Chapter 115
Sumac’s vision was obscured by the fresh cloth that had been placed over his muzzle by Trixie in an attempt to get the spurting to stop. His head ached in a new, previously unexperienced and horrible way. His whole body burned with rage and sweat poured off of him as he sat there in the dead grass, trembling. He had the hiccups and he felt like throwing up every time his body hitched. Bitter, stinging bile pooled in the back of his throat and burned the insides of his cheeks.
“Are we all in agreement?” Twilight asked, her voice solemn. She looked at her tribunes, her eyes flashing with restrained emotion. “All of Ponyville awaits your answer… what shall we do with Flam Apple?”
“Tarnish, I want to hear you promise that he won’t suffer.” Lemon Hearts turned to face Tarnish, her eyes pleading. “I can agree to his punishment, which he deserves, but I will not condemn anypony to a lifetime of cruel suffering.”
“Miss Hearts, I give you my word that he won’t suffer from this.” Tarnish lifted his head and drew himself to his full height, which was impressive. He towered over all present, even Big Mac, though Big Mac was much, much bulkier by far. “I’d be willing to Pinkie Promise, if you’d like—”
“No, that’s alright.” Lemon Hearts let out a resigned sigh and her ears drooped. “You have my vote, turn him into a tree. It’s probably a nicer fate than being returned to prison.”
One of the ravens in a nearby tree let out what sounded like a cawing laugh.
Blinking a few times, Big Mac’s sides expanded and then there was a whistling snort as he let everything out. He looked at Flam, a cousin, and then he looked at Applejack. For a time, he studied her rage-filled expression, looking a bit sad himself, and then he looked over at Sumac. The big red stallion said nothing at all, but seemed to be weighing his opinion.
With a hesitant clearing of her throat, Starlight gave voice to her thoughts. “If I was to make a mistake, I would want mercy.” As she said the word ‘mercy,’ her voice cracked and became a squeak. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and all of you know that. I’m far from perfect. He needs to be punished, he needs to pay for his mistakes, a pony has to pay for their mistakes when they do wrong. Mercy is what makes us better ponies and mercy is the single greatest lesson that Twilight has taught me. I say we punish Flam, but give him a peaceful existence, free of suffering.”
Big Mac, his head rising and falling, looked over at Starlight as he nodded in agreement.
“My opinion on this matter is known,” Tarnish said, and then he swallowed once. “We can’t have him running around as a threat to us. It’s not just about Sumac, but all of us, and Pebble too. As a father, I have to keep my daughter safe and look after her better interests. Our enemy would like to have them both, both Sumac and Pebble. I will not have her safety compromised. I say we turn him into a tree and neutralise him as a threat.”
Twilight let out a muffled grunt, blinked once, and then looked Tarnish right in the eye. “Tarnish, are you saying…” Twilight’s words trailed off when she saw Tarnish nodding.
“Twilight, we both know that the threads of fate can be manipulated.” Tarnish, his head still held at a commanding height, looked down at Twilight. “I’m not worried about our enemy coming along and saving him from being a tree, but I want him removed from the playing field completely.”
Sumac felt Trixie pull him a little closer and he could feel her trembling.
Big Mac, noticing Trixie’s distress, took a step closer and said, “Before I cast my vote, I want your opinion, Trixie. As Sumac’s mother, I want to hear what you have to say about this issue. Can you sleep better at night knowing that he has been turned into a tree? Or do you want a more final outcome for your own peace of mind?”
There was a shrill squeak as Lemon Hearts sucked in a lungful of air and Sumac felt Trixie go rigid. The colt drew in a deep, shuddering breath and tried to quiet himself so that he might hear what his mother had to say. Trixie’s sides rose and fell, her breathing now rapid, and she looked over at Lemon Hearts, then looked away after a second, blinking away tears.
“Speaking as a pony who was given a couple of second chances, and understanding the importance of mercy… he traumatised my son... I would feel better having him put down. I don’t want him turned into a tree, I want him hung from one!” Trixie spat out the last few words and she turned a burning, spite-filled stare upon Flam, who still lay in a heap in the grass.
All of Big Mac drooped, his ears fell, his back sank a little, and his knees bowed out a bit. He let out a resigned, weary sigh, the sort of sound one might expect from him after pulling a plow all day. Applejack moved to his side, looking worried, and she looked up at her brother with shimmering, moist eyes.
“Mac?”
“I cannot in good conscience cast my vote for mercy,” Big Mac said in a voice little more than a whisper. “I say we put him down and plant him in this here graveyard.”
At this, one of the nearby ravens let out a mournful cry.
“Twilight, the vote falls on you,” Tarnish said to Twilight, who looked visibly shaken by Big Mac’s words. “I don’t think any of us expected that from the big guy, but I understand. Family comes first.”
“Eeyup.”
“The final vote is a formality at this point,” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “With three consenting, that’s enough to carry the decision.”
Shaking his head, Tarnish’s jaw muscles clenched. “No, princess, we’re owed an answer from you and I for one would like to hear what you have to say.”
Scowling, Twilight looked up at Tarnish and glared him at him, her eyes glittering with anger that she did nothing to hide. “You said what needed to be said, Tarnish. Family comes first. After hearing what Trixie had to say, I had a painful reminder that she is my sister and Sumac is my nephew. That changed my mind and my vote. That made it equinal for me and I felt my objectivity go right out the window. There, are you happy? Two dissenting, three consenting! Mercy wins out.”
“Twilight… I’m sorry.” Tarnish’s tone was apologetic and he lowered his head a bit.
“No need to be sorry.” A tear rolled down Twilight’s cheek. “That’s why I formed a tribunal rather than make a decision on my own, just in case my own judgment was compromised. Justice will be carried out here, maybe not the justice that some of us want, but the justice that was chosen by cooler, wiser heads.”
“You could overrule our choices—”
“Tarnish, no.” Twilight’s lower lip quivered. “That would undermine everything I stand for as a princess of Equestria. I will adhere to the principles of democratic rule even if I don’t always agree with the outcome.” Twilight swallowed and the audible gulp caused many ears to perk. “Now, come on, let’s get this over with.”
Gagging, Sumac coughed out a wad of bloody phlegm onto the grass as Trixie clapped him on the back. Feeling nauseous, he lifted his head for a moment, gagged again, and coughed up even more bile and phlegm, which he spat out. He became aware of the fact that Pebble was sitting right next to him and Boomer was coiled around one of her front legs.
“Starlight Glimmer, remove his mark,” Twilight commanded, her voice ringing through the cemetery. “A tree needs no destiny and should have no fate.”
“Twilight…”
“Are you disobeying my command?” Twilight asked, tilting her head off to one side.
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” Starlight replied, “I just feel funny about doing that in front of other ponies, that’s all.” Looking a bit confused, Starlight glanced over at Flam, who had started sobbing when Twilight had issued her decree. For a moment, a very visible expression of pity passed over Starlight’s face, and then it was gone, replaced with a mask of grim resignation.
“Already, I know that you feel no regret for what you’ve done,” Twilight said, her horn glowing, and Flam’s body was outlined in a faint glow. “The only regret you feel is that you got caught. You sicken me, Flam Apple.” Twilight lifted the prone stallion and held him up in the air for all gathered to see.
He hung limp as a rag, his face was as lumpy as a sack of potatoes. One eye was swollen shut and he made a few feeble kicks with his legs. His jaw, crooked, hung away from his face at an unnatural angle. The stallion gibbered with terror as Twilight let him hang in the grip of her magic.
“I’ve learned a few tricks from Princess Luna,” Twilight continued, “and even with just a peek at the surface of your mind, I don’t like what I see, Flam Apple. I know why you came here to Ponyville and you’ve compromised the safety of all of my subjects in doing so. Mercy is more than you deserve, but mercy you shall have. The ponies of my tribunal have spoken.”
“Twilight,” Starlight began.
“The condemned have no rights,” Twilight replied, cutting Starlight off. “Don’t lecture me, Starlight, not now. I know that mind reading is frowned upon, but Flam is now equina non grata. He’s surrendered all rights to privacy when he came to my kingdom and threatened my subjects…” For a moment, it looked as though Twilight was about to say more, but then she bared her gritted teeth at Flam.
Lifting her head high, Starlight’s horn flared with light and Sumac felt his magic sense go bonkers. For a second, he was certain that whatever was left of his brain was about to be scrambled and he worried that his eyes were going to pop right out of his head. The pressure on his brain increased to unbearable levels and the light coming from Starlight’s horn was blinding.
A mournful, burbling cry came from Flam as his mark was torn away from him, and his whole body trembled as Twilight held him in place. It was difficult, but Sumac made himself watch every horrible second of it, hardly blinking, and he refused to turn away, even when it became unbearable.
“Now, now bare of your mark, you feel regret for what you have done,” Twilight said in an emotionless deadpan. “How interesting, Flam Apple, it seemed that fate was not kind to you, and it was your mark that made you the way you are. That pain that you are feeling right now… that is what the rest of us feel when we do wrong. It hurts, doesn’t it?”
A ragged, wet scream tore free from Flam’s throat and one swollen eye struggled to open, his eyelid fluttering like a frantic butterfly. There was another scream, and then another, and there was a broken sounding howl that could no doubt be heard all the way into Ponyville. For Sumac, it was probably the most dreadful sound he had ever heard in his whole life.
Flam’s mark floated inside of a little glass jar that Starlight had conjured; she held it in her magic, looking solemn and sad, her face etched with pain and regret.
“Yes, you threatened your own son,” Twilight said as Flam thrashed in her magical hold. “Having never felt the pain of doing wrong before, I’d imagine that this is a terrible experience for you. Don’t worry, it will all be over soon.”
A raspy, bubbling cry came from Flam’s lips and with only one eye somewhat open, he managed to look at his son, Sumac. Whatever expression that Flam might have had on his face, it was obscured by the swelling and was unreadable. Disgusted, Sumac turned away from his father, and with a sob, he pressed himself up against Trixie. He felt Pebble’s foreleg come to rest on his withers, but it offered no comfort in his current inconsolable state.
Looking grim, Twilight turned to Tarnish. “Are you ready?”
Cringing, Tarnish turned away from Flam and looked at Twilight so that he could acknowledge her. He nodded and replied, “Yeah. I can do what needs to be done. So it was his mark that made him the way he was?”
“He still chose to do wrong, his mark just protected him from his guilt.” Twilight eased Flam down into the grass and let go of him. “He is not absolved of all of his crimes just because of his mark.”
“No, no, I suppose not.” Tarnish’s withers quivered a bit and his tail swished from side to side. “I know all about taking responsibility for my own mark.” The chocolate brown stallion’s lower lip protruded a bit and he shook his head as he exhaled. “Flam, Twilight is done with you. Come, let’s you and I have a little heart to heart, Flam, and then we’ll do what must be done…”
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This.
Great chapter. Very satisfying.
Love these heavy chapters. They make you think about somethings you normally wold not take note about.
Damn....
I feel sad for Starlight having to do something she would have wanted to do again in several years. It must have been hard and painful for her to have removed Flam's cutie mark.
Why was his mark removed? It feels very arbitrary.
7880687
It's pretty obvious why, when you think about it.
7880693
I guess to make him feel regret? But they wouldn't have known that would happen. Would the mark have an effect on him as a tree? I'm sorry, I just really don't get it.
Dayum. That was intense. So, it was the mark that
madehelped to make him like that. I'm kinda torn on this one.It's moments like this that remind me why I love Kudz's writing. I sympathize with the characters demanding a harsh punishment, but am torn at the same time because I understand the opposite side as well. It really makes you think.
7880701
On the odd chance that he is somehow freed, do you really want a pony with the talent for lies, misdirection, and a smooth tongue on the loose?
Would you really want to take that risk?
Hmm...
His cutie mark, a sign of and mark of his destiny, made him feel no remorse for his actions and enabled much of his lies and rather nasty actions and abilities.
This has disturbing implications galore. Namely, multiple forces are at work involving destiny, and that they are not necessarily nice.
7880741
Correct.
Well.
I can honestly say that when I started reading this story, I was not expecting cosmic horror.
7880713 7880701 Who wants a poison Apple tree growing in your cemetery, remove the poison & let him be some good to the community. At least he can provide shade.
7880741 If you recall, all the worrysome signs, all the dangerous potential, everything that let Flam be what he is, you can see it all on Sumac too.
But he choose, or, is still choosing, another way.
7880713
That makes sense logically, but something about this whole thing still felt unsatisfying, and after mulling it over for a bit, I think I know what it is.
I don't view Flam as a threat. I can't. All I've seen him do is show up out of nowhere, act slimy for a bit, then get beaten half to death by a five year-old. Yes, it turns out that he did have nefarious intentions, but I didn't learn that until after the fact. Any menace I might have felt was gone before it really had a chance to manifest. It makes the severe punishments uncomfortable when it's not happening to someone I want to see severely punished.
Now, it makes perfect sense for the characters involved to want him severely punished (even if Applejack went over the line). The problem is, I'm having trouble getting 100% behind the characters when I don't share in their anger or hatred. I'm not invested enough in Flam to be properly repulsed by him.
Of course, for all I know, that might have been the intention. I can never really tell with you.
7880868
This is not America. How do your values apply here, exactly?
7880876
He used his own infant son as a hostage.
Interesting chapter, wondering how long before Sumac's mother and Flim shows up. If by some chance EXTREMELY unlikely Flam escapes he has been sundered from the special talent of his Cutie Mark.
As it stands best bets of freeing him would be:
1. Convince Tarnished to do it somehow
2. See if Tarnished's magic comes unraveled upon his death
Downside this is a potentially slippery slope for Twilight. If it was a possibility would've she removed Tarnished's cutie mark rather than banishing him
7880876
That's the problem with basing consideration on what you see and not context. A manipulator doesn't let you see that they are a threat until after they've won (oftentimes by then people will believe they were the one in the right while the virtuous are being stoned to death and ridden out of town on the rails, and they will have no reason to doubt the righteousness of the evil silver-tongued devils). And Flam is a master-class manipulator. They are the worst kinds of threats. Maybe he can't blow up a mountain or stop time, but he can win people over to his side who can. A word that can topple empires, and bring the end of civilization. The most potent weapon of the manipulator is being underestimated.
If he'd been allowed to continue, the enemy would be laying successful siege to Equestria in hours. That's the kind of threat he posed. Whether you think he's a non-issue because a toddler beat his rear into the dirt or not, the world as they knew it nearly ended right there due to Flam Apple.
7880693
I figured it was also in part due to Tarnish and Twilight's unspoken conversation that with his mark gone he could no longer be a factor in anyone's plans, Grogar or otherwise.
7881294
Yep.
7881031
If as Clausewitz wrote, "War is the continuation of politics by other means." And one considers that the morale and mettle of a population is a critical factor (if not the center of gravity) in warfare then Flam is at the very least as dangerous as Catrina.
7880883 Can't really comment on this without seeing the original comment, and that's been deleted. But I'm guessing the shorthand here is that American criminal procedure is the way it is for a good reason, and so can be appealed to as good in itself without much further thought. Most of the time, that's acceptable; I don't expect a random Internet comment to reconstruct Beccaria from first principles.
That said, American criminal procedure* is not very friendly towards defendants. In particular, its sentencing guidelines are extremely vindictive to convicts. On top of that, you'll almost never get an initial sentencing from a panel of judges, and when sentences are appealed the panel's review is for reasonableness, not de novo.
Let's say Twilight had been the initial sentencing judge in a US-like system,** and the other ponies in the tribunal had been the appellate panel. Let's further say that she has a set of sentencing guidelines that establish that the sentence for activity like Flam's is either death or arborification. In a vacuum, she'd probably choose arborification. The other tribunes, being in this scenario an appellate panel, couldn't testify, but Trixie could, and would sway Twilight just like she did here. The panel would then be able to review Twilight's decision for reasonbleness, would find death in the sentencing guidelines, and would have its hands tied. In a US-style system, the punishment would be death.
All that said, I'm rather disappointed in Twilight. There is much to be said for letting yourself be moved by emotion . . . in situations that lead you to choose life over death. Not the other way around. There's also the point that one ought to be moved by emotion, but not ruled by it instead of reason. Twilight here proved herself less moral than, of all people, Michael Dukakis.
* I'll be referring to the Federal system throughout, because I'm not terribly familiar with my own state's criminal procedure, let alone the procedure of whatever state Raistlin is from, and because the relevance of any one state to the broader comment-reading public is not likely to be high.
** Actually, in such a system she ought to have recused herself and appointed a different judge, but put that aside.
7881389
It was a statement that Flam's civil rights had been violated.
7881436 You guys seem to forget the princesses have supreme executive power, Equestrian is in the end a monarchy. Luckily the princesses are not corrupt and strive to no be corrupted. Like Tarnish said Twilight could overrule the tribunal, she'd face NO penalties for doing it, she chose trial by tribunal because of her own principals not the law. The princesses word IS law, superseding all other in Equestria,, democracy exits at their discression. Flam's rights were not violated, because Twilight is allowed to do what ever she wants so she can't violate anyponys legal rights the same way other government officials can.
This has very uncomfortable implications about just how powerful and influential a mark can be for a pony, even beyond what the weedverse has show thus far. Although I guess that's one of the overstory's running themes.
7881723 While this is of course true, the original founding principle of American civil rights was not that the legal system happened to have arbitrarily decided that these were some good rights to give people, but that they already existed, naturally, and could only be denied by tyrants. So anyone who has absorbed much of that philosophy will quite naturally see anyone suppressing such "inalienable rights" as being tyrannical, and will not give tuppence for the fact that the legal system they lead permits them to do so.
And, of course, while it is true that most reasonable bronies consider all the Princesses to be sincerely and (usually) competently acting in Equestria's best interests… it's also true that this is an obvious case in which Twilight's objectivity is seriously impaired.
Very intense chapter. Hit all the right spots.
My heart goes out to Twilight the most, because she has to protect her friends, family, Ponyville and the rest of Equestria. The conflict between being aunt( that just had her nefew attacked and could lost him forever) and fair ruler. I am sure that these decisions are probably eating her up. 
I do think that she made the best possible decision that could have been made. 
As for Flam, I think either death or suspended animation is about the same. Because I sure Grogar has already messed with death some so bringing him back to life or half life is very possible. I also can understand removing his cutie mark. It makes that much harder for him to become a threat. I agree with Flam punishment but I also sympathize with him on how physical charistics can effect ones mental behavior.
Hmm not being able to feel regret is quite the mental illness.
It can quite get into the not guilty by reason of insanity.
Once you get the person CURED of this illness you SHOULD see if he CAN be a proper member of the society.
This is REALLY hamfisted as a treatment, especially as the evolution of the question is an unforeseen development.
Transforming him into a tree and leaving him there for decades or centuries is not really a good thing.
So his mark protected him from feeling guilt....but that means he does and did have a conscience. So rather than mentally ill, does that mean his mark allowed him to con himself into believing "the only people who get conned are those who want to be?" The same way people lie to themselves until they believe it but more effective? It would fit with his talent...
Your Flam must thus be a true sociopath. Con artists often are. I'm guessing Flim is too.
I haven't directly seen Belladonna yet.
I never saw your Trixie, mine or vanilla Trixie as worse than bad-tempered and at most having mild sociopathic tendencies. But Trixie isn't normally malevolent, and she wants to do good.
I was hoping Flam would have a longer presence, but I suppose this works.
In mitigation, I'd point out that Flam just had his head bashed when he made that threat. IMO, a certain amount of ire is understandable.
Under those circumstances, folks often say things that they don't really mean