The Price of Citizenship

by Colgate is best pony

Living

ECY 1008.10

Ponyville, Home

Fluttershy sipped her tea, but it did little to ease her troubled stomach. The discomfort got to her for a second, and she felt her cheerful countenance lapse into revealing how she really felt. Right on cue, Angel looked up from his meal, staring inquisitively, as if he knew something was wrong. Luckily for Fluttershy, their years together had given her a good sense of her favorite companion’s quick actions, and she was able to restore her normal, complacent smile before he could tell anything was amiss. Seemingly convinced, Angel turned back to his greens, and Fluttershy felt herself relax. The feeling didn’t last, though, as the pain from her stomach growled with a vengeance.

She returned to the tea, which had cooled a bit beyond her liking. There were some carrots stored away in a cabinet in the kitchen, and some of last night’s soup in the icebox, but the pegasus forced herself to drink instead. The soup would need to suffice for dinner, and the carrots would need to hold out in case any more bunnies showed up on her doorstep in the night. She shuddered at the thought, and then felt shame at her aversion to the new guests.

I can’t turn away innocent creatures! How could I even think that?

She rose from the couch and walked towards her front door, not too weak to fly, but too tired to bother trying. The dozen or so rabbits and squirrels on her living room floor payed her no heed as she passed; they were focused on savouring each and every morsel she had laid out. As Fluttershy closed the door behind her, she felt herself wishing that she could join them.

Slow steps carried her towards town. She didn’t know what she’d be looking for, but she figured that being out of the house would at least prevent her from eating any of the food that she hadn’t allocated for her own use, a thought that again made her feel shame.

Things hadn’t always been this bad, she thought. Her stipend from the government, compensation for taking care of Ponyville’s creatures, had never been very much-- Rarity sold dresses that would have taken her months to even dream of purchasing-- but it was enough for her to live comfortably, and to keep both her and her animals well fed. When the government cancelled her funding due to the “Indefinite State of Emergency,” there had been fear, but not panic. She had a bit of a nest egg saved up, mostly from her modeling career (the thousands of bottles of Carrot Cola she’d also earned having lasted far longer than she could bear to think), but it was sucked dry quicker than she had expected. It was then that the panic set in.

That was three months ago now, and she counted herself lucky to still be. . . not alive-- she had no fear about starving to death, despite the circumstances-- but lucky to still be herself, to not have given in to the dreariness. And just as she could have, even should have, expected, it was the Apple family that had kept her going this long.

----

It was the end of summer, and Fluttershy, bored and lonely, was trying to find something else to clean-- for the thirtieth time-- when there was a knock at the door. It frightened her. None of her friends were in town to visit, and ponies had stopped bringing her animals to care for weeks ago. Ponies had stopped doing much of anything, in fact, with the restrictions on power and food usage seemingly getting worse every day.

The knocker tried again. She walked to the door, opened it a crack and peeked out. She didn’t see anypony.

“Hey Fluttershy!”

Startled by the disembodied voice, she slammed the door shut, took a deep breath, and opened it again, this time aiming her gaze towards the ground. A cream coated filly smiled up at her.

“Oh, hi Apple Bloom. What brings you by? Will you come in? I’m sorry, I don’t think I have any tea or snacks to offer you. . .”

Apple Bloom smiled in her usual, charming way and entered the cottage as Fluttershy apologized for the state of her abode. The pegasus noticed that the filly, still blank flanked, had lost both weight and some of the shine from her mane. Regardless, she seemed as peppy as ever. Fluttershy also noticed that her saddlebags were full of apples.

“Aw, that’s okay Fluttershy! Big Mac said that I should bring you some apples before I asked you to come work for us, cuz’ then you’d be all ‘buttered up,’ he said. . .”

Apple Bloom’s face scrunched up as she realized what she just said. She blushed and smiled up at Fluttershy. The pegasus returned the gesture.

“I couldn’t take your apples, Apple Bloom, especially after how hard you’ve been working to get them. Apple bucking season must be right around the corner, right?”

Apple Bloom dropped her saddlebags and, after looking for permission from her host, hopped on the couch. Her smile sagged.

“Yeah, and Big Mac says ah can’t go to school until all the apples are harvested. That’ll take forever! And Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle aren’t around any more to make it any better, either.”

This was news to Fluttershy. She joined the filly on the couch, keeping one eye on the bags of gleaming apples.

“Oh dear! What happened to your friends, Apple Bloom? Are they okay?”

“Yeah, ah guess. Sweetie Belle’s parents decided to look for work in Fillydelphia, so they’ve been gone a week. And Scootaloo’s mom moved back home to Cloudsdale after her dad got drafted, so ahm here all by mah self. And still no cutie mark, of course.”

Fluttershy reached a wing out to comfort Apple Bloom. The draft notices had hit many families in Ponyville hard. Caramel, Cloudchaser, Lyra and Carrot Top had all received their notices soon after Antara-- the thought of which made Fluttershy tear up at the thought of all those dead ponies. Even Cranky Doodle Donkey had been recalled to his post as a Vice Admiral in the Navy. Big Mac had only been exempted because of Apple Bloom, and even that took some luck. Fluttershy knew that both her flying skills and test scores would keep her out of the military, and with no real education to speak of, she was in little danger of being drafted into any type of profession. Still, the idea that the government-- and not even Princess Celestia, who probably had much bigger things to worry about-- could decide her fate was unsettling.

“I’m sorry, dear. I wish I could help some way. . .”

Apple Bloom sniffed, and trying not to show how much she missed her friends, looked up at Fluttershy.

“Well, that is what ah came here for, Fluttershy. Big Mac said to ask you to come and help us with the harvest. We’d pay and feed ya, he said.”

Pausing to think, Fluttershy ran a hoof through her mane. It had lost some color in recent weeks, as her favorite shampoo-- one of the pegasus’ few pre war ways of spoiling herself-- hadn’t been on shelves in a while. Still, the pink shone warmly, reminding its owner of Pinkie Pie, the thought of whom brought a smile to her face. She turned back to Apple Bloom and the untouched apples.

“Well I’d love to, but I don’t think I’d be much help on a the farm.”

“Don’t be so modest! You were great at Apple Bucking when Flim and Flam came round, and when my sister almost killed herself when Big Mac was hurt. Besides, we have lots of other things that need doin’, like cooking and cleaning and taking care of the animals, of course!”

Fluttershy smiled. She hadn’t thought about that part.

For the next two months, Fluttershy rose at dawn and crept under her sheets when the moon was directly overhead, spending almost every moment in between at Sweet Apple Acres. In addition to offering Fluttershy all the apples and apple related treats she could even dream of eating, Big Mac and Apple Bloom always insisted that the Pegasus stay the night in Applejack’s old room. She politely refused each time, preferring to head home and feed her animals. Big Mac said that she could take a few extra apples home for the critters, meaning that her friends would be patiently waiting for the door to open each night once the sun had set. It was much more work than Fluttershy was accustomed to, but her full belly combined with a sense of pride in her work to dull the pain in her back and joints. She went to bed each night utterly exhausted, but content; no wonder Applejack loved her work so much, she thought, almost as a mantra.

On the first Wednesday of the third month of the arrangement, though, the web of happiness she had built fell apart. Fluttershy was in the south field, collecting the apples that had been missed in the major harvest of the previous week, when she noticed it without actually realizing what it was. The sound of birds chirping overhead combined with the gentle autumn breeze to give the orchard an eerie stillness. After observing the calm, for a second, her synapses found the missing piece- the constant thump, thump of Big Mac’s bucking had fallen silent. Fluttershy dropped her basket and took to the air, racing for the barn.

She was overjoyed to see both siblings unharmed, and chided herself for jumping to conclusions so quickly. She would have sheepishly apologized for leaving her post until she saw the red envelope laying in the dirt.

Apple Bloom was reading the letter it contained, her eyes rapidly darting across the parchment. Big Mac sighed, and with a mighty heave, tossed his collar aside. Fluttershy realized that she had never seen him without it before. The stallion looked beyond Fluttershy, then to the sun high above. The wind blew through his mane, as if to dramatize the situation further, and Fluttershy briefly thought back to a forgotten time when this act of nature would have made him look even more handsome. In the present, it merely highlighted the deep stress lines in his face.

Big Mac finally made eye contact with Fluttershy. He sighed again and turned towards the farmhouse, speaking slowly as he trotted away.

“Mail came.”

----

Fluttershy found herself in the center of town. She looked around for any familiar faces, but was not surprised to be disappointed. Ponies tended to avoid it these days, except to watch as the black clad military police carted off the latest batch of new recruits. Fluttershy had stood in the same spot nearly a fortnight ago as she watched Big Mac and Apple Bloom tearfully part, the stallion being torn away from his sister and shoved into the carriage along with six other ponies.

She carefully trotted through the empty town, keeping as quiet as possible. The silence was unsettling, but Fluttershy’s gentle steps did little to add anything to it. Judging by the position of the sun (the town clocks had been shut down, either to save power, or because nobody was around to wind them anymore), dusk was approaching, and she needed to be home before dark. Calling the recently passed law a “curfew” was inaccurate, to be sure-- she had every right to be outside after dark, and nothing legally prohibited her from doing so. Still, it was a small price to pay to avoid the inquisitiveness of the night watch. They frightened her as much as anything else these days.

The quickest path home took Fluttershy past the train station. The last time she had been here, too, was a fortnight ago, an hour after Big Mac had been whisked away. Apple Bloom was smart enough to board the train to Appleoosa on her own, but Fluttershy had promised Big Mac that she’d see the filly aboard and wave as she departed. Apple Bloom fought tooth and nail to stay on the farm and keep things running, but Big Mac remained resolute. The point became moot, though, as Big Mac was able to lease his apples-- an entire year’s worth, including what the three ponies had worked so had to collect over the past two months-- to the government in lieu of the property taxes that were now sure to go unpaid. Although she would never dare admit it, Fluttershy had wished that Big Mac could have saved a few apples for her animals. Even weeks later, the thought made her conscience stir with shame.

The walk to the train station with Apple Bloom had been uneventful. Fluttershy tried to talk with Apple Bloom about seeing Braeburn and Bloomberg again, but the mare was silent from the moment Big Mac left until the moment she boarded the train. She had stopped crying as well; Fluttershy figured she’d lost the will to do even that. The thought made the pegasus hang her head.

She sulked along for a few more yards, trying to stay rooted to the present moment, oblivious to her surroundings.

I need to stay strong. Angel needs me. All of my animals need me.

Fluttershy sighed audibly and tried to formulate a plan for the next day’s food. She had given up scrounging around Sweet Apple Acres, and none of the other farms would allow her to access without paying bits that she simply did not have.

Well, she thought, with much trepidation, I could always try the Everfree Forest. . .

Had Fluttershy time to fully process the thought, it would have shaken her with fright. Thankfully for her psyche, though, trotting face first into a baggage laden mare with three apples on her flank jarred the idea from her brain.

Author's Note:

Hey all. Hard to find time to write these days. School is a drag like that, isn't it. Hence this shorter, somewhat hurried chapter. But it is an important one, i think.
New perspective here, but not one that will be taking much focus away from Applejack and RD. Wanted to give the home front a turn, so to speak.
Thanks for all of the support, it means a lot.
-gate

Comments

[Aatxe360]

The chapter was a bit short, but the perspective is a nice change of pace. Glad to see this hasn't completely turned into Starship Troopers. Elements of it abound, but it has become something original.

Keep up the great work! Can't wait for more.

[Colgate is best pony]

3257407 Thanks! Too short, now that I've had time to process it, but I wanted to avoid beating a dead horse, so to speak.
Appreciate the support, it means a lot.