• Published 11th Jan 2013
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Stallions on Strike! - Aegis Shield



The stallions of Ponyville are tired of being second class citizens and doing all the hard work! Down with the mare!

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The Petition Answered

Stallions on Strike!
Part 14: The Petition Answered

The summit was over. All three royals were smiling. The audience boxes were empty. Word spread quickly that on the morn, the results of the meeting would be announced to Canterlot. This, of course, meant that every hotel was full, every bench was occupied, and plenty of all-nighter parties were going on.

Big Macintosh, however, was led into the royal palace. Applejack and the others travelled as a group, right through the front gates. “Oh hey, there he is. Hullo, Big Mac!” A pair of guards stopped their patrol to wave. “Lemme get that for you.” said one of them, magicking open the portcullis and bowing a bit.

Applejack smirked when she caught her brother blushing. “Yeah, you’re a big shot now, eh?” she teased a little. He gave her a look, but she patted him apologetically. “Everypony knows your face, Big Mac, whether you wanna just go home’r’not.” The farming mare turned at a corner as they weaved their way through the ornate castle. Big Mac felt guilty for having dirty hooves, trodding on exquisite carpets and polished marble floors with his big clumsy hooves. He was used to the earthy ground on the farm. This was all so grand, he felt out of place. A pauper in a palace.

“Don’t worry Big Macintosh.” Twilight said helpfully while Spike rode on her back. “I’m sure Princess Celestia just wants to congratulate you on your victory. I mean, you are the face of the Stallions on Strike, since you started all this.” She smiled at him broadly. “I’m sure she just wants to have words with you.” Very suddenly, Big Mac had a sinking feeling. He was the symbolic start of the S.o.S. Suppose the Princess threw him in jail? Tortured him? Made an example out of him to show that the mares were in charge?! The stallion’s eyes got big and jolted to a halt, horrified.

“Nope!” he turned to run, barreling through the ponies that were following him. He got past the Cake herd, Twilight and Spike, knocked over Blueblood and then bashed face-first into Fancy Pants. The stallion yelped a little, but dug his hooves in and stopped him. “Nope! Nope!” he tried to shoulder his way through, but the unicorn held him firmly with magic.

“You can’t turn back now!” Fancy Pants said as bravely as he could. Big Mac stopped, looking him in the face. The faded black eye spoke volumes. Big Mac remembered what sort of home life Fancy had been rescued from. He stopped resisting, and they stared at each other for a time. “If not for you, Sir Big Mac, I would still be at home… like this.” Fancy murmured softly, looking at his hooves and touching his eye. “I would’ve never had the courage to speak up without your example.” He put a hoof on Big Mac’s shoulder. “So please, don’t turn back now.”

“You’ll be fine, Big Mac, promise!” Mr. Cake said, both his mares hanging onto him.

“Yeah! Thanks to you all our lives are better!” Spike said from Twilight’s back.

“Certainly a good show, chap!” Blueblood said, nodding in affirmation.

“Y’all never know, she might want to reward ya for bringin’ all this to the forefront!” Applejack said encouragingly. Big Mac smiled bashfully. “Now c’mon, we cain’t keep ‘er waitin’.”

“Nope.” Big Mac said in a small voice, nodding and returning to the front of the group with his sister. They trekked through the palace, one hall after another, until they finally came to the throne room. It was night, so it was Luna who sat on the throne. But, to her left and right was Celestia and Cadance.

“Ah, the Big Macintosh that all the stories speak of.” Luna was the first to speak, being the one in charge after sunset. Her voice seemed to echo a bit in the large room. “Welcome to the palace.” The dark alicorn looked to the herd. “Thank you for fetching him. You may leave us for his private audience.” The large group turned, giving the stallion their most assuring smiles. Big Mac smiled nervously, gulping. The swing of the great double doors slammed hollowly when they were gone. He turned about in time to see all three alicorns rise and make their way down the dais to stand before him. The farming pony wilted a little, intimidated. Were they going to smite him on the spot? Suddenly coming here and then being left alone seemed like a bad, bad idea. “We’ve heard a good deal about you, Big Macintosh Apple. Through the newspaper, through word of mouth, and through the cries of thousands of protesters.” Luna said, sitting on her haunches when she was near enough. “I shalt not speak with thee from on high,” she gestured to the throne behind her. “But I bid thee to look upon the scorch mark therein.” Big Mac leaned, seeing the burnt wood on the seat of the throne. Somepony had thrown bottled alchemist fire onto it, it seemed.

“I’ve been told that you quit your job out of the blue,” Celestia said softly, affixing him with her immortal gaze. Big Mac suddenly felt much smaller. “That you made signs to harass your family and fellow Ponyvillians, to draw attention,” she gestured and his saddlebag sprang open. The array of signs floated out, their red lettering all the brighter in the well-lit room. All three alicorns eyed them for a time. “And that you set about recruiting other stallions you thought were being treated unfairly.”

“Er… yup.” said Big Mac, looking back and forth between them nervously.

“I’ve seen your picture in the paper, and even graffiti in your likeness here in Canterlot.” Cadance said with some concern. “You really started something, Big Macintosh. There are thousands of ponies in the city waiting to hear what is going to happen next, all because of you.” She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “All the rioting, the fighting, the horseshoe burning and breaking herds— all because of you.” She sighed a little. She hated to speak of such mass misery.

“…yup.” said Big Mac in a small voice. Having three goddesses stare him down made him feel plumb tiny, to tell the truth. He had a little male pride about his size, but their combined stares made him feel like the runtiest foal in the herd.

“I’m so sorry.” Celestia said, out of nowhere. Big Mac blanched. All three alicorns neared and then came to their bellies before him so they would be the same height. “I’m so, so sorry my little pony.” The milky goddess said, from her heart.

“Uh…?” Big Mac was confused.

“When we read the newspaper articles, saw the signs of unrest, and even the violence erupting around Ponyville, we did nothing.” Celestia confessed. “We three were the full spectrum. One wanted to help, one wanted to do nothing, and the third was against the idea of the Stallions on Strike.” She hunched a little, ashamed. “So, we thought the problem would work itself out and we would not have to lift a hoof for or against your cause. But the shouting stallions that gathered around you did not exhaust themselves, or quiet. They grew louder and more numerous.” She looked at him with an apologetic expression. “We three ignored your suffering and did nothing to aid you. We didn’t look beyond our own herd, our own doorstep, to see what was really happening.”

“It was not merely a few squawking stallions.” Luna admitted, looking away with a grouchy expression. “But many, many squawking stallions whom, at the end of the day… perhaps had a point.” She was frowning deeply, as though she were forcing herself to say the words. But, hers were the old ways and even doing this was radical to her. She was trying her best, despite everything that had happened. “When such a petition arrived into our royal hooves, I scoffed at it.” She told him to his face. She didn’t look sorry, merely truthful.

“We’re sorry, Big Macintosh.” Cadance put in before Luna dug herself into a hole. “We’re the Princesses. It’s our job to help ponies that ask for it, not to ignore them and hope things work out. What we did was wrong, and we’re sorry.” She said, wilting a little. Big Mac blinked at the three goddesses, unsure of what to make of the situation.

Celestia spoke again, “We’re so used to the way things are, you’ve no idea, that when the status quo was questioned by enough voices it erupted into violence and mayhem.” She gestured to him gently. “While you did not encourage the violence and rioting, you really drew the eyes of everypony to your cause.” Leaning and lifting her wing, Celestia produced a copy of the S.o.S.’s petition. His ears perked. It had marks all over it, like a teacher had been writing in corrections ona homework assignment. “So it is only fair that you hear what is going to happen before anypony else.” She smiled in a motherly way. Big Mac smiled, nodding eagerly. This wasn’t going so bad after all! She coughed a moment, lifting the paper to read from it. “Firstly, you are going to prison for attempting to usurp the mare establishment.” The white alicorn smiled daintily. “Forever.”














Big Mac’s mouth fell open.


















Some sort of explosion took place in the far distance, somewhere in Canterlot.














“Tia!” Cadance snapped, elbowing her in the side. Celestia giggled aloud, holding her face helplessly. “This is serious! Don’t do that!” the pink Princess was hot in the face, annoyed that Celestia would pick NOW for one of her pranks.

“T’ehehehe! Forgive me!” Celestia giggled behind her hoof for a time. Big Mac laughed slowly, and a little nervously. Oh good, it was just a joke. Whew… heart attack notwithstanding. He cleared his throat a little so she would go on. “I could not help it, sorry!” she coughed again, trying to ward off Luna and Cadance’s glares. “Truth be told, my little pony, your petition has been discussed and we’ve reached some conclusions.” Big Mac cocked his head, perking his ears. This was it! This was it!

“Item one is about equal pay.” Luna said in a business-like way. “This can easily be signed into law on the morrow. Everypony should be paid the same amount of the same work.” Big Mac beamed at her words. “Your petition words it poorly, so we have replaced the word ‘stallion’ with ‘pony’. That way, it is a gender neutral law.” She nodded to make it official.

“The second item is about equal employment opportunities.” Celestia was finally serious, holding the paper under her nose. “It is not within our power to demand that stallions and mares be hired for something or not hired for something. To hire somepony because they are male is just as bad as not hiring somepony because they are male.” Big Mac wilted at this. “But, it can easily be made a law that gender and identity cannot play a role in selecting candidates. So, for important positions like doctors and teachers, perhaps ponies will strike names from resumes when they’re being examined.” The red stallion perked as she spoke. “If you saw letters A, B, C and D instead of four names, you would obviously hire the pony that had the best qualifications, yes?” she said. Big Mac nodded his understanding. “While criminal backgrounds and such would still be examined, the identity of the pony his or herself should not be a factor, we agree.” She smiled. The red stallion bobbed his head. That made sense. Blind resume examination would be a big step up!

“Your third item brought us some concern.” Cadance said softly, holding her copy of the petition under her nose. “You want to be able to divorce your alpha mares and be able to replace them with another mare from your herd if she is performing poorly.” Big Mac nodded vigorously. There were plenty of broken or mismanaged herds that could use this new law! “We cannot do this, Big Mac.” She apologized. “This gives the stallions complete power over their herds. If they wanted to, they could abuse this law so thoroughly that every mare would be afraid to join a herd, alpha or not!” she paused for a moment to let this sink in. “However, we do understand the right to divorce. Therefore, to meet you partway, we’ll say that if a stallion divorces his alpha mare, that his herd does not need to shatter.”

“Nope?” Big Mac said, hope in his face.

“Yes.” Luna said. “If one mare is doing so poorly that the stallion wishes to leave the herd, this punishes all the other mares. Therefore, we shall allow retainment of thy herd upon divorcing the alpha mare… given that the other mares wish to stay, of course. Ejecting one pony from a herd should not punish everypony involved.”

“Whut about a new alpha mare?” Big Mac wanted to know. There was am audible rumble outside, which made him cock his head for a moment. Celestia’s eyes slid towards one of the windows for a moment, but she said nothing.

“A new one could be elected, sought, or found by other means. But not by the stallion alone.” Luna said seriously. “A herd is a team. A family. We must remember that, especially now. While the right to divorce is nothing new, the power to restructure a herd will remain in the hooves of everypony involved, not just the stallion.”

“Hrm.” Big Mac said, not sure he approved.

“If thou wanted equality, here it is. We shan’t raise stallions on a pedestal above the mares.” Luna said. “Merely up to the same level. That is what equality is, no?” she asked. He nodded a bit. That did make more sense. He wasn’t in a herd himself, but putting all the power in one pony’s hooves or another wasn’t fair to anypony else. “Then it will be so.” She nodded her assent. He smiled.

“Your forth item was…” Celestia paused to read it again, word for word, before speaking. “The nullification of the ‘From the Horse’s Mouth’ law. In which an abuse victim may be heralded by a champion instead of his own words, to the proper authorities.”

“Yup.” Big Mac was very big on that one. After having seen what had happened to Fancy Pants, this was a very, very important part of the petition. He prayed the princesses had not shot it down.

“We found that, while this is very much open to abuse, that we are going to allow it.” Celestia said seriously. Big Mac’s chest inflated for a cheer, but she stopped him. “But only because of one thing. See this here?” she gestured to the paper. “The words at the end. ‘As long as no malicious intent is present.’”

“Yup?” Big Mac asked.

“It would be all too easy for a stallion to cry wolf, or abuse, or rape.” Luna said, turning her muzzle up in a snooty way. There was an awkward pause. “But… but far be it from me to allow even one abusive, husband-beating mare in Equestria.” She mumbled softly. There was a fell wind outside, like Canterlot was moaning before a storm. Celestia’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing as Luna went on. “I covet my own husband very much, like my night sky.” She looked at the floor, embarrassed at saying something so private. “If not for Cadance, I do not think I would have a herd with a stallion in it.” Cadance smiled bashfully. “And I would slog through a mountain of paperwork, many court cases, and all other leaping through fiery rings if it meant catching even one mare that would do a stallion like he wrong.” Her blush deepened a bit. “And for that, we will strike down the law you wish to see erased.” There was a long, heartfelt silence. Big Mac gave a couple of little nods. Luna looked anywhere but him, but did not go anywhere. She’d meant every word. If a stallion were in a hopeless situation and needed a whistle-blower to step in for him, asked to or not, then so be it.

“The last item,” Celestia finally went on when enough time had passed. “Was about foal-rearing.” She cleared her throat a little. “It raises some fine points. It is not merely a stallion’s job to raise the little ones.” She said with some authority. “But, there’s no way to measure foalcare in such a way that it could be divided up evenly.” The white goddess said gently. “Would you count meals? Nights out? Baths given? I think not.” She chuckled good-naturedly. “I think this is something that each herd will have to figure out for themselves.” Big Mac nodded. He didn’t have any foals himself, but he imagined there would be quite a few heart to heart talks happening soon in the topic of foal-raising. “We can encourage herd counseling, perhaps, and the herds that truly wish to better themselves could go and seek aid. I, nor my fellow Princesses, feel that we should have a hoof in how everypony’s foals are raised.”

“Eyuup.” Big Mac agreed.

“We apologize again that it had to come to this, Big Macintosh. A royal petition, a social upheaval, all this chaos…” Celestia gestured gently to a window. “But, it’s all over now. I promise you.”

“Yeah?” Big Mac said, eyes hopeful.

“Yes.” Sombra said from shadow, startling Big Mac and making him whip around. “For you see, this entire conversation has been heard all over Canterlot.” He smiled, magic still glowing from his horn. The black stallion had been broadcasting the entire conversation like a one-way radio! All the roars and strange winds that had happened during the conversation? Crowds of ponies outside listening! How had Sombra stayed hidden, channeling a spell like that, for so long?! “They can still hear us now, Big Macintosh. Is there anything you’d like to say to all of Canterlot, to all of Equestria?” he smiled regally as Celestia smirked at him. “Perhaps to the S.o.S.?”

“…Nnnope.” Big Mac said shyly, turning redder and redder. Canterlot roared with laughter. Luna's mouth was hanging open, and her face was SCARLET. She'd just said all those things about Shining Armor and the whole city had heard! Celestia's smile grew. Cruel wretch, thought Sombra.





To Be Concluded