Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

Analyzation

Analyzation

Sin and Mac were walking through the green forestry that constituted the apple farm. The sweet red apple lined the trees in the current section of the orchard and the smell of the delicious fruit brought a familiar calm to the red pony. This was his property, this was his hard work.

"Sure am glad my sister is lettin' me have a day off." Mac sighed, happy to be able to relax his aching form from bucking apples.

"Indeed." Sin replied observing the apple trees. A slight breeze picked up and he took in a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of the tenderly cared for trees. "So why did you want me to come out and walk with you in the apple orchards?"

Macintosh chuckled, causing Sin to raise a confused eye brow.

"Bein' cooped up in tha' house was startin' to get on mah nerves'." Big Mac replied cracking his neck. A few more steps and his smile faded to a more serious expression along with his tone. "But more or less for privacy's sake." He halted his trudging with the brown caped stallion stopping a few feet in front of him.

Sin turned back to see Mac was looking at him thoughtfully. "Are ya' gonna answer my question or not?"

Sin furrowed his brow and stared at the ground. Mac watched with baited breath, the red stallion hated to be confused in anyway and with the emotional turmoil he was going through; the lack of knowledge on how to deal with his new found pride was eating him alive. Finally the enigmatic pony spoke, "Hmmm. You would think with me being the master of vagueness I would be able to give you an answer to that question. However, I'm afraid you will need to be a bit more specific than: 'How to balance your freedom with that of others'."

Mac took a breath, "Le' me put it this way." He lifted a hoof for emphasis, "Now say i'mma walkin' down the street, mindin' my own business; n' i find a sack o' bits on the ground. No one claims it, n' ah take it for my own." Mac finished looking at Sin, who gave a confirming nod.

"Now say, somepony addresses me for those bits, claimin' the coins wer' there's and that they wanted them back." Mac continued as he bucked a tree with half strength, causing a few apples to descend freely to the ground. "Now, off the bat ah don' believe them, n' ask for proof." He held an apple in his hoof and gestured as if taking it away from an invisible accuser. "They can't give me any but still insist that the bag o' bits is there's, what do ah do?"

Sin stood silent for a time, he made some thoughtful sounds as he mused the scenario over in his head. "and there is no way for them to prove it was theirs? Nothing in the bag besides bits?"

"Nope." Replied Mac simply.

"Then it's your call." Sin shrugged, Mac opened his mouth to speak but the freedom oriented stallion cut him off. "Lost property is one of the hardest things to prove, assuming of course, that the individual didn't take the necessary precautions to ensure that such a valuable asset was secured on their person or that it would be identifiable should reclaim be required. However, if there is absolutely no evidence that the money does belong to the pony who claims it does; than for all intents and purposes you have proper claim over it, as it is in your possession."

Mac mused over what he was being told. A thought perked in his mind that shattered the Sin's words. "But, the money don't rightfully belong to me."

"As of the moment it's owner leaves the property on the ground, it can be perceived as abandonment of said property." The brown pony grinned. "As such, the property has no owner and therefore is free game to those who wish to lay claim."

Macintosh recoiled from the swift answer, he couldn't imagine that anypony would willfully leave a sack of bits on the ground, only to have them stolen by another person.

"Now, what you do with said bits is at your full desecration." Sin continued, picking up one of the bucked apples and using it as an example. "You could: Give it to the pony claiming they were the proper owners, surly out of the trust that the pony in question wouldn't lie to you. You could take it to a lost and found, and allow them to sort the whole thing out for you, or you could take the more selfish approach and keep the monies for yourself. Doing what you please with it, but knowing that it was once the property of another and you did nothing to earn it." With each example Sin made gestures of holding the apple out and recoiling it to his chest.

Big Mac couldn't lie to himself, the third option was rather appealing before it was put in such terms. In a way it was thievery considering he could have given it to some one whose job it was to help return to the property to the owner. "And those are mah three options?"

"Of course not!" Sin exclaimed taking a bite of the apple. "Big Mac, I am only giving you examples, you must learn to think about these things for yourself. Use your own judgement to determine what the best course of actions would be. Other options would be to: Give the bits to a charity, or to a friend, or to simply place it back on the ground and hold no involvement over what befalls the money."

Mac scrunched his snout. Do nothing with a bag of money you find on the ground? The thought would never have occurred to him to simply walk away and let such a precious commodity go untouched. "Bu' wha' if thah proper owner, dosn' get it back?"

"Such as with your own freedom Big Macintosh." Sin took another bit of the apple and swallowed. "Mmm, i must say this is quite a delicious treat, I wish they had this back in my country." He took another bite, his train of thought broken by the sweet syrup of the fruit.

"Yea..." The red pony replied, subtle inquiries popping into his mind about the mysterious pony's country of origin. "Now what about mah freedom?" He asked, eager to get the conversation back on track.

Sin swallowed the last of the apple sighed contently. "Oh yes, sorry. Such as with your own freedom, it is the responsibility of the owner to protect what is theirs." His content and proper stature, giving way to a more disheartened one, "Lest you be robbed of it, and have none to blame but yourself for you own lack of vigilance."

"So, if ah lose it, it's my fault and ah shouldn't expect anyone to do the right thing, and help me fix mah mistake?" Mac asked feeling a little offended that his companion would suggest that the options that sounded less than moral, would in fact, be acceptable.

"Were you put on this earth to help ponies find their lost belongings?" Sin asked smirking.

Mac's eyes widened at the recognition of the question. At first he didn't understand its relevance, but the more he pondered his place, the more the pony made sense. "So, I wasn't put on this earth to do the right thing?"

Sin chuckled, putting his hoof over his mouth to hide his indignant smile. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me."

"Wha'?" Mac asked tilting his head in confusion.

"In the world we live in, there are no objective forms of: 'right or wrong'." Sin said making air quotes with his hoof. "There is no black and white, nor is there good and evil. There is only perspective."

"Perspective?"

"Take this into consideration." The brown clad stallion gathered five apples and placed them in a circle. "In my country we had socialized medical care. Now, that means that everyone pays a certain amount of taxes to fund the medical system." He pointed to the five apples. "All of these people have their money stolen from them by threats of violence from the current government, and place their taxed money into a big pot to pay for others being treated." He finished drawing a small circle in the middle of the apples.

Macintosh tilted his head trying to understand what he was being told. "Ok, why does the government make y'all do that?"

"Because some of the people in my country can't afford to be treated by the hospital." Sin pulled out some red pieces of paper, the faces of various proud mares plastered slightly on the side. "With out enough of this, the doctors wouldn't treat ponies who were ill, so they created a system where everypony paid in equally to fund the doctors endeavors of treatment."

Rubbing his temples, Macintosh squinted his eyes to the concepts being spewed forth. "So... Folks are putting money aside fer' other folks... to get to help in tha' hospital?"

Sin shrugged, "More or less."

"Why though? In Ponyville we can just pay for it, it doesn't cost that much."

A small laugh erupted from the oak stallion, his cape rustling slightly from what mac assumed were wings beneath. "That, my good sir, would take quite some time to explain. But the main point I was trying to make was: Since the system was for the 'greater good' of helping individuals who were incapable of helping themselves, it would seem to be the 'right' thing to do." He motioned at the apples all giving something to the center. "However, should one of them refuse to pay the tax out of desire to keep the money they earned..." He slammed his hoof down on the one closest to his companion, shooting bits of apple and seed in every direction. "They are punished with violence or fines. Thus bringing into question the so called 'goodness' this system has to offer."

Mac wiped bits of apple from his face, he furrowed his brow at the thought of ponies being hurt for simply wanting to keep their money.

"I think a break from such deep metaphysical constructs is in order." Sin smiled, brushing the freshly made applesauce off of his hoof.

Mac couldn't deny that the information he was receiving was quite overwhelming. Life was relatively simple for him prior to this pony's acquaintance. He would work on the farm, sell some apples, make his money; and spend it how he saw fit. Unless, of course, something was against the law to buy, in which case he would happily obey; thinking that Celestia would know better than he on matters of such importance. But the thoughts raced back to his captivity in the cell with out charge, where was Celestia then?

"OMIGOSH NEW PONY!" Cried an overly cheerful voice from behind the two stallions. They looked back to find a bubble gum pink mare bouncing up and down excitedly. "HIYA! My name is Pinkie Pie, and you must be new here. I mean I know everypony in town and i don't know you so you must be new here, and if you're new here that means I have to give you one of my special welcome to Ponyville parties!"

The pink mare continued rambling on about her logic of parties and friends, with only short breaths to interrupt her. "Friend of yours?" Sin asked Macintosh, his head bobbing up and down with the bouncing mare.

"Eyup." Mac replied nodding his head.

"... and i love meeting new ponies, whatsyourname?" She asked with a giant grin.

"My name is Sin." Replied the brown stallion calmly before bowing his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms Pie." he smiled his typical polite though, empty smirk.

To Macintosh's surprise the pink mare stopped her bouncing, a pair of wide and curious blue eyes were locked on his new friend. "Sin? What's wrong with you?" Pinkie asked bluntly, her voice void of comedy or playfulness.

An awkward silence consumed the once noisy and lively atmosphere of the that had ensued with the pink ponies coming. The light ruffling of trees in the wind were comparable to thunder claps in the growing tension of Pinkie's odd behavior. "I beg your pardon?" Sin finally asked, his grin wavering.

Pinkie's eyes narrowed, and she began to circle the pony, inspecting and judging him up and down. Mac watched in complete shock, he had never seen the pink party mare react to anypony in such a way.

"You seem..." Pinkie hesitated, scrunching her face to find the right words. "Empty. No that's not the right word." She scratched the top of her head with her hoof. "Fake?"

"Fake?" Asked Sin, his smile collapsing entirely. "I apologize but I am afraid I don't understand wh-"

"I'VE GOT IT!" Pinkie exclaimed before jumping into the air and rushing back to the the town proper.

Mac stood in bewilderment, he knew Pinkie could be random at times, but he had never seen her insult somepony new so blatantly. Yes Sin was standoffish, but he would hardly use 'empty' or 'fake' as a word to describe him. "Ah am sorry 'bout that, Pinkie has always been over excited and random, and ah have nevah' seen her act like that before."

Sin didn't reply, he simply watched with a stone face as the pink mare raced back to town. Macintosh looked between her and his companion, his mind guessing what Sin was making of his sisters pink friend. After she finally went out of view of the two stallions, Sin took a long breath and looked back to Macintosh. "Big Mac?"

Macintosh waited for the stallion to continue before he acknowledged it was a question of acknowledgement. "Eyup." he replied hoping the brown pony would finish his statement.

"You said she didn't typically act like that, correct?" Sin asked blankly.

"Nope, usually she is much more hyperactive and loud. When she first arrived is how she usually acts all the time." Mac replied before clearing his throat.

"Just from the few moments i have been in the presence of that pony, i can tell you right now; she is one of the smartest mares i have ever seen in my life." Sin shook his head, "I am not sure what you think of her, or how long you have known her, but believe me when i say; she is not as silly and over excited ball of happiness, that she appears."

There is no offense nor belittlement intended to anyone's differing political, social or economic ideologies. This is simply how the story goes.

Comments

[omega-ze-wargod]

your political knowledge pleases me MOAR

[Godiswithus3]

This brown stallion reminds me of Herbert Spencer and Ayn Rand. Atheistic libertarians to be precise.

[Starsword]

These further insights into Sin's libertarian, individualistic philosophy are interesting, but WHY ARE THERE NO GUARDS CHASING BIG MAC?!!

[Starsword]

This introspection into libertarian individualistic thinking is interesting but why are there no guards chasing Big Macintosh? Some pony has to have noticed him being missing from the jail by now. I'm definitely seeing why Applejack Is rubbed the wrong way by sin. His forced politeness and calling everyone he meets 'Mr.' or 'miss' seems entirely forced and insincere to me. Lastly, I find Sin's argument against socialized medicine to be weak and rather confusing. To be totally frank, as much as I appreciate the idea of literature being used as a vessel for political/social commentary, I think it is best left in the hands of experts like Victor Hugo, Harper Lee and Charles Dickens. Otherwise, the message comes out incoherent or unclear. I'm not sure if you are trying to make a political point with your story, but perhaps it would be best if you stuck to the plot instead.

[Kazz]

Why are there no guards chasing Big mac, you ask? well, the guards kidnapped him, thus making them criminals. Now that Applejack knows this, if they tried to pull this stunt again, she could just tell Twilight and directly involving Celestia

[RealityDowngrade]

In the world we live in, there are no objective forms of: 'right or wrong'.

So disappointing, and I was genuinely excited about this story too.

[Jerrrry]

7164371 he may be right he may be wrong
Hitler thought he was right, most people don't
everyone has their own perspective
best part about this there is no right or wrong only gray areas is funny to me, everyone has there own thoughts and perspectives.
so I propose he is not wrong but not right at the same time
yay for philosophical questions!

[KingOfDreams]

Why... Why haven't i read this before?