The Wager

by kudzuhaiku

Chapter 4

Night Fright looked down at her children, a frown her most prominent feature. Two were bat winged shaggy horrible little monsters. One was ginger haired and freckled, and not at all like her siblings, with one exception.

All three of them were covered in mud.

“Squeaker, Starling, Anomie, what am I to do with you?” Night Fright asked.

The foals squirmed uncomfortably, Anomie’s fingers curled around their manes, one hand on each of her siblings.

Night Fright surveyed the front room, now covered in mud, the mud fight had been brought indoors. There was mud on the ceiling of all places.

Anomie began to sniffle under Night Fright’s punishing gaze.

“Oh no you don’t! I’m not falling for that again.” Night Fright said, causing Anomie’s sniffles to trail off. “Your little hands are the main perpetrators of this mess. Mudballs Anomie, really?”

“There was no snow?” Anomie replied, squirming, poking the floor with her muddy big toe, and casting her eyes downward.

“And Squeaker, you are the oldest. You are responsible for keeping your siblings out of trouble. You slung mud at your sisters. Your sisters! Your beautiful delicate sisters that you are obligated to protect and keep from trouble!” Night Fright gave her colt foal a well practiced stink eye.

Squeaker squeaked loudly and shrank away from his mother’s gaze.

“Starling, I don’t even know where to begin with you. As a female you have a duty and an obligation to a certain model of behavior. And you have failed in your duty!” Night Fright scowled, her teeth bared.

Starling squealed pitifully and fell over on to her side with a wet muddy splat, her face covered by one of her wings, cowering from her mother’s glare. Anomie dropped to her knees and tried to comfort her fallen sister, spreading more mud everywhere she touched.

“I started it, punish me.” Anomie begged, her body over her sister.

“I started it.” Squeaker admitted. “I got a muddy hoof and I flung it at Starling.”

“Liar!” Anomie shouted. “I did it.”

Night Fright studied her foals, now wondering who actually started it. Not that it mattered. All of them had engaged in muddy combat. Brutal muddy combat. Anomie was wearing a mud mask and her hair was spiky with mud. Squeaker was breathing through his mouth, his piggish nostrils corked with mud. Starling’s wings were practically caked to her body, a heavy cast of mud around her barrel.

Night Fright could hear Calpurnia’s heavy breathing behind her, punctuated by taurine snorting. Night Fright heard Calpurnia’s knuckles cracking, a worrisome sign.

“I am not going to punish you.” Night Fright announced.

There was a sigh of relief from two foals and one human.

“Calpurnia, you may have the satisfaction of punishing them however you see fit.” Night Fright quipped. “They have muddied the front room you work so hard to keep clean. You are not to be merciful.”

The foals shrieked and the small human girl clung to her siblings in fear, all of them had their eyes wide open in real terror, Squeaker beginning to squeak with each drawn breath.

“Your little plots are MINE!” Calpurnia shouted. Calpurnia scooped up the two foals under one arm, and Anomie under the other. “We begin with a bath.” Calpurnia ignored the pleading whimpers and cries. “Hot water, extra soap!” Anomie went limp in Calpurnia’s grasp, her body slumping as it hung from Calpurnia’s arm. Anomie had the amazing ability to become nearly boneless, limp, and seemingly helpless, her best natural defense. Calpurnia had learned how to handle Anomie’s boneless mass long ago. “After have a bath, you will help me clean up this mud. And since you are bound to become dirty from the cleaning, there will be another bath.”

Squeaker let out a pitiful bat-pig-like squeal and began to kick his little legs, the whites of his eyes in sharp contrast to his mud covered face.

“Mother!” Squeaker begged.

Night Fright turned tail and left the room, leaving her offspring to a terrible fate.

---

“Have you learned anything?” Charon asked his offspring

There was no reply. None could meet their father’s gaze.

“I asked you a question.” Charon stated, his voice emotionless.

“I’ve learned that I should respect my sisters bodies.” Squeaker squeaked.

Charon turned his baleful gaze to his colt foal, causing Squeaker to sink down in his seat, trying to hide under the table.

“I have learned that my sister’s bodies are sacred and that I am to never violate them or cause them to come to harm, or allow them to be harmed through my own inaction.” Squeaker said, correcting his previous words. “My actions today caused them to be punished, which means I have brought harm upon them. For this I am sorry.”

Charon nodded slightly, and after he did so, Calpurnia placed a portion of food on Squeaker’s plate. Charon turned his gaze to Starling. “And you?”

Starling did not meet her father’s gaze. She looked briefly at her brother, then at Anomie, and finally down at her own empty plate.

“Starling?” Charon inquired.

“I failed to inspire my siblings to noble behavior. I failed to lead by example. I failed in my responsibility as female to behave in a manner befitting my station.” As Starling spoke, a few tears squeezed from her eyes.

Charon nodded at Calpurnia, who added food to Starling’s plate.

“Anomie?” Charon inquired, turning his gaze upon her.

“I learned that my hands are really good for throwing mud balls...” Anomie said in a low whisper, her eyes now locked on Charon’s own glittering orbs. “It might not be the answer you want, but it is something I learned.”

Charon’s ears folded back against his skull and a low rumbling sigh rattled out of his barrel. He stroked his chin with a wing knuckle, his eyes narrowing and his nostrils flaring.

“I’ve also learned that a swat acrossed my bare backside hurts a lot more than a swat does when I am wearing britches.” Anomie added.

Squeaker and Starling both looked at Anomie, their faces pleading with her to fess up.

“I’ve also learned that I am willing to endure two baths and a few hours of cleaning for a half an hour of having fun in the mud, and I am willing to accept my consequences, no matter what they might be. There is a price for everything and I shouldn’t be afraid to pay it.” Anomie looked away from Charon and down at her own empty plate. “And I figure I am going to go to bed hungry as the price for speaking my mind. I accept that.”

Charon nodded at Calpurnia once more, and she filled Anomie’s plate with food.

“Always be prepared to accept the consequences for what you have done.” Charon commanded. “It is a lesson just as important as any other.”

---

“So little Anomie has grown.”

Discord paced in Celestia’s throne room, his paw and his talons folded behind his back.

“Yes, she has,” agreed Celestia, “and Charon believes her to be a good girl, even if she is willful sometimes, and has a constant need to push the boundaries of what is acceptable. She resists authority and constantly strives against the limits imposed by her parents and her school tutors.”

“Is she still loved?”

Discord’s words seemed worried, concerned, his brow furrowed, his tail twitched restlessly as he paced.

“Of course she is,” replied Celestia, “even if she is sometimes a troublemaker, she means well. Ponies love her, make no mistake.”

“So… Even if something is a troublemaker, and has done bad things, it can still be loved if somepony choses to do so. Interesting.”

Discord stood scratching his chin, having removed his paw from behind his back, still pacing around the room as Celestia sat on her throne.

“So tell me Celestia, if Anomie has been in trouble, and ponies are currently angry with her, how does she know if she is still loved?”

Celestia smiled. “That is easy,” said Celestia, “she knows that no matter how much she might need to be punished for what she has done, she can trust them to punish her for the things she did and still be loved afterwards. Love means not being afraid of consequences. Easier said than done when you are young, but as a mature adult, you can look back, reflect upon your time when you were young, and know that you were loved.”

“I see.”

Discord blinked rapidly, his face thoughtful.

“Celestia, I’ve done awful things. Things I should answer for. I must confess, there are times when I feel ashamed. I worry constantly if I am accepted and if you, er, ponies can forgive me what I have done.”

Celestia felt an odd prickle of fear once again, and a faint heat behind her cheeks. She looked at her visitor and found she could say nothing.

Comments

[rikusorasephiroth]

I see now.
Discord is using this bet to learn how to tell if he is loved after everything he has done and through the actions he does now.

[meepify]

4271907 yup