"Anyway, I know for a fact that none of you would have done this for anypony. Chip Mint is the sole proof of that!" Gloria finished.
Now the students have considerably calmed down. Some still looked a little angry, but no one was insulting Tangerine anymore.
"Well, I guess you do have a point there..."
"What a wake-up call..."
"Ok, we get the point..."
"I don't exactly forgive her, but I'll leave her alone..."
Tangerine cleared her throat to speak again. "Th-Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. You may go now."
Every student left, now relieved that the days of terror in the school are over. After everyone was gone, Tangerine released a sigh she didn't realize she was holding. It wasn't easy, but she had done it.
"Well, that's that I guess." Featherweight sighed, relieved that this was over.
"So is it over now?" Gloria asked them.
"No, not yet." Tangerine shook her head. "After school is over, I will tell my parents what I did."
"But Tangerine, if you do dat then you'll get in trouble!" Babs protested, not wanting to see her cousin grounded.
"I can not lie to my parents, Cousin Babs. It does not feel right. They deserve to know the truth."
Babs saw that there was no way of convincing Tangerine to not tell her parents about what she had done. She sighed, giving in. "All right, but at least lemme come wid you. I'm also part of de reason dat made you change."
"Of course, Babs." Tangerine nodded, before turning to the winged colt. "Featherweight, will you be coming with us?"
"Like I said before, I'm with you until the end." Featherweight smiled.
Tangerine softly smiled, glad to know that she had such a loyal cousin and friend with her.
After school was over, Babs and Featherweight went with Tangerine and her parents to their hotel to break the news. Tangerine told Sherbet and Mosley everything she could recall: the unfair punishments she gave out, the unjust rules she created, her cruel treatment on the students, scaring every foal in school...she made sure that her mother and father knew everything that she had done.
"...and that is what happened." Tangerine finished her confession.
Her parents were surprised to hear what Tangerine has told them, not expecting to ever hear her act in such a cruel and unforgiving manner.
"Oh my..." Sherbet whispered, a hoof over her mouth.
"This is...rather some shocking news to take in..." Mosley shook his head, stunned from what he had heard.
"Once again, I am deeply sorry. I am not proud of what I have done." Tangerine lowered her head in shame.
Babs, Featherweight and Tangerine nervously awaited the answer from the two wealthy adults as they weighed it all in.
"Well, we must say that we're not too proud of your...aggressive behavior to the students at school." Mosley remarked, making his daughter lower her ears. "But all in all, we're glad that you decided to tell us the truth."
"Yes, it is not easy to admit something such as this to your parents." Sherbet smiled before looking stern. "Nevertheless, you still did wrong to your friends and students. For that, you will be grounded."
"Wait, Auntie Orange!" Babs cried, standing in front of her cousin. "It ain't completely Tangerine's fault! I was de one who pushed her into becoming a tougher hall monitor! It was my fault! Please don't ground her!"
Sherbet only shook her head. "Babs, I admire that you are willing to stand up for my daughter, but Tangerine's actions were her own. And she needs to learn that such actions have consequences."
"It is all right, Cousin Babs. I must carry out my punishment, after everything I did." Tangerine assured her cousin. "And I did learn something valuable from all this...
I have learned that authority is not something to be taken lightly. It is something that can mean the difference between a fair and just friend or a cruel and unforgiving tyrant. You should only be assertive if you need to, without being too forceful. Following into the path of the latter will not only hurt your friends and everypony around you, you will also hurt yourself. That is why one should be responsible with their power and not abuse it. It feels much better to know that you are doing good and that ponies are loving you for it."
"I'm proud to see that you learned from all of this, my little sweetie." Sherbet nuzzled her daughter.
"We probably should remember to tell Twilight about this later." Mosley suggested to his wife.
Tangerine noticed that her cousin looked down, sad that they will not be able to play together for a while. She went over to comfort Babs. "Do not worry Babs. It will be all right."
"I guess, but it'll be pretty lonely crusading without you..." Babs sighed, guessing that a part of her cousin's punishment would be to not let her leave her home for a while.
"Who says that you have to be alone?" Featherweight smiled. "I can go with you!"
Both of the cousins grew excited hearing the colt's words. The first time they had met Featherweight, he was unsure about joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders, wondering if it would truly help him. But now...
"So does dat mean...!?" Babs shouted excitedly.
"That's right!" Featherweight smirked. "Consider me a part of your group!"
"You're joining us! That's wonderful!" Tangerine cried in glee, jumping in joy.
"Oh boy! Jus' wait 'till we write to Applebloom about dis!" Babs also shouted in joy.
"Well, it's nice to see that you have both gained a new member for your group." Sherbet smiled at the foals, happy for their newest addition to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "How about we have some ice cream together to celebrate this joyous occasion?"
"YAY!!!" the three foals cheered, following the adults, eager for sweets, to celebrate the joining of their newest recruit and to put everything that had happened behind them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have gained one member today, and hope to gain more in the future.
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Awesome story and good end!
Nice finish to the story! Can't wait to see what you come up with after the Ticket Master Event.
Great story. I'm glad Tangerine got snapped out of her mad power-trip.
This was well written, and I could actually see something similar to this being done as an episode in the actual show.
3152388
It's practically tradition to go mad with power upon becoming Hall Monitor
You know what, why not? I ship it.
5540645
It's been a while since I've seen that episode. But I don't think Bart went mad with power. I thought he was doing a good job as Hall Monitor, even getting on good terms with Principal Skinner. As for the Prefects, granted, I'm a bit unfamiliar with their portrayal in the books. But I wouldn't say that they abused their power in the movies. Did any Gryffindor Prefects abuse their power in the books?