BPT: The Coup of Avarice

by Wolven5

Chapter 13. Beginning of the End: Dawn of a New Era

The following days were busy. Sombra returned, having made sure the cure had reached all the afflicted cities and towns but was sad to report that for some, the cure had come too late. He was absolutely FURIOUS to hear how Cheap almost killed his wife and Luna, but was assured his unborn child was all right, and that the Royal Sisters would be as well. Things got rather intense when it was somehow leaked to the public that Cheap had been the one behind the mass-poisoning, and the public outcry called for his head, even from the other nobles of the Canterlot Elite.

The Brotherhood of the Evening Hoods worked triple-time to take down as much of Cheap's criminal empire as they could, making arrests left and right at nearly all levels of authority. Many dirty secrets from some of even the most well-respected individuals in Equestria were dug up, and Brass Scales knew the courts were going to be busy for quite a while, prosecuting all these arrests. Firestorm helped maintain public order, with the help of Showstopper and Miracle Cure, and once the Royal Sisters were back on their hooves, Celestia declared the time was long past.

The Aristocratic Council was called to order sans its disgraced members, and every duke and duchess formally surrendered their titles and political powers and the government-owned assets they oversaw to the crown, and Celestia declared the Aristocracy was no more. The council would be reformed and elections would be held as soon as the particulars were decided upon.

To Midnight's regret, he reported that despite his and the Hoods' best efforts, the Aegis Armor medallion had disappeared without a trace. He came to the conclusion that someone might have taken it after his battle with Cheap, and that thought was not a comforting one.

To everypony's surprise, Cheese Sandwich somehow encountered Tomato Sandwich in the castle and... one thing led to another, and it was confirmed that the two were indeed related after word was sent to the orphanage they'd both come from in Manehatten and the matron informed them that they were twin brothers. Naturally, Cheese was over the moon with joy, whereas Tomato found himself fearing for his sanity.

But then, as things were finally beginning to slow down, it was time...

The onlookers shouted and cursed and booed and jeered as the disgraced former Duke of Business and Commerce was escorted by four armed Royal Guards to the middle of the courtyard, wearing chains on his legs and a band around his barrel to keep his wings pinned. He was unresponsive to all the hate and shouts and threats and trash thrown his way, his mane was disheveled, and he carried himself with a hollow demeanor.

The guards halted him once they reached the designated spot, and secured his chains to keep him in place before they joined the rest of the guards who were keeping the onlookers back, until a loud and somnolent bell rang, and almost immediately the fury of the crowd quieted and calmed down, and all eyes turned to the balcony as the doors opened... and out walked Celestia, with Luna and Sombra at her right, Twilight and Midnight on her left. Their friends and Spike stood with the crowd below. Despite the bandages and her wing in a sling, she betrayed no discomfort and walked with stone-cold dignity. Once she reached the railing, she took a deep breath.

She spoke, her voice calm and even yet the undertone was tense and condemning, and her words reached everypony's ear as she spoke using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"You stand accused of murder. You stand accused of treason. How do you answer these charges, Buck Cheap?"

All eyes turned back to Cheap. who just stood there, a glazed look in his eyes, everything about him drooping, as though all zeal and defiance in him had withered away.

"You masterminded a conspiracy to discredit the throne by poisoning shipments of food to create an outbreak across Equestria, do you deny it?"

Cheap said nothing.

"You undermined the authority of the crown in effort to sway the council to demand the abolishing of the throne so that the council would assume rule over Equestria, do you deny it?"

Cheap said nothing.

"You bribed a research assistant in the Department of Science and Innovation to give you the chemical formula of the poison you used to contaminate the food shipments sent out by the Galloping Grains Agricultural Society's wheat farms, do you deny it?"

Still, Cheap said nothing.

"And when you were discovered to be behind this entire conspiracy you used a magical artifact in an attempt to assassinate everypony in the council room, myself included, while you signaled your agents to subjugate the citizens of Canterlot! Do - You - Deny it?!"

Even then, as Celestia raised her voice, lacing it with contempt, Cheap said nothing.

"Wow, talk about stonewalling the royals," Thunderlane whispered to the others.

Celestia was losing her patience but she maintained her poise.

"Have you anything to say in your defense, Buck Cheap?"

Finally, Cheap slowly gazed up at the Princess of the Sun and she saw a pony who had nothing left as he spoke in weary disrespect, "Just get on with it..."

"If he wishes a speedy trial, shall we facilitate that wish?" Sombra whispered to his wife though Celestia gave no reaction before she took another deep breath.

"So be it... House Avarice will be dismantled, every ill-gotten Bit your family has acquired will be seized and donated to charities across Equestria. And as for you... You crimes are unforgivable. Your motives despicable. Buck Cheap! There is but one punishment I can pass, and thus... I sentence you to death!!"

There were cheers of approval from the crowd, but Twilight and most of her friends were aghast by Celestia's words. Twilight whispered to her old mentor, "Princess Celestia, please! Please reconsider, this sentence is-"

"Silence, Twilight Sparkle..." Celestia responded to her coldly in a tone she'd never taken with her old student. "This is the only way..."

Twilight looked upon her old teacher in horror as Celestia took another breath.

"There will be no delay. No leniency. No chance for you to wriggle your way out of this. Arbiter!"

Midnight stepped forward, a dark look on his face as Celestia lit up her horn, conjuring a golden bow with a single arrow, with fletchings of flaming orange feathers. She levitated them to him, and he accepted them, to Twilight's horror.

"Midnight, no! Please don't do this!"

"I must, Twilight," Midnight responded in a voice devoid of emotion. "It is my duty."

Twilight struggled before leaving a note and storming out, ashamed of what everything had come to. She felt her own trust misplaced after all this time. Midnight and the other royals ignored that to carry out this duty, and as she left, she was followed by Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Cheese Sandwich, who all likewise could not stand to witness what was about to transpire. A wave of happiness washed over Buck. At last, this torture would come to an end. No need for any crazy spells that resurrect the dead or remove the criminal, just honest, plain death.

He welcomed it. For all his life, he had been raised with one hoof in the light, the other in darkness. He had been forced by his father to witness ponies die. On his thirteenth birthday, his father had forced him to murder a snitch in cold blood. He'd lived his life in fear of his own father, forced to learn and partake in the true legacy of House Avarice. Crime. Murder. Extortion. When his father had died, he'd been elated, naively hoping he could redeem his family name, change it for the better.

How foolish he'd been.

Princess Twilight was right, he thought as he awaited his executioner, I never had a chance.

He heard hoofsteps and gazed up to see Midnight approaching, the bow and arrow held under his wing. There was no pity in Midnight's eyes nor enmity. It was almost as though he were a moving statue, only performing actions designated by an enchanter. Midnight gazed up at Celestia, who nodded, and so he readied his arrow and took aim.

"Let it be known that this is more than a simple execution of a traitor to this nation and her children. What happens now... is a warning. A demonstration of what awaits those who would dare to threaten my little ponies' lives and happiness. Take a moment. Breathe it in. To all enemies of Equestria, this is the fate that will await you!!!"

Taking those words as the signal, Midnight released the arrow-

*Shunk*

-and it buried itself into Cheap's stomach, causing him to gasp in utter agony!

He looked down at the arrow sticking into his gut, and realized, this was not going to be a merciful death. He was to be denied the sudden release into the embrace of the Pale One. No... he was to suffer.

Then! The entry point where the arrow had entered him, it ignited! He gasped in abject horror as the lick of fire blazed into a roaring flame, quickly spreading across his body as he let out an ear-piercing scream!!!! Everyone watched in shock as Cheap struggled even as the flames engulfed him completely, his screams barely heard over the roar and crackle of the fire!

...and then the screams stopped, and the flames quickly died down.

Cheap was gone. All that remained was a pile of ashes.

Silence befell the courtyard. Nopony spoke a word as they looked on in mortification at the ashes of the villain that had hurt so many of them, some of the mares actually felt pity while the stallions found themselves strangely empty, finding no satisfaction in Cheap's death... when everyone noticed the ashes suddenly shift and there was a strange cry. They looked closer and gasped to see... a foal!

A baby foal, coughing and sneezing, struggling out of the ashes and beginning to cry. It was a pegasus colt, with a wine red coat, a golden mane, and though no one was close enough to see, his eyes were glass bottle green. Sending the bow away, Midnight approached the crying colt and gently levitated him into his wing as Celestia spoke.

"Buck Cheap is dead. House Avarice is dead. This foal is a ward of the state and it is my deepest wish that he will be taken in by a family that will love him and raise him to be a pony who loves and respects his fellow pony. This trial is over... go home."

And with that, Celestia turned back to go inside, followed by Sombra and Luna. The crowd began to disperse while Midnight, followed by his friends who'd stayed to watch, went back into the castle, cradling the colt in his wing, gently shushing him to calm his fussing.

Midnight took the colt to the hospital wing, where a nurse gladly took the foal into her care and the baby was calmed with a bottle of warm milk. Midnight looked upon that little colt, as he happily drank his bottle, when he felt his friends watching.

"Weren't expecting this, were you?" he smiled before looking at them.

"Ah gotta say, Midnight," Applejack spoke up while quietly approaching the foal, "Ah don' think any of us saw this comin'."

"Nnope," Big Mac agreed.

"So... is that colt really Cheap?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Buck Cheap is dead, Rainbow," Midnight said firmly, "and this foal will have a better chance than Cheap did, to be loved and raised right."

There was a tense silence for a few long moments before they all came in and looked at the foal, and Soarin asked, "What's gonna happen to him? Will he... remember anything?"

"No. Cheap's life is over, and this foal will hopefully be taken in by a family that will love him," Midnight answered before taking a deep breath. "I got to go find Twilight."

"Good luck."

They all turned to the door and saw Cheese, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity, as the orange party pony said, "She doesn't wanna see anypony right now."

"Coochie-coochie-coo!" Pinkie whispered softly as she gently tickled the foal's belly, making him giggle before he suddenly looked upset and began fussing.

"Uh-oh, somepony needs a little attention," Fluttershy gently picked the foal up... and patted his back-

*BURP*

-and the fussing quickly stopped, evident by the foal's relieved sigh.

"There we go, all better," Fluttershy put the foal back into the crib and the way she just seemed to glow... Big Macintosh finally put it together. And fainted.

While Fluttershy, Applejack, and Thunderlane worried over the big red pony, Midnight slipped out to find his wife.

Midnight found his Twily in her old tower but hesitated to enter. To be fair, he knew it had been upsetting to her. Just because she hadn't stayed to witness it, the knowledge that her mentor had condemned a pony to execution and had her husband carry it out... Midnight sighed, hoping that the truth behind the execution would make it less... dark, but ultimately decided to let Twilight have her time alone.

Returning to the castle, he wandered the halls, uncertain of what to, who to talk to... when he noticed Blueblood coming his way.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Well, Big Macintosh is fine," Blueblood assured before chuckling, "It's just he finally managed to figure out he's going to be a father too, and I suppose the revelation caught him off guard."

"Heh, it's about time, I guess," replied Midnight and the two shared a good chuckle before another silence befell them.

The moment stretched a while before finally Midnight sighed, "I don't know what to say to her... Even if I explain what happened, even if she sees that baby, I don't think..."

"Twilight was always a little too pure," Blueblood shrugged, "I knew her since our days in my aunt's school, and though we partnered a few times for assignments, you know she was always more interested in books than friends back then. But there was always a brightness in her eyes, a love of learning and a belief in something... special.

"Now, she is a dear friend to me, and I love her in a very similar way as I love my sister, Cadance. Still, even as a grown mare and a princess, she retains this... rose-tinted view of the world, and something like this, it just conflicts with her on a personal level."

"And to witness the mentor she's always seen as the paragon of goodness challenge that perspective..." Midnight understood.

"...Midnight? Let's go talk with my aunt and then our friends," Blueblood suggested, "I have an idea, and I have a feeling it's going to be rather... sudden."

Author's Note:

The arrow that was used to execute Buck Cheap was fletched with phoenix feathers - Cheap's crimes were too heinous for life imprisonment or banishment, at least to me, so that left execution; but even so, even if the crimes were that bad I don't feel Celestia would sentence someone to death so coldly. I considered it for a while before I finally realized the perfect solution and felt 'this can work'

So, Celestia came up with this alternative form of execution - Execute the criminal and give them a chance to start over; the phoenix arrow burns the victim to ashes and the victim is reborn from those ashes, just like a phoenix

Comments

[Southern Wing]

Interesting way to end buck cheap. I do wonder what midnight's idea is.