Neo Confrontations (II)
Neo Confrontations (II)
Sin bit his lip and forced his wings to full extension, keeping them there for a full ten count before dropping them down and holding them all the way down for another ten count. This had been some of the most grueling training of his life, no matter how hard or long he'd stretch and strain, his wings would still punish his brain with subtle jolts of pain through his spine.
As if his physical ailment wasn't enough, his argument with Twilight earlier that morning had kept him from getting any sleep. She was rightfully upset with him, after all he did give a minor enough alcohol to the drake stupid happy, but he had a good reason. Never the less, he was in some trouble with her, though he wasn't too concerned with that. He did what he felt needed to be done and would see the fruits of his labor when he got back.
Though, what he did care about was that Uppity was going to be making a surprise visit most likely, so he that little lecture to look forward to as well. Not to mention Sin would also have to put up with whatever the mayor was going to throw at him for his fiasco with Colgate. Probably bring up his "anger management issues" again or something.
'Dude screw her, regulating candy to foals is just retarded.'
Yes, yes it was. Changes were going to happen in this town, and he'd be both loved and hated for it.
Sparing a glace at Fluttershy, Sin smirked as she preformed another suicide run between a couple of trees. She was getting better, that was for sure. Though, as soon as she turned to see him, she quickly succumbed to her doe eyed statuesque form. Of this, Sin had had enough.
"Ok, kiddo, this is getting ridiculous!" Sin snapped, the entirety of his patience fully lost for the Fluttershy's dear to wolf stare at him. She physically flinched and stepped back from him, her animal friends taking their usual formation of protecting her whenever someone dare to speak against the pegasus.
He eyed the many rabbits, squirrels and birds who stood guard over their care taker, his anger subsiding as a small idea hit him. "Tell me something, is this what you plan to do for the rest of her life?" He stated calmly, the critters shocked that he was speaking to them for once. He may not be able to reach Fluttershy directly, but maybe he could reach her through them. "Do you plan to fly for her on Friday when the Tornado is expected?"
He waited, watching as a few of the animals looked nervously between themselves. "Yes? No? You might wanna come up with an answer." He growled, before turning his attention back to Fluttershy. "I wont be able to participate, so I don't personally care, but Rainbow Dash does and she's the one who'll be disappointed in her." He turned his attention back to them. "Can you protect her from that?"
All of the animals looked away, knowing his words were true. All except one. A white rabbit who acted both as a ring leader and personal master of the cream colored pegasus. Sin was half right in thinking she had an abusive boyfriend, it just happened to be a small ball of fluff named Angel. (The sexual character between the two he couldn't say, but wouldn't be surprised to discover one way or the other.)
Angel pointed to him, placing his index finger from one side of his neck to the other in the universal sign of slitting ones throat or shutting up, Sin wasn't sure which applied, so he went with the former. "You think I'm scared of you?" Angel made some rather rude hand gestures. "Mother fucker, I'll turn you into rabbit stew, keep going!"
That made the snow bunny second guess himself.
"Stop it! Stop it both of you!" Fluttershy chided, finally taking a stand for herself. "Don't you dare threaten him like that again!" She pulled Angel into a sweet embrace, cooing words of comfort and saying that Sin wasn't going to follow through with his threat.
The Federalist, for his part, just shook his head and went back to what he was doing. It was a waste of time talking to either them or the pegasus. They were a synergy that fed off eachothers motherly nature and desire to protect. Love was a strange thing, but it did just as much harm as it did good.
She was Rainbow's problem from there on, he didn't need that kind of stress, there was enough to worry about.
"You said you'd turn him into rabbit stew!" Rainbow demanded, slamming he hoof on the ground.
"To be fair, he threatened to kill me." Sin said dismissively, his time exercising for the day done. "Or he was telling me to be quiet, doesn't matter. Besides, it's not like what I was saying wasn't true."
The cyan flyer threw her hoof against her face. "Are you seri- This is Fluttershy we're talking about! In case you haven't noticed, being hostile doesn't work out well with her."
"Yea, and yet you teamed me up with her. What's up with that?" Sin cocked his head to the side. "You do know who I am, right?"
Rainbow growled in frustration before castigating the Federalist about how she found his language appalling as well as his treatment of others. Sin countered that she already knew that's how he was, yet she still had him practice with her friend. "I'm honestly not sure what made you think that was a good idea."
"Because you both had the same problem!"
"No, no we do not, Ms. Dash." He pointed to Fluttershy, who was resting under a tree and snuggling with Angel again. "Her problem is she can't face others at all, I can, I just don't like to be laughed at. Which I'd say is more of a universal problem than anything."
She was quick to point out that his treatment of her wasn't the best nor most encouraging, but yet again, that's just how Sin was. Fluttershy didn't like him and he didn't like her, setting them up together was a bad idea from the start. He knew it, but went along anyways because he didn't want to have to fight over it, but the ensuing fight seemed like a piece of cake by comparison.
"Look, I tried, alright."
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did," Sin pushed, trying to maintain his cool. "This? This isn't helping her. My observing isn't helping her, she needs her friends to give her encouragement. That's why she's surrounded by those damned rats all the time." -Rats, squirrels and rabbits; same thing- "If you want her ready before Friday, than you'll need to find someone more suited to the job than I am."
The two stared each other down for a time, Sin was resolute in this, though. Rainbow was right, Fluttershy didn't need hostility, she needed compassion and gentle encouragement, and these two things were not his strong suit. Eventually, Rainbow gave in with a depressed sigh.
"You're sure you can't help me with this?" Sin nodded, he wasn't happy about a failure, but he didn't have a chance here. "Fine, you can go then, I guess."
The stallion complied and turn to leave for the Town Hall and gave a nod when Rainbow said she still expected him to keep up his exercises. He didn't need to be told, regaining full motion of his wings was a person project now, but he was worried about the overall return. His wings weren't as big as they needed to be, and even if he did regain mobility without pain, could he fly again? Was all of this time and energy going to be worth it in the end?
Standing in the back and reading over another few old propositions, Sin sat in on his first City Council meeting. While unable to speak on the matters directly, he was allowed to listen in and give advice should it be asked for.
The Council meeting was one of "emergency", one of the many they'd be having over the next few days, to debate and discuss the follow through with the dozens of pieces of legislation the Federalist had spat on and thrown back at them. Programs would need to be cut, service members fired, public declarations made, it was every bureaucrats worst nightmare. The paperwork was so enormous that not a single one of the council members dared to make any more propositions.
"So, with Proposition 11445-01 Road Repairs budget cuts from 40,000 bits per year to 25,000 bits per year, and monthly maintenance cut to maintenance every four months, we of the Ponyville City Council will now decide if the extra funding in 15,000 bits will be allocated to other endeavors or proceed with tax cuts in appropriation to the registered businesses in which it effects."
"Do anything but that." Sin commented absently as he turned the page. "See what happens."
He felt four pairs of eyes shoot directly at him and smirked. He loved it when they did that.
"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Rain Drops declared. "He isn't even apart of this town, what right does he have to come in here and tell us what we can and cannot do!"
Leaf Spring placed a hoof onto the young mare, attempting to calm her while maintaining her scowl.
"He's been sent by Celestia Rain, unless you've already forgotten about the Empirical Inquiry and Audit that we had last week." Mayor Mare growled, looking at the earth pony through narrowed eyes.
"Like, okay fine, but why does he get so much power here?! We all had to get elected to our seats, but he just, like, watlzes in and Celestia expects us to listen to him? That is so unfair! Ponyville likes the way we do things, so why should what the Crown says matter!?"
Sin's smirk faded at the accusation. That... was an excellent point actually. Well, it would have been, if it were the full truth of the matter. "You really think the population is happy with the way things are currently, Ms. Drops?" He asked, picking up the file he was working on and walking to her. "Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I believe a few ponies were in just this morning making complaints about Ms. Colgate's Candy regulation that was to be brought up for popular vote next week. One Ms. Bon Bon leading the charge, if memory serves?"
Rain huffed and looked away, folding her forelegs over her barrel. Sin didn't like that Colgate was using government taxes to fund her proposition voting campaign, but that was something he did allow for one simple reason. An informed population is a better population. He'd need to figure out a counter campaign in advocacy against her proposition, but without use of tax payer bits. Grass roots were always more effective, the kids and candy stores would be useful, they were the ones most affected after all.
"Differing opinions doesn't make an unhappy town, Sinbad." Leaf Spring retorted sagely. The green mare was smart, very intelligent, probably on par with his own. Though, with her intelligence came cunning and manipulations, Sin had to be on guard whenever speaking with her.
"Perhaps." He agreed, "time will tell." He laid down another folder to the pile for the council to look over.
And time would tell, it would tell him that she was absolutely right. The population would suffer a little, especially the construction and maintenance sectors with all the work he was taking away from them. He'd also need to find a point of mitigation for that as well before the lynch mob came for him. The small farms around the town would have excess capital with the tax cuts, maybe he could present some business opportunities that would employ the majority of the lay offs? Something charity related maybe? Celestial did own him a favor after that whole "occupy" fiasco.
The meeting finished up with a good bit of work done, Sin keeping them on point of course and he finished up one last edit to an addition to the school house. He wasn't stupid enough to cut what little funding there was to that, though he could see the need for an extension. One building for multiple grades didn't make sense, if anything, they should be receiving just a tiny bit more money.
'You son of a bitch.'
Hey! Piss off alright. I can't just be the "no more government" pony anymore. I'm not here to turn this into an Libertarian paradise, I'm here to make this town run more efficiently.
Silence, complete silence permeated the Library as Sin sat on the floor. Across the table from him sat Uppity, reading through Twilight's reports one more time. She hadn't said a word to him besides asking him to take a seat. A full hour of her sitting and reading had passed, and Sin was getting sleepy. He didn't complain though, he was done meeting Rainbow for his wing training, so he planned to take the day off before heading back to his job at the lumber mill.
It was going to suck having to wake up even earlier than before, but it would be fine. He felt more in shape when he was pushing the logs around, and maybe he could get Spike a job there too.
"'What the fuck is this'?" Uppity said suddenly, her tone as firm as stone. "'Get this out of my face', 'are you fucking kidding me with this', 'This is a joke and you didn't even give me the courtesy of making it funny', and 'did your mother drop you on the head when you were a foal'?" She was reading off quotes from his past dealing with Colgate.
'Fucking nark.'
"Hehe. Yea, good times."
The DA didn't share his happy feelings and gently closed the folder before rubbing her eyes with her hooves. "Sin, Sin, Sin. What am I going to do with you?"
"Accept my apology for one." Uppity scowled at him, saying that it wasn't her that he should be apologizing to. "Huh? Oh, no I'm not sorry for saying that. Shit, I wish I had stamps that said that." He chuckled. "What I'm sorry for is the way I've been treating you. You've been very generous with me, and I've been taking advantage of that."
He felt a flicker of hope as a small light returned to her eyes. His words were genuine and he didn't intend to get her forgiveness, but he did want her to know he was sorry. She looked away a small blush taking her cheeks. "Don't try to butter me up now."
Sin denied her words. He was sorry, and he explained why. Telling Uppity that he'd been unfair to her because of her Imperial position of power, despite her best efforts to both befriend him and show him leniency. The purple maned pony, not expecting the heart felt comment betrayed her professionalism for just a split second with a misty eyed happiness.
It wasn't to last before she cleared her throat and brought up another crime he'd committed. One that Twilight had almost thrown him out of the library for. "Provision of alcohol to minors is a serious offense, Sin. Why in Equestria would you do such a thing?"
The oaken stallion pressed his lips as the memories came flooding back to him once again. Crasus' cold and blank face, his intoned depression, the iron door, the body laying on the blackened streets of North Wood. He closed his eyes and opened them to find Uppity staring at him firmly, but with an undercurrent of concern. "I know you're not stupid enough to do that for just the fun of it."
Taking a breath, Sin saw no way out of this charge other than being truthful. "Fine. When I was in the Federation, I had a friend named Crasus. Unicorn pony, smart guy. He..." He paused, finding the story much harder to tell than he thought. "He wasn't a happy stallion. He thought alot, about how uninteresting life was."
"I knew for a while that he was in a miserable depression. He'd never find a nice thing to say about anything, life was shit because of this, or nothing mattered in the grand scheme because of that. You know." He cleared his throat, finding that there were onions being cut somewhere in the house. Uppity's cold stare was completely gone now, nothing but anticipation and interest.
"He never told me what happened, but I never asked either. I thought that if he wanted to talk, he'd talk and I had no right to pry into his life. But the more time went on, the more... *Sigh* the more I saw it coming, the more I knew it would happen."
"What would happen?" Twilight asked from behind, the tea in her magic growing cold from her time standing and listening.
"October seventeenth. Crasus wanted to meet me to tell me something important on the rooftop of a Skyler building. I knew what he wanted to say, and I'd come to terms with it. I thought there was no stopping him then. It was his life, right? His decisions to make. What business of mine was it to stop him?"
"What. Happened?" The librarian repeated a bit more forcefully.
Sin chocked on his words as he blinked back the tears. He blamed himself alot for it, and why shouldn't he? He let it happen, he didn't stop Crasus from jumping, he didn't even show signs of concern. The Federalist was right there, not even a few feet away and he just walked away, knowing one of his oldest friends was about to take his own life.
"He... he asked me to shoot him." Both mares gasped. "He wanted me to make sure he didn't half ass it that time. The last time. I told him no, of course, but I did walk away as he stood on the edge of the roof."
He could see Uppity visibly shaking, if out of anticipation or rage he wasn't sure. Twilight still hadn't taken her place on the sofa yet either. "I told him to jump head first, make sure he did it right the first time."
"The... the dead, broken and lost look in Spikes eye. It was so close to Crasus, the look he had before he killed himself." He sucked in air through his nose and calmed the subtle shaking in his legs. "I couldn't let depression take him, not after what I've seen it do before." He turned back to Twilight, finding tears streaming down her eyes. "I'm sorry your upset with me for giving him alcohol, and I know he's sorry for drinking. But I'm not sorry for doing the only thing I knew to try to pull him away from a darkness I was too stupid to fight before. I did what I did because I care about him, and hopefully he'll be better off for it."
The room was quiet, nopony spoke.
What was there to say? What could someone say to something like that? Hey, I just stood by and let my best friend kill himself, gave him a few pointers too. Sin couldn't let that happen again, the consequences against him be damned.
"Is all that true?" A fourth voice pipped up. All three ponies looked up to find the drake looking down the stairs, his eyes just as tearful as everyone else's. Sin merely nodded in reply, not expecting him to hear it too. He didn't know why the baby overhearing the tale scared him, would he think it was a lie to justify what he did? Using psychological manipulations to gain pity?
"Anyway." He cleared his throat again, committed to finishing things on a note that didn't make him feel like an emotional whiny bitch. "That's all there is to it. You can say all you want about the law or whatever. That's your problem."
Uppity stood from her place on the couch and quickly walked in front of the Federalist. She looked at him for a few seconds before reaching out and taking him into an embrace. Sin froze up at the contact, unsure of how to respond.
"You lost somepony." He felt her hicup, but kept his head and eyes forward. "You lost somepony important to you, and you don't want that to happen again."
Furrowing his brow, the Federalist squirmed slightly from the hug. It was true, he did care about Crasus, he wouldn't admit it before today, but he did care alot. He just wasn't sure about what right he had to protect the pony from his own desires because they were his own desires. Spike hadn't reached that point of hopelessness yet, he couldn't risk it getting so bad.
The room was silent for a time, each of them reflecting on their own thoughts about the discovery. Twilight was the first to speak, voicing her appreciation over Sin's actions, but still condemning them under both morality and legality. It was to be expected, she was a government type after all.
"You did what you thought was best." Uppity whispered into his chest, squeezing just a bit tighter. She understood. She understood more than she cared to admit to those present. "And for what it's worth, I am proud of you."
Sin shivered, unsure of what to do. "Ahem, yes, well. Thank you." He lifted his hoof and gently patted her on the back.
To his surprise, the orange unicorn chuckled. "Way to ruin the atmosphere, Sin." She pulled away and beamed, happy that she finally learned something deeper than before. It was gut wrenching and humiliating, but the Federalist felt a bitter sweetness at his exposition. Still, that left the matter at hoof.
He wasn't going to take any punishment lying down this time, and made it clear that he'd fight whatever the two pushed on him. Uppity and Twilight looked at each other for a moment, silently coming to an understanding that his crime was to be taken into account, but a passive method of punishment would need to be considered.
"You have one week." Twilight declared suddenly. "One week to find a new place to live. I understand what you did and why you did it, but I don't trust you around Spike anymore. You've broken that, and I don't want your influence in my home."
It was a fair deal, he'd long felt he overstayed his welcome anyways. He'd need to speak to a bank tomorrow, but Sin felt confident his next pay check would cover a down payment. Well, assuming he put in a shit ton of overtime anyways.
Spike began to protest on his behalf, though Sin beckoned him to stop. It wasn't his place to say who did and didn't live in her space. He wasn't planning on staying much longer anyways.
Depressed about his friend's kind act going being condemned, Spike just shook his head, glared at his mom and stomped off back to his room. He'd be angry for a while, but it's not like the two would never see each other again. Twilight excused herself to speak with Spike, leaving the two alone.
"So what do you plan to do?" Uppity asked, the life back in her eyes.
Sin shrugged. Only thing he could do was continue on as he was while looking for a new place to live. He didn't think Twilight was as angry as she lead on, his dismissal was more of a matter of principal, which he could respect.
The conversation sequaed into lighter topics, what Uppity had been up to, what his plans for Ponyville were and finally just talking in general.
And while his mind was in the conversation, Sin did come to realize something. He'd changed, alot. Since he came to Equestria, he'd laughed, cried, cared and was cared for. Spike, Mac, Celestia, Uppity, Rainbow and even Twilight to a degree, were ponies he come to respect in a way he hadn't respected those back in the Federation; not even those within the Liberty Syndicate.
Where his work in the Senate was more out of his hatred of government than his liking of others, here it was the opposite. Granted, he still had a general dislike of the over all population, but unlike at home, he didn't hate them. They were decent in Equestria, ponies were genuine here. This was the kind of world he wanted to make the Federation into, where respect for the "rights" of others wasn't enforced through law, but a general respect throughout the population. Where compassion reigned supreme and the individual wanted to be good out of a sense of respect for the efforts of their fellows.
He'd always told himself he could never live in the world he wanted to create, that he'd been too jaded from his time submerged in the lowest form of muck that sentience had to offer. Yet, here he was, attempting to make it even better.
He'd scarified more here than he ever did back home. His emotional wall, his sense of individuality and even his freedom to a large extent. Sin never thought he'd give up anything that he had, yet here he was. Spilling his guts, taking deals to limit him to a single town, working as a part of an entity he despised for the sake of others he didn't even know. All because he wanted to.
It wasn't going to be easy, but maybe, just maybe he could finally be part of the better world he'd always wanted.
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That was surprisingly anti-climatic. I was expecting a hell storm. Oh well.
Fluttershy and her animals are irritating me more and more.
Pffft. Hehe. Never thought of it that way and it is very fitting.
I guess that's true.
Well. Another political showdown. Let's see what happens.
Ain't that the truth.
Yeah....That is an excellent point.
One can definitely understand Bon Bon's position. The regulation hurts her profits.
That's not a bad idea.
Attaboy Sin.
*Nodding in approval and respect*
Gonna have to agree with Uppity here. Sin you party pooping jackass.
Ouch. I actually felt that.
That's correct. Her house, her rules.
That's a mouth full.
Reminds me of America in the early years.
Love the chapter.