Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

Disadvantaged Negotiations

Disadvantaged Negotiations

Night had fallen and Luna's starfilled sky reigned with only her full moon offering any sort of illumination. Sin and Shining continued to walk, the former having slowed considerably, with the cramps and pulling of his still tender neck muscles causing him to move more carefully, more slowly.

Shining Armor gave him not end of grief about this, encouraging the Federalist on more than one occasion to seek proper medical attention. It was actually a bit of a shock, seeing the guard captain act in such a casual way. From their first encounter, Sin had assumed the pony as uptight and stuffy as he himself, baring his wife's interference. But as the two walked, slowly but surly, the good captian's strong and purposeful walk has become more casual, much like his attitude.

It wasn't until his frogs felt the green grass give way more and more to the dead and dying earth of the badlands that he considered his companions words beyond anything besides annoying. If for nothing else than to end those little prickly thing from continually sticking into his hoof.

'Gah, sweet Tapio! Why didn't you invest in some horse shoes!' I don't know what's worse, the pain of the bite in the neck or those Milliki forsaken pricklies!'

Damn you complain alot.

'Well someone's gotta remind you that you're still a pony who's body is on the brink of exhaustion.'

Yea, I think Mr. Whipped over there's got that covered.

'Ok, someone you actually care to listen to.'

...

'Oh piss off!'

"Where did you get the map?"

Sin looked back questioningly.

"The map, where did you get it and how do you know where your friend is when the entire Canterlot Scouting Division doesn't?"

Sin smirked and looked forward. "I have my sources." He said, feeling a little too pleased at himself. Luna was a valuable asset if he played everything right, turning her in would be against his self interest should he need more information on something like this again.

"Care to share?"

"Now why on earth would I do that?"

Shining Armor gave the stallion a sideways glance, muttering about how with holding information of such a calliber was a high crime and holding such knowledge would insinuate some kind of involvement.

Sin halted in his tracks and turned to face the alabaster stallion. "If I was involved in this, do you really think I'd be wondering the wastelands instead of taking a nice, cozy train to get to our destination?"

'Dumbass.'

"Maybe you wanna throw me off?" Shining Armor replied skeptically.

"Alright, Captain, ya caught me." Sin stated in mock surrender. "I came to the castle, way out of the way of Dodge Junction in order to catch your interest and hope you followed me all the way to the badlands where I'd rendezvous with Shade and Discord. You've figured me out."

Shining obviously didn't find the joke nearly as amusing as Sin did, the two stared at each other in a tense moment of silence. "Keep walking, anarchist."

Satisfied the issue was resolved, the two continued on in silence.

---

Mac sat besides Twilight Sparkle, the two on one white and golden couch in a rather spacious studio bedroom, complete with it's own kitchen and bedding area. Opposite them sat Spike, his claws cuffed in some rather uncomfortable looking shackles. All items in the room aside from the essensials had been removed. No curtains, no vases, no busts of the alicorn sisters. Nothing that could be used as "treasure" to engage Spike's dragon hoarding instincts.

He didn't look as downtrodden as Mac had expected, matter of fact the drake looked rather casual about the situation, if nothing else.

"So, what's up?"

Mac quirked a brow in surprise.

'What's up? WHAT'S UP?! The boy's just been arrested and will face trial for assaulting an entire Pack of diamond dogs, that's not to mention the political aspect of the fact he'll most likely be tried by said dogs and possibly be put to death, and his first words are "what's up"? Is he out of his bucking mind!?'

"How are you holding up, Spike?" Twilight asked, her eyes still red from the crying she'd done, holding her son a few moments ago.

Shrugging, the drake dismissed the situation like it was some kind of inconvenience. Complaining about how long the royals plan to keep him in his comfy prison before bestowing punishment as if he were talking about a rainy day ruining his picnic.

Twilight apologized again on behalf of the princesses, explaining once again that finding Discord took president over his own missgivings. Spike rolled his eyes again and hoped that they'd find him soon, as comfortable as he was he wanted to just get the whole thing over and done with.

'It's official, the boy's lost his mind.'

Eyup.

"Spike, this is serious!" Twilight pressed, her efforts rewarded by more dismissal. "Stop acting like this isn't a big deal!"

His eyes going flat the drake took a breath. "You think I don't know that, Twi? I'm in jail because I've assaulted a bunch of dogs who hurt my pride, ran off out because I was afraid, enudlged my greed growth and went on a destructive rampage. Both Mayor Mare and you have already read me the riot act."

Macintosh didn't understand, if he knew all of this, than why was he acting so cool about it?

"It's not like me getting all teary eyed and emotional again is going to make it better some how. I've accepted what I've done, why I did it and why it was wrong. Only thing left to do is take my punishment like a big boy and hope I don't get exicuted. If I do, sniveling and crying like a baby isn't going to help it."

Both ponies present were flabbergasted at the logical and well reasoned statement. Spike did understand the severity of his situation after all.

'Well, maybe he's not out of his mind, but he's still crazy.'

Suddenly, Twilight leaped from her place and embraced the dragon in a bone crushing hug that only a mother could afford to give. "I wont let that happen to you Spike. I wont let anypony do that to you."

Slowly Spike's indifferent resolve began to crumble under his mother's embrace. A small hiccup, followed slowly by another as his body shook and his eyes filled with tears. It wasn't long before he returned the embrace and wept openly into Twilight's chest, small muffled cries telling her how scared he really was.

Standing from his own place, Macintosh also embraced both of them, his own embrace offering a type of comfort Spike didn't even know he yearned for. A male's touch, a father's protection.

---

Luna lay awake in her chambers, her eyes looking up at the ceiling as her brain moved a million miles a minute, attempting to keep track of everything that was going on, along with how she would need to act in order to keep herself safe.

Macintosh, she'd subdued with her seduction and memory alterations of her involvement with Triple M. so him accidentally passing off the information to his sister and her friend's wasn't a concern, Spike she'd kept silent by offering a ton of gems and the truth that she was simply trying to both build relations with the Federation and handle some problems within Equestria. Slowly, but surly, his memory of her involvement in the event was beginning to dwindle thanks to her dream walking powers.

Sin and Shade were definitely a problem, though. The former had mental defenses were staggering, she'd experienced Occlumency before, but never quite like this. It took all of her will to break into his dream the one night she did. She gained a little insight to the stallion, but couldn't interfere with his memories by such an indirect method.

Politics in the Federation must have been far more brutal than she'd originally thought.

And Star Shade.

Luna shivered tucked herself into the blankets. Poor, poor Star Shade. It wasn't surprising he still hated her, she entered his dreams once, and immediately left out of thorough disgust at seeing herself being forcefully penetrated in every orifice she had by black, spiked tenticals reaching out of a hellfire filled fishure in the ground, with both he and Discord laughing maniacally.

After that, she'd only went into to visit his memories, and the thought brought a tear to her eye. He suffered, he suffered so much because of her. Luna didn't mean to do it, she'd never intended for her little ponies to enact such terrible and inhumane tortures onto one of their own. She wanted to apologize to him, to comfort him in some way when they'd met in Ponyville, but he'd attacked her pride and her self. Such a thing wasn't something she could let go without punishment. His hatred of her justified or not.

Still though, she couldn't help but hate herself a little bit. Upon her return, she'd outlawed The Box prison and had all serving to be taken to other prisons to live out their sentences in a more dignified and moral manner. She couldn't rightly persecute those whom were only following orders, but she did let them know that what they had done was unacceptable and that if any such methods were used again, appropriate and proportional punishments would proceed.

But no matter how much work she put in, no matter how she reformed her ranks or punished those responsible, Star Shade and Sin would always be a couple of ponies she had to keep an eye on. Sin seemed well enough to let her be, so long as she gave him the information he wanted, and Shade was unpredictable, but seemed to honor his word when it was in his interest.

Maybe he wasn't as insane as he protrayed to be afterall.

'Or maybe you were foolish for not killing them.

Luna's eyes shot wide and she sat up from her bed with a start. She attempted to calm her body's shaking to no avail as flashbaks from a tall, black mare with serpentine terquoise eyes played in her mind.

"N-n-no! We are not like that anymore." The night princess declared feebley.

'Oh? We are very much aware of that.' Replied the icy, seductive voice inside of her head. 'That's what you had me for, remember?'

---

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Sin grumped to the alabaster stallion to which he was tied, both dangling a few feet over the dead, dirt ground as the cold night air of the badlands was cast alight by multiple bonfires surrounding them. The tree on which they hung creaking ever so as they gently swung in the breeze.

"Oh shut up, Anarchist." Barked Shining, struggling to get out of their bindings, a small trace of blood flowing from his mouth up past his eye and pooling at the magic inhibitor ring on his horn. The guard captain's heated glare constantly shifting from the insane bat-pony sitting upon a makeshift brown chair and a peculiar, serpent shaped statue, both surrounded by; zebras, buffalo, and ponies of all sorts.

Irritated beyond measure, the oaken stallion replied with just as much venom. "Tell me, captain, what part of 'hey, I know that pony, let me go talk to him and see if we can resolve this peacefully' spurned you into a violent attack, there by exposing yourself and eliminating any chance of reinforcements?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that your little peace talk failed when that madpony ordered you to be hanged!?" Shining replied, recalling the magical beam he'd summoned to throw the multiple ponies and buffalo off of Sin before they could lynch him. "You're welcome for that, by the way."

"Didn't know you cared." Sin quipped sarcastically. "A stallion after my own heart. Though, I'm surprised you followed me without reinforcements, didn't peg you for the type to go outside of protocol."

"Figured I could handle it."

Sin looked at their binding. "Apparently not."

Shining sighed. "Besides, this is your fault. What were you thinking just waltzing in and asking what was going on? Are you out of your mind?"

"Shade is a friend of mine, I thought he'd offer me parley until I figured out what was going on!"

"And you're criticizing me?"

"Well, if you'd have just stayed put or went and gotten help-"

"SILENCE YOU FOOLS!" Barked Shade.

The circling dances and chanting of the buffalo came to an end, same with the numerous conversation of both the zebra and the ponies. Shade's typically blank face looked contemplative, his brow furrowed and left hoof stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, my lord. But he's my friend. I don't want to hurt him, he saved me." He said to himself.

A few silent and tense moments ticked by. "Really?" He asked with wide eyed curiosity. "I didn't know that. As you command, BRING FORTH THE UNRULY WHOM HATH SWINDLED MY LORD'S FORMER PROVISIONAL!"

Silence. All species present looking at eachother trying to figure out what exactly the statement had meant.

If what Luna had told Sin was true, than the Discordian acolytes weren't as insane as Star Shade was, they fancied themselves 'anarchists', with the belief that Discord would offer them the freedom of government and reality that they desired. They believed that Discord would somehow use his magic to destroy any and every authority and hierarchy, thus rendering in an era of true equality in the way that nature was supposed to be. Chaos.

Or some other contrived means of self-governance. He wasn't too sure he followed the logic of these ponies, but that really wasn't surprising considering most social movements were based primarily off of emotional appeal rather than rational thought.

Still, as irrational as these acolytes may be, Star Shade's channel of insanity was one that nopony could ever hope to be in-tune with.

Shade, looking rather annoyed that his request went unheaded, slammed his hoof against his face and let out a groan.

'Star Shade just facehooved, that kind of failure is just astounding.'

"Bring the white one forward." He declared in exacerbation, grumbling under his breath about incompetence.

In quick order, the two stallions were gently lowered to the ground, where both were met by a couple of earth ponies each and Shining Armor taken to be presented for Shade.

Sin exhaled heavily, sending a few bits of dead dirt and rocks scuttling about the badland ground beneath him. As Shade berated the stallion for willfully entering such a deplorable and misery inducing institution such as marriage, Sin felt the blood rushing away from his head and tried to figure out a way to escape...

Author's Note:

Yay. Shade's the guy in-charge. Because nobody could have seen that coming.

Comments are appreciated.

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

It's pretty hard to think of Luna as the good guy, when she's keeping herself safe through rape and brainwashing. Er... seduction and mind manipulation.

Really it's pretty scary what she's capable of doing to keep the truth obscured. I really do hope it's worth it.

[Daxisle]

6100014 It probably would have been better as a big "Climax Revelation", but I figured this would be as good a place as any to insert it. After all, what's the fun of a black and white villain?

[TheStratovarian]

I'm still actually wondering if sin isn't larva infected here, even with a phrenic personality in there, it's a tad too lucid for something that has split from him.

6100014 The enchanters dilemma. No one trusts anyone who can mess with a mind. A good one, yeah, You may never know was there, but those that have the means to resist, well.. There's something sacred most with that kinda will see. And messing with 'companions' is going to bite luna back hard. Askance or no.

[Daxisle]

6100104 As much of a plot twist as that would be, I'm afraid it isn't really that, since everyone else has a "little voice in their head" too.