A once well respected resident of Ponyville has been released from prison for a false crime. But being as almost all of the townsfolk still believe he did it, it maybe a bit more difficult to get this pony back on his feet. Will the Mane Six succeed?
A once well respected resident of Ponyville, who had been sent to prison for a crime he did not commit, has been released. But being as almost all of the townsfolk still believe he did it, and have angered-driven hatred towards him, helping this poor stallion to get back into society may be more difficult than the Main 6 had thought, even with the help of the very detective from Fillydelphia who cleared his name. Now all hope relies on Sapphire Shores, The Pony of Pop who makes a stop to Ponyville to visit a certain sick filly, and Princess Luna, the princess of the night who has watched this stallion's suffering for sometime to help fix everything. Will the pop star and princess save this poor prisoner? Read to find out in this drama like story.
Rated MA 15+ Contains: Adult themes, some violence, some brief graphic scenes and description of prison abuse, torture, and rape that may disturb or upset some people.
A glorious, sunny, summer day shined over the Equestrian town of Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle, and her little baby dragon assistant, Spike were walking to the Ponyville marketplace to do their routine grocery shopping. As they walked to the marketplace, Twilight and Spike went through their shopping list to see what they needed to buy there.
“So what do we need, Spike?” Twilight asked.
Spike unfolded a scroll and looked through the list. “Let’s see... Half a dozen tomatoes, two stems of broccoli, a bushel of carrots, two cabbages, a pound of bananas, a pound of celery, two pounds of oats, a pound of apples, a pound of oranges, two pineapples, and two boxes of my favourite breakfast cereal, Honey Crunch Oat Krispies.”
“Excellent,” Twilight said. “Only this time, try not to eat them all in one day.”
“Oh come on, Twilight! You know I have only one bowl of them in the morning.”
“A mountain sized bowl.” Twilight chuckled playfully with Spike’s purple scaly cheeks turning red as beets with embarrassment.
Soon enough, they reached the marketplace to do their shopping. After an hour at the market, they collected almost everything on the list they needed.
“Last one on the list is one pound of apples.” Spike said, lugging two big paper shopping bags.
Twilight nodded. “Good. Applejack sells the apples there, so we can say hello.”
As Twilight and Spike made their way towards Applejack’s stall cart, they noticed a very large crowd of ponies storming around the marketplace newspaper stall. It looked as if there was a mix of angry ponies and frightened ponies amongst the large crowd.
“What’s going on over there?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know.” Twilight raised a curious eyebrow. “Let’s go find out.”
They went over to the crowd to see what the matter was. They got closer to the crowd to hear the ponies numerous comments.
“This is an outrage!”
“They’re letting this killer walk free?!”
"And he's now missing with nopony knowing where he is!"
“He’s already killed before, who’s to say he won’t do it again?!"
"He's probably here right now!"
“Our town, our homes, our community, our children will not be safe!”
“The horror, the horror!”
Twilight and Spike came up to the crowd. Twilight then asked the first pony she sees at the back of the crowd. “Excuse me? If you don't mind me asking, but what’s all the commotion about?”
Everypony in the crowd paused and quickly turned their heads at Twilight and Spike, looking at them with a look of shock and disbelief at what they were just asked.
“Are you saying you don’t know?” One pony in the crowd asked.
Spike tilted his head. "Know about what?”
A pegasus stallion came up to Twilight and Spike, and showed them the front page of the latest copy of the Equestria Telegram. “Just take a look at this!”
Twilight and Spike looked at the front page of the newspaper more closely. The front page had a prison mug shot picture of a male dark brown earth pony with grey hair.
“Who is that pony?” Twilight asked.
The pegasus stallion holding the paper looked at them unimpressed. “Who is that?! THAT is Abacus Sum! Don’t tell us you’ve never heard of Abacus Sum?”
“No.”
Another stallion in the crowd spoke out to Twilight. “He’s a murderer!"
Spike's eyes widened. "A murderer?"
"Yeah! He killed his wife and unborn foal when he lived here in Ponyville.”
Twilight's eyes widened. "He did what?"
“What?” Spike asked. “He was a resident of Ponyville?”
“Yeah,” The stallion said. “He was sentenced to life in prison.”
A mare in the crowd shook her hoof angrily. “It was too merciful of a punishment, if you ask me.”
“And now they’ve released him from prison.”
Twilight rubbed her chin. “Well, he was probably let out on good behaviour.”
“No, he wasn’t!” A mare offered a copy of the paper to Twilight. “Read the article and see for yourself.”
Twilight grabbed the newspaper from the pony with her magic to have a proper look at the newspaper article to find out. With her magic, she unfolded the paper to see the full story article, and straight away began to read.
Wrongly accused killer walks free, and now missing.
A two and a half year nightmare ended a week ago when wrongly accused killer, Abacus Sum was finally pardoned and released from prison. Abacus Sum, a resident of the town of Ponyville was accused of the murder of his wife, Tiger Lily and unborn child two years and five months ago in a house fire. The investigative team from Equestria’s capital of Canterlot that was sent to examine the case had concluded that the fire was deliberately lit, where Abacus Sum was charged with, and soon found guilty of murder and arson, and was sentenced to life in prison at Hoofstrong Prison Center.
Lawful Eye, a private investigator detective and lawyer from the city of Fillydelphia, known for her observant and analytical mind, took the case just three months after Abacus’s sentence. After twenty-five months of detective work, and long court battles, she finally convinced for the case to be reopened to trial. In court, the evidence uncovered showed that the fire was an accidental house fire due to a faulty wire in the walls of the kitchen. Three months later, Abacus stood before Equestria's Supreme Court in Canterlot. Where, as a result of this technicality, was acquitted of all charges, and soon released from prison the next day.
Abacus Sum was given 120,000 bits in compensation for his nightmarish prison experience. Right after his release from prison the following day, he had disappeared, and has not been seen since. Detective Lawful Eye has reported to be searching for him, and she advises anypony with information on his whereabouts to report it to her as soon as possible.
Twilight was still confused to the reason of the townsfolk’s anger. It was like if his release was a really bad thing. Still unsure, she spoke out. “Well, this is good. Isn’t it good that he’s been cleared of the crime and that he’s free?”
“Good?! It’s an outrage! He did do it. Everypony here in town knows he did.”
A familiar voice suddenly spoke from behind outside the crowd. “Not everypony.”
Twilight and Spike knew that voice. They and the rest of the crowd turned their heads to where the voice came from, for the voice belonged to none other than Applejack. The crowd looking shocked in disbelieve as they saw Applejack, with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity alongside.
“We all believed from the start that Abacus was innocent!” Applejack said.
“That’s right.” Rarity stepped forward with dignity. “A warm, charming, darling stallion like him wouldn’t ever have kill somepony he loved dearly.”
Fluttershy spoke out. “I knew him too. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“What?!” One pony in the crowd shouted. “Whose side are you ponies on?!”
“Whose side?” Pinkie Pie began looking all over around her. “Hmm…I’d say I’m on Applejack side. Actually, I’d say more on Rarity’s side, but more to the back side than the front. Personally, I prefer the front rather than the back. It’s better to view things close than far away.”
Applejack quickly took over, still feeling a bit awkward from Pinkie Pie's unpredictable randomness. “The point is if y'all think he would do this, then y'all don’t know him at all. We all knew him better than anyone of y'all."
“You’re against us!” A pony in the crowd shouted.
“Traitors!”
Spike backed away. “Uh, Twilight. I think we should get out of here.”
“Good idea, Spike.”
Before the crowd got too aggressive, Twilight, Spike, and the rest of the Main Six fled out of the marketplace as fast as they could, with the crowd shouting angrily behind them, growing fainter the farther they flee.
Before long, they all found themselves back at the Golden Oak Library. Twilight, out of breath from running shut the door behind her quickly, and then turned to the others who were all real glad to get out of that mess when they did. The way the townsfolk had behaved was like a repeat of the issue with Zecora, except it was with anger and hatred, in addition with fear.
Twilight pants, trying to catch her breath. “My gosh! I’ve never seen the townsfolk act so aggressive towards one pony.”
Twilight went over to the closest window to see if there was anyone from the angry crowd had followed them back. Seeing that no one was around, she sighed with a relief, and continued to converse with the others.
Twilight walked toward the others. “So, I take it that each of you knew this Abacus Sum?”
“That’s right.” Applejack said.
Spike tilted his head. “So, care to fill us on what happened?”
Applejack nodded. “Sure thing, sugarcube.”
They all made their way upstairs to Twilight’s living room to talk. After they each took a seat on the various cushions around the small room, they took up the conversation to tell Twilight and Spike the whole story.
“So what can you tell us about this Abacus Sum?” Spike held up the front page of the latest copy of the Equestria Telegram.
Applejack cleared her throat. “Well, before y'all came here from Canterlot, Abacus used ta live in this here town."
Rarity took over. “He was one of Ponyville’s most loved and well respected residents. Abacus used to live in wondrous Fillydelphia growing up, before moving to little old Ponyville with his lovely wife, Tiger Lily. He worked as an accountant and tax agent for many residents and local businesses in town. He also helped out others with their taxes. He helped me with the business fund of my boutique.”
“He helped managed all the money me, an' my family made from sales from our farm.” Applejack said.
“He was even so cool to improve the funding of the local weather control management.” Rainbow Dash took to the air in triumph. “I ended up getting an awesome raise from it.”
Pinkie Pie bounced in. “And he helped out accounting Sugarcube Corner profits for Mr and Mrs Cake. Abacus and Tiger Lily were so great to have at parties.”
“I was friends with his wife, Tiger Lily,” Fluttershy said. "She used to own the local flower shop in town, before her business partners, Rose, Daisy, and Lily Valley took over the business. She was so caring and kind like Abacus. Tiger Lily would help anypony in need with anything, if they asked. It's why she was so loved by everypony in town. She also loved animals, and would sometimes help me take care of them at my cottage. She once organised a successful fundraiser to save the local veterinary clinic from closing down one time.”
Pinkie Pie nodded. "I remember that. Tiger Lily asked me and the Cakes to make so many cakes, and muffins to sell at the fundraiser. It was like a big party!"
Applejack nodded. "Tiger Lily organised many charitable events in Ponyville."
“Speaking of parties," Rarity said. "At one party, Tiger Lily gave the good news to everypony at the party, including Abacus himself.”
“What news was that?” Twilight asked.
Rarity smiled. “Well, the news she gave was that she was going to have a baby.”
Pinkie Pie bounced with excitement. “OH-OH! I remember that one! Everypony was so happy. Abacus was the happiest-ist one of them all. So much that he was crying.”
“He sure did, sugarcube.” Applejack smiled. “It must’ve been the happiest moment of his life. Knowing he was gonna be a dad.”
Twilight widened her eyes. “Gosh. You guys make it sound like they were the perfect couple.”
“They sure were, Twilight.” Applejack sighed, switching back to a sad, sorrowed tune. “But…that was...until that one night.”
Twilight and Spike watched as all five of their friends lower their heads down in sadness in sync with one another at that part of the story. They could clearly tell what the reason was since they seem to share a common thing that they knew and admired.
“So what happened?” Twilight asked.
Applejack raised her head. “Well... about three months after that party, Tiger Lily an' Abacus’s home caught fire one night when they was asleep. Abacus managed ta get out, but Tiger Lily... she didn’t make it."
“How tragic!” Twilight said sadly.
“Yes.” Fluttershy's face saddened. “Abacus lost everything that night. His house, all his belongings, and even Tiger Lily, who was pregnant with their unborn child.”
Rarity took over. “When we talked to Abacus, he said that Tiger Lily got stuck about three feet from the front door. He tried to get her out, but a moment before the flaming roof gave way and collapsed, she shoved him out the door, and she was killed. Poor darling.”
“Come on, honey! There’s the door!”
“Abi! Help!”
“Hang on, Lily! Oh no!”
“I love you, Abi.”
“NO!!!!!!!!!”
Twilight, hearing the details of her friends retelling of that tragic night felt sad, but at the same time amazed. “You mean...?”
“Yes,” Applejack said. “Tiger Lily sacrificed herself, saving her husband’s life with her own. Putting others first before herself. That’s sounds exactly what she'd do.”
Spike blinked. “Wow! What a brave pony.”
“You said it, Spike.” Rainbow Dash said.
Rarity cleared her throat. “So after that, an investigation team from Canterlot was sent to investigate the cause of the fire, on the request of Mayor Mare and Lady Justice.”
“And the Canterlot investigators made the conclusion that he lit it himself?” Twilight asked.
Applejack nodded. “That’s right. They charged him with murder an' arson, an' claimed that the motive was money due ta the really big life insurance hoof out of her death.”
Twilight rubbed her chin, for she knew herself how the Canterlot Investigation Force was said to be one of the very best, since she was from Canterlot herself. Her mind began to think, finding out that this was the first time the Canterlot Investigation Force had been wrong seeing the news in the newspaper.
“And at his trial,” Rarity said. “The Ponyville court house judge, Lady Justice found him guilty, and sentenced him to life in prison, "Never to be released”. She also confessed that she and Mayor Mare never liked him, and were suspicious of him before delivering the verdict. So Uncouth!”
“Almost the whole town attended his trial,” Applejack said. “When the judge past down that verdict, nearly the whole town cheered an' applauded.”
Rarity frowned. "And not to mention poor Arithma was there too."
Spike tilted his head. "Arithma?"
"Yes, darling," Rarity said. "She's Abacus's mother. Abacus and Tiger Lily spoke very highly of her."
"Abacus and Tiger Lily would make visits to her in Fillydelphia once a month. She even visited Ponyville a few times. She was such a nice pony." Fluttershy frowned. "It was so heartbreaking for her to see Abacus been taken away, thinking she'd never see him again."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "So what happened to her after that?"
"Nopony knows," Rarity said. "Nopony ever heard from her, or saw her again after that. She was so heartbroken to see her only son, Abacus being convicted of his wife's murder."
“And the place where they sent him to. It’s one of the worst places you could ever be sent to for doing a crime like murder. Hoofstrong Prison Center is said to house the worst of the worst." Rainbow Dash winced. “Man! I can’t imagine what those inmates did to him in there.”
Fluttershy eyes saddened. “Poor Abacus.”
Twilight stood up. “Well, if Abacus ever does come back to Ponyville, we better make sure the townsfolk doesn’t find out about it.”
“But, Twilight,” Spike said. “You heard what the paper said. Nopony knows where he is, or where he’s gone to. How can you be so sure he’ll be coming here?”
Twilight turned to Spike. “Because he had friends here, Spike. So it’s most likely he’ll come here.”
Spike scratched his head unsurely. "I don't know, Twilight. You saw how most of the town reacted. If I was Abacus, I'd go where his mother lives back in Fillydelphia. Wouldn't that be a more obvious choice?"
Twilight scratched her head. "Well, yes. You do have a point, Spike. But just in case he does come here to Ponyville, we'll be here to help him. I'll even do some research, and try to find everything I can about the case through the town archives."
Applejack stood up. "An' ah think it’s a good idea if we kept this between ourselves if he ever does show up.”
“And we might have to keep him safe, and hidden somewhere until we figure out how to get him welcomed back into the town.” Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie. “So Pinkie. No welcome home parties of any kind until then.”
“Aw!” Pinkie Pie moaned disappointingly.
Rarity stood up and parted her hair with her hoof. “Well, I better be off, darlings. I’ve got to get back to work at my boutique. I’ve got to finish the last of the outfits requested by my client, Sapphire Shores.”
“Sapphire Shores?!” Everyone said in unison to Rarity in amazement. “The pony of pop?!”
“The very one, darlings. She’s got her latest tour of her latest album, “I tune in to you.” And with Sweetie Belle on a three week summer vacation in Hawhinny with mother and father, it’ll be much easier to get all of them done. And best of all, she's personally invited me to go and watch her big concert in Manehattan next week.”
“In that case,” Applejack said. “We all better be off. Well, see ya later, Twi.”
Twilight watch as all of her pony friends walked out of the door, and down the stairs towards her front door.
That afternoon, Applejack approached the entrance to the barn of Sweet Apple Acres. Throughout the whole journey back home from Twilight’s place, she could not help, but think about this morning. From finding out about Abacus being released, to the angry townsfolk, to even telling the whole story to Twilight and Spike. But she put her mind at ease when she entered the front door of her home.
“Hey, Y'all," She called out when she came inside. “Ah’m home!”
“Applejack!”
Apple Bloom came running downstairs towards Applejack, with a happy face beaming like the very sun shining in the sky. Applejack smiled as she opened her front hooves up, and embraced the pale, light grayish olive coated little sister of hers in a hug.
“What happened, Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ya didn’t come home fer brunch today. Where have ya been?”
Applejack patted Apple Bloom's head. “Long story, sugarcube. Right now, Ah gotta eat somethin'. Ah'm starved.”
Ten minutes later, Applejack sat down at the table with a nice, hot apple fritter on her plate along with her family sitting around her, and began to eat.
“So AJ,” Big McIntosh said. “How was the market today?”
Applejack muffled as she chewed and swallowed. “Well… It was real bad.”
“Bad?” Granny Smith asked. “How bad?”
“Have any of y'all read the paper this mornin'?”
Big McIntosh shook his head. “Nnope."
Applejack leaned over and put her snout into her saddle sack that she had laid on the floor next to the leg of the table. She pulled out today’s copy of the Equestria Telegram in her mouth, and placed it on the table for her family to see. “Well, y'all better take a look at this.”
Granny Smith and Big Mac looked at the paper. Big Mac looked at the picture of the pony closely.
“Hey,” Big Mac said. “Is that-“
“ABACUS!!” Granny Smith exclaimed cutting out Big Mac.
“That’s right. Somepony from Fillydelphia somehow cleared his name an' got him out.”
Granny Smith smiled. “Well, that’s all whoopin’, tootin’ great ta hear. All that nonsense of him killin’ his lovely wife was just a load of fiddlesticks!”
“Eeyup.”
The whole Apple family looked down and began to read the front page article. All except Apple Bloom, who was struggling to look at the paper, but was blocked by her family’s bodies. “Hey! Let me look. Ah can’t see!”
When they finally moved a bit, Apple Bloom took a look at the picture of the stallion in the newspapers front page. She looked at the picture carefully, and soon after she began to look concerned.
“Hey,” Apple Bloom said. “That looks like the pony me an' Scootaloo saw earlier!”
“Well, of course. That’s our old accountant, Abacus Sum. Ya remember him, don't cha, Apple Bloo-” Applejack stopped talking dead in her tracks at what she just heard her little sister say. “What?! What do ya mean "ya saw him"?”
“Well, yeah.” Apple Bloom scratched her head. “Or…somepony who looked like him.”
“Where’d ya see him?” Applejack asked in a serious tone.
“Well… It was about an hour or two before ya came home. Scootaloo came by, an' suggested that we should make another list of what ta crusade fer our cutie marks when Sweetie Belle comes back from her vacation. So we went ta our clubhouse ta go make it. When we got close ta the clubhouse, Scootaloo thought she saw somepony inside.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked through the Apple trees of the orchard, making their way towards their clubhouse. As they got closer, they both suddenly noticed a shadowy figure of a pony appear in the window of the inside of the clubhouse. Causing the two fillies to gasp, and quickly jump into some bushes to hide in alarm.
“Hey, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said. "Did you see that? I think there’s somepony in our clubhouse.”
“Ya think it’s a burglar?” Apple Bloom asked.
“It’s gotta be. Nopony, except us crusaders, are allowed in, right?”
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo bravely poked their heads up to look, to see the figure in the window. Though they could not make a good enough detail, they could tell that the pony was an adult stallion.
“Did he see us?” Apple Bloom asked.
Scootaloo shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t think he knows we’re here.”
“Right. Then let’s catch him.”
Scootaloo turned to Apple Bloom. “How are we going to catch him? Any ideas?”
“Hmm..." Apple Bloom look around until she spotted the long, large rope laying on the ground close by. "There’s the rope Applejack and Big Mac are usin' ta fix our rope swing. Let’s use that.”
“Great idea," Scootaloo said. "We can tie him up with that, and then we can bring him into custody.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow in realization. “Hey yeah. If we bring him into custody, we’ll be town heroes. We’ll be…burglar busters.”
Scootaloo smiled with confidence. “Yeah. Maybe that’s our talent.”
“Cutie Mark Crusader burglar busters!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo quickly put their hooves over their mouths, suddenly realizing that they were nearly about to speak too loud. "Ooh… Shhh.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo quietly, and stealthy made the way out of view from the window towards the nearby rope. Apple Bloom picked it up, and made it into a lasso like the way her sister, Applejack would. They quietly walked up the ramp of their clubhouse, being careful not to make a sound, until they were just outside the door.
Apple Bloom whispered as she offered the end of the rope to Scootaloo with her hoof. “Ready, Scootaloo?”
“Ready.” Scootaloo took the rope in her mouth.
Apple Bloom got ready at the door with Scootaloo to confront the intruder inside. “One…Two…Three."
The two fillies burst in through the clubhouse door, and voices could be heard of what was happening inside.
"BUST THAT BURGLAR!!”
“AH!!”
“I got him’!! Whoa!" The stallion ran out the door, with the sound of a thud from inside the clubhouse, along with the voice of Scootaloo exclaiming a painful "Ow!”.
Apple Bloom ran out the door, and stopped to only watch the stallion run off. She turned to Scootaloo who was moaning in pain with her hoof on the right side of her face.
“Hey, quick," Apple Bloom said. "He’s gettin’ away!”
Scootaloo groan. “He’s too far. We’ll never catch him now.”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah guess we’re not cut out ta be burglar busters.”
“You said it. Ow!" Scootaloo slowly uncovered her face to show a black eye. "It’s a painful talent to do.”
Applejack looked at Apple Bloom with a face of concern when Apple Bloom finished telling her about what happened this morning. “So somepony was at yer clubhouse? An' are ya sure it was this pony?”
Apple Bloom scratched her head looking at the picture. “Ah think. Though he had a big, ugly looking scar on the left side of his face, an' was a bit scruffy. But it looks like him.”
“Why didn’t ya an' Scootaloo come tell us sooner?!” Applejack asked.
Big Mac scowled. “An' it was mighty foolish of ya both ta go take on an intruder by yerselves like ya did! Ya could’ve gotten’ yerselves hurt! Or worse! What were ya thinkin'?!”
Apple Bloom’s face began to show the sad look on her face that she gave whenever she realized that she was in trouble. “Ah’m...Ah’m sorry. Ah... Ah didn’t mean ta-“
Suddenly, they were all interrupted by the sound of the family’s pet dog, Winona barking at the living room window in what sounded like alert.
Applejack walked over to the window to see what was wrong. “What’s up, Winona? What is it, old girl?”
Applejack looked through the window to see what was wrong, for she knew good and well that Winona would not bark like that for no reason. She looked out only to find to her concern that there was a small crowd of ponies coming through the gate of Sweet Apple Acres, and coming towards the barn. All of them she knew were some of the angry crowd from the market.
“Trouble?” Apple Bloom asked. “What kinda’ trouble?”
“It’s some of the angry crowd from the market. They’re a-comin' ta the barn.”
“Why here?” Apple Bloom walked towards the front door. “We should go find out.”
Just before Apple Bloom could reach the front door, she found herself being grabbed by Granny Smith and pulled away. “Not so fast there, youngin! Big Mac an’ Applejack will handle this here crowd.”
Big Mac and Applejack went outside to confront the approaching crowd.
A light amber coated stallion at the front of the crowd spoke first. “Alright! Where is he?!”
Applejack tilted her head, puzzled by what he meant. “Where’s who, Caramel?”
Caramel growled. “Don’t play dumb with us! You know good and well who we’re talking about!”
“We know Abacus is here!” Lucky Clover shouted.
“What are y'all talking about?” Big Mac asked.
The crowd gave an angry glance at both Applejack and Big Mac, until Caramel spoke out. “A little filly told us that Abacus was here snooping around, and that he assaulted her!”
Applejack and Big Mac looked at each other, knowing who the filly that told them was. “Scootaloo!”
“Now where are you hiding him?!” Lucky Clover asked.
One pony in the crowd pointed at the barn doors. “He must be hiding in the barn!”
“Abacus! We know you’re in there!”
Caramel shook his hoof angrily at the barn door. “You’re so going to get it when we get our hooves on you! You hear us?!”
Applejack and Big Mac stepped in front of the barn blocking the angry crowd. “Abacus ain’t here! Y’all are barkin’ up the wrong tree!”
Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup!”
“Likely story!” Caramel said.
“But if Abacus IS here!” Lucky Clover aimed his yelling at the barn door. “And if we get our hooves on him, he’ll be mincemeat!”
Applejack and Big Mac watched as Caramel, Lucky Clover, and the rest of the group of angry ponies walked away and out the gate. Both Applejack and Big Mac then let out a sigh of relief, thankful that things did not get out of hand. They then went back inside, with Applejack still baring a look of great concerned.
“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked.
Apple Bloom came towards Applejack. “Yeah, Applejack?”
“Did this pony in yer clubhouse hit Scootaloo?”
Apple Bloom placed her front hoof on her chin and thought for a good long moment. “Well, not exactly. When me an' Scootaloo confronted him, an' tried ta tie him up, he ran out the door. Scootaloo held on ta the rope, an' she hit her head on the door.”
Applejack sighed. “Well, that’s going ta make things all-the-more difficult.”
“Make what things difficult?” Big Mac asked.
Applejack turned to Big Mac with that same look of concern. “Well, Ah agreed with the others that if Abacus did come back ta Ponyville, we’d try ta help him get back into society. But if that pony in Apple Bloom's clubhouse really was Abacus, it’s gonna be more difficult.”
Big Mac and Granny Smith looked in concern, while Apple Bloom looked in worry, thinking that she was partly to blame for unintentionally making things worse.
Night time came soon enough. When Applejack went to bed, she could not help but think about today, about the townsfolk, but most of all, about Abacus. She even thought about the possible encounter her sister Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo had with him. If it was Abacus, was he safe, and where could he have gone.
Can’t think about it now. She thought to herself. Ah’ll think about it in the mornin’. But right now, Ah need some shut-eye.
She then pulled the covers over herself, turned over on her most comfortable position, and let herself be taken over by the clutches of sleep.
Suddenly, Applejack was awoken by a noise. The noise sounded like objects falling, and it came from inside the barn. Winona began to bark immediately afterwards.
“…Wha…What was that?” Applejack said groggily.
She then got out of bed and quickly glanced at her clock, which read 3:42 am. The noise also woke Big Mac, as he stood outside Applejack's bedroom door looking at Applejack with a “you-heard-it-too” look on his face.
“Let’s go check it out.” Applejack said quietly to Big Mac, being careful to not disturb Granny Smith and Apple Bloom who were still asleep.
They made their way down the stairs and out the front door, being careful not to make a sound, and quietly made their way towards the entrance to the barn.
“Someone in there, Winona?” Applejack whispered.
As Winona continued to bark and growl at the barn door, Applejack and Big Mac thought to each other that someone, most likely someone from the crowd, had decided to go snooping around in the barn to see if Abacus was hiding in there. They quietly crept towards the barn door, and placed their ears on it to listen in. Though hearing nothing, Applejack decided to investigate anyway, especially since there were creates full of apples in there they had harvested earlier.
“Ah’m goin' in.” Applejack whispered to Big Mac. “Ya stay out here in case anypony decides ta run out.”
“Eeyup.”
Applejack opened the barn door slowly, being careful not to make a sound, and slipped inside. The inside of the barn was dark, but somewhat lit-up from the moonlight seeping in through the windows, so she could see shadows. She quietly crept towards the crates of apples at the other end of the barn. She stopped to see the pitchfork was on the barn floor with a broken pieces of a pot, which she figured it was what made the noise. Suddenly, Applejack heard a tap sound against the barn wall, and then turned her head in the direction to where the noise came from. As she saw the spare wagon wheel resting against the barn wall with an open create full of apples, she immediately saw a shadowy figure sitting next to it. Though it was dark, she could tell it was a pony.
Applejack charged at the pony. “Get away from my apples, ya thievin' varmint!”
The pony jumped in fright and tried to run. Applejack tackled the pony hard to the barn floor before it could make it to the door.
“Gotcha!” Applejack said as she stood on top pinning the intruder in the dark.
The intruder struggled. “No! Please don’t hurt me!”
Applejack could make out that the pony intruder was male. A stallion in his late 20s or early 30s. Big Mac opened the barn door wide to help Applejack handle the intruder. The light from the moon shone through, lighting up the dark parts of the barn as the barn door opened, until its shine came onto Applejack and the intruder, revealing the intruder’s face. Applejack was shocked and confused to see the apple thief’s face, as it was a male dark brown earth pony with grey hair. Applejack recognized who the pony was, even with those horrible scars on the left side of his face, scruffy coat and mane, and his cutie mark.
“…Abacus?” Applejack said.
” Abacus whimpered. “Yes, it’s me. Please, Applejack. I mean you no harm. I had nowhere else to go. It was the only place I could hide. Please don’t hurt me. Don’t turn me in to the townsfolk. You heard what they’ll do if they get their hooves on me.”
Applejack looked at Abacus with a smile and a look of pity, for seeing him in the state he was in after all he had been through made her soft hearted, like Fluttershy seeing a frightened, defenceless animal begging for mercy.
“Ah ain't gonna hurt you.” Her voice was in a caring, sympathetic tone. “Ah’d never do any of that ta an old friend.”
Hearing those words, Abacus slowly looked up at Applejack. Applejack saw that he was still unsure and fearful, but at least she knew that her question was answered. He was safe.
Moments later, Applejack and Big Mac brought Abacus inside, and had him sat down on the sofa. They then moved in front of him, and began to talk to him.
“So what were ya doin' in our barn?” Applejack asked.
“Hiding...Like I have been for the past week. After I was released, I ran away to hide from the outside. I travelled for days, until I came back to Ponyville last night during the storm." Abacus sniffled and sobbed. "But I feared the town would try to run me out. So I took shelter in a tree house on your farm, where I survived on eating some apples from your apple trees on the edge of your orchid. But then the next day, I was attacked by two little fillies who tried to capture me. So I ran, and snuck into your barn to hide. Then later on, I heard an angry mob came looking for me.”
“Alright! Where is he?!”
“Where’s who, Caramel?”
“Don’t play dumb with us! You know good and well who we’re talking about!”
“We know Abacus is here!”
“What are you talking about?”
“A little filly told us that Abacus was here snooping around, and that he assaulted her!”
“Now where are you hiding him?!”
“He must be in the barn!”
“Abacus! We know you’re in there!”
“You’re so going to get it when we ever get our hooves on you! You hear us?!”
A sudden realization came over Applejack and Big Mac as they recalled the incident that afternoon.
“So ya were hiding in there?” Applejack said. “It’s not a wonder ya did. Ya must’ve heard everythin'.”
Abacus dropped his head down, with some small tears shedding out of his eyes and running down his scarred and scruffy cheek. “And now...since I’m no longer welcome, I have nothing to look forward to. No place to go. No job. No home. No family. No…friends.”
Applejack placed a heartfelt hoof on his shoulder to comfort the scruffy, depressed brown earth pony stallion. “That ain’t true, sugarcube. Ah’m yer friend. Big Mac's ya friend. Ya got lots of friends. An' they all wanna help ya.”
Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup.”
“There are some ponies who believed ya wouldn’t kill anypony. W'all believe ya were innocent. An' w'all missed ya.”
Abacus looked Applejack in the eyes as a kind smile parted Applejack's lips. Then both Applejack and Big Mac wrapped their front hooves around Abacus, and embraced him in a gentle, heartfelt hug.
“It’s great ta see ya again, sugarcube.”
“Eeyup.”
Just then, they found themselves interrupted by a tired Apple Bloom who walked down stairs to see what was happening at this time of night.
“Hey.” Apple Bloom yawned and rubbed her eyes. “What’s goin' on? All the lights are on, an' it's four in the morn-”
Apple Bloom paused to see Abacus sitting on the sofa. Seeing his face, she let out a shocked gasp, for she recognized him as the pony that was in the paper, as well as the pony that she and Scootaloo encountered earlier. Seeing this, Applejack quickly grabbed Apple Bloom before she had a chance to say anything, and dragged her into the kitchen to talk to her.
“Hey!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Keep yer voice down!”
“But Applejack. That’s him. That’s the pony that was in our clubhouse. It’s the murderer.”
“He’s NOT a murderer!”
Apple Bloom cringed at Applejack yelling at her. She could clearly see that Applejack was angered, for she had not gotten that angry in a long time. Realizing she was being too aggressive, Applejack sighed, and put on a calmer tone. “Listen, sugarcube. Yes, it is Abacus, but ah promise ya he means no harm.”
Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Well, what was he doin’ in our clubhouse? What’s he doin’ here?”
“He’s been hidin’ since he was released from prison, an' he’s very depressed. Ya see he’s been trying ta remain out of sight from anypony, because he knows that the townsfolk are not real happy about him comin’ back. He was in yer clubhouse ta take shelter from the storm last night when ya, an' Scootaloo tried ta catch him. Then he secretly took refuge in the barn. An' he was hiddin’ in there until now.”
Apple Bloom looked out the kitchen entrance to the living room towards Abacus. The sight of Abacus's ugly scarred face made her scared, but seeing him so sad, Apple Bloom's fear at the sight of him quickly changed to pity. She could not help feeling sorry for him, for she realized that he had lost everything in that tragedy, and suffered when he got locked up for a crime that was not to be.
“That poor stallion.” Apple Bloom said.
Applejack leaned down eye-level with Apple Bloom. “He’s gonna need a lot of support from his friends. Ah’ve gotta go, an' get Twilight, an' the others ta let'em know he’s here. Just stay here with Big Mac, an' try ta help keep Abacus company. Ya think ya can do that fer me, sugarcube?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Okay, Applejack.”
Applejack smiled. “That’s my little sis! Now ah’ll be back as soon as ah can. An' don’t be scared ta talk ta him. Ah promise he won’t hurt ya.”
“Alright.” Apple Bloom said.
Applejack patted her little sister’s head, and lead her out the kitchen and into the living room. She then put her hat on, and walked towards the front door. “Ah’ll see y'all later.”
As Apple Bloom watched Applejack trotted out the door and into the early morning darkness, she looked at Abacus, and slowly walked towards the sofa where he was sitting. When she was about a metre away from him, his eyes turned to her. That made her briefly hesitate, but Apple Bloom remembered not to be scared of him like Applejack had told her.
“Hey, Mr Abacus.” Apple Bloom stammered, trying her hardest not to be scared. “Mind if ah sit down?”
Abacus did not answer, only looked, and put his head down depressingly. Due to him not answering, Apple Bloom took it as a "yes". She climbed up on to the sofa, and sat down right next to him.
Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment before speaking to him. “Hey, Mr Abacus? Ah’m... Ah'm really sorry about what happened at the clubhouse earlier. Ya gave me an' my friend, Scootaloo quite a scare. We thought ya were a burglar.”
Abacus closed his eyes in shame. Apple Bloom noticed this, and tried to comfit him. “Hey, it’s alright. Ah understand ya were tryin’ ta hide an' seek shelter." She thought for a moment, trying to bring up a subject. "But anyway, Me, Scootaloo, an' another friend, Sweetie Belle own that clubhouse. An' we formed our own group. We call ourselves “the cutie mark crusaders”. Ya see me, an' my friends are on a crusade ta find, an' earn our cutie marks."
Apple Bloom looked down to look at his flank to see his cutie mark. She saw that his cutie mark was of a wooden abacus counting frame with five rods, each having a different coloured set of beads on it in a ordered row. Blue, red, yellow, green, and purple.
“Well, whaddayaknow. A counting frame cutie mark. Miss Cheerilee has one of those doohickeys at the schoolhouse fer teachin' math, but ah don't understand how they work. So ah just play with it.”
Seeing that he still did not respond, Apple Bloom try to reassure him that everything was alright. She placed her little hoof on him, causing him to flinch, and began to stroke him gently. “It’s okay, Abacus. Nopony’s gonna hurt ya anymore. My sister, Applejack, an' her friends will help ya. They’re the best.”
“...Tiger Lily.”
“Huh?” Apple Bloom asked. “Whatcha' say?”
“My wife...Tiger Lily...” Abacus opened his depressed eyes, and looked at Apple Bloom face-to-face. “...Her eyes. ...you have her eyes.”
Apple Bloom blinked. “Ah... Ah do?”
Abacus slowly nodded. Even though he did not speak very much, Apple Bloom still felt achieved that she at least got him to say something. She smiles at him for complementing her about having the same eyes as his wife. She then wrapped her little hooves around the scruffy coat of the depressed stallion, and cuddled him.
“Ah admit that ah was scared of ya.” Apple Bloom said as she snuggled her head on Abacus. “But ain’t no more. Ah ain’t scared of ya.”
Though Abacus was still sad, he was touched that the little filly was truthfully not afraid of him. Big Mac, who was watching from the kitchen smiled, for it made him proud to see that his little sister was really trying to make that full grown stallion feel better, even the smallest little bit.
Soon enough, the crack of dawn came. Applejack, along with the rest of the Main Six made their way towards the barn as the sun began to come up from the distant hills of Sweet Apple Acres, and shined brightly to begin the new early morning.
“Right, y’all,” Applejack said. “Abacus is inside.”
“Well, you could’ve at least wait until later this morning to tell us.” Rarity yawned and brushed her hair with a hair brush in her magic. “A pony needs to have their well needed beauty sleep.”
Applejack turned to the others. “I’m sorry ta get y’all outa’ bed this early, but this here’s mighty important.”
“It’s okay, Applejack,” Twilight said. “From what you told us, I’m glad you did.”
Before long, the Main Six made it to the Apples front door. Applejack walked in first, and saw her brother, Big Mac standing there to greet them. “Howdy, Big Ma-”
“Shhh!” Big Mac tilted his eyes in a come-take-a-look-at-this fashion at Applejack.
Applejack got curious as to what Big Mac wanted her to see without making a sound. She peered into the room to see Abacus sitting in the same spot on the sofa asleep with his head resting on the arm of the sofa, along with Apple Bloom asleep with her little hooves still wrapped around him, and her head resting on his lap.
“Well, ah’ll be," Applejack said. "Isn’t that sweet.”
Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup.”
Applejack turned to her friends who were standing at the entrance to the front door. “Y’all wait out here.”
Applejack walked quietly over to Abacus and Apple Bloom on the sofa. She then leaned down towards Apple Bloom, and gently shook her with her hoof.
“Apple Bloom. Wakey-wakey, sugarcube.”
Apple Bloom made a faint, cute, nosey snort sound as she woke up with a yawn. She then rubbed her eyes of sleep, and looked up at Applejack who was smiling at her proudly.
“Hey, little sis.” Applejack said.
“Mornin’ Applejack.” Apple Bloom said, still a bit groggy from sleeping.
Apple Bloom's hoof accidentally bumped against Abacus’s thigh as she rose up. This caused Abacus to jolt awake, and jump all startled.
“Whoa there, Hun.” Applejack waved her hoof in reassurance. “No need ta be all jumpy.”
“Ah'm sorry, Abacus,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah didn't mean ta startle ya.”
Abacus quickly calmed down, and quickly returned to his old depressed posture.
Applejack sighed. “Well, now that ya’re awake, ah went, an' got my friends ta see ya. Most of them ya already know, an' they all wanna see ya. An' ah promise they ain’t here ta hurt ya. Can ah let’em in?”
Abacus put his head down and shut his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, until he slowly nodded his head.
“Alright then, sugarcube.” Applejack walked over to the front door and called out to the others. “Alright, everypony. Y’all can come in now.”
The rest of the Main Six began to walk towards the door to enter, save but the pink blur of Pinkie Pie that rushed right past the others, and peered into the living room.
“Abacus!” Pinkie Pie excitedly rushed over to Abacus like a pink blur, and wrapped her hooves around him in a big, tight hug before Abacus even realized it. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”
Applejack rushed over to stop Pinkie Pie from getting carried away, for she could tell Abacus was somewhat distressed and probably suffering from lack of oxygen. “Easy there, Pink! He ain’t a stuffed animal. Give’em some air.”
“Oh, sorry.” Pinkie Pie said.
As Pinkie Pie let Abacus go, he gasped for air from the pink pony's tight hug. And just as quickly, put his front legs up fearfully as if to protect himself.
Pinkie Pie tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong, Abacus? Don't you remember me? It's me, Pinkie Pie."
“...Pinkie Pie.” Abacus said.
“You do remember me!" Pinkie Pie bounced up and down with glee. "Whoo-hoo!”
The rest of the Main Six all enter the house and into the living room to greet Abacus.
“Abacus. So lovely to see yo-.” Rarity let out a shocked yelp at seeing Abacus's horribly scarred face. "Oh my goodness, darling! Whatever happened to your beautiful, handsome face?!"
Abacus sadly winced, and turned his head left to keep his scarred left side of his face out of view.
Applejack growled. “Rarity, Ah told ya in advance that he had a scar on his face."
"I know you did, but you didn't say how bad it was." Rarity turned her attention back to Abacus. "You poor dear. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Please forgive me. You remember who I am, don't you?"
Abacus slowly looked back up. "Rarity."
Rainbow Dash stood proudly in front of Abacus. “How about me? You couldn’t forget about somepony as awesome as me, could you?”
“Rainbow Dash.” Abacus said.
Abacus turned his attention to the butter coloured pegasus standing there quietly waiting for her chance to greet him. “Fluttershy.”
“Hi, Abacus.” Fluttershy said.
Twilight walk forward to get closer to Abacus so that she could introduce herself to him. “Hello there, Abacus Sum. You don’t know me yet. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and my friends have told me a bit about you.”
“…Friends?” Abacus asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yes. They did. These are my friends.”
Pinkie Pie began bouncing up and down with joyful glee. “Oh-Oh, that’s right. She moved to Ponyville from Canterlot. Amazing what you can miss out on while in prison, huh?”
Abacus cringed, whimpered, and depressingly put his head down with his eyes closed at Pinkie Pie’s mentioning him being in prison. All of the rest of the Main Six noticed this and turned to Pinkie Pie.
“PINKIE!” Everyone yelled in unison at Pinkie Pie, giving her an angry glare.
“What?" Pinkie Pie asked. "What did I do?”
The others irritation increased at Pinkie Pie’s lack of sensitivity, combined with her lack of realization and understanding what upset Abacus. Apple Bloom, who was still sitting next to Abacus, began to stroke his back to comfit him. “It’s okay, Abacus.”
Fluttershy then came forward to help Apple Bloom comfit the distressed stallion. She began to hover above the floor, and began to stroke Abacus’s mane. “There, there. It’s okay. Pinkie Pie didn’t mean it. She didn’t know any better.”
Abacus soon began to calm down soon enough. Applejack smiled proudly seeing Apple Bloom trying to help calm the traumatized stallion. Applejack’s proud moment was interrupted by a certain green elderly pony calling from the top of the stairs.
“What in the hayseed is goin’ on down there?!”
Granny Smith began to walk down the stairs towards the entrance to the living room. “Now, what are all ya youngins doin’ here so early in the mor-“ Granny paused as she noticed Abacus sitting in the living room. “Well, bless my apples! Abacus. How nice of ya ta visit. When did he get here, Applejack?”
“Since the night before last.” Applejack said.
Granny Smith tilted her head. “The night before last? But how did he get here?”
Applejack sighed. “A long story, Granny.”
The conversation was interrupted again, this time by a growling, rumbling sound. All eyes turned to Abacus, for the noise turned out to be none other than his stomach growling. Abacus felt very embarrassed.
Applejack chuckled heartily. “Oh, Ah know that here sound. Well, since y’all here, how’s about we all have breakfast. Does pancakes sound good ta y’all?”
“Hey, yeah!” Rainbow Dash said.
Apple Bloom licked her lips. “Oh boy!”
“Yippee!” Pinkie Pie bounced with glee. “Pancakes! With cream, butter, and syrup!”
“How simply divine.” Rarity said.
Big Mac smiled. “Eeyup.”
Applejack nodded. “That’s settled then.”
Before long, everyone at Sweet Apple Acres was enjoying a wonderful breakfast of hot, delicious smelling, homemade pancakes, with cream, butter, and syrup. Everyone was smiling, laughing, and enjoying themselves while eating, all except for Abacus. When he took the first bite of one of the pancakes on his plate, the delicious taste of them made him cry silently, for it had been the first real home cooked meal he had in a very long time. Apple Bloom noticed this, but did not say anything.
“Who’s up for seconds?” Applejack asked.
“Oh, yes please.” Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. “Heck, yeah!”
Pinkie Pie chewed loudly. “Abso-defi-posi-lutely!”
“Right then,” Applejack said. “Be right back, y’all.”
Applejack picked up some plates, and walked into the kitchen to make more pancakes. Apple Bloom soon walked in after Applejack, standing behind her just as she was pouring some batter onto the frying pan.
“Hey, Applejack?”
Applejack turned her attention towards Apple Bloom. “Yes, sugarcube.”
Apple Bloom nervously sighed. “Umm… about earlier. Ah’m sorry fer what ah said... about Abacus. Ah didn’t mean it.”
“It’s alright, sugarcube.” Applejack placed her hoof under Apple Bloom’s chin. “An' ah’m sorry ah yelled at ya like ah did. Ah was just frustrated by this whole thing about Abacus.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah understand.”
“And while we’re at it.” Applejack smiled proudly. “Ah wanna say that ah’m a might proud of ya, little sis.”
Apple Bloom tilted her head. “What for?”
“For how ya treated Abacus while ah was gone. Big Mac said ya were so caring ta him, an' kept him company.”
“Thanks, Applejack.” Apple Bloom blushed. “By the way, ah’ve noticed that Abacus got distressed earlier from ponies mentioning his face, an' prison. An' how when he started eatin’, he was tearin’ up crying. Why is that?”
Applejack sighed. “Well, sugarcube. Prison can be a real awful place ta be in fer anypony. Abacus must’ve suffered when he was sentenced there. Most likely got into a lot of fights, an' beatin’s. Which may explain the horrible scarring on his face.”
Apple Bloom looked at Abacus from the kitchen entrance. “Golly. Ah wonder what they did ta him in there.”
“An' as for him cryin’ when eatin’. It’s most likely because these here pancakes are the first good, home cooked meal he’s ever had in quite a long while. An' he’s very depressed, hurt, an' traumatized because he lost his loved one in the fire, an' bein’ wrongly convicted of her murder.”
Apple Bloom raised a concerned eyebrow. “How long is he gonna be that way?”
Applejack sighed. “Ah don’t know, sugarcube. But what ah do know is that he’s gonna need a lot of love, care, an' support from his friends ta help him get through this. An' ya definitely showed that this morning bein’ there fer’em.”
Applejack pulled her little sister towards her with her hooves, and embraced her into a hug. “Ah’m so proud of ya, Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom poked Applejack after seeing smoke coming from the frying pan. "Uhh... Applejack. The pancakes are startin’ ta burn.”
“Whoa Nelly!”
Applejack quickly turned back towards the stove, and grabbed the spatula with her mouth to flip the mildly burnt pancakes on the frying pan.
“Ah hope Pink doesn’t mind her pancakes a little burnt.” Applejack said.
“Ah think when Pinkie Pie puts cream, butter, an' syrup on'em, she won’t know the difference.” Apple Bloom said, remembering the time she made horrible cupcakes with Pinkie Pie.
Applejack chuckled, with Apple Bloom chuckling along with her. “Ah guess so. Why don’tcha help me cook these here pancakes.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Sure.”
About ten minutes later, Applejack and Apple Bloom came back with four more big serving plates of fresh, hot pancakes.
“Alright, everypony.” Applejack put the four plates down. “Grubs up.”
Just when everyone was about to dig in, they were all halted by a sudden knock at the front door.
“Now who could that be?” Applejack asked.
Applejack walked to the door, reached the door handle, and opened the front door. There, she came face to face with a dark grey unicorn mare, with a chocolate brown mane and tail, light brown eyes, and wearing black-framed glasses. Her cutie mark was of an opened eye that was the same color as her own eyes.
“Is this the Apple Residence?” The unicorn mare asked with a serious look.
Applejack nodded. “Umm... yes ma'am. What can ah do ya for?”
The unicorn mare adjusted her glasses. “I'm looking for Abacus Sum. Is he here? I was told he’s here.”
Applejack glared at the unicorn mare, thinking it might be another hater of Abacus here to possibly cause trouble. “Who wants ta know?”
The unicorn mare’s horn began to glow as she magically levitated a badge in front of Applejack that looked like a police badge with a stern look. “Investigator detective Lawful Eye. That’s who.”
Before Applejack could respond, Twilight, who had come over to listen in, appeared from behind Applejack, realizing who it was.
“Hey! I know who you are. You’re the investigator detective from Fillydelphia who got Abacus released from prison and cleared his name. I read about you in the paper yesterday.”
“Are ya sure, Twi?” Applejack asked.
“Your friend is correct.” Lawful Eye said.
Twilight smiled. “He’s here inside, having breakfast.”
“But Twilight...” Applejack started, but Twilight placed an assuring hoof on Applejack’s shoulder.
“It’s alright, Applejack," Twilight said. "I think we can trust her.”
Applejack looked at Lawful Eye, and then looked back at Twilight, who gave her a confident nod. Though she was still untrusting towards the dark grey unicorn, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“Come right on in.” She said to Lawful Eye, stepping away to clear a way for her to enter into the house.
Lawful Eye walked right on in through the front door, and into the house. All the ponies in the living room turned their heads, and locked their eyes on the unicorn visitor. Lawful Eye looked toward the depressed, dark brown, earth pony stallion.
“Abi!” Lawful Eye rushed over to Abacus, and embraced him. “Oh, Abi. I’ve been looking all over for you. I was so worried. Why did you run away?”
Abacus did not answer, he just lowered his head down depressingly. Everyone looked on, shocked, and surprised at someone in the police profession was acting so caring towards someone else. Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other, and spoke quietly.
"Abi?" Fluttershy asked.
Rarity tilted her head. "Isn't that what Tiger Lily, and his mother called him?"
Twilight, hearing Fluttershy and Rarity's words, quickly paid no mind to it, as she came forward to Lawful Eye to explain.
“Abacus didn’t want to show his face in public. He was afraid that the townsfolk would try to chase him out when he got out. So he went into hiding.”
Lawful Eye turned to Abacus. “Is that true, Abi?”
Abacus sobbed “…yes.”
“So how did you know Abacus was here?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye got up and turned to Twilight. “I came here on a suspicion he would come here. I just got here this morning, and went around town asking about him, until somepony told me about how a little filly was assaulted by him, and that he was hiding here.”
“Little filly?” Apple Bloom said. “Ya must mean Scootaloo.”
Lawful Eye raised an eyebrow. “Scootaloo?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah. She’s my best friend. Or one of them anyways.”
“And where is your friend?” Lawful Eye asked.
“Oh, she lives in town.” Apple Bloom said.
Lawful Eye raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’d like to talk to this Scootaloo.”
Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Rainbow. Do you think you could go, and get Scootaloo to come down here? We know how much she looks up to you.”
Rainbow Dash saluted. “Sure. I’ll just eat-up my next plate of pancakes, and I’ll-“
Twilight pulled the closest plate full of pancakes away from Rainbow Dash with her magic. “No. I mean right now.”
Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration, and took her napkin off. “Alright, fine. I’ll go. But save some pancakes for me when I get back.”
Rainbow Dash began to fly above the others, and shot out the door with a loud "WHOOSH!", leaving a rainbow coloured trail behind her. Lawful Eye then took a seat where Rainbow Dash was previously sitting, and levitated the plate of pancakes with her magic.
“Do you mind?" Lawful Eye asked. "I didn’t eat breakfast when I arrived here this morning. And these pancakes do smell delicious.”
Applejack nodded. “Help yerself.”
Everyone in the room continued to eat the pancakes, with Pinkie Pie stuffing her syrup, cream, and butter smothered face.
An hour later, Rainbow Dash came flying back to Sweet Apple Acres with Scootaloo not far behind racing on her scooter. Twilight stood at the door waiting for them. Scootaloo got off her scooter, took her helmet off, and walked towards Twilight. Twilight also noticed that Scootaloo had a black eye, for she knew it had something to do with yesterday.
“Hey, Twilight,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash told me you wanted to see me.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, it’s about yesterday. There’s even something we want you to see. I promise that it’s safe. And if you promise not to be scared, we’ll let you in on it.”
Scootaloo scratched her head, unsure of what was going on. “Uh… yeah, sure, I guess.”
Twilight nodded. “Okay. Come in.”
“Let’s go in, squirt.” Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo walked through the door and entered the house. She soon stopped in the middle of the living room. The others moved out of her line of vision to reveal Abacus sitting on the sofa. The moment she saw him, she let out a shocked gasp, for she recognized who the pony was, and began to back away in fear.
“It’s alright, Scoots,” Apple Bloom said. “He won’t hurt ya.”
Scootaloo blinked in shock. “Hurt me? He’s the one that was in our club house that everypony in town's been talking about. He’s a murderer!”
“He is NOT a murderer!” Apple Bloom shouted.
Lawful Eye placed a hoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder. “It’s fine, Apple Bloom. Your friend doesn’t know the whole story.”
Scootaloo, still scared that she was in the same room with Abacus turned her attention to Lawful Eye. “Who are you?”
“I am Lawful Eye," Lawful Eye said. "Investigator detective from Fillydelphia.”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Detective? So you’re a policemare?”
Lawful Eye nodded. “That’s right. And I need to ask you some questions. But I think you have the right to know the whole story.”
The Main Six, and Lawful Eye sat Scootaloo down, got a copy of the paper from yesterday, and told Scootaloo everything for a good long while.
“And that’s the whole story.” Twilight said.
“So he’s innocent?” Scootaloo asked.
Lawful Eye nodded. “Yes. Now, I need to ask you some questions. First: Apple Bloom said you got that black eye yesterday by banging your head on the door of your club house. Is that true?”
“Yeah.” Scootaloo rubbed her black eye with her hoof. “We tried to get our cutie marks in burglar busting, but that was a fail.”
Lawful Eye tilted her head. “You what?”
“It’s our secret society,” Apple Bloom said. “We call ourselves "The Cutie Mark Crusaders". We’re on a crusade to find our special talents, an' ta earn our cutie marks.”
“We have another friend who’s a crusader too. Her name is Sweetie Belle. But she’s gone on vacation with her parents during the summer.”
“I see." Lawful Eye looked at Scootaloo sternly. "Well, if that's true, why did you say that Abacus hit you?”
“I didn’t!” Scootaloo said.
Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. “Squirt. I think you better tell us what happen.”
“An' we want the truth, sugarcube.” Applejack said.
Scootaloo looked nervous as everyone in the room locked their focus on her. Thinking she might be in trouble, she hesitated to speak.
“You’re not in trouble, little filly.” Lawful Eye said calmly. “But we need to know what happened.”
Even though it was plainly clear that she was not in trouble, she still felt that she was. Knowing there was no way out of this, Scootaloo sighed as she decided to give in, and talk. “Okay. I’ll talk.”
Everyone in the room came closer to hear Scootaloo’s story on what happened. Scootaloo took a deep breath and began to talk. “You see... Yesterday, after the incident that morning, we didn’t worry much about it because nothing was taken. Then when I was riding home, I saw many ponies in town carrying a newspaper. So I came closer to see what the excitement was.”
Scootaloo rode through the main street of Ponyville on her scooter, her wings making the iconic buzzing, motorized sound as it always did. She winced a bit as she felt the pain on the right side of her face, for it still felt a little tender from hitting her head due to her and Apple Bloom's encounter with Abacus not to long before. She took a short-cut through the market place when she noticed to her left hand side that there was a large crowd of ponies gather around the newspaper stand. Curious to what was going on, she made her way towards the crowd, and poked the attention of the nearest ponies in the crowd, which turn out to be Caramel and Lucky Clover.
“Hey, what’s all the excitement?” Scootaloo asked.
Caramel turned to Scootaloo. “The murderer, Abacus Sum is out of prison.”
Scootaloo tilted her head. “Abacus Sum?”
Another pony, Lucky Clover turned around to face Scootaloo. “Yes." He held out today’s copy of the Equestria Telegram to Scootaloo in his hoof. "This is him.”
Scootaloo took a good look at the front page with Abacus's mugshot photo. She blinked with realisation. “Hey! I saw that pony earlier.”
Caramel and Lucky Clover, along with a few other ponies who heard turned around quickly in shock. “WHAT?! You saw him?”
Scootaloo scratched her head. “Or somepony who looked like him.”
“Where?" Lucky Clover asked. "Where did you see him?!”
“At our clubhouse, at Sweet Apple Acres. We tried to catch him, but he got away." Scootaloo mildly winced from her sore black eye. "Burglar busting is painful.”
One mare, Amethyst Star, noticed Scootaloo's black eye. “Oh, dear. What happened to your eye?”
“Did he hit you?!” Caramel asked.
“Well, I-I think-”
Before Scootaloo could explain any further on what happened, Amethyst Star shouted out to the crowd, instantly getting their attention. “Did you hear that, everypony?! This poor little filly was assaulted by Abacus!”
“That monster!”
The crowd began to yell and shout with anger at what they were just told, drowning out Scootaloo's denials at that statement. Knowing that her words could not be heard, she remained silent throughout the rest of the whole thing.
Everyone in the room was shocked at what they were hearing as Scootaloo finished her retelling of what happened.
“And that’s what happened.” Scootaloo said.
“So, you did say he hit you?” Twilight asked.
Scootaloo shook her head. “No! I tried to tell them that I got the black eye from hitting the door, but they wouldn’t listen to me. So I kept my mouth shut.”
“You what?!” Rainbow Dash asked.
Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash. “I didn’t mean to. I swear. Please don’t be mad at me.”
Rainbow Dash's face turned red with frustration. “Mad? Oh, I'm beyond that! You have no clue on what you’ve just done!”
Scootaloo dropped her head shamefully, with tears beginning to form in her little filly eyes. “I…I’m sorry.”
Rainbow Dash snarled. “Sorry? You're SORRY?! That’s not good enou-!"
“That’s enough, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said. "I understand your anger. But Scootaloo isn’t to blame.”
Lawful Eye nodded. “She’s right. It’s obvious that the townsfolk assumed that Abacus assaulted Scootaloo. Fear and hatred can make others not think straight, and make one jump to conclusions without knowing the truth. Small town, small minds. She didn’t really do anything wrong.”
Rainbow Dash soon turned her attention to Scootaloo, whose head was down in shameful guilt, and had a tear running down her young gamboge coloured cheek.
Rainbow Dash sighed with guilt. “Oh, okay. I’m sorry, kiddo. I didn’t mean to get mad at you. You didn’t know.”
Scootaloo sniffled. “But I still caused this.”
Rainbow Dash put her hoof under Scootaloo's chin. “Listen, kiddo. You didn’t realize the truth about Abacus, and you didn’t know how the town would think of it.”
“That’s right,” Apple Bloom said. “Cheer up, Scootaloo. Ya can make up for it by tryin’ ta help with Abacus.”
Rainbow Dash smiled at Scootaloo to make her better. “Just remember one thing for next time. Whenever something happens that you're not sure about, come tell me or one of us first. Okay, little buddy?”
Scootaloo looked up, and rubbed away any tears that managed to escape from her eyes. She then put on a slow, relieving smile. “Okay, Rainbow Dash. I promise I will.”
Rainbow Dash petted Scootaloo’s mane. “That’s my little buddy.”
Scootaloo quickly began to feel better, for it always made her feel good to have a proud moment with her idol. She gave one more sniffle to clear the mucus from her nose. At the same time, she suddenly paused like if something got her attention. This made the others look at her with a what’s-the-matter look on their faces. Before long, Scootaloo was sniffing with her nose in the air like a dog.
“UGH!” Scootaloo winced and quickly covered her nose with her hoof. “What is that awful smell?!”
“Smell?” Rainbow sniffed the air, and like Scootaloo, winced, and quickly covered her nose with her hoof. “Pee-ew! That smell.”
“Oogh!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Land sakes!” Applejack said.
Apple Bloom, with her hoof over her nose, turned to Big Mac. “Uh, Big Mac? Did ya just...ya know...let Fluffy off the leash?”
Big Mac, with his hoof over his nose, shook his head, knowing good and well what his little sister was implying. “Nnope.”
“Well, where is that smell coming from?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye bravely uncovered her nose to try and find the source of the smell. Apple Bloom, noticing this, joined her in the search. They searched for a while until they came close to Abacus, who was still sitting sad, and quiet in that same spot on the sofa the whole time. Lawful Eye sniffed close by to Abacus, and gasped with surprised, for she took two small steps back knowing that she found the source of the awful smell. Abacus himself.
“Oh, dear,” Lawful Eye said. “It’s you, Abi.”
Everyone in the room turned towards the depressed, filthy, scruffy earth pony still sitting on the sofa. Abacus sadly looked away, embarrassed and ashamed that he was smelly.
“Oh my!” Rarity cleared her throat. “No offence, Abacus darling, but you really do need a bath. You smell like you haven’t bathed in days.
Applejack went to the door. “Well, ah better get the tub outside ready.”
“And when you’re all fresh and clean, Abacus, I’ll give you a little make-over, and a haircut.” Rarity said.
Applejack then noticed that Apple Bloom had some of the smell from Abacus as she walked past her to head outside. “An' Apple Bloom. Ya better take a bath too.”
Apple Bloom sniffed herself, and winced realizing she smelt like Abacus. “Alright.”
Outside, Abacus and Apple Bloom were each sitting in a wooden tub full of bubbly, soapy water getting washed. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity tended to clean Abacus, while Applejack and Scootaloo tended to Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo accidentally knocks Apple Bloom in the face with a long scrubbing brush. “Hey! Watch it.”
“Sorry.” Scootaloo said with the scrubbing brush in her mouth.
Scootaloo started to scrub the top of Apple Bloom's head. Soapy bubbles began to form and grow on top of Apple Bloom's head as Scootaloo scrubbed her with the scrubbing brush. Apple Bloom focused her eyes on Abacus in the tub close by next to her. She saw that Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy were scrubbing Abacus very thoroughly. Their scrubbing forming a build-up of bubbles faster than on her side, which soon engulfed Abacus in thick, white, soapy bubbles. Finding that amusing, she gave a quiet, sweet giggle before Applejack dumped a bucket of clean water to rinse Apple Bloom off.
“OOH!” Apple Bloom jumped surprisingly, after getting rinsed and began to shiver. “That’s cold!”
Applejack tilted her head. “Cold? It couldn’t be. Ah checked it just a few moments ago.”
Applejack put her hoof into the empty, but still wet wooden pail, only to feel that it was ice cold instead of warm. Her confusion quickly changed when she heard the sound of familiar giggling. She turned her head to see Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who were standing around alongside with Lawful Eye watching the whole time, beginning to giggle amusingly. After seeing another identical pale right next to them, Applejack then realized that they had switched them behind her back as a funny prank.
“Oh, Rainbow, Pink.” Applejack chuckled and shook her head.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie right away shift their giggling to a burst of laughter. Soon almost everyone began to laugh along. Lawful Eye, who had seen what Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had did, found it hard to keep a straight face. She put a hoof over her lips and laughed quietly. Abacus did not laugh, for he was still quiet and depressed underneath the mountain of bubbles. He then felt the sudden splash of warm water from Fluttershy's bucket drenching him from the top of his head.
“Sorry, Abacus.” Fluttershy said.
Soon enough, Abacus was all clean. Twilight and Fluttershy helped Abacus out of the tub, and lead him into the barn, where Rarity was going to give him a haircut.
Rarity guided Abacus to a little stool in front of a mirror that she and Applejack set up earlier. "Now you sit here, darling.”
Abacus sat himself down on the stool. When he came face-to-face with his own reflection, he flinched, closed his eyes, and turned away at the sight of his horribly scarred face.
Rarity then started to wrap a towel around Abacus’s shoulders as she prepared to cut his mane. "I remember very well how you always had your mane, dear. You had such wonderful hair.”
Abacus said nothing. Rarity began to levitate a pair of hair-cutting scissors with her magic, and then began to cut Abacus’s hair. The minutes ticked by, and for the whole time, Abacus kept his eyes tight shut. After a while, Rarity was at last finished.
“There you are, darling.” Rarity said kindly, as she took the towel off his shoulders. “You’re starting to look like your old, handsome self again.”
Abacus did not look. It was saddening for Rarity to see this stallion refusing to look at himself in the mirror, but she understood that it was not without a reason. For she knew that she would be like that too if her beautiful face was horribly scarred like that.
“Well, let’s go outside, and show everypony how you look.” Rarity placing her hoof on Abacus’s shoulder. “Come along, dear.”
Rarity lead Abacus outside where everyone was waiting. Lawful Eye and the rest of the Main Six all smile to see Abacus all cleaned-up, for they all thought he looked a little more normal after a bath and a haircut.
Lawful Eye smiled. “You look nicer now, Abi.”
“I think you did a good job, Rarity.” Fluttershy said.
Rarity smiled. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I tried to remain faithful to how I remembered he looked.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were playing fetch with Winona the dog, caught a glimpse of Rarity and Abacus emerging from inside the barn, and being admired by the others. They both quickly ran over excitedly to the others to see how Abacus looked.
“Abacus!” Apple Bloom called out as she and Scootaloo came running up to him.
“Wow!” Scootaloo said. “Rarity did an awesome job.”
Just then, Winona came rushing through past Apple Bloom and Scootaloo towards Abacus, barking happily with her tail wagging. Abacus suddenly screamed, and jumped backward against the barn door in fear. Applejack was confused and surprised.
“Hey, Abacus,” Applejack said. “It’s just Winona. Don’t ya remember her? She sure remembers you.”
Winona continued to come to him like the lovely natured dog that she was, with her tail still wagging and barking. Abacus continued to look at Winona with great terror in his eyes. His mind quickly began to morph the happy barking Winona in front of him, to a big savage looking black dog with blood-thirsty eyes, and sharp teeth barking viciously.
Abacus screamed and cried with real terror. He cringed on the ground, and huddling himself up into a ball in horrible fear.
Lawful Eye quickly rushed over to Abacus, and shielded him from Winona. “Get that dog away from him! Can’t you see he’s terrified?!”
Winona came to Applejack on command all sad like if she had done something wrong. Lawful Eye then turned her attention to Abacus, who was all traumatized by Winona. He started to cry and whimper, and Lawful Eye put her hooves around him to try and calm him.
“It’s okay, Abi," Lawful Eye said. "It’s okay.”
Almost everyone was surprised and confused by what they had just witnessed. Twilight noticing everyone's confusion spoke out. “Has he always been afraid of dogs?”
“No,” Fluttershy said. “He actually loved dogs.”
“That’s right,” Applejack petted Winona who was whining sadly. “He was never terrified of Winona.”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said. “An' Winona wouldn’t hurt anypony.”
Ten minutes later that day, the others were all waiting outside. Lawful Eye, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were inside with Abacus to calm him down from the incident with Winona. Just then, Applejack and Lawful Eye came out the door toward the others.
“How is Abacus?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye sighed. “He’s calmed down. But he’s still very upset.”
“I don’t understand,” Fluttershy said. “Abacus was never afraid of dogs.”
Applejack nodded. “Ah know. He never used ta be terrified of Winona either. An' those two were like good friends.”
Twilight rubbed her chin. “Lawful Eye? Do you happen to know anything about this?”
“Does it have somethin' ta do with his time in prison?” Applejack asked.
Lawful Eye could clearly see that they were all concerned about Abacus. She sighed, and decided to tell them. “I guess since you’re his friends, you have the right to know.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes. Please tell us.”
Lawful Eye cleared her throat. “Alright then. While in prison, Abacus was a common victim of prison violence and abuse. He was abused verbally, psychologically, and physically, and it was all unprovoked.”
“No surprise,” Rainbow Dash said. “Hoofstrong Prison Center is considered the worst prison in Equestria. All those dangerous prisoners in there must’ve made his life a misery.”
Lawful Eye closed her eyes. “The prisoners? No. It wasn’t the prisoners who abused him." She opened her eyes with a glare of anger and disgust through her glasses. "It was the prison guards.”
The Main Six's eyes widened in shock in unison. “The prison guards?!”
Lawful Eye nodded. “Yes. All of the prisoners sent to Hoofstrong Prison Center suffered like Abacus. The guards of Hoofstrong Prison Center abused them in all the forms you can think of. Especially Armstrong.”
“Armstrong?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye nodded. “He was a minotaur who was the warden of Hoofstrong Prison Center. He’s a bash artist, a bully, and a sadist. He did whatever he wanted to the prisoners. He’s a heartless tyrant. He was shamelessly cruel. He even owned a savage guard dog that was as evil, and sadistic as him, and would viciously attack anypony who came near it, or at Armstrong’s command.”
Fluttershy's eyes widened. “So you’re saying…?”
“Yes." Lawful Eye's eyes slightly looked at the door of the Applejack's house. "The horrific scarring you see on Abacus’s face was caused by that very same dog. Armstrong commanded it to attack him." Lawful Eye growled. "And it was for no reason, except for his guards and his own sick, sadistic satisfaction.”
The Main Six were all mixed with shock, sadness, and anger from what they had just heard. Hearing that someone would do something so evil and cruel to an innocent, defenseless pony just for sheer pleasure.
“That monster!” Fluttershy said through gritted teeth.
“Well, it ain’t no wonder he’s so terrified of dogs.” Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash pounded her hoof fist with a face of anger. “What I wouldn’t give for just five minutes alone with that bastard!”
“You’ll have to wait your turn!” Rarity growled. “That beast ruined Abacus’s beautiful face. I’d love to rip him to pieces for doing such an unforgivable crime against fabulosity!”
“That’s just horrible.” Twilight said.
Lawful Eye growled. “Horrible isn’t enough to describe the kind of monstrosity that was discovered there.”
“You’re right! Horrible isn’t enough! I’d say disgraceful! Disgusting! Despicable! Abso-defi-posi-lutely Devastatingfully unforgivable!!" Pinkie Pie suddenly paused. "…Wait. Is Devastatingfully even a word? Maybe I should look it up in my diction-”
“We get the picture, Pinkie!” The rest of the Main Six said in unison.
“Oh, uhh…okay.” Pinkie Pie said.
Lawful Eye sighed. “Anyway. For that whole time Abacus was in prison, he quickly became one of Armstrong’s personal favorite targets. The guards he had there were not just made up of ponies, but of some griffons too. And the most disgusting of all, he let his guards beat, torture, starve, and even rape them. Armstrong and his guards did all that to all those prisoners, including Abacus.”
“Ah think we all have,” Applejack said. “Ah’d not even dare imagine what they did ta him in there.”
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. “I don’t blame any of you. I was absolutely disgusted by what I found out too.”
“Well, what I want to know is, why wasn’t that sick bastard, Armstrong busted?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Lawful Eye put on a serious face. “The answer is obvious. The prison was corrupted and rogue. Nothing went in or out of that place. They didn’t even allow visitors from family, friends, lawyers, or even investigators, because they didn’t want any evidence of abuse and torture getting out. Whenever somepony came to see a prisoner there, they would turn them away.”
“Then how did you get word about all this?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye glanced at Twilight. “Somepony from inside the prison brought the information to me. In exchange for a lighter sentence in his role in all the abuse to all the prisoners.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “His role?”
“Ya mean a guard from the prison gave ya this information?” Applejack asked.
“Correct,” Lawful Eye said. “But I don’t want to go into too much information, for court reasons. Right now, we need to work out accommodation arrangements to keep Abacus safe.”
Twilight nodded. “I agree. It’s obvious that the whole town knows by now that Abacus is here in Ponyville.”
“True,” Applejack said. “But since they all suspect that he’s here, an' because of Winona bein’ around here too, ah don’t think Abacus would really want ta stay here at Sweet Apple Acres. So where else is he gonna stay?”
There was a long moment of silent thinking amongst the Main Six. They all knew that Abacus needed a new place to stay, But the question among each of them was: who would take him?
“Well, um...” Fluttershy spoke suddenly, catching the attention of the others. “I suppose he could stay with me.”
“That’s a great idea!” Pinkie Pie said.
“But, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Are you sure? You have lots of animals at your cottage, and you saw what Abacus was like with Winona.”
Fluttershy nodded. “I do. But I know for sure that I don’t have any dogs. Abacus can stay with me.”
Rarity smiled. “Fluttershy, darling. You’re a real saint.”
“And what about you, Lawful Eye?" Twilight asked. "Do you have somewhere to stay? If not, you can stay at my place, if you’d like.”
Lawful Eye rubbed her chin. “Well, I was going to go into town and find a hotel to stay in." She smiled. "But since you generously offered to accommodate me. Sure. I accept it.”
Twilight nodded. “That’s settled then. Detective Lawful Eye will stay with me, while Abacus stays with Fluttershy.”
“Well, I better take Abacus to my cottage.” Fluttershy said.
“Sure thing, Fluttershy. He’s sittin’ in the living room with Apple Bloom an' Scootaloo." Applejack looked at Winona. “Oh! An' ah'll also shut Winona inside the barn, so that she don’t scare him again.”
Applejack took Winona into the barn, and shut her up inside, while Fluttershy made her way towards the front door, and entered into the house to get Abacus. Then Lawful Eye turned to Twilight as she was ready to head to her place at the Goldern Oak Library in town.
“So where is your place, Twilight?” Lawful Eye asked.
Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. “Oh, it’s in town. As soon as Abacus and Fluttershy come out, we’ll get going.”
Just then, they could hear Fluttershy speaking to Abacus, kindly trying to convince him to come out. “Come on, Abacus. It’s okay. Winona’s shut inside the barn. You can come out.”
Abacus soon came out slowly, looking around him like a little, cautious, timid animal to see if Winona was still outside.
Fluttershy placed her hoof on Abacus’s shoulder. “You’re going to stay with me. And don’t worry. I don’t have any dogs at my cottage. But I do have other animals.”
“Well, let’s go.” Twilight said.
Rarity handled her mane. “I think we should all go home now.”
“You said it.” Rainbow Dash stretched.
“Well, see y’all later.” Applejack said.
“Gotta dash.” Rainbow Dash took off into the distance with a whoosh, followed by a rainbow trail behind her.
All the other ponies started to make their way out of Sweet Apple Acres, and down the road. Before long, they reached the crossroad that went to one of two ways. One way obviously went to Ponyville, while the other went to Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Well, my cottage is just down this road.” Fluttershy said. “We better be on our way.”
Twilight nodded. “Sure. I’ll see you later, Fluttershy.”
Lawful Eye gently patted Abacus's shoulder with her hoof. “We’ll all come see you soon, Abi. Okay?”
“...Okay.” Abacus said, with his head down in a depressed tone.
Fluttershy waved at Twilight, Lawful Eye, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. “Bye-bye.”
Lawful Eye watched as Fluttershy escorted Abacus down the road that lead to her cottage, walking slowly. As Lawful Eye watch them getting smaller the further they walked down, Twilight could see that Lawful Eye was concerned for Abacus’s well-being.
Twilight placed her hoof on Lawful Eye's shoulder. “It’s alright, detective. I assure you that Abacus is in good hooves.”
“I hope so,” Lawful Eye said. “I really do.”
Rarity sighed. “Well, then. Let’s get a move on.”
Twilight nodded. “Sure.”
“Hey, Twilight?” Lawful Eye asked.
Twilight turned her head to look at Lawful Eye. “Yes.”
Lawful Eye gave a mild smile. “Thank you...for all the things you and your friends here are doing. Helping Abacus, and accommodating me.”
Twilight smiled. “You’re welcome. After all, helping out one another is what friends do.”
“Oh!” Pinkie Pie bounced alongside the others. “I think you’ll love Twilight’s place. It’s a library built inside a big huge tree. Lots of books to read. And you’ll get to meet Spike.”
Lawful Eye tilted her head. “Spike?”
“Yes," Twilight said. "He’s my most faithful assistant who lives with me. Oh. And just in case, he’s a baby dragon.”
Lawful Eye blinked. “A baby dragon? How did you come across one of them?”
Twilight chuckled. “It’s a long story.”
As they all walked toward Ponyville, the sun began to set in the distance. Lawful Eye knew that trying to help Abacus get back into society was not going to be easy, but at least she had a bit of help from some ponies in town. They also knew that first thing tomorrow it was the beginning of the challenge that lay ahead.
Twilight, and Lawful Eye soon arrived at the Golden Oak Library later that evening. Twilight was not sure what Spike would make of having another pony staying on such short notice. Though she did not worry about it too much since she knew that Spike was a flexible little guy.
“Well, here we are.” Twilight said, as she opened the door with her magic.
Twilight and Lawful Eye entered the library’s door. Lawful Eye looked around herself in the first room. She saw shelf after shelf of many kinds of books around the rounded room.
“Spike!” Twilight called. “Spike, I’m back!”
“Twilight.” Spike came running down from upstairs, and stopped in front of Twilight. “You left early this morning without waking me up and telling me. Where have you been all day?”
Twilight rubbed her head. “Sorry, Spike. Applejack came by very early this morning to get me and the others to help her. Abacus was found at Sweet Apple Acres.”
Spike blinked. “Abacus? You don’t mean-?”
“Yes.” Lawful Eye stepped forward towards Spike. “The one in yesterday’s paper that’s been released from prison.”
Spike turned to Lawful Eye. “Huh? Who are you?”
“Oh sorry, Spike," Twilight said. "This is Lawful Eye.”
Spike blinked. “Lawful Eye? As in the Investigator Detective from Fillydelphia that was mentioned in the paper yesterday?”
Twilight nodded. “The very same. She’s going to be staying with us for a while to help Abacus.”
Spike straight away turned his attention to Lawful Eye who was looking at Spike as if she was analyzing him. The way she looked at him through her glasses with her light brown eyes made him slightly uncomfortable. Though Spike did his best not to say anything about it, Twilight could obviously notice that he was getting uncomfortable being looked at that way.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, uh... how about we get dinner started? We should still have some of last night’s vegetable casserole in the refrigerator.”
Spike nodded. “Sure. I’ll go get three plates and heat'em up. Be right back.”
Spike turned around, and made his way into the kitchen to get everyone's dinner ready. Twilight was a little concerned at the fact Lawful Eye was going to eat leftovers. For if having a guest staying with them was not so sudden, they would made something fresh.
“You don’t mind having some of our leftovers from last night, do you?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye shook her head. “Not at all. I love vegetable casserole, leftovers or not.”
Twilight quietly sighed in relief at Lawful Eye’s answer. It made her feel better that she had a house guest that was not fussy about food, especially keeping a good first impression towards others was always a top priority to her. A few minutes later, Spike came back from the kitchen with the three plates of heated up vegetable casserole. He placed two of them on the table in front of Twilight and Lawful Eye, before sitting down at the table.
Lawful Eye smelled the steam of the reheated vegetable casserole on her plate. “Mmm. This casserole smells quite good.”
“Spike made it,” Twilight said. “He’s a good little cook.”
Spike blushed. “Oh, come on, Twilight.”
Twilight, Spike and Lawful Eye began to eat, with Twilight and Lawful Eye levitating a fork full of food with their magic. Nearing the end of their meals, something about Lawful Eye got Twilight thinking. In fact, it got her thinking ever since she first saw her.
“Abi! Oh, Abi. I’ve been looking all over for you. I was so worried. Why did you run away?”
“It’s okay, Abi. It’s okay.”
"Abi?"
"Isn't that what Tiger Lily, and his mother called him?"
Twilight puzzled as she recalled the way Lawful Eye behaved towards Abacus, and Fluttershy and Rarity's conversation. Soon she began to suspect something from it, since she knew it was not how someone with a profession in investigation and policing would be towards a client.
“Hey, Detective?” Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye looked up at Twilight. “Yes, Twilight.”
Twilight briefly hesitated to ask since she knew it probably was none of her business, but she felt that she had to know. “I was just wondering. Since you arrived here in Ponyville to find Abacus, I couldn't help but notice how you interact with him, especailly calling him "Abi". Forgive me if this is none of my business, but I must ask you. Do you have some kind of close connection with him?”
Lawful Eye looked at Twilight with both their eyes locked on to each other for a few moments. Lawful Eye’s eyes then looked down sympathetically. “I guess it’s obvious. You see, Abacus... he's my best, oldest, closest, and dearest friend, along with his late wife, Tiger Lily, since we were kids in kindergarten.”
Twilight blinked. “He's your best friend?”
Lawful Eye nodded. “That’s right. Tiger Lily and I met him in kindergarten in our childhood in Fillydelphia. I’ll never forget the day we first met.”
A group of little fillies and colts were sitting on a patterned carpet in a kindergarten class room of Fillydelphia Elementary School. They were listening to a teacher doing a fun class activity involving a story of a bear involving mathematics.
“The big, brown bear got his pot of honey, and got one more to go to the party," The teacher said. "Alright children. Can one of you tell me what one plus one is in this little story?”
“Two?” A little, dark brown earth pony colt with grey hair said.
The teacher smiled at the colt. “That’s right, Abacus. You have a good little talent for numbers."
Suddenly, the class was interrupted by the sound of the school period bell ringing throughout the whole school. The bell meant it was time for lunch and recess.
"Well, time for recess, everypony.” The Teacher said.
Every little filly and colt made each of their ways to their lunch boxes, and went out of the back of the school building and into the schoolyard. Little colt Abacus sat down on a bench, and opened his lunch box to eat his lunch. He was about to start eating when he was approached by a slightly bigger earth colt with a moderate olive colored coat, and a pale, light grayish olive and light yellow patterned mane and tail.
“Well-well. If it isn’t Abacus, the smarty pants.” The colt said.
Before Abacus could react, the mean earth colt swiped his lunch out of his grasp, and on to the ground. “Hey! My lunch!”
“Yuk! Only a smarty pants like you eats garbage like this.” The mean colt began to stomp on Abacus's lunch into the ground with his hoof.
“No!" Abacus said. "My mommy made that!”
“Too bad, smarty pants! Why don’t you eat out of the trash?!” The mean colt laughed horribly.
“Why don’t YOU eat out of it instead, Rotten Eggs?!”
The mean colt called Rotten Eggs turned to where the voice of a filly came from. Only to find himself getting shoved into the nearby trash can, with the trash can tipping over, and covering part of him in foul smelling garbage.
Rotten Eggs got up from the garbage. "Eww!"
Rotten Eggs looked to see the one who pushed him into the trash can was a dark grey unicorn filly, with a chocolate brown mane and tail, and light brown eyes. He walked towards the filly, growling and pounding his fore hooves. "Now you’re going to get it, girly!”
The filly glared, unintimidated by the colt bully. “You can’t hit a girl.”
“I can too," Rotten Eggs said. "Take this!"
The filly ducked as Rotten Eggs swung a punch at her, she instantly retaliated by punching him back in the face. The punch was able to stun Rotten Eggs, and caused him to falter for a moment. Just before Rotten Eggs could retaliate, the filly twisted her hind legs before her, and landed a hard buck square into his snout. The force of the buck made Rotten Eggs fall back into the tipped out garbage with a loud "SPLOSH". Rotten Eggs got up, covered with squishy, foul smelling garbage, and noticed blood slowly dripping from his snout.
Rotten Eggs began to sob. "Ow, my nose! I’m telling on you!”
Rotten Eggs ran off crying. The little unicorn filly then turned her attention to Abacus, who was sitting on the ground crying over his ruined lunch.
“Are you okay?” The filly asked.
Abacus sobbed. “My lunch.”
The filly gave Abacus a hug. “Never mind. You can come with us." The filly pointed at a light brilliant tangelo colored unicorn filly, with light brilliant vermilion and green striped mane and tail, and had a tiger lily flower in her mane sitting under a tree close by watching them. "My friend and I can share our lunches with you." She released her hug. "And don't worry. That horrible boy will never bother you again.”
Abacus sniffled and wiped some of the tears with his hoof. “Thank you.”
Abacus soon sat down with the two fillies on the grass of the schoolyard under the tree. The two fillies opened their lunch boxes, and took out two sandwiches that were each cut in half. They then each offered half their sandwiches to Abacus.
“Do you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?” The tangelo unicorn filly asked.
Abacus nodded. “Oh, yes please.”
The dark grey unicorn filly smiled. “Oh, my name’s Lawful Eye."
The tangelo unicorn filly smiled. "And I'm Tiger Lily. What’s your name?”
“Abacus. Abacus Sum.”
Tiger Lily smiled. “Abacus. That’s a nice name.”
Lawful Eye took a bite of her remaining half of her sandwich. “So, Abacus, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
Abacus took a bite of one of the two half sandwiches he got. “I want to be an accountant like my mommy. And what about you?”
Lawful Eye smiled confidently. “I want to be a policemare, a detective and a lawyer, and put all the bad guys in jail.”
“And I want to own a flower shop," Tiger Lily said. "But I'd like to be somepony who likes to help out anypony in need.”
Abacus took another bite from the sandwich, only to get a bit of the jelly on his nose. The two fillies began to laugh.
“You've got jelly on your nose, Abi.” Tiger Lily said.
Abacus tilted his head. “Abi?”
Tiger Lily smiled. “Yeah. "Abi" is a cute nickname.”
Lawful Eye nodded. “Hey, yeah. So why don’t we call you "Abi"?”
“Abi." Abacus smiled. "My mommy calls me that.”
The three children, now friends, began to laugh playfully as they enjoyed their lunch together.
Lawful Eye smiled as she remembered the day she and Tiger Lily first met Abacus in their childhood. It was one of her most cherished memories of their friendship.
“And you see,” Lawful Eye said. “It was because I fought off a horrible playground bully, that Tiger Lily and I met Abacus. And after sharing our lunches with him, we became best friends instantly.”
Spike blinked. “Wow. Talk about friendship at first sight.”
Lawful Eye nodded. “That’s right. As the years went by, he and Tiger Lily became so close that they fell in love. When they reached twenty-two, they got married.”
Lawful Eye looked at her bag laying on the floor on the other side of the room, and with her magic, she pulled out what looked like a photograph. She levitated it in front of Twilight and Spike where they took hold of it. Both Twilight and Spike looked at it. It was a picture of an unscarred, happy Abacus in a nice looking suit. Next to Abacus was a beautiful light brilliant tangelo colored unicorn pony, with light brilliant vermilion and green striped mane and tail, wearing a wedding dress and veil standing in between Lawful Eye and a grayish brown colored earth pony mare with dark fuchsia mane and tail and wearing grey framed glasses.
“Hey.” Twilight said. “That unicorn with Abacus? Is that…”
Lawful Eye nodded. “Yes. That’s Tiger Lily with Abacus on their wedding day about eleven years ago. I was their best mare.”
“Wow! She’s beautiful." Spike cleared his throat when Twilight and Lawful Eye looked at him. "…Of course not as beautiful as Rarity. Rarity’s much more beautiful.”
Twilight and Lawful Eye continued to look at Spike awkwardly at what he said. At that moment, Spike began to embarrassingly smile at them both looking at him. “Uhh…I think I better check on dessert.”
Spike quickly ran out of the room and into the kitchen to check on dessert before it got any worse. Twilight saw that Lawful Eye was somewhat confused by what she heard Spike say.
“Sorry about that," Twilight said. "You see Spike has a big crush on my friend, Rarity.”
Lawful Eye tilted her head. “Really? A dragon being infatuated by a pony." She adjusts her glasses. "I’ve seen some strange things, but I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Twilight chuckled. "I know.”
Lawful Eye cleared her throat. “Anyway. About two years after they were married, they decided to move to Ponyville, as a quiet change to city life in Fillydelphia. I had to stay behind, because of me being a private detective and lawyer in the city, but we always kept in touch by letters, or when they visited Abacus’s mother once every month." She showed the picture to Twilight again, and pointed to the grayish brown colored earth pony mare in the photo. "In fact, that's her right there."
"And not to mention poor Arithma was there too."
"She's Abacus's mother. Abacus and Tiger Lily spoke very highly of her."
"Abacus and Tiger Lily would make visits to her in Fillydelphia once a month. She even visited Ponyville a few times. She was such a nice pony."
"Nopony ever heard from her, or saw her again after that."
Twilight looked at the image of Abacus's mother with wonder as she recalled what her friends said about Abacus's mother the previous day. "So that's Arithma?"
"That's right." Lawful Eye said.
As Twilight looked at the picture, she scratched her chin, thinking of something that caught her attention. "Question. How come his father isn't in it?"
Lawful Eye cleared her throat. "Well, the thing is... Abacus never had a father."
Twilight tilted her head. "No father?"
"Well, you see," Lawful Eye said. "Arithma was an asexual. She had no sexual attraction to neither stallions or mares. So she became a single mother through a sperm donor. Despite Abacus being diagnosed with mild autism as an infant, she raised him herself."
Twilight rubbed her chin. "I see. Asexuals do have the option of having children through sperm donors. And I didn't know about Abacus being autistic, even with all the books I've read about numerous medical conditions."
"Then one day, six years later, they told the wonderful news that they were going to have a baby, and that I was going to be the godmother of their child. That was a week before Tiger Lily's death." Lawful Eye sighed. "It was the last time I saw Tiger Lily alive. A few days after their last visit, I had to go to Manehattan to help solve a very difficult crime that took nearly four months, and required me staying there full time for that period.”
Twilight blinked. “That explains why you didn’t know about Abacus and Tiger Lily.”
“That’s right.” Lawful Eye dropped her head in sorrow. “When I got home after that, I went to visit Arithma at her apartment, only to find her crying in grief. It was there she told me the tragic news, that Tiger Lily, one of my best, oldest, and dearest friends…was dead. And that Abacus was... charged with her murder. When I heard what happened, I…I cried. I cried at the fact that I lost not one best friend, but two. There was something else. Tiger Lily was not just a best friend, she was also my foster sister while both of us were in foster care. So it made it hurt all the more worse. And for a time, I blamed myself. If only I had not taken that case, Abacus would never have suffered. In some way, it was my fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Lawful Eye,” Twilight said. “How were you supposed to know it would happen? It was a senseless tragedy that nopony could’ve seen coming.”
Lawful Eye sighed and smiled. “You’re too kind, Twilight. As my profession as a private detective investigator, and a part-time lawyer and prosecutor, I decided to take the case and investigate. But as you know, when I tried to visit him in prison, they turned me away, as they did to anypony else who went there to try and visit. Until one of the guards, who was the right-hand of Armstrong came forward secretly, and told me everything of what was going on there. While I tried to put the events of common prison torture and abuse to court, I organised for an investigation team of members of the FPI from Sydneigh to help investigate the evidence of the cause of the fire in Abacus’s house. They succeeded in finding that the fire wasn’t deliberately lit."
"That reminds me." Twilight turned her head and levitated what seemed like some newspaper articles to the table. "I did some research yesterday and last night on the case in Ponyvilles newspaper archives. According to the stories, the ones from Canterlot Investigation Force who investigated the case was Chief Inspector Blue Ward and Detective Lieutenant Cover-Up."
Spike came out of the kitchen to the table with a hot apple pie in one of his claws and a tub of ice cream in the other, and placed it on the table just as he heard Twilight mentioned the names. "Blue Ward and Cover-Up? Aren't they some of the best investigators in Canterlot? How could they have gotten the case wrong? I guess even the best investigators can make mistakes."
"Yes. It was a mistake. And that mistake caused so much loss to Abacus." Lawful Eye sighed. "But there was another sad loss yet to come.”
Twilight tilted her head. “And what was that?”
“About nine months into the investigation.” Lawful Eye closed her eyes sadly. “Arithma had developed terminal stomach cancer. She was so heartbroken at the fact that she wouldn’t get to see her son again, or even one last time. Five months later after her cancer development, she died.”
Twilight put a sad hoof over her mouth. “Oh, no. That’s so sad.”
“Indeed,” Lawful Eye said. “I was the last one to see her before she died. I remember what she said to me the day she died.”
Lawful Eye sat in a ward's waiting room of Fillydelphia hospital waiting on news on Arithma's condition. Just then, a Light goldish gray unicorn mare with a brown mane and tail, and a white doctor's coat came out of a room, and approached Lawful Eye. She got up from the seat as the unicorn stopped in front of her.
“How is she, doctor?” Lawful Eye asked.
The doctor sighed. “I’m afraid she doesn’t have much time left. It's best if you go see her right now. She’s been asking for you.”
Lawful Eye sighed sadly. “Then I must see her, please.”
The doctor nodded and lead her into the room. Arithma had a breathing tube in her nose, apparently feeding her oxygen. The heart monitor next to her beeped intermittently, and a nurse was sitting beside her bed, crying silently. Lawful Eye went to her bedside, where the frail, dying mare looked up at her.
Arithma breathed a gasped of air. “…I’m afraid…I can’t hold on any longer...to see my baby again.”
Lawful Eye sniffled. “I’m so sorry.”
Arithma raised her hoof very weakly, reaching out to Lawful Eye. “Lawful…please...come closer."
Lawful Eye moved closer and took hold of Arithma's hoof.
Arithma struggled to take another breath. "…I want you to promise me something. Please…get my baby out of that prison nightmare he’s in.”
Lawful Eye nodded. “I…I promise.”
“Since I’m…not going to be here anymore…you’re the last thing he has in this world to turn to." Arithma struggled to take another breath. "Until he's free, I leave everything I have to you. Look… Look after him for me. Promise me.”
Lawful Eye sniffled as tears began trickling out of her eyes. “I… I will. I promise I’ll make you proud.”
"And...I want...to be buried next to Tiger Lily...in Ponyville." Arithma groaned. "Would you...honor my request?
Lawful Eye sobbed and nodded. "Okay."
“When you get him out…tell him that I…love…him……..”
The soft, monotonous droning echoed from the heart monitor throughout the whole room. The doctor and nurse dropped their heads sadly.
“Arithma? No. No!"
Lawful Eye sobbed as she collapsed on the side of the hospital bed crying next to the limp, lifeless form of Arithma.
Lawful Eye dropped her head down in sadness as she recalled the last moments she had with Abacus’s mother when she died with her at her side.
“I was the very last pony she ever saw,” Lawful Eye said. “She was heartbroken to know she would not get to see her son one last time. And after making a promise to get him out, and to look after him, she died with me by her side. And it struck another blow to my heart to know that Arithma, Abacus’s mother, the very last relative that Abacus had in his life…was dead.”
Twilight frowned. “Poor Abacus. I’m so sorry.” She then sadly thought in her head. Now I understand why nopony ever heard from her again. Because she died.
“Afterwards, when she died, everything she owned was to go to Abacus, but instead went to me." Lawful Eye looked up. "And she was buried next to Tiger Lily here in Ponyville."
Twilight blinked. "What? She was buried in Ponyville?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "It was her dying request. At any rate, when I received word from a guard from the prison, the FPI investigation team from Sydneigh secretly organised a secret undercover investigation. I even formed a secret task force with them that we dubbed "Task force River". However, getting an approval to do so would’ve taken a whole eight months. But that was, until I received this a week later.”
Lawful Eye once more looked at her bag laying on the floor on the other side of the room, and with her magic, pulled out what looked like a scroll. She levitated it in front of Twilight, where Twilight took hold of it with her magic, and opened it up to read it. Twilight’s eyes moved as she read it quietly to herself, until she suddenly stopped with a look of surprise.
“I don’t believe it.” Twilight said.
Spike tilted his head. “What is it, Twilight? What’s it say?”
“It’s an approval letter.” Twilight turned her attention back to Lawful Eye. “Who sent you this?”
“It doesn’t say," Lawful Eye said. "There was no name on it. All it said was it was from somepony who’s been watching for some time.”
Twilight used her magic to unroll the bottom of the scroll. Right there was the words “from somepony who’s been watching for some time.”. And on the end of the scroll was a symbol. The symbol was of two alicorns, one white, the other blue, circling around a burning sun and crescent moon. Twilight looked at the symbol with eyes widen with surprise, for it was a symbol she knew all too well.
“It can’t be," Twilight said. "This is the symbol of Canterlot royalty. Was it from Princess Celestia?”
“I don’t know." Lawful Eye pointed on the opened scroll with her hoof. "As you see, it has no name.”
Spike looked at the symbol on the scroll. “It had to have been. There’s nopony else who uses that symbol.”
“Well, whoever it was, they knew about what was going on with Abacus,” Lawful Eye said. “So with that approval, as well as the help from the guard, Sydneigh’s FPI investigation team organised an eight month investigation, with an agent to go undercover as a prisoner serving a life sentence being sent to Hoofstrong Prison Center. During the eight months of his stay undercover, he saw exactly what I most feared. That Abacus, as well as other prisoners, were being sadistically abused, and tortured in every way possible. The agent that went undercover took it as well.”
“And that was their biggest mistake.” Spike said.
“Indeed it was. With that, it was enough evidence to arrest and convict Armstrong and all of the prison guards for several counts of first degree abuse, rape and pony cruelty. The prison was quickly taken over by Equestria's royal guards, where Armstrong and all of the prison guards were captured and arrested. Finally, I got to visit Abacus in prison for the first time in over two years." Lawful Eye groaned. "Only to see the damage that was done to him."
Lawful Eye flinched as the heavy metal door slammed shut behind her. Right in front of her was a unicorn royal guard standing. She could not help, but notice that he had a scar on his right shoulder that just showed past his armor. A feature that made him noticeable from other royal guards there. The unicorn royal guard made a little grunt directing her ahead into the intimidating and dreary prison of Hoofstrong Prison Center.
"This way, ma'am." The royal guard said.
As Lawful Eye followed the unicorn royal guard, her mind was racing with mixed feelings on what the condition of her dear friend was. She had received word that Abacus had been mauled in the face by Armstrong's vicious dog on the day the royal guards stormed and took over the prison. He had been briefly taken to hospital for treatment under the royal guard escort. While there, he was also tested for STD, due to him being raped by Armstrong's guards.
Lawful Eye continued to follow the royal guard down the hall. She walked past the many barred prison cells, hearing the many sobs and moans of imprisoned male and female ponies. She even saw the state they were in. Many were very thin from starvation, scarred, and were even disfigured beyond recognition from the horrific tortures they suffered. Unicorns and pegasi had little stumps on their heads and backs where their wings and horns once were. She also noticed that all of them were wearing steel collars around their necks. The sight of all this made Lawful Eye wince with anger and disgust. The only thing new she saw with the prisoners was that they were all wearing orange jumpsuits. One of the other new rules and regulations that had been implemented since the royal guards raided and took over.
"How much further is it?" Lawful Eye asked.
"Not too far now, ma'am," The royal guard said. "Cell number 132 is just ahead."
They continued to walked down the hall, until eventually the royal guard stopped and motioned to his right to indicate to the unicorn that they had arrived. Lawful Eye gulped as she felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach. It had been a very long time since she saw her dear friend. She was very excited to see him, but at the same time, worried and scared to find out what became of him. Lawful Eye looked through the bars of the door of the prison cell. She could hear the sobbing of a stallion as he laid on his bed with his back facing the door. Though his back was turned, she could see he had bandages wrapped on the left side of his head. Lawful Eye also noticed he had a steel collar on like every other prisoner. Though he was wearing a jumpsuit, she could see his dark brown coat, and his grey mane and tail was somewhat scruffy.
Coming closer to the bars, Lawful Eye summoned the courage to speak. "Abi?"
Looking to the inside, Lawful Eye could see the ears of the dark brown earth pony perk up at the sound of his pet name being called. Very slowly Abacus rolled over and turned his half bandage face towards the door of his cell. When his eyes came in contact with Lawful Eye's, his eyes welled up at her. Lawful Eye's eyes welled up too, for she knew she had found her dear friend for the first time in over two years.
"...Lawful." Abacus said.
"Oh, Abi." Lawful Eye smiled and sobbed with joy. She then put her front hooves through in between the bars, and opened them up to welcome him into a hug. "Dear Abi!"
The scruffy earth pony stallion, still sobbing, got up from his bed, and came to her. It had been the first time Abacus had seen a face he knew in a very long time. He jumped into Lawful Eye's arms, and Lawful Eye tried to hug Abacus as best she could through the bars. Just then, Abacus suddenly screamed as he fell backwards on to the concrete floor of his cell in pain. Lawful Eye noticed that Abacus's steel collar was glowing with yellow sparks of electricity surging around it. It was then she realized to her great shock that the royal guard was causing the collar to shock him with his unicorn magic.
"What in Equestria are you doing!?" Lawful Eye yelled at the guard.
The glow of the guard's horn faded. "Prisoners are not allowed to touch visitors." His response was matter of factly, but at the same time conflicted.
Lawful Eye turned her head towards the door of Abacus's cell, as she heard the loud sobs of the stallion.
"Abi." Lawful Eye leaned on the bars of the cell that separated the two ponies. She felt helpless to come to her friend's side. "Oh, Abi. Please don't cry."
Lawful Eye's heart dropped as she watch helplessly at the sight of Abacus bursting into tears on the cold hard concrete floor of his cell.
Lawful Eye groaned with a mix of sadness and anger as she finished recalling the sad incident of when she saw Abacus for the first time in prison.
"His scarred, bandaged face, and his depressed condition was horrible to see." Lawful Eye closed her eyes with sadness as a small tear escaped her eye. "But worst thing of all to see was what happened when I tried to hug him through the bars of his cell. Because he was not allowed to have any physical contact with any visitors, that guard shocked him for it. I had never seen a full grown stallion break down into tears like he did. He didn't deserve it."
Twilight frowned. "That's so sad. And I don't understand why he had one of those steelectric collars on like all the other prisoners."
Spike cocked his head. "Ste-what collars?"
Twilight turned to Spike. "Steelectric collars. They're collars made out of steel. Each one of them is enchanted with an electrocution spell that are put on the necks of prisoners. When a prisoner gets violent or rebellious, it's used to shock, stun, and even incapacitate them with a painful shock of electricity by the magic from unicorn members of the prison security." She rubbed her chin. "But aren't they strictly used for only the most dangerous and violent prisoners?"
"They are," Lawful Eye said. "But Armstrong and his guards put those steelectric collars on all of them to torture and break them for their own sick pleasure."
Spike shoved a spoon full of apple pie and ice cream into his mouth and ate. "Well, why couldn't the new guards simply just take them off?"
Lawful Eye sighed. "Because it was not that simple. The new warden of Hoofstrong filled me in on the details."
Outside Abacus's cell, Lawful Eye turned her head towards the royal guard that shocked Abacus. She glared at him, her eyes smoked with anger at what the guard had just done.
"You...!" Lawful Eye shouted through gritted teeth. "How could you?! You're a monster!"
The royal guard looked conflicted at what Lawful Eye had said to him, but barely managed to maintain his composure.
"Detective Lawful Eye, I presume?" A deep, but calming male voice said.
Lawful Eye turned her head in the direction where the voice came from. At the T-ended section of the corridor stood a middle-aged unicorn stallion. His coat was a very dark grey, almost a black color, his mane and tail was purple and black patterned, and had deep emerald green eyes. He was also close to average size, unlike the other stallion prison staff.
"Who are you?" Lawful Eye asked, her voice still angered.
"I am Warden Rehab, the new warden assigned to this prison facility." Warden Rehab motioned to the left corridor indicating Lawful Eye to follow him. "Come to my office. We'll talk." He then turned to the royal guard. "Clock off early today and wait in the recreation room. We'll have a talk when I meet you there."
The royal guard nodded, and walked down the corridor. Lawful Eye then followed Warden Rehab down the left corridor towards his office at his request.
Warden Rehab opened the door to his office with his magic, where he and Lawful Eye entered. Warden Rehab directed Lawful Eye to the chair in front of his desk.
"Do sit down." Warden Rehab said.
Lawful Eye took a seat in front of Warden Rehab's work desk, with Warden Rehab taking his seat at his work desk.
Warden Rehab cleared his throat. "I assume you know why I wanted to speak to you? I saw the whole thing, Detective."
"This is outrageous," Lawful Eye said. "How can you treat them like this? Leaving steelectric collars on them, and shocking them."
Warden Rehab sighed. "I understand your anger, and I and all the guards here share it, but you have to understand that it's not our fault. The prison system of this facility is under the high maximum security class act. And because of that, the major protocols, including the major rules, and the steelectric collars being equipped can't be changed without legal processing. Some rules and regulations like allowing visitors, and having the prisoners wearing jumpsuits can be changed, but other rules have to be changed by legal government policy which can take as long as eight months to recalibrate."
Lawful Eye frowned. "No. Oh, Abi. All he wanted was a hug from me, but he can't without getting shocked. It's not fair. He didn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve any of this."
"I agree," Warden Rehab said. "No prisoner here deserves this, but until this is legally resolved, Abacus will just have to follow the rules like every other prisoner. It's just the way it has to be. I and all the guards here don't want him or any of them to ever get shocked. For I've seen the psychological effects of what those collars can have on some ponies."
Lawful Eye dropped her head sadly. She thought Abacus would not have to suffer anymore, but it seemed that he was not out of the woods yet. She was at least relieved that the new prison warden seemed very caring and trusting.
Several minutes later, Lawful Eye came back to Abacus's cell with Warden Rehab. They saw that Abacus had not left the very spot he was left. Warden Rehab used his magic to insert the key to Abacus's cell, where he then turned the key, and unlocked his cell door. Abacus looked up with his teared-up eyes at the sound of the door of his cell unlocking. At the sight of Warden Rehab, Abacus quickly huddled himself up into the corner of his cell in horrible fear, shielding himself with his hooves.
Warden Rehab turned to Lawful Eye. "You stay out here."
Lawful Eye watched has Warden Rehab open the door of Abacus, and entered, closing the cell door behind him, as she watched through the bars of the cell door. She so wanted to comfit Abacus, but she knew that she could not touch him. She felt so helpless.
"Abacus Sum." Warden Rehab said.
He slowly approached Abacus, with Abacus huddled up in the corner of his cell, trembling and whimpering. When Warden Rehab's shadow was over Abacus, Abacus shielded his face with his hooves, and closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for whatever torture that was going to come to him. Warden Rehab then kneeled down on his knees to be on Abacus's level. "It's all right. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Abi, it's okay," Lawful Eye said, watching through the bars. "This is Rehab. He's the new warden here, and he really cares about you very much."
Abacus remained huddled up in the corner of his cell, trembling, sobbing, and whimpering. Warden Rehab stayed kneeled down to his level to show he meant no harm to him, and that he wanted to speak to him on equal grounds. "Listen to me, Abacus. I'm sorry you got shocked by the guard, and your fearful distrust to prison staff, especially stallion staff is quite understandable, but please understand that it's not our fault."
Warden Rehab sighed. "If we could take those collars off at will, we would, but it's not as simple as that. The arrest of Armstrong and his guards has left this prison facility with so many legal complications that will take some time to legally sort out. You're allowed to have visitors, but you're not allowed to touch them. It's the rules. And as much as we hate it, we have to enforce them. I and all the guards here don't want you or anypony to ever get shocked."
Lawful Eye leaned towards the bars. "Abi. I can't touch you, but I'll come and visit you when I can, I promise. I have the courts to give you a retrial in three months time, so I'm going to get you out. You can be sure that Warden Rehab isn't anything like that monster, Armstrong. He really does care about you. So please, for both his and your own sakes, just follow the rules. Be brave, and wait patiently. You can trust him."
"You should listen to your friend," Warden Rehab said. "I give you my word, Abacus, that I and any of the guards here are never going to harm or abuse you."
Abacus began to stop shielding his face with his hooves, though he was still very fearful. Seeing this, Lawful Eye decided to say something he might be relieved to hear. "Oh, Abi. I have some other good news to tell you. The hospital sent Warden Rehab the results of your blood tests. The results says you're clear of any STD. That's really great news."
"Indeed." Warden Rehab stood up. "You are one very lucky pony."
"Like I said, Abi," Lawful Eye said. "I'll come and visit you once a week, since I'll be working on getting you released. And I'll even bring some of your favorite cookies, triple chocolate chip. You like those with a hot cup of cocoa." She turned to Warden Rehab. "That is if the warden will allow it."
Warden Rehab nodded. "As long as I have some too, that would be fine. I'm sure we can provide something like that." He looked at Abacus. "And we could also provide some books for you to read too if you'd like."
Lawful Eye smiled. "That's a really good idea. He really likes the Daring Do series."
"Ah, Daring Do. And I think the newest story has been released." Warden Rehab turned to Abacus. "Do you want us to bring you the latest Daring Do story for you to read, Abacus?"
Abacus sobbed quietly. "...Mother... I want my mother."
Warden Rehab turned to Lawful Eye, looking at each other with a look of conflict and concern for they both knew that Abacus's mother had sadly passed away seven months ago.
"I’m sorry Abi," Lawful Eye said. "But she can't come and visit you right now. She's... not feeling very well. She sends her love to you though.”
Lawful Eye and Warden Rehab watched on as Abacus continued to sob quietly in the corner, feeling a lump in each of their throats.
Lawful Eye sighed sadly as she felt the same lump in her throat from recalling her first visit to see Abacus. "I couldn't bare to tell him the sad truth about his mother yet from all the pain he was already in."
"So you just basically lied about his mother's well-being to his face?" Spike asked.
Twilight elbowed Spike. "Spike! That wasn't nice."
Lawful Eye held up a hoof. "Twilight. It's fine. Abacus's time in prison caused psychological damage as much as it did physical. He showed very specific behaviors, the psychologist who examined him in his brief visit to hospital identified them. You probably seen them. Flinching and shying away from touch, depression, post-traumatic stress, social withdrawal, fear of dogs, fear of stallions, griffons, and minotaurs." She sighed. "And with his mild autism, it makes it all the more worse."
"That's so awful." Twilight said.
Spike spoke to Lawful Eye. "But after what he went through, who can blame him?"
"When any guard in the prison went into his cell to give him his meals, or even walk by to simply check on him, he would cower into the corners of his cell in absolute fear." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "Despite all that, Warden Rehab was very gentle and patient with him. He would go into Abacus's cell on some days for coffee and cocoa just to simply chat. Though Abacus hardly ever talked, and was so scared and depressed, Rehab thought it could help him to know there was at least one pony inside he knew he could trust. It was what he did with some ponies at the psychiatric hospital that he was previously warden at."
Twilight's eyes were filled with amazement at what she had heard Lawful Eye had said. "Wow. He was a warden at a psychiatric hospital?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "Yes. It helped that he had experience in that type of field. Three months later, Abacus was due to stand for a retrial. The evidence was enough to have an almost instantaneous, acquittal "not guilty" verdict."
Abacus sat in a solitary stand in the court room of Equestria supreme court in Canterlot, guarded by two royal guards. His hooves were bound in chains, his steelectric collar had rope connected to it held by the mouth of one of the guards, and his head was down with hopeless sadness. Lawful Eye sat at a desk in the court room before the judge. He was a dark tangelo unicorn stallion with a thick short black mane with tight, small curls, and had a short black beard.
“Miss Lawful Eye," The judge said in a deep, raspy, African-American voice. "Do you have anything you wish to say before I deliver my final verdict?”
“Yes, your honor." Lawful Eye stood up from the desk. "Fillies and gentlecolts of the court. Mr Abacus Sum’s sentence and conviction was nothing more, nothing less than sickeningly unjust. Instead of help and support for his tragic loss, he was given punishment, and suffered all forms of abuse in prison by the guards and the inmates. This case just shows how the life of an innocent pony can be ruined by the stupidity and collective incompetent investigation skills of such investigative teams like from Canterlot. That is all, your honor.”
Lawful Eye sat back down at her desk in the court room. The judge sat there with his hooves together thinking, with the court all silent waiting for the judge to speak.
The judge sighed and looked up. “Miss Lawful Eye. Your little speech was words of truth. And I for one personally agree. Of all my years on the bench, I had never encountered a case of serious incompetent investigating, along with such sickening suffering one must have endured through such an ordeal. And with the evidence before me, I hereby find the prisoner, Abacus Sum, not guilty of all charges against him." He smacked the gavel with his magic.
The ponies in the court applauded at the judge's verdict. Lawful Eye smiled and shed a tear of joy that the case was over and that her dear friend, Abacus was going to be a free pony again. Abacus however showed no signs of joy, and he just sat there with his head down in the same very hopelessly depressed state.
"Order." The judge smacked the gavel a few times. "Order!"
The ponies in the court stopped, and remained quiet at the judge's order demand. The judge then turned to Abacus. "Mr Sum. Do you have anything you wish to say before the courts?”
Abacus said nothing. He just closed his eyes, and slowly shook his head as a sad tear escaped out of his eye, and ran down his horribly scarred cheek.
“I see." The judge sighed. "Mr Sum. Nopony can imagine the amount of hurt you suffered. Wrongfully convicted ponies commonly feel emotions ranging from anger and loss, to paranoia and betrayal. The long-term effects of many wrongfully convicted ponies can experience ongoing psychiatric dysfunction and have long-term difficulties reintegrating into society. And on the behalf of everypony, you have our humblest apologies. You will be given 120,000 bits in compensation. That's 60,000 for each year of your sentence. It won't fix everything for you, but it should be a start to help get you back on your feet. I would also suggest some psychological evaluation, testing, and perhaps treatment for you, Mr Sum. In the meantime, you will be sent back to Hoofstrong Prison Center, where you will be officially released, and walk out as a free pony tomorrow morning at 10 am. I wish you, Mr Sum all the best of luck for the future.” The judge then turned to face Lawful Eye, and the other ponies in the court room. “In addition, there will be a further compensation hearing on the nineteenth in three months time at 11 am. Court is adjourned."
The judge hit the gavel to end the court, and many ponies at the court who were sitting on the benches began to leave. The royal guard gently tugged on the rope attached to Abacus's steelectric collar.
"Alright, Abacus," The pegasus royal guard said through the rope in his mouth. "Come on, let's go."
Lawful Eye watched from her desk as Abacus got up from the stand at the guard's instructions, and began to follow the guards out the back door. His head remained down in that same very hopelessly depressed state.
The guards had nearly reached the door with Abacus when Lawful Eye got up from the desk and halted the guards. "Wait." She walked over towards them. "I just need one moment."
The unicorn guard standing behind looked at Abacus, then at the pegasus guard in front who nodded at him. He then looked back at Lawful Eye, and nodded permittedly. "Be quick, ma'am."
Lawful Eye turned to Abacus. "Abi. I'm so happy that this is all over now. I wish I could give you a hug, but I can't touch you." She noticed Abacus's eyes began welling up. "But don't worry, Abi. When I pick you up tomorrow, the first thing I'm going to do is give you the biggest, warmest hug you could ever ask for. That's a promise. I’ll hold on to your money for you. I’ll see you tomorrow, Abi.”
Lawful Eye nodded at the guards indicating she was done. The guards nodded back and continued leading Abacus to the door by the rope attached to his steelectric collar. The guard in front holding the rope attached to Abacus opened the door, then the two guards along with Abacus entered and closed the door behind them, leaving Lawful Eye alone in the court room.
Lawful Eye looked up as she recalled the last time she had seen Abacus.
“The next morning, I went to the prison to go pick him up at 10:15 am. But when I got there, he was gone. Warden Rehab told me that he went running off because one of the royal guards of the prison mentioned about how is mother would be so happy to see him." Lawful Eye dropped her eyes. "But he shouted at him about how he knew all along about his mother's passing, because Armstrong sadistically tormented him about it."
Twilight's eyes widened. "So...you're say...?"
"Yes," Lawful Eye said. "I think that was the other reason why he ran away. Because he felt deceived, because he felt he had nothing left, because I didn't tell him the truth." She sighed deeply and closed her eyes sadly. "Oh Celestia, this is all my fault."
Twilight reached out and placed a consoling hoof on Lawful Eye's shoulder. "You were only doing what you thought was right. Don't blame yourself. You just wanted to let him down about his mother gently."
"Yeah," Spike said. "If there's anypony to blame, it's that monster, Armstrong. Besides, what you told him about his mother not being well enough to see him was actually sort of true, from a certain point of view."
Lawful Eye looked back up. "I guess you're right. After that, I went looking for him by putting a missing pony report. Over a week of searching, I was nowhere near to finding him. That was...until two nights ago.”
Lawful Eye hesitated before speaking. “Well... It was because of a dream I had.”
Twilight tilted her head. “A dream?”
“I know it sounds crazy,” Lawful Eye said. “But a voice in this dream told me to come here to look for him. It’s the reason why I really came here.”
“Lawful Eye. Lawful Eye!”
“Who...who’s there?”
“Lawful Eye. Go to Ponyville. Abacus is in Ponyville.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Go to Ponyville!”
As Lawful Eye recalled the very dream that made her come to Ponyville, she could see that Twilight and Spike were each giving her a funny, confused look.
Spike scratched his head. “So... you’re in Ponyville because some voice in a dream told you to come here?”
Twilight rubbed her chin. “What I want to know is who that voice was? And why you didn’t come here in the first place?”
“I don’t know whose voice it was,” Lawful Eye said. “I didn’t recognize it. As for why I didn’t search here in the first place: It was because I didn’t think he would want to return here, especially since the townsfolk would be distressed about it. The next day, I took the next train to Ponyville.”
Twilight rubbed her chin. “And that’s how you ended up here in Ponyville.”
Lawful Eye nodded. “That’s right.”
Spike began holding up two bowls of ice cream with a slice of apple pie. “Well...who’s up for dessert?”
“Oh, thanks, Spike,” Twilight said. "We should eat it before the ice cream gets too soft."
Spike began to hand out the bowls of apple pie and vanilla ice cream. When he handed Lawful Eye’s serving, he looked at her funny. Lawful Eye could see that there was something the little dragon wanted to say that was troubling him.
“Hey, uhh…Lawful Eye,” Spike said. “I wanted to apologize.”
Lawful Eye tilted her head. “For what, Spike?”
Spike twiddled his claws. "Well, for… you know. About some of the things I said. Like about you lying to Abacus's face, and all. I didn't mean to sound like a jerk."
"It's fine, Spike." Lawful Eye said.
Spike shifted his feet. “Also... What I said about Rarity being more beautiful than Tiger Lily earlier. I'm sorry I sounded very offensive or strange. It’s just… well... I sort of have a cru-”
Lawful Eye stopped Spike from explaining by putting a hoof over his mouth. Spike looked at Lawful Eye, who gave him an understanding smile. “It’s quite alright, Spike. You don’t need to explain. You have special feelings for Rarity. Right?”
Spike gently nodded before Lawful Eye moved her hoof away from his mouth.
“It’s okay to have feelings for somepony you love.” Lawful Eye sighed. “At least you’re brave enough to admit and show it. Unlike myself.”
Twilight and Spike were surprised to hear that. Spike more so than Twilight. “Huh? What do you mean? Do you have a crush on somepony?”
Twilight turned to Spike. “Spike! That’s none of your business.”
“No, Twilight,” Lawful Eye said. “It’s fine. Spike is right. I do have feelings for somepony. It’s… well… It's Abacus.”
Spike's eyes widened. “What? You have a crush on Abacus?”
Lawful Eye nodded. “Yes. I’ve always had feelings for him, ever since we were kids.”
“Well, that’s great,” Spike said. “Why don’t you tell him?”
“Because he’s still suffering from the loss of Tiger Lily." Lawful Eye sighed. "Besides, I’m afraid that if I tell him how I really feel about him, he won’t feel the same.”
Spike tilted his head. “How do you know he won’t?”
“I don’t know,” Lawful Eye said. “I’m just afraid he won’t. Perhaps I will tell him, but not until I feel that the time is right for me to. He needs a little time for his heart to heal. But for now, he needs help getting back into society.”
Twilight nodded. “You’re right. Helping Abacus must come first. I promise that my friends and I will do everything we can to help.”
Lawful Eye smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. And tomorrow, I should contact Warden Rehab to tell him that Abacus has been found. He'd want to know about this. Maybe he could help too."
"Sure," Twilight said. "And I'm going to contact the investigation force headquarters in Canterlot about the case with Abacus. I want to research as much as I can about this case."
Spike sat down at the table and began eating his bowl of apple pie and vanilla ice cream again. "Well, let’s get into our desserts.”
Twilight and Lawful Eye turned their attention to their desserts. They then began to levitate their spoons with their magic, scoop the first spoonful of ice cream and apple pie, and eat it. They ate their dessert, with both realizing that the task of helping Abacus started tomorrow.
The sound of the rooster crowing could be heard as the morning sun raised over the hills of Sweet Apple Acres to begin the new day. Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith were up to start the day. The three Apple siblings were outside doing some morning chores, while Granny Smith was inside making breakfast. Apple Bloom and Applejack were together at the feeding troughs feeding the pigs. They poured the last buckets of pig slop into one of the troughs, where they let the pigs out to eat. Applejack and Apple Bloom sighed and wiped the sweat from their foreheads.
"Hooie," Applejack said. "Glad that's all done."
"Me too." Apple Bloom's stomach growls. "Ah can't wait ta have my own breakfast."
"Well, we better go and feed Winona first, sugarcube."
Applejack and Apple Bloom went to go and feed Winona. Carrying the big bag of dog food, they see that Winona was laying inside her dog house on the side of the barn. She looked quite sad, like she had been for the past two days.
Applejack poured some dog food into Winona's bowl in front of her. "Here's yer breakfast, Winona."
Winona turned her head, and moaned sadly. Apple Bloom looked worried, for Winona was never usually a sad dog.
"What's the matter, Winona?" Apple Bloom asked. "Ya look so sad."
Applejack looked at Winona with a sympathetic frown, for she understood why Winona had been acting so sad for the last two days. It was to do with how Abacus was so fearful towards her the other day, and was feeling so hurt that a pony she really liked was now so afraid of her. Applejack remembered how Abacus and Tiger Lily would play fetch with Winona whenever they came to visit, whether it was business or social. She also remembered how Winona tried to cheer Abacus up at the after-funeral get-together service that was held on their farm. They had a special bond.
Applejack patted Winona's head to comfit her. "There there, girl. It wasn't yer fault. We all know ya wouldn't hurt Abacus. While he was gone, he got hurt by another really bad dog, an' it's made him scared of dogs in general, not just ya specifically."
"Yeah," Apple Bloom said. "He just needs ta be cured of his fear, right?"
"Well, it'll not be that simple, sugarcube." Applejack nodded. "But yes. It'll take time, but he could be." She turned back to Winona. "So cheer-up, girl. Ah promise ya'll get ta be friends with Abacus again. But until then, we have ta keep ya away from him."
"Yeah." Apple Bloom patted Winona's head. "Don't be sad, Winona. It's sad enough that Abacus is depressed. We don't want two of ya real sad."
Winona began to wag her tail happily, if only a little, as she began to eat her breakfast. Applejack smiled proudly at her little sisters words of encouragement and sympathy.
The whole Apple family sat down at the table inside the house having breakfast. Granny Smith had made scrambled eggs, hash browns, with slices of hot buttered toast, a jar of jam, a box of corn flakes cereal, a jug of milk, and a teapot of hot tea. A traditional farmer's breakfast.
Everyone at the table began to eat. Granny Smith pored herself a cup of tea, and grabbed some toast with jam. The others helped themselves to everything else. Apple Bloom just put the first spoonful of corn flakes into her mouth when Applejack spoke to her.
"Apple Bloom?"
Apple Bloom looked at Applejack and spoke with a mouth full. "Hmm? Yeah, Applejack?"
Applejack smiled proudly. "Ah want ta tell ya again how proud of ya we all are lately."
Apple Bloom swallowed. "Proud of me?"
"That's right, youngin," Granny Smith said. "How ya were so sweet an' kind ta Abacus the other day."
Applejack nodded. "An' how ya encouraged Winona ta be happy this mornin."
"Eeyup." Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom blushed and chuckled bashfully. "Well, ah didn't think ah did that much." She looks at Applejack. "Besides, ya did the most talkin'."
"True, sugarcube," Applejack said. "But how ya said those words ta not be sad for Abacus is sad was just so encouraging that Winona cheered-up enough ta eat."
"An' ah have a feelin' that somethin' real good could be comin' yer way." Granny Smith winked.
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
Apple Bloom's face lit up like a little sun. "Somethin' real good? What kind of somethin' real good?"
"Don't know, sugarcube," Applejack said. "But good things always happen ta those who do real good deeds."
Apple Bloom cocked her head. "But when will it happen?"
Applejack winked. "Probably when ya least expect it, sugarcube."
"Eeyup." Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom mulled it over for a moment. "Well, whatever it is, ah hope it's somethin' ta do with gettin' my cutie mark." She ate another spoonful of corn flakes that made her cheeks puff up like a chipmunk. "Or at least somethin' that's real good eatin'."
Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith gave a chuckle at Apple Bloom's child-like innocence, before continuing to eat breakfast. Five minutes later, they were interrupted by the door suddenly slamming open from something bursting inside. It landed on the floor in front of them with a crash sound. They turned to see that what burst in was a pegasus mare with a light sapphire bluish gray coat, a pale, light grayish apple green mane and tail, and had eyes that were a gradient from pale, light grayish apple green to moderate gamboge color, and were cross-eyed.
"Oops, sorry," The mare said. "I just don't know what went wrong."
"Howdy, Derpy." Big Mac said.
"Hi, Derpy." Apple Bloom said.
Granny Smith turned to Derpy. "Well, howdy-do there, Derpy! Ya deliverin' today?"
Derpy quickly got up and brushed herself off. "Oh, yes. You're the first ones of my route today."
Applejack got up from her chair from the table, and came up to Derpy. "So, what can we do ya for, Derpy?"
"Oh, right." Derpy reached into her saddle bag, and pulled out a big, stiff envelop that had SPECIAL DELIVERY. DO NOT BEND. stamped on it. "I've got a special delivery for this address."
Applejack looked at the words on the envelop in Derpy's mouth. "Apple Bloom. It's addressed ta ya."
Apple Bloom blinked. "Fer me?"
Apple Bloom got up from the table and walked over to Derpy with wonder on what the special delivery was. Derpy leaned down, and handed the envelop to Apple Bloom. She then turned her attention back to Applejack while Apple Bloom walked back to the table.
"So where is Abacus Sum?" Derpy asked. "I heard he was here."
"He ain't here." Applejack said sternly.
Derpy frowned with a look of disappointment. "Oh, that's too bad. I was hoping he was here so that I could say hello and welcome him home."
"Oh my star apples!"
Applejack and Derpy turned their attention to Apple Bloom who just exclaimed. They see Apple Bloom with a overjoyed look on her face, for she had opened the envelop. They see it contained a letter, few other papers, and two slips of cardboard that looked like tickets. "Ah don't believe it! It's like a dream come true!"
"What is it, Apple Bloom?" Applejack asked. "What's it say?"
Applejack came over to look at the letter and began to read it out loud. "Dear Miss Apple Bloom. Congratulations. Fer we are please ta announce that ya are the lucky drawn winner of Pop Pony magazine's contest. Ya entered our contest ta win the grand prize of two front row tickets ta Sapphire Shores's "Ah tune in ta you" tour concert performance in Manehattan, plus V.I.P. backstage passes ta meet Sapphire Shores in person, an' two nights accommodation at Manehattan's famous Bridleway Grand Hotel. An' yer name was the lucky name drawn from the barrel."
Everyone's eyes widened at what was just read out, with a look of amazement on each of their faces. The Apple family each remembered that Apple Bloom submitted an entry by filling out a submission slip that she found in a issue of Pop Pony magazine that someone threw away when she, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were trying to get their cutie marks in recycling a few weeks ago.
Applejack looked at Apple Bloom with the same amazed look. "...Land sakes. Apple Bloom...Ya've..."
"Ah won tickets ta see Sapphire Shores!" Apple Bloom began to jump up and down with glee. "Yahoo! Yippee! Yay!"
"Well, ah'll be danged," Granny Smith said. "Y'lucky, little whippersnapper!"
"Yee-haw!" Applejack cheered while rearing.
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup!"
Apple Bloom ran up to Derpy and gave her a big hug. "Oh, thank ya, Derpy. Ya're the best!"
Derpy smiled, looking down at Apple Bloom with her bad eye wandering off before she put a hoof around her.
The word of Apple Bloom winning the prize in Pop Pony magazine's contest spread around fast. Soon the whole town knew about it, and became the top story of the gossip column in Ponyville's local newspaper.
"WHAT?!"
The voice of a filly shouted in absolute disbelief. So loud that it could be heard by the whole town. The voice of the filly who shouted turned out to come from none other than Diamond Tiara. She was reading the story of Apple Bloom winning in the local newspaper's gossip column with her friend, Silver Spoon, in the local park.
"She won it?!" Diamond Tiara said.
"I know." Silver Spoon frowned. "We put in 547 entries in that contest. How did she get so lucky with just one?"
Diamond Tiara scowled. "It's not fair! We should've been the ones to win and see Sapphire Shores, not that blank flank!"
"You're right," Silver Spoon said. "It's not fair at all."
Diamond Tiara huffed. "Come on, Silver Spoon. Let's go to Sugarcube Corner. I need something sweet."
The two rich fillies walked off down the path in the park towards Sugarcube Corner.
At that same time, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Lawful Eye were walking towards Fluttershy's cottage to visit and find out how Abacus was doing. Fluttershy was outside tending to some of her many animals as they came up to her.
"Hey, Flutters." Rainbow Dash said.
Fluttershy turned her attention to Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Lawful Eye. "Oh, hello, everypony. One moment, please."
Fluttershy took a few moments to tend to some of her animals before heading over to her friends standing outside close to the front door. Twilight along with Lawful Eye stepped forward to speak first. "So, how is Abacus doing, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy dropped her eyes with concern. "Well, he's been very quiet and antisocial."
Fluttershy turned her head towards the front door of her cottage, with the others looking to. Through the opened top part of the Dutch door, they could see Abacus sitting on the sofa in the living room in that same depressed posture with his head down, and his face sad.
"Ever since he got here, he just sits there in that same spot," Fluttershy said. "He almost never speaks, and doesn't do anything. The only times he ever gets up is to use the bathroom, to eat, or get himself a drink. And last night, he had a really horrible nightmare that woke me up in the middle of the night."
Fluttershy lay in her bed, sleeping soundly in the quiet, peaceful night. The peaceful quiet was suddenly stopped by distressed shouts.
"No!...No!"
The shouts of Abacus in the guest room woke Fluttershy up. She rubbed her eyes. "Huh..."
"Stop...No! NO!"
Fluttershy gasped. "Oh, no!"
Fluttershy jumped out of bed, and rushed out of her room, down the hall to the guest room. She opened the door to see Abacus tossing and turning violently in his bed, with cold sweat forming on his face.
"No! NO!!!"
Abacus began screaming loudly, causing Fluttershy to rush over to him. She began to shake him, to wake him up from the nightmare he was having.
"Abacus," Fluttershy said. "Wake-up! Wake-up!"
Her shakes and calls worked as Abacus jolted awake, sitting up panting heavily with a horrified look on his face. His horrified expression was soon followed by sobs and fearful whimpers like a small child waking up from a horrible nightmare. Fluttershy began to embrace him, like a mother would when comforting their distressed child as Abacus cried on her shoulder.
Fluttershy winced as she finished recalling Abacus's nightmarish episode the previous night. "I don't know what he was dreaming about, but it must've been horrible."
"I believe I do," Lawful Eye said. "He must have been dreaming about the tortures he suffered in prison."
Twilight sighed. "Even in his own dreams, he suffers."
"Gosh," Spike said. "That poor guy."
"And to add to it." Fluttershy turn her head to the others. "He's not once ever placed a hoof outside since he got here. He just stays inside all day."
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "It would be because of the towns feelings towards him the other day."
"I think you might be right," Twilight said. "Remember how the ponies in the marketplace acted? And how the crowd of ponies came over to Sweet Apple Acres not long afterwards as Applejack told us?"
“Good?! It’s an outrage! He did do it. Everypony here in town knows he did.”
“What?! Whose side are you ponies on?!”
“You’re against us!”
“Traitors!”
“Abacus! We know you’re in there!”
“You’re so going to get it when we ever get our hooves on you! You hear us?!”
“But if Abacus IS here! And if we get our hooves on him, he’ll be mincemeat!”
The look of mixed, and troubled feelings came to everyone as they recalled the angry words of the ponies in town.
Rainbow Dash crossed her front hooves while hovering. "Well, it's no wonder he doesn't want to go outside."
"Yeah," Spike said. "The town is just so hate-filled towards one pony, and even though he was proven innocent, they still believe he did it."
Scootaloo came forward for everyone to notice her. "Um...speaking of which, I think there's also probably going to be another problem."
"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked.
Scootaloo hesitated for a couple of moments with a worried look on her face. "Well...you see...my dad has been threatening to press charges on Abacus."
Everyone looked at Scootaloo. "What?"
"What do you mean he's pressing charges?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, when my dad asked me about my black eye, I told him that I got it from hitting my head on the door of the clubhouse." Scootaloo cringed. "But when my dad found out from somepony that it was from me and Apple Bloom's first encounter with Abacus, and told him that it was because he hit me, he got really mad. And now he believes that he really did hit me, and he's saying he's going to have Abacus arrested. I've tried to convince my dad that Abacus didn't hit me, but he won't listen to me."
Rainbow Dash face-palmed her face in frustration. "Oh, perfect. This is just perfect."
"Oh, no." Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth, looking rather worried. "This is not good."
"Oh, come on," Spike said. "He's probably just blowing hot air. Besides, he can't have him arrested for it without real evidence or proof. The proof is in the pudding."
"Spike is right," Twilight said. "The town is jumping to conclusions. But we know the truth." She looks at Scootaloo. "I'm sure your father is just blowing a lot of hot air."
Scootaloo scratched her head with a look of concern. "...I don't know. He seemed pretty serious when he said it."
Lawful Eye came up to Scootaloo and put a reassuring hoof under the young filly's chin. "Do not worry, Scootaloo. I don't think your father is going to press charges on Abacus."
"You think so?" Scootaloo asked.
Lawful Eye nodded. "Like Spike said, he doesn't have enough evidence or proof to press such charges on him, even with the black eye you have which is almost gone. And if he does manage to do so, I won't let him succeed in arresting and putting Abacus in prison again. I am a detective and lawyer after all. But I doubt he's going to because this town has no police force. The closest investigation teams available that can is either in Cloudsdale or Canterlot, and I doubt he's going to go through all that trouble. So I wouldn't really worry about it."
Scootaloo's eyes looked away with that same concerned look. "I Hope you're right, Detective."
"Well, then," Twilight said. "How about we try and get Abacus to go outside? In fact, how about we take him out to Sugarcube Corner to visit Pinkie Pie?"
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Lawful Eye walked inside Fluttershy's cottage and into the living room with the others right behind them. Abacus looked up at them with his depressed eyes as they mildly welled up when he saw Lawful Eye. "...Lawful.
Lawful Eye came over to him with a caring smile before saying warmly, "Hi, Abi."
Spike walked by Twilight, Fluttershy, and Lawful Eye and towards Abacus. "Hey there, Abacus. The name's Spike." He offers his hand out as a friendly hand shake gesture as he says: "Nice to meet you."
Abacus shied away from Spike's reaching hand on the sofa, causing Spike to tilt his head and raise a confused eyebrow. "Huh? What's wrong? You know what a friendly shake is, don't you?"
Seeing that Abacus was a little scared, Lawful Eye, Fluttershy, and Twilight came over to Abacus's side to reassure to him that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Fluttershy patted Abacus on the shoulder to comfit him. "It's okay, Abacus. There's nothing to be scared of."
"That's right," Twilight said. "Spike is a dragon, but he's a good little guy. He's my number one assistant, and my friend. And he'll be your friend too."
Spike smiled as he once again offered his hand out as a friendly hand shake gesture to Abacus. Abacus hesitated and looked at Spike nervously until Lawful Eye encouraged him to shake Spike's hand.
"Go on, Abi," Lawful Eye said. "It's alright."
Abacus hesitated again for a moment before he began to slowly and nervously move his hoof out towards Spikes' hand. After a few moments, his hoof finally rested in Spike's hand, and Spike began to gently shake Abacus's hoof with a friendly smile.
"I guess this is your first time meeting a dragon, huh?" Spike chuckled. "It's okay. I get that sometimes." He stopped shaking and let Abacus's hoof go. "Twilight and Lawful Eye have told me all about you."
The others smiled at how Abacus shook claw and hoof with Spike. Twilight cleared her throat. "Hey, Abacus. We were thinking. We're going to go to Sugarcube Corner to see Pinkie Pie and have a sweet treat. And guess what? We're taking you with us."
Abacus began to shake his head with fear, laid down on the sofa and began to sob and whimper.
"Oh, come on, Abacus." Fluttershy said.
Abacus sobbed with fearful tears shedding out of his eyes. "No! No!"
The others understood why he did not want to go outside with the townsfolk being so hostile towards him, but they knew he could not just stay shut-out forever. They took a very patient approach.
"Abi," Lawful Eye said. "We understand you're scared, and we don't blame you, but you're a free pony now. You need to get out and get fresh air."
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash hovered above the others. "After all, you can't stay inside forever."
Fluttershy nodded. "That's true. It's too nice of a day to stay inside. And I know Pinkie Pie would be happy to see you. And you could have a nice cup of cocoa, and maybe one of her nice muffins or cupcakes."
Twilight nodded. "And I think the fresh air will be very good for you."
"And you'll be with us," Spike said. "So you'll be safe."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah. If anypony want to try and get you, they'd have to get passed us first."
Fluttershy stroked Abacus's mane gently. "Please, Abacus? Please come with us to Sugarcube Corner?"
"I promise we will keep you safe, Abi." Lawful Eye said.
Abacus began to slowly look up at the others, who each look at Abacus with kind smiles on their faces, waiting for his answer.
The townsfolk of Ponyville were all walking around town, going on their usual daily routines. Ponies going to the marketplace or local shops to do needed shopping, couples and families enjoying nice outings in the streets, and little fillies and colts having fun and games in the outdoors. The peace suddenly halted when one pony gasped in horror.
"It's... It's... HIM!" A mare shouted.
The whole townsfolk looked in the direction of where the pony was pointing. Coming up the main street of the direction of where they were all looking, was Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, and Lawful Eye. And walking amongst them, in between Fluttershy and Lawful Eye was Abacus Sum. They walked down the street of Ponyville, and noticed the townsfolk just staring silently with mixed expressions. Some fearful, and others with anger and hatred.
"Hey, Fluttershy! Who's your new pet?!"
Fluttershy jerked her gaze around to see a group of stallions in the street calling out.
"Get out of town, you murderer! You aren't welcome here!"
"If you didn't have those ponies with you, believe us, you'd be sorry!"
"You may of fooled the courts, but we all know you did it!"
"Enjoy your undeserved freedom while it lasts, you scum!"
"Yeah, Abacus Scum!"
Rainbow Dash angrily turned to the stallions, as she yelled, "Knock it off, you jerks!!"
Abacus sadly winced at the stallion's words, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash giving the stallions an angry glare that said everything. They continued down the road where they saw Daisy, Rose, and Lily Valley. The three flower ponies who are known for their habit of being so fearful and gossip-spreading. The three look at Abacus with horror at the sight of his horribly scarred face.
"Just look at his face," Daisy said. "Pure evil!"
Lily Valley winced. "So hideous! Tiger Lily's evil husband has shown his true form."
Rose put her hooves on both sides of her face in shock. "The horror, the horror!"
On the opposite side of the street, they saw a pony couple with their little filly. The little filly hugged her mother, sobbing in fear, with the father giving Abacus a hateful glare.
"Mommy, Daddy, make that scary pony go away." The little filly said.
The open aggression and fear towards Abacus frustrated the others as they each struggled not to outburst at anyone else who was saying things towards or about him. If there were not any children around, they would definitely outburst at them. But the reaction was what some ponies wanted, and were not worth it. The others could suddenly hear Abacus mumble something under his breath. They listened carefully to barely make out that he was repeatedly saying: "I am not scum. I am not scum. I am not scum."
Rainbow Dash came closer to Twilight and Lawful Eye. "So, you still think bringing him into town was a good idea?"
"Well, we're almost at Sugarcube Corner," Twilight said. "So ask me again later."
Soon they could see the gingerbread house style building of the local bakery and confectionery ahead. Inside, there were customers waiting to be served and enjoying some sweet snacks while dining. Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Lawful Eye and Abacus entered inside, and took a seat at an empty table. One of the customers was none other than Derpy, as she looked at them. She smiled with delight at seeing one of them in particular.
"Abacus!" Derpy said.
Everyone inside turned their heads towards the table Abacus was sitting at with shock. One random little colt that was close by to them was pulled away quickly by his mother. Soon almost all other customers just left the shop quickly in fear or anger at the sight of Abacus, until there was only a few other customers left.
Derpy happily came over to the others, and stopped in front of Abacus. "Abacus." She then embraced Abacus in a hug. "It's so good to see you again."
Lawful Eye looked surprised at how genuinely happy this pony was to see Abacus. She adjusted her glasses. "And who are you, ma'am?"
Derpy looked up at Lawful Eye, and released Abacus from her hug. "Oh, hi. My name's Derpy. I was he and Tiger Lily's neighbor. They use to live next door to me."
Just then, Pinkie Pie, along with Cup Cake and Carrot Cake, came out to serve the next customer. Pinkie Pie saw the others sitting at one of the tables. "Oh! Hi there, guys! I'll come and take your orders."
As Pinkie Pie bounced over to the others, Cup Cake and Carrot Cake tilted their heads in confusion at the sudden lack of customers.
"That's strange," Cup Cake said. "There was a lot of customers a minute ago."
Carrot Cake scratched his head. "I know, honey bun. I wonder what caused them to leave suddenly?"
"We know why." A filly's voice called out.
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake turned their attention to a table that had two little fillies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sitting at it.
"They all left because of him." Diamond Tiara pointed.
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake looked at the close by table that Diamond Tiara was pointing at. They both saw that it had some of Pinkie's friends sitting there. They gasped with surprise as they noticed that one of the ponies sitting at the table was Abacus.
"Is that... Abacus Sum?" Cup Cake and Carrot Cake said in unison.
Diamond Tiara tapped her hoof on the table impatiently. "Speaking of service, where are our jumbo sized chocolate chip cupcakes and large chocolate milkshakes? We've been waiting forever."
"It won't be long now, dearies." Cup Cake said.
Back at Twilight's table, Pinkie Pie was just getting everyone's orders, with Abacus and Lawful Eye being the first orders. "So, Abacus, what can I getcha?"
"I think he'd like maybe a cup of hot cocoa, and some cupcakes." Lawful Eye said.
Pinkie tilted her head. "Hot cocoa? In summer? That's a bit of an unusual thing to have at this time of year, don't you think?" She briefly scratched her head until an idea struck her like lightning. "Hey, I know! How about a large chocolate milkshake instead? It's today's special, with a plate of jumbo sized chocolate chip cupcakes."
"That sounds nice. I think I'll have that." Lawful Eye turned to Abacus. "Would you like that too, Abi?"
Abacus did not say anything, he just sadly closed his eyes and slowly nodded.
Lawful Eye turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie. "We'll take two milkshake and cupcake specials."
"In fact, I think we all will have that too, Pinkie." Twilight said.
"Mm-hm." Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Fluttershy said.
Pinkie nodded. "Okey-dokey-lokey! Seven milkshake and cupcake specials coming right up! I think a freshly baked batch of cupcakes has just came out of the oven."
Pinkie Pie bounced over to Cup Cake and Carrot Cake as her usual joyful self. "Hey, Mr and Mrs Cake. Are the jumbo sized chocolate chip cupcakes ready?"
"I just got them out of the oven to cool a few minutes ago." Carrot Cake said.
Pinkie Pie turned Cup Cake and Carrot Cake's attention to her friends table. "We've got seven milkshake and cupcake special orders for my friends."
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake looked at the table that the others with Abacus were sitting. They then looked at each other briefly before turning back to Pinkie.
"Yes... Of course, dearie." Cup Cake went to the back of the counter to prepare the orders.
Carrot Cake looked at Derpy. "Oh, and Derpy. Your bakers dozen of muffins will be ready in a minute."
"Yay!" Derpy said. "Thank you so much."
Diamond Tiara groaned impatiently. "I don't believe this. Loosing the Pop Pony magazine's contest to that blank flank is bad enough, but not getting our orders on time..."
"I know," Silver Spoon said. "I could just die of boredom."
Abacus slightly winced at hearing Silver Spoon's remark at the nearby table. Diamond Tiara noticed this. After a moment of thinking, and remembering Cup Cake and Carrot Cake's reactions to him being here, she got an idea of what to do for fun. She leaned forward and whispered something to Silver Spoon, while pointing at Abacus. They giggled sinisterly as they spoke to each other loudly.
"Oh, well, Silver Spoon. I guess it's better inside here, then out there in that blazing hot summer weather. We might have to just face it and wait." Diamond Tiara grinned.
"I know," Silver Spoon said. "I'd hate to get sun burnt while out there. Especially on the face. It'd be a horrible sight for anypony to see."
Abacus winced distressingly at the words those two fillies were saying. Everyone else who could hear them glared at them for they could tell from the tone and sarcasm in their voices that they were doing it on purpose. They restrained themselves because of one reason: They only wanted the reaction. They would not get one, or at least they hoped so.
"Well, it's a good thing my daddy has got air conditioning at my house," Diamond Tiara said. "If it gets too hot, we could just lock ourselves up inside to keep cool."
Abacus winced distressingly again. Seeing how distressed Abacus was getting, Scootaloo spoke out at them unable to take those two fillies tormenting. "Hey! Cut it out, you two!"
"Cut what out?" Diamond Tiara along with Silver Spoon acted innocent.
Scootaloo glared. "You know what I'm talking about!"
Silver Spoon grinned. "We're not doing anything. We're just talking about how burning hot the weather is, Blank flank."
Abacus began to winced distressingly again, with him closing his eyes and shuddering. Lawful Eye tried to comfit him. "It's alright, Abi. Just ignore them."
At that same time, Cup Cake came walking over to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's table, carrying a tray with two large chocolate milkshakes and two plates of jumbo sized chocolate chip cupcakes on her head, and placed them in front of them.
"Here we are," Cup Cake said. "Sorry for the wait, dearies. We had to let these cupcakes cool a little, or they'd be too hot."
"It's about time. But I guess it's good they're not too hot. It would burn our mouths." Diamond Tiara eyed towards Abacus, smiling horribly. "But somepony here would know all about burning ponies, wouldn't they?"
Abacus's eyes suddenly shot open, his pupils constricted, and the white of his eyes turned red, with a look on his face. A look he had not shown until now, a look that is shown when the last straw is placed on ones back and breaks. The look of anger shocked the others. Then at the same time, he got up from the table and attempted to come at the little fillies in a rage. Quickly, Lawful Eye and Rainbow Dash held him back to stop him.
"No, Abi," Lawful Eye said. "Stop!"
Rainbow Dash held on tightly. "Come on, buddy! They're not worth it!"
Abacus's anger driven face winced up as he collapsed on the bakery floor into sobs, with Lawful Eye and Rainbow Dash trying to calm him down. The others set their eyes on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, giving them nasty scowls. Scootaloo's teeth gritted as she scowled at both of them. Making fun of blank flanks was bad enough, but what those two horrid fillies did was something else. The two fillies turned towards Cup Cake and Carrot Cake, who were looking at them both with a face of annoyance and silent rage.
"Did you see that?" Diamond Tiara asked. "That murderer just tried to kill us. You should throw him out."
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake continued to look at them with the same angry faces, until they looked at each other, and nodded before Cup Cake spoke. "Somepony should be thrown out."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were about to start eating their cupcakes and drink their milkshakes, when Cup Cake quickly swiped their tray of treats away from them.
"Hey!" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon said in unison.
"And THAT somepony is you two." Cup Cake said.
Carrot Cake nodded. "I'm afraid we have to ask for you two to leave."
"That's not fair," Silver Spoon scowled. "You can't do that!"
"Oh, yes they can." Lawful Eye stepped up. "According to The Civil Rights Act of Equestrian Law, they reserve the right to refuse service to anypony."
"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "You tell'em, Detective."
"Detective?!" Silver Spoon said.
Scootaloo stood confidently by Lawful Eye. "That's right. She's a policemare. So you two better watch it!"
Diamond Tiara scowled. "Hey, he's a murderer! Why are all of you on his side?"
"Because he's not a murderer." Fluttershy said.
Twilight came forward with Rainbow Dash. "He is innocent, and was proven it."
Rainbow Dash glared. "You little brats don't deserve to stay and eat here!"
"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "Just like you don't deserve to win those tickets to Sapphire Shores!"
Derpy walked up next to the others. "You brats don't deserve anything!"
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon scowled and turned back to Cup Cake and Carrot Cake. "Fine! But we want our money back for our orders."
Silver Spoon held her hoof out. "We demand a refund."
Cup Cake turned her head away in refusal. "I'm sorry. But we don't do refunds."
Carrot Cake pointed his hoof towards the door. "Now, both of you, out!"
"What?" Silver Spoon said. "You can't do that!"
Lawful Eye eyed at the two fillies. "They asked for both of you to leave the bakery. Now leave, or else!"
"And don't come back until both of you have learnt some good manners." Cup Cake said.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked on in shock, before angrily huffing. With their muzzles in the air, they began to walk towards the door.
"Fine," Diamond Tiara said. "The cupcakes and milkshakes made at my house are much better anyway."
Silver Spoon huffed. "Yeah. And unlike some ponies, we get the best. The only way prisoners like him are going to survive is on the charity of others."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon reached the door, before they each stopped, and turned their heads towards Abacus with a cruel smirk.
"When they locked you up, they should've threw away the key..." As Diamond Tiara made her remark, she and Silver Spoon both laughed in a mean fashion. With the same cruel smirk, they said in unison: "Abacus Scum!"
The two walked out of the bakery door, leaving everyone else inside, livid, disgusted, and shocked at what they said. Really? What kind of little brat would speak to an adult that way, especially one like Abacus who is so unfortunate? But they were both gone now, so good riddance.
"I am not scum. I am not scum. I am not scum." Abacus sobbed, with tears running down his face. "...I've got to get out of here!"
Abacus tried to get out of the bakery through the door, but the others blocked the door.
"Abacus, no," Fluttershy said. "Please don't go."
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake came over towards Abacus. "Yes, Abacus, don't leave. You haven't had your milkshake and cupcakes yet."
"Please sit back down, dearie." Cup Cake said.
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake guided Abacus back to his spot at the table, with Lawful Eye sitting next to him to comfit him. Cup Cake then brought the tray that still had Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's milkshakes and cupcakes on it over to their table.
"We're so sorry about that, Abacus." Carrot Cake said.
"Here you are, dearie." Cup Cake place the tray of milkshakes and cupcakes in front of Abacus and Lawful Eye. "Please do enjoy."
Carrot Cake smiled kindly. "And don't worry about paying. It's on the house."
"It's our way of welcoming you home, dearie." Cup Cake said.
"And we'll get yours as well, everypony." Carrot Cake then turned to Derpy. "And I'll get your muffins, Derpy."
Carrot Cake walked to the back of the bakery to get everyone else's orders. Derpy feeling sorry for what just happened to Abacus came over and sat down next to him. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Abacus."
"That's just Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." Scootaloo scowled. "They have no true respect for anypony lower than them."
"And while we're on the subject," Cup Cake said. "We're sorry too. You gave us a bit of a surprise when you came in. And to tell you the truth, we didn't expect to seeing your face so scarred as it is." She frowned sympathetically. "You poor dearie."
Abacus winced. Then Derpy patted him on the back gently. "But just remember: it's what's inside that really counts. And if anypony wants to be horrible, rude, and mean to you, you ignore them, because they're not worth worrying about. There are lots of ponies here in town who believed that you're innocent..." She smiled and wrapped her hoof around Abacus into a friendly hug. "And to welcome you home."
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Lawful Eye gave a smile at how nice Derpy and the Cakes were being to Abacus. For that time being, they just enjoyed their bakery treats, knowing this was just a baby step for helping Abacus. Though what Derpy said about lots of ponies in town was not actually true, it was a comforting feeling to know that there were at least a few ponies in town who believed he was not a murderer and were glad to have him back.
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Lawful Eye were sitting in the kitchen of The Golden Oak Library enjoying breakfast. Spike brought over three bowls and a box of Honey Crunch Oat Krispies breakfast cereal to the table.
Lawful Eye poured some cereal into her bowl and smile. "Honey Crunch Oat Krispies. I've eaten this cereal since I was a little filly."
"Mm-hm." Spike shoved a large spoonful of Honey Crunch Oat Krispies into his mouth and began eating. "It's the best breakfast cereal ever!"
Twilight playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head as she chuckled. "Oh, Spike."
They began to eat their simple breakfast. While nearly finished eating, Twilight could see something was on Lawful Eye's mind, like she was puzzled about something.
"What is it, Lawful?" Twilight asked. "Is something wrong?"
Lawful Eye looked up. "Sorry Twilight. I can't stop thinking about yesterday."
"I know taking Abacus to Sugarcube Corner was a bit much, but it turned out fine in the end. But his outburst of anger towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was a bit of a shock."
"True. I've never seen Abacus as violent before." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "But it's not really surprising for it's the effects of being imprisoned, abused, and tortured. It can cause different behaviors in individuals. Even violence."
"Well, those two fillies provoked him," Spike said. "And that horrible name that everypony in town has started calling him, Abacus Scum. It's like one of the names I gave to Twilight and the others when they all got effected by the poison joke, except it's very mean, and nowhere near as funny."
"Not all ponies in town called him that," Twilight said. "Like Derpy, and Mr and Mrs Cake."
Lawful Eye nodded. "True. It's good to know that there are at least some ponies in town that are happy to see him back."
Spike swallowed the last mouthful of breakfast cereal. "And how about Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily Valley? Did you hear what they were saying about Abacus, especially about his face? And to think that Tiger Lily was the one who started the local flower shop as Fluttershy told us, and was also a business partner with those three."
"I know, Spike," Twilight said. "Those three are so skeptical of anything."
"And despite us talking to the ponies in town that Abacus was proven innocent of his crime, they still believe he's a murderer, and a danger to the whole town." Lawful Eye groaned irritably. "It's like talking to a brick wall."
Twilight sighed. "I know, Lawful Eye. It seems that trying to convince the town that Abacus is innocent, and that he's not a danger to anypony is not going to be as easy as we first thought. And I have not gotten a response from the Canterlot investigation force headquarters yet."
All of a sudden, they were interrupted by knocking at the Library's front door. Twilight got up and made her way to the door to answer it. Lighting her horn, Twilight took hold of the knob on the front door, and opened it up. She was met by two unicorn stallions standing outside on the doorstep. One stallion was average sized and middle-aged, with a very dark grey coat, purple and black patterned mane and tail, and deep emerald green eyes. The other stallion with him was a larger stallion, as large as a royal guard pony, with a vermilionish gray coat, cornflower bluish white and very pale cerulean patterned mane and tail, brilliant yellow eyes, and had a scar on his right shoulder.
"Miss Twilight Sparkle?" The dark grey stallion asked with a deep, but calming voice.
Twilight nodded. "Yes? Can I help you?"
"I'm Warden Rehab of Hoofstrong Prison Centre." He pointed to the larger stallion. "And this is Lock Down."
Lock Down smiled. "A pleasure, ma'am."
"Oh, yes. You're the ponies Lawful Eye wrote to the other day. And run Hoofstrong Prison Centre." Twilight welcomed them both in. "Do come in."
Warden Rehab and Lock Down entered through the door, and into the library. Twilight closed the door with her magic. the two stallions followed Twilight into the kitchen where Lawful Eye and Spike were still sitting.
"Lawful Eye," Twilight said. "The warden's here."
Lawful Eye turned to see Warden Rehab standing next to Twilight at the entrance to the kitchen. "Rehab. You're here."
"We took time off duty the day I got your letter," Warden Rehab said. "Then we caught the next train to Ponyville."
Lawful Eye raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"Yes. I brought one of my best guards along with me." Warden Rehab turned his head towards the door at the same time Lock Down appeared behind him.
Lock Down stopped at the kitchen entrance next to Warden Rehab. Lawful Eye looked at him with a reoccurring feeling, until her eyes shifted to a mild angry glare.
"What is he doing here?" Lawful Eye asked.
Twilight tilted her head. "What's the matter, Lawful Eye? Do you know this pony?"
Lawful Eye continued glaring. "Yes. Even without his royal guard armor, I recognize him. Especially with that scar on his shoulder."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
Lock Down stepped forward. "You see miss Twilight... I was the guard who shocked Abacus on her first visit to him."
Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. "Is that true, Lawful Eye?"
"It's true," Lawful Eye said. "And I don't understand why he's here to help Abacus after what he did to him."
"Well, I think we should explain this over coffee." Warden Rehab turned to Twilight. "If that's okay, miss Twilight?"
Twilight nodded. "Of course. I still have plenty of hot water in the pot. Please, do sit down."
Warden Rehab and Lock Down soon sat down at Twilight's table. Twilight soon levitated a fresh pot of boiling water, a jar of coffee, a jar of sugar, a carton of cold milk, a carton of cold Half-and-Half, and two coffee cups on the table in front of them.
"Do help yourselves." Twilight said.
Warden Rehab nodded. "Thank you, Miss Twilight. It's very kind of you."
Twilight smiled. "There's no need to be formal, Rehab. Just call me Twilight."
"Of course," Warden Rehab said. "My apologies, Twilight."
"That's okay." Twilight sat down at the table.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Twilight." Lock Down said.
Lawful Eye took a sip from her cup of coffee while talking to Lock Down. "So why are you here? Of all the guards, why you? The very one who shocked Abacus?"
"It was my request to come. I wanted to come...because I wanted to help make things right." Lock Down sighed. "I know that you still hold a grudge on me for shocking him, but please understand that I didn't have a choice. I really didn't want to shock him, and I felt terrible for doing it. I even tried to form a special bond with him afterwards. That's why I'm here."
Warden Rehab put his hoof on Lock Down's shoulder. "Lock Down. I think they deserve a bit more of an explanation. How about you tell them the whole story from the beginning."
Lock Down sighed. "Okay. Like Rehab mentioned earlier, I'm one of his best guards. I've been a prison class royal guard for over ten years, and have worked in four prison facilities, three of them were some of the most dangerous prisons in Equestria. The first prison I worked at was Trotzburg Psychiatric Penitentiary, which is how I met Rehab."
Warden Rehab nodded. "Yes. I was the warden of Trotzburg for fifteen years. I was impressed with Lock Down's work as a guard. A guard needs to be not only strong and capable of controlling, enforcing, or subduing prisoners, but also good at communicating with them too."
"Really?" Spike said. "Wow. I didn't know that being a royal guard had to involve all that."
Twilight looked at Spike. "It's more than just standing around protecting things, Spike."
"After I had experience from Trotzburg for the first two years, I got transferred to three other prisons during the other eight year period. While Rehab and I always kept in touch with one another. The most dangerous prison I think I worked at out of the three was Alcatrotz Island in San Franciscolt." Lock Down looked down at the scar on his right shoulder. "You see that scar? I got it from being slashed by an inmate's homemade knife during a prison riot. The knife slipped under my armor plating as the inmate attacked me."
Spike's eyes widened. "Gosh!"
Lock Down nodded. "I know. Sugar Dough is always worried about me for being a prison class royal guard. When she found out about me getting injured in the prison riot, she feared the worst."
"Sugar Dough?" Twilight asked.
"Yes. She's my wife." Lock Down smiled. "We met in our schooldays back in our home city, Carriageston. We have three children, two fillies and a colt. Cinnamon Swirl is the eldest daughter. Straight Arrow, our son, is the middle child. And our youngest daughter is Cutie Cream. She works as a baker in Carriageston. A lot of ponies ask her what it's like for a baker to be married to a royal guard." He chuckled and cleared his throat. "But anyway, I worked in the prisons, but working at Hoofstrong Prison Centre was where I really wanted to be. But every time I requested a transfer there, it was always rejected."
"Because Armstrong and his goons were torturing and abusing the prisoners, and didn't want to be found out?" Spike asked.
"Basically. So when I got the sudden orders to be transferred to Hoofstrong Prison Centre, I was thrilled. The thought of being at the very prison I always hoped to work at, so I'd be close enough to my family to come home to them would be a relief. Like a dream come true." Lock Down sighed. "But after I was briefed on the horrors that was happening there, and that I was going to be part of the raid of that place, my relief on working at that place changed. That place was a real horrible mess. Then when I shocked Abacus Sum on my forth day on the job, I was hit so hard inside."
Lock Down opened the front door of his home, closed it, and entered the living room. He then planted himself onto the living room sofa all exhausted and stressed.
A very pale amber colored unicorn mare with a brown and white mane and tail, and pale green eyes and wearing an apron peered into the living room from the kitchen. "Hi, sweet heart. You're home early today."
"Hey, Sugar Dough," Lock Down said, waving his hoof at his wife with his head down.
Sugar Dough looked at her husband with a look of concern. She then came out of the kitchen, into the living room, and sat down on the sofa next to Lock Down. "What's wrong, darling? How was your day?"
"It's nothing, honey." Lock Down sighed. "My day was just fine. I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
Sugar Dough gave Lock Down a sideways glance. "Clearly that's not true."
Lock Down dropped his eyes sadly with the sorrowful expression on his face. Sugar Dough placed a caring hoof on Lock Down's shoulder. "Sweet heart. I've noticed you haven't been your normal self for the last few days. Our kids have noticed it too. You know you can always talk to me if there's ever a problem. I can tell something happened that is troubling you. So honey...please tell me what's wrong."
Lock Down sighed. “Alright, but if I tell you, can it stay between us?"
Lock Down looked up at Sugar Dough. "Okay. I can't reveal too much information for court reasons and they're ordered to be kept classified from everypony, but I can tell you some things. You know how I've always wanted to be a guard at Hoofstrong Prison Centre to be close to you and the kids, but my transfer request was always rejected by that place?"
Sugar Dough nodded. "Yes."
"Well, I recently found out why." Lock Down paused briefly. "It was because there was horrible things going on there."
Sugar Dough tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when I was given orders to go to Hoofstrong, it was to be part of a royal guard raid on that place. I was briefed that there was countless acts of cruel torture, and abuse to all the prisoners by all the staff at that place, including the minotaur warden, Armstrong. That monster put steelectric collars on all the prisoners, and he and his men would shock them just for sick, sadistic pleasure. He would even let his guards beat, torture, starve, and even rape them."
Sugar Dough eyes widened. "Are you serious? That's so awful."
Lock Down nodded. "I am. You could not imagine the things they did to the prisoners there."
"What did they do to them?" Sugar Dough asked.
Lock Down sighed. "Well...that's one of the things I can't say for court reasons. But what I can say is that it was things you would only see in your nightmares." He dropped his head. "But that's not all that's troubling me."
"So what is it?" Sugar Dough asked. "Is it something to do with you coming home early?"
"Well..." Lock Down paused briefly. "I shocked a prisoner today."
"Was this prisoner violent and dangerous?" Sugar Dough asked.
Lock Down shook his head. "No. He wasn't."
Sugar Dough blinked. "Well, why did you shock him? Tell me what happened."
Lock Down took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Well, a pony came to visit a prisoner inside today. This pony was a detective from Fillydelphia who was in fact one of the ones responsible for getting that place exposed for the nightmarish place that it is. I escorted her to see a specific prisoner who's her best friend she's been trying to get out. Her friend is an earth pony stallion named Abacus Sum."
"What's the crime he's serving time for?" Sugar Dough asked.
"Premeditated first-degree murder of his wife and unborn child, and arson. And was sentence to life, never to be released." Lock Down eyes dropped. "But they've claimed he's innocent, and that he's due to face court for a retrial."
Sugar Dough put a hoof over her mouth. "Oh my gosh. So that stallion's been wrongly convicted? That's horrible. That poor stallion."
"I know. So we arrived at his cell, and the detective tried to hug Abacus through the bars of his cell, and... And that's when I shocked him. I shocked this poor stallion because he broke the rule of not touching visitors. I've shocked prisoners before, but this one was different. This wasn't a violent, dangerous criminal trying to harm somepony, this was an innocent pony trying to hug his friend. I didn't want to shock him, but I had no choice. I'd never abuse or torture any prisoner, but it felt like I did. And after I shocked him, the detective was furious with me for shocking him, and she called me a monster. Not that I blame her. Then Rehab came to my side, and told me to clock off early and wait in the rec room. He met me in there and told me everything. That further made me concerned about that poor stallion. Seeing him crying on the floor of his cell after being shocked. And the pain...the horrible physical and psychological pain he must have felt and be feeling." Lock Down winced as he held back a few tears from escape his eyes. "It's like his nightmare wasn't over. Not being able to share a hug, a simple hug with his friend after all the pain, suffering, and humiliation he's been through without getting shocked. You could not imagine how hard it was to keep my composure and do that with a straight face. After that, he sent me home early, and said he'd talk to me tomorrow." He sighed deeply and leaned forward with his hooves over his eyes. "That detective was right. I am a monster."
Sugar Dough stroked Lock Down's shoulder to comfit him. "Sweet heart. It's okay. You're not a monster. You were just doing your job, don't blame yourself. I know you wouldn't ever hurt anypony maliciously, and so does Rehab."
Lock Down looked up at Sugar Dough. "I still can't believe I did that. It was horrible to shock an innocent pony."
"I don't understand," Sugar Dough said. "Why can't you just simply take those steelectric collars off them?"
Lock Down sighed. "Because it's not that simple. Hoofstrong is under the high maximum security class act. That means the major protocols, including the major rules, and the steelectric collars being equipped can't be changed without legal processing by legal government policy that takes as long as eight months to even over a year." He groaned with an mix of sadness and anger. "Armstrong! That scumbag! It's like he's still there torturing them. And those of us who are left to clean up the mess he and his guards have made have to suffer too."
Sugar Dough watched as another tear escape her husband's eye, filling her with pity. She reached out and wiped the tear from Lock Down's face. "I'm sure it'll be okay, sweet heart. You're one of the strongest, bravest ponies I know. I'm sure you'd be very kind and gentle to those poor prisoners, especially to that one you shocked, Abacus. You might even be his friend."
"I don't know if I can after that." Lock Down said.
Sugar Dough embraces Lock Down into a cuddle. "I know you can. You're also the most gentle, loving, caring pony I know. I can see that you care about him a lot, and I'm sure he'll see that sooner or later. You're nothing like Armstrong and his guards. You're like a big teddy bear. That's why I fell in love with you."
Lock Down looked at Sugar Dough with a small hopeful smile. "You always know the right words." He returned the cuddle with his wife.
"Now, how about I bring you some of my powdered doughnuts and some coffee." Sugar Dough said.
Lock Down nodded. "I could use some of that. Thanks, my little sex kitten."
Sugar Dough got up from the sofa, and went into the kitchen to get some doughnuts and coffee ready. Leaving Lock Down alone in the living room to think things over.
Lock Down sighed as he finished recalling the conversation he had with his wife on the day he shocked Abacus. "I've shocked prisoners with steelectric collars before, but shocking Abacus that day...it was the most horrible feeling I had ever felt. According to royal guard prison protocol, it was the right action to shock him, but in my mind and heart, it was wrong. There is a good reason why those steelectric collars are strictly only for the most violent and dangerous prisoners."
Lawful Eye pondered at Lock Down's words of his retelling of how he felt. Not that long ago, she despised him for shocking Abacus that day, but seeing just how, gentle, kind, remorseful, and genuine he really was, and that he truly wanted to help him, she found that she really did believe him.
"So you do care?" Lawful Eye asked.
Lock Down nodded. "Yes."
Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. "I think you should give him a chance, Lawful Eye. I know you're still upset about him shocking Abacus, but he really is sorry for what happened and wants to help him. Please give him a cha–"
Lawful Eye raised her hoof to silence Twilight. "It's fine, Twilight. I see the truth now."
Warden Rehab took a sip from his cup of coffee. "So when I spoke with Lock Down the next morning, I told him not to go near him, until he at least got to trust me."
"I was always worried about him, and even asked Rehab on how he was doing everyday he saw him," Lock Down said. "Until Rehab gave me the task of guarding Abacus during his trip to Canterlot on the day of his retrial."
It was 3:00 am in the morning, and Warden Rehab walked down the hall of Hoofstrong Prison Center, accompanied by two royal guards towards Abacus Sum's cell. They stopped and stood right outside the door of his cell as Warden Rehab turned to the guards.
"Wait out here." Warden Rehab said.
The guards nodded to his command. Warden Rehab then turned to the door, put the key in the lock with his magic, and unlocked it. The sound of the cell door unlocking woke Abacus up. He cowered to the corner of his bed on the corner of his cell as Warden Rehab opened the cell door, and entered. Seeing that he was scared because of the two guards standing right outside the door, Warden Rehab calmly came to Abacus, and spoke to him patiently.
"It's alright, Abacus. Those guards aren't going to hurt you, I promise. You're retrial is at eight, and it's an over four hour pegasus cart ride to Canterlot. Now come on, it's time to go."
Abacus got up from his bed, still scared with tears in his eyes. The two guards entered into his cell and stood behind Warden Rehab.
Warden Rehab briefly looked at the unicorn guard holding hoof shackle chain restraints with his magic before turning back to Abacus. "Now, we're going to put these restraints on you. It's part of the protocol to put restraints on all prisoners before ever leaving their cells. So don't resist in anyway. Do you understand, Abacus?"
Abacus closed his eyes and nodded slowly. Warden Rehab looked at the guards, and gave them a nod, confirming that they were clear to put the restraints on him. The unicorn guard came forward, and began to put the restraints on his hooves, and tied a rope to his steelectric collar with his magic. Abacus winced throughout the whole thing as fearful tears escaped his closed eyes. The unicorn guard gave the rope to the pegasus guard who held on to it in his mouth.
"Prisoner restrained, sir." The unicorn guard said.
"Good." Warden Rehab turned towards the door. "Right, let's go."
Warden Rehab, and the guards lead Abacus out of his cell. Warden Rehab walked at the front, and the guards remained on both sides. They escorted the scared and depressed Abacus down the halls of the prison. The restraints on Abacus's hooves allowed him the mobility to walk, but unable to run. After minutes of walking through the prison corridors, they reached a large metal door with two more guards stationed.
Warden Rehab presented some papers with his magic to one of the guards. "Prisoner number 727867, Abacus Sum, scheduled to be transported to Canterlot for his retrial at Equestria supreme court at 8:00 am sharp."
The guard took the papers and looked through them very thoroughly. The guard then looked at Abacus for a few moments, then back at the papers.
"Right. It's all in order. Transportation is ready and waiting, Warden." The guard turned to the second guard on station. "Open the door."
The guard nodded, and pulled the leaver next to him. The door began to open up, and revealed an outside area that had a prison transport wagon with three pegasus royal guards to pull it stationed outside. Warden Rehab, and the guards lead Abacus outside into the summer night, early morning air towards the wagon. A unicorn guard who had a scar on his shoulder just peaking from his armor stood on the side of the ramp on the side entrance that lead inside into the wagon. Warden Rehab and the unicorn guard escorting Abacus entered into the wagon first.
"Aright, Abacus." The pegasus guard said through the rope in his mouth. "In we go."
Abacus complied with the guard's orders, and walked up the ramp into the wagon with the guard leading him inside. Inside the wagon, the unicorn guard directed Abacus to a seating bench against the left wall of the wagon.
"You sit down here." The unicorn guard said.
Abacus sat down where the unicorn guard told him to sit. Then the guard took the rope attached to Abacus out of the pegasus guard's mouth, and tied it to a close by metal ring fixed to the wall. Warden Rehab came up to Abacus to give him some last minute words before departing.
"Well, Abacus," Warden Rehab said. "I wish I was going with you, but I have to run the prison. So I'm leaving you in the care of one of my best guards."
Abacus's eyes began to well up and began to whimper in fear. Warden Rehab gently rested a reassuring hoof on Abacus's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. I assure you none of them are going to harm or abuse you in anyway. You have nothing to fear. Just remember to do whatever any of the guards tell you to do. Do you understand?"
Abacus dropped his head, closed his eyes, and slowly nodded as a tear escaped out of his eye, and ran down his horribly scarred cheek.
Warden Rehab nodded. "Okay."
Warden Rehab turned to the scar shouldered unicorn royal guard who had just entered into the wagon from outside. "Lock Down. I leave Abacus Sum in your care. Be sure that he gets to and from Equestria supreme court in Canterlot safely."
"Yes, Warden." Lock Down said.
Warden Rehab nodded and turned to Abacus. "Abacus. Have a safe journey... and good luck."
Warden Rehab walked out of the wagon as Lock Down took a seat at the front of the wagon about three feet away from Abacus. The guards outside then closed the door of the wagon. Warden Rehab went to the front of the wagon to the three pegasus royal guards pulling the wagon.
"Right," Warden Rehab said. "You're all clear for departure."
"Yes, sir." The lead pegasus royal guard turned to the other two. "Alright! Let's move out!"
The three pegasus royal guards began to pull the wagon to an iron gate. The gate opened to let the pegasus royal guards pull the wagon out of the prison, and soon take off into the early morning night sky.
About fifteen minutes went by into the ride, and it was a smooth ride so far. Abacus sadly looked at the side barred window, as he watched clouds moved past the full moon shining in the night sky. While looking, he saw that the moon was different. He noticed that the dark mare shaped pattern he had always saw in the moon was gone. He kept sadly looking until a small cloud hit the side of the wagon, making a thumping sound that made him jump. Lock Down watched as Abacus dropped his head sadly, and a sad tear came out of his eye. He took pity on the poor, depressed stallion. Thinking for a moment, he decided it would be a good idea to maybe talk to him.
"Well...I guess there are some small clouds out in the sky," Lock Down said, trying to start a conversation. "That happens sometimes when traveling by pegasus wagon. Nothing to really be worried about."
Abacus did not respond, he just sadly sat there silently. Lock Down decided to keep talking to him. "I don't know if you remember me, but I was the guard from earlier... the one that shocked you when your friend came to visit you."
Abacus winced and whimpered at Lock Down's words.
Lock Down waved his hoof. "Oh, no-no-no. I assure you that I'm not going to harm you. I'm here to guard, and protect you." He took a deep breath. "You're an accountant, aren't you?" He smiled. "My brother-in-law's an accountant. He makes quite a pretty penny from sorting out money and other ponies profits. I bet you probably get that too, don't you?"
Abacus did not say a word, and just sat there in that depressive state.
"If you're not talking to me because you're afraid I'll shock you if you do, I promise you that I won't," Lock Down said. "It's not against the rules for prisoners to talk to the guards. You can talk."
Abacus still did not talk, nor did he look at him from that depressive state he was in. Lock Down felt sorry for him for being so scared and depressed, for he understood what he went through. He got up from his seat, came over to Abacus's seating bench, and sat down next to him.
Lock Down sighed and put on a caring tone. "Abacus. I don't blame you for being this way. And it's understandably why. I'd probably be like that too." He paused for a moment, searching for the right things to say. "I also wanted to apologize...for shocking you that day. I was only doing my job, but I felt horrible for doing it. I never really wanted to, but I had to. I understand how very hard it is for you. Not being able to touch or even share a hug with any of your friends or family. That collar you're wearing wasn't meant to be put on prisoners like you. They're meant only for the most violent and dangerous of them. You don't deserve that kind of thing after what you've been through. You deserve a million hugs, and a large sack full of bits for each one you get." He moved his hoof out to Abacus. "Don't worry. I'm sure your retrial is going to go well. I'm sure of it."
Lock Down gently patted Abacus's back, causing Abacus to flinch, and whimper.
"Hey, hey, it's alright," Lock Down said. "It's just a friendly pat on the back. You know what that feels like, don't you?"
"I'm sure it'll be okay, sweet heart. You're one of the strongest, bravest ponies I know. I'm sure you'd be very kind and gentle to those poor prisoners, especially to that one you shocked, Abacus. You might even be his friend."
"You're also the most gentle, loving, caring pony I know. I can see that you care about him a lot, and I'm sure he'll see that sooner or later. You're nothing like Armstrong and his guards. You're like a big teddy bear. That's why I fell in love with you."
As Lock Down was recalling his wife's kind words, he continued to pat Abacus's back gently with Abacus gradually beginning to relax, even if it was just a little. Though he was still scared, Abacus began to slowly look up at Lock Down face to face. Lock Down then smiled at Abacus kindly.
"You see?" Lock Down said kindly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I guess it's been a while since you had one of those, huh? Oh, by the way, my name is Lock Down, in case you didn't recall."
Abacus's scared and depressed state did not change, but Lock Down was at least glad he was able to talk to him. All of a sudden, Abacus flinched to a sudden growling sound coming from somewhere close.
Lock Down mildly chuckled. "No need to be alarmed. It's just my stomach growling." He turned his head as his horn began to glow, and levitated a lunch box towards him. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. It's still a bit early for breakfast, but since I'm hungry anyway... Besides, the sun will be up soon anyway."
As Lock Down placed his lunch box on his lap, he heard the sound of Abacus's stomach growl too. Lock Down smiled, knowing what that meant.
"I guess I'm not the only one who's hungry." Lock Down said.
Lock Down opened up his lunch box, looking inside it.
"Here's you're lunch box, dear."
"Thanks, honey."
"I packed it with your breakfast, lunch, some coffee, and some snack's for your trip, including your favorite powdered doughnuts I make."
"You're amazing as always, Sugar."
"Oh. And I also made a batch of powdered doughnuts for Abacus too."
"You did?"
"Mm-hm. In case that poor stallion gets hungry. Since you're assigned to guard him, you could also give them to him as a peace offering. I'm sure it'll help."
"That so sweet of you, honey. I'll see you and the kids when I get back."
"Bye, dear."
Lock Down continued looking inside his lunch box as he recalled his conversation with his wife, Sugar Dough. He then took out his hot coffee container and his batch of his wife's homemade powdered doughnuts.
Lock Down smiled. "It's a good thing my wife packed me some food. She makes the best doughnuts. Oh, and guess what?" He opened the batch his wife made for Abacus, and levitated one of them to him. "She made some specially for you."
Abacus looked up at the powdered doughnut levitated in front of him. He was hesitant on taking it.
"Go on," Lock Down said. "You can take it. It's for you."
Abacus hesitated briefly, before he offered his hooves out. Lock Down placed the powdered doughnut in his hooves. Abacus looked at the doughnut, hesitant to eat it.
"Don't be afraid, Abacus. My wife's a good baker, and her doughnuts are very good." Lock Down eats one in front of Abacus. "Try it. It's good, I promise." He gave a friendly wink.
Abacus looked back at the doughnut in his hooves. He hesitated briefly, before leaning forward and taking a bite out of it. He began to slowly chew as Lock Down watched.
"See?" Lock Down asked. "Isn't it great?"
Lock Down turned towards the barred window, and saw that the night sky began to very slowly turn into a shade of purple, with a faint orange tint in the distance. That meant the sun was close to raising to begin the new day.
"Well, looks like the sun's going to come up soon to begin the day." Lock Down turned back to Abacus. "I guess it's a good time for breakfast now." He opened his hot coffee container, and poured some hot coffee into the cap with his magic. "There's nothing like a nice, hot cup of coffee while eating doughnuts."
Lock Down blew into the steaming coffee, and took a sip as Abacus took another bite from the doughnut in his hooves.
Later that morning, they arrived in Canterlot. The pegasus royal guards pulling the wagon made a turn towards a road outside the city to land. The light from the morning shined through the barred window, shining brightly onto Abacus's face, causing Abacus to wince blindly.
Lock Down chuckled. "I guess it's the first time you've seen sunlight in a long while, huh? And it seems we're here. Sit tight. We're about to land."
Soon enough, the wagon landed smoothly on the road outside the city, making a minor bump. The royal guards pulling the wagon continued down the road that entered into the city. Soon enough, they were going through the streets of Equestria's capital until they were approaching the large building of Equestria Supreme Courthouse. They entered an opened gate on the side of the building that lead into an area for transport wagons, with royal guards standing guard around it. The pegasus royal guards pulling the wagon stopped in the covered area. From inside the wagon, Abacus and Lock Down could hear the sound of the ramp outside the door being put into position. The door opened to reveal two pegasus royal guards as they entered. Abacus cowered against the wall of the wagon in fear when the guards came near him.
Lock Down gently patted Abacus to calm him. "Easy there, Abacus. Nothing to be afraid of. Remember what Rehab said to you. Do what they say, and you'll be fine."
When Abacus calmed down, Lock Down began to untie the rope tied to Abacus's steelectric collar from the ring on the wagons wall with his magic. He then gave it to one of the pegasus royal guards who took it in his mouth.
Lock Down turned to Abacus. "Well, this is it, Abacus. Good luck. I'll see you later."
"Right, let's go, Abacus," One of the guards said. "Your retrial begins in ten minutes."
Lock Down watched as Abacus got up from the bench seat at the guard's instructions. He began to follow the guards out of the wagon, down the ramp, and into an opened door with his head down in that same very hopelessly depressed state. The door closed behind them, and Lock Down smiled, hoping all was going to go well for Abacus in that court room.
Lock Down stood around close to the wagon waiting with that same hope for Abacus. He glanced at the nearby clock tower that indicated it was 3:45 in the afternoon. Lock Down remembered that sometimes it can seem that time flies while on the job, but to him it felt like an eternity. Throughout that time, he not just wondered how Abacus's retrial was going, but he also wondered if his apology to him went well, and hoped that he would be a friend to him after forming a somewhat bond with him. It was like a great weight was lifted off his back from doing that.
The door opened, and two pegasus royal guards came out, and in between them being escorted was Abacus. Though he kept his composure, he was very happy to see him again, and was interested to know the outcome of his retrial. He was also concerned from seeing how very hopelessly depressed he still was, and feared that it was a failure. Lock Down noticed one of the pegasus royal guards was holding some papers in his mouth.
"In you go, Abacus." The guard said.
Abacus complied with the guard's orders, and walked up the ramp into the wagon with the guard leading him inside.
The guard pointed to the bench seat. "Sit down here."
Abacus sat down on the bench seat in the wagon. The pegasus royal guard holding Abacus's rope gave it to Lock Down, and Lock Down tied the end of the rope to the metal ring fixed to the wall. The pegasus royal guard that was holding the papers in his mouth came up, and offered the papers to Lock Down.
"The prisoner is to be sent back," The guard said, slightly muffled. "And be sure the warden gets these on arrival."
"Yes, sir." Lock Down took the papers with his magic. "By the way. What was the verdict of the prisoner, if you don't mind me asking, sir?"
The guard stopped and turned his head to Lock Down. "Not guilty. He's been fully exonerated and pardoned. And is to be released at 10 am tomorrow morning. Those papers are his release forms. Now sit tight, you're about to leave."
Lock Down saluted. "Yes, sir."
The guard walked out of the wagon, and the door closed. Lock Down smiled at the great news that Abacus was acquitted and pardoned, and was finally going to be released the next day. It was the light at the end of the tunnel for him. The wagon began moving as Lock Down sat down next to Abacus.
"Well, isn't it great news, Abacus?" Lock Down asked. "Congratulations on your not guilty verdict."
Lock Down smiled at Abacus, but Abacus was still very depressed. Lock Down was confused to why Abacus would still be sad and depressed, even after such good news. He tried to remain positive.
"I bet you must be so excited about being free tomorrow, huh?"
"...Why?"
Lock Down's eyes widened. For the very first time, Abacus had spoken. He quickly shook off his surprise before responding. "What?"
"...Why are you doing that?" Abacus asked.
Lock Down tilted his head. "Doing what?"
Abacus's eyes began to tear up sadly. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
"What do you mean?" Lock Down asked. "I don't understand. Why shouldn't I be so nice to you?"
Abacus sniffled. "I'm a prisoner. Scum of Equestria. Why else would I be in these horrible chains and restraints? Have a horrible collar? Have an ugly face? Why would you be nice to scum and trash like me? It doesn't matter if I'm free, because I'm still scum. Those who were prisoners are nothing but scum and trash with no place in this world. So I am nothing but scum!"
Abacus began to cry with Lock Down watching on. He was shocked and sad to see someone call himself such horrible, and untruthful things. Lock Down knew this had to have been one of the horrible, cruel things Armstrong and his guards had implanted into him. He got up, sat on the floor in front of Abacus, and placed both hooves on the crying stallion's shoulders.
"Abacus," Lock Down said. "Open your eyes, and look at me."
Abacus opened his eyes and slowly looked up at Lock Down face to face with tears still running down his cheeks.
"Now, you listen to me, and listen good." Lock Down leaned his face a little closer to Abacus's face. "You are not scum. You never were, and you never will be. I can tell because I guarded at other prisons with some of the most dangerous prisoners in Equestria. I know scum when I see it. Armstrong and his guards, they're scum. But you are not scum. So if I ever need any reason to be so nice to you, it's because you're not scum."
Abacus sniffled and sobbed as he listened to Lock Down's honest words. Lock Down wiped one of the tears from Abacus's face with his hoof.
"Now say it," Lock Down said. "You are not scum."
Abacus sniffled. "...I am not scum."
"Good. Say it again."
"I am not scum."
Lock Down smiled kindly as he wiped another of Abacus's tears with his hoof. "Now, I want you to keep telling yourself that whenever somepony thinks otherwise, because you're not scum, or trash, or anything of a sort. You may have been in prison, but that doesn't mean you're scum, or you're life is ruined and over. Not by a long shot. You're still young, and this is a new beginning for you. You're a very good pony. You're innocent, and you've been acquitted, so you shouldn't have any problems from anypony who would look at your record." He gave Abacus a heartfelt hug. "It will be hard for you for a while, but it'll pass. Also, I'm sorry for the loss of your wife. I understand it hurts, and will hurt for quite a while, but I'm sure you'll find somepony new. Somepony who will truly love and care for you no matter what you look like, and whether if you were in prison or not. Just don't give up."
Abacus's crying began to calm down, though he was still depressed and scared. Lock Down gave a sigh of relief. A sense of achievement filled throughout himself of how encouraging he spoke to him. He released the hug, got up and sat back down next to him, placing a friendly hoof back on Abacus's shoulder.
"And if you're so worried about your scarred face, you could probably get it fixed," Lock Down said. "You'd be surprise what wonders plastic surgery can do. But whatever the future has installed, I'm sure everything is going to be okay for you from now on."
Lock Down stroked Abacus's back gently to comfit him. There was movement outside, meaning that the wagon was outside the city, and had taken flight.
Lock Down chuckled. "You know it's funny you should mention about trash. It reminds me of something funny that happened to me when I was about ten. You want to hear it?"
Abacus said nothing, he just nodded slowly.
Lock Down smiled. "Okay. I'll tell you the story." He cleared his throat. "Back when I was a kid, I use to prank a lot of ponies..."
Lock Down chuckled. "And that's what happened. It was too bad my mother had to be part of it, but I guess I had it coming for doing that."
Abacus began to make a face along with his depressed face, followed by a sound that sounded like suppressed snorting, like if he was trying to hold back from laughing. Lock Down smiled as a small, brief laugh finally escaped from Abacus through his sadness. Lock Down patted Abacus's back. "It's alright to laugh. At least I got you laughing. Sometimes laughter can help anypony, even in the most darkest of times."
Abacus looked up at Lock Down who was still smiling kindly at him. Lock Down felt proud of himself to have bonded with Abacus, and even thought that he had possibly became his friend. A start of a possible friendship. Lock Down then turned his attention to his lunch box, levitated it to him with his magic, and opened it.
"Well, there's still some powdered doughnuts left." Lock Down levitated one of the doughnuts out and offered it to Abacus. "Here you are. Have another doughnut."
Abacus sobbed quietly as he held his hoof out, and Lock Down placed it into his hoof. "...Thank you."
Abacus took a bite from the doughnut in his hoof. Lock Down smiled, and put a friendly hoof around Abacus's shoulders.
"Well, it's still another two and a half hours until we get back to Hoofstrong," Lock Down said. "How about I tell you some more stories."
Lock Down smiled as he finished recalling the day he guarded and befriended Abacus. "Guarding him was my main protocol, but I also tried to befriend him in the process. I thought by trying to be a friend to him would help him. I even apologized to him for shocking him because I knew it was the right thing to do. I was wrong to shock him. And giving him such compassionate encouragement when he was so down was a thing of friendship to that poor guy."
"When Lock Down told me everything when he got back, it was perhaps the best news I heard all day." Warden Rehab said.
Lawful Eye was amazed at what she was told. And in the process, she puzzled on something.
"I am not scum. I am not scum. I am not scum."
Lawful Eye's eyebrows rose as she recalled the words Abacus kept repeating the previous day. She now realized that it was because of the compassionate words of the very guard who shocked him. A feeling of guilt filled Lawful Eye for treating Lock Down with such anger and hatred, after now hearing how gentle, friendly, and kind he was towards Abacus.
Lawful Eye sighed. "Mr Lock Down, sir. I was wrong to judge you so badly. I guess even I can get things wrong from time to time. You were so kind to him, and tried to be a friend to him." She dropped her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Lock Down."
Lock Down reached his hoof out, and placed it on Lawful Eye's hoof. Lawful Eye looked up at him, and Lock Down smiled kindly at her.
"It's alright, ma'am," Lock Down said. "I forgive you. You were just protecting him. I probably would be like that too if I was in the same position as you. He's very lucky to have such a good, protective friend like you who really cares about him so much."
Lock Down gave Lawful Eye a friendly wink, making Lawful Eye blush, turning her cheeks light red.
"There's one other thing we must know." Twilight said.
Warden Rehab turned to Twilight. "What's that?"
"Well, what happened on the day he was released?" Twilight asked.
Spike's eyes widen. "Hey, yeah! That's also the day he ran away."
"Well, I think you deserve to know what happened." Warden Rehab said.
Lock Down took another sip from his cup of coffee. "Especially since I was the last one to see him before he ran away."
Lawful Eye, Twilight, and Spike began to listen to Warden Rehab and Lock Down's retelling of the day of Abacus's release.
Warden Rehab sat at his desk inside his office sorting out Abacus's release forms. He glanced at the clock on the wall that read 9:50 am, which meant Abacus was due anytime now. The door of Warden Rehab's office opened, and two royal guards entered, with Abacus in restraints. One of the royal guards was Lock Down. They stopped in front of Warden Rehab's desk.
"Do have a seat, Abacus." Warden Rehab said.
Abacus slowly, and depressingly sat down in front of Warden Rehab's work desk with Lock Down and the other royal guard standing on either side of him.
Warden Rehab presented the forms, and cleared his throat. "Well, Abacus. You're just a few steps away from being officially free." He placed the forms down in front of Abacus. "These forms are filled out, and all that's left is for your signature on each of them. Though you will be required to testify against Armstrong and his guards in court in six weeks time. Do you understand these terms?"
Abacus did not say anything, he just sadly closed his eyes and slowly nodded. Warden Rehab then levitated a pen to Abacus with his magic, and pointed with his hoof at the bottom of the forms. "Just sign right here, and here."
Abacus depressingly took the pen in his mouth, and leaned forward to sign the forms. He slowly writes his signature on each of the forms, and puts the pen down. Warden Rehab took the forms, and inspected each of Abacus's signatures. He looked up at Abacus, and smiled.
"Everything checks out." Warden Rehab turned to Lock Down. "Take Abacus to block four."
Lock Down nodded. "Yes, Warden." He turned to Abacus. "Well, Abacus. Let's get going."
Abacus got up from the chair at Lock Down's instructions, and walked out of Warden Rehab's office, with Lock Down, and the second guard. Warden Rehab followed them.
Abacus soon found himself in an empty, smooth concrete floored room with Warden Rehab, Lock Down, and two other guards.
Warden Rehab turned to Lock Down. "Remove his restraints, and his jumpsuit."
"With pleasure, Warden." Lock Down said.
Lock Down's horn began to glow, and the restraints on Abacus's hooves began to be removed with Lock Down's magic. When the restraints were off, Abacus's jumpsuit began to be engulfed in Lock Down's magic. A few seconds later, there was the sound of tearing, and ripping as the jumpsuit was being effortlessly torn apart by the major stitching points. Abacus cringed from the ordeal. Then when the tearing and ripping sound ceased, Lock Down lifted the jumpsuit with his magic, and it slipped right off of Abacus's body easily. With his restraints and jumpsuit removed, Warden Rehab came a bit closer to Abacus.
"Now hold still, Abacus, while I take the steelectric collar off you." Warden Rehab said.
Warden Rehab's horn began to glow brightly, and Abacus's steelectric collar began to glow brightly with Warden Rehab's magic. Abacus closed his eyes, and began to sob and whimper, feeling he was going to be shocked again. Then with a "CLICK!", the collar unlocked, and Warden Rehab removed it from around Abacus's neck. Abacus continued to sob and whimper with his eyes tightly shut. Warden Rehab came over to Abacus, and placed a gentle hoof on Abacus.
"Abacus, it's okay," Warden Rehab said. "The collar's off, and will never trouble you again."
Abacus slowly opened his teary eyes. He slowly lifted his hoof, and felt around his neck to feel that the steelectric collar that was once around his neck was gone. Abacus began to quietly sob again, as Warden Rehab, Lock Down, and the two other guards smiled.
Warden Rehab patted Abacus's shoulder to comfit him. "It's over now, Abacus. You're not a prisoner anymore. You're free." He turned to Lock Down. "Lock Down. Take Abacus to the lobby. Lawful Eye will be expecting him when she arrives to pick him up soon."
Lock Down smiled and nodded. "Yes, Warden." He walked over to Abacus, and guided him with a friendly hoof around Abacus's shoulders. "Let's get you to the lobby, bud."
Warden Rehab watched as Lock Down lead Abacus away to the lobby.
Lock Down and Abacus continued down the halls, and through the last security door that entered into the lobby. They stood around in the lobby, and Lock Down looked at the clock on the wall that read exactly 10:00 am, before turning back to Abacus.
"Well, Abacus," Lock Down said. "Looks like your nightmare is over. Your first day back into the outside world starts soon. No more chains, no more barred cells, no more steelectric collars. It's all behind you. I don't know about you, but if I were you, I'd be planning a really nice vacation somewhere. Like Sydneigh, or Manehattan, or Las Pegasus. In fact, I hear Hawhinny is really good this time of year. I think you'd need that after all this."
Abacus did not show any joy from his situation at all. Lock Down tilted his head, puzzled as he saw another sad tear come out of his eye, and down his cheek.
"Why still the tears? You're a free pony now." Lock Down smiled positively. "I bet all your friends and family will be so happy to see you, and are probably planning the biggest "Welcome Home" party for you when you get home."
Abacus shook his head. "...No."
"No?" Lock Down asked. "But what about your mother? Surely she'll be so happy to see you?"
Abacus winced and shook his head. "No, she won't."
Lock Down blinked. "But she's your mother, Abacus. She won't care if you were in prison."
Abacus looked at Lock Down, looking very upset. "How can she even care?! My mother is dead! She's been dead for nearly a year!"
Lock Down's eyes widened with shock at both Abacus's outburst and at how he knew about his mother's death. "How do you know that?"
Abacus winced, struggling not to burst into tears. "...Armstrong. ...They told me."
"Poor widdle baby. Hurting. Cwying for his mommy to come and save him. Hahaha!"
"That reminds me. You don't have a mommy anymore. Because your dumb-ass bitch mommy's dead. That's right, scum. She died of cancer, slow and painful. Hehehe! Too bad she never got to see her baby before she died."
"She would've died of a heart attack hearing you scream."
"AHHHHH!!!"
"Hahaha!"
"Go on and cry all you want, because she's dead, trash! You ain't never going to see your fucking mommy ever again, Abacus Scum!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Lock Down was in great shock after hearing Abacus's retelling of what happen, speechless at what he heard. Abacus glared at Lock Down with tears in his eyes.
"You've been lying to me! All of you have! And all this time, I already knew the truth!" Abacus began to cry, while struggling to keep his anger. "So if you say I have so much waiting for me, you're wrong! I have no home to go home to! I don't have any friends and family waiting for me! I have nopony at all!!"
Abacus began to sob and cry with his head down, as he turned away from Lock Down.
Lock Down reached his hoof to Abacus. "Abacus, plea-"
Abacus angrily turned around to Lock Down before he could touch him. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
Abacus turned back and continued to cry his heart out. Lock Down's heart sank to see Abacus like that, it also sank more to find out that he knew the truth about his mother's death the whole time. And the fact that Lock Down did not know about Abacus's mother being dead, and that it cruelly came from Armstrong and his guards, made everything so much worse.
"I'll get Rehab," Lock Down said. "He'll have a talk with you about it. Just wait here, Abacus. I'll be back."
Lock Down walked back through the security door to go and get Warden Rehab, leaving a distraught Abacus alone in the lobby.
Lock Down approached Warden Rehab in one of the halls of the prison. There, he explained the situation to him.
Warden Rehab dropped his eyes. "So he's known about his mother's death the whole time?"
"Yes, Rehab," Lock Down said. "And he's very distraught."
Warden Rehab sighed. "I better go and have a word with him. Seeing him so distraught is the last thing Lawful Eye needs to see."
Warden Rehab and Lock Down walked down the halls, making their way to the lobby. A few minutes later, they exited the last security door to the lobby. They both looked around the lobby, but Abacus was gone.
"Where is Abacus?" Warden Rehab said.
"I don't know. I left him here in the lobby to-" Lock Down's eyed widened. "Oh no!"
Lock Down and Warden Rehab rushed outside through the lobby door. They looked around outside, but Abacus was nowhere in sight.
"He's gone," Lock Down said. "He must have ran away."
Warden Rehab looked at Lock Down. "Get some of the guards and search the inside and outside. We have to find him."
Lock Down ran back inside to get some of the other guards to start searching for Abacus.
Warden Rehab and Lock Down sighed as they finished recalling the morning Abacus was released, and ran away soon after.
"We searched everywhere, but Abacus was nowhere to be found." Warden Rehab said.
Spike looked at Lawful Eye. "And that's pretty much when you showed up, huh?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "That's right."
Lock Down dropped his head. "I shouldn't have left him alone. If only I knew that his mother died. If I haven't had mentioned about his mother, this never would have happened." He growled and pounded his hoof hard on the table. "Armstrong! Damn that scumbag! Tormenting him with his mother's death like that!"
"Yeah," Spike said. "How were you suppose to know about his mother being dead?"
"That's true, Lock Down. Besides, it was something that was kept between Rehab and myself. So I don't blame you, either. I thought I was to blame for not telling him the truth earlier. But you are right. That evil, sadistic minotaur is a scumbag. I doubt the courts will be merciful to him and his guards." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "Though I am worried about Abacus's dormant rage that he showed yesterday. Especially since it wasn't the first time his rage showed."
Twilight blinked. "It wasn't?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "On the day of the royal guard raid of Hoofstrong, Abacus injured one of Armstrong's guards in a rage."
Spike tilted his head. "So what did Abacus do to that guard?"
Lawful Eye turned to Spike. "Trust me. You don't wanna know."
"Well, I just hope the town doesn't provoke him enough for him to go into another rage like that." Twilight said.
Lawful Eye sighed. "I hope so too."
"Well, we're here now," Warden Rehab said. "So Lock Down and I will do everything we can to help."
Lock Down cleared his throat. "Speaking of which, we should try and find a hotel to stay in if we're going to stay and help."
"That won't be necessary," Twilight said. "You two can stay here."
Warden Rehab turned to Twilight. "That's very kind of you to offer Twilight, but we mustn't impose."
Twilight waved a hoof. "It's no problem at all. We have plenty of room for you two. It's the least we can do for you."
Lock Down and Warden Rehab thought for a moment, looked at each other with a nod, and turned back to Twilight.
Twilight smiled, nodded, and turned to Spike. "Well, Spike. Looks like we have two more guests staying with us."
Spike sighed. "I guess we'll have to shop and cook for two more then."
Twilight, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down began to laugh and chuckle at Spike's remark. They filled Warden Rehab and Lock Down in with all of what was happening. It was good that there was two more here to help Abacus. But with how much hatred, anger, and fear the town had of him, they each knew that he will need all the help he can get.
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down were walking down the road towards Fluttershy's cottage later that day. Lock Down looked around the town, amazed on how green and beautiful the trees and gardens were around town, as well as the town's architecture.
"The town is so beautiful," Lock Down said. "I wish my wife and kids were here to see all this."
Twilight turned to Lock Down. "How come you didn't bring them along?"
"I did ask, but my wife insisted on me going without her and the kids. She thought it was best that way since I know Abacus better, and that it was a personal matter that I needed to handle on my own with Rehab."
"I see." Twilight smiled. "Well, I could've accommodated them too if they came along. I would've like to have met them. But oh well. Maybe next time."
Spike, who was listening to everything, wiped his brow, and sighed quietly with relief. He then thought inside his head. "Thank Celestia! I don't think we could fit anymore house guests back at the library. We've got too many already."
Soon they arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, and entered through the gate. Warden Rehab observed the front yard of the cottage.
"So this is where Abacus is staying?" Warden Rehab asked. "This home of your friend's has quite a safe atmosphere."
Twilight smiled. "Indeed it does."
"Well, when you care for so many animal like she does, you have to have a safe atmosphere." Spike said.
They all stopped at the front door, where Twilight raised her hoof, and knocked on the door. They waited for a few moments before the door opened, and revealed Fluttershy in the doorway.
"Oh, hey Twilight." Fluttershy said.
Twilight waved a hoof at Fluttershy. "Hi, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy turned to Spike and Lawful Eye. "Hey, Spike. Hey, Lawful Eye."
Spike waved. "Hey, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy turned and noticed Warden Rehab, and Lock Down. "Oh. And some visitors."
"Oh, yes," Twilight said. "Fluttershy. This is Rehab, and Lock Down."
Warden Rehab smiled. "How do you do?"
"A pleasure, ma'am." Lock Down greeted.
Fluttershy smiled at Warden Rehab and Lock Down. "Oh. Hello, sirs."
"They came all the way from Hoofstrong Prison to see Abacus." Spike said.
Fluttershy's eyes widen, looking rather worried. "Hoofstrong Prison? Oh, no. You're not here to arrest him and take him back, are you? That would be awful. Please don't do that!"
Warden Rehab waved his hoof, gently silencing the fretting pegasus. "It's alright, ma'am. I assure you that we're not here to do any of that."
"We're here to help." Lock Down said.
Lawful Eye stepped forward. "I sent a letter to them the day after I arrived in Ponyville requesting their help. That's why they're here."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Fluttershy said. "I didn't mean to..."
Lock Down waved a assuring hoof at Fluttershy. "It's alright. We understand how you're keeping Abacus safe."
"Speaking of which, how's Abacus doing, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "We're here to see him."
Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth in realization. "Oh dear. I'm afraid Abacus is not here right now."
Twilight tilted her head. "Not here?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Applejack and Rarity, along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo came by about an hour ago, and decided to take Abacus out."
"Really?" Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye began to look concerned. "I'm not sure if that was a good idea. You remember what happened yesterday at the bakery."
"Oh, don't worry," Fluttershy said. "Applejack and Rarity will take care of him. Besides, they said they were going to be taking him out for just a couple of hours. So they'll be back soon.
Twilight placed a hoof on Lawful Eye's shoulders. "Fluttershy's right. Abacus is in safe hooves with Applejack and Rarity. He'll be okay."
Lawful Eye sighed. "I hope so. I really worry about him."
"How about some tea and carrot cake while we wait?" Fluttershy asked. "It will be another hour before they get back."
Twilight nodded. "Thanks, Fluttershy."
Lock Down smiled. "I guess we can wait."
"Okay." Fluttershy welcomed them inside. "Please come in."
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down entered into Fluttershy's cottage to enjoy some tea and carrot cake. All while they wait for Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo to bring Abacus back their outing.
At that same time, Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were walking in Ponyville's local park with Abacus. It was a perfectly clear day for summer, and that meant it was a hot day. They stopped at a park bench on the path that was underneath a tree, where Abacus, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo sat down. Apple Bloom turned to Abacus who was sitting in between her and Scootaloo in his same old depressed state.
"Are ya holdin' up okay, Abacus?" Apple Bloom asked.
Apple Bloom patted Abacus gently. Abacus turned to her, and looked at her with his depressed eyes.
Apple Bloom smiled kindly. "It ain't as bad as ya thought ta go out."
Scootaloo patted Abacus gently. "Yeah. Just don't listen to those jerks who say bad things to you. Because they don't know you like we do."
Applejack and Rarity smiled at how nice Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were being towards Abacus, before Applejack turned to Rarity.
"Ah'm a mighty glad ya were able ta take time off today, Rarity." Applejack said.
"It's no problem, Applejack dear. I wouldn't pass a chance to take dear Abacus out today. Besides, I had managed to finish my fashion line for Sapphire Shores's concert in Manehattan this weekend." Rarity adjusted her hat. "Though I have to say that it is hot today."
Scootaloo turned to Apple Bloom. "Speaking of which, have you decided who you're going to take to Sapphire Shores's concert yet, Apple Bloom?"
"Oh, yeah." Apple Bloom rubbed her chin. "...Well, ah think ah'm gonna go with maybe Applejack."
Scootaloo dropped her head in disappointment. "Oh. Okay."
Applejack looked at how disappointed Scootaloo was, and turn to Apple Bloom. "Apple Bloom. It's a mighty great thought, but ah think ya should take Scootaloo with ya instead."
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "But Applejack, ya said ah can't go ta a big city like Manehattan without a big pony with me."
Applejack placed a hoof on Apple Bloom. "But ya wouldn't be. Rarity is going ta it too, an' she's staying at the same hotel. So ya an' Scootaloo can go with Rarity." She turned to Rarity. "Would that be alright, Rarity?"
"Of course it would, darling," Rarity said. "They can come with me."
"Besides, ah think Scootaloo really wants ta go, sugarcube." Applejack smiled. "So ya'll can go with Rarity."
"Really?” Scootaloo's face instantly lit up like a little sun. "I can go to the concert?"
Applejack nodded. "Ya sure can, sugarcube."
"But you'll have to ask your father first, dear." Rarity said.
Scootaloo skipped with joy. "Whoo-hoo! I'm there!"
Applejack and Rarity smiled, thinking that it was great to make those arrangements for the two fillies to go to the big city of Manehattan with Rarity to see Sapphire Shores live on stage.
Rarity wiped her forehead with her hoof. "Phew! It's really hot. I could go for something cold."
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked around, and noticed an ice cream cart with a very fin earth pony stallion, with a vanilla white coat, and a strawberry pink, and chocolate brown patterned mane and tail stationed by the park fountain close by. The ice cream cart was selling chocolate dipped ice cream cones covered with crushed peanuts for two bits each. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at the ice cream cart entrancingly with their mouths watering. Applejack and Rarity smiled as they noticed what the two fillies were looking at, knowing how hot it was, and that they needed one themselves.
"Well, since it's so hot, how about an ice cream?" Rarity asked.
Applejack sighed from the heat. "Ah think we all should go for ice cream."
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo jumped off the bench with glee. "Yay! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"
Rarity turned to Abacus. "How about you, Abacus darling? Would you like an ice cream too?"
Abacus did not say anything, he just sadly closed his eyes and slowly nodded.
"Alright, dear," Rarity said. "You sit here on the bench in the shade and we'll get the ice cream."
Applejack patted Abacus's shoulder. "We'll be right back, sugarcube."
Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo walked off towards the nearby ice cream cart, leaving Abacus sitting on the park bench by himself. They approached the cart, and the ice cream pony turned to them.
"Five ice cream specials please." Rarity said.
The ice cream pony smiled and nodded. "Certainly, ma'am. That'll be ten bits."
Meanwhile, Abacus sat there on the bench by himself in that same depressed position. He then turned his head at the sound of a child laughing. Coming down the path was a little, light yellow earth filly, slightly younger than Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. She was riding on a scooter, and was coasting down the path on her scooter having the time of her life. On the path, three meters away from the park bench Abacus was sitting on was a stick laying right in the path of the oncoming filly who failed to see it. The wheel of the filly's scooter hit the stick, causing her to fall off on to the path ground hard across from the bench where Abacus was sitting.
She began to cry on the ground in pain for she had grazes on her that were starting to mildly bleed. Abacus, feeling sorry for the poor little filly, got up, and came to her aid. He sat down in front of her, and helped the crying, hurt filly up. She looked up at Abacus with tears running down her cheeks, as Abacus began to brush her off with his hoof. As he did so, the sudden sound of fast paced hoof steps was heard, getting louder, and louder.
"Get away from my baby, you monster!!" A mare's voice shouted.
Before Abacus realized it, something hit the side of his body with great force like a battering ram, and knocked him down to the ground hard. Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were just getting the last ice cream when they turned their heads in the direction where the scream came from. There, they see a light amberish gray earth pony mare assaulting Abacus on the ground, before scooping the crying, injured filly off the ground onto her back, picking up the filly's scooter in her mouth, and rushing off down the path.
"Abacus!" Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo quickly rushed over to Abacus, with Rarity holding the ice creams with her magic. Applejack and Apple Bloom came over to Abacus, who was whimpering and sobbing face-down on the ground.
"Abacus, are ya alright?" Applejack asked. "What happened?"
"I saw the whole thing." Another mare's voice said.
Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turned to look in the direction the voice spoke out. There, standing next to them, was a moderate cerise coated earth pony mare, with a pale light grayish rose mane and tail with light ceriseish gray stripes.
"Miss Cheerilee." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said in unison.
Rarity came up to Cheerilee. "What happened, darling?"
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down were outside Fluttershy's cottage enjoying tea, and carrot cake, along with social conversation. It had been twenty minutes since they arrived to see Abacus.
"Well, Miss Fluttershy," Warden Rehab said. "It is most kind of you to take Abacus in."
Fluttershy put her teacup down. "Oh, it's no problem at all. It's the least I can do for Abacus. And Angel, and some of the animals I care for help me."
"Speaking of which." Spike pointed in a direction. "It looks like they're back."
They all turned in the direction and saw Applejack, Abacus, Rarity, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, along with Cheerilee coming towards the cottage.
"And it looks like Cheerilee's with them." Twilight said.
As they were entering through the gate, their relief shifted to concern when they noticed Abacus sobbing, whimpering, and roughed up with Apple Bloom's undone bow wrapped around his right front hoof.
Fluttershy gasped putting a hoof over her mouth. "Oh, no. It looks like something's happened to him. He's hurt."
"Abi!" Lawful Eye rush over to Abacus. "Oh Abi, what happened?"
Scootaloo came forward. "We were in the park, we went to get ice cream, and somepony attacked him."
Apple Bloom pointed at Cheerilee. "Our teacher, Miss Cheerilee saw everythin'."
Lawful Eye turned to Cheerilee. "Please tell me what happened."
"Of course." Cheerilee said. "Buttercup, one of my students at the schoolhouse had an acc-"
"THERE HE IS!"
Everyone turned their attention to a male voice angrily shouting. There, they saw two stallions running towards the cottage. The first was an earth pony with a light goldish gray colored coat, and a moderate vermilion colored mane and tail. The second was a pegasus with a brilliant vermilion colored coat, and a moderate cobalt blue mane and tail with grayish purple stripes.
Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo. "An' ain't that Storm Dasher, ya dad?"
Scootaloo's eyes widened. "Oh, no."
Coco-Nut angrily pointed at Abacus. "That's the pony who hurt my daughter!"
Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut came towards the cottage, running in an angry rage towards Abacus. The others came together, forming a barrier to protect him from the angry stallions, stopping them in their path. Storm Dasher noticed Scootaloo near Abacus.
"Scootaloo," Storm Dasher said. "What are you doing?! Get away from that pony! He's dangerous!"
Scootaloo stood next to Abacus and placed a hoof on him. "No, Dad! He's not dangerous!"
Applejack came forward to Coco-Nut. "And whaddya mean he hurt yer daughter?"
Coco-Nut scowled. "My wife brought my daughter home with grazes and bruises all over her, and she said he knocked her off her scooter and tried to kidnap her."
"That's not what happened," Applejack said. "Cheerilee here had witnessed the whole incident."
Apple Bloom came forward. "Yeah! Besides, Abacus wouldn't hurt or kidnap nopony!"
"It's the truth, Mr Coco-Nut," Cheerilee said. "I saw Buttercup fell off her scooter from running over a stick and hurting herself. Abacus tried to help her."
Coco-Nut growled. "That's a lie! My wife knows what she saw!"
"And he assaulted Scootaloo nearly a week ago!" Storm Dasher said.
Applejack stepped forward towards both of them. "Now y'all listen here! If Cheerilee had witnessed what happened, an' if she said Abacus didn't hurt ya daughter, then ah believe her. Cheerilee would never lie."
"That's enough, Scootaloo!" Storm Dasher pointed angrily down the path. "You will go home. Now!"
"But dad!" Scootaloo started, but Storm Dasher interrupted her.
"Don't answer me back, young filly! Now go home!"
"But-"
"Enough!" Lawful Eye stepped forward. She turned to Scootaloo. "Scootaloo. I'll handle this. Go home."
Scootaloo dropped her head. "Okay, Detective."
Scootaloo walked sadly away past her father and down the path towards home. Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut turned to Lawful Eye. The other stood back to protect Abacus, as they watched and listened to Lawful Eye face the two angry stallions.
"So you're a detective?" Storm Dasher asked. "In that case, I want to press charges on Abacus for assaulting my daughter!"
"And arrested for assaulting my daughter too!" Coco-Nut said.
"Mr Storm Dasher and Mr Coco-Nut. Your accusations towards Abacus harming either of your children is unfounded." Lawful Eye turned to Storm Dasher. "Scootaloo claimed that Abacus didn't assault her, and that it was from her hitting her head on the door of Apple Bloom's club house that gave her the black eye." She turned to Coco-Nut. "And with Cheerilee having witnessed what had really happened to your daughter, it is good enough evidence to put against your wife's version of events. Therefore both of your accusations are not backed up by evidence."
Storm Dasher snarls. "What?! How could you stand up for that monster for what he's done to both our children, not to mention what he did to his own wife and unborn child?!"
"And on the account of how he tried to harm another two other children in a murderous rage yesterday at Sugarcube Corner, and those poor fillies were thrown out!" Coco-Nut said.
Lawful Eye glared. "That "monster" wouldn't hurt anypony, unless he was provoked first! And those kids were thrown out because those two rude, little brats taunted and provoked him! Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, your daughter, and I all saw it, and handled it."
Coco-Nut growled. "How can you justify that murderer's actions with a straight face?!"
"Because I've known him for years," Lawful Eye said. "Longer than anypony here in this town! I'm practically family to him! And he is NOT a murderer! He didn't murder his wife and unborn child! I cleared his name, and proved his innocence!"
Coco-Nut snorts. "From bribing and corrupting the judge no doubt!"
"And now you brought that scumbag upon us!" Storm Dasher said.
"What?!" Lawful Eye growled. "You both have NO IDEA what prison did to him, and what it's STILL doing to him! He was beaten, abused, tortured, starved, and even raped whilst inside!"
Storm Dasher scoffed. "Which is what that scumbag deserved!"
"How dare you?!" Lawful Eye said. "Nopony like him deserves to go through what he went through! His poor mother passed away from terminal stomach cancer while he was in prison! I, along with Twilight and her friends are the only ones close to family he has left in his life that keeps him from breaking apart forever!"
Coco-Nut scowls. "If this is the result, then you make for an AWFUL excuse for family!"
Lawful Eye's face was struck with shock, along with everyone else. The others watched as Lawful Eye's body began to shudder, her teeth gritted, her eyes smoked with rage. She glared darkly at the stallions through her glasses like she had wanted to throw a punch so hard that it could knock their heads clean off.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Lawful Eye hissed. Her suppressed enraged voice was dark, and demonic as if she was suddenly possessed by a inner demon. "AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT PRESSING ANY CHARGES ON ABACUS!"
Coco-Nut glared with a shocked look. "What?! You can't let that scumbag get away with this! Who do you think you are, lady?!"
"I'M Investigator detective Lawful Eye!" Lawful Eye said in her suppressed enraged voice. "I'm also a lawyer, and I am the only one presently in town with any police authority to MAKE any arrests or press charges. And guess what? I REFUSE to arrest or press charges on Abacus!" She turned focusing on Coco-Nut. "And tell your wife...she could EXPECT to face charges in court for ASSAULT on Abacus!"
Coco-Nut growled and glared at Lawful Eye, restraining himself from physically lashing out at the grey unicorn mare. Storm Dasher shared the same anger.
"Very well then!" Storm Dasher said. "My brother-in-law's best friend is a police officer in Cloudsdale. If you won't arrest and charge that dangerous scumbag, then we'll get somepony who will!"
Lawful Eye glared, unintimidated by the threats coming from the brilliant vermilion colored pegasus. "FINE! Bring your cop friend! We won't let you get your hooves on Abacus for as long as any of us has breath within us!"
"So be it!" Storm Dasher fixed his glare on Abacus, as though he had wanted to kill him. "And you! If I ever see you near my daughter again...you WILL regret it...Abacus Scum!"
Abacus whimper fearfully and with tears running down his cheek. Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut turned away and began to angrily walk out of the gate of Fluttershy's cottage, and down the road. Everyone watched as the two angry stallions disappeared from their line of vision.
Lawful Eye sighed as she calmed herself and turned to the others. "I'm sorry all of you had to see that."
Some of the others were still shocked at witnessing Lawful Eye's rage. Lawful Eye and Fluttershy turned to Abacus who was whimpering and sobbing with fear. They came over to him, and both patted his shoulder and back to calm him.
Lawful Eye stroked Abacus. "Nopony will harm you as long as we're here."
Abacus mumbled loudly as he sobbed. "I am not scum. I am not scum. I am not scum."
Lock Down smiled as he heard Abacus say the very words he taught him. It was a good feeling for him to see that he remembered those words he told him to say if someone called him scum. It was like he still held on to the memory of his kindness. Lawful Eye, and Fluttershy helped Abacus up.
Cheerilee came over to Abacus and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry about what happened, Abacus."
Twilight came up to Cheerilee. "Thank you, Cheerilee. It was so kind of you to side with Abacus and defend him."
Cheerilee smiled. "You're welcome, Twilight. I always believed he was innocent, and seeing him trying to help Buttercup, I now know. And if he does get charged, I'll come to his defense."
Lawful Eye felt touched, knowing there was another pony in Ponyville that was on Abacus's side. "Thank you very much, Miss Cheerilee."
Cheerilee nodded. "I think I should go now." She turned to Abacus. "It's wonderful to see you again, Abacus. I'm sorry we had to meet like this. Maybe I'll visit you for some tea and cake. I'll see you next time, and welcome back."
Cheerilee began to walk away out the gate and down the road as Fluttershy tended to Abacus.
"Bye, Miss Cheerilee." Apple Bloom waved goodbye to her.
"Come on, Abacus," Fluttershy said. "We better fix you up."
They all entered into Fluttershy's cottage to treat Abacus's grazes and scratches, and sat Abacus down on Fluttershy's sofa. Fluttershy's pet bunny, Angel brought over the first aid kit to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy took the first aid kit. "Thank you, Angel."
Fluttershy opened the first aid kit, and took out a set of tweezers, a bag of cotton balls, a bottle of antiseptic, and some band-aids. Twilight undid Apple Bloom's red bow that Apple Bloom used to bandage a graze around his right front hoof.
"Oohh!" Twilight said. "That's a big one."
Apple Bloom sat down next to Abacus. "It's a good thing ah used my bow ta bandage it, huh?"
Applejack smiled. "That was good thinkin', sugarcube."
Twilight used her magic to pick up the tweezers, put a cotton ball in them, and soak it with antiseptic.
"Now this may sting a little, Abacus," Twilight said. "But just hold still."
Twilight levitated the antiseptic soaked cotton ball to Abacus's big graze on his right front hoof. Abacus winced painfully as Twilight began to dab his graze with the antiseptic soaked cotton ball.
Apple Bloom stroked Abacus to calm him. "Ah know it stings, Abacus. But it has ta be done. It'll be over soon, dontcha worry."
Abacus sat still as they treated his injuries. Lock Down came up to Abacus, and he looked up at him.
Lock Down smiled. "Hi, Abacus. Remember me? You probably don't recognize me without my royal guard armor, but it's me, Lock Down."
"...Lock Down." Abacus said.
"I'm sorry to see you like this. You gave us all quite a scare when you ran away." Lock Down smiled. "But it's really good to see you again."
Applejack came forward to Lawful Eye with something on her mind. "Hey, Lawful Eye."
Lawful Eye turned to her. "Yes, Applejack."
"Ya don't think Storm Dasher was serious about gettin' some policepony from Cloudsdale, do ya?" Applejack asked.
"It's possible, but it's possible it could also be just an empty threat." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "Though what I said to Coco-Nut about his wife facing court was real, but it's highly likely she'd be let off easy or not charged at all because of the fact she was protecting her child."
Warden Rehab came forward. "Well, I believe it'd be a wise move if one of us should probably stay here to protect Abacus in case they do bring any police officers from somewhere on him."
"I agree," Twilight said. "You and Lock Down are members of the royal guard. Even though you're both prison class royal guards, it still gives both of you a higher rank than any police officer. I think one of you should stay here with Fluttershy to help protect Abacus."
Lock Down turned to Twilight. "I'll stay here." He then looked at Fluttershy. "If that's no trouble, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy thought for a moment. "Well...I guess it's okay, but Abacus already has the guest room, so you'll have to sleep on the sofa...that's if you don't mind it?"
Lock Down shook his head. "Of course not, ma'am. As long as Abacus is safe, that's what really matters."
Warden Rehab smiled and chuckled. "I could think of nopony else better for that job than you, Lock Down. It's like you've made protecting Abacus your life's work."
Lock Down chuckled. "I guess I get like that when protecting my friends. And Abacus is the first pony from Hoofstrong that I grew close to as a friend."
"Then that's settled." Twilight said.
Applejack cleared her throat. "Well, hey. We better get goin', Apple Bloom. We've got a few chores ta finish up on the farm before the day's out."
"Alright, Applejack." Apple Bloom stood up on the sofa, turned to Abacus and patted his mane. "Well, we gotta go now, Abacus." She leaned her face forward, and gave Abacus a gentle, peck kiss on the cheek. "An' don't worry about my bow, it'll wash out. We'll see ya later."
Applejack smiled as Apple Bloom took her bloodstained undone bow, jumped off the sofa, and walked over to her.
"Well, see y'all later, everypony." Applejack said.
Apple Bloom turned to Applejack as they walked together out the door of Fluttershy's cottage towards the front gate. "Hey, Applejack. Ah heard Lawful Eye say a word that ah've never heard before. Ah think it was 'raped'. What's raped mean?"
Applejack's eyes widened hearing her little sister say that word, looking quite uncomfortable. "Uh...well..." She stammered and hesitated, trying to find the best and safest words to explain it to a filly at her age. "Well...ya see sugarcube. ...Ya remember how ah once told ya about how a baby's made?"
As Applejack and Apple Bloom walked down the road back home, the others inside were finishing up fixing Abacus's injuries. Twilight put the last band aid on Abacus. Lawful Eye came up to Abacus and stroked his mane.
"Everything's fine now, Abi," Lawful Eye said. "They'll heal up fine."
Lawful Eye smiled kindly at Abacus as she continued to stroke his mane. As she did, her smile slowly faded for she felt something on his scalp under his hair.
Lawful Eye raised a curious eyebrow. "What's that?"
"What's wrong, darling?" Rarity asked.
Lawful Eye parted Abacus's mane with her hooves to look at his scalp. She looked at it closely for a moment as Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight came forward to have a look.
Rarity tilted her head. "Oh my."
"It looks like a rash." Fluttershy said.
Twilight looked at Abacus's exposed scalp. "It looks a bit infected."
Lawful Eye looked at it with a curious look, feeling she had seen a rash like that before. "Hmm...it looks a bit like..." She blinked with realization as if she knew what it was. "Oh dear."
The sun began to rise up from the distant hills of Sweet Apple Acres, and shined brightly to once again begin the new day. The sound of the rooster crowing could be heard as the light of the morning sun beamed into Applejack's bedroom with Applejack sleeping soundly in her bed. Applejack woke up from the morning sunlight shining on her face, and yawned before rising up out of bed. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, and stretched her hooves to get ready to start the day.
Boy howdy! That was a mighty good sleep. She thought to herself.
Applejack walked over to her bedroom door, and opened the door to head downstairs.
"Applejack!" The sound of Apple Bloom calling Applejack's name stopped her dead as she nearly reached the stairs. "Applejack!!"
Applejack spun around, and galloped over to Apple Bloom's room. Hearing how very distressed her little sister's cries were, she knew something was definitely wrong.
She opened the door to her sister's bedroom. "Apple Bloom, what's wrong?"
Applejack was wide-eyed at the sight before her. Apple Bloom was in bed, covered head to hoof in red, scabby spots, and was sobbing distressedly as she turned to Applejack.
"There's spots all over me. Ah woke up with them." Apple Bloom began to scratch some of them. "An' they really itch."
"Oh dear." Applejack came over to Apple Bloom. "Well, try not ta scratch'em, honey."
Apple Bloom sniffled. "What are they, Applejack?"
"Well, ah don't know," Applejack said. "But ah think it might be chickenpox. But just ta make sure, we better take ya ta the doctor."
Apple Bloom soon found herself sitting on an examination table in a doctor's office, with Applejack and Big Mac waiting to see the doctor. As she waited, she kept fidgeting, for the itching of the spots was soon getting to the point of being absolutely unbearable. She could not take it anymore, and began to scratch.
"Don't scratch'em!" Applejack and Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom stopped scratching and moaned. "But they're too itchy. Ah can't stand it anymore!"
Big Mac patted Apple Bloom's back. "Take it easy, Apple Bloom."
Applejack sighed. "Sugarcube, ah know it's hard. Big Mac an' ah know first hoof how unbearably uncomfortable the itchin' of chickenpox were when we got it."
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
Applejack came over to Apple Bloom, and place a hoof on her front hoof. "But don't ya worry, Apple Bloom. Dr Stallion will be in ta see ya in a minute."
Apple Bloom sat still and tried her best to resist scratching the itchy spots on her body. A few moments later, the door of the doctor's office swung open allowing a pony to enter into the office. The pony was a solid black and white spotted unicorn stallion, with a black and white patterned mane and tail, blue eyes, and wore a white doctor's coat with a stethoscope round his neck. On his doctor's coat was a name badge that said 'Dr Checker Stallion.'.
"Hello, Apple Bloom," Dr Stallion said in a mild Australian voice. "How's my favorite little filly today?"
Applejack came forward. "Well, Doc, we think Apple Bloom's got chickenpox."
Dr Stallion raised an eyebrow. "Chickenpox?"
"Eeyup." Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom fidgeted. "An' they're itchin' me ta death."
"You poor possum." Dr Stallion approached Apple Bloom. "Well, let's have a look."
Dr Stallion came over to Apple Bloom, and took her hoof with his hooves to take a closer look. He looked at the spots carefully for a few moments, before looking at Apple Bloom.
"Do you feel sick in the tummy, Apple Bloom?" Dr Stallion asked.
Apple Bloom nodded. "A little, an' ah feel tired too." She groaned. "An' they won't stop itchin' me."
Dr Stallion nodded. "Mm-hm. This definitely is chickenpox. I've seen it a hundred times before." He levitated a thermometer. "Okay, open. Say 'ah'."
Apple Bloom opened her mouth. "Ahh."
Dr Stallion put the thermometer in Apple Bloom's mouth. "Good girl." He cleared his throat. "I think I also know where you must've caught it."
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Mmm?"
"You must've caught it from being in contact with Abacus Sum yesterday." Dr Stallion said.
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Mmm?!"
Applejack was outraged. She could not believe what she just heard Dr Stallion say. She approached Dr Stallion. "Now, see here, Doc! Just because y'all ain't happy about Abacus being back, does not mean ya can go blamin' him fer everthin' like he's some kinda jinx!"
Dr Stallion waved his hoof. "Oh, no-no-no. It's not that at all, Applejack. I'm happy he's back. I never believed he could hurt anypony."
"Then why are ya sayin' Apple Bloom got chickenpox from bein' with him?" Applejack asked.
"Because I treated him yesterday while making a house call." Dr Stallion said.
Applejack blinked. "What?"
Dr Stallion cleared his throat. "You see Fluttershy sent a message to me for a house call request."
Dr Stallion was at the washing basin of his office washing his hooves after handling his last patient. He suddenly turned his head as he heard the sound of a bird chirping. There, he saw a blue jay sitting on the open window sill on the inside of his office holding a message in its beak. The blue jay chirped, and motioned the message in its beak, like if it wanted Dr Stallion to take it.
"Oh, must be a message from somepony." Dr Stallion walked over, and took the message from the bird with his magic. "Thanks, little mate."
He opened the message up with his magic, and began to read it. "Hmm... Abacus Sum? Hmm... alright then." He turned to the blue jay. "Tell Fluttershy that I'll be right over."
The blue jay nodded and flew away out the window.
Dr Stallion knocked on the front door of Fluttershy's cottage. He waited for a few seconds before Fluttershy opened the door.
"Oh, Dr Stallion," Fluttershy said. "Thank you so much for coming. Please come in."
Dr Stallion smiled. "G'day, Fluttershy. I wouldn't refuse a house call, especially this certain type of house call."
Fluttershy led Dr Stallion inside into the living room with the others. They came over to Abacus who was sitting on the sofa with Lawful Eye in the same depressed state.
Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on Abacus's hoof. "Abacus. Dr Stallion's here to take a look at you."
Dr Stallion came over to Abacus with a warm smile. "G'day, Abacus. Long time no see, mate." He took his medical saddle off his back. "So what seems to be the problem?"
"Well, Doctor," Lawful Eye said. "He's got what feels and looks like a rash on his scalp under his hair. We found it just a hour ago. And he feels a bit hot. We don't know, but we think he's probably got shingles."
Dr Stallion raised an eyebrow. "Shingles, eh? Well, let's take a look at this rash."
Dr Stallion levitated a pair of examination gloves and put them on his front hooves. He then began to part Abacus's hair to look at the rash on a certain area of his scalp. Abacus winced from Dr Stallion touching him, and Lawful Eye placed a hoof on his shoulder to calm him.
"It's okay, Abi." Lawful Eye said.
Finally, Dr Stallion found the rash on his scalp, and began to look at it carefully. "Hmm... Yep. It's definitely shingles. I'll prescribe some topical antibiotic cream to bring down the inflamed infection." He noticed the band-aids and a couple of bruises on Abacus's body. "And I see you look a bit roughed up there, like you've been in a fight, or something."
"Somepony mistaken him for trying to hurt their child, and fought him off." Twilight said.
Fluttershy turned to Dr Stallion. "We treated his injuries with antiseptic and put band-aids on them."
"Well, nothing that a couple of days of rest, and a ice bag won't fix for something like that, eh, Abacus?" Dr Stallion asked in a joking manner.
Abacus said nothing to Dr Stallion's words, and he closed his eyes sadly.
"What's wrong, Abacus?" Dr Stallion asked. "You're never usually this quiet."
"Um...Doctor," Fluttershy said. "He doesn't talk very much, not since during his time in prison."
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "We plan to get him psychological help for that soon."
Dr Stallion smiled and patted Abacus's shoulder. "Cheer up, mate. Things will get better sooner or later." He turned to Lawful Eye. "And when you're going to get him psychological help, come and see me, and I'll make a referral for him. I am his doctor after all."
Lawful Eye smiled. "Thank you, Doctor."
Spike scratched his head, as if he was thinking of something. "Question, Dr Stallion. What exactly is shingles anyway?"
Dr Stallion turned to Spike. "It's a viral disease that commonly occurs in adults after they've had chickenpox. It appears as a painful skin rash with blisters involving a limited area."
Spike tilted his head. "So you're saying that he's got chickenpox?"
"Sort of," Dr Stallion said. "Which reminds me. Shingles is contagious to anypony who's not had chickenpox before, and can turn into it too. So has everypony here had chickenpox?"
Everyone nodded in unison. "Yes."
Twilight rubbed her chin. "Although... Applejack and Apple Bloom were here, and left earlier. So I don't know about them."
Dr Stallion stood there rubbing his chin, thinking about the situation.
Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac's eyes widen as Dr Stallion finished telling his recalling of yesterday.
"I knew you and Big Mac have already had chickenpox," Dr Stallion said. "But I remembered that Apple Bloom hasn't had it yet. And since I know shingles can be spread on to those who hadn't had chickenpox and turn into chickenpox, I was kind of expecting it."
Applejack blinked. "So that's why ya said she got it from Abacus. It's because Abacus has shingles."
"That's right." Dr Stallion takes the thermometer out of Apple Bloom's mouth with his magic, and looked at her temperature. "101°F." He then levitated a prescription slip pad and a pen, and began to write on it. "Well then, I'll prescribe some Lepodox to bring down the temperature and to soothe the tummy. She must take it twice a day mixed with warm water, once before breakfast, and once right before going to sleep at night."
Big Mac nodded. "Sure, Doctor."
Apple Bloom began to scratch the spots, as Dr Stallion turned to her.
"And try not to scratch them, Apple Bloom." Dr Stallion said.
Apple Bloom stopped scratching, and began to fidget. "But ah can't help it. They're too itchy, an' ah can't stand it."
"I know chickenpox can be very itchy, but you must resist the urge to scratch them. Scratching them will only make it worse. But I'll also prescribe some calamine lotion to relieve some of the itching." Dr Stallion turns back to Applejack and Big Mac. "And I also advise for you to put cotton socks on her hooves to control the impulse to scratch."
Applejack nodded. "Sure thing, doc."
Dr Stallion turned to Apple Bloom. "And you'll have to stay in bed and rest for about three weeks. I want you to stay off your hooves as much as possible. And you'll be right as rain."
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Three weeks?! But ah'm suppose ta be goin' ta Sapphire Shores's concert in Manehattan this weekend."
"Ah, yes. I heard about you winning the prize in Pop Pony magazine's contest. Congratulations." Dr Stallion sighed, knowing the outcome of what he was going to say. "But as much as I really hate to tell you... I'm afraid you can't go to the concert, Apple Bloom. You're sick."
The words Apple Bloom had just heard from her own doctor had in a matter of seconds shred her heart. Her face dropped like she was about to cry.
"No..." Apple Bloom said.
She sadly moaned as she dropped her head down in a depressed, heartbroken state similar to Abacus. Poor little Apple Bloom was so disappointed and sad, she nearly cried. Dr Stallion's heart sank seeing one of his favorite little patients so disappointed. Applejack came over to Apple Bloom, and patted her back to comfit her.
"Ah know ya're disappointed, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Ah'll tell ya what. How about ya give ya prize ta Scootaloo an' Rainbow Dash, an' they'll get ya a very special autograph from Sapphire Shores. Whaddya say?"
Apple Bloom groaned with a mix of sadness and anger. "Ah guess it's the only thing ta do...all thanks ta him. Thanks ta Abacus!"
Applejack's eyes widened with disbelief at what Apple Bloom had just said. "Apple Bloom, what are ya sayin'?"
"Ah never should've seen Abacus yesterday." Apple Bloom angrily pouted with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "And now ah'm sick with chickenpox because of him. It's his fault! It's all his fault!"
Big Mac scolded. "Apple Bloom! Ya have no right ta blame Abacus."
"He didn't know he had shingles, anymore than yerself or ah." Applejack said.
Apple Bloom raised her voice angrily. "Ah'll never get ta meet Sapphire Shores, because of that no-good prisoner!"
"APPLE BLOOM!" Applejack shouted angrily not bothering to hold back the anger in her voice. "Don't ya EVER say that about Abacus again, y'hear?!"
Apple Bloom began to sob with her hooves over her eyes. Dr Stallion was stunned at seeing an argument in his office, for it was a rare sight to see. Applejack sighed to calm herself, and placed a caring hoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder.
"Listen, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Ah know ya're mighty upset because ya're sick, an' can't go ta the concert. An' ah'm sorry that it's happened, but takin' it out on Abacus won't help anythin'. Besides, it wasn't really his fault. It was plain bad luck. It's nopony's fault."
Apple Bloom sniffled. "But ah really wanted ta go."
Applejack patted Apple Bloom's head. "Ah know, but like ah said: ya can give yer prize ta Scootaloo an' Rainbow Dash, an' they can get ya a very special autograph from Sapphire Shores."
"It ain't the same." Apple Bloom said.
Applejack sighed. "Well, we'll talk about this later when we get ya home ta bed."
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
Applejack turned to Dr Stallion. "Ah'm awful sorry about all that, Doc."
Dr Stallion waved an assuring hoof at Applejack. "It's perfectly alright, mate. Besides, she's probably grumpy from being tired. Irritability is another symptom of the chickenpox." He tore the prescription slip off, and gave it to Applejack. "Here. You take this to the pharmacy, and they'll give you the things I prescribed to you."
"Thank ya, Doc." Applejack said.
Dr Stallion turned to Apple Bloom and came up to her. "And you, Apple Bloom. It'll be fine. And I think I have just the thing to cure that sad frown of yours." He levitated a small purple lollipop to Apple Bloom, and smiled. "A grape flavored lollipop. Your favorite."
Apple Bloom sadly took the lollipop. "Thanks, Dr Stallion." She put the lollipop in her mouth, and began to suck on it while still saddened.
The Next Day...
The giant-sized mushroom tables of Ponyville's Café Hay were filled with customers waiting to be served. Savoir Fare, the waiter of Café Hay, brought over a tray with two glasses of soda with a swizzle straw in each one, and placed it on one certain table where two familiar, rich fillies were seated.
"Your drinks, madams." Savoir Fare said.
As Savoir Fare walked off to tend to other customers, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon took their sodas, and took a big sip.
Diamond Tiara sighed and wiped her forehead. "It's about time. I was beginning to melt in this heat."
"I swear the service here is slower than Sugarcube Corner," Silver Spoon said. "And the sodas here is like drinking water."
Diamond Tiara groaned. "And to think we got thrown out, instead of Abacus Scum. It's just not fair."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon took another sip from their sodas, until they saw Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo walking together past the cafe.
"So, little buddy," Rainbow Dash said. "I've got some good news and bad news to tell you. Which do you wanna hear first?"
Scootaloo tilted her head. "What's the bad news?"
Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo. "Apple Bloom's sick in bed, and can't make it to the Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan this weekend."
Scootaloo's eyes dropped in disappointment as they both stop walking. "Oh...that's too bad."
Rainbow Dash smiled. "But the good news is..." She paused for a dramatic effect. "We get to go instead, squirt."
"Really?" Scootaloo's face instantly lit up like a little sun.
"Yep," Rainbow Dash said. "Applejack told me to come over, and Apple Bloom offered both of us the tickets and the hotel stay."
"For nothing?" Scootaloo asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded. "For nothing. ...well on the condition of getting her an autograph from Sapphire Shores."
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo hoof-bump. "Alright! Awesome!"
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who were sitting close by, listened to everything Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had said. Diamond Tiara grinned as if she had a sinister idea, for an opportunity she had waited for had showed itself.
Diamond Tiara turned to Silver Spoon. "Did you hear that? Apple Bloom's sick. This could be our chance to get the tickets." She put a few bits on the table. "Come on, Silver Spoon. Let's go."
Silver Spoon followed Diamond Tiara as they quickly walked away over to Sweet Apple Acres. "But Diamond Tiara, I don't think it's a good idea. What if she's got something really contagious?"
"Oh, you worry too much, Silver Spoon," Diamond Tiara said. "It's most likely the summer Pinken Flu that's been spreading around recently. We've had our shots for that, and that blank flank obviously didn't."
As Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked away down the street, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo continued to speak to each other walking in the other direction. They were unaware that the two rich fillies had overheard their conversation, and were on their way to Sweet Apple Acres.
"By the way," Scootaloo said. "What's Apple Bloom sick in bed with?"
"So have I." Scootaloo said with relief. "So when do we catch the train to Manehattan with Rarity?"
Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo. "Friday, nine o'clock sharp. But make sure you ask your dad first."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked through the gates of Sweet Apple Acres, towards the Apple family's barn. They talked quietly with each other, planning on how they were going to get the concert tickets from the little sick filly.
"Okay, so this is what we do," Diamond Tiara said. "We have twenty-five bits between us, so we'll buy the tickets from her."
Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses. "But Diamond Tiara, those tickets are like seventy-five bits each."
"We know that." Diamond Tiara grinned. "But that blank flank doesn't. So we'll trick her into selling them for much less than they're really worth."
Silver Spoon thought for a moment with a concerned look. "I still don't think this is a good idea. Who knows what sickness she's sick with."
"Oh, stop worrying, Silver Spoon," Diamond Tiara said. "It's Pinken Flu. My aunt Gemmed Ring had it a few weeks ago. She had a cold feeling in her hooves that made her wear socks on them, and her coat turned into a pale whitish-pink color. I guarantee that blank flank is sick with that. And since we've had our shots for it, we've got nothing to worry about."
Silver Spoon looked at Diamond Tiara. "And what if it's not Pinken Flu? Will we get out of there, and find another way to get them?"
Diamond Tiara groaned. "Alright. If it's not Pinken Flu, we'll leave, if that makes you feel better."
Applejack was outside the barn doing her chores. She was just taking a large wooden basket of freshly picked apples to her apple cellar when she noticed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon coming up towards her. "Howdy, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon."
"Hello, Applejack," Diamond Tiara said. "We heard poor Apple Bloom's sick, and thought we could pay her a visit."
Silver Spoon showed a card. "We even brought a 'Get Well Soon' card for her."
Applejack looked at the two fillies for a moment with a bit of a suspicious look, then smiled and nodded. "Okay then. Y'all wait out here. Ah'll just put these apples in my apple cellar, an' ah'll take y'all up ta her room ta see her in a minute."
Applejack walked of towards the opened apple cellar doors, and turned as she went down the cellar stairs. When Applejack was gone, Diamond Tiara turned to Silver Spoon.
"Okay, let's go in." Diamond Tiara said quietly.
The two fillies entered into the house part of the barn. As they went up the stairs, Diamond Tiara kept grinning with confidence. For every step closer to Apple Bloom's room they took, she grew more and more convinced that she was seeing a future with the two of them off to Sapphire Shores's concert in Manehattan and meeting her backstage.
They soon reached the outside of Apple Bloom's bedroom, and peered their heads into the opened doorway. There, they see Apple Bloom in bed looking out the window in a depressed state similar to Abacus. Her body except her mane was a pale pink color. She was wearing white cotton socks on her front hooves, and was fidgeting uncomfortably in bed. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked at each other, with Diamond Tiara giving Silver Spoon a "I-told-you-so" look of confidence on her face. Silver Spoon looked back at her with a relieving smile. Diamond Tiara tapped lightly on the opened door, and watched as the sick filly's ears perk up at the sound, and turned to face the open door. Apple Bloom's eyes widened with surprise to see the two rich fillies.
"Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon," Apple Bloom said. "What are y'all doin' here?"
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered Apple Bloom's bedroom, and walked towards her bed, putting on friendly, charming smiles. "Hi, blan- I mean Apple Bloom. We heard you were sick, so we came to visit you."
"There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" Silver Spoon asked.
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. She knew it was not like these two rich fillies to be so nice as to visit her on friendly terms. "Ah guess not."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came to each of the sides of the bed. Silver Spoon gave Apple Bloom the 'Get Well Soon' card. "Here's a little get well card we picked out for you."
Apple Bloom looked at the card, while thinking something very suspicious was going on. "Thanks...ah guess."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stroked Apple Bloom's mane. "You poor, poor thing, being so sick. We heard you couldn't go to Sapphire Shores's concert in Manehattan."
Apple Bloom sighed sadly. "Dr Stallion said ah can't."
"We also heard you're giving your tickets away to Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash for free." Silver Spoon said.
Apple Bloom nodded. "Yeah. Ah am."
Diamond Tiara leaned in closer to Apple Bloom. "Have you ever thought of selling the tickets instead?"
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Sellin' em?"
Diamond Tiara nodded. "Yeah. Since you're sick in bed, and since we have a bit of a warm place in our hearts for sick ponies, we're hoping to buy them from you."
Silver Spoon laid on the bed while leaning closer to Apple Bloom smiling. "You see we're really big fans of Sapphire Shores too."
"But ah already said they could have'em." Apple Bloom said.
Diamond Tiara took out her wallet, and poured out a number of bits on the bed sheets in front of Apple Bloom. "We'll give you ten bits for the tickets. I think that's far more than your possible allowance. We're being more than generous."
Apple Bloom looked at the bits. It was twice more than her weekly allowance, and did not know what to do. "Ten bits? Well... Ah don't know."
Silver Spoon smiled. "We might go a bit higher if you push us."
Apple Bloom thought for a moment. "How about ten bits each?"
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon made a struggling friendly face that was trying to hide their annoyance, for it meant there would be not much money left for them. "Alright. Since we're being so generous, we'll give you twenty bits for the tickets. So do we have a deal?"
All of a sudden, Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith came to the entrance of Apple Bloom's bedroom and interrupted the three fillies.
"What in tarnation," Applejack said. "Ah thought ah told ya two ta wait outside?"
Diamond Tiara turned to Applejack. "Why? We're just fine."
Apple Bloom shuffled in bed. "Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon are tryin' ta buy the tickets."
Applejack gave Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon a serious look. "Are they now?"
"Ah still wanna give 'em ta Rainbow Dash an' Scootaloo." Apple Bloom said.
Applejack came forward towards Apple Bloom's bed, still giving Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon that same serious glance, for she now knew the real intention of the two fillies visit to her sick little sister.
"Well, ah think that's the best thing ta do, sugarcube." Applejack then turned to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Well, Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon. It was mighty nice of both y'all ta come an' visit, but ah think ya two better run along. Chickenpox is bad enough, but ya two comin' round here-"
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's eyes suddenly widened with shock, followed by jumping back from Apple Bloom's bed.
"We thought it was Pinken Flu." Silver Spoon pointed at Apple Bloom. "Why else has her coat turned pink? Why is she wearing socks on her hooves?!"
"Pinken Flu?" Applejack chuckled and pointed to the bottle of calamine lotion sitting on Apple Bloom's bedside table. "Oh, honey. That pink color's just calamine lotion ta relieve some of Apple Bloom's itchin'." She wiped a bit of calamine lotion away from Apple Bloom's head to show a few red spots on her yellow coat underneath. "Ya see?"
Granny Smith walked in. "An' those cotton socks are ta stop the little one from scratchin' them spots."
Applejack nodded. "Besides, Apple Bloom's had her shot for the Pinken Flu a month ago."
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked shocked. "So she really has chickenpox?!"
"Darn tootin', little fillies," Granny Smith said. "An' it's mighty contagious. But don't worry. If y'all had chickenpox before, ya should be perfect as a Piccadilly pear."
Big Mac came into the room. "Ya've had chickenpox before, haven't ya?"
Diamond Tiara began to stammer nervously. "Well...uhh...you see...the thing is..."
"We...we..." Silver Spoon said.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stammered nervously as Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith stood there looking at them, waiting for their answer. Apple Bloom put her hoof over her mouth as she began to smile and quietly giggle under her breath, knowing that she had just spread her chickenpox to those two mean rich fillies. It really brighten her day, if only slightly.
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity sat in their front row seats as the sound of the giant crowd roared behind them waiting for the concert to begin. It had just turned nightfall, and the lights of the stage shined brightly like the lights of the city surrounding them since the concert was in Manehattan's Centrot Park.
"It's so awesome your seat is right next to ours, Rarity." Rainbow Dash said.
Rarity smiled. "Indeed it is. I guess it's amazing to have good connections."
Scootaloo bounced with excitement as she remained seated in her seat. "This is it. I can't believe we're really here, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash chuckled excitedly. "I know. This concert is going to be so awesome!"
Scootaloo smiled amusingly. "Its a pity Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon couldn't be here. They're probably to busy scratching the spots off themselves."
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo began laughing. They had heard all about the incident with those two fillies from Applejack, and thought it was hilarious to see them get what they deserved. The lights suddenly dropped, and they turned their attention to the stage. The spotlight came on, and set on a pale yellow earth pony stallion, with a light brilliant amber colored mane and tail standing on stage with a microphone headset.
"HEEEEELLO MANEHATTAN!!" He called out to the crowd. "And welcome to Centrot Park, where Sapphire Shores's "I tune in to you" tour concert is about to get underway!"
The crowd cheered at the words of the stallion.
"And boy have we got a show for you tonight! We're also aware that there are some of you who have traveled quite the distance to be here tonight, including the winners of the Pop Pony magazine's contest! Well, I guarantee you won't be disappointed, everypony! And now, without further ado, let's get this show started! Fillies and gentlecolts! Give it up for Equestria's pony of pop, SAPPHIRE SHORES!!!"
The whole crowd, along with Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity roared with cheer. Moments later, a pale, light grayish gold earth pony mare with a light brilliant cobalt blue mane and tail with light brilliant azure stripes, and wearing a fabulous looking costume began to rise from the stage floor with her back turned to the crowd. She quickly faced them as she and her musicians began to perform the first song.
The first song Sapphire Shores sings at the concert. Please play and listen to the whole video below before continue on reading.
The crowd screamed and cheered as the first song Sapphire Shores performed ends. Sapphire Shores smiled and waved to the crowd.
"Good evening, Manehattan," Sapphire Shores said. "It's wonderful to see all of you here tonight! And boy do I have a sensational performance tonight for all of you!"
The crowd cheered loudly. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity cheered along with them.
Sapphire Shores nodded. "Well, let's get to the next song, shall we?! This next one is another from my new album, "I tune in to you"!" She turns to her musicians. "Alright, boys! Hit it!"
The second song Sapphire Shores sings at the concert. Please play and listen to the whole video below before continue on reading.
The crowd screamed and cheered once again as the second song Sapphire Shores performed ends.
Back at Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville, it was quiet compared to the big city of Manehattan. It was late at night, and the bedroom light of Apple Bloom's room was still on. Applejack and Big Mac brought Apple Bloom a small mug of yellow colored liquid that was lightly steaming, and handed it to her. She groaned with disgust at the liquid in the mug.
"Ah really don't like this stuff." Apple Bloom said.
Applejack gave Apple Bloom a firm look. "Come on now, sugarcube. Ya know what the doctor said. Ya have ta drink it before breakfast an' before ya go ta sleep."
"Eeyup." Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom sighed. "Ah know. Ah just wish it'd taste better." She started to drink it until she was finished. "What time is it?"
Applejack looked at the bedside clock on Apple Bloom's bedside table. "It's eleven. Way past yer bedtime."
"Alright, but they still itch." Apple Bloom laid down in her bed. "The concert will be over soon."
"Now, ah thought we weren't gonna dwell on that." Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom turned her head to Big Mac."But Rainbow Dash an' Scootaloo. They'll meet her, won't they?"
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
Applejack tucked Apple Bloom in and turned on a blow fan. "Now ya get some sleep, sugarcube." She kissed Apple Bloom on the forehead. "An' think of good thoughts."
Apple Bloom sighed. "Okay."
Applejack and Big Mac walked out of Apple Bloom's room so she could sleep. Applejack turn the light off, and turned to Apple Bloom. "Good night, sugarcube."
Applejack closed the door behind her, leaving it slightly opened. Apple Bloom turned over on her side, facing the window, looking at the moon in the night sky. The breeze of the fan blew on her back, keeping her cool in the warm summer night air. She began to think about the amazing time Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo must be having at the Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan, and how they were going to meet Sapphire Shores backstage in person.
"Ah wish it was me." Apple Bloom said to herself.
Apple Bloom sighed, as a small tear came out of one of her eyes. She closed her eyes, and went unhappily to sleep.
The crowd screamed and cheered once again as Sapphire Shores and her musicians perform the last song at her concert back in Manehattan, Centrot Park.
The last song Sapphire Shores sings at the concert. Please play and listen to the whole video below before continue on reading.
The crowd screamed and cheered once again at Sapphire Shores's last encore performance. Sapphire Shores smiled and waved to the crowd.
"Thank you," Sapphire Shores said. "Oh, you've all been a great audience tonight! Bye for now! I love all of you! Ow!"
The crowd screamed and cheered one last time as Sapphire Shores walked off backstage and disappeared. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity cheered along side the crowd.
Scootaloo jumped up and down with excitement. "This was the best concert ever!" She turned to Rainbow Dash. "So, can we go backstage and see Sapphire Shores now?!"
"Sure thing, kid." Rainbow Dash said.
"And I as well," Rarity said. "I did make and design her dresses after all."
Rainbow Dash got up. "Come on, little buddy. Let's go."
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity got up from their seats, and began to find their way backstage. Along the outside of the stage, there was a entrance to an area that led to the backstage, with two male security guard ponies standing guard at the entrance, and a sign that read "No Public Entry. Authorized Personnel Only." on the side. When they were about to enter, the security guard ponies halted them, preventing them entry.
"And where are you going?" One of them said.
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity spoke together. "We're here to see Sapphire Shores."
The other security guard pony spoke to them. "Sorry. No public beyond this point. Now move along, please."
"Oh, it's fine, good sirs." Rarity showed her V.I.P tag. "We're all V.I.P's to see Sapphire Shores. I'm her dress maker and designer."
Rainbow Dash came over with Scootaloo showing their V.I.P tags. "And we're the winners of Pop Pony magazine's contest."
The two security guard ponies looked at each of the V.I.P tags carefully for a few moments, then looked back to them, and nodded. "You all may enter."
The security guard ponies moved out of the way, allowing Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity to enter. As soon as they entered, they walked down into a hallway, and soon ended up backstage. The backstage was full of ponies handling musical instruments, lights, equipment, and numerous outfits and costumes. They walked around throughout the backstage, and a dark blue earth pony mare came over to them.
"There you are, Miss Rarity." The mare said.
"Hello, Ocean." Rarity and the blue mare blew air kisses at each other.
The blue mare looked at Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. "And who are these two?"
"Oh," Rarity said. "These are Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, the two winners of Pop Pony magazine's contest. They're also my friends."
The blue mare offered her hoof out to Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo in a hoofshake, and shook hooves with each of them. "Hello. I'm Ocean Blue, Sapphire Shores's personal manager." She directed them to follow her. "Come this way, please."
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity followed Ocean Blue to the backstage dressing room. Inside the dressing room, there was three make-up and hair ponies, and amongst them, sitting on a make-up chair was the pony of pop herself, Sapphire Shores. She turned around as she saw Rarity's reflection in the mirror.
"Ah, Miss Rarity!" Sapphire Shores said. "Glad you could make it."
"Hello, Sapphire." Rarity smiled as she approached the pony of pop. "You were just marvelous on stage tonight."
Sapphire Shores got up out of her chair. "And those dresses you designed for the concert really made me shine out there. Ow!"
Ocean Blue cleared her throat. "Sapphire. I want you to meet Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. They're the winners of Pop Pony magazine's contest."
"They're also dear friends of mine from Ponyville." Rarity said.
Sapphire Shores turned to Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. "Well, hello there, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo."
Scootaloo looked at Sapphire Shores with amazement. She was face to face with the pony of pop herself, and was almost too nervous and excited to speak. She paused nervously before Rainbow Dash poked her on the shoulder. "Well, go on, kiddo. Say something."
Scootaloo began to talk with excitement. "Oh, Sapphire Shores! It's really awesome to meet you! That was an amazing concert! I just want to say that I'm a really big fan of yours, and have some of your records! You're amazing!"
Sapphire Shores smiled. "Why, thank you, dear. Yes, I do have that effect on ponies."
Scootaloo began to giggle with amazement like a overexcited fan girl, until Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Take it easy, squirt."
"Although..." Sapphire Shores raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, hmm? I was told that one was supposed to be called 'Apple Bloom'?"
"Oh, well me and Scootaloo are sort of standing in for her," Rainbow Dash said. "Unfortunately she couldn't make it."
Rarity stepped forward. "The poor filly's sick in bed with chickenpox. And she was unable to go."
"Chickenpox?" Sapphire Shores's face dropped with pity. "Aww. What a rotten shame. Poor little darling."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah. A real bummer. So she gave the tickets to us instead."
"And she really wanted to go too," Scootaloo said. "I think she's probably a bigger fan of yours than me."
Rarity's face saddened with pity. "The poor little dear was most disappointed she couldn't come."
"That reminds me." Rainbow Dash reached into her saddle bag with her mouth, pulled out a 'I tune in to you' record, placed it in her hoof, and offered it to Sapphire Shores. "She wanted us to get her your autograph as something special for her not coming. Would you mind?"
There was a pause. Sapphire Shores looked at the record for a few moments thinking. She then smiled, raised her hoof, and gently pushed Rainbow Dash's hoof with the record away. "No."
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity's faces shot up with a mix of shock and surprise. "Huh?"
Sapphire Shores smiled kindly, and winked. "I've got a much better idea in mind."
The three ponies looked on in confusion, waiting for what Sapphire Shores was going to say. What idea the pony of pop had in mind was anyone's guess.
The late afternoon sun began setting behind the distant hills of Sweet Apple Acres. Granny Smith and Applejack were in the kitchen preparing dinner. Granny Smith stirred a steaming pot of hot soup on the stove with a wooden spoon, while Applejack placed a soup bowl on a wooden tray, and brought it over to Granny Smith. She grabbed a ladle, dipped it into the pot, and poured some soup into the bowl.
"Soup's on," Granny Smith said. "Better take this up ta the sick, little youngin' before ya have yers."
Applejack nodded. "Sure thing, Granny."
Just when Applejack was about to go and take the tray with the bowl of hot soup up to Apple Bloom's room, there was a sudden knock at the front door. Applejack walked to the door, reached the door handle, and opened the front door. There standing at the door was Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Scootaloo.
Applejack greeted them. "Oh, hi, Rainbow, Rarity, Scootaloo! Y'all back from Manehattan."
"Hey, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said. "Can we see Apple Bloom? We got some awesome news to tell her."
Applejack tilted her head. "News?"
Rarity nodded as the three of them entered into the house. "Oh, yes. And you, and everypony else should come up to hear this as well."
Applejack gave an unsure look. "...Sure, alright."
Applejack, Granny Smith, and Big Mac followed Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Scootaloo upstairs to Apple Bloom's bedroom. They soon reached the door of her room, where Apple Bloom was sadly laying down in bed, with her back facing the door. She just turned her body round at the sound of hoof steps as everyone entered her room and approached her.
"Oh, hey guys," Apple Bloom said. "How was Manehattan?"
Scootaloo smiled. "Hey, Apple Bloom. It was great. The hotel was the best. We got free room service, and the indoor pool was great for a swim. And the concert was amazing. It was the most amazing concert ever. And Sapphire Shores, she's so awesome in person. Oh, I wish you were there to see it."
Apple Bloom sighed sadly, and turned over away from them. "So do Ah. Glad y'all had a great time...instead of me."
Applejack patted Apple Bloom to console her. "Oh, come on now, sugarcube. Don't be sad. At least they got ya Sapphire Shores's autograph."
Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head with her hoof. "Actually...that's the thing. We didn't."
Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash with frustration. "What in tarnation! That was the one thing y'all were suppose ta do fer her, an' ya didn't do it?!"
"Chillax, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash said.
"This is the reason for the wonderful news we have to tell all of you comes in." Rarity turned to Apple Bloom. "And Apple Bloom, sweetie. You'll love the news we have to tell you."
Apple Bloom turned back over facing the others, and sat up straight in bed. "What's this wondeful news?"
Rarity cleared her throat. "Well, last night when we went to meet Sapphire Shores, we told her all about you, and tried to get you her autograph. Only she refused because she had a much better idea."
Rainbow Dash reached into her saddle bag with her mouth, pulled out a 'I tune in to you' record, placed it in her hoof, and offered it to Sapphire Shores. "She wanted us to get her your autograph as something special for her not coming. Would you mind?"
There was a pause. Sapphire Shores looked at the record for a few moments thinking. She then smiled, raised her hoof, and gently pushed Rainbow Dash's hoof with the record away. "No."
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Rarity's faces shot up with a mix of shock and surprise. "Huh?"
Sapphire Shores smiled kindly, and winked. "I've got a much better idea in mind."
The three ponies looked on in confusion, waiting for what Sapphire Shores was going to say.
Sapphire Shores finally spoke. "If Apple Bloom couldn't come to see me, then how about I come to see her."
The three ponies eyes widened in amazement at what the pony of pop had just said to them.
"Sapphire," Rarity said. "Are you saying...?"
Sapphire Shores nodded. "I am. I'm going to make a special visit to Ponyville to visit that poor filly on Wednesday." She turned to Ocean Blue. "That day is free before my final concert in Canterlot, right, Ocean darling?"
Ocean Blue nodded. "Of course, Sapphire, but you'll have one less day to relax in Canterlot before your performance the next day after."
"Oh that's fine. I think I can afford one less day to relax for something like this." Sapphire Shores turned back to the others. "So, would that be a better idea? Would Apple Bloom like that?"
"Would she?!" Rainbow Dash asked. "She'd love that!"
Rarity smiled touchedly. "Why, Sapphire. That's so kind of you."
"That's so awesome," Scootaloo said. "We'll have to tell her that!"
Sapphire Shores nodded. "It's no trouble. Though I must ask you not to tell everypony in town about this."
Ocean Blue turned to the others. "That's right. Sapphire is doing it for Apple Bloom, not for the press."
"Hey, no sweat," Rainbow Dash said. "We and our friends back in Ponyville can keep a secret. You can count on it."
Sapphire Shores smiled. "Thank you so much. I'll be coming to see Apple Bloom at her home in Ponyville on Wednesday. Though I'll need to know where she lives."
Rarity nodded. "But of course. We'll give you the details."
"And that's the whole story, darling." Rarity said.
Apple Bloom's face instantly lit up like a little sun, overwhelmed with joy. "Oh my star apples! Sapphire Shores is comin' ta Ponyville ta see me?!"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, on Wednesday. Pretty cool, huh, kiddo?"
"Ah don't believe it," Apple Bloom said. "It's a dream come true."
Applejack smiled, for it was just the thing to make that little sick filly happy again. "And through all that sadness, fussin', and blamin' Abacus, looks like you're gonna meet Sapphire Shores after all."
Apple Bloom dropped her head sadly. "Oh, yeah. That. Ah'm sorry fer all the things ah said about Abacus. Ah'm just glad he didn't hear them from me."
Applejack patted Apple Bloom's back. "It's alright, sugarcube. We all know ya didn't mean it. But at least somethin' good happened from it. It's like we told ya: good things always happen ta those who do real good deeds. An' because ya gave yer prize ta Rainbow Dash an' Scootaloo, ya were rewarded."
"Ah guess ya right." Apple Bloom said.
Rarity yawned. "Well, I guess we should be getting home now. We have to let the others know about Sapphire Shores coming, but we have to keep it quiet from anypony else."
"Yeah, you said it." Rainbow Dash stretched her body. "It was quite a trip, and I'm bummed out. The sooner I tell Fluttershy about Sapphire Shores coming and get back home to chillax, the better."
Scootaloo waved to Apple Bloom. "See you later, Apple Bloom."
"Bye, Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said. "Bye ya guys. An' thank y'all."
Everyone walked out of Apple Bloom's bedroom, leaving a sick, but now happy Apple Bloom alone. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Scootaloo went down the stairs, and went out the door to outside. They then waved back at Applejack, as they walked towards the gate of Sweet Apple Acres.
"See you later, Applejack." Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack waved back. "Bye, y'all."
Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Scootaloo had just exited out the gate when Rainbow Dash turned to the others. "Well, guess I better dash."
Rarity nodded. "Alright then, Rainbow Dash. Just remember to stop at Fluttershy's first to give her the news."
"Yeah, yeah. I will." Rainbow Dash turned to Scootaloo. "And are you okay to make it home to your dad, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo gave a very brief troubled look, like if she was troubled by something. "Oh, yeah."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "What's up, kiddo?"
Scootaloo put a normal face on. "Oh, nothing, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash looked at her for a moment with a worried frown, as if she just had a mild suspicion of some kind. "Are you sure? You want me to escort you home?"
"No thanks," Scootaloo said. "I can manage."
"Are you sure, little buddy?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Scootaloo nodded. "I'm sure."
There was a pause. Rainbow Dash kept giving her that mild suspicious look for a few moments, before nodding. "Alright, little buddy." She took off into the air and hovered above then looking down at Rarity and Scootaloo. "Well, see you later guys."
Rainbow Dash flew away into the distance, leaving Rarity and Scootaloo to walk down the road towards Ponyville.
"Well, Scootaloo," Rarity said. "Let's get home. It'll be dark soon."
Scootaloo stammered. "...yeah. Let's go."
Rarity and Scootaloo walked together down the road towards Ponyville. During the walk back, Rarity had that same suspicion as Rainbow Dash that there was something troubling Scootaloo. And that she was denying and not talking about.
The Next Day...
The morning sun shined brightly on the whole town, as Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down were sitting in the kitchen of The Golden Oak Library enjoying breakfast. Spike brought over five plates, along with freshly cooked waffles, butter, maple syrup, and whipped cream soon after, and place them on the table.
"Oh Spike, those waffles look delicious." Twilight said.
Spike chuckled proudly. "Yes, well, I do have some talents."
Lawful Eye smiled. "I haven't had waffles for breakfast in a very long time."
Lock Down turned to Twilight. "Thank you for inviting me over for breakfast, Twilight."
"You're welcome, Lock Down," Twilight said. "After watching Abacus with Fluttershy, I think you need a little break from it."
"It hasn't been so bad. It's been pretty relaxing so far, and Abacus is no trouble." Lock Down cut a piece off one of his waffles with his knife, and with his fork, he ate the waffle slice. "As you know, Fluttershy and I took Abacus out to the grassy meadow area outside of town for a picnic with Derpy, Cheerilee, and some of Fluttershy's animals on Saturday. No chance of any townsfolk making trouble for him there. Then Derpy suggested to take Abacus into town, and show him the Tiger Lily memorial public flower garden next door to her house."
Spike tilted his head. "The Tiger Lily memorial public flower garden?"
"It's a public garden created by Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily Valley at Mayor Mare's request in memory of Tiger Lily." Twilight explained. "It was created on the site of where Abacus and Tiger Lily's house once stood."
"Oh yeah, I remember. Abacus used to live next door to Derpy." Spike ate another piece of his waffles.
"At any rate," Lock Down said. "It was a very beautiful garden, but the poor guy was so sad. We did encounter some locals, and they were definitely not happy to see Abacus in that garden. But they held their tongues when they saw me. Apart from that, it was very good day."
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "And speaking of which, it's been a whole week since the incident with Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut, and so far it's been very quiet."
Spike turned to Lawful Eye. "Do you now think they were possibly bluffing about getting that police pony friend of theirs?"
"It's possible," Lawful Eye said. "But it could be the calm before the storm. So we can't take chances."
Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. "Well, Fluttershy has organised for all of us to take Abacus to the Ponyville cemetery to see his wife and mother's graves today."
"I've been concerned about showing his mother's grave since I told him the other day." Lawful Eye sighed. "He was so sad."
"True," Warden Rehab said. "But it's only right that we should show him. Besides, if his mother was buried next to his wife like you stated, then he should know how to find it."
"Well, let's worry about that later. But right now..." Spike took a waffle coated with syrup and whipped cream, shoved it into his mouth, and began eating while talking with his mouthful. "...let's just enjoy our waffles."
Twilight playfully rolled her eyes, and shook her head, before everyone began to eat their waffle breakfast.
"Well, wasn't it wonderful what Rarity told us last night about Sapphire Shores coming to Ponyville to see Apple Bloom?" Twilight asked.
Lock Down nodded. "It sure was. Your friend, Rainbow Dash told Fluttershy and I about it too."
Warden Rehab took the rolled-up morning newspaper with his magic to read. "It's a noble thing for a celebrity to put time aside for fans in need."
"True. It was so kind of her to do that." Twilight rubbed her chin, like if she just had an idea. "Though I wonder."
Spike tilted his head. "Wonder what, Twilight?"
"Well, if she's so nice to do that," Twilight said. "Maybe we could ask her one other favor."
Lawful Eye turned to Twilight. "What do you mean?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "Well, I just came up with an idea. And since only we and our friends know about Sapphire Shores coming to Ponyville, it just might work."
"I'm afraid only us knowing about this is not the case anymore." Everyone turned to Warden Rehab, as he levitated the latest morning paper, and placed it in front of the others for them to see. "Take a look at this."
Everyone looked at the front page of the latest newspaper, and soon their eyes widened with a mix of shock and disbelief at what was on it. The front page had a picture of Sapphire Shores with the large letters "PONY OF POP COMING TO PONYVILLE" written above it.
"How in Equestria did this get out?" Twilight asked.
"It appears an undercover newspaper reporter snuck his way backstage in Manehattan and caught wind of Sapphire's conversation with your friends."
Twilight groaned. "So now the whole town knows about her coming tomorrow, and she told us specially to keep it a secret. Now it's going to be very difficult."
"What's going to be very difficult?" Lock Down asked.
Spike tilted his head. "And what is this idea you just had, Twilight?"
"Well, call it fate, or whatever you want to call it," Twilight said. "But Sapphire Shores might be the best hope we have of getting Abacus accepted back into society again."
Everyone looked at Twilight with a puzzled look at the idea she had in mind. Lawful Eye then mildly smiled, for she had a good feeling what Twilight was thinking, and felt it could help.
Chapter 13: "The Savage From Within." (Violence Warning)
Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo were walking down the road with Abacus to Ponyville's local cemetery. It was nearly noon, and they were taking Abacus there to meet up with the others as planned. They were going to visit Abacus's mother and wife's graves for a private remembrance service, and followed by a quiet afternoon picnic afterwards. They soon arrived at the entrance to the cemetery, but saw that Twilight and the others had not arrived yet.
"It looks like we're early." Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy. "Thanks for letting me know about it last night when I came by, Fluttershy." She turned to Abacus. "And it's awesome to see you again too Abacus."
Abacus said nothing, he just closed his eyes and dropped his head sadly. Rainbow Dash then turned to Scootaloo. "So how about you, squirt? Did you get home safely last night?"
Scootaloo paused briefly before giving Rainbow Dash an answer. "Yeah. I made it. I made it just fine."
Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie. "Well, I'll take Abacus to the grave site. Would you three mind staying here waiting for the others to get here?"
"Sure, Flutters." Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo came over to Fluttershy. "Um... Fluttershy? Do you mind if I come along? I wanna visit my mom's grave while we have some time to spare."
"Um... okay." Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. "Well, we'll see you when everypony else gets here." She turned to Abacus. "Let's go, Abacus."
Fluttershy and Scootaloo walked away with Abacus as they entered into the local cemetery. Rainbow Dash raised a suspicious eyebrow at Scootaloo as she walked away with Fluttershy and Abacus. She thought silently to herself for a few minutes. She was thinking about how secretive and somewhat shifty Scootaloo was being yesterday, and today. Rainbow Dash could clearly tell that there was something she was not telling her, or anyone.
"What's up, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I don't know, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie. "Have you noticed anything strange about Scootaloo lately?"
Pinkie Pie thought for a moment. "Um, her black eye has gone?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No."
"She's not riding her scooter as often?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"No." Rainbow Dash said.
Pinkie Pie scratched her head. "Oh, I got it! She's got a new hairstyle."
Rainbow Dash growled with annoyance. "No! I mean she's been acting secretive and shifty."
"Oh, yeah," Pinkie Pie said. "I noticed that. Why didn't you say that in the first place?"
"But I..." Rainbow Dash paused, realizing that she was not going to win against Pinkie Pie's naive randomness. "Oh, never mind that. I think there's something troubling her that she's not telling anypony. She's obviously hiding something. I wonder if her dad, Storm Dasher knows about it."
Pinkie Pie suddenly turned her gaze slightly past Rainbow Dash as if she was looking at something behind her. "Well, why don't you ask Storm Dasher yourself?"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "I guess you're right. Later on today, I'll go have a word with her dad."
"Nonono! I mean right now." Pinkie Pie pointed in the direction behind Rainbow Dash. "He's coming this way right behind you."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Huh?"
Rainbow Dash turned around where Pinkie Pie was pointing. She saw that Pinkie Pie was not lying. Storm Dasher was coming up towards them with Coco-Nut. They were also accompanied by two other pegasi. A light amber colored stallion, and a very pale mulberry colored mare in police uniforms. Storm Dasher quickly came towards Rainbow Dash, with a very angry look on his face. He looked furious.
"Hey, Storm Da-"
"Where's Scootaloo?!" Storm Dasher came up to Rainbow Dash with an angry tone. "Coco-Nut saw her with you earlier! And she was with Abacus again! Where is she?!"
"Storm Dasher," Rainbow Dash said. "I-"
Storm Dasher moved forward until he was uncomfortably close to Dash’s face, and looked her right in the eyes, his own filled with fury. "Look here! I don't want to hear any excuses. My daughter could be in real trouble, and that's not mentioning the trouble she's in for running away to Manehattan with you. Just tell me where my daughter is now!"
Rainbow Dash's first instinct was to tell Storm Dasher that she went into the cemetery with Abacus and Fluttershy, for an enraged father was worse than an Ursa Major, a Manticore, a Hydra, and a full grown dragon combined. She could also tell from the smell of his breath that Storm Dasher had been drinking. But then she remembered how the others told her about the incident with Coco-Nut's daughter, Buttercup in the park, and then the incident at Fluttershy's cottage Coco-Nut and Storm Dasher soon after. Seeing as she knew Scootaloo was not in any danger, and that she would put Abacus in danger with the two stallions, as well as the two police ponies with them if she did tell them, she refused to tell.
"I can't do that." Rainbow Dash said.
Storm Dasher practically snarled at Rainbow Dash. "What?!"
Rainbow Dash stepped back to a comfortable distance between her and Storm Dasher. "We're not telling you anything until you've chillaxed."
The stallion police pony turned and looked at the entrance of the local cemetery. "Let's go search the cemetery. They must've gone in there."
Storm Dasher turned, and began to move towards the entrance along with Coco-Nut and the two police ponies. Rainbow Dash jumped over in front of them holding her hoof out to halt them. "No, wait! Alright, Scootaloo is here, and she's with Abacus, but she's not in any danger."
"Step aside, ma'am," The mare police pony said. "Or you'll be arrested for obstructing police."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No. Please listen. You're making a big mista-" The police mare quickly clipped a handcuff on her reached-out hoof. "Hey!"
"You're under arrest." The mare police pony said.
Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie! Run and get the others!"
"Right." Pinkie Pie said.
Pinkie Pie began to run for it down the road to find and get the others before it was too late.
"Hey, stop right there!" The mare police pony said.
The stallion police pony stopped his partner. "Let her go. We have to get Storm Dasher's daughter out of danger from the suspect."
At that same time, Fluttershy and Scootaloo were walking with Abacus in the deep parts of the cemetery. They soon came over to two solitary headstones with one being more recent than the other, and the other being slightly bigger and a bit more decorative than the first.
"So are those the gravestones of Abacus's wife and his mother, Fluttershy?" Scootaloo asked.
Fluttershy nodded. "Mm-hm. That's right. So where is your mother's grave? Didn't you want to see it?"
Scootaloo scratched her head. "Oh yeah, well...it was somewhere back the other way. But I'll go there later."
Abacus looked at the two headstones, and came towards them. He stopped, sat down and looked at each of them. The headstone that was more recent was white colored, decorated with small Swallow style carvings, and had the following written on it.
HERE LIES Arithma Where there is great love there are always miracles. Dearly loved by her beloved friends and son.
The second headstone next to it was slightly bigger, had very decorative horseshoe and lily style carvings, was greenish-orange colored, and had the following written on it.
HERE LIES Tiger Lily So loved and greatly missed by all her friends, and all in town who knew her. Sadly taken from us by the evil monster she called her husband.
Abacus's eyes welled up at when he saw the words on his wife's headstone. He closed his eyes, dropped his head, and began to quietly sob. Fluttershy watched as Scootaloo came over to Abacus, stood next to him, and began to pat him with her hoof to comfit him.
"I know, Abacus," Scootaloo said. "My mom's gone too. She died a year or so ago. I know how you feel."
Abacus slowly looked up and turned to Scootaloo with his teary eyes. Then he slowly reached out and grabbed Scootaloo with his hooves, and pulled her into a hug. Scootaloo was surprised at first, but knowing how depressed the poor stallion was, she put her non-mushy stuff image aside for this once, and returned the hug. Abacus cried quietly, and hugged the little filly.
Fluttershy watched on as the two embraced, until she heard something behind her. She turned her head behind her to see Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and the two pegasi police ponies coming over. To Fluttershy's shock, she saw Rainbow Dash with them. She was in cuffs on her front hoofs, her wings being restrained by rope to prevent her from flying, and her neck lassoed being held by the police mare.
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said.
Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy. I tried to stop them."
Storm Dasher's eyes widened with shock when he noticed Abacus and Scootaloo hugging, then his face went into a rage. "Scootaloo!!"
Scootaloo opened her eyes with shock at the sight of her father. "Dad!"
Abacus turned around, and his teary eyes came in contact with Storm Dasher's enraged eyes. "You..." His wings flared as he charged at Abacus. Before Abacus could react, Storm Dasher threw a punch, landing squarely on the side of his muzzle, knocking him over to the side, and landing hard on the ground.
"Hey, you leave him alone, you jerk!" Rainbow said as she was being held back by the police mare.
Coco-Nut and the police stallion joined in with Storm Dasher towards Abacus.
"No." Fluttershy tried to intervene. "Stop it! He wasn't doing anything-"
"Get out of our way!" Coco-Nut shoved Fluttershy away, making her fall to the ground. "You are not going to protect that murderous scumbag again!"
Scootaloo tried to run to Storm Dasher. "Dad, stop!"
The police stallion stood-by and watched, holding Scootaloo back as the two stallions continued their advance on Abacus who was struggling to get up off the ground. The others were shocked and angered by how the police stallion and mare were just letting all this happen.
"I warned you what would happen if you ever went near my daughter again!" Storm Dasher said.
"You're not just a murderer, and a foal hurter, but you're a pedophile too!" Coco-Nut threw a punch at Abacus, making him cry in pain. "That's for hurting my daughter, you scum!"
Abacus struggled to get up again, and sobbed as he noticed blood dripping from his snout. The punches they threw at him were hard, like as though they had not held back at all. His whole body began to tremble, and his breathing became fast and heavy. When he got to his feet, he stood there with his head down and his eyes closed as he continued to shudder. Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut stood in front of him ready to gang up on him.
"How does it feel to feel the pain that you caused to our kids?!" Coco-Nut asked.
Storm Dasher glared. "You're going to be put back behind bars where you belong, Abacus Scum!"
Abacus's eyes snapped open, glaring at the two stallions. His eyes were full of pure, unstable, psychotic rage. Boiling over, and dripping out of his shaking body like the streaming blood from his snout. His teeth bared like a savage, predatory animal ready to go for the throat, making the two stallions flinch briefly. There was nobody to hold Abacus back now, for they had pushed him over the edge. Like a volcano about to explode, the eruption was imminent. And finally the explosion happened. With a loud, fearsome, enraged scream, Abacus threw a punch with such devastating force, hitting the face of Storm Dasher, and knocking him to the ground. They had unleashed the violent savage from within Abacus, and there was no stopping him. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo could do nothing but watch.
"Leave him alone!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "He's never done anything like this before, and we don't know if he can stop!"
Coco-Nut and the police stallion joined in. Abacus bucked Coco-Nut hard in the face before he could make any aggressive contact with him. The stallion police pony grabbed him from behind in a hold, and held on as Abacus struggled violently. Abacus managed to overpower the police stallion by throwing him over himself. The police stallion was hurled on to one of the two headstones, with such great force it broke it in two, and briefly knocked the police stallion out. Abacus was fighting for his life.
"Let me go!" Rainbow Dash struggled as the police mare held her down, and adjusted the handcuffs to restrain her hooves behind her back so that she could join the brawl.
Storm Dasher got up, tackled Abacus to the ground, and the two began to wrestle.
"Dad, stop!" Scootaloo rushed over to stop her father from fighting Abacus. "Leave him alone!"
Scootaloo tried to shove her father off of Abacus, only for Storm Dasher to push her away hard, and continued to wrestle Abacus. He got up on top of Abacus, briefly pinned him down, and he threw another punch into the side of his face. Storm Dasher's punch had great force, but Abacus shook it off like it had no effect, and only enraged him even further. The adrenaline going through Abacus's body was so great that he was able to overpower Storm Dasher on top of him by returning a punch into Storm Dasher's face. Right when Abacus got on top of Storm Dasher, the police mare grabbed him from behind by trying a choke hold. She could not get a proper grip. Abacus then bit down on the police mare's foreleg hard, causing her great pain. When the police mare let go, Abacus walloped her in the face.
Storm Dasher grabbed Abacus, and tried to wrestle him again. In a fit of pure, unstable, psychotic rage, Abacus bit Storm Dasher on his right neck-shoulder area. He was biting down as hard as he could like a savage dog. Storm Dasher screamed in agonizing pain as he felt Abacus's teeth beginning to saw through his flesh. Coco-Nut grabbed Abacus in an attempt to get him off Storm Dasher. Only to find out that it was in vain. The police mare got up, drew her police baton, and walloped Abacus in the face. The strike resulted in stunning him for a brief moment, and caused Abacus to let go. Storm Dasher cried and groaned in pain, as he grabbed the area where Abacus had bit him. Blood was leaking out of a chunk of him that was nearly bitten off, and was still attached by only some remaining flesh.
Coco-Nut came to Storm Dasher. "Are you alright?"
The police stallion came to, and got up from the ground. He drew his police baton, and rush to aid his partner against Abacus. They began beating him with their batons, as Abacus fought for his life, while still in his violent, psychotic rage. Right when they were about to put handcuffs on Abacus, the two police ponies were each suddenly knocked away by something that hit them like a battering ram to the ground. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo were relieved as it turned out that the things that knocked the two police ponies away from Abacus was Warden Rehab and Lock Down. They soon saw that Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Lawful Eye were not far behind rushing towards the area. Twilight freed Rainbow Dash from the cuffs and restraints with her magic.
"About time you showed up!" Rainbow Dash said.
Rainbow Dash rushed over to help Applejack, Fluttershy, and Lawful Eye settle a psychotically enraged Abacus down. Warden Rehab and Lock Down stood in front of the police ponies, blocking their path to prevent them from going near Abacus. The others watched in shock as Abacus was struggling, thrashing, and screaming while being held down by the four ponies, who were trying their best to calm him down. They had never seen Abacus like this before, and it was hard for each of them to believe.
"Stop, Abi! Stop! It's alright, Abi! It's over now! It's over!" Lawful Eye struggled with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack to hold Abacus down. They suddenly felt that he was close to overpowering the four of them. "ABI, STOP!!!!!!!"
Abacus suddenly stopped at the sound of Lawful Eye's scream. Right after, his face and eyes started to change back, like he was coming out of a trance. He began to breathe heavily, sobbing, and whimpering in both distress and pain as he was still being held down by the four mares. They slowly released him, as they sighed in relief.
"Oh, Abi," Lawful Eye said. "Thank Celestia you're back to normal."
Abacus looked around himself, looking at the aftermath of what happened. Scootaloo's injured father sitting on the ground in pain covering his severe bite wound to his neck-shoulder area, the injuries to Coco-Nut and the two police ponies, and the broken headstone. Seeing all of these, Abacus began to realize just what he had done, and he continued to whimper and cry.
Fluttershy noticed the broken headstone, and gasped. "Oh, no!"
The others looked, and realized, to their shock, that it was Tiger Lily's headstone that had been broken during the fight.
Lawful Eye turned to the others. "We have to get Abacus to the hospital. He's hurt."
"Not so fast," The light amber colored police stallion said. "That pony is under arrest for four counts of unprovoked aggravated assault and battery, including two police officers!"
The very pale mulberry colored police mare took over. "As well as one count of grievous bodily harm, resisting arrest, and destruction of property."
Fluttershy snarled at the two police ponies. "You liars!"
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "That's not how it happened, and you both know it, you pigs!"
The police mare glared at Rainbow Dash. "Mind your tongue! And don't forget, you're under arrest too."
"It's our word against yours," The police stallion said. "Now we're taking both of you into custody."
Before the two police ponies could try and advance, Warden Rehab and Lock Down stepped in front of the police ponies, blocking their way.
"Oh, no you don't!" Warden Rehab glared. "We don't know who you two cops are, but you're not arresting anypony."
"Officer Rogue Order." The police mare said.
"And Officer Strike Law of Cloudsdale police." The police stallion glared. "And if you don't move out of the way, you two stallions will be arrested too. Now stand aside!"
Lock Down snorted angrily, and stamped his front hoof hard on the ground. A few cracks formed where he stomped, and made the police ponies step back defensively. "Don't you make threats at us! We are members of the Equestrian Royal Guard."
"Abacus Sum needs medical attention." Warden Rehab said.
Storm Dasher groaned in pain as he got up with Coco-Nut's help, and still covering his bite wound with his hoof. "And what about me?! That psycho nearly bit a piece off of me! I'm the one who needs hospital attention."
"SHUT UP!!" Storm Dasher looked in the direction to where the loud, angry voice came from, which turned out to be Scootaloo. She glared at her father. "You deserved it!"
Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on Scootaloo. "Come on, little buddy. We'll have to sort this out later."
Twilight nodded. "That's right. Right now, we have to get to the hospital."
Coco-Nut aided Storm Dasher as they walked to their way to the local hospital. Lots of blood was running down the front of him, as Storm Dasher put pressure on it to stop it from bleeding so badly, making a painful groan with each step.
Coco-Nut looked at Abacus with a very hateful glare. "What Tiger Lily's headstone said was right: You are a monster."
Lawful Eye scowled darkly at the the two stallions. "I'll deal with you two later."
Abacus continued to cry as Coco-Nut and Storm Dasher walked away. Lawful Eye and Applejack helped Abacus up and began to escort him to the local hospital.
"Let's get ya ta the hospital, sugarcube. Lickety split." Applejack said.
Applejack and Lawful Eye walked with Abacus to take him to get treatment at the local hospital with the others walking with them. Warden Rehab and Lock Down turned to Officers Law and Order.
"You two better come with us to the hospital too," Lock Down said. "You need some treatment as well."
Warden Rehab pointed at the police ponies threateningly. "But don't either one of you try anything funny. And don't even think about arresting Abacus or any of Twilight's friends, or I promise you both that will find yourselves meeting the hard end of a wall. Do I make myself clear?"
Officers Law and Order growled and nodded. "...Crystal."
"Good." Warden Rehab directed the police ponies in the same direction as the others. "Now come with us."
The waiting room of Ponyville hospital was very quiet with nobody but the hospital staff occasionally checking the waiting room. Nurse Snowheart was the registered nurse on duty at the waiting room's front desk. No new patients had came in that day as of yet, and she was reading a magazine to pass the time. The quiet peace was cut short when the hospital doors opened, and a large group of ponies entered the waiting room. The first group was the Main Six, and Lawful Eye helping a crying, beaten-up Abacus inside, and bringing him towards the front desk.
"Excuse me, nurse," Twilight said. "We need some help."
Nurse Snowheart looked at Abacus with a serious look for a few moments. Then to everyone's shock, she went back to reading her magazine like if she did not care.
Rarity scowled. "Can't you see the poor darling's in pain?!"
The doors opened again to reveal a beaten-up Coco-Nut and Storm Dasher, with Coco-Nut aiding Storm Dasher as he was covering his bleeding bite wound with his hoof. Nurse Snowheart rushed over from her desk to help the two stallions who had just entered. She did not even pay any attention to Abacus, which made the others look on in disgusted disbelief.
"What happened?" Nurse Snowheart asked.
Coco-Nut sat Storm Dasher down on the seats. "That scum, Abacus, attacked us."
"He bit me!" Storm Dasher groaned in pain. "And nearly tore a part of me off!"
Nurse Snowheart came closer to Storm Dasher. "Let's take a look at that."
Storm Dasher slowly uncovered the bite wound, making painful suppressed screams until he completely uncovered it. Nurse Snowheart looked at the bite to see that it was quite a severe bite. There was a big chunk still attached by only some remaining flesh, and opened to a big, blood filled hole where the chunk came from.
"Right." Nurse Snowheart put a cloth medical pad on the bite wound. "Put pressure back on it. I'll get a doctor straight away."
Nurse Snowheart walked towards the doors that lead into the hospital when Twilight halted her. "Hey, wait. What about Abacus? He needs to see a doctor too."
Nurse Snowheart stopped and turned to Twilight with an uncaring look. "I'm sorry. But we're full and closed."
Twilight and the others opened their mouths with disgusted, outraged disbelief as Nurse Snowheart walked out of the waiting room, and into the hospital to go and get a doctor to treat Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut. Lawful Eye and Fluttershy sat down with Abacus, comforting him as he sat there crying from the pain he was in.
"It's okay, Abacus," Fluttershy said. "They'll get a doctor to see you soon. Don't worry."
Coco-Nut turned to Fluttershy from the row of seats on the other side of the waiting room. "You heard what the nurse said: they're closed and they're full."
Just suddenly, the doors into the hospital opened, and Nurse Snowheart, along with a solid black and white spotted unicorn stallion, with a black and white patterned mane and tail, blue eyes, and wore a white doctor's coat with a stethoscope round his neck came entering into the waiting room. Some of the others turned and looked at the stallion, and realized that it was none other than Dr Stallion.
Dr Stallion noticed Abacus. "Abacus!" He came over to him. "Bloody Tartarus! What happened to you?"
"To be blunt, he got beat-up." Scootaloo said.
Dr Stallion looked at him. "Who did this to you?"
Scootaloo angrily pointed at her father, Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut. "They did! And with two police pigs!" She then notice Warden Rehab and Lock Down enter the hospital waiting with Officers Law and Order. "And there they are! They're the pigs who were involved!"
"You watch your mouth, young filly!" Storm Dasher said.
Nurse Snowheart came over and directed Dr Stallion to Storm Dasher. "Your patient is Storm Dasher there. He has a severe bite wound on his right side neck-shoulder region, as well as other injuries."
"Right then, Snowheart." Dr Stallion started to walk over to Storm Dasher. "I wish I was treating you, Abacus, but I guess another doctor will be taking care of you soon."
"But Nurse Snowheart said the hospital is full and closed." Pinkie Pie said.
Dr Stallion suddenly stopped halfway between the distance between Abacus and Storm Dasher, and turned his head at Nurse Snowheart. "Oh, did she now?" He kept giving Nurse Snowheart that disapproved look for he knew what she said to them was not true in the slightest. Dr Stallion then began looking back and forth at Abacus who was crying in pain, and at Storm Dasher a couple of times, before turning around and going to Abacus's side. "Come on, Abacus. Let's get you fixed up, mate."
Nurse Snowheart dropped her jaw with disbelief. "But Doctor, you're assigned patient is Storm Dasher. You can't switch patients. It's against regulation."
"Yeah!" Storm Dasher groaned in pain. "I'm your patient! I'm the one who needs treatment, not that scum!"
Dr Stallion glanced seriously at Nurse Snowheart. "Well, I can afford to bend the rules this once. Besides..." He turned his attention to Storm Dasher with a mildly disgusted look. "I think Storm Dasher's a tough enough mongrel to wait for another few or so minutes to see another doctor."
Storm Dasher growled and glared at Dr Stallion, as Fluttershy helped Abacus up from the waiting room seats, and began to escort him into the hospital.
"Thank you, Dr Stallion," Fluttershy said. "Thank you so much."
Dr Stallion smiled and nodded. "No worries!" He glanced at Nurse Snowheart. "I'll have a word with you later."
As the doors into the hospital closed behind Dr Stallion, Fluttershy, and Abacus, Nurse Snowheart glared at the fact Abacus was getting treatment first. She was obviously another of many ponies in Ponyville who believed Abacus was a murderer. Lawful Eye glared at Nurse Snowheart, thinking of how much she wanted to give that nurse a well-deserved punch in the face for her treatment towards Abacus. Storm Dasher sat there groaning in pain, as he held his bite wound with his hoof.
"Why is that scum getting treated, while I'm here in real great pain?" Storm Dasher asked.
Scootaloo could no longer stand her father's fuss, and spoke out. "Because you don't deserve to be treated first!"
Storm Dasher turned to Scootaloo. "That's enough out of you! I told you Abacus was dangerous! I told you to stay away from him, but you deliberately disobeyed me! And I'm very angry with you for running away from home to Manehattan with Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and thought inside her head. "So that's why Scootaloo was so dead set against talking about it."
Scootaloo talks right back at Storm Dasher unintimidated with a scowl. "And I'm glad I did. And I'd do it again! Abacus isn't dangerous!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash said. "You jerks provoked him, and pushed him over the edge!"
Storm Dasher scowled at Rainbow Dash. "You stay out of it! I'm sick of you and the rest of you telling lies about Abacus Scum to Scootaloo! And I see where she's got her recent rebellious behaviour from!"
Scootaloo yelled at Storm Dasher. "His name is Abacus Sum! And don't you yell at Rainbow Dash! She, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle are more family to me than you ever are!"
"How dare you say that to me!"
"Well somepony has to! Abacus is a saint compared to you!"
"You wretched child! That sick pony was trying to romantically advance on you when I came and saved you!"
"He was not! He was hugging me because he was sad about his mother and wife! It was just a hug!"
"You don't know how pedophiles operate!"
"And YOU don't know a thing about Abacus! Dr Stallion was right: you ARE a mongrel!"
"You hold your tongue!"
"I will not hold my tongue! Hold yours!!"
"Mark my words, young filly, you are in so much trouble when I get you home!"
"I don't care! The only scum I see is my uncle Flare Shaker's pig friends, and ponies in town like you and Coco-Nut who hate Abacus!"
"How dare you! Your mother would be ashamed of you if she was alive to see it!"
"Wrong! Mom would be ashamed of you! In fact, she'd hate you! You are not half of what she was, you brainless, deadbeat boozer!!"
Storm Dasher finally snapped. In a blind rage, he slapped Scootaloo hard across her face. The force of it knocked her to the side, and caused her to hit her face on the hard vinyl waiting room floor.
"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash rushed over to Scootaloo's aid. "You alright, squirt?"
Scootaloo slowly began to pick herself up. Drops of blood began to leak out from her nose onto the waiting room floor, as she had hit it when she fell from being struck by her father. Storm Dasher's angry face quickly turned into fear, shock, and regret as he saw the tears in Scootaloo's eyes, as well as the blood dripping out of her nose. He did not intend to hurt her that badly, but the damage was done. To Storm Dasher, hurting his little girl to the point of making her bleed was a terrible blow inside him.
Scootaloo got up and looked at her father, Storm Dasher with her teary eyes glaring at him with a mix of heartbreak, and anger. "I...I hate you!" She screamed at Storm Dasher. "I HATE YOU!!!"
Scootaloo began to ran away past Warden Rehab, Lock Down, and Officers Law and Order, and out the waiting room door in tears.
"No! Scootaloo, wait!" Storm Dasher tried to get up and go after her, but winced and groaned loudly at the pain from the bite wound, and sat back down. The emotional pain he felt was greater to him than even the bite wound. He looked at the others with a scowl of anger and heartbreak. "You...You and Abacus turned her against me!"
"You did that yourself!" Twilight said.
"Yeah! We're not the ones who struck Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash went towards the waiting room door, before stopping for a moment in front of Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut, giving them an angry glare. "Ponies like you two deserve to be in one place. In jail."
Rainbow Dash went out of the waiting room, exiting the hospital to look for Scootaloo. Storm Dasher sat there, waiting impatiently for another doctor to see him, while also conflicted with guilt that he had struck his only daughter. He then looked down at the floor where Scootaloo fell, and noticed the small drops of her blood from her nose. He looked with a disbelieving look in his eyes. A look that one would say "What have I done?" when showing it. The doors into the hospital suddenly opened once again, and a light amber colored unicorn stallion with a brown mane, and tail came entering into the waiting room. He wore a white doctor's coat with a stethoscope round his neck, and wore glasses. He looked at Storm Dasher, and then turned to Nurse Snowheart.
"Who's my next patient, Snowheart?"
Nurse Snowheart directed him to Storm Dasher. "Storm Dasher, Dr Horse. The patient has a severe bite wound on his right side neck-shoulder region, as well as other injuries."
Dr Horse nodded. "Right. Let's get him in." He looked at Coco-Nut. "And you better come in too, sir. I'll treat you as well."
Nurse Snowheart and Coco-Nut helped Storm Dasher up, and escorted him inside while following Dr Horse. As the doors closed behind them, the feeling of anger and disgust at Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut came upon Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Spike, and the Main Six for what they had done. But for some reason, at the same time, the smallest feeling of pity came to them towards Storm Dasher. It did not really change Lawful Eye's look on them, and planned to have them both brought to justice for what they did to Abacus. The Main Six even wondered if Scootaloo was okay, and if Rainbow Dash could comfit her. For now, they could just sit and wait for news on Abacus.
Rainbow Dash went looking around the area close by to the hospital, wondering if Scootaloo was okay. She looked around the area, but Scootaloo was nowhere in sight. Rainbow Dash was amazed of how fast and far Scootaloo had ran off to not be anyway in sight. She hoovered around in the air, thinking of where Scootaloo could have gone.
"Um... Fluttershy? Do you mind if I come along? I wanna visit my mom's grave while we have some time to spare."
Rainbow Dash's eyebrows rose slightly as she recalled Scootaloo's words earlier. She put a hoof under her chin thinking it over, until she nodded to herself, considering to act on a hunch.
"Good place to start, if any." Rainbow Dash said to herself.
The breeze gently blew, making the blades of grass, wild flowers, and the leaves on the few trees wave softly in the grounds of the local cemetery. Despite it being an eerie place to bury ponies, the cemetery was beautiful. The atmosphere was very quiet, peaceful, and serene with nobody around. Save but a certain little, orange colored pegasus filly, with a purple mane and tail. Scootaloo was sitting in front of a headstone with her head down crying. She had a bruise on the left side of her face, blood all on her nose that made trails down her face, and her front hooves had some blood from her wiping her face of the blood. Tears were shedding down her face, as the sound of hooves landing on the grass was heard from behind her, accompanied by a shadow of a familiar pony standing behind her.
"There you are, squirt." Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo did not turn around, instead just kept on crying. Rainbow Dash sat down next to her, and looked at the headstone in front of them. The headstone was painted a pinkish color, decorated with two purplish-blue lightning bolts carvings on top of the writing, and had the following written on it.
HERE LIES Firefly Find the fire to warm your heart, and like a bird, spread your wings and fly. Dearly loved and missed by her beloved family.
"I knew your mom from the weather control group," Rainbow Dash said. "She and your dad were the weather control managers before she died, and I took over when your dad quit."
Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash, showing the bruise, and blood on her face, with her eyes red and wet from crying.
Rainbow Dash blinked. "You alright? You hit your face on the floor quite hard."
Scootaloo sniffled. "I'm fine, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "Come on, little buddy. Let Dr Stallion back at the hospital check you out."
Scootaloo raised her voice, making Rainbow Dash jump slightly. "I said I'm fine!" She briefly began to run.
"Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo stopped at Rainbow Dash calling her, and turned to face her soon after. She sniffled. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. And I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth about me."
"I don't understand." Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to Scootaloo, and sat down in front of her. "You told me your dad said it was okay for you to go to Manehattan, and then you said you made it home. You not only lied to me, but you lied to everypony. Why would you do that?"
Scootaloo sniffled and sighed, for she knew there was no point in hiding it any longer. "Alright. On Wednesday when you told me about Apple Bloom giving the tickets to us, I asked my dad about it later on like you told me." She looked down sadly. "But he said no...and you wouldn't believe the reason for it."
Scootaloo came in through the front door of her home, with a joyful smile on her face. She walked down the hallway, and came into the living room where her father, Storm Dasher was sitting on the sofa.
"Hey, Dad," Scootaloo said. "I've got something to tell you."
Storm Dasher looked at Scootaloo. "What's that?"
"Rainbow Dash told me Apple Bloom has got sick with chickenpox, and she's unable to go to the Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan this weekend. So Apple Bloom has offered the tickets to me and Rainbow Dash to go instead." Scootaloo smiled. "Can I go, Dad?"
Scootaloo continued smiling, waiting for her father to say the answer she expected to hear. There was a pause, and then Storm Dasher answered.
"Definitely not." Storm Dasher said.
Scootaloo's smile faded at her father's answer. "Aw, please, Dad? The hotel and everything is free, and part of the prize. And the concert is going to be the best, and I'll get to meet Sapphire Shores in person backstage, and everything."
Storm Dasher shook his head. "My answer is still no."
"But why?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm not going to the big city alone, I'd be going with Rainbow Dash and Rarity."
Storm Dasher glared. "And that's precisely why I don't want you going!"
Scootaloo's eyes widened. "What? But, Dad..."
"No," Storm Dasher said. "You are not going to Manehattan with Rainbow Dash! And that is final!"
Scootaloo's eyes widened with shock. Then she turned around and walked out of the living room sadly.
That evening, Scootaloo entered the kitchen where her father, Storm Dasher was preparing dinner. She decided to take another shot at asking her father to go to the Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Scootaloo hoped that he might change his mind this time, for it was her final chance before Rainbow Dash and Rarity leave on the train the next morning.
"Hey, Dad?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah?"
"Please, Dad? Please let me go to Manehattan with Rainbow Dash and Rarity."
Storm Dasher sighed with annoyance. "No, Scootaloo. I've already told you yesterday. No!"
"But why?" Scootaloo asked.
Storm Dasher turned to face Scootaloo. "Because I don't want you anywhere near Rainbow Dash, Rarity, or any of their friends. That's why."
Scootaloo's face was of confusion. "What do you have against Rainbow Dash?"
"She, and her friends are protecting that predator, Abacus. And are telling lies about him to do it. And I don't want you anywhere near that scum."
Scootaloo was very disappointed and angered at how her father was refusing for her to go to Manehattan with Rainbow Dash for that reason. But more so with what he was saying about them, and about Abacus. She could not stand for what her father was saying any longer, and decided to make a stand against her father.
"You're a complete jerk, you know that?" Scootaloo said.
Storm Dasher slowly turned around and looked at Scootaloo with a look of shock and anger. "What did you just say, young lady?"
Scootaloo glared at her father. "I don't believe what you're saying about Rainbow Dash! I can't believe what you're saying about Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Twilight, and Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Apple Bloom, and Detective Lawful Eye! And I especially, especially can't believe what you're saying about Abacus! It makes me feel sick!"
"That pony is dangerous, and he hit you!"
"He is NOT dangerous! And he DID NOT hit me!"
"They must have told you to say that, didn't they?!"
"They didn't tell me to say anything! I'm telling this myself! It's the truth! Get it into your brainless skull!"
"Rainbow Dash and her friends have had a bad influence on you! You're beginning to sound just like them!"
"I hope so." Scootaloo glared with tears forming in her eyes. "Because they proved to me that Abacus is a poor innocent guy who wouldn't hurt a fly! And watching, and hearing you and everypony in town rip Abacus to shreds is like looking in the mirror!! I don't ever want to go back there! You're the bad influence, you jerk!!"
Storm Dasher growled and yelled at Scootaloo louder. "Alright, that's it! Get to your room! And you're going straight to bed without dinner tonight!!"
"FINE!" Scootaloo shouted. "I lost my appetite anyway...just by the sight of you!"
"And just for that, you're grounded! I don't want you hanging around with Rainbow Dash, or any of her friends again!" Storm Dasher pointed angrily out of the kitchen. "Now get to your room!! And don't come out until you've learnt how to behave!!"
Scootaloo angrily ran out of the kitchen, into the hallway, up the stairs, and ran into her bedroom. With great emphasis, she slammed the bedroom door hard behind her with all her anger that echoed throughout the whole house.
Scootaloo sniffled and cried as she finished recalling the argument she had with her father on the Wednesday, and Thursday night to Rainbow Dash.
"After my dad went to sleep that night, I took a sleeping bag from my wardrobe, packed for the trip as well as other things, and I ran away from home by climbing out the window quietly. I spent the rest of the night at the Crusaders' clubhouse." Scootaloo took a deep breath. "And the next morning, I lied and told you my dad said yes when I met you and Rarity at the station. And after me and Rarity went our separate ways back home when we got back to Ponyville, I detoured back to the clubhouse, and stayed their again. I did not want to go home to my dad, knowing my dad was going to be so mad at me."
"Well, he would be mad at you for running away like that." Rainbow Dash said.
"You don't know half of it!" Scootaloo sobbed, and sniffled before calming down. "When Mom was alive, she use to say something to me to always keep my spirits up when I was down. She said: "Find the fire to warm your heart, and like a bird, spread your wings and fly." It was engraved on the board of my scooter. And whenever I ride it, it's like she's riding with me. It's so precious to me."
Rainbow Dash blinked. She remembered the time Scootaloo ran off in the middle of the night when they went camping to the Winsome Falls because she thought the Headless Horse was chasing her. She and her scooter ended up falling into a flowing river. Rainbow Dash remembered how Scootaloo really wanted to get it back, despite the idea of simply getting a new one. She and Scootaloo luckily managed to find it amazingly still in one piece after looking down the riverbank little past the same waterfall at the bottom.
"So that's why you begged for me to try and help get your scooter back when you lost it," Rainbow Dash said. "I didn't realize it was that important to you, kiddo."
Scootaloo sniffled and nodded. "Mm-hmm. It was the last birthday gift she gave me before she died. We had my family over to celebrate my birthday that day."
Scootaloo sat at the table, as her mother, Firefly and her father, Storm Dasher brought out a long box wrapped in blue wrapping paper, and tied with a light purplish-blue ribbon. Firefly was a hot pink pegasus, with a purplish-blue colored mane and tail, her cutie mark was of two purplish-blue lightning bolts, and she resembled Rainbow Dash in looks. She and Storm Dasher placed the wrapped gift on the table in front of Scootaloo.
"This last gift is from your father and I, Scootaloo." Firefly said.
Scootaloo began to open the gift. She tore the wrapping paper off until it revealed a box. She opened the box from the top and looked inside. Scootaloo's face instantly lit up like a little sun, for the box contained a blue colored scooter, with red wheels and handlebars. "Wow! Is this..."
Storm Dasher and Firefly nodded. "It's the scooter you've always wanted."
Firefly smiled. "And look on the board part. There's something special written on it."
"Really?" Scootaloo took out the scooter, and looked at the board part, where there was the phrase "Find the fire to warm your heart, and like a bird, spread your wings and fly." engraved on it. She looked up at her parents with a big smile, and gave them a heartfelt hug. "Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Dad! I love it! You're the best mom and dad in the world!"
"Now whenever you ride on that scooter, you'll always have that special phrase to motivate you, and remind you on how truly special you really are." Firefly said.
Storm Dasher kissed Scootaloo on the head. "Happy birthday, Scootaloo."
Firefly released the hug. "Now how about we have cake?"
"Sure, honey." Storm Dasher followed his wife into the kitchen. "Let's bring the cake out."
Scootaloo jumped with joy. "Yay! Cake!"
Firefly and Storm Dasher went into the kitchen to get the birthday cake. Scootaloo sat there waiting at the table in the living room with the rest of her relatives. Moments later, Firefly and Storm Dasher came walking out of the kitchen and into the living room towards the table. Holding up with one of their hooves on each side in between them was the birthday cake. A white-and-pink vanilla cake with a decorated picture of Scootaloo on the scooter drawn on the top of it.
"Ready, everypony? One, two, three!" Firefly counted to give the signal to the other family members at the party to start singing.
🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵 🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵 🎵Happy Birthday dear Scootaloo🎵 🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵
The relatives clapped and cheered as Firefly and Storm Dasher placed the cake on the table in front of Scootaloo. Scootaloo smiled with joy. "This is the best birthday ever!"
"Make a wish, and blow out the candles, sweetie." Firefly said.
Scootaloo took a deep breath, and blew out every one of the burning candles. Her whole family clapped and cheered as the smoke from the candles rose into the air.
Storm Dasher picked up the cake knife, and turned to Firefly. "You want to cut the cake, honey?"
Storm Dasher tilted his head with a worried look. He noticed that Firefly suddenly put a hoof on her forehead. She also began groaning faintly, as if she looked like she had a bad headache.
"What's wrong, honey?" Storm Dasher asked. "Are you alright?"
Firefly suddenly fainted. The whole family watched as Firefly fell unconscious on the living room floor. It was like time slowed down as she continued to fall, until her body landed on the living room floor with a thud that echoed around the whole room. There was a very brief silence, then everyone gasped with horror. Storm Dasher quickly kneeled down and shook Firefly.
"Firefly!" Storm Dasher said.
"Mom!" Scootaloo got out of her seat, and rushed to Firefly. She began to frantically shake her mother in a vain effort to wake her. "Mommy, wake up! Please wake up! Mommy! MOMMY!!"
That very late night, Storm Dasher and Scootaloo, as well as the rest of the family members sat in the ward's waiting room of Ponyville hospital waiting on news on Firefly's condition. Just then, Dr Stallion came out into the waiting room, and approached Storm Dasher and Scootaloo. They got up from the seats as the solid black unicorn stopped in front of them.
“Dr Stallion,” Storm Dasher said. "How is she?"
Scootaloo looked at Dr Stallion with her teary eyes. "Is mom going to be okay?"
Dr Stallion sighed, and then looked at them with a sad look. "Well...her CT scan showed she had a ruptured intracranial aneurysm."
Storm Dasher's eyes widened. "What? An aneurysm? How could she have got it? She was so fit and healthy when she had her check up with you two weeks ago. How could you have missed it?"
"Well, that's the problem, mate," Dr Stallion said. "Aneurysms are very tricky. They cause no symptoms, and go unnoticed or undetected most of the time. Nopony knows if they even have one until it's...well... too late."
"Dr Stallion?" Scootaloo asked. "What's an aneurysm?"
Dr Stallion turned to Scootaloo. "Well, it's a bulging, weak area in the wall of an artery that supplies blood to the brain."
Scootaloo tilted her head. "Artery?"
Dr Stallion nodded. "Yes. You know how the water goes in your house in the pipes and comes out of your taps? Well, arteries are like the plumbing inside your body that flows your blood. And aneurysms are like a broken water pipe. They can rupture, releasing blood inside a pony's head, and they can cause something called a stroke. That's why your mum fainted and fell down."
"But she will get better, won't she?" Scootaloo asked. "Can you save her, Dr Stallion?"
A look of sad sympathy found a place on Dr Stallion’s face as he leaned down to be on Scootaloo's level, putting a gentle, caring hoof under her chin. "I'm so sorry, possum. I really wish I could, but there's nothing I can do." He looked at Storm Dasher. "We just did some tests on her for any brain activity. ...there's no trace of any. The machines are the only things keeping her heart beating."
Storm Dasher sadly winced, and dropped his head. "...no."
Scootaloo's eyes slowly welled up. "So...you're saying my mom is...is..."
Dr Stallion sighed and nodded. He then focus on both Scootaloo and Storm Dasher. "We're about to turn her life support off. You can see her to say your final goodbyes if you wish."
Scootaloo rushed passed Dr Stallion, and ran towards the doors that entered into the hospital.
"Scootaloo, wait!" Storm Dasher said.
Scootaloo did not stop, or even look back as she went through the doors, and entered the hospital. With tears in her eyes, she rushed passed hospital staff down the corridors, until she found the room where her mother, Firefly was in, skidding to a halt, wide eyed at the sight before her. Her mother was hooked up to many machines to keep her brain-dead heart beating.
"Mom!"
Scootaloo rushed towards the side of her mother's bed as the nurses turned to her. Dr Stallion and Storm Dasher entered into the room, and walked over to Scootaloo's side. Storm Dasher patted Firefly's head, crying as he leaned down, and kissed her head. "Good bye, my darling wife. I love you."
Storm Dasher gently pulled Scootaloo away from Firefly, and stopped, standing right next to Dr Stallion. He looked at Dr Stallion with tears in his eyes, and slowly nodded. Dr Stallion nodded back, as it indicated that the father gave permission to shut off his wife's life support. He came to Firefly's side, and with his magic began to disconnect the machines keeping her brain-dead body functioning. When Dr Stallion disconnected the ventilator making Firefly breathe, Scootaloo began to cry at what was going on in front of her. There was a few beeps of the heart monitor for a few moments, slowing until the heart monitor beeping turned into a monotonous droning, as it indicated her heartbeat was gone.
"No! Mom!" Scootaloo escaped from her father's grasp, and rushed to the lifeless body of her mother. She began shaking Firefly as she cried. "Mommy, you can't die! It's my birthday! Please come back, mommy! Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!!!"
Scootaloo began to cry and sob uncontrollably, as Dr Stallion and the nurses dropped their heads sadly, with tears in their eyes. Storm Dasher looked away, sobbing and crying, but struggling to not break down like his daughter. One of the nurses gently pulled Scootaloo away, while a second nurse pulled up the hospital bed sheets over Firefly's lifeless body.
Scootaloo nearly broke down into tears as she finished recalling the death of her mother to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash's heart sank, for she knew that losing a mother, or any loved one on their birthday was the most horrible thing to happen for any child. She outstretched her wing, and wrapped it around the crying filly into a hug to comfit her.
"There, there, little buddy." Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash, and tried to pull herself together to continue talking. "It's not fair! Why did Mom have to die? And why on my birthday? Of all the days, why did she choose that day?"
"I don't know, kiddo," Rainbow Dash said. "Life can be really uncool and unfair sometimes. She didn't choose to die on your birthday specifically, it was just pure, bad, dumb luck that it happened on that day. In fact, no pony chooses when they die, it just happens, and nopony knows when they are going to. That's just the way it is."
Scootaloo sniffled. "You want to know what I wished when I blew out the candles on my birthday cake? I wished for every other birthday would be as awesome as that one, with Mom and Dad together with me in everyone of them. But it didn't come true. My birthday two months ago was only good because of you and the others. In fact, I never told you this, but one of the reasons why I wanted you to take me under your wing, teach me everything you know, and become like my big sister...is because...because you look exactly like my mom."
Rainbow Dash was very touched at what Scootaloo said. She remembered how many of the other pegasi on the weather patrol always commented on how she and Firefly looked so alike. They even thought a couple of times that they were both related. On a few occasions, they joked that if either of them dyed their coat, mane and tail the same colors as the other, they could be twins, despite there was over a decade age gap between them.
"My dad and I were so close, he was so nice, and spent time with me. I use to tell him that he was the best dad in the whole world." Scootaloo sniffled. "But after Mom died, Dad changed. He felt unable to work, and we only survived because of some paying benefit thing ponies get every week when they're jobless. He became unsocial, distant, and sometimes short-tempered, especially when he took up drinking. Many ponies told him to get counselling, but he refuses, and denies it to everypony who mentioned it. I even spend the days away from home either with you and the others, or with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to give him space. When he found out about me and Apple Bloom's first encounter with Abacus, he became so much worse. I even told him the truth that Abacus didn't hit me, but he never listened to me." She winced sadly and angrily. "This is the first time he has ever hit me. Sometimes I wish it was Dad that died instead of Mom."
"Don't you think that's a bit harsh there, squirt?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Scootaloo sobbed. "No! When I said I hated him, I really meant it. He's turned into this jerk of a stallion I live with that I can't even relate to anymore. I hate him!"
Rainbow Dash patted Scootaloo's head. "Look, little buddy. I know your dad has become a real jerk lately, and I don't like him for that too. But you know something? I kinda feel sorry for him. Loosing your mom probably hit him real hard, maybe even more so than you, and he takes his sadness and frustration out on others as a result. And those boozes he drinks wouldn't make him any better. It's pretty lousy that your dad changed from being such an awesome guy, to a complete jerk. But I think he really loves you. Plus, I could see from his reaction after hitting you, that he didn't mean it. Maybe when he spends time in jail for assaulting Abacus with Coco-Nut, he might learn from his mistakes, and it might end up being a wake-up call for him."
"But what about Abacus?" Scootaloo asked. "Those pig friends of my uncle Flare Shaker are going to put that poor guy back to jail."
"Don't worry. There's no way Detective Lawful Eye is ever going to let that happen." Rainbow Dash smiled at Scootaloo. "Now how about we go back to the hospital, and let Dr Stallion take a look at you, and perhaps get you cleaned up?"
Scootaloo sniffled and nodded. "Okay...but I don't want to see my dad."
"Sure, kiddo," Rainbow Dash said. "I don't blame you for not wanting to see him right now. And you can stay with me at my place for a couple of days till things cool off."
Scootaloo sniffled, and smiled, before hugging Rainbow Dash tightly. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash."
As Scootaloo snuggled on Rainbow Dash, she had accidentally smeared some of the blood from her nose on the front of her. Rainbow Dash noticed the smeared blood from the little filly on the front of her. She was about to scold at Scootaloo for it, but stopped since she had been through enough already. It was fine. She knew she could just wash it off easily. No harm done, except to her pride. Right now, this filly needed support from her idol and friend, instead of a scolding for unintentionally staining her. That was the last thing she needed.
Rainbow Dash gently released the hug, and put a caring hoof around Scootaloo's shoulders. "Come on, squirt. Let's go."
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo began to walk through the cemetery to head to the hospital. They reached the exit of the cemetery moments later, when Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash.
Lawful Eye sat in the waiting room of the hospital with Warden Rehab, Lock Down, and most of the Main Six, as they waited to hear news on Abacus's condition. She sat there, worried about if Abacus was going to be okay, and about the police officers who tried to arrest him. It had been forty minutes since Abacus was brought in for treatment from his confrontation with Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and the two Cloudsdale police ponies, Strike Law and Rogue Order. The two officers had been taken in to be examined for their injuries twenty minutes prior. Twilight and the others noticed that Lawful Eye was worried.
"Don't worry, Lawful Eye," Twilight said. "Abacus is going to be fine. And I think Rainbow Dash will bring Scootaloo back here."
Lawful Eye turned to Twilight. "It's not just that, Twilight. It's the fact that those two police ponies are trying to arrest him, and his provoked, violent episode he unleashed towards them."
Spike nodded. "You said it. He went completely nuts. I've never seen anypony go berserk before.
"And boy howdy," Applejack said. "He sure put up a real good fight ta do all that ta them. He nearly overpowered ya, me, Rainbow Dash, an' Fluttershy at the same time."
Lawful Eye sighed. "I was afraid this would happen. Considering it wasn't the first time."
Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "It wasn't?"
"When was the last time, darling?" Rarity asked.
Lawful Eye looked up and adjusted her glasses. "Very well. Twilight knows some of it, but I think I should tell you the whole story. On the day of the royal guard raid of Hoofstrong, Abacus badly injured one of Armstrong's guards. His rage injured the guard to the point of him almost dying of blood-loss."
Rarity blinked. "How did he do it? What happened?"
"Well, I didn't witness it, but the agent, and the guard giving information on Hoofstrong Prison told me what happened. It was on the day of the royal guard raid. About a few minutes before they stormed the prison, Armstrong's guards were beating him up. Then after that, they restrained him on a device they use to rape or torture them." Lawful Eye paused and sighed. "As that was happening, one guard tried to make Abacus perform oral on him like numerous times before...only that time, it was a mistake. Before the guard could ejaculate, that was when Abacus lost it. He went berserk, and bit down on the guard's penis as hard as he could...until he...well, ripped it right off."
The look of shock appeared on the faces of the others, along with a shocked gasp.
"Oh my goodness!" Rarity said.
Spike winced. "Ow! That's got to hurt. Now I know what you meant when you said "You don't want to know" to me." He put one of his hands in between his legs. "And now I wish I didn't know."
Lock Down blinked with suprise. "So the stallion that bit off the guard's dick. That was him?"
Twilight turned to Lock Down. "That's right. You were part of the raid. So you didn't know or see it?"
"No," Lock Down said. "I was in another area of the prison at that time. I only heard from the other royal guards talking about a prisoner nearly killing one of Armstrong's guards by biting off his dick, but I didn't suspect it was Abacus of all ponies."
Warden Rehab sighed. "It's a good thing the guard who was giving information reported that the guard was raping and torturing Abacus, and that it was self-defense. Otherwise Abacus wouldn't have been let off."
"Well, ah say it serves that varmint right!" Applejack said.
"At any rate, right after Abacus injured the guard, he came out of his rage. They say it was like he was coming out of a trance when he saw the guard crying in pain, and bleeding heavily on the floor." Lawful Eye winced. "And then...that was when Armstrong sicced his dog on him." She groaned angrily. "He tried to kill Abacus by having his dog go for his throat, and he was restrained, unable to defend himself."
Twilight put a hoof over her mouth in shock. "Oh my god!"
Lawful Eye groaned. "If Abacus hadn't have moved his face in the way, that dog would've tore his throat out. And right when the dog attacked him, the royal guards raided the prison. They were able to raid the prison because the agent, and the guard giving information disabled the prison security doors without Armstrong and his other guards knowing. The royal guards killed the dog, and arrested Armstrong and all the staff. Abacus and the injured guard were taken to hospital in the nearby town of Carriageston. Because of prison policies, Abacus wasn't allow to be in hospital for long. They had him in long enough for brief surgery on his face, because the dog pierced an artery. But they couldn't fix the side of his face properly with the limited time they had. I'll need to find a surgeon to help fix his face to make it close to normal as possible again soon. As for the guard, they were able to surgically reattach his penis, but because it was erected when ripped off him, it suffered damages to some nerves, which it would never function the same way again."
"Well, good for him," Spike said. "That guard deserved what he got."
Lawful Eye glanced at Spike. "I could not agree more with you, Spike."
Just then, they heard the door of the hospital open, and turned to see Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo coming into the waiting room. Scootaloo was still quietly sniffling, as they came over to the others, and they noticed that Rainbow Dash had some blood smeared on the front of her.
Rainbow Dash nodded. "She's a bit banged and shaken-up, but she's okay."
The doors into hospital suddenly opened, and Dr Stallion and Fluttershy came walking out. They came towards the others, as Lawful Eye got up and came towards the both of them.
"How is he, Doctor?" Lawful Eye asked.
Dr Stallion cleared his throat. "Well, Abacus has suffered a minor nasal bone fracture, and many contusions and other injuries, but luckily it's nothing too serious, and has no broken bones. He's going to be okay."
Lawful Eye quietly sighed and smile with relief. "Oh thank goodness."
"Though, I'd like for Abacus to stay in hospital overnight for observation." Dr Stallion motioned everyone to the doors. "You and the others can go see him now."
"Thank you, Doctor." Lawful Eye said.
"Hey, Doc?" Rainbow Dash came over to Dr Stallion with Scootaloo. "Do you think you could check Scootaloo out? She got hurt earlier."
"Sure, Rainbow Dash." Dr Stallion turned to Scootaloo. "Oh, and on the side note, Dr Horse told me that your dad has gone into surgery, and is going to be in hospital till Thursday, but he's going to be okay."
Scootaloo humphed angrily. "I don't care. I don't care about what happens to my dad anymore."
Dr Stallion was shocked at what Scootaloo had just said. Rainbow Dash moved closer to him to speak. "You see, Doc. It was her dad who did that to her. He hit her earlier."
Dr Stallion sighed with a mix of concern and mild anger before muttering under his breath, "That poor bloody mongrel." He turned to Scootaloo. "Come on, possum. Let's get you looked at, and get you both cleaned up."
Dr Stallion turned to the others. "You may go in, and see Abacus. Fluttershy will take you to his room."
Lawful Eye, Lock Down, Warden Rehab, Twilight, and her friends walked into the hospital with Fluttershy to see Abacus, while Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash followed Dr Stallion inside to the examination rooms to get examined and cleaned up. They followed Fluttershy down the corridors of Ponyville's local hospital as other doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff passed by tending to other patients, until Fluttershy stopped at one room, and motioned the others to it.
"Here we are." Fluttershy said.
The others entered into the room and see Abacus in bed with bandages on some parts of him, and was sobbing quietly. He looked up at the others with his teary eyes, and Lawful Eye came rushing up passed the others to Abacus's side.
"Abi!" Lawful Eye embraced the sobbing, traumatized stallion, as he began to cry on her shoulder. "Shh... There, there, Abi. You're safe now. You're going to be okay. I'll make sure those ponies get brought to justice for doing this to you."
"The only pony who's going to be brought to justice is him."
Everyone turned around to see Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order standing in the doorway, unaware that the police ponies had finished being treated, and had followed them to Abacus's room. They began to enter into the room towards Abacus, as Abacus began to whimper, and back against the bed in fear. Warden Rehab and Lock Down stood in the police ponies path, blocking their way to Abacus.
"Out of the way!" Officer Strike Law said.
Warden Rehab glared. "You're in no position to giving us orders, officers."
Officer Rogue Order's lip curled with anger. "The only reason you two ponies aren't in cuffs right now is because of your royal guard status! Now stand aside!"
"No!" Lock Down glared at the two police ponies with gritted teeth like a guard dog ready to attack. "I maybe a teddy bear, but I can turn grizzly if angered enough!"
Officer Strike Law pointed at Abacus with his hoof. "That pony! That scum...had unprovokedly assaulted six ponies, including two children, and two police officers, caused grievous bodily harm to Storm Dasher, resisted arrest, and destroyed a headstone in the cemetery."
Fluttershy scowled at the two police ponies. "That's a lie! You, Storm Dasher, and Coco-Nut assaulted him first! Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and I saw you do it!"
Officer Rogue Order glanced at Fluttershy. "We are high ranking officers in Cloudsdale's police force. It's our word against yours!"
"We don't care how high of rank y'all say ya are," Applejack said. "Y'all ain't gonna arrest Abacus as long as we're here!"
"Oh, we're not going to arrest him." Officer Strike Law lifted his hoof and pointed. "She is."
Everyone turned their heads in the direction of where the police pegasus pony was pointing. To their shock, the pony he was pointing at was none other than Lawful Eye herself. Lawful Eye's disbelieving look turned into a glare through her glasses.
"What did you say?!" Lawful Eye asked.
"You are going to arrest him on all those charges we've laid." Officer Strike Law said.
Lawful Eye glared. "No, I won't!"
Officer Strike Law glared back with a look of confidence. "Yes, you will."
Rarity came forward. "Why should Detective Lawful Eye ever do such a thing as that?!"
"Yeah! Why should she?!" Pinkie Pie blew a raspberry at the police ponies.
"Because our chief of police back in Cloudsdale has connections with the federal courts, and will contact them at any request of high rank officers like us." Officer Strike Law turned to Lawful Eye. "If you don't arrest him, we will get a federal court order for us to arrest him, and nopony, not even you, or even those royal guards can prevent us from doing it."
"And we'll make sure he'll receive the maximum penalty for each of the offences we'll charge him with in court," Officer Rogue Order said. "He's going to wish he was never born."
Lawful Eye scowled at Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order darkly. "You can't do that!"
"Yes, we can." Officer Rogue Order glared with confidence. "Either you arrest him, or we will. It's your choice, Detective. But either way, that scum is going back behind bars...where he belongs."
Officers Strike Law smirked with confidence. "So much for freedom. Prison scum like him have no purpose, and are nothing, but a waste of space in society."
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you both apart!" Lock Down got enraged and was about to thrash the two police ponies for how they were being so openly cruel and merciless, and the things they were each saying. He knew these two were scum, for he knew scum when he saw it.
"Hold it, Lock Down!"
They all turned with shock for the voice came from Lawful Eye. Lawful Eye was both angered and conflicted, for she was in a bad situation where Abacus was going to go to prison either if she arrested him, or if she refused, the two police ponies would arrest him under a federal court order, and would possibly get maximum punishment for each of the offences. Though she did also think they could be bluffing, she did not want to really risk it.
"So what's it going to be, Detective?" Officer Strike Law asked.
Lawful Eye groaned in anger, and glanced at Abacus. She looked back at the officers, and then turned around to face Abacus. Lawful Eye walked towards him and stopped in front of him with a look of confliction on what she was about to do.
"Abacus Sum." Lawful Eye paused, hesitatingly knowing what she was going to say and do to her dear friend would be something she will heavily regret. "I have no choice...but to place you under arrest on all charges."
The look of shock and disbelief came on the faces of the others. Abacus's teary eyes widened with a look of horrible shock, heartbreak, and betrayal. Lawful Eye's face dropped with a great hurt swelling inside her for what she did, while the two police ponies mildly smirked with triumph. Lawful Eye groaned with guilt and anger as she turned around to face the Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order.
Lawful Eye glared at Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order. "It's done. You've got what you wanted. I ask for him to remain in my custody for the time being until such time he will face the charges in court."
"You're in no position to bargain, Detective," Officer Rogue Order said. "But this request, we will grant."
"But we're only granting it so that you could spend these last few days or so before you say goodbye for a very long time." Officer Strike Law followed Officer Rogue Order out towards the door. "And if he leaves, you can kiss your detective badge and your career goodbye."
Officer Rogue Order turned to Lawful Eye one last time. "Enjoy your last moments with that prison scum while you've got it."
The two police ponies walked out the door of Abacus's room, leaving everyone in the room with restrained, and quiet rage. They walked down the halls of the hospital, giving each other a "works-every-time" look of triumph on their faces when they were out of view from anyone. Back in the room, Lawful Eye turned to Abacus.
"Abi?" Lawful Eye said. "It's-"
"Alright everypony." Nurse Redheart stood at the entrance of Abacus's room. "Visiting hours are over. The...patient needs his rest."
Lawful Eye turned back to Abacus, and patted his head gently. "We'll talk to you about this tomorrow, Abi. Okay? See you tomorrow."
Everyone began to leave the room, with Nurse Redheart closing the door, leaving Abacus alone in his hospital room. At that same time, Dr Stallion, came over towards the others with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo following behind him.
"Just a bruise, and a sore nose for a few days or so." Rainbow Dash put an outstretched wing around Scootaloo. "But you'll be fine, won't you, little buddy?"
Scootaloo nodded. "Mm-hmm."
Lawful Eye came over to Dr Stallion. "Doctor? Would it be alright if Lock Down and Warden Rehab stay here to guard, and protect Abacus?"
"Sure thing, Lawful Eye," Dr Stallion said. "And you can take him home sometime tomorrow arvo."
Lawful Eye nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."
Twilight turned to the others. "Come on, everypony. Let's go."
Everyone, but Lock Down and Warden Rehab walked away down the hospital corridors, as Dr Stallion watched on. Dr Stallion turned to Lock Down and Warden Rehab. "If you two blokes need anything, just ask the staff."
Warden Rehab smiled. "Thank you, Doctor."
Dr Stallion turned to Nurse Redheart. "You make sure Abacus Sum gets the best treatment, Redheart."
"Doctor?" Nurse Redheart asked. "Why are you helping him? That pony inside that room is a murderer."
Dr Stallion gave Nurse Redheart a serious look. "To a doctor, a patient is a patient. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys, or even murderers. The same goes to nurses too, Redheart. A doctor and nurse's job is to heal and care for, not to judge and sentence. Now you help take care of Abacus."
Nurse Redheart sighed. "Yes, Doctor."
At the same time, the Main Six, Lawful Eye, Scootaloo, and Spike began walking outside away from the hospital. The others explained to Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo on what happened while in Abacus's room, while they were getting treated and cleaned up, and how Lawful Eye placed Abacus under arrest.
"You did what?!" Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo said.
"You arrested Abacus?" Rainbow Dash growled. "How can you arrest him on those outragous charges?!"
"I had no choice! If I didn't, those officers were going to get a federal court order that not even I could stop. At least this way I can buy some time to find something that can clear his name." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "Besides, I didn't really arrest him, I only made those officers think I did."
Everyone turned to face Lawful Eye. "Huh?"
"If I placed somepony under arrest, I would've put hoofcuffs on one of his hooves, and to the rail of the bed," Lawful Eye said. "It's the procedure of law enforcement. Besides, I didn't really believe they were going to get a federal court order anyway. So I said that I placed Abacus under arrest to get those two police officers away from him, at least long enough to figure something out."
Spike blinked. "So basically you just lied about arresting him to those cops?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "Basically."
"It's a relief that Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order were too over-confident to notice it," Twilight said. "But Lawful Eye, you realize that if they're not bluffing, they could go through with their threats. You're also putting your career, and even your own freedom on the line."
Applejack nodded. "Yeah. Ya could loose yer job as a detective an' a lawyer, or worse, go ta jail too yerself. Ya know that, don't ya?"
Lawful Eye sighed. "I know the risks. But if it means keeping Abacus safe, then so be it. I would risk it all for my dear friend."
The others were touched by how the detective was going to risk everything on keeping Abacus safe. A couple of them began to tear up on it, Rarity was the most teared up, and began to be dramatic.
"Oh, this is so touching!" Rarity blew into a handkerchief. "A lady risking it all for one poor soul, in the most selfless, sacrificing thing anypony's ever seen! Such a thing is worthy of a romance story!"
Everyone in the group stared at Rarity's melodramaticism of the situation with awkwardness. Rarity noticed it, and began to look confused at the others awkwardness. "What? I mean it. Wouldn't you agree with me?"
The others began to turn back to a different subject to avoid anymore awkwardness.
"Anyway, I'll talk to Abacus about it tomorrow like I promised him," Lawful Eye said. "As for the officers, and Coco-Nut and Storm Dasher, they'll have to be dealt with later."
Twilight blinked. "That reminds me, we have to talk about Sapphire Shores coming tomorrow."
Spike tilted his head. "You mean the plan is still on, even after all that's happened with Abacus?"
Twilight nodded. "Of course it is."
"Wait, what plan?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Pinkie Pie gasped. "Are you saying you don't know?"
"Of course they don't, Pinkie," Twilight said. "We haven't told her, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, or even you about it yet."
Pinkie Pie blinked. "Oh, yeah." She giggled. "Silly me."
Fluttershy tilted her head. "Told us what?"
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "And what does Abacus have anything to do with Sapphire Shores?"
Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Fluttershy. "Our plan is to have Abacus get into a photograph with Sapphire Shores for the local newspaper. If it works, our troubles with Abacus in town might be over."
"But, Twilight," Applejack said. "Everypony in town knows about Sapphire Shores comin' ta see Apple Bloom tomorrow, an' it's gonna be mighty hard ta do that."
"I know, Applejack." Twilight smiled and winked. "That's why Lawful Eye and I have come up with another plan for that too."
Rainbow Dash tilted her head. "So what's the plan?"
Twilight cleared her throat, and began to quietly explain her plan to the others.
Sugarcube Corner was beginning to be crowded with many ponies. Virtually all of the townsfolk were gathering at the bakery. A large cart was stationed outside full of Sapphire Shores's "I tune in to you" records, posters of Sapphire Shores were decorated inside and on the outside, and a large banner that read "Welcome Sapphire Shores" was positioned outside the bakery. Pinkie Pie and Cup Cake were greeting the ponies coming in.
"Welcome." Pinkie Pie said.
The two ponies Pinkie Pie greeted were Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. They nodded to Pinkie Pie as they entered into the bakery, before talking to each other. "Oh, I'm so glad the word spread around town and in the newspaper to confirm that Sapphire Shores is coming to meet the filly, Apple Bloom here. Aren't you, Bon Bon?"
Bon Bon nodded. "You bet, Lyra. I can't wait for Sapphire Shores to get here, and get her autograph."
Pinkie Pie continued to welcome many ponies who came into the bakery with her trademark smile.
"Absolutely not."
Pinkie Pie turned her head in the direction of where Cup Cake was talking. There, Pinkie Pie saw that Cup Cake was talking to a certain pale magenta colored earth filly that was covered in little red spots, and was preventing her from going into the bakery.
"You are not setting a hoof inside, young lady." Cup Cake said.
"But Mrs Cake..." Diamond Tiara said.
Cup Cake shook her head. "No. You have chickenpox, and we don't want to start a epidemic in our bakery, especially since we have other foals coming, and we don't want our twins to get sick either."
Diamond Tiara scowled. "But that's not fair! Apple Bloom has chickenpox, and she's going to be coming here."
"That's because she's not infectious anymore, while you still are." Cup Cake turned her head. "Besides, you're still banned from entering here."
Diamond Tiara began to beg. "Oh, please, Mrs Cake? Please let me-"
"Diamond Tiara?"
Diamond Tiara turned her head to the sound of a stallion's voice saying her name behind her, and froze for she knew it was the voice of her father, Filthy Rich. "Daddy."
"What are you doing here?" Filthy Rich asked. "You're sick and you should be in bed."
"But daddy..." Diamond Tiara started, but Filthy Rich held up a hoof to silence her.
"You know you're suppose to be in bed resting. Other children are going to be here too. And think of Mr and Mrs Cakes babies. You don't want them to get sick, do you? I promise that I'll get Sapphire Shores's autograph for you." Filthy Rich pointed in a direction. "Now go home and get back in bed this instant, young lady."
Diamond Tiara pouted sadly and angrily, and walked away back towards home. Filthy Rich cleared his throat and straightened his tie, as he turned to Cup Cake.
"I apologize for the trouble my daughter might have caused you, Mrs Cake."
"That's okay, dearie." Cup Cake said.
Carrot Cake walked over towards Filthy Rich with a tray of treats balanced on top of his head. "Well, hello there, Mr Filthy-" He stopped when Filthy Rich looked chidingly at him to immediately corrected himself. "Sorry. I mean, Mr. Rich." He lowered the tray of treats towards Filthy Rich. "Care for some treats? Complimentary to this event."
Filthy Rich smiled. "Don't mind if I do."
Pinkie Pie watched around her with Cup Cake at all the ponies that came to Sugarcube Corner with a smile. Another pony, a pale light grayish magenta colored unicorn came up to Pinkie Pie and Cup Cake.
"Hi there, Amethyst Star," Pinkie Pie said. "Welcome to the party."
"Hello, Pinkie." Amethyst Star stopped in front of Pinkie Pie and Cup Cake. "Is it true Sapphire Shores is really coming to see Apple Bloom here at Sugarcube Corner?"
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yes, indeedy! Applejack got a letter from her yesterday telling her that she's going to meet Apple Bloom here at Sugarcube Corner at one o'clock precisely."
"Amazing!" Amethyst Star looked at the clock on the bakery wall. "It's 10:15 now, so that makes three hours."
"Two hours, 44 minutes, 51 seconds, and 45.25 microseconds." Pinkie Pie stopped due to the awkward looks Cup Cake and Amethyst Star were giving her, and grinned awkwardly. "...to be precise."
Carrot Cake came over to where Amethyst Star, Pinkie Pie, and Cup Cake were standing. "But until they arrive, do help yourself to complimentary snacks and treats, and enjoy the activities while you wait."
Pinkie Pie bounced with excitement. "Ooh-ooh-ooh! You'll just love the activities here! We got muffins, cupcakes, ice-cream, punch, candy, pies, Pin the Tail on the Pony, dancing, singing, KARAOKE, IT'S GONNA BE SO MUCH FUN!!" Pinkie Pie paused suddenly as if she forgot something. "With Sapphire Shores, the pony of pop coming as well too, of course."
Amethyst Star nodded with an awkward look at Pinkie Pie's randomness. "Oookay... I think I'll go have some punch, I know the wait for Sapphire Shores is going to be worth it."
Amethyst Star walked away to a punch bowl on a nearby table, leaving Pinkie Pie and the Cakes alone with each other. Pinkie Pie, Cup Cake, and Carrot Cake then leaned in and deviously winked at each other at what they said to everyone who came. As the Cakes walked off to tend to other ponies at the party event, Pinkie Pie chuckled quietly to herself while holding up and looking at the latest local newspaper that had the front page title "BIG PARTY AT LOCAL BAKERY FOR PONY OF POP" written on it.
At the same time at the Golden Oak Library, Twilight Sparkle, Lawful Eye, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike were looking at the very same newspaper, with Rainbow Dash and Spike laughing.
"I can't believe that everypony in town bought it!" Spike said.
Rainbow Dash laughed with impressiveness. "I know. It's too rich. Spreading a false rumor around town about Sapphire Shores coming to meet Apple Bloom at Sugarcube Corner, and creating a false letter to prove it to give to the local newspaper." She laughed as she turned to Twilight. "You maybe an egghead, Twilight. But you do come up with the best ideas."
Twilight smiled with pride. "Yes. I do, don't I? And while Pinkie Pie and the Cakes are keeping the town busy, we can fulfil our plan."
"It's a great relief that Mr and Mrs Cake can be trusted enough to go with this plan," Fluttershy said. "They were so understanding."
"And the best part about this plan, is that it's so simple, it even scares me." Spike suddenly began to scratch his head. "Although... There's something I should say."
Twilight tilted her head. "What's that, Spike?"
Spike thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not against the plan or anything, but wouldn't it have been better if we contacted Princess Celestia to help us with Abacus instead?"
Twilight sighed. "Spike. Princess Celestia has more important things to do, than to be called upon for just one pony. Besides, this hasn't become a princess matter as of yet. But if it fails, and if those police ponies from Cloudsdale do go through with their threats to get a federal court order, then we might consider it. Asking Princess Celestia for help is to be only used as a last resort after all. That's why I didn't call upon her first."
"Okay," Spike said doubtfully. "But I still think we should've asked for her help right off the bat. I don't think she would've mind. You are her most faithful student after all."
Lawful Eye placed a hoof on Spike's shoulder. "Twilight is right, Spike. Sometimes the best way to handle a situation is to handle it yourself."
Spike muttered. "But what if that situation suddenly became something beyond even your control?"
Suddenly, the sound of the library's front door slamming open caught the attention of everyone inside the library. The others turned around to find Lock Down standing at the opened entrance of the library's front door. He was panting out of breath, and from how very worried he looked, the others knew something was wrong.
"Everypony," Lock Down said. "You've got to come to the hospital. Now!"
Lawful Eye's eyes widen. "Oh, no. Are those police ponies back?"
Lock Down shook his head. "No! It's Abacus! He's missing!"
Everyone gasped with horror. "WHAT?!"
Warden Rehab was standing outside the hospital with Dr Stallion, waiting for Lock Down to bring the others back with him. They stood there worrying, for every minute they had to wait that ticked by, their situation could get worse. They turned their heads as they heard the loud sound of hooves of Lock Down, Lawful Eye, and Twilight Sparkle galloping towards them, with Spike riding on Twilight's back, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying behind them.
"Rehab! Dr Stallion!" Lock Down said.
"Lock Down, you got the others. Good." Warden Rehab turned to the others. "I'm glad you're all here."
Twilight caught her breath. "Lock Down told us that Abacus is missing from the hospital."
Warden Rehab nodded. "Right. About an hour ago, somepony threw a large rock and broke the window of Abacus's room."
Dr Stallion came forward. "I was in the room at the time examining Abacus, when I heard the window break behind me. I looked out the broken window, and saw a small group of kids running off round the corner of the hospital."
"Kids?" Lawful Eye asked. "What did they look like?"
"Sorry, but I don't know. They moved too quick for me to get a good look at them, but I could tell they were kids from the size of them." Dr Stallion showed the stone the children threw, along with a piece of folded paper by levitating it with his magic. "Those bloody little buggers attached this to the stone they threw."
Lawful Eye took the paper and unfolded it for everyone to see. The note had the words "Get rid of Abacus Scum, the murderer!" formed from words or letters cut randomly from magazines and newspapers on it.
Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth. "Oh my gosh!"
"About half an hour later after that incident, we checked on him, and found that Abacus was gone. He escaped through the broken window." Warden Rehab levitated another note. "And he left this."
Lawful Eye took the note Abacus wrote and read it out loud. "I have nothing to loose, nothing to live for, and everything and everypony I once had in my life is gone. So I can't live my life with the pain anymore. I'm not going back to prison to suffer again, so I must end it."
Everyone's eyes widened at the words of Abacus's note, with a look of shock and worry appearing on their faces.
Fluttershy gasped with shock. "Oh, no!"
"This is not good," Spike said. "You realise what this means?"
"Oh, no! Abi! He's going to take his own life!" Lawful Eye turned to the others. "Come on! We've got to find him, before it's too late!"
"Lock Down and I will search Froggy Bottom Bogg." Warden Rehab said.
Rainbow Dash hovered closer. "Me and Fluttershy will search the Everfree Forest."
"I'll even ask my animal friends for help." Fluttershy said.
Twilight turned to Lawful Eye. "Lawful Eye. You come with Spike and I to search White Tail Woods."
Dr Stallion cleared his throat. "I wish I could help search for him too, but I can't due to other patients. But I'll be standing by here in case you need me, mates."
"Sure, thanks...mate." Spike said.
Twilight nodded as she looked at the others. "Alright guys! Let's spread out and try to find him!"
Everyone went in different directions to begin their search for the stallion who had gone suicidal, hoping that they could find him before it was too late.
At the same time, Rarity, and Scootaloo were at Sweet Apple Acres just finishing up with helping Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith get prepared for when Sapphire Shores arrives. She was due at anytime from then. Applejack was with the family dog, Winona, and was tying her to her dog house. Winona moaned sadly as Applejack finished tying her collar to a length of rope to the dog house. Applejack patted Winona's head.
"Ah'm sorry, Winona," Applejack said. "But Abacus is gonna be comin' over, an' ah don't want ya scaring him again. Ya need ta stay here, an' be a good dog. Ah'll let ya off later."
Applejack turned around, and went inside into the barn house, leaving Winona alone. Inside, Rarity was in the living room just finishing giving Big Mac a little make over. She had combed his mane neatly, and his ploughing yoke was replaced for a black and white tuxedo top with a black bow tie, and a red apple shaped bow tie pin in the center.
"There we are." Rarity levitated a mirror in front of Big Mac. "Oh, Big Mac. You look so dashing."
Big Mac smiled and nodded proudly. "Eeyup."
Scootaloo began to giggle. "He looks like he's ready for going out with somepony on a date than seeing a pop star."
Applejack turned to Rarity. "Yeah. Don't ya think it's a bit much, Rarity? Ah mean it's not like Sapphire Shores wants everypony ta look like they're goin' ta the Equestria Music Awards or somethin'."
"Oh, Applejack. You don't know how much first impressions are so important to a famous Equestrian star such as her." Rarity levitated a hair brush, and different make-ups with her magic. "And now that I've finished with Big Mac, you're next, dear."
Applejack stepped back, shaking her head protestingly. "Oooh, no! There ain't no way ah'm gonna be frou-frou-y fer this. No way, no how."
Rarity scowled. "Now look here, Appleja-"
"She's here!" Everyone looked at Scootaloo, who was standing at the door, pointing outside. "Sapphire Shores, she's here!"
Rarity, Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith looked out the door to where Scootaloo was standing and pointing. Outside was a blue and white colored stretch limo carriage. It was decorated with shiny, blue sapphires that formed love hearts and ocean waves on the sides. It was coming up towards the barn, while being pulled by two large earth pony stallions. Applejack quickly went upstairs to tell Apple Bloom that Sapphire Shores was here, as the limo carriage pulled up and parked outside.
Rarity and Scootaloo just stepped outside the door, when one of the ponies pulling the limo carriage walked over to the carriage door, and opened it. Out stepped Sapphire Shores, her manager, Ocean Blue, and a unicorn stallion. The stallion had a dark olive colored coat, an orange and red patterned mane and tail that was spiked styled like an 80's rock star mullet, and wore a pair of shades, a tiger stripe headband on his forehead, and a blue bandana.
Applejack came back down quickly, and went outside with Big Mac and Granny Smith to greet their guests. They came towards Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and the stallion, with Rarity and Scootaloo leading in front of them. The unicorn stallion brought out a portable keyboard piano out of the limo carriage with his magic, and placed it on his back.
"Sapphire," Rarity said. "You made it."
Sapphire Shores turned to Rarity and Scootaloo. "Rarity. Scootaloo. Hope we didn't keep you darlings waiting?"
Applejack came forward past in between Rarity and Scootaloo. "Of course not, ma'am. Ya right on time."
Sapphire Shores turned her attention to Applejack. "You must be Applejack." She introduced Applejack to Ocean Blue. "This is Ocean Blue, my manager."
Ocean Blue shook hooves with Applejack. "Hello, Applejack."
"Nice ta meet ya." Applejack said.
Sapphire Shores then pointed to the unicorn stallion with them. "And this is Rad Ballad, the talented keyboard/piano player of my tour and studio recording band. He's also my co-songwriter."
"Yo, what's up?" Rad Ballad said, his accent was of a mix between British and Australian.
Scootaloo's face beamed with admiration at Rad Ballad. "Oh, Rad Ballad! I saw you at the concert in Manehattan! You're awesome on that keyboard! You're the best keyboard musician I've ever seen!"
Rad Ballad smiled. "Thanks, kiddo. I'm glad you think so."
Applejack directed Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad to Big Mac and Granny Smith. "Y'all might as well meet the whole family right here." She directed her to Big Mac. "This here's my older brother, Big McIntosh."
"Howdy." Big Mac said.
Sapphire Shores looked impressively at Big Mac. "Well, hello handsome. You look like you're ready for a date, darling."
Rarity came over to Sapphire Shores. "Oh, yes. I got him ready for when you arrived." She glanced at Applejack. "I'm sorry I didn't get the others ready, Sapphire."
Sapphire Shores waved a reassuring hoof at Rarity. "Not to worry, Rarity. It's fine." She winked. "Besides, I like the rustic looking atmosphere this farm and this pony family has."
Rarity blinked. "Oh..."
Applejack directed Sapphire Shores to Granny Smith. "An' this here is Granny Smith."
Sapphire Shores turned to Granny Smith. "Well, hello there, Miss Granny Smith."
"Ah'll never understand the modern "Boopity-Boop" music youngin's listen ta these days." Granny Smith said.
Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad blinked awkwardly at Granny Smith's comment for a moment. Sapphire Shores then cleared her throat. "Speaking of which, where is the sick, little darling I'm here to visit?"
"Oh, Apple Bloom's upstairs in bed waitin'." Applejack said.
Sapphire Shores smiled. "Well, let's not keep her waiting. I'll even sing her a few songs, and take a few pictures with her to remember this day by."
"Just remember you have a concert in Canterlot to perform at later tonight, Sapphire," Ocean Blue said. "You can't stay for too long."
Sapphire Shores turned to Ocean Blue. "Don't you worry, Ocean, darling. We have plenty of time before that." She turned to Applejack. "Please lead the way, Applejack."
Applejack nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Ah know for certain that Apple Bloom will be so happy ta see y'all here, Miss Shores."
"Oh please, do call me Sapphire." Sapphire Shores said.
Applejack began to escort everyone inside up to Apple Bloom's room for her to meet them, knowing that Apple Bloom was going to have the best time of her life.
The large gathering of ponies back at Sugarcube Corner were enjoying the treats, food, and activities as they still waited for Sapphire Shores to arrive. Pinkie Pie and the Cakes tended to and welcomed more ponies while they kept them occupied. Pinkie Pie was welcoming other ponies when Derpy came in. "Oh! Hi there, Derpy! Welcome to the party."
"Hi, Pinkie Pie." Derpy said as she came in. She turned her head, left and right a few times around the bakery. "Hey Pinkie? Is Abacus going to be coming?"
Everyone at the party gasped, spat out punch and food, and stopped everything of what they were previously doing, making a record player playing music scratch the record. The whole party fell into a deathly silence, as they all looked at Derpy and Pinkie Pie at the mention of Abacus's name being said.
Pinkie Pie shook her head and smiled, completely oblivious to the reaction of everyone in the bakery. "Oh, no. Abacus is in hospital. He can't come."
The sound of everyone sighing with relief spread around the bakery at Pinkie Pie's answer. The ponies at the party continued to socialize and have fun, as Derpy frowned with disappointment. "Oh, that's too bad. I was really hoping to see him here. Oh, well. I guess I'll pay him a special visit in hospital later on today. I hope he's alright."
"Do enjoy some muffins while your waiting, Derpy," Pinkie Pie said. "We have your favourite, chocolate chip and cinnamon."
Derpy smiled. "Yay! Thank you so much."
Derpy went to the closest table to help herself to some muffins. As the party continued, some of the ponies at the party talked to each other quietly.
"It's a relief Abacus Scum isn't here. Can you imagine how horrible it would've been otherwise?"
"I know what you mean. Especially after what I heard about what he did yesterday."
"What did that monster do this time?"
"He assaulted Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut, and went completely nuts."
"Coco-Nut? As in Honey Blossom's husband?"
"The same one."
"As if assaulting their daughter, Buttercup in the park wasn't good enough for him. Not even our children are safe from that monster."
"What's more, he smashed Tiger Lily's tombstone in the cemetery as well."
"That scum! That shows how evil he really is. I hope that scum goes back to prison."
"Me too, Ponyville will not be save until Abacus Scum is gone...forever."
"Well, let's just at least be glad he's not here at this party to ruin everything."
Pinkie Pie continued to smile and greet guests coming in. Another of the guests that was coming in was Caramel and Sassaflash, with Sassaflash holding a copy of Sapphire Shores's "I tune in to you" record that they bought from the cart outside.
"Hi, Caramel," Pinkie Pie said. "Hi, Sassaflash! Welcome to the party."
Caramel smiled. "Hey, Pinkie."
"So is Sapphire Shores going to meet Apple Bloom here?" Sassaflash asked.
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yes, indeedy! At one o'clock precisely. Do help yourselves to all the food and punch, and the party games while you two wait."
Sassaflash nodded and turned to Caramel. "I guess we could have some food and punch while we wait."
"Sure. It's 11:30 now, so we got 90 minutes to spare." Caramel walked with Sassaflash towards a table with food on it. "Besides, those pies look real good."
Pinkie Pie giggled to herself, as Caramel and Sassaflash walked passed her to join the party. She turned back to greet more ponies coming in to Sugarcube Corner to wait for Sapphire Shores to arrive. Standing next to a nearby table, two young colts who came in earlier were standing there waiting. The two colts were Snips and Snails. Snips stood there thinking, like if he just had a suspicion of some kind, as he watched and heard what Pinkie Pie and the Cakes kept saying to everyone who came to the local bakery.
"They keep sayin' that, but shouldn't Apple Bloom be here first to wait here as well?" Snips rubbed his chin, and turned to Snails. "Snails. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"Why do they call it babysitting when they don't really sit on babies?" Snails asked.
"Yeah, uh... I mean no..." Snips shook his head in frustration. "I mean doesn't something smell fishy to you?"
Snails tilted his head, and began to sniff himself. "It's not me. I took a bath today."
Snips blinked, before he groaned in frustration. "No, I don't mean that. Come on!"
Snips and Snails began to walk towards the door, catching the attention of Pinkie Pie's keen eye. "Snips, Snails! Where are you going? Don't you want to play Pin the Tail on the Pony?"
"Oh, me and Snails have got somethin' to do first," Snips said. "We'll be back before Sapphire Shores and Apple Bloom get here at one o'clock."
Pinkie Pie blinked and looked at Snips and Snails for a moment, before she nodded and smiled at the two colts. "Okey-dokey-lokey! See you soon."
Pinkie Pie stood at the entrance, and waved Snips and Snails goodbye, as they walked out the door of Sugarcube Corner, and walked outside. Snails came closer to Snips to talk, as they walked down the street.
"Snips?" Snails asked. "Where are we goin'? And what's this somethin' we got to do?"
Snips turned to Snails as they walked. "We're goin' to Sweet Apple Acres. I have a hunch."
Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom was having the most amazing experience of her life, with Applejack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Rarity, and Scootaloo. Sapphire Shores sang and performed in her bedroom with Rad Ballad playing on his keyboard.
The first song Sapphire Shores sings to Apple Bloom. Please play and listen to the whole video below before continue on reading.
Everyone began to clap and cheer, as the first song Sapphire Shores performed ended. Sapphire Shores smiled. "Ow! That was a good one."
"Wow," Apple Bloom said. "Ah can't believe ya're here. It's almost too good ta be true."
Sapphire Shores walked over to Apple Bloom, and stood next to her on the side of her bed. She stroked Apple Bloom's mane. "Well, Apple Bloom. There's no way I couldn't let the winner of Pop Pony magazine miss out. I remember how unfortunate I was to get chickenpox when I was about your age. I missed out on seeing a talented dancer at my school because of that. I couldn't bare to have that same thing to happen to one of my fans. In fact, my very first song I wrote, 'Contagious Affection' was base on my chickenpox experience as a filly."
Apple Bloom blinked. "Really?"
Sapphire Shores nodded. "Really."
Scootaloo's eyes widened with amazement. "Wow! I didn't know that."
"So that's why ya decided ta visit Apple Bloom when ya heard she had chickenpox," Applejack said. "It's ta do with a personal thing that happened ta ya in yer childhood."
Sapphire Shores turned to Applejack, and smiled. "That's right, darling."
Rarity smiled touchingly. "Why, Sapphire. That's so sweet of you."
"Thank you." Sapphire Shores turned back to Apple Bloom. "Well, how about I sing you another song. It might make some of those itchy spots go away."
Apple Bloom smiled. "Oh please do, Sapphire."
Sapphire Shores nodded. "Alright. We have a song that Rad Ballad and I wrote a few weeks ago that I plan to release on my next upcoming record. And I would like all of you, especially you, Apple Bloom, to be the first ones to hear it. Would you like to hear it?"
"Would ah?" Apple Bloom said. "Oh please, please."
"Alright, darling." Sapphire Shores turned to Rad Ballad who was standing at his keyboard. "Let's play the song, Rad, baby."
"No prob." Rad Ballad said, as he began to play the music of the next song on his keyboard.
The second song Sapphire Shores sings to Apple Bloom. Please play and listen to the whole video below before continue on reading.
Apple Bloom, and the others smiled with a entrancing, magical feeling that went throughout each of their bodies from after hearing Sapphire Shores's new song. Sapphire Shores sighed happily as she finished singing her song.
"Oh my star apples!" Apple Bloom said.
"Did you like it, Apple Bloom?" Sapphire Shores asked.
Apple Bloom's spotted face beamed with happiness. "Ah loved it. It was a great song, the best ah've ever heard."
Sapphire Shores smiled proudly at the little filly's compliment on her song. She had a feeling that that song would be a new hit for the Equestria music charts. "Thank you, darling. I'll take that as the nicest compliment."
Meanwhile, at the same time elsewhere, Twilight, Lawful Eye, Spike, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy regrouped just outside town after trying to search for Abacus.
"Did anypony have any luck?" Twilight asked.
Warden Rehab shook his head. "No trace of him at Froggy Bottom Bogg."
Rainbow Dash landed. "There's just no sign of him. We even asked Zecora, but she hasn't seen him or anypony in the Everfree Forest recently."
"I even asked some animals I know if they've seen him," Fluttershy said. "Sadly they haven't seen him, but I asked them to come tell me if they did find anything."
Lock Down turned to Twilight, Lawful Eye, and Spike. "What about things on your end."
Twilight shook her head. "Nothing. He wasn't in White Tail Woods."
Lawful Eye groaned worryingly. "We can't give up. We have to keep looking."
"But we've looked everywhere for him," Spike said. "Where else could he have gone?"
Lawful Eye dropped her head. "I don't know, Spike. I just don't know."
Suddenly, Lawful Eye began to feel something. She mysteriously began to picture in her mind a long deep gorge, and she was standing on the edge of the highest peek of the gorge. A sign that had the name 'Ghastly Gorge' written on it stood nearby. She did not know why it was happening, for it was like it was magically appearing in her mind by something, or someone. Then the images in her head suddenly stopped. She shook her head in confusion at what happened, as the others notice her.
"What is it, Lawful Eye?" Twilight asked.
Lawful Eye turned to Twilight. "I think I know where Abacus is-"
The group was interrupted by a screech cry. They looked in the direction of where the sound came from to see a falcon coming down, and landing on a large rock next to Fluttershy.
"Oh, what is it, Jack?" Fluttershy asked.
The falcon named Jack screeched and cried at Fluttershy as he was trying to tell her something. Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth, looking rather distressed. "Oh, no!" She turned to the others. "Jack says that he's just spotted Abacus standing at the highest peek of Ghastly Gorge."
Everyone's faces jolted with shock. "GHASTLY GORGE?!!"
"So that's what I was seeing in my mind a moment ago!" Lawful Eye said.
Spike tilted his head. "Huh? What do you mean you saw it in your mind?"
"Sorry! There's no time to explain!" Lawful Eye rushed the others. "Let's go! Hurry!"
Twilight turned to the others. "To Ghastly Gorge, everypony!"
Everyone began to rush to Ghastly Gorge as fast as their legs and wings could carry them. Lawful Eye was so worried for Abacus's well being, as she galloped with her hooves running faster than she had ever gone before.
Lawful Eye thought inside her head. "Hang on, Abi! I'm coming! Oh, I hope we're not too late!"
The atmosphere of Ghastly Gorge was silent, as the wind blew through the surrounding vegetation and rocks of the area around the edge of the gorge. No sign of life was spotted anywhere, save but a lone, dark brown earth pony stallion with a grey mane and tail, and still covered with bandages standing on the edge of the highest peek of the gorge. The breeze flowed his mane and tail as Abacus sadly stood there looking out into the distance.
"Get away from my baby, you monster!!"
"Get away from that pony! He's dangerous!"
"Get out of town, you murderer! You aren't welcome here!"
"Just look at his face! Pure evil!"
"So hideous! Tiger Lily's evil husband has shown his true form."
"Mommy, Daddy, make that scary pony go away."
"What Tiger Lily's headstone said was right: You are a monster."
"You're not just a murderer, and a foal hurter, but you're a pedophile too!"
"So much for freedom. Prison scum like him have no purpose, and are nothing, but a waste of space in society."
"The only way prisoners like him are going to survive is on the charity of others."
"How does it feel to feel the pain that you caused to our kids?!"
"Abacus Sum. I have no choice...but to place you under arrest on all charges."
"Enjoy your undeserved freedom while it lasts, you scum!"
"Yeah, Abacus Scum!"
"When they locked you up, they should've threw away the key...Abacus Scum!"
"You're going to be put back behind bars where you belong, Abacus Scum!"
Abacus dropped his head sadly. He began sobbing with tears of heartbreak and betrayal running down his cheeks, as he recalled the hurtful, hatred-filled words of the townsfolk. The very same townsfolk that once loved and respected him dearly when his wife, Tiger Lily, was alive. He took another step forward, and looked down over the edge below, as he prepared to jump and end his tragic, forever doomed life.
Twilight, Lawful Eye, Spike, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy rushed towards the area, hoping that they could get there in time to save him. The trees past by quickly as they rushed through the small wooded area with their hearts racing. They looked through the trees ahead, gasping in horror with their eyes widening at what they were seeing. They saw that Abacus was standing very close to the edge of the cliff preparing to jump.
"Abi, no!!" Lawful Eye said.
Abacus turned his head to the sound of Lawful Eye calling to him. His face turned to a mix of fear, heartbreak, and anger at the sight of her and the others rushing towards him. Twilight and Lawful Eye slowed down and stopped about five meters away from the edge where Abacus was standing, with the others stopping and standing right behind them.
"Abi, don't do it!" Lawful Eye approached Abacus slowly.
"Stay back," Abacus said. "Don't come any closer!"
Lawful Eye and Twilight kept coming forward. "Please, step away from the edge."
Abacus put a back hoof right on the edge. "I SAID "STAY BACK"!!!"
Lawful Eye and Twilight stopped, and kept their distance. The others watched on as Twilight and Lawful Eye try to reason with the mentally disturbed stallion.
"No, please," Twilight said. "Please listen to us."
Abacus glared. "Why should I listen to any of you? I'm prison scum."
Twilight shook her head. "You're not scum, Abacus."
Abacus glared at Twilight. "Why don't you tell that to everypony in town who once loved and respected me! They'll tell you different! Everypony treats me like scum, so now I'll behave like scum! That's who I am!"
Lawful Eye shook her head. "That's not true, Abi."
Abacus growled at Lawful Eye. "You shut-up!! You don't deserve to call me "Abi" after what you did! You lied and betrayed me!"
Lawful Eye shook her head. "No. I didn't betray you."
Abacus sobbed. "You arrested me for things I didn't do!"
"But I had no choice." Lawful Eye said.
"Oh, I understand. You had no choice. WRONG! You had plenty of choice!" Tears trickled down Abacus's cheeks. "What happened to the pony who said she wouldn't let anypony get their hooves on me for as long as she had breath within her?! What happened to the pony who said she would make sure those ponies get brought to justice for doing this to me?! It was a lie! It was all a lie!! You're no different to those bad cop friends of Storm Dasher!" His eyes glared with anger. "Or even that evil investigation team from Canterlot. The same ones who falsely charged me with murdering Lily after Mayor Mare and Lady Justice got them on me!"
"Abacus, I'm sorry that happened to you." Twilight dropped her head. "I know how the Canterlot investigation force were wrong, and made a terrible mistake in convicting you."
Abacus scowled harder. "Wrong?! Terrible mistake?! That's another lie! The Canterlot investigation force were not any of that!"
Twilight tilted her head. "What?"
Abacus angrily glanced at Lawful Eye. "Are you saying Lawful Eye didn't tell you?! Not surprising, considering it's top secret!" He looked back at Twilight. "The Canterlot investigation force was evil and corrupted! They deliberately put innocent ponies in Hoofstrong Prison by charging and framing them with false crimes that get them sentenced to life. And they did it for the money they'd get from the ones they put away, as well as from the courts and government!" He sobbed. "And Armstrong and his guards, he would get a share of it, as well as getting innocent ponies like me to torture, abuse, rape, and even kill for their own sick pleasure!"
"The prisoners at Hoofstrong...were all innocent ponies? And the Canterlot investigation force framed them?" Twilight was confused and unsure at what Abacus had just said, with Lawful Eye, Lock Down, and Warden Rehab mildly wincing. Twilight then turned to Lawful Eye. "Lawful Eye? Is what Abacus saying the truth?"
Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike were also confused and unsure at what Abacus had just said. They turned to Warden Rehab and Lock Down.
"I don't believe it," Spike said. "Rehab, Lock Down? Is Abacus telling the truth?"
Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down dropped their heads in sync with one another, and said in unison, "It's the truth."
Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike's eyes widened. "What?"
Fluttershy blinked. "That can't be true."
"Why didn't you mention this to us before?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Lawful Eye sighed. "Because it was classified information. It was not to be presented to the public until Armstrong, his guards, and the former members of Canterlot police investigation force were brought to justice."
Spike tilted his head. "So are you saying that there was some kind of conspiracy secretly happening between Canterlot investigation force and Hoofstrong prison centre?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "That's right. It was royal orders from Canterlot to keep it top secret from the public until royalty said otherwise."
"Enough!" Abacus shouted. "I don't care if it's classified information! I don't care if it was orders from royalty! I don't care what happens anymore! Because I'm not going back behind bars where scum like me belong!"
Lock Down stepped forward. "You are not scum, Abacus. Remember what I told you?"
"Yeah, I remember! Telling myself "I am not scum"! Well, I did what you told me, but it didn't work! Because I AM scum!" Abacus sobbed. "I remember those times I hurt those ponies. I have no remorse for hurting those cops! I have no remorse for biting Storm Dasher, who I was trying to go for his throat! And I have no remorse for biting the penis off of and nearly killing one of Armstrong's guards!" He winced. "Especially since that guard was none other than that pony, Rotten Eggs!"
Twilight blinked. "Rotten Eggs?"
Spike turned to Twilight. "Hey, wasn't that the pony Lawful Eye briefly mentioned who bullied Abacus back in kindergarten?"
Twilight's eyes widen in realisation. "Yes. You're right, Spike."
"Of course you wouldn't have remorse for doing it, Abacus," Lock Down said. "But that doesn't make you scum. They were ones who meant you harm. You were defending yourself."
Lawful Eye nodded. "We understand, Abi."
"No, you don't understand! Armstrong got the real evidence from the Canterlot police force, and he burnt and destroyed it in front of me!" Abacus winced. "And then...his guards...they bashed me, raped me, tortured me, starved me, and if they ever fed me, it was foul slop that looked and tasted like muck! Or something else far much worse! And they put one of those collars on me that shocks you, and they shocked me constantly for their enjoyment! And now every time when somepony touches me, or if I touch them, I'm always afraid to feel those horrible shocks again! " He glared. "So you don't know how that feels! You don't understand what I went through! You didn't see any of it!"
"But I did." A female voice suddenly said.
Everyone turned their heads behind them to where the female voice came from. There was the sound of hooves coming from a dark place in a wooded area that grew as it got closer and closer. Then out of the shadows of the wooded area slowly stepped a pony. She had a dark blue coat, with a moderate sapphire blue mane and tail that was partially translucent, rippling and sparkling, magical and wavy. She wore blueish-silver shoes, and a black crown. She was also slightly taller and sleeker than an average pony, and was an alicorn.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Fluttershy's eyes widened with surprise at the pony before them, for it was someone they knew all too well. "Princess Luna!"
Luna nodded. "Yes. It is I."
Luna stepped forward towards the others to join with them. Abacus glared at her, believing she was another pony here to hate him as well. All despite that Luna was a pony that he had never seen before.
"Who are you?!" Abacus asked. "Another of one of those who want to see me behind bars?!"
Luna turned to Abacus. "I am Luna, the princess of the night. And I have been watching you for sometime, Abacus Sum."
"Princess of the night," Abacus said. "I've never even heard of you!"
Luna nodded. "I'm not surprised that you haven't. You have missed so much through those two years and five months of suffering. I know what you, and other ponies like you, had suffered. I have seen it myself through coming into your dreams."
Lawful Eye tilted her head, and she looked at Luna with a suspicious glance. "Through coming into your dreams."
“Lawful Eye. Lawful Eye!”
“Who...who’s there?”
“Lawful Eye. Go to Ponyville. Abacus is in Ponyville.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Go to Ponyville!”
Lawful Eye's eyebrows rose as she recalled the dream she had that lead her to Ponyville, for she now recognized Luna's voice from being the same one in her dream. "It was you. You were the one who told me to come to Ponyville in my dream. And you also must've been the one who put those visions of this area into my head earlier before?"
Luna turned to Lawful Eye and nodded. "Indeed. Yes, Lawful Eye." She turned back to Abacus and offered her hoof in friendship. "Come on, Abacus Sum. Come away from the edge."
"No," Abacus said. "I'm not stupid! As soon as I do, you'll arrest me again, and send me right back to prison! I won't let that happen! I'd rather die, then go back to prison!"
Lawful Eye reached a hoof out in protest. "Abi, no!"
Abacus quickly stood up on his hind legs, and fell backwards over the edge of the cliff. Lawful Eye rushed to the edge frantically. "ABI!!"
Abacus began to fall down, down, down into the gorge. Lawful Eye watched helplessly over the edge of the cliff with tears running down her cheeks. For that moment, Abacus's life flashed before his eyes, with images of the good and the bad events of his life. Then he saw the image of his deceased wife and mother. He closed his eyes, knowing that his suffering was about to end, and that he would be with his mother and Tiger Lily any second. Suddenly, right before Abacus hit the ground, a rainbow colored wake flashed on Abacus. The others looking down watching became relieved, for Rainbow Dash had caught and saved Abacus right in the nick of time.
"I gotcha!" Rainbow Dash flew back up, carrying Abacus back to safety. She then placed him down on the ground with the others.
Lawful Eye came to Abacus, thankful that he was okay. "Abi!"
Abacus got back up, and rushed back towards the cliff. He was desperate to take his own life, no matter what. And was not going to let them or anyone stop him from doing so.
"Abi, no!" Lawful Eye said.
Before Abacus got close to the edge, he felt himself being suddenly pulled back. Twilight had gripped on to him with her magic, and was telekinetically pulling a struggling, screaming Abacus away back towards them. Through their prison guard training, Warden Rehab and Lock Down then grabbed and held Abacus down on the ground in an inescapable hold. Abacus screamed, yelled, and struggled in vain from the two stallion's grips on him.
"No! Let me go! Just let me die! You can't take me back to prison! I knew I shouldn't have trusted any of you! I never should've come to this stupid, fucking town! You've wanted to destroy my life! Everything was a lie! You gave me nothing, but false hope, and lies! You lied about my mother! I have nothing to lose! Nothing to live for! Everything I once had, everyone I once loved and held dear, is gone! I have nopony who loves me! Nopony who would ever love me like Lily did, because I'm scum! Abacus Scum!! I HAVE NOPONY!!!!"
Abacus stop struggling, and broke down in tears, crying hysterically on the ground. Everyone's hearts sank at seeing how heartbroken, betrayed, and psychologically damaged this stallion was. Even being so desperate as to end his own life. Lawful Eye came over to Abacus, and kneeled down to him, stroking his mane to calm him.
"Abi," Lawful Eye said. "Please look at me."
Abacus slowly looked up at Lawful Eye with his teary, heartbroken eyes, coming in contacted with Lawful Eye's teared-filled eyes.
"Oh, dear Abi. You're not scum. I know the loving, kind, gentle pony I know is still there. You're not under arrest. You never really were. I did it because it was the only way I could protect you." Lawful Eye sniffled. "I'm so sorry I made you feel that I betrayed you, and I should've told you earlier. And I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth about your mother. I truthfully didn't know you already knew from Armstrong. I was planning to tell you about it gently when I came to pick you up from Hoofstrong. The last thing I ever wanted to do is hurt you. Please, Abi. You have to believe me."
Abacus dropped his head in great shame and sobbed quietly. Luna, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike approached Abacus and Lawful Eye to help her console him.
"Lawful Eye is telling the truth, Abacus Sum," Luna said. "She did not know about you already knowing about your mother's passing. I am sorry that you had to find out from that monster, Armstrong."
Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "Taking your life isn't the answer."
Twilight and Fluttershy nodded. "Rainbow is right. Tiger Lily sacrificed herself for you because she wanted you to live."
"You've been given a second chance at life," Twilight said. "Don't let her sacrifice be in vain."
Spike nodded. "Yeah. You may have been in prison, but that doesn't mean your life's over and ruined. Not by a long shot."
Luna turned to Warden Rehab and Lock Down. "Let him go."
Warden Rehab and Lock Down carefully, and slowly released Abacus, but stood by next to him just in case he made another attempt to jump off the cliff again.
Abacus continued to sob. "But why did I suffer horrifically for it? Of all ponies, why me? It hurts! It hurts so bad! It's not fair!"
Lawful Eye continued to stroke Abacus's mane. "I know it's not fair. And it hurts me too. Lily wasn't just my best friend, but she was also my foster sister." She sniffled. "I don't want to lose you too, Abi. You're the last thing I have in this world, like I am with you. Abi...I love you."
Abacus looked back up slowly at Lawful Eye from the three words she just said to him. His eyes came in contact with Lawful Eye's teary eyes. "You...love me?"
"Yes," Lawful Eye said. "I've always had feelings for you, Abi. Ever since we were kids. I never had the chance to tell how I felt for you, because I was scared. When you married Lily, I was sad, but I held no grudge for her or you. I was happy for both of you, and I just wanted you to be happy. I love you, Abi. I could never replace Lily, and I don't want to, but I promise I'll do my best, and I'll always be here for you."
Abacus was touched by those heartfelt, genuine words from his dear friend, but was still in heartbreaking doubt. "But how could you love me now? I have no job, no home, no respect in town, and my face is ugly and ruined, just like my mind, and my life."
"You're not ugly, Abi. But we can fix it. We'll find a surgeon who can help you look close to normal again. But you also need psychological help." Lawful Eye embraced Abacus into a big hug. "It'll take time, but you and me, we'll work through all this together. I promise."
Abacus and Lawful Eye tearfully embraced each other as the others watched on with feelings of relief and heartfelt, like if they were watching a romantic film. Rainbow Dash and Spike thought that it was something Rarity would have love to have seen.
"It will be hard for you for a while, but it'll pass. Also, I'm sorry for the loss of your wife. I understand it hurts, and will hurt for quite a while, but I'm sure you'll find somepony new. Somepony who will truly love and care for you no matter what you look like, and whether if you were in prison or not. Just don't give up."
Lock Down smiled warmly as he recalled what he told Abacus after his retrial. He extended a hoof, and began to pat Abacus gently on the back. "I told you you'd find somepony else new."
Abacus and Lawful Eye released each other from the hug, and they wiped their eyes with their hooves, with Lawful Eye adjusting her glasses. Luna then came over, and placed a caring hoof on Abacus's back. "You are not alone. I was imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years. I know how you feel."
Abacus sniffled and sobbed quietly as he wiped his eyes with his hoof. "I don't want to go back to prison."
Twilight placed a hoof on Abacus's back, and began to rub his back. "You're not going back to prison, Abacus. We're not going to let that happen."
"That's right," Rainbow Dash said. "There's no way we're going to let those police pigs from Cloudsdale get you. If they get a federal order, I'd say "bring it on"!"
"And my sister and I will not let it happen either." Luna turned to Abacus. "Though you will need to testify against Armstrong, his guards, and the Canterlot police force in court soon. And again when Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and officers Strike Law and Rogue Order face justice." She placed a gentle hoof under Abacus's chin. "I assure you, Abacus Sum. You will never have to worry about going to prison ever again."
Abacus looked up at Luna with his teary eyes, and Luna gave him a caring smile. She then turned Twilight and the others.
"Now, don't you have a certain pop star to see?" Luna asked.
Twilight's eyes shot wide open with a gasp of realization. "Sweet Celestia! We have to get to Applejack's to put our plan into action."
Luna nodded. "Then I suggest that we get going at once."
Meanwhile, back at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom, Applejack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Rarity, and Scootaloo were still enjoying Sapphire Shores singing and performing in Apple Bloom's bedroom. With Rad Ballad playing the next song on his keyboard.
The last song Sapphire Shores sings to Apple Bloom. Please play and listen to the whole video below before continue on reading.
Everyone began to clap and cheer as the last song Sapphire Shores performed ends.
"Thank you, darlings." Sapphire Shores said to them as she turned to Rad Ballad. "Wonderful playing, Rad, as usual."
"Anytime, Sapphire." Rad Ballad winked. "Radical yourself too, baby."
Applejack brought out the family camera. "Time fer a picture, everypony!"
Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad gathered with Big Mac, Granny Smith, Rarity, and Scootaloo to Apple Bloom's bed to get into the picture about to be taken. Applejack set the camera up, until she got it ready to take the picture. "Alright, everypony. Smile."
They stayed still and smiled as Applejack set the timer on, and came into position with the others. A few moments later, the camera flashed, and took the picture.
Apple Bloom turned to Sapphire Shores. "Can ah tell everypony about this?"
"Of course you can, darling." Sapphire Shores said.
All of a sudden, they were all interrupted by a horrible noise coming from outside. "What in tarnation!" Applejack went over to Apple Bloom's bedroom window. The noise was the sound of music from Sapphire Shores's "I tune in to you" album, accompanied by two horribly out of tune, young male singing voices singing along on what sounded like a speaker. Applejack looked down out the window to see what the noise was.
"What in the world..." Applejack said.
Granny Smith came over to the window with Applejack. "What in the hayseed is that awful racket?" She looked out the window and started shouting out as if she was shouting at someone. "Quit that racket, y'little whippersnappers!"
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "What's goin' on?"
Applejack turned to Apple Bloom. "It's those two colts, Snips an' Snails." She turn around and irritably walked towards the door. "Ah'll go sort them out."
Rarity planted her hoof in her face in frustration. "Oh, no! Those two colts are going to ruin everything!" She thought.
Sapphire Shores tilted her head. "Snips and Snails?"
"Yeah," Apple Bloom said. "They're two boys we know at our schoolhouse class."
Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head with her hoof awkwardly. "They're...kinda known for getting up to stupid things."
Ocean Blue turned to Sapphire Shores. "Sapphire, I hate to say this, but I think we should go now."
Back outside, Snips and Snails were outside the barn with a boombox, playing one of Sapphire Shores's songs. They sang horribly out of tune through two microphones plugged into the boombox, and were dancing terribly. Applejack came storming outside towards the two colts. When she reached the loud boombox, she turned it off before Snips and Snails were about to hit a high, loud note that would have possibly broken anything made of glass within a mile radius.
"Hey, who shut it off?!" Snips asked as he and Snails turned around to notice Applejack standing in front of them.
Applejack looked down on them with an annoyed glare. "What in the Apple family's name do y'two think y'doin'?!"
Snips chuckled nervously. "Uh...hey, Applejack."
"Did Sapphire Shores hear us?" Snails asked.
Applejack raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Oh, she did hear ya."
Just then, Sapphire Shores came out of the front door of the barn house, with Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad. Snips and Snails saw them, and sped right past Applejack before she could react.
"Sapphire Shores!" Snips shouted.
Sapphire Shores turned around to Snips and Snails coming towards her, carrying a copy of her "I tune in to you" album. They stopped in front of her, and presented them to her.
Snips jumped up and down with excitement. "Oh, Sapphire Shores! We're big fans of yours."
"Can we get your autograph?" Snails asked.
"Oh, of course you can, Snips and Snails." Sapphire Shores said.
Snips eyes widened. "Wha? You know our names?"
"Of course I do, honey." Sapphire Shores took the albums from Snips and Snails. "Apple Bloom and Scootaloo told me about you two." She took a pen in her mouth and signed the two records, and then gave them back to Snips and Snails. "Here you are, darlings."
Snips and Snails looked at the front cover of their records with amazement. "Sweet!"
"Come on, Snails," Snips said. "We've got to go and tell everypony at Sugarcube Corner. Come on!"
"Now wait a min-"
Before Applejack could finish saying anything, Snips and Snails ran off excitedly out of the gates, and down the road towards town. Applejack face-palmed herself in frustration as she thought inside her head.
"Twilight! Where are ya? Y'all should've been here with Abacus by now! Now those two colts are gonna ruin everythin'!"
Rarity came out through the front door towards Ocean Blue. "But, Ocean, you just got to stay for a few minutes more until our friend, Twilight gets here."
"We can't, Rarity," Ocean Blue said. "Those two colts are going to be telling others we're here, and it won't be long before this whole farm gets crowded with ponies from the whole town."
Applejack came over. "What's goin' on here?"
Ocean Blue turned to Applejack. "Applejack. I'm afraid we have to go now."
Applejack's eyes widened. "Huh? Y'all goin'? But what about Twilight? Couldn't y'all stay for just a few more minutes?"
"I'm afraid not. Those two colts are going to tell the town that Sapphire is right here." Ocean Blue looked at her watch. "Besides, we have a tight schedule, and need to get to Canterlot. The last thing we need is a large crowd blocking and delaying us."
"I'm sorry to leave so soon," Sapphire Shores said. "I wish I could stay a bit longer though. I was having a really nice, relaxing time with all of you."
Rad Ballad shrugged. "Oh well... That's showbiz, as they all say."
Sapphire Shores sighed as she was about to get into her personal limo carriage. "Well, good bye, Applejack, Rarity. I had a really good time with the little darling."
"But, Sapph-" Before Rarity and Applejack could say anything, the pony of pop entered into her carriage, as one of the ponies pulling the carriage closes the door.
At the same time, Twilight and the others were heading towards Sweet Apple Acres with Abacus. They saw Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad getting into the limo carriage in the distance as they approached the farm gates. Seeing this, Twilight and Rainbow Dash rushed ahead to stop them from leaving. Just when Ocean Blue and Rad Ballad were about to get into the limo carriage themselves, Twilight and Rainbow Dash got to them just in time, and halted them.
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash landed in front of Ocean Blue and raised a hoof out to halt her. "Stop! You can't go yet."
Applejack scowled at Rainbow Dash, and Twilight, looking rather irritated. "Well, it's about time y'all showed up!"
Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack with a nervous chuckle. "Uh...yeah. Sorry about that, Applejack. We got a bit delayed."
"But it's alright," Twilight said. "We're here now."
"What in Equestria's name is going on here?" Ocean Blue asked.
Twilight turned to Ocean Blue. "Ocean Blue? I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I need to speak to Sapphire Shores please. It's very important."
Ocean Blue shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We have a very tight schedule, and we can't change it at a last minute notice."
"Well, you'll have to make an exception," Twilight said. "Please, just this once?"
Ocean Blue shook her head. "No, ma'am. I'm really sorry, but we-"
"She is not asking you." Luna walked forward behind and past Twilight, until she stopped in front of Ocean Blue. "I am."
Ocean Blue gasped quietly, and bowed down respectfully. "Your highness."
Meanwhile at Sugarcube Corner, the party continued as planned. It was now one o'clock, and everyone there at the party was anticipating Sapphire Shores to arrive and meet Apple Bloom. Cup Cake and Carrot Cake brought out more treats for the guests, and began to worry about whether or not they had enough ingredients in stock to cook the treats needed to keep the party going.
"Hey, I think I hear somepony coming." A pony in the crowd said.
Everyone gathered into a large group inside the bakery, facing the door with cameras ready to flash, and records ready to sign. Time felt like it slowed down as they waited in position for the pony of pop to enter. The bakery door began to open, with the crowd beginning to cheer and cameras flashing, until the door opened fully. The cheering of the ponies quickly turned into disappointed groans, for there were two ponies at the door. Only they were none other than Snips and Snails, instead of a sick filly and a famous pop star pony.
Snails tilted his head. "Uh...was I makin' a funny face for the pictures?"
Numerous ponies began to moan with disappointment at how they got all excited and wasted taking a few pictures for nothing.
"Aw, I was saving those pictures."
"And here we thought it was Sapphire Shores, and it turned out that it was just you two!"
Snips blinked in realizations. "Oh, yeah. That's what we came to tell you. Sapphire Shores is at Sweet Apple Acres!"
The whole crowd gasped at what Snips and Snails had just said. Pinkie Pie, and the Cakes looked at each other with concern, realizing that their little deception was over.
"What?" Caramel asked. "Are you sure?"
Snips and Snails nodded. "Yeah. We saw her with our very own eyes."
Snails showed their signed records. "She signed our records and everything."
At the same time back at Sweet Apple Acres, everyone was gathered back inside Apple Bloom's bedroom. Applejack and Twilight got the camera ready, as Sapphire Shores and Princess Luna got in position with Abacus for the picture to be taken.
Sapphire Shores, Princess Luna, and Abacus stayed still as Applejack flashed the camera a few times, taking the pictures of the three ponies to give to the local newspaper. Luna then turned to Sapphire Shores.
"Sapphire Shores," Luna said. "I am sorry for making you a little late for your concert for doing this."
Sapphire Shores waved her hoof reassuringly at Luna. "Now don't you worry, your highness. After hearing this pony's name, there's no way in the world I'd pass this, royalty request or no."
Twilight tilted her head. "You know about Abacus?"
"Sort of, darling." Sapphire Shores said while glancing at Abacus. "Rad Ballad and I remember reading about him somewhere in the papers about two weeks ago when we were in Las Pegasus during my concert tour."
Rarity smiled. "This is lovely. A pop star and a princess getting involved with a prisoner."
"Hey," Spike said. "A pop star, a princess, and a prisoner. That's a good pattern...maybe a good title too."
Rarity blinked. "Oh my stars, Spike! You're right! I've got to remember to give that phrase to the local newspaper." She patted Spike's head. "You're so clever, Spikey-wikey."
Spike giggled and blushed at Rarity's compliment. "Aww, shucks."
Sapphire Shores turned to Abacus. "Well, Mr Sum. I never thought I would get to see you face to face."
Abacus winced and turned his face away from Sapphire Shores, making her tilt her head in confusion. Lawful Eye came over to Sapphire Shores. "Miss Shores. Abacus doesn't like it when ponies mention about his face. He was mauled by a savage guard dog while in prison."
"Really?" Sapphire Shores turned to Abacus, and began to pat his shoulder with sympathy. "Aw, you poor, poor thing."
"I plan to find a surgeon to help fix it." Lawful Eye said.
Sapphire Shores thought for a moment, while looking at Abacus's scarred face. "Well, I happen to know somepony back in Canterlot who's a really good plastic surgeon. She's a very dear friend of mine, and I think she could help."
Lawful Eye blinked. "Really?"
"Mm-hm." Sapphire Shores turned to Ocean Blue. "Ocean, honey? Do you have a copy of my friend's business card with you?"
"Oh, yes." Ocean Blue reached into the pocket of her waistcoat, and pulled out a business card. She then offered it to Lawful Eye. "Here's her friend's card."
Lawful Eye took the card with her magic, and looked at it closely. It was a marble white card with printed words written on it.
DR Cosmet Wonder Plastic and Cosmetic Surgeon Canterlot Specialist Center Floor 6 2981 Galloping Lane, Canterlot
"Thank you," Lawful Eye said. "I'll have a look at this surgeon friend of yours."
Sapphire Shores nodded and smiled at Lawful Eye. "You're welcome, honey. It's a good thing she gave me a few of her business cards."
Ocean Blue came over to Sapphire Shores. "Sorry to rush you, Sapphire, but I think we should go now."
"I guess you're right, Ocean." Sapphire Shores turned towards everyone else. "Well, I guess we should go now."
"Sapphire Shores?" Luna asked. "Would you mind if I come with you back to Canterlot?"
Sapphire Shores nodded. "Of course you can, your highness."
Luna turned to Twilight. "And I believe that Abacus Sum should come back with me to Canterlot too."
Twilight blinked. "What? Why?"
"To keep him safe," Luna said. "I believe those police ponies from Cloudsdale, Strike Law and Rogue Order will be back tomorrow. Plus I feel that the whole town of Ponyville will be quite angry after they see the picture of Abacus Sum in the newspaper, and will express their rage towards him when they come looking for him. Thus he will be much safer in the care of my beloved big sister and I. And it will be much safer for all of you too if he went with me."
Spike tilted his head. "So are you saying we shouldn't give these pictures to be put into the newspaper?"
Luna shook her head. "No, Spike. Those pictures need to be in the newspaper."
Twilight nodded and turned to Lawful Eye. "I think Princess Luna's right. Abacus should go with Princess Luna to Canterlot, for his safety, as well as ours."
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "You make a very observing fact." She nodded. "Okay, your highness. Abacus can go with you. He will be safe there until we can fix things with the whole town?"
"Of course," Luna said. "You have my full assurance."
Lawful Eye turned to Abacus, and patted his shoulders. "Abi? Did you hear all that? You're going to go stay with Princess Luna for a while in Canterlot until this whole thing is settled. Okay?"
Abacus slowly, and sadly nodded. "...okay."
"Don't worry, Abi. I'll meet you there soon. I promise." Lawful Eye then slowly leaned in, and gently kissed Abacus on the lips.
"Well, lets go now." Luna said.
"Wait." Everyone turn their heads to Apple Bloom. She encouraged Abacus to come to her. "Come here, Abacus. Please."
Abacus came over towards Apple Bloom, and sat down beside the bed at Apple Bloom's side. Apple Bloom reached her hoof out, and Abacus took hold of it with his hoof.
"Abacus... Ah want ya ta know that ah'm not mad at ya anymore fer gettin' me sick with chickenpox."
Abacus sniffled. "...I'm so sorry for making you sick, Apple Bloom."
"It's alright, Abacus," Apple Bloom said. "Ya didn't mean ta. An' ah'm sorry too. Ah said some horrible things about ya because ah was just so upset that ah wasn't goin' ta Sapphire Shores's concert in Manehattan. An' ah'm glad ya weren't around ta hear all that when that happened."
Scootaloo came over, and stood next to Abacus. "But you know that if Abacus hadn't have made you sick, you wouldn't have Sapphire Shores here to see you personally."
Apple Bloom nodded. "Ah know. Which is heaps better than a concert. So ah... Ah should kinda be thankin' ya. So, no hard feelin's."
Abacus sniffled as Apple Bloom smiled at him. Apple Bloom then opened her hoofs up, welcoming Abacus into a hug. Abacus briefly hesitated to hug Apple Bloom, remembering how he was shocked in prison for trying to hug someone, and beaten up and ignorantly deemed a pedophile when hugging Scootaloo yesterday. He quickly found the courage to accept the hug, and the little filly and adult stallion began to embraced.
The sight of those two hugging melted the hearts of everyone in the room. Tears of relief began to trickle down Abacus's cheeks, for this hug he was sharing with Apple Bloom was different. There was no shock collars to shock him, no enraged ponies, not even signs of any negativity, or any intentions to stop it either out of fear or anger. This hug was warm, safe, and secure. Something Abacus had not felt in a long time. He had almost forgotten what that feeling of warmth, safety, and security felt like. Apple Bloom and Abacus released each other, and Apple Bloom leaned in, and gave Abacus a peck kiss on the cheek.
"Well, bye Abacus," Apple Bloom said. "Ah'll see ya again when ya get back from Canterlot, an' when ah'm all better."
Abacus sniffled, and stroked the side of Apple Bloom's face with his hoof, before kissing her back on the forehead. "...I think I'm going to miss you most of all."
Abacus then got up from Apple Bloom's side, and came over to Luna. Apple Bloom began to wave at him, Luna, Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad as they all walked out of her bedroom.
"Bye, Sapphire Shores. Bye, Princess Luna. Bye, Rad Ballad. Bye, Ocean Blue. Ah'll never forget any of this." Apple Bloom glanced at Abacus with a sweet, friendly smile. "An' bye, Abacus. Ah'll miss ya until ya get back."
Everyone followed them out of Apple Bloom's bedroom, leaving Apple Bloom alone. They followed them down the stairs and out the front door. Twilight and the others turned to Abacus as Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad hopped into the limo carriage.
"Abacus," Twilight said. "We're confident that your problems with the ponies in Ponyville will be over soon."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah. And when they get it through their heads that you're not a murderer, everything will be cool again."
Fluttershy smiled. "We'll all be happy to have you back with us in Ponyville again."
Abacus turned to them slowly, and looked at them with heartbreaking tears forming in his eyes. "...I'm sorry...but I'm not coming back."
Twilight and the others blinked with shock at what Abacus had just said. Twilight came up to Abacus. "Abacus, please. I know almost the whole town has been bad to you-"
"No!" Abacus said. "You don't understand, Twilight. ...I'm not welcome here...I never was. Even before this."
Twilight tilted her head. "What do you mean "Before"?"
"I use to be respected and loved by everypony in town." Abacus dropped his head. "But I see now that the reason I was, was because of Lily. She was the one the town truly loved and respected, not me. Especially since there were two in town who secretly didn't like me, and they were responsible for my suffering." He winced angrily with tears in his eyes. "Mayor Mare and Lady Justice. They secretly hated and were suspicious of me. And when Lily died, they suspected me of killing her."
Twilight sighed. "Abacus. I'm sorry that happened. But you can't let that keep you away from Ponyville. I mean, where would you go? You've at least got friends here."
"But not as many as enemies. I once had so many friends." Abacus sniffled. "But now...I have almost no friends, because they believe I would murder my own wife."
"But what if they apologized to you if they realized they were wrong?" Fluttershy asked. "Would you come back?"
Abacus shook his head. "After what they did to me? Never! I'm not welcome here. I should never have come to this town full of dumb townsfolk. They wanted me gone, and that's what they're going to get." Abacus sniffled. "As for where I will go...I'll most likely go back to Fillydelphia to start all over again. My mother left me her apartment back there, so that's where I'll go. I don't have friends there, but I don't have enemies either. Anywhere is better than here, as long as nopony knows me. Maybe I'll give you and some ponies in town the address so that you can visit me. There's nothing but pain and heartbreak for me here."
Tears began to form in Fluttershy's eyes. "Abacus. ...no."
Abacus began to slowly approach the opened limo carriage door with tears of sadness and heartbreak. He stopped and glanced at the others. "Goodbye...forever."
Abacus sadly entered the limo carriage, as tears began to form in the others' eyes. A look of sympathy fell upon Luna's face, before she then turned to the others with a reassuring look.
"Do not worry," Luna said. "My sister and I will accommodate him, and try to talk with him. But tomorrow we are going to reveal the truth to the citizens of Ponyville."
Spike and Applejack tilted their heads. "What do you mean? How are you going to do that?"
"What are ya planin' there, Princess?" Applejack asked. "Care ta fill us in?"
"Worry not, my little ponies." Luna turned around and began to approach the opened limo carriage door. "Just release those pictures of Abacus Sum, Sapphire Shores, and myself for the town's newspaper to publish as you originally planned. And leave the rest to my sister and I."
The others watched as Luna entered the limo carriage, and one of the ponies pulling the carriage closed the door. Twilight, Lawful Eye, and the others wondered what Luna meant, and thought about what she was planning. Just as the pony of pop's limo carriage was about to leave, the others turned their heads to the sound of a growing noise coming up from the road outside the farm. They grew concerned for the noise was non other than the hooves of almost the entire town coming towards the farm, with Pinkie Pie and the Cakes running with them. Everyone figured that Snips and Snails had told everyone at Sugarcube Corner that Sapphire Shores was there.
Twilight waved a hoof at the ponies pulling the limo carriage. "They're coming. You better leave now. Quick!"
"Right." The earth pony stallion turned to his partner. "Let's move."
The two earth pony stallions began to pull the limo carriage, and make their way towards the gate. They exited the gate just before the crowd of ponies nearly reached it, and went right past them. The crowd stopped and watched as the limo carriage containing Sapphire Shores, and unknowingly to them, Princess Luna and Abacus Sum, inside leave, and traveled down the road. Inside the limo carriage, Sapphire Shores, Ocean Blue, and Rad Ballad turned their attention to Abacus and Luna.
"So, your highness?" Sapphire Shores asked. "What's the story with Abacus Sum here, if you don't mind me asking?"
Luna nodded. "Very well. I will tell you this information, but I must have your word that each of you will keep this classified, until it is released to the public."
Ocean Blue nodded. "You have our word, your highness."
The limo carriage got smaller and smaller in the distance down the road, as Luna began to tell Abacus's story to the pony of pop herself. Back outside, the crowd groaned with disappointment that they had missed Sapphire Shores by a matter of seconds.
"Damn it, we just missed her!" Lucky Clover said.
A little filly in the crowd began to cry. "But I wanted to get Sapphire Shores's autograph."
The crowd then quickly turned to Pinkie Pie and the Cakes, glaring at them with angry scowls.
"What's the big idea?!"
"You said Sapphire Shores was coming to Sugarcube Corner?"
"You lied to us!!"
"Hold on, everypony!" The crowd turned to Applejack who spoke out from behind them. "They're not ta blame. And it was not a lie."
"That letter you got told us that Sapphire Shores was coming to Sugarcube Corner to meet Apple Bloom!"
"It was a lie!"
Applejack presented the letter. "This here's the letter!" She turned to Twilight. "Twilight. Would ya mind?"
Twilight took the letter with her magic, and began to read it out loud to the crowd.
"To the Apple family of Sweet Apple Acres. Due to the information of Sapphire Shores's planned visit to Apple Bloom in person being unfortunately leaked to the residents of the town of Ponyville, we are thinking of making different arrangements. We did research on the town, and we found that you have a very popular bakery in your area. Therefore we were wondering if whether or not we could change the location to the Sugarcube Corner bakery at one o'clock. If Apple Bloom is not too infectious with her recent illness, then this will do nicely. Yours sincerely, Ocean Blue, manager of Sapphire Shores."
"Ya see?!" Applejack said. "It was not a lie!"
Rainbow Dash came up beside Applejack. "She didn't actually say she would be at Sugarcube Corner, it was more of a suggestion, really."
The crowd began to grumble and moan with disappointment and frustration at what was just told to them.
"Oh, sweet Celestia!"
"That means we've waited for nothing!"
Pinkie Pie grinned at the crowd. "Well..." She presents a large tray of treats out of nowhere. "We still have plenty of cake, candy, pies, and ice cream left."
The crowd continued to grumble and moan with disappointment and frustration, as they began to walk back into town. Pinkie Pie, and the Cakes came over to Twilight as Twilight whispered to them. "Thanks for keeping the ponies in town occupied while this was happening."
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake winked at Twilight. "No problem, dearie."
"Anytime." Carrot Cake said.
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake walked away, and followed the crowd of ponies back into town with Pinkie Pie staying behind with the others. Pinkie Pie then turned to the others.
"So how'd it go guys?" Pinkie Pie looked around. "Where's Abacus?"
Everyone dropped their heads sadly with equally sad expressions on each of their faces. Pinkie Pie tilted her head with a puzzled look, confused by their sadness. "Hmmm, what's wrong, guys? Was it a failure?"
Twilight looked up at Pinkie Pie and shook her head. "No. We managed to get the pictures of Abacus and Sapphire Shores."
"With Princess Luna as well." Spike said.
Pinkie Pie blinked. "Really? Princess Luna was here? But I thought she only comes out at night. Where is she now?"
Applejack sighed. "She left with Sapphire Shores in her limo carriage back ta Canterlot. An' she took Abacus with her."
"Oh. So he's gone on a vacation with out saying goodbye?" Pinkie Pie smiled and positively shrugged. "Oh, well. I guess we'll have to give him a big party for him when he gets back."
"Pinkie Pie," Lawful Eye said sadly. "There's something you need to know."
Pinkie Pie looked a bit confused. "Need to know what?"
Lawful Eye sighed. "Well, while you and the Cakes were busy, Abacus escaped from the hospital, and...he tried to take his life. Luckily Princess Luna came and we managed to stop him from doing it, but he was quite mentally disturbed from all that's happened to him. I guess it was all bottled up inside him. And after we brought him here to get the pictures, Princess Luna offered to take Abacus back with her back to Canterlot to keep him safe." She closed her eyes, and dropped her head. "And then, he vowed to move back to Fillydelphia, and to never return to Ponyville ever again."
Pinkie Pie's smiled faded. "Never?" Her eyes began to well up, with sad tears forming in her eyes. "Looks like we planned all this for nothing."
Fluttershy turned to Lawful Eye. "You don't think he really meant it, do you?"
Lawful Eye sighed. "Who knows?"
"What I want to know is why you didn't say anything when Abacus said all that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Lawful Eye sighed, and adjusted her glasses. "I didn't want to say this...but I agreed with some of what he said. The townsfolk have treated him so badly."
"But not all in town treated him badly," Twilight said. "Mr and Mrs Cake, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Derpy, Cheerlie, Dr Stallion. They treated him so well. And even welcomed him."
Lawful Eye nodded. "That's true. But it doesn't change the fact that practically the rest of the town, who once loved and respected him, treated him so badly to the point where he tried and almost took his own life."
"You do make a point, Lawful Eye," Warden Rehab said. "What happened with him from the ponies in town has had a very understandable, bad impact on his life."
Lock Down sighed. "I just hope that poor guy's going to be okay after that."
Fluttershy sniffled. "Will Abacus...ever come back?"
"I don't know, Fluttershy." Lawful Eye dropped her eyes and sighed. "I just don't know."
"Well, let's get these pictures developed, and take them to the newspaper office, like Princess Luna instructed us to do," Twilight said. "And then we'll worry about that later. Okay?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "Okay."
Everyone began to walk down the road towards Ponyville. Throughout the journey, they all had thoughts on what Luna was planning to do to get the truth revealed to the whole town. Whatever she was planning, they each hoped it was going to work. All that mattered now was to get the pictures of Abacus with Sapphire Shores and Princess Luna to the newspaper as they planned, and on Luna's instructions.
The Main Six, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Scootaloo, and Spike gathered around, looking at the latest addition of local newspaper at the Golden Oak Library. The paper had the image of Abacus with Sapphire Shores and Princess Luna on the front page, along with the words "Ponies Scheme Pop Star With Dangerous Criminal". The look of disgust appeared on everyone's faces at the front page cover as Twilight reads the news story.
Local ponies in Ponyville revealed the truth late yesterday. They organised for Sapphire Shores, the pony of pop who came to Ponyville to pay a personal visit to local filly and winner of the Pop Pony magazine's contest, Apple Bloom at Sugarcube Corner. Only for them to deceived the whole town so that she could get into a photograph with the night princess, Princess Luna, and convicted murderer and fugitive, Abacus Sum, who had reportedly escaped from Ponyville hospital after being arrested for assaulting six ponies, including two young fillies, and two police ponies from Cloudsdale. While Sapphire Shores in the image was real, closer examination of the photograph have proved that Princess Luna in the picture was fake, and that it was a life-size cardboard image of the princess herself, for she was not sighted around the area.
No word yet on how Princess Luna has taken it. Due to the denials of Sapphire Shores's manager, Ocean Blue, when interviewed at last night's concert in Canterlot, there are speculations that the letter from Sapphire Shores's manager to the Apple Family of Sweet Apple Acres, as well as the whole party event at the Sugarcube Corner bakery was all a set up created on the accord of the following ponies in question. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Lawful Eye of Fillydelphia. An investigation is currently underway into the following ponies listed on this matter, and on the whereabouts of the wanted fugitive, Abacus Sum, which is left in charge of Cloadsdale Police to apprehend him.
Rarity growled. "This is an outrage!"
"It was not fake," Spike said. "How could they say all that?!"
Applejack scowled. "Yeah! We were all there! An' callin' Abacus a wanted criminal?!"
Lock Down growled. "Even the press in this town doesn't have mercy on him."
Twilight looked at the front page of the newspaper with a worried frown, thinking of a part of the report that worried her. She turned to Lawful Eye, and could notice she had the very same feelings as her. "I know, Lawful Eye. If it's true Cloadsdale Police is going to be involved, then-"
"Yes, I know," Lawful Eye said. "It means Strike Law and Rogue Order will undoubtedly be involved in this. I guess this is what Princess Luna meant by they'd be back. And I think she was right."
"If only we knew what she was here plannin'." Applejack turned to Twilight. "What do ya think Princess Luna's plannin', Twilight?"
Twilight sighed. "I really don't know, Applejack. But I hope it comes soon."
"Hey, guys!" Everyone turned to Spike as he called out to them, looking out the window. "It better be coming sooner than the princess planned!" He pointed outside. "Look!"
Twilight, Lawful Eye, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Warden Rehab came over and peered through the same window Spike was looking out of. Their faces shifted to serious and concerned as they see something outside. Outside, there was a large crowd of angry ponies marching towards the Golden Oak Library, carrying anti-Abacus protest signs. Mayor Mare and Lady Justice were in the crowd too, with two familiar police ponies escorting them, Strike Law and Rogue Order. Seeing their looks, the others began to grow concerned.
"What is it?" Lock Down asked. "What's wrong?"
Spike turned to Lock Down. "There's a big crowd of angry ponies coming this way. It looks like it's virtually the whole town."
Applejack glared seriously with concern. "An' they sure don't look happy."
Lawful Eye growled. "And it looks like those two police ponies are back."
Twilight's eyes widened with shock as she saw the angry crowd outside gather round the library. Out of fear, Twilight lit her horn quickly, and conjured up a magical protective force field around the outside of the library. The crowd stopped some metres from the force field surrounding the library, and began shouting numerous things in anger.
"Phew!" Twilight wiped her brow. "That was too close."
"But it looks like they've got us surrounded." Spike said.
"Oh, no. They're probably looking for Abacus, and think he's here." Fluttershy fearfully moaned. "What are we going to do?"
Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "Don't worry. The magical barrier I just put up will keep anypony and anything from entering."
"But we still need ta face them," Applejack said. "We can't stay inside this magic barrier thingy forever."
"Applejack's right." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "We should go out to face them. If they ask for Abacus, don't tell them where he is." She sighed. "I just hope Princess Luna's plan comes soon."
"Do not worry. My sister and I will accommodate him, and try to talk with him. But tomorrow we are going to reveal the truth to the citizens of Ponyville."
"What do you mean? How are you going to do that?"
"What are ya planin' there, Princess? Care ta fill us in?"
"Worry not, my little ponies. Just release those pictures of Abacus Sum, Sapphire Shores, and myself for the town's newspaper to publish as you originally planned. And leave the rest to my sister and I."
Lawful Eye closed her eyes with concern as she recalled what Luna had said the previous day. "Very soon."
"Come on, everypony," Twilight said. "Let's go out and face them."
Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Spike, Scootaloo, and the Main Six approached the front door with Twilight opening it with her magic. The angry crowd began shouting at them as they stepped outside while still remaining protected inside the force field.
"We caught on to your dirty trick!"
"You wasted our entire time at Sugarcube Corner just to have Sapphire Shores all to yourselves!"
"I took time off work because I promised my little girl we'd get her Sapphire Shores's autograph for her birthday, and now she's heartbroken!"
"And to have her with Abacus Scum! And with a fake cardboard image of Princess Luna!"
Mayor Mare and Lady Justice stepped forward with Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order at their side.
"Where is Abacus?" Officer Strike Law glared. "And we know you know where he is. Now hoof him over!"
"He's not here," Lock Down said. "And if he was, we'd never turn him in over to you. So why don't you go and get lost?!"
Officer Rogue Order glared. "We have a warrant for his arrest. Now where is he?!"
"He ain't here," Applejack said. "He's somewhere where y'all will never get him!"
"You see?!" A voice came out of the crowd, and a familiar stallion, Coco-Nut revealed himself, with his wife, Honey Blossom, and daughter, Buttercup. "I told you that they're hiding him! They're hiding a dangerous criminal! He assaulted and bit Storm Dasher, putting him in hospital! He nearly ripped a piece off him! He assaulted me too! He was going to kill one of us!"
"GOOD!" Scootaloo shouted. "And that's the least you bastards deserve!"
Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on Scootaloo. "Chill, little buddy."
Coco-Nut pointed at his daughter, Buttercup, who had scrapes still healing, and was standing next to her mother, Honey Blossom. "And he hurt my little girl in the park!"
Honey Blossom came up next to Coco-Nut. "Is that not proof enough of him being dangerous?!"
"Not so fast!"
Everyone turned their heads to where the voice came from. Walking their way to from the crowd and standing in front of them was a group of Ponyville locals. They were Granny Smith, Big McIntosh, Derpy, Cheerilee, Dr Stallion, Cup Cake and Carrot Cake with their twin babies, and the donkey, Matilda.
"I saw the events of what happened to little Buttercup on that day," Cheerilee said. "Abacus didn't hurt her, she fell off her scooter by simply tripping on a stick and hurting herself. And Abacus tried to help her."
Cup Cake and Carrot Cake came up. "We believe Cheerilee. We don't believe Abacus would ever hurt a child."
Cup Cake stroked Pumpkin Cake's head, making Pumpkin Cake coo. "We trusted him with the twins when he got to meet them the last time he came down to the bakery."
Derpy stepped forward. "And Abacus was crying when seeing Mr and Mrs Cake's twin babies, because it reminded him of how he was going to be a father of a child that he lost along with Tiger Lily."
"He's a true blue bloke, with a heart of gold," Dr Stallion said. "Which is more I can say about any of you mongrels!"
"We all know Abacus better than any of y'all." Granny Smith scowled. "Y'all can bet yer crab apples on that!"
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
Matilda came forward. "And though I didn't have the chance to see Abacus when I had recently, and even though it was quite deceptive of these ponies to do what they did, I for one am glad that they did it, and even suspected it. I always believed he was innocent. Abacus needs good friends like us." She glanced at Twilight and the others in the force field. "...Like them."
"Sentiments will get you nowhere," Officer Strike Law said. "He is a wanted pony under charges of six counts of assault and battery, one count of grievous bodily harm, resisting arrest, child molestation, and destruction of property!"
Rainbow Dash growled. "That's a lie! Those charges are false, and it was you who assaulted him, and you know it!"
"Abacus didn't do anything wrong," Fluttershy said. "He'd never hurt a fly!"
Officer Rogue Order glared. "We told you before: It's our word against yours!"
"Enough!" Mayor Mare stepped forward with Lady Justice. "You deceived us with that letter, and fooled the whole town. And have Sapphire Shores pose with Abacus in the picture with a fake cut out of Princess Luna is-"
"It was NOT fake!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Princess Luna did come to us yesterday!"
Twilight stepped forward. "It's true, Mayor. The princess did arrive to see us with Abacus."
Lady Justice scowled. "You lied to us before with that letter yesterday! How can we believe any word you say now?"
"Because they are good ponies," Lawful Eye said. "They went through all this, risked everything, and it was all for him!"
Lady Justice turned to Lawful Eye with that same scowl. "And you! Investigator detective Lawful Eye of Fillydelphia! I've always had a bad feeling about you, that same feeling the mayor and I had with Abacus Sum! Getting that dangerous, murderous pony out, and bringing him back here! And after all the work I put into bringing that stallion to justice for killing dear Tiger Lily, and her unborn child!"
Twilight looked at Lady Justice as she thought inside her head. "So it looks like what Abacus said about Mayor Mare and Lady Justice not liking him was true."
Lawful Eye glared darkly at Lady Justice with gritting teeth. "How dare you! The only thing you, and the mayor did was put an innocent pony in prison, and caused all his horrible suffering! I proved his innocence!"
Officer Strike Law growled. "Enough of this! Where is Abacus?! We have a federal court order for his arrest!"
Mayor Mare glared. "As the mayor of Ponyville, I demand you to tell us where he is and turn him over!"
"Now hoof him over, or else," Officer Rogue Order said. "This is your last warning!"
Lawful Eye, Spike, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Scootaloo, Twilight, and the rest of the Main Six all looked at each other. They knew that they were safe as long as Twilight's magical force field was up, but they knew that they could not stay inside it forever, and the town would soon find out about Abacus not being here. They each hoped that they could hold out until Luna's part of the plan came into action soon.
They nodded at each other, and turned back with brave, and unintimidated looks on their faces as they said in unison, "Never!"
Lady Justice looked at the ground with silent anger. "Then you leave us no choice, but to-"
Suddenly, there was a loud sound that virtually echoed throughout the whole town behind the whole crowd. Everyone turned their attention to it, for it was the sound of royal trumpet fanfare. There, they saw a large group of royal guards, some blowing on horns, as they marched towards the crowd. The guards stopped in front of the crowd, as the fanfare stopped, and the lead royal guard stepped forward.
"Announcing her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia! And her Royal Highness, Princess Luna!"
The lead guard moved away, and the rest moved away partly to make a path in the center for a pair of light fuchsiaish gray colored hooves wearing goldern shoes, followed by a pair of dark blue hooves with blueish-silver shoes walking down. Everyone gasped when they saw that the hooves belonged to the alicorn princesses. They bowed down in respect, with the two alicorns walking through the path of guards and came towards the force field protected library. Twilight smiled with delight, as she brought her force field down, and she and the rest of the main six came towards the alicorn rulers.
Celestia smiled. "Twilight Sparkle. My most faithful student. And hello to your friends too."
"It looks like we arrived just in time." Luna turned to the others. "My apologies if we did not get here sooner."
"Are you kidding," Rainbow Dash said. "Your timing couldn't be better."
Mayor Mare rose up, and approached the two alicorn princesses. "Your highnesses. What a surprise. What brings you both here to Ponyville?"
Celestia and Luna smiles faded as they turned to the mayor, revealing a look on each of their faces of anger and disappointment. Mayor Mare was somewhat startled, for she had never seen Princess Celestia with a look like that before. Soon their angry, disappointed faces gazed upon almost everyone in town, with the town looking confused and concerned at why the alicorn princess's were so angry and disappointed. Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Spike, and the Main Six however were not surprised. Granny Smith, Big McIntosh, Derpy, Cheerilee, Dr Stallion, Cup Cake and Carrot Cake, and Matilda shared the same feelings.
Celestia glared at Mayor Mare. "Bring everypony in town to the town hall within the hour."
"Every stallion, mare, and child," Luna said. "That is not a request."
Mayor Mare nodded nervously. "Y-yes, your highnesses. Of course." She turned around to the crowd. "Attention everypony! By royal command, everypony in Ponyville is to attend at the town hall within one hour! And anypony who is working is to stop what they are doing, and come as well! Spread the word!"
The whole crowd went away in different directions around town to spread the word at the mayor's instruction, and the mayor walked away towards the town hall. Twilight thought for a moment, wondering what Celestia and Luna were planning. When everyone in the crowd left and were out of hearing range, Celestia and Luna turned to Twilight and the others.
"I believe you know why we're here, Twilight." Celestia said.
Lawful Eye came up towards Princess Luna. "Princess. How is Abacus? Is he alright?"
Luna raised a reassuring hoof at Lawful Eye. "He is alright, Lawful Eye. Abacus Sum is safe and sound in our care in Canterlot's palace."
"Princess Luna has been keeping me informed of everything that has been happening," Celestia said. "And we are going to reveal the truth about Abacus Sum to the whole town."
Twilight tilted her head. "How are you going to do that, Princess? What are you and Princess Luna planning?"
"By showing everypony his memories." Luna said.
Celestia and Luna turned, and walked away in the same direction where the town hall was in town, leaving Twilight and the others alone wondering what they said. A few moments later, Twilight turned to the others. "Come on, guys. Lets get to the town hall."
"Well! Hello, Rarity!" A male voice shouted.
Everyone turned their heads to were the male voice called out. They see three unicorns in tropical holiday get-ups, and carrying luggage walking towards them as a close by taxi carriage leaves. The first was a very light gray stallion with dark grayish brown mane and tail. The second was a pale fuchsia mare with grayish indigo and grayish persian blue patterned mane and tail. And the third was a little very light gray filly with a grayish mulberry mane and tail with pale, light grayish rose colored streaks. Rarity gasped with good surprise for the three unicorn ponies were ponies she knew all too well. It was her parents, Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles, and her little sister, Sweetie Belle.
Rarity blinked for she had almost forgotten that her parents and little sister were due home today. "Mother, Father, you're home."
Sweetie Belle rushed towards Rarity. "Rarity!"
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity smiled as she opened her front hooves up, and embraced Sweetie Belle in a hug. "Ooh, it's so good to see you." She released Sweetie Belle from the hug. "How was Hawhinny?"
"Oh, it was amazing! The sandy beaches, the shopping malls, and the resort!" Sweetie Belle's voice made an adorable squeak as she said, "It was so much fun!"
"And guess what?" Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles levitated numerous Hawhinny styled souvenirs with their magic. "We brought home gifts."
"So, did anything exciting happen while we were gone?" Cookie Crumbles asked.
"Oh, there were a lot of things alright." Rainbow Dash said.
Pinkie Pie bounced. "In fact, we're heading to the town hall right now. The princesses have called for everypony in the whole town to go there within an hour, and I mean everypony. They're going to reveal the truth about Abacus Sum."
Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles blinked. "Abacus Sum?"
"Isn't that the accountant in town who was convicted of murder a couple of years ago?" Hondo Flanks asked.
Rarity nodded. "The very same."
"You better come with us to the town hall," Twilight said. "We'll explain everything along the way."
The hour came, and the whole population of the town of Ponyville had gathered into the town hall at the princess's command. Twilight and the others stayed close to the front as they waited. Twilight and the others were amazed on how full the town hall was after the whole town was now inside.
"Well, it looks like everypony in town is here." Twilight said.
Applejack noticed Granny Smith and approached her. "Hey, Granny. Where's Big Mac?"
"Oh, he went ta go get Apple Bloom." Granny Smith noticed Big Mac and Apple Bloom coming inside. "There they are, over there."
Big Mac and Apple Bloom entered into the town hall, with Big Mac carrying Apple Bloom on his back due to her still being sick with chickenpox. Sweetie Belle noticed Apple Bloom, and came over just as Big Mac placed Apple Bloom gently on the ground.
"Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle said.
Apple Bloom turned her head to see, to her delight, Sweetie Belle running up to her. "Sweetie Belle! Ya're back." The two fillies hugged, happy to see each other again. "How was yer vacation?"
"Oh, it was amazing. I wish you could've been there to see..." Sweetie Belle suddenly noticed Apple Bloom's chickenpox. "Hey. Why are you covered in red spots, Apple Bloom?"
"Oh, that," Apple Bloom said. "Ah've got chickenpox."
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened with shock. "Wait. Did you just say "chickenpox"? Uh-oh."
"Ya mean..." Apple Bloom put a hoof over her mouth as she realized what she had accidentally just done. "Whoops. Ah'm so sorry, Sweetie Belle. Ah didn't mean ta spread it ta ya."
Sweetie Belle placed a forgiving hoof on Apple Bloom. "It's okay, Apple Bloom. It can't be helped. I'm just glad that I got it after my vacation, and not during it."
"Hey, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom saw Scootaloo coming over to them. "It's good to have the three of us back together."
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Scootaloo caught sight of someone entering the town hall. She glared angrily for it was Coco-Nut, and, to her even greater anger, her father, Storm Dasher. Her father had a bandage on his right neck-shoulder area where Abacus had bit him, and had surgery on. He noticed Scootaloo, and began to approach her, relieved to see her.
"Scootaloo..." Storm Dasher said.
Scootaloo backed away from her father giving him a glare full of anger and hatred. "Don't you come near me!"
"Sweet heart, please here me-"
Before Storm Dasher could finish his sentence, Big Mac stood in front of him, to protect Scootaloo. "That's far enough, Storm Dasher."
Storm Dasher spoke to Big Mac. "But I'm not trying to-"
Big Mac leaned in uncomfortably close to Storm Dasher, giving him an angry glare while looking down on him. "Ah heard what ya did ta Scootaloo, an' Abacus the other day. Ya should be ashamed of yerself, hittin' an' hurtin' yer own daughter like that. Scootaloo don't wanna talk ta ya right now so take yer drunken rage and yer Abacus-hating vigilantism and back off!
Storm Dasher backed away at the angry tone in Big Mac's voice. Normally, Big Mac was not an aggressive stallion, and it was not common to see him angry. Many ponies in town would know better than to ague or pick a fight with a stallion as large as Big Mac if he was angry. The Main Six heard Big Mac's angry shout, and came over. Rainbow Dash came over to Scootaloo, while Applejack came over to Big Mac.
"You okay, little buddy?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yeah." Scootaloo turned to Big Mac. "Thanks, Big Mac."
Big Mac smiled, and nodded at Scootaloo. Though he had said nothing, that simple body language said everything.
Just then, fanfare began to briefly play from a royal guard standing on the stage of the town hall playing on a horn, silencing everyone and getting their attention. The other royal guards closed the doors to the town hall and stood guard.
"Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia! And her Royal Highness, Princess Luna!"
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came out, and appeared on the town hall stage. But there was no applause or cheer, for there was still that same look of anger and disappointment on their faces. Almost everyone in the crowd was scared and confused to the princesses looks, as Celestia and Luna looked around at everyone in the town hall.
"Fillies and gentlecolts," Celestia said. "I assume that many of you have wondered why my sister and I have summoned you here. It has come to my attention that Ponyville is having great trouble because of a return of a certain citizen of your town. One that goes by the name of Abacus Sum."
Almost the whole town began to relax, and began to speak out angrily about Abacus, thinking the princesses were here the help bring Abacus to justice.
"Abacus assaulted and tried to kidnap my daughter! And he assaulted me! He assaulted and molested Storm Dasher's daughter too! And he assaulted him, and he bit him as well!"
"And he assaulted us as well, and resisted arrest!"
"And he destroyed the tombstone the whole town pitched in to place on Tiger Lily's grave! That tombstone was worth a fortune!"
"He faked a picture with Princess Luna in it!"
"That scum is dangerous!"
"He murdered his wife and unborn child!"
"He needs to be put back behind bars where he belongs!"
"Bring Abacus Scum to justice!"
The crowd began to boo and shout in agreement. Twilight and the others watched as they noticed Luna's face began to rise with anger at how the town was being towards one pony.
Luna growled, and in her booming, deafening, royal Canterlot voice, she yells to the crowd, "SILENCE!!!"
The deafening, booming sound of Luna's royal Canterlot voice made the town hall windows shake. The crowd covered their ears, and stopped in fear, for Luna held nothing back in that angry yell. Her voice was a shout of thunder.
"ABACUS SUM IS INNOCENT! YOU CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE KNOW NOTHING!"
Celestia placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder. "Calm down, Luna." She turned to the crowd. "Abacus did not commit any of these crimes you say he did."
Luna glared at the crowd. "And that picture was not fake! I secretly came to Ponyville to aid Twilight Sparkle and her friends with Abacus. And after the picture with him and Sapphire Shores, I left with her back to Canterlot, taking Abacus with me."
"As for the murder of his wife and unborn child," Celestia said. "Abacus never killed them. He was innocent. As investigator detective Lawful Eye of Fillydelphia had proved: It was a tragic accident."
The crowd began to blink in both shock and confusion at what the two princesses had said, but were unsure and disbelieving at it.
Luna scowled. "Do not believe us? Well then, we will just have to show you!"
Luna's horn began to glow, and from behind her, she revealed and levitated three sealed glass jars. Inside was a glowing mist like object floating around inside each of them.
"Princess Luna has been keeping me informed of everything that has been happening. And we are going to reveal the truth about Abacus Sum to the whole town."
"How are you going to do that, Princess? What are you and Princess Luna planning?"
"By showing everypony his memories."
Twilight's eyes widen as she recalled Celestia and Luna's words. She looked at the jars with a look of realization, for she now knew what it was that was floating inside each of those three jars.
"Ooh, what's in those jars?" Pinkie Pie said. "Is it candy?"
Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie. "No, Pinkie. Those are memories."
Rainbow Dash tilted her head. "Memories?"
Twilight nodded. "That's right. It makes sense what they meant now. The princesses have magically extracted Abacus's memories, and they're going to show his memory to everypony in town. I've read about memory extraction magic in one of my books. Apparently it's magic so powerful and advanced that only an alicorn can perform it. If performed correctly, they can show any memory of anypony in every detail, and can even show events of things in the past they didn't see." She looked puzzledly at the other two jars. "But I don't know who the memories in the other two jars belong to."
Celestia glanced at the jar while talking to the crowd. "What you are looking at are jars. Inside these jars are extracted memories involving Abacus Sum." She levitated one of the three jars and presented it to the crowd. "This one contains the memories extracted from Abacus himself."
"And with these memories, the truth shall be revealed." Luna said.
Luna aimed her horn at the levitating jar, and fired a lightning bolt like magic stream at it. The jar began to glow around the town hall, with the crowd watching in awe. Then, before anyone expected it, there was a bright flash of light that engulfed the whole room.
Continues on part 2...
Chapter 20 (Part 2): "The Truth Revealed." (Violence/Graphic Warning)
Everyone in the crowd that was inside the town hall soon uncovered their eyes. To everyone's surprise, they found themselves inside of another building instead of the town hall. Everyone quickly realized that they were inside Sugarcube Corner. One mare in the crowd turned to see a little filly rushing towards her laughing happily. She got a jump when the filly went right through her, instead of colliding with her. Everyone turned their heads to the direction where the little filly ran off to, only to see a large group of ponies having a party. Many of them gasped, for it was themselves they were seeing. Then, standing next to a table of treats and a bowl of punch, they all see a familiar dark brown earth pony stallion with a grey mane and tail. Abacus turned around, revealing his unscarred, handsome face. He smiled, as he was looking at Pinkie Pie in the crowd.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie." Abacus said.
Pinkie Pie waved. "Hi, Abacus."
Suddenly, another Pinkie Pie went right through the real Pinkie Pie, and bounced right over to Abacus while carrying a tray of freshly baked treats on top of her head. "Hi, Abacus. Care for a custard tart?"
Abacus nodded. "Oh yes, thank you, Pinkie."
Pinkie Pie tilted her head in both confusion and amazement at seeing a copy of herself interacting with Abacus. She moved closer over to her copy for a closer look. "Hey, what am I doing over there?" She tried to touch herself with her hoof, only to have her hoof go right through herself. "And I just went right through myself." She then reached out to try and grab the treats on the tray, with the same result of her hoof going right through it. "Hey, what gives?"
"These are shadows of memories of the past," Luna said. "Things that have already happened."
Pinkie Pie blinked. "Really?"
Past Abacus eats a custard tart. "Mmm. These are the best custard tarts you've made so far, Pinkie."
Past Pinkie Pie smiled. "Thanks." She turned her head. "Oh! Hi, Tiger Lily."
Everyone turned to the direction Past Pinkie Pie was looking, to see a beautiful, light brilliant tangelo colored unicorn mare, with a light brilliant vermilion and green striped mane and tail. Some were beginning to tear up, for it was Tiger Lily herself. They watched as Tiger Lily came over to Past Abacus and Past Pinkie.
"Hello, Pinkie," Tiger Lily said. "Is the special cake ready?"
Past Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yes, indeedy! Shall I bring it out now?"
Tiger Lily nodded. "Yes, please. I think it's time to reveal the surprise."
"Surprise?" Abacus asked. "I wasn't told about any surprise."
Tiger Lily turned to Abacus. "Well, funny enough, the surprise is actually for you, Abi."
Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack's eyes widened, for they all now recognized what memory they were looking at.
"Oh, my goodness," Rarity said. "I remember this."
Pinkie Pie bounced. "Ooh, ooh, I remember too! This is when Tiger Lily organised that party to surprise Abacus."
Applejack took her hat off in respect. "The surprise was ta tell him that she was pregnant."
"And he was going to be a father." Fluttershy said.
"Everypony! May I have your attention please?!" Everyone at the party turned to Tiger Lily as she called out for their attention and stayed quiet. "Thank you. I have a big announcement to make, and it's also a surprise for all of you." She looked at Abacus. "But more so for you, Abi." She turned back to everyone else. "And it pleases me to know that the efforts to keep this surprise a secret was not wasted."
Tiger Lily turned everyone's attention at the party to a direction. They turned to see Pinkie Pie bring out a cake on a trolley. The cake was big and white, with a white bassinet made of hard cake icing decorated on the top. Abacus was confused looking at the cake, until his face shifted to surprise, and turned to Tiger Lily.
"Lily...are you..."
Tiger Lily placed a hoof on Abacus. "I got the results from Dr Stallion last week." She smiled. "We're going to have a baby."
Abacus's face lit up with joy, as a couple of tears of joy escaped his eye. "I'm going to be a father! This is the best surprise ever!"
Abacus laughed with joy, and he and Tiger Lily embraced each other. Everyone at the party cheered with delight, as Abacus and Tiger Lily shared a kiss. The crowd watching the events of the party of the past looked on with mix feelings. Then the area around them suddenly began to evaporate like smoke as it began to change to another time and location.
The location soon changed to a kitchen inside of a house during the day time. There, they see Abacus and Tiger Lily were standing in the kitchen. They were watching a pale, light grayish brown earth stallion with a dark tangeloish gray mane and tail, and wearing workers overalls working on a power socket at the back of the refrigerator. The stallion wrapped electrical tap around the wires connected to the power socket, and pushed the power socket back into the wall, before screwing it in. After he plugged the refrigerator into the wall, he got up from the floor, and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.
"Well, that's it, Abacus, Tiger Lily," The stallion said. "Could you turn the power back on?"
Abacus nodded. "Sure."
Abacus walked to the main power switch inside a lower cupboard on the other side of the kitchen. He then flicked the main switch to turn on the power, and the refrigerator began to quietly hum.
The stallion smiled. "Well, the power socket has been replaced, and the wires have been fixed, so they shouldn't give you anymore trouble. I'll send you the bill tomorrow."
"Thank you very much, Mr Socket." Tiger Lily said.
Light Socket smiled. "No trouble at all."
Abacus came over to the refrigerator with Light Socket. "Let me help you with the refrigerator."
Abacus and Light Socket got on both sides of the refrigerator, and pushed it back into its space in the kitchen. Light Socket went to pack up his electrician tools and parts from the kitchen floor, and put them into his toolbox. Many in the crowd looked in confusion as to why they were being shown that part of Abacus's memory. Then like the previous memory, the area around them began to evaporate like smoke, and began to change to another time and location.
The next memory takes them to the same house of Abacus and Tiger Lily, but to night time a few days later.
"That time you're looking at is the very night Tiger Lily died." Celestia said.
The crowd watched as they see Abacus and Tiger Lily enter the bedroom, and went towards the bed. After closing the bedroom door, they each got into their bed, and got comfortable. Tiger Lily sighed happily, getting Abacus's attention.
"Lily," Abacus said. "You alright?"
Tiger Lily smiled. "Of course I am, Abi. Nothing to worry about."
Abacus sighed. "I'm sorry, Lily."
"I know," Tiger Lily said. "You're just concerned for my well being, as well as the baby." She put a hoof on Abacus's hoof. "It shows how much you care. I know you'll be a really caring father to our child."
"And I'm really excited about it." Abacus sighed. "It's just... Well, the thing is Lily... I... I'm sort of scared too. You see, I never had a father, so being one is going to be a challenge and unknown thing for me. I even recently borrowed some books on fatherhood that I've been reading to help me get prepared, and-"
Tiger Lily placed a hoof on Abacus's mouth to silence him, and smiled and chuckled sweetly. "Oh, Abi. You're so silly. Fatherhood isn't something you read in books, it's something that comes from within, just like motherhood." She took her hoof off of Abacus's mouth and shared a kiss with him. "Abi. I'm glad you told me. I was a bit worried at first too, because of the fact I didn't grow up with real parents. But it passed when I realized that I have you with me, and you have me. We'll work through all this together."
Abacus smiled. "I guess you're right. I guess talking about it really does help."
Tiger Lily yawned. "It does. But we'll talk about it more in the morning. Let's get some sleep."
"Sure, honey." Abacus turned the bedside lamp off, and lay down in bed under the covers next to Tiger Lily. "Good night, Lily."
"Good night, Abi." Tiger Lily said cuddling up to Abacus. "See you in the morning."
The crowd watched as Abacus and Tiger Lily went to sleep in their bed together. They were just going to sleep when there was a sudden noise that sounded like a window smashing that woke them both up.
"What was that?" Tiger Lily asked.
"I don't know." Abacus got up out of bed, and walked quietly over to the bedroom door. "But I'll go check."
Abacus slowly and cautiously opened the door, and peered through it. His eyes widened with shock when he saw and smelled smoke, as well as fire light glowing off the walls.
"Fire!" Abacus turned to Tiger Lily. "Our house is on fire!"
"Oh, no!" Tiger Lily jumped out of bed quickly. "Let's get out!"
Abacus pointed to the bedroom window and ran to it. "Quick, the window!"
Just before they reached the bedroom window to escape, a burning wooden beam fell through the ceiling from the roof, and obstructed the window, preventing Abacus and Tiger Lily's chance of escape.
"We'll have to escape through the front door," Tiger Lily said. "Keep low and move!"
Abacus and Tiger Lily went down low to the floor, and began to crawl. They exited the bedroom, and moved down the halls that lead to the living room. The fire had spread to the roof, and the whole house was full of smoke. They soon reached the living room and soon approached the small hallway that lead to the front door.
“Come on, honey!" Abacus coughed. "There’s the door!”
They reached the door, and Tiger Lily opened it widely with her magic. Suddenly, another burning wooden beam fell through the ceiling from the roof. It landed on top of Tiger Lily, pinning her down just before they were safely out.
Tiger Lily reached out to Abacus. “Abi! Help!”
“Hang on, Lily!" Abacus said.
Abacus got up and tried to lift the beam up off of Tiger Lily to free her, but the beam was too heavy, and was hot. He looked up at the smoking, burning roof, for there was a creaking noise coming from there. "Oh no!” He gasped for he realized that the roof was going to collapse at any moment.
Tiger Lily looked at the ceiling, and then at Abacus. She then knew that there was no way Abacus could get her out by himself, and that the roof was going to crash on top of them, killing both of them. She looked into Abacus's eyes, as he struggled to free her. Abacus looked back at her, and Tiger Lily smiled lovingly at him.
“I love you, Abi.” Tiger Lily said.
Before Abacus realized anything, Tiger Lily shoved Abacus out the door with her hooves with all her might, making him fall backwards on to the ground outside the house. Then there was a loud crack, and the whole burning ceiling collapsed on top of her. Abacus got up to just see the burning roof collapse completely into the inferno.
“NO!!!!!!!!!”
The crowd gasped with shock at the memory they saw, as the memory showing Abacus crying and screaming evaporated like smoke, and the area began to stay neutral. There was a brief silence, with those few in the crowd who believed Abacus was innocent beginning to cry at witnessing Tiger Lily's brave, selfless sacrifice for themselves.
"That's not how it happened," Lady Justice said. "This is a lie!"
"THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT NEVER LIES!!"
Lady Justice cringed before Luna's booming royal Canterlot voice. Luna conjured the part of the memory back to the time before the fire started. The crowd found themselves in the same house, at the same time, but found themselves in the kitchen.
Luna pointed at the refrigerator. "Behold, where the trouble started!"
The crowd watched the refrigerator as they could hear Abacus and Tiger Lily's conversation in bed. They suddenly saw white sparks flash behind the refrigerator right when Tiger Lily said "Oh, Abi. You're so silly.". It then followed by smoke rising with a soft zapping pop, and fire light glowing from behind the refrigerator. The fire crept up the wall, and spread round the kitchen burning everything and reached through the ceiling, lighting the roof on fire. The fire continued to burn as it reached the kitchen window, causing the glass on the window to burst, which is what woke up Abacus and Tiger Lily. They soon heard Abacus shout "Fire! Our house is on fire!" just as the area evaporated like smoke, and stayed neutral.
"Now do you see? This is what truly happened." Luna turned to Lawful Eye. "Lawful Eye, may you explain?"
Lawful Eye nodded and turned to the crowd. "The fire was a result of an electrical fire caused by a faulty wire in the kitchen wall near the refrigerator. Most likely from a power socket."
Luna looked amongst the crowd until her eyes gazed at one certain pony. "Can you explain that, Mr Light Socket?"
Everyone turned to Light Socket, the local Ponyville electrician pony, causing him to stammer confusedly and nervously. "I don't understand. I checked the switch, the wires and everything. How could have that power socket I replaced started the fire?"
"The wires that were connected to the power socket in the wall were exposed, which caused them to overload, and catch fire." Lawful Eye said.
Light Socket blinked in confusion. "But I checked the wires correctly. And it was working perfectly. How could it have not overload and caught fire when I turn it on straight away?"
"There is a logical explanation." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "When you inserted the replaced power socket back into the wall, the wires rested against the inside of the wall. Inside the wall, they must've been held in place because there was an exposed nail, and had unknowingly pierced through the electrical tape. That nail would've been the only thing preventing the wires from touching each other, until the tape eventually gave in, making the wires come loose, causing the wires to touch each other with other wires when hitting the inside of the wall. Therefore causing an overload, and to catch fire."
One pony spoke out. "So are you saying that Light Socket killed Tiger Lily?"
"Not exactly," Lawful Eye said. "It was an unforeseen event that occasionally happens to any professional in any field. I am not accusing Light Socket of killing her. It was an unlucky, unfortunate occurrence that very rarely happens. He was very thorough with his work, but sometimes these things can happen, and it wasn't his fault."
Another pony spoke out. "But how did the fire spread to the roof so quickly?"
"Again, there is an explanation for that." Lawful Eye cleared her throat. "As the fire was burning from inside the walls, super-heated air, along with sparks, and embers from the fire spread and flowed to the inside of the roof. This caused the wood and insulation in the roof to ignite in different places."
The crowd was stunned, speechless at the evidence Lawful Eye presented to them. Twilight and the rest of the Main Six were amazed. They had never thought to see Lawful Eye's detective and lawyer skills in action, for it felt like she was giving evidence in court. The newspaper did specifically say that Lawful Eye was known for her observant and analytical mind, and now seeing it first hand, they knew that it was all definitely true.
Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity came forward. "Now do y'all see?! Abacus was innocent as we all been tellin' ya!"
"Abacus wouldn't hurt a fly." Fluttershy said.
Rarity nodded. "He was a real gentlecolt."
Lady Justice scowled. "Not so fast!" She turned to Lawful Eye. "How can you possibly prove this?! The investigation team from Canterlot already proved that Abacus lit the fire himself with kerosene! It was premeditated murder!"
"THAT WAS A LIE!" Luna's eyes glowed as she spoke in her booming royal Canterlot voice, with the area beginning to glow and change once again. "BEHOLD!"
The area began to stop glowing, and the crowd found themselves in another location. The area had changed to the inside of the Ponyville district court house. The crowd saw themselves and knew straight away that this was Abacus's trial, at the time his verdict was handed.
"All rise," A bailiff pony said. "District court now back in session! Judge Lady Justice presiding to deliver the verdict."
Lady Justice came out and sat down on the judges bench. She sorted the court papers, and cleared her throat, as she glared at Abacus.
"Abacus Sum. Please stand." Lady Justice watched as Abacus stood up at her order. "Do you have anything to say before I deliver my verdict?"
Abacus nodded as he sadly pleaded for mercy. "Yes. I didn't kill Lily. The investigation team are wrong, it's all a mistake. I loved her, and I always wanted to be a father. I'd never do anything to hurt her. Please believe me? You and Mayor Mare are my friends. You know I wouldn't kill anypony. Please. You have to believe me."
Lady Justice sighed and thought for a moment. "Abacus Sum. Your pleas for mercy sound and seem very innocent, and genuine." She looked up at Abacus with an angry glare. "But I and the rest of this court see it as nothing more than an act from a very greedy, deceptive, cold-blooded murderer!"
Abacus shook his head defiantly. "No! It's not true!"
Lady Justice smacked the gavel. "Silence in the court!" She put the gavel down. "Off the record, both the mayor and I have never liked you from the start, and we were suspicious of you from the very beginning! A married couple who seemed perfect to others, but the evidence the investigation team from Canterlot have uncovered and presented before the court have confirmed about your true character to really be behind closed doors. A monster who killed his wife and unborn child in cold blood for his own greed!"
"No-No!!" Abacus said.
Lady Justice smacked the gavel. "Silence!! Tiger Lily was a good, gentle, innocent soul, who was loved by everypony in town. A dear friend to all, including Mayor Mare and myself. And you took her away from us!" She scowled at Abacus as she spoke to everyone in court. "Therefore, in the case of Abacus Sum, it gives me great pleasure to hereby find the defendant...Guilty!"
The crowd in court began to clap and cheer at Lady Justice's given verdict, with Abacus crying at the desk. Abacus's mother, Arithma was sitting close by behind him in the row of seats at the front row, and began crying too. Lady Justice stayed silent for a few moments as she permitted the cheering and applause from the whole town, for she was aware of the public feeling.
Lady Justice smacked the gavel. "Order! Order!!" She turned to Abacus with the same angry scowl. "Of all my years serving on the bench, I have never came across a murder so planned out, and so cowardly. The first ever murder recorded in Ponyvilles' history that will haunt our town forever. You Abacus Sum are scum! The worst of the worst! Therefore, it sees fitting that you should be sentenced to spend the rest of your natural life behind bars at Hoofstrong Prison Center, the place where scum like you belong! Never to be released!"
Two certain unicorn stallions in black and white suits sat at a second desk in the courtroom. One had a dark phthalo blue coat, with a dark gray mane, the other had a grayish amber colored coat, with a dark amber colored mane. They both smiled with triumph as Lady Justice delivered Abacus's sentence, with the crowd cheering in agreement. Twilight's eyes widened as she looked at the two stallions, for she recognized them both.
It's them. Blue Ward and Cover-Up. Twilight thought.
"All those in favor?" Lady Justice asked.
Almost everyone in the crowd raised their hooves, and cheered "Aye!" angrily in agreement. Lady Justice nodded. "The ayes have it!" She smacked the gavel to end the court. "Case is adjourned!"
"No!" Two royal guards grabbed Abacus. "I'm innocent! I'm innocent!!"
Lady Justice pointed towards the court room door. "Take that scum, and lock him away!!!"
Almost the whole crowd began to angrily cheer, as the royal guards began to drag him away. Arithma tried reaching out to Abacus with tears in her eyes while watching her one and only child being taken away.
"Abi!" Arithma said.
Abacus reached out to Arithma. "Mother!"
The angry cheers drowned out Abacus's innocent pleas, as the royal guards dragged him out of the court house. They reached outside, where the crowd from outside began to angrily cheer, and throw numerous fruit and vegetables at Abacus.
They approached a prison transport wagon stationed outside, where the royal guards shoved Abacus into the wagon, and closed the doors, before the wagon started to move away. Luna stepped forward to the crowd as they watched the memory evaporated like smoke, and the area began to change. She then pointed the crowd towards a direction while still talking in her royal Canterlot voice.
"NOW WATCH AND SEE THE RESULTS OF YOUR ACTIONS!"
The crowd watched as the memory changed to an empty, smooth concrete floored room. It was mostly dark and lit up by a few lights. The sound of a heavy door opening caught the crowd's attention. There they watched to see Abacus being shoved into it by royal guards, with the suited ponies following behind. Just before Abacus got up from the floor, something shot at him from the darkness. A metal collar attached to his neck, and soon followed by the sound of sinister, sadistic laughter. Abacus put his hooves on the collar as he struggled in an effort to get it off.
"You're wasting your time," A voice from the darkness said after laughing. "That's a steelectric collar. It's made of solid hydro-chromatised steel. Nothing's gonna break it under 20,000 degrees of heat, and only a high member of prison security can ever remove it. And best part of all..."
The steelectric collar began to glow with yellow sparks of electricity surging around it. Abacus screamed in great pain for the collar was shocking him, with the voice in the darkness laughing sadistically at his pain.
"...It shocks ponies wearing it with up to 10,000 volts of electricity, causing them great pain at anytime we wish."
The steelectric collar stopped glowing with Abacus crying from the pain that collar caused him. The crowd watched as Abacus looked up to see someone step out of the darkness and into the light. His eyes widen for it was a large minotaur towering before him. The minotaur wore a dark green prison warden uniform, with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, exposing his large muscles. Abacus then looked passed the minotaur to see a group of large stallions and griffons appear behind him from the darkness afterwards. Some of the stallions wore armor, indicating that they were royal guards. The minotaur grinned evilly at Abacus.
"Well now, what do we have here?" The minotaur said. "A new addition to our happy home."
"The very one I told you about, Armstrong!" A random male voice from the darkness confirmed.
Abacus turned his head to where the male voice came from. There, one of the large ponies came more into the light. The pony was a large moderate olive colored Earth pony stallion, with a pale, light grayish olive and light yellow patterned mane and tail.
"Remember me, Abacus?" The stallion grinned sinisterly at Abacus. "It's been a long time. Hasn't it...smarty pants?"
Abacus's eyes widen at the stallion for using that name, "Smarty Pants" on him. It was a stallion from his past that he remembered all to well. He was the stallion that used to bully him in his childhood.
"...Rotten Eggs." Abacus said.
"So you remember me, huh?" Rotten Eggs pounded his fist and grinned. "Good. That means this will be all the more enjoyable."
Armstrong raised an arm to block Rotten Eggs's path. "Not yet!" He turned to the suited ponies standing close behind Abacus. "So, Blue Ward and Cover-Up, what did you bring me?"
One of the suited ponies, known as Blue Ward, handed over a case file to Armstrong with his magic. Armstrong takes it, and opened it up to read what was inside it. He quietly read it for a few moments, before looking at Abacus, then back at the suited ponies.
"Premeditated first-degree murder and arson, huh?" Armstrong said. "Tisk-tisk-tisk! That's a bad thing!"
The other suited pony, known as Cover-Up, smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry." He levitated a second file, and presented it to Armstrong. "Here's the real one."
The crowd watching the memory tilted their heads with a look of confusion at what was just said. Abacus in the memory shared that same expression as Armstrong opened the other file that Cover-Up handed to him.
Armstrong smiled pleasingly. "Ah, much better. So this is an innocent pony? A really good profit too." He turned to Rotten Eggs. "Looks like you were right about this one."
Abacus blinked. "What?"
Rotten Eggs turned to Abacus. "Well, I guess since the cat's out of the bag now, there's a secret we'll share with you."
"All the charges that these ponies had laid on you were false." Armstrong said.
Abacus's eyes widened with shock. "What?!"
Blue Ward smiled evilly. "That's right. The fire was caused by an electrical overload with wires of the power socket in the kitchen. After finding your high bank account of 530,000 bits, combined with the 1,200,000 bit life insurance payout, we framed, and falsely charged you with murder and arson. We used some of the three gallon container of kerosene in your garden shed as false evidence, while pouring most of it down the drain. And with the mayor and judge's secret suspicions of you, it was almost too easy. We even monitored and intercepted you and your mother's mail. Especially mail to your friend, Lawful Eye, to get her out of the way."
"Now your money is ours," Cover-Up said. "And it doesn't matter now finding this out, because you'll never leave here or live to tell it. Guess you should've taken the plea bargain, huh? Then again, it wouldn't matter if you did take it or not. You're still screwed either way."
Armstrong laughed, as he handed the real evidence file to a dark red unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail standing next to him, who takes it with his magic. "That's right. Nopony who comes here, ever leaves here alive."
Abacus glared at the suited ponies. "You monsters!"
Abacus charged at Blue Ward and Cover-Up, only to be shocked by the collar round his neck by one of Armstrong's guards, causing him to collapse on the floor, crying and screaming in pain.
Rainbow Dash growled. "You asked for it, jerks!"
Rainbow Dash rushed at the guard shocking Abacus, only to find herself go right through him, and falling on the ground. She got up confused at this, until she remembered that these were shadows of what have already happened. Abacus glared at Blue Ward and Cover-Up with tears in his eyes from the pain of the recent shocks.
"You'll never get away with this!" Abacus said.
Blue Ward chuckled. "We already have. And we always will. We've been getting away with it for the last eight years. You're not the first victim, and you won't be the last. Even Princess Celestia herself doesn't know anything about all this, and she never will. She's too trusting, and they say you shouldn't trust anypony. And when you die in here, ponies will always remember you as a dangerous criminal, just as the name the pathetic town of Ponyville gave you, Abacus Scum."
"Like I said," Armstrong said. "Ponies who get sent here die."
Armstrong looked to a direction where there was a fear-inducing sound of a dog growling. And stepping out of the darkness was a very large rottweiler that sat down next to Armstrong growling at Abacus.
Armstrong patted the dog's head. "After all, pony is Reaper's favorite. Isn't it, boy?"
Armstrong's dog, Reaper barked and growled at Abacus with a look of sadistic pleasure just as Armstrong had, like he was smiling evilly. The crowd watching the memory were completely stunned at what they were hearing and seeing.
Armstrong stopped patting Reaper. "But that's enough of that! I think it's time to give Abacus the traditional Hoofstrong welcome." He turned to Rotten Eggs and the rest of his guards while smiling sadistically. "What do you say, boys? Care to do the honor?"
Rotten Eggs pounded his fist as he and the rest of the pony and griffon guards advanced on Abacus. "With pleasure. And this time, Lawful Eye isn't here to save you. You're all mine!"
A unicorn guard used his magic to make the steelectric collar shock Abacus, making Abacus once again scream in pain. Rotten Eggs then shoved Abacus to the ground, while he was being shocked. The pony and griffon guards advanced with Rotten Eggs, and started to beat Abacus. The crowd gasped with shock as they watched Abacus getting beaten up, with the sounds of him crying and screaming in pain, and begging for mercy. After a whole minute of numerous punches and kicks from the guards, they stepped back to reveal Abacus all bruised, battered, and injured on the floor crying, and bleeding. Another unicorn guard began using his magic to once again make his steelectric collar shock him. Abacus screamed in pain as the guards laugh sadistically. The guards stood around and watched Abacus crying on the floor, until Rotten Eggs grinned and turned to the other guards.
"Hey, boys?" Rotten Eggs asked. "Anypony else got the sweets?"
The guards grinned and nodded in agreement. Rotten Eggs and two other guards then grabbed Abacus and began to tie him up with rope, as two other guards brought out a strange table. Abacus struggled against them, but they were too strong. They began to secure him to the table before putting a ball gag in his mouth, and securing it tightly. The crowd gasped with horror at what they were seeing before them, with little children beginning to cling to their parents in fear. They turned back to see Armstrong approach Abacus now restrained to the table. His front hooves were tied behind his back, his back hooves secured to the legs as if he was still standing, and a ball gag strapped into his mouth. He stopped in front of Abacus, and looked down on him while grinning sadistically.
"Look what I have here!" Armstrong said.
Armstrong presented the case file that contained the real forensic report of Abacus's innocence. He then dropped it on the concrete floor in Abacus's line of vision, and took something out from the pocket of his uniform. It turned out to be a small can with the words "Lighter Fuel" written on the label. Armstrong then pored the lighter fuel on the case file. Abacus yelled and screamed into the ball gag, and helplessly watched as Armstrong struck a match, and dropped it on the case file, lighting it on fire. Abacus could do nothing except watch the case file that contained the truth burn in front of him, and started to shed tears. Armstrong sat down on a close by chair and watched, smiling sadistically as his guards did their stuff to him. Abacus looked behind him to see Rotten Eggs standing their right behind him smiling sadistically as he moved his tail out of the way.
Rotten Eggs chuckled evilly. "I've been waiting for this for years. You're all mine."
The crowd watched on, horrified at what they were seeing. The sound of Abacus's muffled, agonizing screams in the memory could be heard, for Abacus was being raped. The children began to cry in fear, going to their parents for safety. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down began to growl in anger, while Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo cringed, covered their eyes, and cried in fear. Twilight came over to Princess Luna in an effort to stop her from showing this part of the memory.
"Princess Luna, please," Twilight said. "You can't show them this! You're scaring everypony! Please stop!"
Luna turned to Twilight with white glowing eyes filled with anger, and spoke to her in her royal Canterlot voice. "NO, TWILIGHT SPARKLE! THEY NEED TO SEE EXACTLY WHAT ABACUS SUM SUFFERED AND WENT THROUGH BECAUSE OF THEM! IT WAS WHAT HE REQUESTED FOR US TO DO!"
Twilight looked at the night princess in aghast, for she had not seen her this enraged and serious since her first Nightmare Night celebration after being freed from the moon as Nightmare Moon. Through the look in Luna's eyes, Twilight knew that Luna was not going to stop showing the crowd the pain, suffering, and torture Abacus suffered, whether or not it terrified them to see it.
Continues on part 3...
Chapter 20 (Part 3): "The Truth Revealed." (Violence/Graphic Warning)
The whole crowd continued to watch in terror with Luna continuing to show them the tortures Abacus suffered at Hoofstrong Prison Center. Abacus's muffled, agonizing screams echoed throughout the room as he was being exposed to numerous methods of pain, suffering, and humiliation. The memory of him getting raped on the first day of his suffering evaporated like smoke, and changed to another day, and another room. The door opened to reveal Abacus being forced into the room by Rotten Eggs and two other guards with his front hooves tied behind his back, and a ball gag in his mouth.
"Right, Abacus Scum, the smarty pants," Rotten Eggs said. "It's the plug chair for you!"
Abacus looked up to see that in the center of the room was a seat with a rather large, metal plug on it and wires connected to it. He looked in horror as Rotten Eggs and the guards began to laugh sadistically.
Rotten Eggs grinned. "Put him on the chair!"
Abacus struggled as Rotten Eggs and the guards began to bring him towards the plug chair. When they reached the chair, they positioned and began to push Abacus down on to it with Abacus struggling in vain against the larger, stronger ponies. The crowd gasped with the sound of Abacus screaming and crying in pain through the ball gag. A few moments later, they see Rotten Eggs and the guards beginning to walk out of the room. Rotten Eggs stopped and looked back at Abacus who was crying in pain with a pleasurably sadistic grin.
"See you in the morning...maybe."
Rotten Eggs turned to a switchboard on the wall next to the door that had two switches with one saying "Vibrate" and the other saying "Shock" written above. He flicked both switches, and the muffled, agonizing screams of Abacus Sum echoed as he closed the door behind him. The crowd could not believe what they were witnessing.
The memory once again evaporated like smoke, and changed to another day and another location. This time to a prison cell. The sudden sound of the door of the prison cell unlocking echoed in the room, and soon followed by a weak, beaten, and bounded Abacus being thrown into his cell by Armstrong, Rotten Eggs, and his guards. Abacus cried from the pain and abuse he just recently endured, as Armstrong, Rotten Eggs, and his guards began laughing.
"Poor widdle baby. Hurting. Cwying for his mommy to come and save him." Rotten Eggs laughed.
Armstrong chuckled. "That reminds me. You don't have a mommy anymore. Because your dumb-ass bitch mommy's dead."
Abacus weakly looked up disbelievingly with tears in his eyes. Armstrong grinned seeing this.
"That's right, scum. She died of cancer, slow and painful." Armstrong chuckled sadistically. "Too bad she never got to see her baby before she died."
"She would've died of a heart attack hearing you scream." A unicorn guard said.
The unicorn guard used his magic to make the steelectric collar shock Abacus, and making him once again scream and cry in pain. Armstrong, Rotten Eggs, and the guards began laughing, enjoying Abacus's pain.
"Go on and cry all you want, because she's dead, trash!" Armstrong grinned with sadistic satisfactory. "You ain't never going to see your fucking mommy ever again, Abacus Scum!"
Armstrong, Rotten Eggs, and the guards walked out of Abacus's cell laughing, closed and locked the door behind them. Abacus was left alone crying from the pain, and from his mother's death. Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down began to growl in anger, while Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo teared up at what they were watching. Seeing what those cruel, cold-blooded, sadistic monsters had done to him was so detestable to witness.
The memory once again evaporated like smoke, and changed to another day and another location. It showed the same smooth concrete floored room, but in another time. The crowd sees Abacus in the memory bounded to the same strange table with a ball gag in his mouth, and was surrounded by Rotten Eggs and the guards. Armstrong sat close by watching everything with his savage dog, Reaper by his side. Abacus was filthy, and scruffy like he had not bathed for many days. He was crying for mercy from his captures, knowing good and well what they were going to do to him. They looked at him with the same evil, sadistic grin, as they were laughing.
"I got the sweets again," Rotten Eggs said. "Anypony else got them too?"
The guards nodded in unison. One of the guards approached Abacus from behind him as his tear-filled eyes watched the guard with pure terror. The crowd once again began to watch in horrible shock as the sound of Abacus's muffled, agonizing screams echoed throughout the room. Armstrong smiled with sadistic pleasure at watching his guards have their fun with Abacus. His dog, Reaper gave the same sadistic pleasurable smile with him. Rotten Eggs came over, standing in front of Abacus as he looked up with terror and pleading for mercy.
Rotten Eggs removed the ball gag from Abacus's mouth. "You know the routine. And if you resist..." He directed him to Armstrong's dog, Reaper. "You know what will happen."
The crowd exclaimed with grossed out expressions at what they were watching, until the sound of a scream was heard. But this scream did not come from Abacus, this scream came from Rotten Eggs, and it was a painful and terrified scream.
"Get him off me!!!" Rotten Eggs screamed.
Rotten Eggs continued screaming, until he let out an even louder scream of agonizing pain. The crowd watched as Rotten Eggs collapsed on the concrete floor, crying in agonizing pain as he covered his crotch area. A puddled of blood slowly began growing in size around him. Abacus looked on with a psychotic rage-filled face and blood all over his mouth. Then his face and eyes started to change back, like he was coming out of a trance. It was the same way Twilight and the others saw with his fight with Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and Officers Law and Order. He was in shock at watching Rotten Eggs crying and screaming in great, agonizing pain, for he began to realize just what he had done. Armstrong growled, enraged at the sight of one of his favorite guards injured so badly by Abacus.
Armstrong turned to his dog, as he angrily commanded, "Reaper, kill!"
Reaper growled and barked viciously as he charged at Abacus at Armstrong's command. Abacus was still bound, and unable to defend himself. He stared with a look of fear at Reaper charging at him, and to that, he realized he was going to die. Before Reaper could go for his throat, Abacus moved the left side of his face in order to shield his throat in the nick of time. The crowd once again began to watch in horror at seeing the dog attack Abacus with a sound of vicious growling and barking, along with screams and cries from Abacus himself. Children in the crowd began to cry to their parents in horrible fear. Princess Celestia began to feel bad, and thought it had gone long enough.
Luna, without saying a word, lifted her hoof in refusal, and directed Celestia to look at an area in the shown memory. Then a few seconds later, the prison doors burst open and a large group of royal guards raided the room.
“ROYAL GUARDS!”
"LETS MOVE! GO-GO-GO-GO!!"
The crowd watched as the numerous voices shouted, and the sound of the dog yelping in pain echoed for some moments. One of the royal guards who had killed the dog rushed over to Abacus, who was screaming, and crying in pain. The guard was shocked at seeing the shocking mauling injury to the left side of his face.
“I NEED SOME HELP HERE!” The royal guard shouted as he undid the ropes bounding Abacus, and tended to his wounds.
A couple of other guards tended to Rotten Eggs. "THESE TWO NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION!"
"Get those two to the hospital! Immediately!"
The royal guard captain who made the order came into view. He was a white unicorn stallion with a mane that was moderate sapphire blue with moderate cerulean and dark phthalo blue streaks, along with wearing purple and gold armor. Twilight's eyes widened, for she knew all too well who that stallion was. It was none other than her older brother.
"Shining?" Twilight said.
Shining Armor turned to Armstrong and the other guards, who were captured, and tied-up with ropes and chains. "You're all under arrest, in the name of her royal highnesses of Equestria!"
Armstrong growled at Shining Armor and the royal guards, as the memory evaporated like smoke, and the area began to stay neutral. The crowd was shaken up at what they were all just shown, Twilight and the others especially. They had never expected Luna to show the horrible things that Abacus had suffered. After a few moments of silence, Luna spoke out, but this time in her normal voice.
"I have other things to show you of Abacus's memory," Luna said. "Now watch."
Luna made the area change to another location and time. This time to the inside of a court room. The crowd saw Abacus sitting in a solitary stand in the court room, guarded by two royal guards. His hooves were bound in chains, his steelectric collar had rope connected to it held by the mouth of one of the guards, and his head was down with hopeless sadness. Lawful Eye sat at a desk in the court room before the judge. He was a dark tangelo unicorn stallion with a thick short black mane with tight, small curls, and had a short black beard.
The crowd soon realised that they were now looking at the retrial of Abacus taking place in Equestria supreme court in Canterlot.
“Miss Lawful Eye," The judge said in a deep, raspy, African-American voice. "Do you have anything you wish to say before I deliver my final verdict?”
“Yes, your honor." Lawful Eye stood up from the desk. "Fillies and gentlecolts of the court. Mr Abacus Sum’s sentence and conviction was nothing more, nothing less than a sick crime of evil corruption and conspiracy by the evil ring operating between a police and investigation force, and a high security prison. The ponies from the police investigation force, that was sworn to serve and protect, framed an innocent stallion for his money, like they did to the many other victims before and after him. This case just shows how the lives of innocent ponies can be ruined by the corruption, and greed from police investigative teams like from Canterlot, who have no regard for life. That is all, your honor.”
Lawful Eye sat back down at her desk in the court room. The judge sat there with his hooves together thinking, with the court all silent waiting for the judge to speak.
The judge sighed and looked up. “Miss Lawful Eye. Your little speech was words of truth. And I for one personally agree. Of all my years on the bench, I had never encountered a case as serious, and horrific as this. It is without a doubt the worst case of police corruption, and conspiracy that Equestria has ever encountered. This case is one that will shock me from this day. It is unimaginable to think about the horrors, along with such sickening suffering one must have endured throughout such an ordeal. And with the evidence before me, I hereby find the prisoner, Abacus Sum, not guilty on all charges against him." He smacked the gavel with his magic.
The ponies in the court applauded at the judge's verdict. Lawful Eye smiled and shed a tear of joy that the case was over, and that her dear friend, Abacus was going to be a free pony again. Abacus however showed no signs of joy, and he just sat there with his head down in the same very hopelessly depressed state.
"Order." The judge smacked the gavel a few times. "Order!"
The ponies in the court stopped, and remained quiet at the judge's order demand. The judge then turned to Abacus. "Mr Sum. Do you have anything you wish to say before the courts?”
Abacus said nothing. He just closed his eyes, and slowly shook his head as sad tear escaped out of his eye, and ran down his horribly scarred cheek.
“I see." The judge sighed. "Mr Sum. Nopony can imagine the amount of hurt you suffered. Wrongfully convicted ponies commonly feel emotions ranging from anger and loss, to paranoia and betrayal. The long-term effects of many wrongfully convicted ponies can experience ongoing psychiatric dysfunction and have long-term difficulties reintegrating into society. But you, Mr Sum, were framed. Framed by the police investigation team that society trusted to find the truth. And on the behalf of everypony, you have our humblest apologies. You will be given 120,000 bits in compensation. That's 60,000 for each year of your sentence. It won't fix everything for you, but it should be a start to help get you back on your feet. I would also suggest some psychological evaluation, testing, and perhaps treatment for you, Mr Sum. You will be required to appear in court again in six weeks’ time to testify against Armstrong, his guards, and the former police investigators involved. In the meantime, you will be sent back to Hoofstrong Prison Center, where you will be officially released, and walk out as a free pony tomorrow morning at 10 am. I wish you, Mr Sum all the best of luck for the future.” The judge then turned to face Lawful Eye, and the other ponies in the court room. “In addition, there will be a further compensation hearing on the nineteenth in three months time at 11 am. Court is adjourned."
The judge hit the gavel to end the court, and many ponies at the court who were sitting on the benches began to leave. The pegasus royal guard gently tugged on the rope attached to Abacus's steelectric collar.
"Alright, Abacus," The pegasus royal guard said through the rope in his mouth. "Come on, let's go."
Lawful Eye watched from her desk as Abacus got up from the stand at the guard's instructions, and began to follow the guards out the back door. His head remained down in that same very hopelessly depressed state.
The guards had nearly reached the door with Abacus when Lawful Eye got up from the desk and halted the guards. "Wait." She walked over towards them. "I just need one moment."
The unicorn guard standing behind looked at Abacus, then at the pegasus guard in front who nodded at him. He then looked back at Lawful Eye, and nodded permittedly. "Be quick, ma'am."
Lawful Eye turned to Abacus. "Abi. I'm so happy that this is all over now. I wish I could give you a hug, but I can't touch you." She noticed Abacus's eyes began welling up. "But don't worry, Abi. When I pick you up tomorrow, the first thing I'm going to do is give you the biggest, warmest hug you could ever ask for. That's a promise. I’ll hold on to your money for you. And we’ll make these monsters pay for what they did to you and everypony else in six weeks’ times. I’ll see you tomorrow, Abi.”
Lawful Eye nodded at the guards indicating she was done. The guards nodded back and continued leading Abacus to the door by the rope attached to his steelectric collar. The guard in front holding the rope attached to Abacus opened the door, then the two guards along with Abacus entered and closed the door behind them just as the area evaporated like smoke.
The area then changed to the inside of Warden Rehab’s office, just as the door of Warden Rehab's office opened. Lock Down and another royal guard entered, with Abacus in restraints. They stopped in front of Warden Rehab's desk.
"Do have a seat, Abacus." Warden Rehab said.
Abacus slowly and depressingly sat down in front of Warden Rehab's work desk, with Lock Down and the other royal guard standing on either side of him.
Warden Rehab presented the forms, and cleared his throat. "Well, Abacus. You're just a few steps away from being officially free." He placed the forms down in front of Abacus. "These forms are filled out, and all that's left is for your signature on each of them. Though you will be required to testify against Armstrong and his guards, and the members of the Canterlot Police Investigation Force in court in six weeks’ time. And that all this has to remain classified. That means, apart from us, Lawful Eye, and any of the members of Task Force River, and royalty, you must never talk about this to anypony until this is revealed with permission. Do you understand these terms?"
Abacus did not say anything, he just sadly closed his eyes and slowly nodded. The Main Six looked at each other at what they witnessed, finding out the truth of what was said. As well as finding out the reason that it was to remain top secret. They watched as Warden Rehab levitated a pen to Abacus with his magic, and pointed with his hoof at the bottom of the forms.
"Just sign right here, and here." Warden Rehab said.
Abacus depressingly took the pen in his mouth, and leaned forward to sign the forms. He slowly writes his signature on each of the forms, and puts the pen down. Warden Rehab took the forms and inspected each of Abacus's signatures. He looked up at Abacus, and smiled.
"Everything checks out." Warden Rehab turned to Lock Down. "Take Abacus to block four."
Lock Down nodded. "Yes, Warden." He turned to Abacus. "Well, Abacus. Let's get going."
Abacus got up from the chair at Lock Down's instructions, and walked out of Warden Rehab's office with the Lock Down, and the second guard. Warden Rehab began to follow them as the area evaporated like smoke once again, and change.
This time it changed to Lock Down and Abacus standing around in the lobby of Hoofstrong Prison Center. Lock Down recognized it as to when Abacus ran away before Lawful Eye could meet and pick him up. He watched his past self in the memory converse with Abacus.
"Well, Abacus," Lock Down said. "Looks like your nightmare is over. Your first day back into the outside world starts soon. No more chains, no more barred cells, no more steelectric collars. It's all behind you. I don't know about you, but if I were you, I'd be planning a real nice vacation somewhere. Like Sydneigh, or Manehattan, or Las Pegasus. In fact, I hear Hawhinny is really good this time of year. I think you'd need that after all this."
Abacus did not show any joy from his situation at all. Lock Down tilted his head, puzzled as he saw another sad tear come out of his eye, and down his cheek.
"Why still the tears? You're a free pony now." Lock Down smiled positively. "I bet all your friends and family will be so happy to see you, and are probably planning the biggest "Welcome Home" party for you when you get home."
Abacus shook his head. "...No."
"No?" Lock Down asked. "But what about your mother? Surely she'll be so happy to see you?"
Abacus winced and shook his head. "No, she won't."
Lock Down blinked. "But she's your mother, Abacus. She won't care if you were in prison."
Abacus looked at Lock Down looking very upset. "How can she even care?! My mother is dead! She's been dead for nearly a year!"
Lock Down eyes widened with shock at both Abacus's outburst, and at how he knew about his mother's death. "How do you know that?"
Abacus winced, struggling not to burst into tears. "...Armstrong. ...They told me."
"Poor widdle baby. Hurting. Cwying for his mommy to come and save him. Hahaha!"
"That reminds me. You don't have a mommy anymore. Because your dumb-ass bitch mommy's dead. That's right, scum. She died of cancer, slow and painful. Hehehe! Too bad she never got to see her baby before she died."
"She would've died of a heart attack hearing you scream."
"AHHHHH!!!"
"Hahaha!"
"Go on and cry all you want, because she's dead, trash! You ain't never going to see your fucking mommy ever again, Abacus Scum!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Lock Down was in great shock after hearing Abacus's retelling of what happen, speechless at what he heard. Abacus glared at Lock Down with tears in his eyes.
"You've been lying to me! All of you have! And all this time, I already knew the truth!" Abacus began to cry struggling to keep his anger. "So if you say I have so much waiting for me, you're wrong! I have no home to go home to! I don't have any friends and family waiting for me! I have nopony at all!!"
Abacus began to sob and cry with his head down, as he turned away from Lock Down.
Lock Down reached his hoof at Abacus. "Abacus, plea-"
Abacus turned around to Lock Down before he touched him. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
Abacus turned back and continued to cry his heart out. Lock Down's heart sank to see Abacus like that, it also sank more to find out that he knew the truth about his mother's death the whole time. And the fact that Lock Down did not know about Abacus's mother being dead, and that it cruelly came from Armstrong and his guards made everything so much worse.
"I'll get Rehab," Lock Down said. "He'll have a talk with you about it. Just wait here, Abacus. I'll be back."
Lock Down walked back through the security door to go and get Warden Rehab, leaving a distraught Abacus alone in the lobby. Abacus continued to sob in the lobby for a few moments, until he looked at the entrance. He focused at the view of outside with tears in his eyes.
Abacus spoke to himself. “I’m all alone… All alone…”
After saying that, Abacus ran out of the lobby, and out the prison. He ran as fast as his hooves could, with tears in his eyes. Not even looking back. The memory then evaporated like smoke.
The area then changed again to show an area outside in the dark at night time. It had apple trees, and a kids clubhouse built on one of them. The Main Six, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders almost immediately recognized that the area was the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse located in a secluded, private part of Sweet Apple Acres.
They turned their heads as they heard something coming from the sound of rustling bushes. From the bushes, stepping out into the moon light was Abacus. He was scruffy, and very exhausted. He looked at the apple trees around the area, for he knew he was at Sweet Apple Acres. He picked an apple off one of the closest apple trees, and was slowly about to take a bite when a raindrop landed on his snout. Soon, a downpour started, with thunder rumbling. Abacus looked around until he noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse close by. He then climbed up the ramp, opened the door of the clubhouse, and entered to take shelter inside, closing the door behind him.
Inside the clubhouse, the crowd watched as Abacus went into a corner of the clubhouse. He took a bite of the apple he just picked, and winced when he chewed it. The apple he was eating was sour due to it not being ready to be picked. He kept on eating it because if it being the only source of food that was around. Abacus was so hunger, that he even ate the apple core, which tasted worse than the sour apple itself. He dropped his body on the clubhouse floor, and began to cry as the rain outside continuously fell. Twilight and the others looked on with a look of pity seeing Abacus in the memory. Sweetie Belle, though she did not see nor met Abacus, could not help, but feel sorry for him. She had never seen a full grown stallion cry like he did, but after witnessing what he went through, she did not blame him.
The memory once again evaporated like smoke, and changed to the same area, but during the daytime. Abacus was asleep after not sleeping very well, and did not sleep until dawn. He woke up, in the middle of the day for the sunlight was too bright for him to try and sleep. He got up and wiped his eyes, before looking around the inside of the clubhouse. Inside, Abacus saw numerous things around the clubhouse. There were craft materials, posters, a podium, and a map of Ponyville that looked to be roughly drawn by a child. It was there Abacus realized that this was a children's clubhouse. He looked at one of the kid drawings, and began to tear-up. The drawing reminded him of how he was going to be a father to a child he would never know due to it perishing in the horrible house fire along with his wife. Just as Abacus put the picture back down, the door to the clubhouse suddenly burst open, to reveal two familiar little fillies, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo holding a long, thick rope made into a lasso.
"BUST THAT BURGLAR!!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo yelled in unison.
Abacus jumped, startled by Apple Bloom and Scootaloo charging at him. Apple Bloom then threw the lasso that successfully caught him around his neck.
“I got him!!" Scootaloo held on to the rope and pulled when Abacus bolted for the door, almost effortlessly taking her with him. "Whoa!" She held on to the rope as Abacus ran out the clubhouse door. He turned while going down the ramp, causing Scootaloo to turn, and hit her head on the opened door. "Ow!"
Scootaloo fell over backwards letting go of the rope while she covered the right side of her face with her hoof. She struggled to get up with her head still throbbing as Apple Bloom came rushing past her, running after Abacus briefly. Apple Bloom watched Abacus run off with the rope falling off, and disappearing out of sight. Scootaloo got up, and walked over to Apple Bloom. She moaning from the throbbing pain on the right side of her face.
“Hey, quick," Apple Bloom said. "He’s gettin’ away!”
Scootaloo groan. “He’s too far. We’ll never catch him now.”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah guess we’re not cut out ta be burglar busters.”
“You said it. Ow!" Scootaloo slowly uncovered her face to show a black eye. "It’s a painful talent to do.”
Sweetie Belle, after seeing the memory of what happened turned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo with shocked look. "Burglar busters? You mean you did crusading without me?! I thought we agreed not to do any crusading until I got back?!"
"Sorry, Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said.
Storm Dasher in the crowd tilted his head at witnessing the memory of what really happened, beginning to doubt his thoughts on Abacus. "So...he didn't hit Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo turned her head to Storm Dasher giving him an angry, hateful glare that said it all. Luna overhearing Storm Dasher spoke out.
"That is right." Luna turned to the rest of the crowd. "Now watch as the truth of what happened with the other incidents shall be revealed."
The memory once again evaporated like smoke, and changed to show different times and scenes of Abacus's memory. The first was of the incident at Sugarcube Corner where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon rudely taunted and provoked Abacus to the point of where he lashed out at them.
The next one was of when Coco-Nut and Honey Blossom's daughter, Buttercup got hurt. They see her run over a stick she failed to see, and fall off her scooter on to the path hard just across from the bench where Abacus was sitting. They then see Abacus come to Buttercup's aid, help her up, and began brushing her off, before they see Honey Blossom running over in a rage, shouted "Get away from my baby, you monster!!", assaulted him, and picked her crying daughter up and rushing off. Honey Blossom and Coco-Nut looked at each other with same feelings of doubt on their thoughts on Abacus as Storm Dasher.
The next memory was in the hospital, when the brick with the death threat note attached to it smashed through the window of his hospital room. And the last memory then showed the events of what happened at the cemetery. It showed Abacus, with Fluttershy and Scootaloo standing in front of the tombstones of the Tiger Lily and his mother. He looked at the writing on Tiger Lily's grave, and began to cry about it. They see Scootaloo trying to comfit Abacus, and him pulling Scootaloo into a hug, crying until they see Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut and Officers Law and Order come in. They see Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut advance on Abacus, and began to punch him with Officers Law and Order watching everything, allowing them to do what they did. Then they see Abacus go into a savage, unstable, psychotic rage, and lashed out with Officers Law and Order joining in against him. The fight scared the little children in the crowd, especially when they saw Abacus bite Storm Dasher like a savage animal, nearly taking a whole chunk off of him.
"Princess Luna, stop now," Celestia said. "They've seen enough of this."
Luna turned to Celestia and nodded. Her horn began to glow, and the memory once again evaporated like smoke. There was a blinding flash, and everyone covered their eyes. A moment later, everyone in the crowd uncovered their eyes, to find themselves back inside the town hall. They all looked in confusion on whether or not it was another part of Abacus's memory.
Luna, noticing this, spoke out to the crowd. "Your eyes do not deceive you. The memory is over. You never left the room at all."
Celestia stepped forward. "Now do you understand? Abacus Sum was, and is innocent of everything. Tiger Lily was killed by a tragic accident, not murder."
Luna noticing the children all shaken up and scared from what they saw, bowed her head down apologetically. "I am sorry your dear children had to witness all of those horrific things, but it was the only way to show the truth."
Lady Justice began to ponder for a moment with mixed feeling. "So...Abacus was really innocent?"
"Yes, Lady Justice," Celestia said. "And as you had witnessed in his memory, Abacus was a victim of horrible conspiracy that not even I was aware of until nearly a year ago."
"Hold on. I think we should have them tell it, along with the other two memories to show." Luna turned to the royal guards behind her. "Bring out the prisoners!"
A few of the royal guards nodded as they went backstage. The crowd looked on as the guards came back, escorting a row of ponies, and a familiar large minotaur on the town hall stage. There were three unicorns, and an Earth pony who was in fact the pony, Rotten Eggs. Two of the three unicorns were Blue Ward and Cover-Up of the Canterlot investigation team. They were bound in chains, and ironically had strange anti-magic devices made of metal locked on the horns of the unicorns. As well as steelectric collars on each of them. All except for one of them, a dark red unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail who had only chains, and an anti-magic device on his horn, but no steelectric collar.
"These are the villainous scum who did these horrific acts," Luna said. "And now I will show you the memories of the corrupted investigation team."
Luna levitated another of the three jars, and shot another lightning bolt like magic stream at it. The jar began to glow around the town hall, and a bright, blinding flash of light that engulfed the whole room. The crowd then found themselves inside an office in a building. Sitting inside the office, they see Blue Ward sitting at his desk. He looked up as Cover-Up came into his office.
"Blue Ward?" He asked.
"Yes, Cover-Up." Blue Ward said.
"We just got a letter from Ponyville." Cover-Up presented the letter and handed to Blue Ward. "The mayor herself has requested us to investigate on a house fire. This one has a fatality with one survivor."
Blue Ward raised an intriguing eyebrow as he read the letter. He looked up, nodded, and got up from his desk. "Organize the next train to Ponyville. This one could possibly be another good one."
"Right, Inspector." Cover-Up said.
The two suited ponies left the office as the memory evaporated like smoke, and the area began to change location. The location changed to Mayor Mare's office, where Mayor Mare and Lady Justice were sitting inside waiting. The door opened, and Blue Ward and Cover-Up came inside.
Blue Ward stopped in front of her desk, with his unicorn stallion partner. "Ms Mayor? I'm Chief Inspector Blue Ward of the Canterlot investigation force." He turned to his partner. "And this is Detective Lieutenant Cover-Up."
Mayor Mare and Lady Justice nodded. "I'm Mayor Mare of Ponyville."
"And I'm Lady Justice, the local court judge."
"So let's get down to business," Cover-Up said. "You called upon us to investigate a house fire with a fatality and a lone survivor."
Lady Justice nodded. "That's correct. We both did. A very popular and beloved local pony couple's house burnt down the previous night. Abacus Sum survived..." Lady Justice sniffled, trying her best to be professional and not cry. "But his wife, Tiger Lily, didn't make it. And she was over four months pregnant. The fire fighting crew have recovered her remains."
Cover-Up took some notes. "I see. That sounds very tragic indeed, and for the husband especially."
"And where is Abacus Sum now?" Blue Ward asked.
"He's at his neighbor's place. He is most distraught of it." Mayor Mare adjusted her glasses. "Although, the story he told us of what happened is...very questionable."
Blue Ward tilted his head. "Questionable?"
Mayor Mare nodded. "Yes. He states that he doesn't know how the fire started. And that he heard a window smash, and that he saw the fire in the hall, and that Tiger Lily pushed him out the door before the roof collapse."
"There is just something not adding up to his version of the event," Lady Justice said. "And with no other witnesses, we suspect that he might have...killed her."
Cover-Up raised an eyebrow. "That is a serious accusation."
Lady Justice sighed. "Well, off the record, the mayor and I have had a bad feeling about him. Ever since he came to Ponyville with his wife from Fillydelphia."
"We really loved his wife, but something about him gives us a bad feeling. Though we never told anypony or showed it." Mayor Mare cleared her throat. "However, we could be wrong about him."
Lady Justice cleared her throat. "And since this town has no police force, we would like you to investigate it to see if his version of what happened is true."
"Well, having a bad feeling about somepony isn't evidence," Blue Ward said. "There is a possibility he could be telling the truth. That's what we're here for. To find out the truth. So you leave the investigating to us."
Lady Justice nodded. "But of course."
"I just hope our suspicions of him are wrong." Mayor Mare said.
Cover-Up cleared his throat. "The first thing we need to do is question the husband of the deceased. Where can we find him?"
The crowd watched as the memory evaporated like smoke, and once again change to another location. Blue Ward and Cover-Up knock on the front door of a house next door to the burnt out, blackened remains of what was once was Abacus and Tiger Lily's home. A moment later, the front door opened to reveal Derpy.
"Miss Derpy?" Cover-Up asked.
"Yes?" Derpy tilted her head. "What can I do for you?"
Blue Ward and Cover-Up presented their badges. "Blue Ward and Cover-Up of the Canterlot investigation force."
"Is Abacus Sum here?" Cover-Up asked. "We're here to ask him some questions in regards to the recent tragic incident last night."
"Oh sure," Derpy said. "He's in the living room. But I should tell you: he's very distraught."
Blue Ward nodded. "That's understood. Can we see him?"
Derpy nodded, welcomed Blue Ward and Cover-Up inside her house, and escorted them into the living room. Inside the living room, Abacus was sitting on the sofa crying from the tragic loss of his wife with his hooves over his eyes. Derpy sat down on the sofa next to Abacus, and patted his back to comfit him.
"Abacus? These nice police ponies from Canterlot are here to see you."
Abacus wiped his eyes, and sniffled. "Okay." He looked up at Blue Ward and Cover-Up. "Are you here to help?"
Blue Ward nodded. "Of course, Mr Sum. We're here to investigate on the mayor's request. We'd like to ask you some questions, and to tell us exactly what happened last night. Do you think you can do that?"
Abacus nodded and began to tell them exactly what happened. The crowd watched as the memory once again evaporated like smoke, and once again change to another location and time. It changed to the burnt out, blackened remains of Abacus's house the next day. Blue Ward looked at the house examining the scene, when Cover-Up came forward towards him.
"Found anything, Inspector?" Cover-Up asked.
Blue Ward turned to Cover-Up. "Well, it looks like the fire was an electrical overload in the kitchen's power socket behind the refrigerator in the kitchen. And I found out by checking records, they had that power socket replaced nearly a week ago. How about you on your end?"
Cover-Up smiled and levitated some papers. "Well, I've got something that will intrigue you greatly. What you said about this one being a good one could be true. Have a look at these."
Blue Ward took the papers and began to read them as Cover-Up explained what he had found.
"I did a check on he and his wife's personal information," Cover-Up said. "Apparently I found that there is a life insurance payout of over one point two million bits for his wife's death. And Abacus Sum has about five hundred and thirty thousand bits in his bank account, due to him being a very skillful accountant, and tax agent. This pony is a gold mine."
Blue Ward smiled at hearing what was told to him as he read the papers of information Cover-Up had just found. "Excellent. Looks like we got what we need."
The crowd blinked in confusion at what they said. Then the memory once again evaporated like smoke, and once again change to another location and time. It changed to the inside of Hoofstrong Prison Centre the next day. Blue Ward and Cover-Up waited in a hall outside a room, and a moment later, Armstrong, and two of his guards, Rotten Eggs, and a dark red unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail came out, and closed the door as the sounds of screaming could be heard, and muffled out when the door closed.
"Well, Blue Ward and Cover-Up," Armstrong said. "What do I owe the pleasure?"
Blue Ward smiled. "We came to inform you that we have another one for you."
"And he's a real gem." Cover-Up said.
Armstrong raised an intrigued eyebrow. "A gem, you say?"
Cover-Up nodded. "A one point eight million bit one at that. This one is an accountant and tax agent from Ponyville." He presented the information papers to Armstrong. "Have a look."
Armstrong took the papers and began to read them to himself silently. He began grin deviously. "Well, well! You aren't kidding! This Abacus Sum really is a gem!"
"Abacus Sum? He's in Ponyville?" Rotten Eggs glared vindictively. "Finally, I've found him!"
"Oh?" Armstrong asked. "You know that pony, Rotten Eggs?"
"I sure do. And his friend, Lawful Eye. She's the one who got me arrested seven years ago! And she busted my nose in kindergarten." Rotten Eggs grinned as he pounded his fist. "This is a good chance for me to get some payback them both. You can have the money, but Abacus is my real prize!"
Armstrong chuckled impressively. "You definitely are a real vindictive one, Rotten Eggs. No wonder you're one of my favorites. I'm glad I hired you to be part of our operation here. Very well." He turned to the dark red unicorn stallion. "Turncoat. Looks like we got ourselves another one coming here to add to the list."
"Indeed so, Armstrong." Turncoat said.
"Looks like we're in business," Blue Ward said. "We'll wait until he gets his life insurance payout after his deceased wife's funeral. Then after that, we make our move. And with the mayor and local court judge's secret dislike to him, along with their pasts, it'll be very easy. Much too easy."
Rotten Eggs came forward. "You have to watch out for Lawful Eye. If I know her, she will try and defend Abacus."
Blue Ward smiled confidently. "Don't you worry. We found out about her already, and that she's in Manehattan as we speak working on a huge case. We're intercepting any of her mail that will tell her this whole thing. She'll never know anything about it until it's too late."
"And what of the local electrician who worked on the kitchen power socket that caught fire?" Cover-Up asked. "Shall we convict him too, and have it look like he conspired with Abacus? Light Socket was in a way responsible for house fire that caused Abacus's wife's death. Or we could convict his mother, and make it look like a scheme between mother and son."
Blue Ward turned to Cover-Up. "No. Too complicated. Besides, if we do convict him, he wouldn't be worth very much anyway. We go for big gems, not small ones. As for his mother, no. We don't want to be too greedy, and risk arousing suspicion." He grinned sinisterly. "Beside, somepony has to be available to tell their friend the bad news. Too bad for poor Abacus, and his poor, dumbass, bitch mother. Huh? Not going to see her baby boy again."
Cover-Up grinned and nodded. "Yeah, Inspector. I'll be eating my heart out."
The crowd's eyes widened as Blue Ward, Cover-Up, Armstrong, and Rotten Eggs began to laugh sinisterly. Then the memory once again evaporated like smoke, a blinding flash, and the crowd found themselves back inside the town hall once again. The crowd was disgusted and betrayed at what they were just shown as they turned their attention back to the stage where the princess's and prisoners were stationed.
Mayor Mare scowled at Blue Ward and Cover-Up on stage with a look of anger and betrayal. "So all the evidence you presented to us of Abacus murdering Tiger Lily for the motive of money was all a lie?!"
Twilight was shocked and angered at what she had just found and witnessed. "Blue Ward and Cover-up. You two were some of the best of the Canterlot investigation force. Why?! How could you do this?!"
"Why, you ask?" Blue Ward scoffed. "I'm sure an intelligent smart ass like yourself could figure that out."
Luna turned to Blue Ward and Cover-Up, and glared at them threateningly. She raise a hoof pointing towards the crowd in a demanding manner. "Tell them the truth! And if there is any rebellious hostile moves-"
"Save your threats, Moony bitch," Blue Ward said. "We'll talk. It's all over now anyway."
Blue Ward and Cover-Up took a few steps forward on stage. The crowd glared at them as they were about to tell them the truth to their actions.
"So you want to know why? Then we will tell you." Blue Ward chuckled. "It's because we can. Because Abacus was inferior, like all others before and after him. We never cared but enforcing crimes, and bring justice. And on top of that, we and Armstrong's prison never got paid well enough. So then we turned to the method of putting innocent ponies like Abacus Sum in Hoofstrong for serious crimes that we framed them for, where for the last ten years we've been successful."
"And when we got them arrested, tried, and sentenced, we would get any fortunes they had, if any, as well as our salary from the government," Cover-Up said. "And Armstrong would get ponies to torture for his enjoyment. It was there did we form a partnership to our ring, with him and the prison getting a cut of the profits. As well as forming secret friendships with corrupted members of the royal guards and other police members, and even some high members of Equestria's criminal underworld. Getting ponies that had no other witness for their version of whatever happens, those were the easiest. And anypony we encountered that were true criminal, sadists, rapist, thugs, and brutes, we would organize for them to be sent to Hoofstrong. Then Armstrong himself would recruit them to secretly work as guards for him. If they got unicorns, his guards, and his right hoof pony, Turncoat would teach them the spells of how to shock ponies wearing steelectric collars."
Blue Ward glanced at Rotten Eggs. "It was how we recruited Rotten Eggs here. When we heard from sources about his crime of a vicious string of rapes of mares in Fillydelphia, we sent a request for a transfer from the prison he was sent to for his crime, to Hoofstrong. There he was offered to be a guard for Armstrong." He turned back to the crowd. "As Cover-Up said: Ponies that suffered incidents alone without anypony else witnessing to vouch for their version of events was the easiest. And Abacus was perhaps the easiest out of them, and one of the most biggest shares. Usually we would keep pressuring them for a long time in an interview room, depriving the subjects of food, water and sleep until they would forcibly give a false confession, but we didn't need to in this case. With the mayor and the local court judge having a deep, hidden distrust and suspicion of him from the first day he came here, it was easy to convince you dumb fools to think he was a murderer. Too easy in fact, that it was laughable."
The crowd of the whole town was shocked and livid at what the former investigators had just confessed to them. Mayor Mare and Lady Justice began to feel a great sense of anger and betrayal at what they heard from the very investigators they trusted to investigate.
"So you took advantage of us to convict Abacus of murder?!" Mayor Mare said. "But there was no murder at all!
"And I tried, hoofed out a harsh guilty verdict, and sentence on an innocent pony?!" Lady justice growled. "We trusted you to investigate the truth, and believed you, and all this time, you were lying! You framed him! And it was all for your sick, evil greed to get Abacus's money! You scoundrels!"
Blue Ward laughed as he turned to Mayor Mare and Lady Justice. "That's because you two were the biggest, fucking fools of them all! Second only to Princess Sun Butt! We counted on your blind suspicions, and hidden hatred of him to make our plan succeed! We even checked you both out and found your pasts, and used both of those to our advantage. And we got a huge fortune from it thanks to the both of you!"
The words of Blue Ward made Mayor Mare and Lady Justice growl in rage. The crowd shared the same feelings, for now they knew the truth.
"All of this was happening right under the nose of everypony, even her royal highness herself." Cover-Up glanced at Luna. "That was...until her sister's return from the moon." He glanced at Lawful Eye. "And you. A mere private investigator detective from Fillydelphia, and that secret task force you formed with the F.P.I.."
"Well, you should've been more thorough when writing your fake reply letter posing as me," Lawful Eye said. "Arithma even suspected something was wrong, especially when you mentioned Abacus as just "Abacus", and Tiger Lily as just "Tiger Lily", while I always refer to them as "Abi and Lily" when I write casually to friends."
Blue Ward closed his eyes, and began to chuckle with both impressiveness and detest at Lawful Eye's observation. To think that one little mistake could caused their operation to be found out. Smiling, he opened his eyes up at Lawful Eye.
"Clever mare, Investigator detective," Blue Ward remarked. "Clever mare."
Rotten Eggs stepped forward. "Who would've thought that the detective who busted us would be same one who busted me nearly a decade ago, and busted my nose in kindergarten." He glanced at Lawful Eye. "I wish you could've been there to see Abacus suffer...before he did this."
Rotten Eggs turned his right side to the crowd, and cocked his right hind leg up at the crowd as high as the chains could let him. The crowd gasped with surprise and disgust, with many ponies covering the children's eyes at what Rotten Eggs was showing. Rotten Eggs smirked at the crowds reaction.
"Looks horrible, doesn't it? Wish you could've seen it in its glory. But because of Abacus, it will never function the same way again." Rotten Eggs dropped his hind leg back down, and turn his front back to the crowd, but eyeing at Lawful Eye. "But it doesn't matter, because Abacus will never be the same again either. It was so much fun torturing him while it lasted. Best revenge against you and him." Seeing Lawful Eyes enraged face, he smiled evilly. "That's right. And he cried throughout it all, just like a big baby. It was sad."
Lawful Eye growled through gritting teeth in anger, but restrained herself from lashing out at him. She knew that he was taunting her, and that he wanted her to lash out. Armstrong came up and stood next to Rotten Eggs.
"Like Rotten Eggs said: it was fun while it lasted," Armstrong said. "Seeing all the innocent ponies Blue Ward and Cover-Up brought for me and my men to have fun with. Torturing them, playing with them, and even killing them, stallions and mares alike for ten whole years. And if my men got the mares pregnant, we'd take their kids away after they gave birth, and we would sell them for slavery for a good price. Even though we usually used the stallion prisoners to forcible breed with them. It was so much fun."
"But that smarty pants, Abacus was one of those who never got that privilege to breed," Rotten Eggs said. "He was my bitch for me and the others to play with."
The crowd scowled with pure hatred towards the prisoner ponies and minotaur on the stage before them.
"You monsters!"
"You're completely sick!"
"You framed and tortured Abacus!"
"Those bastards deserve to die!"
The crowd began to shout numerous things in agreement and anger towards them.
"ENOUGH!" Luna shouted in her royal Canterlot voice, silencing the crowd before turning back to the prisoners and speaking in her normal voice. "Move away to the back!"
"Wait!" The dark red unicorn stallion prisoner came forward on the stage and turned to the two alicorn rulers. "Your Majesties? I wish to speak to the crowd. Please."
Celestia and Luna thought for a moment, before giving the prisoner a nod, permitting him to speak before the crowd knowing how genuine he asked to.
The crowd watched with silent anger, glaring at the dark red unicorn stallion prisoner coming forward before them to speak on stage. They waited to hear what the stallion wanted to say, as he looked at them with a face of genuine remorse.
"Fillies and gentlecolts of Ponyville," He said. "My name is Turncoat. I was the right hoof pony of Armstrong. And I have things I need to tell you."
Caramel and Lucky Clover spoke out. "Well, go on! Speak!"
"Make your taunting last words before you go, and be quick about it!" Lucky Clover shouted.
Celestia raised her hoof to silence them, and anyone else. "Let the prisoner speak." She then turned to Turncoat, and nodded at him to proceed.
"Many of you look at me with the same anger and hate as the others. Assuming that I'm going to taunt you like the others. Well, I assure you that I am not going to." Turncoat sighed. "Many of you, I assume, have even noticed that I'm the only one not wearing a steelectric collar. And I also assume you are wondering why is that. The reason to that is because...I have been given a reduced punishment due to given a reduced sentence." He briefly glanced at Lawful Eye. "The reason I've been given a reduced punishment is because...I was the reason the whole operation of Armstrong, and Blue Ward and Cover-Up ended. I was the one who passed on the information to Investigator detective Lawful Eye."
The crowd blinked with mixed feelings on what Turncoat had just said. Turncoat then turned his attention to one of the three glass jars that was yet to be revealed as he spoke to the crowd.
"That last jar of extracted and contained memories that the princess's have yet to show. Those are my memories. Memories on what I did behind their backs." Turncoat turned to Celestia and Luna. "Would you please show them?"
Luna nodded. "Of course."
Luna levitated the third and last jar, and shot another lightning bolt like magic stream at it. The jar began to glow around the town hall, and a bright, blinding flash of light that engulfed the whole room. The crowd found themselves in the city streets of a city at night time, but in a dark and low area of a city. Soon they see someone walking down the street cautiously, with the light from a lamppost that revealed Lawful Eye. The crowd figured that the city was that of Fillydelphia. Lawful Eye stopped in the street and stayed there, before pulling out a letter. She read the letter to herself.
Dear Investigator detective Lawful Eye,
I have some information in regards to your friend, Abacus Sum, as well as some vital information that I wish to secretly reveal about Hoofstrong Prison Center to you. Come to the low part of the city on the corner of Stable Boulevard and Trot Street near the clock tower at 11:00, and I will meet you there to tell you, and be sure you are alone and not being followed.
A friend.
Lawful Eye looked at the letter, thinking and hoping it was not a hoax, or a trap as she looked at the clock tower that showed that it was exactly 11:00. Her ears perked-up at a sudden sound that came from a dark alleyway, along with her head turning towards it. She prepared herself for anything when she saw a cloaked figure in the shadows.
"Who's there?" Lawful Eye said. "Show yourself!"
The cloaked figure came forward into the light. "Investigator detective Lawful Eye?"
Lawful Eye glared cautiously. "Who are you? And what do you want?"
"I am here to give you information of regarding to your friend, Abacus Sum. As to who I am..." The figure removed his hood and revealed himself to be a dark red unicorn stallion with a black mane which was Turncoat. "My name is Turncoat. I am the most trusted right hoof pony of Armstrong, the chief warden of Hoofstrong Prison Centre. I'm sorry for arranging to see you like this, but I really needed to see you. You are the only one I can trust. They don't know that I'm meeting you here, so it is vital that you do not let anypony know that I'm here, and that I remain anonymous."
Lawful Eye looked at Turncoat, analyzing him for a few moments through her glasses. She then nodded. "Alright. Start talking."
"Of course." Turncoat said.
Lawful Eye listen as Turncoat explained to her what was going on. Sometime had passed since Turncoat began talking, and Lawful Eye was wide-eyed at what he just told her.
"So Hoofstrong and the Canterlot investigation force have gone rogue and are conspiring together in a blood-thirsty corruption ring?"
Turncoat nodded. "Yes. That is true. This has been happening for nearly a decade, and I've been painfully part of it. Innocent ponies, mare and stallion alike, are being arrested, framed, and sentenced to Hoofstrong for crimes they didn't commit by Canterlot investigation force. And they are all getting tortured, abused, raped, and even killed for they're own enjoyment. You're friend, Abacus Sum, is one of them. Every time a prisoner was killed, they would falsely report that it was either during a riot, or that they simply committed suicide. They are also forcing mares to get pregnant from both forcing stallion victims to impregnate them, and being raped by Armstrong's guards. They would take their babies after they gave birth, and sell them to members of a sex trafficking ring the Canterlot investigation force are secretly partnered with to make extra money. What's more disturbing is that most of the guards are all criminals who were transferred there from the Canterlot investigation force's request, and hire them to work as guards. Nopony visits there because the prison forbids anypony from the outside, and that is the reason for it."
Lawful Eye glared. "So why are you coming forward telling me this?"
"Because I didn't want any part of this," Turncoat said. "There's the threat on my life and the lives of every other innocent ponies in Hoofstrong if I told anypony outside. So I had no choice, but to endure it, and patiently waiting for the right opportunity to finally end it. And when I found out about you, I saw it as my chance to end it. I can't bare the pain of this any longer. The guilt I feel is excruciating. The share of the money of all the victims that I got, I hardly ever spent it because I couldn't spend it knowing how it was from blood. So I want to try and make things right, and help you and everypony else by giving information and helping you raid the prison."
"And how do I know I can trust you?" Lawful Eye asked.
Turncoat sighed. "Because I'm the only chance your friend has. Besides, one of the guards torturing him is somepony who knows you and Abacus, and has vengeance-filled hatred on both of you. His name...is Rotten Eggs."
Lawful Eye's eyes widened in shock. "What?"
"Yes. He was one of the criminals Armstrong and the Canterlot investigation force hired as a guard. This was the reason why you didn't know about Abacus's arrest, trial, and imprisonment until it was too late. The Canterlot investigation force was secretly intercepting mail being sent to you by Abacus or his mother on Rotten Eggs's request, knowing how you would possibly ruin their plan, and so that he could torture him as an act of revenge on you for arresting him for violently raping those mares here in Fillydelphia. He plans to torture him for about two years, before having him killed."
The shocked expression on Lawful Eye's face was beyond comprehension, as she began to seethe in silent, absolute anger. "That monster! When I get my hooves on him!!"
"That's why I want to help you," Turncoat said. "There's something else I have for you too."
Turncoat horn began to glow, and something levitated out from under his cloak in his magic aura, and presented it to Lawful Eye. Lawful Eye took the object which turned out to be a case file. She then opened it up, and looked at it, until her eyes widened with shock.
"This...this is..." Lawful Eye looked up to Turncoat. "How did you get this?"
"When Armstrong breifly gave it to me, I duplicated it, and teleported it to a secret cellar that only I know of. The case file of your friend that Armstrong destroyed was the duplicate, like all the other files they thought they destroyed." Turncoat sighed. "For the first two years of the syndicate operating, I studied the teleportation, and the duplication spell in secret until I mastered them to a point where I could use them simultaneously without any suspicion. Along with making the secret cellar to store them in secret, and patiently waiting for the right opportunity to finally end it. I maybe too late for the first victims, but not for the rest. Also. Whatever you do, don't present this to the courts. If you do, the Canterlot investigation force will find out, and Abacus will be killed. They do that if somepony ever found something that could clear a wrongly convicted prisoner of any crime. It's to keep their operation completely secret. I know you have doubts about me, but I speak the truth. I want to put a stop to this, and I am the only hope for your friend. I will do whatever I can to prevent him from getting killed, that is a promise. But you'll have to trust me...like I trust you."
Lawful Eye calmed down, and pondered at what Turncoat had said. It was true that Abacus's only chance of surviving was to put her trust into his stallion. I addition to him bringing the real evidence, that he had kept it safe and locked away to the best of his ability. Realizing this, she nodded. "Very well, Turncoat. But I think we should have officials find out about this too. But I need to know all the ones who are linked to the Canterlot investigation force. You need to tell me all you know."
Turncoat sighed. "Very well, but remember to keep me anonymous."
"Of course." Lawful Eye said.
Turncoat glanced at the time shown on the clock tower. His eyes widened with realization as he turned to Lawful Eye. "I have to go now. I'll call back later."
Lawful Eye blinked as Turncoat put his hood back on, and began to return into the ally. "Wait!"
"I'll keep in contact with you." Turncoat said.
Lawful Eye watched as Turncoat went into the dark ally, and disappeared into a flash, for he had teleported using a teleportation spell. The crowd watched as the memory evaporated like smoke, and changed to numerous locations and times. All of them were of how Turncoat would meet Lawful Eye to give her information, keeping her informed of what was going on, and on occasions talk with the FPI investigators that Lawful Eye had teamed up with from Sydneigh in the planned investigation and raid. Until the next memory was inside of an office with herself, Turncoat, and three other pony FPI officials from Sydneigh, two stallions and a mare. There, they were discussing the plan to raid and arrest Armstrong, and his guards, and take over the prison with the help of the Equestria royal guards, in addition to the arrests of members of the Canterlot police investigation force.
Lawful Eye levitated a teapot with her magic. "Some tea?"
"Yes, thanks, love." One stallion FPI investigator said.
Lawful Eye poured the hot tea into a teacup for the investigator, and put the teapot down on the desk. The stallion lifted the teacup with his hooves and took a sip of his tea.
"Well, as I was saying, I managed to get in contact with Sir Top Hat of the security services in Trottingham. They're sending one of their best agents to help. His name is Southern, and they say he is the best pony for the job. In fact, this would be his last mission before he retires." The Sydneigh FPI investigator was interrupted by a knock at the office door. "Ah, that must be Southern now."
The office door opened to reveal a large white pegasus stallion with a light brown mane and tail, and wearing a tuxedo. Southern walked inside towards the desk where everyone was sitting.
"Afternoon." Southern said in a mild British accent.
"Southern. Have a seat. We were just going over the plan."
Southern took a seat at the office desk, and turned his attention to Lawful Eye. "You must be Lawful Eye? Trottingham briefed me on what's happening, and what you want me to do."
Lawful Eye nodded. "Yes." She turned Southern's attention to Turncoat. "And you'll need Turncoat's help in order to successfully do this."
"It's the only chance we of Task Force River have of ending this," One of the other stallion Sydneigh FPI investigators said. "And one needs to be tough to deal with this type of assignment."
Southern nodded. "Of course. Sir Top Hat shall have to know about this, and he will also be secretly arriving to help go over the plan on his end tomorrow."
The mare Sydneigh FPI investigators nodded at Southern before she turned to Turncoat. "Though, Turncoat, it's only fair to inform you that when this is over, you will still be facing charges for your part in the corruption syndicate, and will be punished accordingly. But as agreed, we will ensure you will be given a much lighter sentence for your assistance in this operation. Do you understand these terms?"
Turncoat nodded. "I understand..."
"Okay." The Sydneigh FPI investigator said. "Now the first thing we need to do is to organise a way to get Southern inside Hoofstrong, and be recruited as a guard. That mean we need to employ deception of our own. And royalty has ordered for this to remain classified."
The memory once again evaporated like smoke, a blinding flash, and the crowd found themselves back inside the town hall once again. The crowd looked back on stage at Turncoat with looks of mix feelings.
Turncoat cleared his throat. "So now you see that I was the one who helped put an end to all this."
"Indeed he did."
From the back of the stage, a white pegasus stallion with a light brown mane and tail, and wearing a tuxedo came out, which was of course the agent, Southern. He was also accompanied by three earth ponies in suits who came up before the crowd.
"Residents of Ponyville. I am Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case of the FPI's Sydneigh office." Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case pointed to the other two ponies. "And these are Detective Inspector Under Cover, and Investigator Tough Job. We are the members of Task Force River, the secret team of investigators formed with Investigator Detective Lawful Eye of Fillydelphia to investigate and uncovering the corrupted, conspiracy ring operating between the Canterlot investigation force, and Hoofstrong Prision Centre."
"When Investigator Detective Lawful Eye came to us, and informed us of these accusations, we were in great disbelief," Detective Inspector Under Cover said. "It was only until she presented the case of Abacus Sum did we begin to get suspicious. So we had the Canterlot investigation force under secret, constant surveillance. When Turncoat presented the real evidence of one of their recent victims of that time to us, it was there our greatest fears was realized that what we had speculated was confirmed. After that, we officially formed Task Force River with Investigator Detective Lawful Eye, and made it our priority to bring them to justice for all their crimes, at royalty confirmation from Princess Luna. We then got in contact with the security services in Trottingham to aid us. "
Investigator Tough Job took over. "The plan was to set up a violent crime, with Southern going undercover as the offender. Since Turncoat informed us on what the Canterlot investigation force would look for in recruiting criminals for Hoofstrong, it was a huge help to end this. When the Canterlot investigation force, arrested and successfully charged their last victim, we immediately and secretly contacted the royal guards to commence the raid on the prison. After the raid of Hoofstrong, and the arrest of Armstrong, his guards, and the Canterlot investigation force, we recovered the eight years worth of case files of all the victims that Turncoat collected in his secret cellar he made and hid in the forest ten kilometres west of Hoofstrong. This was all the evidence to bring all the ones involved in the ring to justice, and to legally exonerate all the victims in court. Though we had to keep the whole thing classified at royal command until royalty ordered otherwise."
Southern walked up next to Turncoat. "If it wasn't for Turncoat, that whole corruption, conspiracy ring would've never have been stopped. After going undercover as violent criminal and being arrested, it was easy for me gain access into Hoofstrong. Though it did took me eight months of harming ponies inside, he hired me as one of his guards, and from then on, I was completely trusted. It gave me time to study Hoofstrong's security to help with the plan. And then it was all a matter of time before Blue Ward and Cover-Up of the Canterlot investigation force would arrest and convict their final victim, and the raid was planned and carried out with Turncoat's help, as well as my own."
Armstrong growled at Southern. "I shouldn't have liked you from the start. If I knew you were a spy, I never would've recruited you!" He turned to Turncoat. "And you! I can't believe I trusted you, Turncoat! You traitor!"
"Among the first lessons in security, Armstrong: don't trust anypony," Southern said. "If only you followed what Blue Ward and Cover-Up had always said in front of you."
Blue Ward and Cover-Up groaned with irritation at the irony of Southern's word being told, as they were the same words they told Abacus on the first day of his time at Hoofstrong.
Turncoat turned to Armstrong. "And how could I be a traitor...when I was never on your side to begin with? I was only pretending to be loyal to you. I was biding my time while secretly stockpiling the real case files, and waiting patiently for the right opportunity to put an end to your evil, sick ring. Your complete trust in me became your downfall."
Armstrong scoffs. "Well, it doesn't matter. If we go down, you go down with us."
"If it means bringing all of you to justice..." Turncoat turned his back on Armstrong and the others. "Then so be it."
"You're pathetic, Turncoat!" Rotten Eggs said.
Blue Ward and Cover-Up glared. "You're scum of Equestria!"
"It doesn't matter if you helped them put us in prison, because you're still scum...like us!" Cover-Up remarked.
"And even if you were ever lucky to ever be released, you'd still be scum!" Armstrong said. "Those who were prisoners are nothing, but scum and trash with no place in this world! So you're nothing, but scum for life! And don't you forget it!"
Turncoat closed his eyes and dropped his head sadly at the other prisoners words with the crowd beginning to feel pity on him, for they now realized how he was just as much of a victim as the innocent prisoners sent to Hoofstrong. Celestia and Luna approached Turncoat, and Celestia put a caring hoof under his chin.
"Pay them no mind," Celestia said. "You are none of those things. You're a good pony deep down, and only a good pony would have the heart to do what you did."
Luna nodded. "That is true, Turncoat. It was a very brave thing you did. Learning how to save the evidence of so many innocent victims, even ones that have tragically didn't make it. Not being able to do anything until you could. And coming forward when the right opportunity presented itself to you. To endure what you were witnessing and doing daily for a whole decade, and coming forward takes a whole lot of courage."
Lock Down called out from the crowd. "Yeah! I know scum when I see it. And you're definitely not scum."
Celestia removed her hoof from under Turncoat's chin. "You will still be punished for your part in the syndicate, but you'll be facing a much lighter punishment than the others."
"It's okay," Turncoat said. "I have done some horrible things, and although I deeply regret them, and that they were all against my true will...I will accept my punishment humbly and without complaint when I face trial. I don't care what punishment I receive, as long as I've done the right thing, that's all that really matters to me. In fact, my share of the money that I had from the victims, I would like to give it back to the victims, and their families. It won't be much, but as long as the money goes to them and not me, it will help ease a bit of my conscience. I don't want to buy any forgiveness, I want to earn it. Would you do that for me, your Majesties?"
"That is very noble." Celestia smiled sympathetically and nodded. "Very well. This request, we will grant. And we will ensure that you will be given a second chance to mend things and make things right sooner or later, as well as protection during your punishment. That is a promise."
Turncoat nodded gratefully. "Thank you, your majesty."
Mayor Mare stepped forward with Lady Justice by her side. "On the subject of punishment, and forgive us for changing the subject, but this needs to be said. It seems we have made great mistake. And to that, we have decided drop all charges that we made against Abacus Sum."
"Here, here."
"The same here!" Coco-Nut said.
Storm Dasher came forward. "Me too!"
"Well, we're not!"
The crowd turned to the back to where the voices called out from, for they were the voices of the Cloudsdale police ponies, Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order.
"He is still going to be charged for assaulting two police officers," Officer Rogue Order said. "And he will be facing up to eighteen years jail time!"
The Main Six, gasped angrily. "What?!"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders growled. "You can't do that!"
Officer Strike Law turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and stared them down with a glare. "Yes, we can!"
Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut came over to Strike Law and Rogue Order. "But he's innocent!"
"Besides, you heard what they've revealed," Storm Dasher said. "And you saw the memories of what he went through. He suffered greatly in prison, and he didn't deserve it! If you put him in jail, you'll ruin his life even more, and he'll suffer all over again!"
Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order turned to Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut. "We don't care! We wouldn't be as high in the police force if we showed mercy to every suspect, or ex-prisoner! We always get our pony, no matter what! Even if we have do things dishonest to do it!"
Officers Strike Law snorted. "Besides, you wanted us to put Abacus Scum back behind bars, and that's exactly what we intend to do!"
"I don't think so, Officers Law and Order!"
Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order turned around with surprise at the voice that suddenly spoke out. Standing close by with four other police ponies was a light arctic blue colored pegasus stallion with a white mane and tail, a mustache, and wearing a police uniform. Strike Law and Rogue Order looked in concern for they knew very well who the pony was.
"Chief Cloud Patrol,"Strike Law said. "What are you doing here?!"
"I was given an argent order from their royal highness's to be here secretly..." Chief Cloud Patrol glared at Strike Law and Rogue Order. "And I saw everything, even the memories. Including the memories of what truly happened with your encounter with Abacus Sum! And as chief of police in Cloudsdale, I will decide whether charges will be laid or not!"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders came up to Cloud Patrol to plead with him. "Police chief. Ya just have ta let Abacus go. He's a real good pony. He wouldn't hurt anypony."
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle said. "Even though I didn't meet him, I could see it too. If Apple Bloom and Scootaloo say he's a good pony, then I believe them."
"And plus, if you really saw the memory, Abacus didn't hit first." Scootaloo glanced angrily at Coco-Nut and Storm Dasher. "It was Coco-Nut and my dad. They hit him first, and those police ponies let them do it."
Apple Bloom nodded. "And besides, ya saw too what he went through in jail?"
"If you arrest Abacus, he'll be put back in jail, he'll get hurt, and suffer all over again." Scootaloo said.
"That would be dreadful. Please, Police chief. Don't send him-"
Chief Cloud Patrol held up a hoof to silence the little fillies. "That'll do, little fillies. I understand your feelings on this..." He sighed and closed his eyes. "But the fact still remains that he still committed assault on two police ponies. And that is a serious offence that could give him nine to eighteen years in prison."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders sadly dropped their heads, and the Main Six, Lawful Eye, Spike, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down felt sad at what they heard.
Chief Cloud Patrol opened his eyes, and cleared his throat. "However...given the circumstances that Officers Law and Order were in an area both out of their jurisdiction, and without authorization...that they supplied false information on the events, and let two ponies unlawfully assault him...and that I have witnessed the truth in the memories first hoof...I have therefore decided, and it's only fitting, that Mr Abacus Sum shall be let off with a warning, instead of being charged."
The others looked up with joy on their faces, as Chief Cloud Patrol smiled. He then turned his attention back to Strike Law and Rogue Order, where his smile faded, with a look of anger, as Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut then came over to Strike Law and Rogue Order angrily.
"You lied to us," Coco-Nut said. "You told us you had complete authorization from your police chief to make Abacus's arrest the other day!"
Storm Dasher growled. "And I can't believe my brother-in-law, Flare Shaker was friends with rogue cops like you two! We nearly put an innocent pony behind bars again because of you! Just wait until Flare Shaker finds out the truth about you two! You pigs!"
"Indeed. And to that..." Chief Cloud Patrol calmly and angrily walks up to Strike Law and Rogue Order, and rips the police pony badges off their uniforms with one swipe of his hoof. "You're fired!"
Strike Law and Rogue Order were shocked beyond comprehension. "You can't do that!"
"Oh yes, I can! And not only that, you both will be facing charges of assault, insubordination, and perjury! You have been using your police status to your own ends! You two are a disgrace to those badges and to those uniforms, and you'll never work in police work again!" Chief Cloud Patrol turned to the four police ponies behind him. "Get them out of my sight!"
"Yes, Chief." One of them said.
"Hold on!" Lock Down walked towards Strike Law and Rogue Order. "Before you take them into custody, there's just one thing I need to do."
Lock Down stopped in front of Strike Law and Rogue Order. They looked at the large unicorn stallion royal guard, before his eyes glared with anger, and before they realized it, Lock Down threw a punch at each of them, landing squarely on the side of their muzzles, knocking them to the town hall floor. The two former police ponies struggled to get up, and place a hoof on their faces in the area that they were struck, to meet pain, as well as blood drooling from their lips. They soon looked up at Lock Down.
"That's for Abacus!" Lock Down began to grin while still enraged. "And this is for disgracing the police force with those uniforms!"
Lock Down's horn began to glow, and with his magic, took hold of their uniforms. Then with a loud tear, Lock Down ripped Strike Law and Rogue Order's uniforms right off their bodies, leaving them naked. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began to laugh, and soon almost everyone else laughed along with them. Celestia and Luna shared a chuckle, and even Turncoat had a brief chuckle moment. It felt wonderful for Turncoat, for he had not laughed innocently in such a long time, so long that he could not even remember.
The two former police ponies got up from the floor. Both were angered and humiliated from being punched in the face, and stripped of their uniforms in front of so many ponies.
Strike Law growled at Lock Down. "You muscle head! You'll pay for this!"
Rogue Order turned to Chief Cloud Patrol. "That pony assaulted us! Arrest him!"
Chief Cloud Patrol turned away in denial. "We saw nothing. Besides, he's a member of the royal guards. He out ranks us." He turned to the four police ponies behind them. "Cuff'em, lieutenant!"
"Yes, Chief." One of them said.
Two of the police ponies came over to Strike Law and Rogue Order and put handcuffs on their hooves. Blue Ward and Cover-Up smiled at Strike Law and Rogue Order admiringly and called out to them.
"It's too bad we didn't encounter you, Strike Law and Rogue Order." Cover-Up said.
"You two are rogue cops after our hearts. We would've had use for cops like you in our operation."
Everyone glanced at Blue Ward and Cover-Up angrily, before they turned their attention back to Strike Law and Rogue Order.
"Take them away!" Chief Cloud Patrol said to two of the four police ponies.
"Yes, Chief." One of the police ponies turned to Strike Law and Rogue Order. "Come along, you two."
Strike Law and Rogue Order groaned with a mix of anger, humiliation, and sadness before they were escorted away out the town hall door by two of Chief Cloud Patrol police ponies. Lock Down walked back towards the others proudly with Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash chuckling.
"Alright, Lock Down!" Rainbow Dash high fives Lock Down. "That was so awesome!"
"Ah'll say," Applejack said. "That punch ya gave'em. That was a beaut!"
Pinkie Pie laughed. "And ripping their uniforms off! That was so funny!"
Lock Down smiled. "Well, they had that coming. After all, nopony harms my friends, and gets away it. Besides, Chief Cloud Patrol did actually say that they were a disgrace to those uniforms, and I thought it was appropriate to strip them off of them for it. I've always wanted to do that whenever I heard somepony say that. And I won't lie, it felt really good."
"Yes," Lock Down said. "I am, aren't I? But in a good way, Rehab?"
Warden Rehab nodded. "Always."
Spike came forward. "You know, Lock Down? I think you would make a pretty good cop."
Lock Down chuckled. "You think so, kiddo?"
Celestia and Luna looked at Blue Ward, Cover-Up, Armstrong, and Rotten Eggs while speaking to the guards on stage. "You may take the prisoners away back to Canterlot now."
"We have no more use for them," Celestia said. "But be gentle with Turncoat, and put him in the solitary wagon as routined."
"Yes, your highness." The royal guard captain turned to the group of the royal guards with the prisoners. "Take them away!"
The royal guards began to escort Blue Ward, Cover-Up, Armstrong, and Rotten Eggs off the stage as the crowd began glaring at them with pure anger and hatred in their eyes. One royal guard on stage came over to Turncoat.
"Okay, Turncoat," The royal guard said. "Come on. Let's go."
Turncoat nodded and complied with the royal guard's command, and began to walk off stage. As they were walking, and getting closer to the other prisoners, Armstrong looked on, seething with anger at Turncoat. Then two ponies in the crowd commented at them.
"Prison's too good for you scum!"
"Yeah! You four are scum of Equestria, and traitors!"
"Scum of Equestria?! Traitor?! There is only one traitor and Scum of Equestria!" Armstrong glares at Turncoat as he get close enough. "And he will be dealt with as one!!"
Armstrong in a rage, raised his chain-bounded hands, and knocked a couple of the royal guards away. He then focused to deliver a crushing blow to Turncoat's head, with Turncoat looking in shock. Right before the enraged minotaur could deliver the fatal blow, his steelectric collar began to glow with yellow sparks of electricity surging around it. Armstrong to yell in great pain that stopped him in his tracks, and made him fall to the ground. The others looked around the room to see which guard was responsible for stopping the minotaur by shocking him, only to find out that the one shocking him was not a royal guard. Twilight Sparkle's horn was glowed as she made Armstrong's steelectric collar shock him into submission for a few moments until she stopped. Armstrong struggled and slowly got up from the ground groaning, and then began to chuckle sadistically.
"So that's what it's like to get shocked by those collars," Armstrong said. "They really are painful. No wonder I enjoyed watching ponies getting shocked."
The crowd growled at how shamelessly cruel, sadistic, and cold-blooded Armstrong was being, even though he was caught, and captured. They could all see that he was a beast with no conscience, or even the slightest trace of remorse for what he had done. The guards that Armstrong had knocked away got up, and additional guards assisted, with unicorns having their horns at the ready to shock and subdue them again. Blue Ward, Cover-Up, Armstrong, and Rotten Eggs continued down towards the town hall doors with royal guards, and the crowd shouting.
"You fuckers are sick!"
"Prison's too good for any of you bastards!"
"You deserve to die!"
The crowd watched as the four prisoners were escorted out the door and disappeared out of sight. Turncoat and two of the royal guards escorting him began to continue soon after. The crowd turned their attention to him, but there was no shouted comments, or hatred towards Turncoat. Instead, there was sympathy, and concern for Turncoat's well-being, and for what he bravely went through. Turncoat stopped in front of Twilight and the others, and turned to them as he spoke to Twilight.
"You saved my life," Turncoat said. "Why did you do that?"
Twilight smiled sympathetically. "The same reason you helped Lawful Eye put an end to Armstrong and the Canterlot investigation force. Because it was the right thing to do."
Spike turned to Twilight. "That was amazing how you made Armstrong's steelectric collar shock him."
Twilight sighed. "It's a good thing Lock Down and Rehab showed me how to use that spell earlier."
"You never know when it could come in handy." Spike said.
"I'm grateful to you for doing that, Miss Twilight. Thank you." Turncoat turned to Lawful Eye. "And Lawful Eye. Thank you for saving me too. You've given me a second chance."
"Because you've earned it," Lawful Eye said. "We all can see you're not a bad pony at all. Your true loyalty was not with Armstrong, or the Canterlot investigation force. It was with us. You saved Abacus, and so many lives. And I know the courts will be very merciful to you at your trial for that."
"Thank you." Turncoat sighed. "I just wish that I could've saved more of victims. If only that right opportunity came to me years ago. Then so many innocent victims would've never have suffered."
Twilight placed a caring hoof in Turncoat's shoulder. "At least it's over now."
The royal guards continued to escort Turncoat until he went out the door and out of sight. Lawful Eye looked on with concern for Turncoat's safety and his well-being.
"Don't worry, Lawful Eye." Southern came over to Lawful Eye, Twilight and the others, with Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case, Detective Inspector Under Cover, and Investigator Tough Job right behind him. "He'll be okay. I have a feeling that fella is going to have a great outcome sooner or later."
"Southern's right," Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case said. "He's still going to help us with the whole Hoofstrong case, even while serving his time. From what I see, Turncoat is a very brave bloke, the bravest bloke I've ever met. He'll be find."
"I guess you're right. Thank you all for what you've done." Lawful Eye turn to Southern. "And thank you, Southern for helping us save Abacus in Hoofstrong, but I'm sorry about your career as a secret agent."
"It's alright," Southern said. "As you're aware, I was planning to retire anyway."
Spike tilted his head. "I don't understand. Why is your secret agent career over, Southern?"
Southern turned to Spike. "Well, my cover's broken now. We secret agents are only able to operate if we remain strictly incognito. That's the sole reason why Sir Top Hat of the security services in Trottingham couldn't make it here, and why we didn't show him in the memories."
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked at each other with the look of an idea just popped up. "Hey, guys. Ya think we can try being secret agents to earn our cutie marks?"
"Hey, yeah," Sweetie Belle said. "That's a great idea. We should be secret agents."
Scootaloo smiled. "That would be awesome!"
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. "Yay! Cutie Mark Crusader secret agents!"
Southern turned his attention over to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. "Now hold on there, little fillies. Being a secret agent isn't all fun and games, you know. In actual fact, in reality it's a tough existence. Never being yourself. Avoiding any and all contact with your family and friends. Always on the run. Somepony like you three, so young and full of life, it just wouldn't be for any of you. You see, we walk with danger as a shadow. Death is a constant companion. No, you three just be what you are - innocent, sweet, little children."
Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Ya know, ah think it wouldn't be a great idea after all. Ah hate ta not be with any of my friends and family."
Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. It'd be kind of lousy never being yourself."
"And I wouldn't want to walk with danger as a shadow, or death is a constant companion," Sweetie Belle said. "Who'd want to have that as a cutie mark anyway?"
Southern turned back to Lawful Eye with a look of concern. "By the way, speaking of Abacus. You realize that while I was undercover at Hoofstrong, I...I did actually harm and raped Abacus. Poor chap. I just hope you can forgive me."
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "I know it was part of your cover, you had no choice. But at least it's all over."
Southern nodded. "Indeed. Though I hope Abacus will understand and forgive me too when I go to see him soon." He cleared his throat. "Well, I best be off. I've got to report back to Trottingham to be relieved."
"What will you do next, after that?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know." Southern shrugged. "But we'll see what comes about when opportunity might present itself."
Rarity approached Southern. "Oh, Southern? Before you go, I want to say just for the record: I think you're a very dashing stallion."
Southern smiled. "And just for the record: I admire a mare who speaks from the heart, Miss...uh..."
"Rarity." Rarity corrected.
"Rarity." Southern took Rarity's hoof, and kissed it. "That's a lovely name, for a lovely lady."
Rarity blushed and giggled. "Flatter."
"Well, best be off," Southern said. "Cheerio!"
Southern walked out the door and left the town hall. Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case, Detective Inspector Under Cover, and Investigator Tough Job soon made their way towards the entrance, before stopping and turning to Lawful Eye.
"Well, it's time we were on our way too," Investigator Tough Job said. "We must report back to Sydneigh FPI headquarters to continue with cleaning up the huge mess left by Hoofstong Prison, and the former Canterlot investigation force under Task Force River. In addition to finding the remainder of the illegal sex trafficking ring that has all the children of the victims."
Detective Inspector Under Cover took over. "With Turncoat's help, it will cut down so much time. Though we may need to come to you for help with Task Force River from time to time, and when this is taken to supreme court soon. But after that, we can take care of the rest of this case."
Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case turned to Mayor Mare and Chief Cloud Patrol. "Miss Mayor, Chief. I trust that you both, and the whole town will make sure that this classified information of this case is not told to anypony else, until such time this is brought to Equestria supreme court in some weeks time?"
Mayor Mare nodded and adjusted her glasses. "Yes... Of course."
"You have my guarantee, sir." Chief Cloud Patrol said.
Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case nodded in understanding at them both before turning back to Lawful Eye. "It was nice to have you working with us on this, Investigator Detective Lawful Eye." He extended his hoof to Lawful Eye, and they shook hooves. "If you should ever us again, you know where we are. And I'm sure we shall see each other again after this is all over." They finished shaking hooves with one another. "Until then: Hooroo."
"Thank you, Open Case," Lawful Eye said. "Thank you all."
Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case smiled and nodded. "You're welcome."
Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case, Detective Inspector Under Cover, and Investigator Tough Job walked out of the entrance to the town hall and left.
Celestia and Luna who were still standing on stage coughed to get the attention of the whole town inside and spoke out. "Well, now that you know the whole truth, what do you have to say about Abacus Sum now?"
The crowd inside looked at one another at Celestia's question, thinking of what they had been shown. The confessions of the prisoners they presented before them, and the verification by members of Task Force River, until they spoke out.
"So Abacus was innocent?"
"Poor Abacus. We had him all wrong."
"And we thought he was a murderer, and after all he and Tiger Lily did for us before."
"Well, I now believe he's not a murderer."
"So do I."
"I believe."
"I believe him too."
"Me too."
The crowd began to speak out at once, giving their thoughts of them now believing Abacus was innocent, and started to regain their love and respect to him that they threw away over two years ago.
"SHUT UP!!!!!"
The crowd silenced at the sound of an angry voice shouting almost as loud as Luna's royal Canterlot voice. But the one who shouted was neither Luna or Celestia, let alone at the front of the crowd. This shout came from a certain dark grey unicorn mare at the back of the crowd.
Lawful Eye's face was seething in anger, with her teeth gritting, and her eyes glaring through her glasses.
"Do you think it matters now that you believe Abacus is innocent?!" Lawful Eye said. "You town ponies are so pathetic!"
The crowd was shocked and confused at Lawful Eye's anger. It was not long before they saw Twilight and the others glaring at them. The confusion of the crowd only made Lawful Eye more irritated and enraged.
"Confused, are you?! Well, then let's jog your memories with what you did!" Lawful Eye turned to Celestia and Luna. "Your highness's! Can you show them the certain parts of Abacus's memory?!"
Celestia and Luna nodded for they each knew what Lawful Eye wanted them to show, and mildly shared her anger. Luna levitated the jar with Abacus's memories, and shot another lightning bolt like magic stream at it. The jar began to glow around the town hall, and a bright, blinding flash of light that engulfed the whole room. The crowd found themselves looking a many scenes.
The first was when Abacus first came into town with Lawful Eye, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo.
"It's... It's... HIM!"
"Hey, Fluttershy! Who's your new pet?!"
"Get out of town, you murderer! You aren't welcome here!"
"If you didn't have those ponies with you, believe us, you'd be sorry!"
"You may of fooled the courts, but we all know you did it!"
"Enjoy your undeserved freedom while it lasts, you scum!"
"Yeah, Abacus Scum!"
"Just look at his face! Pure evil!"
"So hideous! Tiger Lily's evil husband has shown his true form."
"The horror, the horror!"
"Mommy, Daddy, make that scary pony go away."
The next memory was showing the incident involving Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at Sugarcube Corner.
"The only way prisoners like him are going to survive is on the charity of others."
"When they locked you up, they should've threw away the key...Abacus Scum!"
The next memory was showing the incident involving Buttercup and Honey Blossom in the park, followed by Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut at Fluttershy's cottage soon after.
"Get away from my baby, you monster!!"
"THERE HE IS! That's the pony who hurt my daughter!"
"Scootaloo! What are you doing?! Get away from that pony! He's dangerous!"
"I want to press charges on Abacus for assaulting daughter!"
"And arrested for assaulting my daughter too!"
"Mr Storm Dasher and Mr Coco-Nut. Your accusations towards Abacus harming either of your children is unfounded. Scootaloo claimed that Abacus didn't assault her, and that it was from her hitting her head on the door of Apple Bloom's club house that gave her the black eye. And with Cheerilee having witnessed what had really happened to your daughter, it is good enough evidence put against your wife's version of events. Therefore both of your accusations are not backed up by evidence."
"What?! How could you stand up for that monster for what he's done to both our children, not to mention what he did to his own wife and unborn child?!"
"And on the account of how he tried to harm another two other children in a murderous rage yesterday at Sugarcube Corner, and those poor fillies were thrown out!"
"That "monster" wouldn't hurt anypony, unless he was provoked first! And those kids were thrown out because those two rude, little brats taunted and provoked him! Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, your daughter, and I all saw it, and handled it."
"How can you justify that murderer's actions with a straight face?!"
"Because I've known him for years! Longer than anypony here in this town! I'm practically family to him! And he is NOT a murderer! He didn't murder his wife and unborn child! I cleared his name, and proved his innocence!"
"From bribing and corrupting the judge no doubt!"
"And now you brought that scumbag upon us!"
"What?! You both have NO IDEA what prison did to him, and what it's STILL doing to him! He was beaten, abused, tortured, starved, and even raped by not the prisoners, but by the guards themselves whilst inside!"
"Which is what that scumbag deserved!"
"How dare you?! Nopony like him deserves to go through what he went through! His poor mother passed away from terminal stomach cancer before not seeing him again! I, along with Twilight and her friends are the only things close to family he has lift in life that keeps him from breaking apart forever!"
"If this is result, then you make for an AWFUL excuse for family!"
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT! AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT PRESSING ANY CHARGES ON ABACUS!"
"What?! You can't let that scumbag get away with this! Who do you think you are, lady?!"
"I'M Investigator detective Lawful Eye! I'm also a lawyer, and I am the only one presently in town with any police authority to MAKE any arrests or press charges. And guess what? I REFUSE to arrest or press charges on Abacus! And tell your wife...she could EXPECT to face charges in court for ASSAULT on Abacus!"
"Very well then! My brother-in-law's best friend is a police officer in Cloudsdale. If you won't arrest and charge that dangerous scumbag, then we'll get somepony who will!"
"FINE! Bring your cop friend! We won't let you get your hooves on Abacus for as long as any of us has breath within us!"
"So be it! And you! If I ever see you near my daughter again...you WILL regret it...Abacus Scum!"
The next memory was showing the incident involving Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut in the cemetery.
"I warned you what would happen if you ever went near my daughter again!"
"You're not just a murderer, and a foal hurter, but you're a pedophile too! That's for hurting my daughter, you scum!"
"How does it feel to feel the pain that you caused to our kids?!"
"You're going to be put back behind bars where you belong, Abacus Scum!"
The next memory was showing the incident at the hospital where he was refused treatment.
"Excuse me, nurse. We need some help."
"Can't you see the poor darling's in pain?!"
"What happened?"
"That scum, Abacus, attacked us."
"He bit me! And nearly tore a part of me off!"
"Let's take a look at that. Right. Put pressure back on it. I'll get a doctor straight away."
"Hey, wait. What about Abacus? He needs to see a doctor too."
"I'm sorry. But we're full and closed."
The next memory was showing the incident involving Abacus trying to take his life, and was being restrained by Warden Rehab, and Lock Down.
"No! Let me go! Just let me die! You can't take me back to prison! I knew I shouldn't have trusted any of you! I never should've come to this stupid, fucking town! You've wanted to destroy my life! Everything was a lie! You gave me nothing, but false hope, and lies! You lied about my mother! I have nothing to loss! Nothing to live for! Everything I once had, everyone I once loved and held dear is gone! I have nopony who loves me! Nopony who would love me like Tiger Lily did, because I'm scum! Abacus Scum!! I HAVE NOPONY!!!!"
And then the final memory was showing what Abacus said to the others before he left with Sapphire Shores and Princess Luna.
"Abacus. We're confident that your problems with the ponies in Ponyville will be over soon."
"Yeah. And when they get it through their heads that you're not a murderer, everything will be cool again."
"We'll all be happy to have you back with us in Ponyville again."
"...I'm sorry...but I'm not coming back."
"Abacus please. I know almost the whole town has been bad to you-"
"No! You don't understand, Twilight. ...I'm not welcome here...I never was. Even before this."
"What do you mean "Before"?"
"I use to be respected and loved by everypony in town. But I see now that the reason I was, was because of Tiger Lily. She was the one the town truly loved and respected, not me. Especially since there were two in town who secretly didn't like me, and they were responsible for my suffering. Mayor Mare and Lady Justice. They secretly hated and were suspicious me, and when Tiger Lily died, they suspected me of killing her."
"And that's how the corrupted Canterlot police force were called to Ponyville? Because Mayor Mare and Lady Justice called upon them?"
"Abacus. I'm sorry that happened. But you can't let that keep you away from Ponyville. I mean where would you go? You've got friends here."
"But not as many as enemies. I once had so many friends. But now...I have almost no friends, because they believe I'm a murderer of my own wife."
"But what if they apologized to you if they realized they were wrong? Would you come back?"
"After what they did to me? Never! I'm not welcome here. I should never have come to this town full of dumb townsfolk. They wanted me gone, and that's what they're going to get. As for where I will go...I'll most likely go back to Fillydelphia to start all over again. My mother left me her apartment back there, so that's where I'll go. I don't have friends there, but I don't have enemies either. Anywhere is better than here, as long as nopony knows me. Maybe I'll give you and some ponies in town the address so that you can visit me. There's nothing but pain and heartbreak for me here."
"Abacus. ...no."
"Goodbye...forever."
The memories evaporated like smoke, and in a blinding flash, the crowd found themselves back inside the town hall once again. The crowd looked at one another with the looks of concern, and realization. Lawful Eye scowled at the crowd's silence, thinking they did not realized what they had done until one in the crowd spoke out.
"Did...did he just...?"
"He did." Warden Rehab came up and stood next to Lawful Eye with a look of anger, disgust, and disappointment towards the crowd. "You residents of Ponyville made Abacus Sum's life so miserable that he contemplated and attempted suicide."
"And now he's gone," Lawful Eye said. "And he's never coming back!"
Applejack came over. "So it don't matter now whether y'all believe in Abacus or not! Abacus don't believe in y'all no more!"
"...I think I'm going to miss you most all."
Apple Bloom's eyes began to tear-up with sadness as she recalled Abacus's words. "So that's what Abacus meant when he said he'd miss me the most. It's cause he's never comin' back."
Luna looked at the crowd with the same angry, disgusted, and disappointed look. "After how you treated that poor stallion, since almost all of you chose to fear and hate Abacus Sum rather than love and support him, and dishonor his good name with your openly insulting, loathsome acts, I don't blame him! And from the very ponies who he thought once loved, and respected him as much as he did with you! I am absolutely disgusted! And Tiger Lily would be too, if she was alive to see it!"
The crowd began to slowly drop their heads in great shame and guilt at the harsh, but true words of Luna, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Applejack. Lawful Eye then turned her attention to Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut.
"That reminds me!" Lawful Eye approached Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut with an angry glare as she then turned to Chief Cloud Patrol and his other two officers. "Police chief? Arrest those two stallions!"
"Yes, Detective." Chief Cloud Patrol said as he turned to his two other police ponies. "Cuff'em, Corporal."
One police pony nodded. "Yes, Chief."
The two police ponies came over to Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut, and put handcuffs on them as well as throw a lasso on each of there necks. Lawful Eye stopped as Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut looked at her with surprise.
"Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut," Lawful Eye said. "You are both under arrest for unlawful, aggravated assault and battery, and recklessly cause of injury on Abacus Sum."
Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut eyes widened in shock at them being arrested, with Coco-Nut's wife and daughter looking equally shocked. Scootaloo came over towards Storm Dasher with an angry scowl.
"Serves you right, you asshole drunk! That's what you get for what you did to Abacus! And for hitting me! I told you he never hit me, and wouldn't hurt me, but you wouldn't listen! Abacus is gone, and it's all your fault!" Tears began to form in Scootaloo's eyes. "I hate you! And I hope you go to jail! And I hope you suffer, just like Abacus did! That's the least you deserve! And if you die, I'd be happy, because I wish it was you that was dead, not mom! YOU ARE SCUM!"
Storm Dasher was greatly shocked and speechless at what his daughter had just said to him. Scootaloo turned around at rushed away to Rainbow Dash's side crying.
"Scootaloo, please!" Storm Dasher tried to go after her, but was held back by one of the police ponies.
Scootaloo started crying on Rainbow Dash shoulder, as Rainbow Dash put a comforting wing around Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash turned and looked at Storm Dasher with a look that was mix of anger and pity. Storm Dasher then dropped his head, but not out of anger, but of sadness and heartbreak.
"I'm sorry," Storm Dasher said. "I didn't mean to hit my daughter. I was just so angry. And I was wrong to blame and confront Abacus. And I even dropped the charges I was going to lay on against him."
Lawful Eye groaned in frustration. "You don't get it, do you? You both had done a malicious act towards another pony by assaulting him, and sicced two rogue police ponies on him to get him arrested at any cost."
"But I...It's true that I wanted him arrested...that I let my anger get the best of me..." Storm Dasher look back up to Lawful Eye. "But that was before I found out the truth of what happened. I didn't know Strike Law and Rogue Order were so crooked. And I didn't realize that they would still try to charge him, even after the proving of his innocence. And I can't believe I did all this. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too." Coco-Nut said.
Luna and Celestia came off stage and came over to Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut. "Being sorry isn't going to put things right. Abacus Sum lost everything. His home, his money, his good life, and worst of all, his wife and unborn child, and his beloved mother" Luna turned to Storm Dasher. "But you would know all about loosing somepony dear to you, wouldn't you, Storm Dasher? You have been taking your anger and sadness of the loss of your wife, Firefly on the innocence of others. Including your own daughter, who you have failed to care for properly and spent time with when she needed you most. And the way you hit her was truly outrageous, whether or not it was intentional, and whether or not you were under the influence of alcohol! I just hope you'll realize this mistake, and learn from it."
Storm Dasher's head dropped his head sadly as a tear escaped from his eye. "But I...I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit Scootaloo. I love my daughter. I want to make things right."
"You are still going to face trial for the charges against you and Coco-Nut, and you'll be punished accordingly." Lawful Eye said.
"But may it be kinder to you, than it was for Abacus Sum." Celestia sighed. "And I hope you will try everything you can to earn your daughter's love, trust, and forgiveness back. And I expect you and Coco-Nut to try and earn Abacus's forgiveness too."
Chief Cloud Patrol turned to his two police ponies. "Right, take them away."
"Daddy!" Coco-Nut's daughter, Buttercup tries to run to Coco-Nut to protest on the police taking her father away, but was held back by her mother, Honey Blossom. "Don't take my daddy!"
Coco-Nut turned to Buttercup. "Sweet heart. Stay with your mother."
Buttercup tearfully watched as the police ponies took her father, and Storm Dasher away out of the town hall, with Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut being sad and guilty as they went with the two police ponies. Lawful Eye and Chief Cloud Patrol turned to Honey Blossom.
"And you will be facing charges of assaulting Abacus in the park." Lawful Eye said.
Chief Cloud Patrol cleared his throat. "But you won't be taken into custody for now, due to you needing to care for your child. But only for now. Do you understand?"
Honey Blossom nodded sadly. "I understand..."
Mayor Mare and Lady Justice came over to Honey Blossom from on stage to give her comforting advice. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get off easy."
"That right," Lady Justice said. "You were only protecting your daughter. So the courts will take that into account. And I'll have Tall Order to represent you, and your husband in court."
Lawful Eye turned her attention to Mayor Mare and Lady Justice with an angry glare that pierced through her glasses. "And you two! You two are the worst for what you two did to Abacus!"
Mayor Mare and Lady Justice frowned and dropped their heads in shame at Lawful Eye's words as she continued speaking.
"Abacus saw and thought you were his friends before Tiger Lily died. He respected you. He trusted you!" Lawful Eye growled. "And through all this time, you secretly hated him, and suspected him of killing her because of the high life insurance for Tiger Lily's death. And you harshly sentenced him completely out of hatred."
"But that's was before we realized the truth, and found out now about his innocence," Lady Justice said. "We've changed our minds. Blue Ward and Cover-Up lied to us. All of us."
Mayor Mare sighed. "If only you knew and understood from our past experiences from married couples involving mares married to stallions who seemed like they were perfect."
Lawful Eye glared at them both. "I don't think I want to know or understand! There's no excuse for what you did! And I don't believe anything you say now! You both contributed for Abacus's suffering! And he lost his money, money that he worked so hard for and earned. And for your information, Tiger Lily was the one who put the high life insurance for herself, I even organised it. Because of you two, his good name, his friends, if you could call them that at this point, are lost! And most precious of all, his own mother! Arithma is dead! She was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, and died five months later. And all while Abacus was in prison being tortured, beaten, and raped! And as her dying wish, she asked to be buried next to Tiger Lily, who had a horrible, hatred-filled headstone on her grave that you and the whole town created. Abacus was really upset to see all that!" She adjusted her glasses. "Unfortunately, there's no way you can be charged with anything, because you two did nothing illegal. But I sure wish there was punishment for what you did to him."
The shame and guilt Mayor Mare and Lady Justice were feeling was very great. They too thought that they should be punished, for what Lawful Eye said about them being somewhat responsible for what happened to Abacus was true. Misjudging a stallion as badly as they did, it was the most awful feeling they had ever felt. Warden Rehab and Lock Down walked over to Lawful Eye's side to speak their thoughts.
"You two may not be going to prison or facing charges," Warden Rehab said. "But everypony in Equestria is going to know what you've done. What the whole town had done. And you're going to have to live with that fact."
Lock Down glared. "Before Abacus ran away from the prison on the day he was released, he said he had no home to go home to, no friends and family waiting for him, nopony at all. And it seems like he was right. Just like he was right about the whole town loving him because of his wife. What is it the town calls him? Abacus Scum? As far as I see, you and the rest of the town are scum! And I know scum when I see it! It looks like Blue Ward and Cover-Up was right about one thing: you are dumb fools! Your reputations as a mayor and a court judge will be ruined after this, but not as ruined as Abacus's life has become because of you. I suggest you both make the most of what's left of it while you can."
Mayor Mare and Lady Justice stayed silent, with their eyes and head down, sad and ashamed, with the crowd behind them feeling the same way. Celestia and Luna came forward and began to speak to everyone in the crowd, with each baring a look of anger, and disappointment, looking more furious than any of them, including Twilight herself had ever seen them before.
"I see all of you are ashamed," Luna said. "And you should be for all the heinous actions you have said and done toward one innocent pony."
Two ponies in the crowd spoke out. "But, your highnesses, we were all tricked!"
"Yeah! The crooked Canterlot investigation force framed him, falsely charged him, and tricked us into-"
"It does not matter!" Celestia bellowed, almost into a traditional, royal Canterlot type voice, with a tone as cold as an arctic wind.
The crowd cringed fearfully, for they had not heard the sun princess yell so angrily before, especially Twilight and Spike who had known her longer than the others. Celestia cleared her throat and continued at a lower volume, but still keeping the same cold, angry tone.
"Abacus Sum considered all of you his friends. He trusted you, he respected you. And you turned against him just as quickly without giving any second thought." Celestia glanced at the Main Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, Granny Smith, Big McIntosh, Derpy, Cheerilee, Dr Stallion, Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles, Cup Cake and Carrot Cake with their twins babies, and the two donkeys, Matilda and Cranky Doodle Donkey standing together close by behind her while talking to the crowd. "These ones behind me are the only exceptions that were true to him, who truly believed his innocence, and were willing to help him."
Cranky spoke out. "Umm...Excuse me, your highness. I actually didn't help, but it was because I knew nothing about this Abacus Sum." He looked at Matilda with a smile. "But Matilda told me all about him, and if she believed he was innocent, then I guess I'm willing to believe it too."
"And we believed he was innocent too." Hondo Flanks said.
Cookie Crumbles came up next to Hondo Flanks. "Be we didn't know about him being released and coming back here to Ponyville because we were on vacation."
Celestia nodded understandingly before turning back to the crowd. "It really, truthfully disappoints us on how this whole town has behaved towards just one pony. It is clear now that this town did not truly love or respect him, and that it was only his wife that got the true love and respect."
"Indeed," Luna said. "After how you treated him, I wouldn't have high hopes for him ever returning here again. Abacus's suffering and losses were just as much your doing as it was the Canterlot investigation force. For now, he will be in our care, until he gets mentally well enough to return to wherever else he desired to start his life again, with his 120,000 bits in companion he recently received at his retrial."
Celestia closed her eyes in pity. "A very small comfort. I admit that offer would hardly begin to cover what he went through, or what he had lost, but it's a start at least."
"So it matters not whether you now believe and truly respect him or you're sorry! Because you're too late!" Luna scoffed. "After all, you wanted him gone, and you got your wish. It is like that old saying: Be careful what you wish for. You have marked him with a monstrous stigma that he will have to carry and live with for the rest of his life!"
"This whole town treated Abacus Sum so badly to the point of him nearly taking his own life," Celestia said. "And that itself is a serious thing. It will be very hard for him to get his good name back."
"That reminds me." Luna walk by eyeing every child, except for Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle in the town hall, giving them a serious look. "As I am aware, somepony broke the hospital window of the room Abacus Sum was staying in yesterday with a brick that had a threat note on it. Dr Stallion saw briefly that it was a group of children, but he didn't get a proper look as to who they were. But from coming into the dreams of others, I already know which children are responsible for it."
The children all looked at each other with a curious, confused, and worried looks. Luna stopped and glanced at them all.
"Fortunately for them, I won't be mentioning any names. But I do advise for them to turn themselves in willingly sooner. After all, breaking a window with a brick, or any solid object, and with a threatening note on it is very serious, and not at all humorous. They would be still punished, but believe me, it would be far less than if they didn't turn themselves in. I will let you think about it, but do it because it's the right thing to do, not for the lesser punishment. I hope you will chose wisely."
"And now we must leave," Celestia said. "We must return back to Canterlot. And we will be telling about this whole ordeal to everypony in Equestria when the hoofstrong ring case is presented in court."
"But your highness...” Mayor Mare started, but Celestia held up a hoof to silence her.
"That's enough, Mayor!" Celestia lowed her hoof back down. "I will hear no more of it." She turned her back coldly as she and Luna began to make their way towards the town hall door with the royal guards escorting them. "You and the rest of Ponyville have a lot to think about."
The two alicorn rulers of Equestria walked right out of the town hall in great disappointment, with Twilight and the others following them, leaving the whole crowd inside with feelings of great sadness, guilt, and shame for what they had done. With the reality that Abacus Sum, one of their most beloved residents that they had turned against on a lie and conspiracy was now gone possibly forever, and had no one to blame but themselves.
Twilight and the others followed Celestia and Luna outside where they were going to their personal chariot stationed close by near the three prison wagons, and two police wagons that contained Blue Ward, Cover-Up, Rotten Eggs, Armstrong, Strike Law, Rogue Order, Storm Dasher, and Coco-Nut inside. They were walking past the police wagon that had Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut inside, when Storm Dasher saw Scootaloo, and came over to the side barred window with his hooves stretched out waving.
"Scootaloo!" Storm Dasher called out to Scootaloo, getting her attention as she turned to him. He looked at her with loving eyes as he said, "Sweet heart..."
Scootaloo scowled with anger and disgust at the stallion in the wagon that was her father, then she turned a cold shoulder on him, much to everyone's surprise. The sight of his own daughter turning away from him was heartbreaking for Storm Dasher.
"Right, let's fly!" One of the police ponies pulling one of the two wagons said.
"Scootaloo..." Storm Dasher eyes began welling up as the police wagons began to move.
Celestia, Luna, Spike, the Main Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched as the police wagons soon take off into the sky back towards Cloudsdale until they were out of sight.
Lawful Eye turned to Scootaloo. "Scootaloo? I'm sorry for doing this to your father, but I had to do it."
Scootaloo scoffed. "Serves that jerk right."
Everyone turned to Scootaloo to see she had no pity for him, and what was to happen to him.
"Scootaloo," Twilight said. "Don't you think you're being a bit too harsh towards your father? You know what's going to happen to him, don't you? He's going to be put in jail."
Scootaloo turned away. "So? I don't care what happens to him anymore. He deserves to go to jail after everything he's done."
Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on Scootaloo. "Scootaloo. I know you're angry at him for what he and Coco-Nut Did to Abacus, but he was very sorry and regrets what he-"
"No!" Scootaloo brushed Fluttershy's hoof away. "You don't understand! It's not just that. My dad has been a real jerk ever since mom died. My mom suddenly died from aneurysm..." She winced, trying to fight back tears. "And it was on my birthday." She sniffled. "My dad was such a great guy, he was the best dad in the world. But when mom died, he changed. He turned into a complete jerk! He became jobless, he started drinking, he stopped hanging out with me, and he became angry at everyone and everything, and never listened to me to whatever I had to say! He never even listened to me about the truth about Abacus, and he hurt him. He even hit me too the other day, and I'll never forgive him! When I said that I hated him, and that I wished he was dead, instead of mom, I really meant it. He deserves to go to jail!"
Scootaloo began to cry as the others watched. Everyone felt sad, now knowing the fact that Scootaloo lost her mother on her birthday, and that her father changed, for most of them knew how much of a great guy Storm Dasher used to be before his wife, Firefly tragically died. Rainbow Dash, despite how she already knew, was as equally sad. Celestia and Luna feeling sorry for the little filly walked up over to her to talk to her and give their wisdom.
"Scootaloo. I understand you're angry and upset with your father." Celestia put a caring hoof under Scootaloo's chin. "But hating him and wishing he was dead is way too harsh."
Scootaloo sniffled. "But my dad is a bad pony. An asshole jerk!"
Fluttershy gasped. "Scootaloo. The language."
"Your father isn't a bad pony, Scootaloo," Luna said. "He's sad. Your dear mother's death hurt him greatly, more so than even you. He drinks because he thinks it might numb his pain, instead of receiving professional help. And as a result, he takes is anger and sadness out on others. That is why I feel sorry for him. And you should too."
Twilight, Lawful Eye, and Rainbow Dash came over to Scootaloo. "It's good advise, little buddy. It's what I told you the other day."
Twilight placed a caring hoof on Scootaloo. "Besides, your father loves you. When he hit you at the hospital, he didn't mean to hurt you, and he regretted it. The shocked and ashamed expression he showed and felt afterwards proves it."
"That's true. I'm a detective, and I can tell his shocked expression after hitting you was quite genuine. And the guilt and shame he felt when he found out the truth about Abacus was just the same, and he and Coco-Nut dropped the charges." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "If your father was a bad pony, he wouldn't have done that. Do you think so too, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo sadly dropped her eyes, unsure what to think. "I...I don't know..."
"And running away from home like you did was very irresponsible." Lawful Eye said.
Scootaloo turned around with a scowl that was a mix of anger and sadness. "Well, what did you expect me to do? Miss out on the concert? He refused for me to go because it involved any of you, because of Abacus. I had to stand up to my father."
"And you were right to stand up to him," Twilight said. "But you were wrong to run away. You should've came and told us about it, and we could've sorted it out."
Rainbow Dash patted Scootaloo's shoulder. "Yeah, kiddo. Take it from somepony who got in trouble sometimes as a kid. I know you were feeling angry, or even scared, and you felt like you gotta run, but believe me when I tell you that running away isn't the way to solve your problems. There are better ways to solve them, like facing them head on, and telling somepony."
"Besides, there's a bigger picture to your father's actions you're not aware of. It's true he was extreme when he refused for you to go because of any of us, including Abacus. And that he didn't listen to you." Lawful Eye sighed. "But it was because he was simply trying to protect you like any loving father would."
Twilight nodded. "You really should think it over."
Scootaloo pondered silently at the words the others said, still unsure, but at least thinking it over. Celestia and Luna gently smiled at Scootaloo, believing they were making progress.
"You should listen to them, Scootaloo," Celestia said. "Your father went the wrong way about it, and wasn't rational when not listening to you and attacking Abacus, but he was only protecting you. Your mother's death made him fearful to loss you too. And when you ran away and never came home, you made him very worried."
Luna nodded in agreement at Celestia's words. "And the morning after your argument with your father, when you were to go to Manehattan, you father was going to talk to you, and even change his mind let you go. He was most worried when he found out didn't find you in your room, and ran away. And he was even more worried when you didn't return home. In some way, what happened with Abacus in the cemetery was your doing as much as your father's."
Scootaloo's eyes widened with shock. "It...it was my fault Abacus got beaten up?"
"Not directly, and intentionally," Luna said. "But that's not the point right now. The point is your father isn't really a bad pony. And it's shown from how he dropped the charges in a minimal effort to make things right, and how he did not resist arrest. That incident with him striking you was a wake-up call for him. And you noticed how genuinely remorseful he was at the town hall, even when he tried to speak to you responsibly before Big Mac confronted him. There was no aggression. He loves you, Scootaloo. Maybe when you go visit him in jail, you can ask him yourself."
"Serves you right, you asshole drunk! That's what you get for what you did to Abacus! And for hitting me! I told you he never hit me, and wouldn't hurt me, but you wouldn't listen! Abacus is gone, and it's all your fault! I hate you! And I hope you go to jail! And I hope you suffer, just like Abacus did! That's the least you deserve! And if you die, I'd be happy, because I wish it was you that was dead, not mom! YOU ARE SCUM!"
Scootaloo dropped her head sadly as she recalled what she said to her father, with the feeling of regret. The look in her eyes and the tears that began to trickle out of them said everything.
"I..." Scootaloo sniffled. "I don't want my dad to go to jail."
Lawful Eye sighed with pity. "I'm sorry Scootaloo. But your father has done the wrong thing, and he needs to be punished."
"But if he goes to jail, he'll be bashed, tortured, and raped." Scootaloo said with tears in her eyes. "And if he gets out, he'll be branded as scum for life. Those who go to jail are branded as scum, and his life will be destroyed. I don't want that to happen to my dad. I don't want him to be branded, treated, and turn into scum."
Lock Down and Warden Rehab, seeing how upset and distressed Scootaloo was, came over to her. "That's not true, Scootaloo. Your father will not be branded as scum in jail. Jail and prison are different. Jail is for those awaiting trial or serving a short sentence."
"Yeah, kid," Lock Down said. "If your dad does go to jail, he won't be in there for long anyway. It's only a slap on the hoof. And his life won't be destroyed. Not by a long shot. But it will be a bit hard for a while."
Luna began to comfit Scootaloo. "But whatever punishment your father receives, he will except it humbly without complaint, and he is going to learn from his mistake. Coco-Nut as well. He won't turn into scum, nor will he be treated like it, Scootaloo. We promise."
"The courts I'm sure will be kind to him and Coco-Nut," Lawful Eye said. "And I'll make sure their punishments isn't too harsh."
Celestia put a caring hoof under Scootaloo's chin. "Things will turn out fine. But they're going to be hard for both of them while in jail, and will still be for a while after, so your father's going to need you as much as you need him."
Scootaloo sniffled and wiped her eyes with he hoof. "...I will...I promise. But what's going to happen to me?"
"They might give him a low bail, so he'll be out in a couple of days. And his release is only temporary until his trial." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "It will give you time to for you to make things up with your father, and give your father enough time to set his affairs in order." Seeing Scootaloo was still sad, she placed a caring hoof on her shoulder. "I'm very sorry, Scootaloo. It's just the way it has to be. I won't lie, I'm still angry at your father, but now knowing about his tragic loss, I really pity him. I just hope it won't change your mind about me, since I know how much you respect me."
Scootaloo sadly shook her head. "No...it won't."
Lawful Eye watched as Scootaloo wiped a more tears from her eyes. "Come here." She gently pulled Scootaloo in with her hoof, and began to hug her. "Everything will be okay. Your father will pull through." She let go, and looked at Scootaloo in the eyes with a kind smile. "From what I've seen, he's a strong pony. I still have high hopes for him. We all do."
Scootaloo sniffled, and began to feel a bit better, knowing that there was hope for her father, and hopes that they could be close like they once were, and be a family again. Celestia and Luna watched on, with great hope for both of them for the future. They then glanced at the numerous ponies coming out of the town hall close by, each still baring the look and feelings of sadness, shame and guilt. They then turned back to the others.
"Well, we had better be on our way," Celestia said. "We have other matters to attend to back in Canterlot."
Lawful Eye turned to Celestia. "Your Highness? Would it be alright if I came back to Canterlot with you? I feel I need to be with Abacus."
Celestia nodded. "Of course you can, Lawful Eye."
"Besides, we were going to ask you that anyway," Luna said. "He's been asking for you."
Celestia turned to Lock Down and Warden Rehab. "You two will be welcome to come too. I know Abacus Sum would like to see you as well."
Warden Rehab nodded. "Thank you, your highness."
Lock Down smiled. "There's no way I'd say no to seeing a friend."
"Although, we have to leave the following day after that," Warden Rehab said. "We have a prison to run. And there are still other victims in Hoofstrong that need to be cleared, cared for, and released."
Luna nodded. "Of course. That is one of the matters we must sort out. But thanks to Turncoat's cooperation with Task Force River, his knowledge, and with the large collection of case files he collected, it should not take as long after all the ones involved in the corruption ring are brought to justice."
Celestia turned to the head royal guard standing close by. "Captain. Take the prisoners back to Canterlot. We will be a little while longer."
"Yes, your highness." The royal guard captain turned to the royal guards pulling the prison wagons. "Let's move out!"
Everyone watched as the royal guards pulling the three prison wagons, along with most of the royal guards began to leave Ponyville, by taking off into the sky towards Canterlot, and disappeared into the distance.
The Main Six, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all gathered outside the Golden Oak Library to see Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down off to Canterlot with Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. The princess's personal chariot was stationed, waiting to depart, as Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down gathered their things, and said their goodbyes.
"Thank you for accommodating us whilst we were here in Ponyville, Twilight." Warden Rehab said.
Twilight nodded. "It was no trouble at all."
Lawful Eye smiled gratefully. "And thank you all for trying to help Abacus. I guess it's good to know he has at least some true friends here in this town."
Rainbow Dash sighed with relief. "I'm just glad that the "Abacus Scum" stigma is finally over."
"You said it," Spike said. "I think even the most bigoted of ponies in Ponyville have been finally convinced."
Rarity nodded. "Indeed. But they wouldn't have been convinced of the truth if it hadn't have been for the princesses."
Celestia smiled. "It was no trouble. Although you could have just asked us earlier, and we could've resolved this."
Spike turned to Twilight with a I-told-you-so look on his face. Twilight turned to Celestia sadly with the realization of what she could have done to resolve it.
"Princess Celestia," Twilight said. "I'm sorry I didn't call upon you when I should've. I was afraid of interfering and making things difficult for your other matters you needed to tend to. I was planning to call upon you when it got too bad, or in an emergency, like with the federal courts. If I would've done just that, this whole situation with Abacus and the whole town would've be resolved much sooner, and Abacus would've still been here, and..."
Celestia put a caring hoof under Twilight's chin and gently lifted her head up. "It's alright, Twilight. I'm very proud of you. Trying to do things yourself shows how more independent you're being. And I appropriate you were being considerate, but anytime you need my sister and I, we will come."
Luna nodded. "Nothing is more important than the well-being of all and any of our subjects."
Celestia smiled. "I should also tell you that the courts would side with you and your friends if the federal courts got involved anyway."
"Say what-now?" Applejack said.
Twilight tilted her head. "I don't understand. How would the courts side with us?"
"You are the barers of the elements of harmony," Celestia said. "The elements have more authority than anypony below us."
Luna nodded. "Given it would have been the elements of harmony against two police ponies out of their jurisdiction, we are sure that the courts would side with the elements."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Wow! I didn't know that."
"Hold on," Pinkie Pie said. "So you're saying if I demanded for 1000 Chimicherrychanga's with 10,000 gallons of chocolate chip, peanut butter crunch ice cream, I'd get it?"
Celestia and Luna looked at each other awkwardly at Pinkie Pie's question, not knowing what to say. Twilight, feeling awkward too shook her head. "Pinkie, I don't think they meant that kind of authority."
"Aw!" Pinkie Pie frowned.
"But, it's still amazing ta know we have more authority than anypony else in Equestria, except for the princesses," Applejack said. "That's handy ta know."
"Indeed you do." Celestia leaned in closer to everyone and talked quietly. "And it'll be our little secret." She gave them a wink.
"But what about Abacus?" Everyone turned to Apple Bloom who was frowning sadly. "He's never comin' back, an' was chased outta town. It's just not fair. Ah want him ta come back."
Everyone watched as a small tear came out of Apple Bloom's eye. Scootaloo felt the same way. Sweetie Belle, despite not knowing, or even meeting Abacus, felt sad too. Celestia and Luna sympathetically came over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders to comfit them.
"Don't worry, my little ponies," Celestia said. "We will try to convince him to come back to Ponyville. He at least has friends here. Have faith, little ones."
Applejack stepped forward. "But it’s not gonna be real easy. Abacus will never forget what society, an' this here town's done ta him. This whole thing has changed him, an' it might be a very long time before he'll ever feel safe again."
Luna nodded. "We know. It's a pity the town didn't find out about his innocence until it was too late." She sighed. "Though it wasn't really their fault, considering they were all fooled as much as everypony else was. But hopefully they have learnt from their mistake. Something I myself can relate to."
Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down came over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders smiling sympathetically at how much they really cared about Abacus.
"I think Abacus will come back." Lawful Eye turned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. "I know for a fact he really appreciates you two."
Sweetie Belle tilted her head. "What about me? Would he appreciate me too."
Lawful Eye turned to Sweetie Belle. "Well, neither of you met each other. But yes, Sweetie Belle. He would really appreciate you too."
Warden Rehab nodded. "That's true. He may be psychologically scarred, heart broken, and perhaps hateful from how most of the town had treated him, but Abacus will always carry a potent memory of some ponies, including two certain little children, and the kindness they showed to somepony who was deemed a monster."
"You should be very proud of yourselves, girls," Lock Down said. "You showed great kindness and compassion to Abacus when he needed it the most. I think he would share a very close bond with you. That's something to be very proud of."
Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. "Maybe we can visit him while he's in Canterlot."
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle said. "I haven't met Abacus yet. And I'd like to meet him."
Scootaloo turned to Celestia and Luna. "That's if it's okay with you, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna?"
Luna nodded. "Of course you can. You are all more than welcome to see him anytime."
Celestia sighed. "While on the subject. We should apologize too for showing the horrific visions of Abacus's memory."
"I especially. It was wrong to show them the horrors of what Abacus Sum went through, especially to all the children." Luna sighed. "But Abacus wished for us to show them, since he said that he was never returning to Ponyville again."
Lawful Eye turned to Luna. "I still can't believe Abacus would want to show everypony that, including the children."
"Who knows what horrible effects those visions will have on the poor children." Fluttershy said.
Twilight sighed. "I know Abacus is angry and hurt at what the town did to him, but this was just wrong."
Luna nodded. "We will have a word with him about it as soon as we return to Canterlot."
"That reminds me," Celestia said. "I believe the town wants to really apologise for their behaviour towards Abacus. So you can tell the whole town from us that if anypony wants to send him mail, they can send it by Twilight and Spike. Then, we can possibly allow them to visit him."
Twilight nodded. "That's a good idea, Princess. It's a way of slowly getting Abacus introduced back here in Ponyville."
"I guess the whole town now feels really bad about what they did," Fluttershy said. "I guess they'd need a way to apologise to him."
"That's true. This town is a really nice town. The ponies in this town are nice too, they just made a serious misunderstanding with one pony." Lock Down sighed. "What this town really lacks is its own proper, local police force."
Celestia nodded. "That is true. And to that, we are going to organize a plan with the mayor to have a police station established with it's own police force here in Ponyville."
"But we have to select somepony worthy enough to run it to ensure something like the incident with Abacus doesn't happen again." Luna glanced at Lawful Eye. "Somepony like you, detective Lawful Eye."
Twilight and the others looked at Lawful Eye with amazement, for they were offering her the position. Lawful Eye was even more amazed at being offered the position straight away before things were properly arranged. "I...I...don't know what to say..."
"Not to worry, Lawful Eye," Celestia said. "We haven't set it up yet, so there is no rush. We'll let you think it over. For now, Abacus needs you the most."
Lawful Eye nodded. "Thank you, your highness. I am very honored you and Princess Luna have considered me. I promise I will think it over."
"You're quite welcome." Celestia turned her attention to Luna. "And I am very proud of you too, Princess Luna."
Luna turned to Celestia, and tilted her head. "Proud of me?"
Celestia nodded, and began to smile. "You saved many innocent ponies, including Abacus from a horrific fate, brought a villainous corruption syndicate I knew nothing about to an end, and saving many more other possible victims. Something even I couldn't have done on my own." She placed a loving hoof around Luna. "I'm so very proud of you."
Luna blushed. "Thank you, my dear big sister."
"I still can't believe it," Twilight said. "Blue Ward and Cover-Up. Some of the best of the Canterlot investigation force would do something like this, and go corrupted and rogue."
"Not to mention all the others involved." Spike said.
Applejack nodded. "Ah know, sugarcube. It's a shock to everypony. But those varmints will get what's comin' to'em."
Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Those bastards could all rot in Tartarus for all everypony else cares after that."
"Rainbow," Fluttershy said. "The language."
Celestia sighed, and looked at the sky briefly before turning back to the others. "Well, Lawful Eye, Rehab, and Lock Down, it's about time we start our journey back to Canterlot. Come aboard please." She smiles at Lawful Eye. "Abacus is expecting the mare he loves to be by his side."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders open there eyes with surprise as they said in unison, "Mare he loves?"
"Detective Lawful Eye?" Apple Bloom asked. "Are ya an' Abacus...?"
Lawful Eye turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and smiled at them with a smile and a look in her eyes that said it all. The three fillies faces lit up like the sun, wide-eyed with hug smiles. Lawful Eye then turned her attention back to Twilight and the others, with Warden Rehab, and Lock Down as the three of them climbed aboard the princess's personal chariot.
"Well, bye, everypony," Lawful Eye said. "And thank you for all you've done."
The Main Six began to wave as the chariot with The Princesses, Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down on board began to move and leave.
"Bye, Lawful Eye! See you in Canterlot soon!"
"See you later, Lock Down! You're awesome!"
"Bye, Rehab! You're always welcome here!"
"I'll organize a party for you guys!"
"Fare thee well, darlings!"
"Y'all come back now, y'hear?!"
Lawful Eye, Warden Rehab, and Lock Down waved back to the others as the princess's chariot took off into the sky and began to fly back the city of Canterlot. The Main Six and the Cutie Mark Crusaders continued waving until they were out of sight.
Twilight sighed and turned to the others. "Well, guys. It looks like Ponyville's issue with Abacus is over, but now there's the task of convincing him to return. I think we should organize to go to Canterlot in a couple of days."
Spike nodded. "You said it."
"You bet, sugarcube. W'all should go an' visit him." Applejack turned to Apple Bloom. "But yer still sick with chickenpox, Apple Bloom. So yer visit with Abacus will just have ta wait."
"And me too." Sweetie Belle said.
Everyone turned to Sweetie Belle to see, to Rarity's shock that red, scabby spots started forming on her front hooves. They all knew that Sweetie Belle had contracted chickenpox from Apple Bloom.
"Oh, my goodness," Rarity said. "Sweetie Belle, you've got chickenpox."
"I know, sis." Sweetie Belle moaned in discomfort. "And they're starting to really itch."
Sweetie Belle moved her hoof to scratch the spots on her hooves. Apple Bloom quickly grabbed Sweetie Belle's hoof, stopping her from scratching just before she could start.
"Don't scratch them," Apple Bloom said. "Trust me. It'll only make it worse."
"You poor dear." Rarity stroked Sweetie Belle's mane. "I better get you home to mother and father. And we better get Dr Stallion to take a look at you too."
"An' ya'll have ta stay in bed for a few weeks, honey." Applejack said.
"A few weeks?" Sweetie Belle frowned. "That long?"
"Don't worry, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said. "It ain't all that bad. Maybe we can all have a slumber party together in a couple days."
Rarity smiled. "Say, that's a great idea. We can organize a special slumber party for you girls."
"Yeah! A chickenpox slumber party." Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo. "What do ya think, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo paused briefly before sadly giving her answer. "I...I think I'll pass, guys."
"Huh?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head. "Why?"
Rainbow Dash, knowing that Scootaloo was still a bit worried and saddened by the issue with her father, placed a comforting hoof on Scootaloo. "Don't feel bad, little buddy. You have fun with the others. Your dad would probably want that. Okay?"
Scootaloo through for a moment, before nodding with a smile to try and remain positive. "Okay, guys. I'm in."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle began to jump with glee. "Yay! Cutie Mark Crusader chickenpox slumber party!"
"But first we need ta get y'little fillies home." Applejack said.
"I for one agree." Rarity used her magic to levitate Sweetie Belle on to her back. "Let's get you home, Sweetie Belle."
Rainbow Dash smiled at Scootaloo. "I think we should go too, squirt. In fact, how about we go out for dinner tonight. My treat."
Scootaloo nodded. "Okay."
"Well, see you tomorrow, guys." Twilight said.
Twilight and Spike watched as the others went their separate ways back home. Afterwards, they went inside, knowing that they have to tell everyone in town tomorrow about how they could send letters to Abacus, as the princesses had instructed. The effort of Abacus's recovery begins, and things were going to be a bit hard for a while.
I am writing to apologize on behalf of the Equestria police commission for the fact that we had recently received word from Cloud Patrol, the chief of police in Cloudsdale that two members of their force had tried to arrest you, and with two civilians had unlawfully, and brutally assaulted you in the process. Along with the false information that you had assaulted them, and the civilians.
The officers involved, Strike Law and Rogue Order as we have been told had no authorization to be in the town of Ponyville due to it being out of Cloudsdale's jurisdiction. The Cloudsdale Metropolitan Police Department does not now nor has ever condoned such rogue behavior demonstrated by Officers Strike Law and Rogue Order. Willing, rogue dishonor as demonstrated by Officers Law and Order is a very serious offence. The Cloudsdale Metropolitan Police Department has a long and proud history of holding each officer to a very high standard of truthful, honest law enforcement. Officers Law and Order's actions has brought great discredit to the department, and is not now nor will it ever be tolerated or go unpunished.
We have also been informed by her grand royal highness's, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria, as well as members of Task Force River that you were also deliberately falsely imprisoned for murder due to a rogue, corruption, conspiracy ring organized by the Canterlot investigation force operating out of all our knowledge. This corruption ring of the Canterlot investigation force has left an even greater dishonor and discredit to the Equestria police commission on how such horrific acts can go unnoticed for a long time as it did.
I want to take this opportunity to apologize to you for the incident and want you to know that all the officers responsible will be facing serious charges against them when facing trial. I also want to apologize for your horrific experience. I and Cloud Patrol, the chief of police in Cloudsdale, as well as other Equestria police commission officials would also value an opportunity to meet you to apologize to you in person and discuss any lessons that the Police Commission could learn from your experience to prevent these sort of things ever happening again. We would also maybe like to help you organize an Ex gratia payment by the court for the losses and pain you went through in addition to the compensation you received at your retrial.
I sincerely apologize for my daughter's awful behavior towards you, and for her lying about what you did to her. I admit that I thought you were guilty and I had my doubt's about you, and I had plans to have you sued by my lawyers, but when the princesses showed and convinced me of what really happened, I had the charges dropped straight away. To be honest, I did not believe you did kill your wife, but I kept it to myself because I I was afaid that it would effect my business if I did. I realized the mistake of not making the effort of standing up for you, and I hope there will be no bad blood between us.
Now, what do you say, Diamond Tiara?
...Sorry, Mr Abacus.
And after she has recovered from her chickenpox, she is not going to get any dessert and sweets for a month.
What? But daddy...
No buts, young lady! Now go back to bed. You need to rest, and I need to write this letter. Now where was I? Ah, yes. I am so sorry for everything, and I want to help make things right for you somehow, just like everypony else in town does.
Sincerely, Filthy Rich
Dear Abacus Sum,
Please accept our deepest apologies for our attitude towards you in hospital.
Our attitude towards you was very unprofessional, and unacceptable. Whether or not if you were a murderer, we should not have treated you that way. A nurse's job is to heal and care for, not to judge and sentence. And finding out the truth that you were not a murderer makes our pain and guilt all the more worse.
If there was any good that came out of this unfortunate experience, it is that we have grown and learned alternative approaches to these situations.
We are so sorry.
Sincerely, Redheart and Snowheart
Dear Mr Sum,
My friends and I are very sorry for throwing a brick with a threatening note on it at the room you were staying in at the hospital. I did not really want to do it. My friends, Rumble and Shady Daze all wanted to do it to simply scare you away because they thought you were a murderer. But I did not want to do it, and did not say anything because I was afraid my friends would turn on me, and calling me a snitch, or a traitor, or even think I was on your side. But after finding out that you are not a murderer, and what you tried to do after that, we feel really bad about it. We do not want to feel this way anymore, so I hope you accept my apology.
The princesses showed us and everypony in town what really happened, and what happened to you in jail. It was so scary that it made the most scary video game I have ever played, without my mom knowing, look like nothing, and I was scared to go to sleep after that. After Princess Luna said that she knew who it was, my friends and I went to the hospital and turned ourselves in. They then brought me home, and talked with my mom about it. They did the same with Rumble and Shady Daze. My mom was really mad at me, but was proud that I turned myself in and told the truth. My friends and I have been grounded by our parents for the rest of the summer, and we have to do chores at the hospital until we pay for the broken window.
I'm very sorry for what I have done, and so are my friends. Please forgive us.
Sincerely, Button Mash
Dear Abacus Sum,
I am writing you this letter because I affected you. I know that an apology will not be enough to make this better, but I want you to understand how very, genuinely sorry I am.
On the day the Princesses showed your memories to the whole town, I had just found out that I was partly to blame for Tiger Lily’s death. They showed that the power socket I replaced behind your refrigerator had the wires caught on a nail I did not see. And it gave out and split the electrical tape I wrapped around it, and caused an electrical fire. It was not revealed for two whole years without me knowing. And all this time I believed you were a murderer, and deemed you as “Scum” like many others in town. I have great guilt, and though I may not be sentenced to prison, or even punished, I do feel that I should have been punished. I will have to carry it for the rest of my life.
I have lost a lot of confidence in my profession of being an electrician since I have found about it. If I could take it back, I would. Instead, please know that I will always be haunted by what I did to you. I have no greater regrets than the damage I caused you, even though I didn’t find out until recently.
I know this is very stressful, and upsetting for you finding out I contributed to poor Tiger Lily’s death, and your other losses, so I will understand if you don’t want to see or talk to me. However, if there is anything you would like to say to me, or if you would like to confront me, please write back to me, and I will come visit you while you’re in Canterlot. I am willing to hear anything you have to say.
Regretfully yours, Light Socket
Dear Abacus Sum,
My wife, Honey Blossom and I were responsible for violently assaulting you. First was from my wife in the park, and then me a few days later in the cemetery with Storm Dasher. Just writing it makes us sick inside. We were some of the ones who believed you were a murderer, and were worried about the safety of our daughter, Buttercup when we thought you hurt her. I was very angry, and we wanted you to pay, even taking the law into our own hooves with Storm Dasher. But after the princesses showed us the truth of what really happened, we now realized that you did not do it, and that we made a very terrible mistake. Instead of assaulting a dangerous murderous pony, we assaulted an innocent, unfortunate pony, and called you a pedophile. My wife and I can not begin to express how sorry we are that we did that.
Honey Blossom and I were arrested and are facing charges of assault, and we will accept the consequences of our actions. Buttercup was most upset about this whole thing of us being charge and facing punishment. We even paid for your hospital bill yesterday. We know that it's not enough to make things right, but it's the least we can do.
I hope that you can find a way to forgive us, and I hope to make things right with you more somehow. We are very sorry for hurting you, and misjudging you so badly.
Sincerely, Coco-Nut
P.S. Off the record, I should say that you really pack a wallop for somepony who does accounting and taxes for a living. You should take up boxing or karate.
Dear Abacus Sum,
I have to tell you how deeply sorry I am for assaulting you, and for getting my brother-in-law, Flare Shaker's best friends on you. I realize now that I did not just hurt physically, but mentally as well.
I did not realize how crooked and rogue Strike Law and Rogue Order truly were. Even after finding out you were innocent, they tried to arrest you for assaulting them. Flare Shaker is also sorry too, and he even bailed me out. I was so scared of losing Scootaloo, that I did not listen to anypony who were on your side. I have been so bad ever since Firefly died. In fact, I should tell you that Firefly always believed you were innocent of murder, while I always believed you were guilty, but in the end I now know who was right in the end. She tragically died over a year ago from an aneurysm, and it was on Scootaloo's birthday. For that time I blamed myself, and became so angry and depressed with myself, and even everypony else, and even not been much support to my own daughter when she needed me most. I even struck her in the hospital on the day Coco-Nut and I confronted you, which I felt extremely guilty and regretful about even now.
Since I have been bailed out, I tried to make things up with Scootaloo, and if it was not for Rainbow Dash and her friends, it would have been difficult. I really want to change back to my old self, get my life back on track, and make things up to you and to everypony else for how I've been. I have even gone as far as to admitting myself to therapy, anger management, and counseling like I should have done a long time ago. I've even tried to look for work, where Rainbow Dash offered me to be a partner in weather patrol, my old job. Though I was reluctant at first due to the shame and guilt I had, I accepted it. Most of the other Pegasi on the weather patrol were surprisingly glad to have me back, and even hoped that I would come back.
I'm greatly ashamed and sickened by what I have done, like everypony else in Ponyville. My sadness, anger and aggression towards everypony has caused me great pain. I and Coco-Nut really thought you hurt both his and my daughter, and even tried to advance on her. And I tried to protect her from you, but I was wrong. I am not trying to justify what we both had done. Coco-Nut and I are going to be punished, and after all that I have done to you, I will accept whatever is coming to me. And I will hold no grudge against you for biting me, or even sending me to spend time in jail, because I deserve it. I am even getting my affairs in order for whatever happens. My sister, Lofty, and her partner, Holiday have even decided to sell their home in Baltimare, and move in with Scootaloo and I to help out.
I hope you can forgive me, and that someday, somehow, I can make it up to you.
Sincerely, Storm Dasher
Dear Abacus,
We are so sorry for judging you so badly. We thought you really did kill Tiger Lily, and we were so afraid of you, especially of your face. We saw from the memories the princesses showed us the other day of what really happened on the night Tiger Lily died, how you were deliberately falsely arrested for murdering her, and seeing the torture, the pain you went through, and that vicious dog of that evil minotaur mauling your beautiful face. The horror, the horror! It was awful! And finding out that you were innocent, and that you were gone and never coming back, it's a disaster. A horrible, horrible disaster.
We used to respect you greatly, just as much as we did to Tiger Lily when she was alive. She spoke so highly of you when working with us at the local flower shop, and we were such fools to believe you would ever kill anypony. We are not sure if you are aware, but after you were sent away to prison, the site of where you and Tiger Lily used to live had been turned into a memorial public flower garden in honor of her memory. We suggested it to the mayor, and we did not want you mentioned on it because we wanted the garden to be a peaceful, respectable place, and we knew that your name mentioned would have caused anger and sadness. We felt it was what Tiger Lily would have wanted.
We organised for your good name to be put up in the memorial public flower garden with the mayor, which she has agreed straight away. I think the mayor is feeling as guilty as we are, or maybe even more. We miss you. We all love you. Please do not leave us. Please come home. We are so very sorry.
Yours sincerely, Daisy, Rose, and Lily Valley
Dear Abacus Sum,
I understand if you do not want to read this apology, but I needed to write and let you know how sorry I am for bringing this whole thing upon you. I have enormous regrets at how long it took me to realize that you were innocent. And if it was not for the princesses, I do not think we would have ever of known the truth.
I can not even imagine the pain and fear that I caused you, for I have seen it with my own eyes. I and Lady Justice seriously misjudged you. But there was a reason. It was because of our past experiences with couples who look and seemed perfect, but had a dark side we never saw. In both our cases it was domestic abuse, for I knew somepony in school in Canterlot where I used to live. She was a friend of mine and her father was abusive to her. I convinced her to tell somepony, and it was because of that, her father was brought to justice, and sent to jail. It saved her whole family. But it was shocking to me how my friend's father looked so innocent, and not look the type that would hurt his own wife and children. There is another reason, but I would rather tell that one to you myself in person when I and Lady Justice ever get to see and talk to you.
We were both secretly suspicious of you because of that. That is where our suspicions of you and any happy couple began. And when Tiger Lily died in the house fire and you told us what happened, our suspicions increased. So we called upon the investigation force from Canterlot to investigate, and that was our biggest mistake. We had no idea of the true intentions of the corrupted investigators. They even played us for fools by taking advantage of us, and the whole town, especially when we told them that we suspected you of killing her. That was our other biggest mistake.
The false evidence the Canterlot investigation force had created against you was convincing to our suspicions. They took advantage of us like they did to all the other ponies that knew the other countless victims that suffered from their corruption, conspiracy syndicate. And if it were not for the Princess, and the members of Task Force River, we would never had realized the truth.
We can not take that back, and I am so sorry that you ever had to go through it. In a lot of ways, Lady Justice and I were just as responsible for your suffering. For this whole time, you were innocent, and a good, respectable pony, and we were convinced that you were guilty. It is something that I will have to live with. But the whole town, including myself and Lady Justice really want you back in Ponyville.
Also, the headstone of your wife, Tiger Lily, as we all know, was destroyed in a confrontation with Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and the two police ponies. That headstone was very expensive, and was put together by the whole town in memory of her. We were very angered about it, but after finding out the truth from the princesses, we are now glad that it was destroyed for it had hurtful, untruthful things about you. And we are organizing for a new headstone to be place there. Though I doubt I am going to be mayor of this town on the next election after this, because of what I did to you. Everypony in Equestria is soon going to know what I and Lady Justice have done.
I and Lady Justice really want to come to Canterlot to see you, but until then, I just wanted you to know that you have my most heartfelt, humble apology for the suffering I caused.
Yours sincerely, Mayor Mare
Dear Abacus Sum,
This is a difficult letter to write, and I am sure it's even harder to receive, but I have to tell you how deeply sorry I am for judging and sentencing you so harshly. I realize now that I did not just hurt you - I permanently damaged you, and was in some way responsible for your poor mother's death as well. I was played a really big fool by the evil, despicable, corrupted Canterlot investigation force. I only wish I could be the one to sentence them for playing me, the mayor, and almost the whole town for fools, taking advantage of our suspicions of you, and causing us to ruin your life. But I am afraid it is not to be. And would not have been convinced of the truth, if it were not for the members of Task Force River, and the princesses themselves.
Both the mayor and myself are deeply ashamed and sickened by what we've done. My secret suspicious demeanor has caused more pain than I can ever repair. I know that this letter is too little and too late, but I want you to know how much I regret my actions. Of all my years serving in court, this is the guilty verdict, and sentence I will forever regret for the rest of my life. In fact, both the mayor and I are facing a harsh blow to our reputations and careers and will forever be shamed for the rest of our lives. We have nothing but regret for what you have been put through, and what your poor mother and your supporters have gone through.
When I was a little filly growing up in Manehattan, my father was seen be many as a great stallion, but behind closed doors, he was violent, and abusive to my mother, myself, and my little brother. Until one night, he killed my mother in cold blood by beating her to death. In court, he showed no remorse, and showed his true colors to everypony who thought they knew him. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, which in fact was Hoofstrong Prison Centre before it turned rogue. He died eight years later by hanging himself. After that, it made me so suspicious of any pony couple or family that seemed perfect to everypony else. Sadly, I was taken advantage of it by the Canterlot investigation force with you. I realized I destroyed an innocent pony's life for no reason, and I understand if you never want to forgive me or Mayor Mare for what we have done, for we do not deserve your forgiveness, respect, or even friendship.
We wish we could go back in time and prevent everything wrong from happening, but I can not. If I could, I would. You were a wonderfully supportive, trustworthy, loving, caring stallion to Tiger Lily, and my past experiences should not have made me think otherwise about you. All of Ponyville, including Mayor Mare, and myself really want you to come back.
I am so sorry for the suffering I have caused you, and the mayor and I would really like to visit you in Canterlot to talk to you personally to express how we feel. We will organize it with the princesses soon.
Within the first two months, many letters were written to Abacus while he and Lawful Eye were staying in the princesses castle in Canterlot. Almost all of them were apology letters from the ponies in Ponyville. Despite all this, Abacus refused to accept their apologies, for they had understandably damaged him. The letters of Mayor Mare, Lady Justice, and Light Socket were the most distressing of all, finding out that Mayor Mare and Lady Justice compared him to a domestically violent and abusive stallion they each knew. In addition, that Light Socket's electrical work he did on the replaced power socket was the cause of the fire that destroyed everything he once owned, and took the life of Tiger Lily and his unborn child. Even though he already knew from the evidence Lawful Eye presented in court at his retrial. Abacus wrote back to Light Socket saying that he should have been the one to suffer what he went through, and that he never wanted to see or speak to him again.
Soon, the news that Task Force River had found the illegal sex trafficking ring, that all those involved were busted and shut down, and that all the children of the prisoners were tracked and found was announced. With that news told, the trial of the members of the Canterlot investigation force, and Armstrong and his guards of Hoofstrong Prison Center commenced in Canterlot at Equestria supreme court. The trial lasted for three days. With Abacus testimony, and the evidence shown, it was an instant guilty verdict, and they were sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Ironically enough, they were sentenced to Hoofstrong Prison Center. Turncoat was given a much lighter sentence, and was offered to work for the special royal services in Canterlot after his sentence. He accepted this as a way to try and right the wrongs he did.
At that same time, the princesses had revealed everything about the criminal actions of Canterlot investigation force, and Hoofstrong Prison Center to the public in Equestria for the first time, telling about Abacus, and what he and many more victims went through. In addition to telling the actions of Lawful Eye, the FPI, and Task Force River of revealing and putting a stop to it. They explained that they had kept this behind closed doors from the public for many months because revealing it to the public would endanger the undercover investigation. In addition to the fear that it would tarnish the image of the Equestrian police, and would cause a fear of the law enforcement to the public. The public reaction to this news was meet with a mix of great anger and revulsion, and great disbelief and betrayal by the criminal actions Canterlot investigation force, and Hoofstrong Prison Center.
Two weeks later, Abacus and Lawful Eye went to Cloudsdale, for the trial of Strike Law and Rogue Order, and Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and Honey Blossom soon after. Strike Law and Rogue Order were found guilty of numerous charges, including aggravated assault and battery, wrongful arrests, malicious wounding, wilful negligence, abuse of authority, insubordination, and perjury. They showed no emotion in court as they were each sentenced to twelve years in prison, with a non-parole period of six years. Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and Honey Blossom however pleaded guilty of assaulting Abacus. They all showed great remorse for it, but would accept whatever punishment they got. Despite their remorse, Abacus showed great anger and hatred towards them for what they had did to him. He even stated how he only agreed to have them get lighter punishments because of Scootaloo, and Buttercup, and that the princesses, the Main Six, and Lawful Eye convinced him. Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut were each sentenced to two months in jail with five months of community service and a four-month good behaviour bond after their release. Honey Blossom was given four months of community service with a four-month good behaviour bond. The judge that sentenced Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and Honey Blossom lead the princesses example, believing punishment should help a pony better themselves, not be an excuse for meanness and misery. Before Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut were escorted to jail from the courts, Storm Dasher left Scootaloo in Rainbow Dash's care while he was spending his two-month sentence, until her aunts Lofty and Holiday moved in a month later. He thought of no one better to help take care of her, and be a big sister to. Buttercup openly said that she hated Abacus, and called him "scum" for having her father being sent away to jail. She was comforted and lectured by her mother and father to not call him that, and not to hate him. Telling her that they deserved their punishment, and that he was understandably really hurt emotionally.
During these first two months, Abacus had many visitors, mainly from the Main Six, Spike, and those in town who were on his side who believed in him. Lock Down and Warden Rehab came to see him when they could, Lock Down even brought his wife, Sugar Dough and their three children over to visit and meet him. On one week, Commissioner Gold Shield, Chief Cloud Patrol, and other Equestria police commission officials came to see him as they promised they would in their letter. They gave their most humble apologies to him and discussed the things they have done to insure things like that cannot happen again. They even helped organize an Ex gratia payment by the court for him as promised. They even told him that Ponyville has organized with the princesses, and the police commission for a police station to be built and opened there.
Not long after that, the family of Rotten Eggs, the Egg family came to visit Abacus. They felt so ashamed for what their son had done, and was a mystery to how a pony from a good, loving, well respected family of Fillydelphian egg farmers turned out to be so evil to bully, then commit rape, and recently be one of many responsible for the pain, suffering, and deaths of many innocent lives. The Egg family wanted to give their sincere apologies to Abacus, and even kindly offered to help make it up to him in any way possible for all of what their son had did to him. The Egg family told Abacus and Lawful Eye about how they visited Rotten Eggs at Hoofstrong on the first week he was locked up there to announce their great shame of what he had done, even greater than the violent rapes he was convicted of years ago. His own mother and father asked why he did all those horrible things. Rotten Eggs's response was "Because I can.". The Egg family was left heartbroken with the horrific reality that one of their own could be one of the ones responsible for the suffering and even deaths of countless victims.
Surprisingly, Abacus and Lawful Eye had another two visitors. The visitors were Rad Ballad, Sapphire Shores’s keyboard player and co-songwriter, and his father, "High Note". They came to talk with him about a certain matter that Rad Ballad told Abacus and Princess Luna when they went with them back to Canterlot. It was about a unicorn stallion victim at Hoofstrong that Abacus suffered with a couple of times. A unicorn stallion named “Sound Wave”, who is Rad Ballad’s half-brother. He was another victim of the corruption ring, when he was later found out to be framed and charged for setting a nightclub in Manehattan on fire, that killed seven ponies. Abacus told them in great detail on what happened. How he was forced by Armstrong and his guards to suffer alongside him, to how Sound Wave was used as a breeder for children to be sold for slavery. He even mentioned about how he witnessed a mare victim that gave birth to one of Sound Wave’s children being hung and killed before she could be summoned for a retrial when there was a technicality found in that poor mare’s case. Lawful Eye even mentioned how it was even presented as evidence in court at the trial of the Canterlot investigation force and Hoofstrong Prison Center, including the real case file that Turncoat hid away. Rad Ballad’s father, High Note described how he had great guilt and shame with what happened to his poor son, Sound Wave. It hurt him even more when High Note mentioned the last thing he said to him before they took him away. How he disowned him, that he was not his son, and that he hoped he would die behind bars. And how he was informed of what happened to him, and that he was told that someone else was responsible for the crime he was framed for. Rad Ballad and his father then mentioned that Sound Wave was exonerated and released a few days prior, but was to be sent to a mental hospital due to him being too mentally and physically damaged. Knowing that they could erase Sound Wave’s memories, if it was hopeless. In addition to Sound Wave getting a prosthetic horn, to replace the horn that was removed from him by Armstrong’s guards. High Note was also left with some of Sound Wave’s children that were rescued from the sex slave trafficking ring connected with the Canterlot investigation force and Hoofstrong Prison Center to raise as his own. He was Heartbroken that Sound Wave suffered so horribly, and was determined to be a loving, caring grandfather to them, and take care of his now broken son. Rad Ballad even decided to start his very first solo album as a singer and musician, with Sapphire Shores’s help.
The news of what happened with Abacus, and the actions the former members of the actions of Canterlot investigation force and Hoofstrong Prison Center even got to as far as the Crystal Empire. Twilight and her friends even made a trip to the Crystal Empire to see Princess Cadance and Shining Armor about it. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor confirmed to Twilight that it was true about Shining Armor being the one who organised and was in charge of the royal guard raid of Hoofstrong, but were sworn to secrecy by Celestia and Luna.
Princess Cadance and Shining Armor then decided to make a trip to Canterlot to meet Abacus in person, mainly out of Shining Armor's great disgust and shame of hearing that some of the ponies who committed such evil actions were in fact members of the Royal Guards. When meeting Abacus, they gave their most humble apologies to him for what he went through, and offered to their friendship, despite Abacus's fear of Shining Armor at first due to him once being the captain of the Royal Guards. After a while, Abacus soon realised that Shining Armor was kind-hearted and gentle, much like Lock Down.
Soon enough, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had recovered from their chickenpox, and were well enough to go and visit, and soon came with the others to Canterlot castle to see Abacus. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were very happy to see him, and Sweetie Belle was glad to finally meet him. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo told Abacus that they were visiting her father, Storm Dasher in jail. So far, he and Coco-Nut had not been harmed due to them both being out doing prison guarded community service, and that they were sharing a prison cell together in the non-violent jail ward. But Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut have no grudge towards Abacus, and were understanding of his anger towards them in court. Scootaloo also said to Abacus that she did not hate him or Lawful Eye for putting him in jail, and that she and her father were going to work through things together when he gets out. All with the help of her aunts and a social worker. Rainbow Dash had even reserved his position on the local weather patrol so that he would have work to support himself and Scootaloo.
Dr Stallion, one of the visitors who visited Abacus, organized a referral for psychological help, and made arrangements of a psychologist to see him at the castle privately. The psychologist seeing and examining Abacus was very kind, patient, and very understanding. And he himself was a resident of Ponyville, but somewhat kept to himself in town. He was also someone who believed he was a not murderer due to him knowing about Abacus and Tiger Lily, but not ever meeting them both. On top of that, Abacus did not know about him either. Twilight herself had suggested this psychologist to Abacus, knowing how...different he was, but helpful. After evaluating his psychological health, he had recommended for Abacus to also receive therapy at Oatenburg Psychiatric Institution.
Then one day, Abacus got visitors from Ponyville that he was not happy to see at all. It was Mayor Mare and Lady Justice, who, despite being told not to see him yet, really wanted to see him. They were both very sorry for how badly they misjudged him, and had learnt that they should not have let it rule either of their lives, and that they should have gone by example. They also told him that the whole town had started to change any town memorials for Tiger Lily, and that they put a new headstone on Tiger Lily's grave site that had no hateful words towards him.
Despite their very heartfelt and genuine apologetic words, Abacus was understandably still very bitter and hateful towards Mayor Mare and Lady Justice. It was the same as they were before towards him, which they did not blame him. It was there they both told their pasts, from the loss of Lady Justice's mother at the hooves of her abusive father, and Mayor Mare's past. Mayor Mare then revealed the exact real reason she had been suspicious of Abacus for so long. The truth was that she had been abducted, and sexually assaulted by a unicorn stallion in her late teenage years when she lived in Canterlot. A stallion named "Aster", who owned a florist in Canterlot. Like Abacus, Aster was autistic, and was socially peculiar. Even worse was the stallion, Aster, was a once close friend of her family's. What she told him and everyone else of what happened was horrible to talk about, especially when Aster committed suicide before he could be convicted. But what she revealed while talking further about it was a great shock to everyone. A secret that Mayor Mare had kept from Abacus, Tiger Lily, and almost everyone. It was revealed that Mayor Mare was in fact Tiger Lily’s birth mother due to Aster’s rape, and that it was her who secretly abandoned her as a baby in Fillydelphia. She found out by when Tiger Lily mentioned her past to her one day on a social visit. Mayor Mare secretly had a DNA test with hairs of Tiger Lily’s mane she secretly took from her hair brush about one month before her death. The DNA test came up as a match, confirming her suspicions that Tiger Lily was her long lost daughter. Mayor Mare mentioned that she only told this to Lady Justice in confidence, and it was how they got to be close friends, and were both suspicious of some stallions. She even told Lady Justice solely about her huge secret when she found out a few months before the house fire, and wished she had told this to Tiger Lily especially sooner before she died.
The thought of Mayor Mare and Lady Justice comparing him to the stallions in their lives angered him greatly, even more so with finding out Mayor Mare's biggest kept secret of her being Tiger Lily’s mother. It was unbearable to find out that one of the mares who ruined his live was his mother-in-law. He angrily told them that he was never going to return to Ponyville, and that he was going to be moving back to Fillydelphia to start over. Stating that it was "better than being in that town full of ponies like them", before angrily telling both of them to leave.
The Main Six, Spike, Lawful Eye and the others would try to convince Abacus to return to Ponyville, but he would tearfully and aggressively refuse. Then one day, after having time to think about, Lawful Eye accepted the princesses offer to be the one to run the new police station that was to be built in Ponyville. She hoped that it might help convince Abacus to return. When telling Abacus this, he said that he would move into his mother's apartment in Fillydelphia without Lawful Eye. That was when Lawful Eye revealed another secret she did not tell him. She revealed that while Abacus was prison waiting for his retrial, Lawful Eye put Abacus's mother's apartment, as well her own apartment on the market, and sold them both to get the money needed for his retrial. And for that whole time in Fillydelphia, Lawful Eye had stayed in a hotel, and had put her and Abacus's mother's belongings into storage.
This made Abacus go into an angry rage that resulted to him nearly striking Lawful Eye. Abacus was very devastated about nearly striking the pony he now loved, and for losing the only home he had left, the place where he was born and grew-up in that was so dear to him. Though Lawful Eye was very understanding, and devoted to be by his side, Abacus refused to speak to her.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were aware of all of this, and thought that it was time to get help from other sources. With the use of ancient Alicorn magic, the princesses were able to summon the spirits of the two ponies from the dead that could possibly convince Abacus. That was Tiger Lily, and his mother, Arithma. They first had them to see Mayor Mare and Lady Justice, as well as the whole town of Ponyville so that they all could tell Tiger Lily and Arithma how sorry they were for accusing Abacus, and for ruining his life. Along with Mayor Mare telling Tiger Lily her secret to her of being her birth mother, and how that she was sorry for not telling it to her sooner. Tiger Lily told Mayor Mare she had always had a feeling that she knew she was mother. Tiger Lily and Arithma then forgave Mayor Mare and Lady Justice, and the whole town. Celestia and Luna than afterwards took Abacus into the royal Canterlot garden to see Tiger Lily and Arithma's spirits, with the Main Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, Lock Down and his family, Warden Rehab, and Lawful Eye. There, they convinced him to return to Ponyville to be close to them as a final wish from them both, to try forgiving the residents of Ponyville, and to give them a second chance. To show grace and mercy, like them. They also told Abacus to forgive Lawful Eye, since what she did it was the only way to get his freedom back, before leaving back to the afterlife. Afterwards, Abacus tearfully and reluctantly agrees to return to Ponyville, but in respect to his wife and mother's final wish. In addition to apologising to Lawful Eye, which she forgave him.
The next six months were needed for Abacus's recovery. He went to Oatenburg Psychiatric Institution with Lawful Eye, after she did a background check on the institution, finding out it was one of the best in Equestria. Though Abacus was afraid to be in an institution out of the fear it could be like being locked away in prison all over again. So they made special arrangements for him to come to the psychiatric institution to get treatment and therapy during the day every second day. The staff of Oatenburg were very helpful, patient, kind, and gentle, including two staff members who took a friendly, helpful interest to Abacus due to hearing about him from the newspapers. A male griffon named Gale, who was a therapist assistant, and a minotaur named Aengus, who was an orderly. Abacus was understandably scared of them because of them being part of the same races that caused him pain at Hoofstrong. Gale and Aengus were determined to help him get over his fear of their own kind.
During that time, the Main Six told Mayor Mare and Lady Justice that Abacus was convinced to return to Ponyville. Hearing this, they both made another trip to visit Abacus to verify from him if it was true. Abacus then begrudgingly told them that it was true, but that he was only going to return to Ponyville for Tiger Lily and his mother, and for the Main Six, and Lawful Eye. Mayor Mare and Lady Justice were very understanding, and did not have bad feelings towards him, for he had every right to be that way towards them.
A couple of days later, Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut were released from jail, and came to visit Abacus on their request to Lawful Eye, with his sister, Lofty, and her partner, Holiday. There they shared their feelings and told about what they went through behind bars. Although they were lucky enough not to get beaten or even raped, they held no grudge towards Abacus and that they were very sorry for what they did to him. Storm Dasher even shared his experiences with grief and depression, and gave him guidance on seeing his bitter, hateful attitude towards the residents of Ponyville, for it reminded Storm Dasher of himself. He discussed with Abacus how much they both have in common, and how much he was proud of Scootaloo for being by both their sides in their times of need. While visiting Abacus, Storm Dasher gave away the remainder of the liquor he had in his house to Warden Rehab and Lock Down, commenting how he did not want that "manticore piss" (the liquor) in the same house as his daughter. It was a huge step in getting back on the right track, and he was grateful that Lofty and Holiday have moved in to help.
On the same week, he had another visitor. It was the former secret agent, Southern, along with Sir Top Hat of the Trottingham security services. Abacus was very terrified of Southern, because of him being forced to rape, beat, and torture him while being undercover. Despite Lawful Eye telling him that he was not a bad pony, and that he had no choice. It was part of him going undercover, and that it was the only way to save him. He was very gentle and kind to him, a real gentleman. With the help of the princesses, and after a long heartfelt, genuine talk and apology from Southern, Abacus began to slowly forgive him. Southern even gave the news that he was signing himself up to the Ponyville police force, since he found out recently he had family living there. His long lost sister and her son who moved there from Trottingham. Southern revealed it was the reason why he wanted to retire as a secret agent, so he could be with his one and only sister, and get to know his nephew.
When explaining about Abacus's encounter with Southern to the Ponyville psychologist, he mentioned to Abacus that there was a recent client in Ponyville who was seeing him suffering from trauma, fear and doubt of his profession after being called to work on two new buildings in Ponyville, because he felt like he was to blame for a tragic accident. The client he was talking about was Light Socket, and had a message to tell Abacus that he really was sorry. Lawful Eye, the Main Six, and the princesses talked with Abacus to convince him that it was an accident, one that can happen to anyone, and for him to see Light Socket and understand. The psychologist and Celestia talked to Abacus about grace and mercy, and told him about some of their experiences. They even told him an old wise saying: "Holding a grudge, refusing to forgive, is like drinking poison, and waiting for the other person to die".
Hearing their advice, Abacus finally wrote to Light Socket to have him come to Canterlot to visit him in the palace chapel. When Light Socket arrived, Abacus said that he could not stay angry at him forever after what he heard, and after a while of talking, the two stallion made up, while hugging and sobbing together over what happen. Light Socket got some of his confidence back, and later mentioned that one of the two buildings he was called upon to do was the new Ponyville police station, but the other was the most surprising to Abacus.
Back in Ponyville, the whole town was working together to prepare for Abacus's return, while also working on the new police station. They had started a local charity fund raiser, and the whole community began to create numerous other events in addition to being connected to the fund raiser. It was simply dubbed "The Help Abacus Sum Fund", and was organized by Mayor Mare and Lady Justice to raise money to build Abacus a new house, and to get his life back on track again. The whole town hosted many charity events, like local or schoolhouse fairs, talent shows, fashion shows, drama play's, discos, and charity auctions. Rainbow Dash even organized for the Wonderbolts to do a charity air show, which was one of the highest money raised events. Many simply made donations as well, with the highest donations coming from Mayor Mare, Lady Justice, and Filthy Rich. Originally, Filthy Rich had plans to build a new play room for his daughter, but decided to donate the money he saved, thinking that Abacus's needs were more important. He even made a promotion at Rich's Barnyard Bargains for ten percent of all profits to go to the Help Abacus Sum Fund. Even the Egg family from Fillydelphia became a sponsor to the local foundation.
Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and Honey Blossom however did not donate, instead they requested to the courts if they could spend the rest of their remaining community service in helping to build Abacus's new house. Lady Justice, who was the judge of the courts granted their request, and Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and Honey Blossom were permitted, with Storm Dasher and Coco-Nut working on the house, and Honey Blossom working on the house's yards and gardens. The reporters of the Equestria Telegram got word of this, and decided to go to Ponyville to follow up and make a story on this. In an interview with Mayor Mare, she quoted "Though we were all fooled and deceived by the evil corruptive acts of the Canterlot investigation force, this whole town, including myself and our local court judge, Lady Justice had done wrong to poor Abacus Sum. So to make things right, we, the whole town have organized for this charity fund raiser to raise money to build Abacus Sum a new house, and to help him in his time of need after all the horrific suffering he endured. He is welcome here, and we're doing everything we can to get Abacus Sum's good name back. We don't care about our reputations, we of Ponyville all love him, and want him home soon. We're all very, truly, and deeply sorry.".
Abacus was surprised to hear of this news, and was so touched. Realizing that they really did care, he requested for the Main Six to tell them that he would like to see Mayor Mare and Lady Justice again. Getting his message, Mayor Mare and Lady Justice went to Canterlot, and meet him at the same palace chapel. Went meeting him, they once again offered their most heartfelt, genuine apologies to Abacus. Stating that “If they spend every second, every minute, every hour, of everyday saying how sorry they were, it would not come close how their hearts feel.”. To their surprise, Abacus tearfully, genuinely, but reluctantly forgave them both, and the whole town. He did it to follow the advice of Princess Celestia, and his mother to show grace and mercy, and to follow the wise words of not wanting to drink the ‘poison’ of a grudge. The three ponies talked with one another for a very long while about their pains, and how they were all victims of the Canterlot investigation force and Hoofstrong. Mayor Mare even offered to be the mother-in-law to Abacus to make up for not being the mother to Tiger Lily. Explaining that it was what Tiger Lily requested for her to do when she and Arithma’s spirits were brought back for a while. Although Abacus accepted it, it would be sometime before he would ever really fully trust them again.
Abacus’s name was becoming well known by most ponies in Equestria due to the truth of the events that happened with Canterlot investigation force, and at Hoofstrong Prison Center. Reporters from the newspapers and magazines all wanted to interview Abacus to get his side of the events, and they even offered to pay him. Though, Lawful Eye was careful to who would interview Abacus, and it was hard for Abacus to talk about what he went through. Then one day when Rarity came to see him, she was invited to a garden party organized by Fancy Pants. He invited Abacus to attend too, for Fancy Pants really wanted to meet him. At the party, though the guests at the party did pity Abacus, and knew he was somewhat famous, some of them were uncomfortable and even scared of him at first because of his horribly scarred face, and the fact of him once being a prisoner in prison, much to Lawful Eye and Rarity's annoyance. Fancy Pants, and his wife, Fleur Dis Lee on the other hand were not scared nor uncomfortable around Abacus, and his entourage, Swan Song, Silver Frames, and Golden Gavel were the same.
After that, Abacus was upset to show his horribly scarred face in public again, seeing how scared and uncomfortable some ponies were of seeing it. Then Lawful Eye remembered the business card Sapphire Shores gave her of her plastic surgeon friend, and after checking Dr Cosmet Wonder out, she made an appointment with her for Abacus on one of his free days from his psychological therapy. At the Canterlot Specialist Center, Dr Cosmet Wonder examined Abacus's face, and was confident that she could try and fix it. She said Abacus would still have some scarring, but it would not be hideous, and would look close to normal.
Soon after making the date for the surgery, Sapphire Shores heard about it. She then came to visit Abacus with Rad Ballad, and another good friend of hers named “Film Reel”, who was a famous film maker. He wanted the rights to his life story, for he wanted to make a motion picture film based on the horrific events on that happened to him from Canterlot investigation force, and at Hoofstrong Prison Center. They also made an honest offer of paying him a large cut of the profits from the film, and the song Sapphire Shores and Rad Ballad were writing and going to record together for it. Although it was so hard for Abacus to talk about it, he agreed, but on the condition that they would wait until he felt ready to talk about it in an autobiography. They understandably agreed, and took pictures of Abacus's horribly scared face to get the picture of what the scars looked like for the film and for him to use in his autobiography.
Not long after, Lawful Eye made a proposal. She felt guilty for not being there for Abacus when he was in danger, despite that he and his mother's letters being intercepted by the Canterlot investigation force. It had plagued her ever since she found out. With the death of Tiger Lily and their unborn child, and his dear mother, it hurt her all the worse. So out of her love and devotion to Abacus, Lawful Eye decided to make things right, and she proposed to marry Abacus and be his wife to help his heart heal. Abacus, emotionally touched by this, tearfully agreed, but they kept it quite for the time being.
Lawful Eye then suddenly mentioned to Abacus her desire to have a child with him, but he was traumatised by rapes and tortures he received at Hoofstrong. A fear for sex. He spoke about it to the Ponyville psychologist, and he tried to give the best advice possible. Lawful Eye even confided in Lock Down and Sugar Dough about it, and decided to talk to Abacus about it. After they talked with him, Abacus agreed to try, with the condition that they keep it quiet.
During the psychological treatment and therapy Abacus was receiving at Oatenburg, he was treated for his post-traumatic stress, fears of stallions, griffons, minotaurs, and dogs, and depression. Abacus was making progress from his treatment at Oatenburg. Although it was slow, they felt confident that he soon would be safe to return to Ponyville, and have therapy with his psychologist in Ponyville. Lock Down suggested to bring his family dog, Boris, who was a very big, but gentle bullmastiff. The psychologist from Ponyville suggested for him to either get a puppy or to interact with therapy dogs to help conquer his fear of dogs. As promised, Lock Down and his family brought their dog, Boris whenever they came to see him. Oatenburg even took advice from the psychologist, and brought therapy dogs in for Abacus to interact with. Then on Abacus’s thirty-forth birthday, Warden Rehab, Lock Down, and his family brought Abacus and Lawful Eye a gift. The gift was a puppy, a German shepherd that they named Rex. Lawful Eye was going to train Rex to be police dog, as well as a good, loyal, lovable family pet. After a few weeks, Abacus was beginning to conquer his fear of dogs. Then a few days before the Main Six's next visit, he wrote to Applejack and asked her to bring her dog, Winona. When she did, Abacus apologized to Winona for being so terrified of her, and avoiding her. Winona, being a very loving, understanding dog, quickly forgave him, and was so happy Abacus was not scared of her anymore. As for his fear of griffons and minotaurs, Gale and Aengus socialized with him, and befriended him in the hopes that it could help him. It was working, but slowly, and eventually Abacus learnt to not judge all those of their kind as bad, especially after a heartfelt talk with him on one occasion.
On one of the visits Warden Rehab and Lock Down made to Abacus, Lock Down told the news that he was considering joining the police force and being one of the police ponies of Ponyville's new police station, something Spike inspired him to do. He and his wife, Sugar Dough were looking to move to Ponyville, and have found a good house for he and his family to move into. One that was not far from where the new police station and Abacus's new house was being built. Warden Rehab said that he might join the Ponyville police force as the watch-house keeper of the station, but for now, he felt that he was needed at the Hoofstrong Prison Center for despite there actually being real criminals locked away, there was still other innocent ponies in there that need to be cared for, and to be eventually exonerated, cleared, and released. And with Turncoat's help, and with the knowledge, and over eight years’ worth of real case files of every single pony that went there and killed within that time, it was cut down by many years, but it would still take some time.
Sometime later, Abacus went into surgery. Lawful Eye, in the meantime, organised for movers to take the items and furniture from her and Abacus's mother's apartments that she put in storage back in Fillydelphia to the new house in Ponyville.
Abacus began to awaken from a good night sleep. He opened his eyes to find himself in the same hospital room he had been in for the last five days since he had surgery performed by Dr Cosmet Wonder. Abacus could feel the mild soreness and tenderness on the left side of his face, though it was not as the first few days after the surgery. For the whole time, Abacus was worried about whether or not the surgery was successful. Although Dr Cosmet Wonder did say that he would still have some scarring on his face, but it would not be hideous to look at, and that it would look much more close to normal. All this did not mean he was any less concerned of the outcome.
Abacus looked to his left to see a covered tray on his over-bed hospital tray, knowing that the nurse had brought in his breakfast while he was still asleep. He sat up, and brought his tray over towards himself. Taking the cover off, Abacus found that it had scrambled eggs and buttered toast, and a mug of cocoa that was surprisingly still warm. He then started eating his breakfast. About halfway through his breakfast, the door to his room suddenly opened. Abacus turned to see Lawful Eye enter into his room, along with a very pale yellow unicorn mare with a pale, light grayish crimson colored mane and tail, and wore a white doctor's coat with a name badge that said "Dr Cosmet Wonder" right behind her.
"Hi, Abi." Lawful Eye said.
"Good morning, Monsieur Abacus," Dr Cosmet Wonder said in a mild French accent. "How are you feeling zis morning?"
Abacus took a sip from his mug of cocoa. "...okay, I guess."
Dr Cosmet Wonder smiled and walked over to him. "Well, it is nice to see zat you are eating well. I zink you might be able to go home later today. How about we see how ze surgery turned out? No?"
Dr Cosmet Wonder stood in front of Abacus as she slowly began to remove the bandage wrapped around the left side of his face with her magic. Lawful Eye came up to the right side of Abacus's bed just as Dr Cosmet Wonder finished removing the bandage from Abacus's face. Dr Cosmet Wonder looked at it, and smiled.
"Oh, magnifique!" Dr Cosmet Wonder said. "It is healing very nicely."
"Let me see, Abi." Abacus turned his head to face Lawful Eye. She smiled with amazement at seeing Dr Cosmet Wonder work. "Oh, Abi!"
Two weeks later...
The eight months came and went. The whole town came together around Ponyville's town square to attend the grand opening of Ponyville's first ever police station that evening. The town had set up multiple stalls and tables serving food and drinks, and fun activities for the celebration. They gathered round facing a stage that was set up outside the town hall, near the new police station that had a large red ribbon bordering around the outside of the building. On the stage was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Mayor Mare, and a strong gold coloured unicorn stallion with a moderate Persian blue mane and tail wearing a police dress uniform. They were due to commend the new police ponies in police dress uniforms assigned to run the new police station, with them being Lock Down, Southern, and Lawful Eye.
"Fillies and gentlecolts,” Mayor Mare said. “As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to the grand opening celebration of Ponyville's first ever police station! And now I present her royal highness, Princess Celestia!"
The crowd cheered as Celestia stepped forward, and Mayor Mare stepped back to let the princess speak. "Thank you, everypony! Tonight, we are gathered here to celebrate the grand opening of Ponyville's first police station." She turned the town's attention to Lock Down, Southern, and Lawful Eye. "And to commend these three great ponies for their devotion to running it." She turned to Lock Down, Southern, and Lawful Eye. "Please step forward."
Lock Down, Southern, and Lawful Eye stepped forward at Celestia's request. Celestia turned back to the crowd. "These three ponies have been selected and accepted the offer of being the ones to run the new police station. Each of them have shown such great determination, skills, courage, and even sacrifice to prove that they are more than capable." She turned everyone's attention to the strong gold coloured unicorn stallion. "Commissioner Gold Shield?"
"Your highness." Commissioner Gold Shield said.
Commissioner Gold Shield levitated the first promotion police badge as Celestia turned the crowd's attention to Lock Down. "First...to Lock Down. For his loyalty, strength, sense of humour, and outstanding compassion when it was most needed. We award him the rank of Sergeant."
The crowd began to cheer, as Commissioner Gold Shield pinned the promotion police badge to Lock Down's police dress uniform, and saluted. Lock Down smiled and saluted back. He turned to the crowd and saw his wife, Sugar Dough and their three children waving and cheering at him.
"Yay, Dad!" Lock Down's son called out. "You're the best!"
Lock Down smiled with pride at his family's support in the crowd. He turned and stepped back, as Celestia turned the crowd's attention to Southern.
"Next, for his skill, and great courage when going undercover, as well as the sacrifice of his secret agent career," Celestia said. "We award the rank of Lieutenant to Southern."
The crowd began to cheer, as Commissioner Gold Shield pinned the promotion police badge to Southern's police dress uniform, and saluted with Southern saluting back.
"Way to go, Uncle Southern!" Southern turned to the crowd and saw his nephew waving and cheering at him, which turned out to be none other than the little, pinto patterned earth colt, Pipsqueak. "Yay! You're the best uncle ever!"
Southern smiled and winked at Pipsqueak before moving back a bit on stage. Celestia then finally turned the crowd's attention to Lawful Eye. "And finally last, but definitely not least, to Lawful Eye. For her love, devotion, amazing skills of investigation and leadership, and for her determination to even sacrifice her own career and well-being for the sake of another to keep them safe. It is with utmost confidence and pleasure to grant Lawful Eye the full command highest rank of Chief. Detective Investigator!"
The crowd began to cheer, as Commissioner Gold Shield pinned the promotion police badge to Lawful Eye's uniform. "Congratulations...Chief. Detective Investigator Lawful Eye." Commissioner Gold Shield smiled proudly and saluted.
"Thank you, sir." Lawful Eye said, and saluted back with a smile.
Celestia smiled and turned back to the crowd. "May these ponies serve and protect this town well!"
"And now as your princesses of Equestria," Luna said. "We hereby declare the new Ponyville police station officially open!"
Celestia and Luna levitated a large pair of golden scissors, and used it to cut the large red ribbon surrounding the police station as the crowd applauded and cheered. The Main Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and Warden Rehab came over to Lawful Eye, Southern, and Lock Down who came off stage with Commissioner Gold Shield. Abacus and Lawful Eye's German shepherd, Rex came over to Lawful Eye barking happily, and jumped up and began to lick Lawful Eye's face.
"Okay. Down, Rex." Rex stopped licking and sat at Lawful Eye's command. She then patted Rex's head. "Good boy."
"Congratulations, you three!" Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash smiled. "It's so awesome that we've now got our very own police force here."
"And it's by you guys." Scootaloo turned to Lawful Eye. "And with you in charge, Lawful Eye, I know this town gonna be safe from any criminals from now on."
Lawful Eye turned to Scootaloo with a smile. "I hope so. I even want to make time for other things too. Especially since Abacus and I are engaged..."
"Engaged?" Sweetie Belle said. "You and Abacus are getting married?"
Lawful Eye nodded. "That's right. Abacus wanted this to be a surprise to you." She sighed happily. "...and...we're also expecting a new member of our family to join us."
"New member of yer family?" Apple Bloom pondered for a moment before gasping with surprise, realizing what she meant. "Oh my star apples! Lawful Eye... are ya sayin' ya're...ya're...?"
"You're going to have a baby?" Scootaloo asked.
Lawful Eye smiled and mildly blushed, as she nodded. The look of surprise appeared on everyone's faces, followed by a sense of joy soon after.
"Oh, my goodness," Rarity said. "That's wonderful!"
Twilight smiled. "How long are you?"
"About four months." Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "And there's more. A doctor in Canterlot did an ultrasound a month ago..."
The others tilted their heads. "And...?"
"They found two inside," Lawful Eye said. "It appears as if we're going to be having twins."
Pinkie Pie eyes widened as she gasped. "Twins?! You and Abacus are have twins?! That's two, two, two times the surprise! This is the greatest surprise ever!"
"Congratulations, Lawful Eye." Applejack smiles proudly. "Abacus is finally gonna be a dad."
"That is so awesome!" Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo smiled. "I wish Abacus was here. It would've been great to see him."
"There you are, Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo and the others turned to see Storm Dasher coming over towards them, with Coco-Nut, Honey Blossom, and Buttercup in tow. There were also two mares with Storm Dasher. One was a very light cerulean pegasus with a grayish purple mane, the other was a very pale orange earth pony with a light brilliant orange and Vivid orange mane. Storm Dasher, Coco-Nut, and the two mares turned to Lawful Eye.
"Hello, Detective." Storm Dasher said.
Lawful Eye smiled. "Hello, Storm Dasher. Coco-Nut. How are you doing?"
"We've been going okay." Storm Dasher sighed. "It's been a while since we've served our punishments. I've been working hard to get myself back on the right track I once lost, and it's a good thing the town, and the social worker was very supportive." He turned to the two mares with him. “And Lofty and Holiday have been a great help.”
Lofty nodded. “Holi and I have been really busy taking care of Stormy and Scooty.”
"How is Abacus doing?" Coco-Nut asked.
Lawful Eye adjusted her glasses. "He's doing okay. His mental health is improving, but he's still got a long way to go. Despite that, the specialists say that he's well enough to return. He also just got surgery on his face a couple of weeks ago."
"Hey, that's right," Holiday said. "How did his surgery go?"
Lawful Eye paused and smiled. "Well, you'll see soon enough."
Storm Dasher sighed. "I still feel very guilty for what I did to him."
"So do I," Coco-Nut said. "We both let our anger get the best of us. And finding out the one you though hurt your children was in fact not the one who hurt them, nor did he ever wanted to in the first place. We deserved our punishments, and we hold no grudge towards him."
Storm Dasher dropped his head sadly. "I wish we could erase what we'd done, but I can't. We've got a criminal record from all this. I just hope using our remaining community service to help build his new house could make up for what we did."
Lawful Eye placed a gentle, caring hoof on Storm Dasher's shoulder. "You've more than made up for it." She glanced at Coco-Nut and Honey Blossom. "All of you have. The things you told him may have had a positive effect on him."
"That's right." Lock Down come over. "Besides, your criminal records are not that big of a deal. And you didn't really suffer in jail because you weren't in there for long and that you shared a cell together, so you should be fine. It's all behind you. You aren't criminals as such, you're just some ponies who had fallen foul of the law, that's all."
Lofty placed a caring hoof on Storm Dasher’s shoulder. “They’re right, Stormy. Things will get better. I’m glad you finally got help. Holi and I will always be here to help you and Scootaloo.”
Lock Down smiled. "As far as I see, none of you are scum in my books. And-"
The Main Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, Warden Rehab, Lawful Eye, and Southern cut Lock Down off, and said, "I know scum when I see it!"
Lock Down blinked at how the others said his saying before he could say it. He quickly shook it off, and smiled. "You took the words right out of my mouth."
The others along with Lock Down began to laugh heartily together as Commissioner Gold Shield came over to them.
"Well, I feel this town will be in good hooves from now on with you three enforcing the law." Commissioner Gold Shield turned to Warden Rehab. "Though, I'm surprised Rehab that you didn't take the position of Deputy Chief and watch house keeper."
"Well, I will take it, sir," Warden Rehab said. "But not right now. For now, I'm needed at Hoofstrong to help care for those innocent victims that are left. So until they’re legally cleared of all the false crimes they were imprisoned for, I will have to refuse the offer."
Commissioner Gold Shield nodded understandably. "I understand. You have a great responsibility to those poor souls. Not an easy thing to do." He smiled proudly. "The position will remain reserved for you until then." He offers his hoof out to Warden Rehab as a friendly hand shake gesture. "You're a good stallion, Rehab. We'd hate to lose you."
Warden Rehab shook hooves with Commissioner Gold Shield and smiled. "Thank you, Commissioner."
Suddenly, Warden Rehab felt someone bump into him from the side of him, and fell down. He turned to the side to see that one who bumped into him was a certain light sapphire bluish gray pegasus mare, with a pale, light grayish apple green mane and tail. It was none other than Derpy. She had muffin mashed into her face when she bumped into him. Warden Rehab completely turned around, and tried to help the gray pegasus mare up.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Warden Rehab asked.
"I'm so sorry. It was my bad." Derpy began to wipe the muffin off her face with her hoof. "I wasn't looking where I was going, and-" Derpy looked at Warden Rehab with a surprised look, like if she was strike inside by something unknown. "Oh, my..."
Warden Rehab looked back at her, looking into her eyes, or one of them at least anyway, for there was a feeling they both felt. After a moment of looking at each other, Derpy blushed for she realized how handsome the stallion she bumped into was, despite him being older then her.
Warden Rehab blushed awkwardly, as he cleared his throat. "Well, it's...good to see you're not hurt, Miss...uh..."
"Derpy,” Derpy said. “My name is Derpy. And who are you?"
"Rehab." Warden Rehab answered.
"Rehab." Derpy giggled bashfully as she blushed. "If you don't mind me saying so, Rehab: ...you're very handsome."
Warden Rehab blushed mildly at the young, cross-eyed pegasus mare compliment, for he started to feel somewhat attracted to her. "Thank you. Nice meeting you, Miss Derpy."
Warden Rehab watched as Derpy walked off, still giggling bashfully at meeting him. He turned back to the others where Lock Down was smirking at him cheekily.
"Looks like you've got an admirer, Rehab." Lock Down said.
Warden Rehab blushed and cleared his throat. "Well...she did seem very nice. ...and she looked quite cute and lovely...in her own unique way."
"You dog!" Lock Down chuckled. "You like her too."
Spike chuckled. "Talk about love at first sight."
Lock Down patted Warden Rehab’s back. “I guess now you have something else waiting for you when you take the position of Deputy Chief and watch house keeper in Ponyville.”
“I guess that’s true.” Warden Rehab said.
The whole town began to enjoy themselves as they were about to start the celebration of the grand opening of the new Ponyville police station.
"Hold on a moment, everypony!"
Everyone stopped at what they were doing, and turn back towards the stage at the sound of Princess Celestia calling out for them. They each wondered as to why she would stop them from starting the celebration so suddenly, but they all knew she would not have done so in the first place without any good reason to. Celestia face took on a look of seriousness, but avoided to look angry in any shape or form, more like a caring mother calmly and patiently about to give their child an important lecture.
"You should know that this new police station established here is to ensure that there is proper law enforcement in Ponyville," Celestia said. "And this would not have happened if it was not for the case of Abacus Sum."
Celestia and Luna watched as the whole town dropped their heads in shame. They all still felt guilty for turning on him, even though they were all tricked by Blue Ward and Cover-Up.
Luna cleared her throat. "Speaking of Abacus, my sister and I have been keeping an eye on his treatment, and we are glad to tell you that they say he's slowly making good progress. He even had surgery on his face to help fix his scared face. Though he still has a long way to go, and that he does not fully trust you as of yet, but he's willing to try and give all of you here in Ponyville the benefit of the doubt."
"Although we understand you were tricked by the crooked actions of the Canterlot investigation force, we hope that everypony here in Ponyville has learnt valuable lessons. Lessons about trust, loyally, and friendship." Celestia turned to Twilight, and the others this a proud smile. "I believe we have my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends to thank for that."
Luna turned to the crowd while glancing at Mayor Mare and Lady Justice. "And for some, lessons about letting ones past experiences and paranoia influence their feelings, instead of going by example. For we have seen what happens when we letting that rule our lives. It can have horrific consequences."
"And for everypony else," Celestia said. "About jumping to conclusions before knowing the truth. And also about giving somepony a chance, even if they did do wrong. Although Abacus Sum did nothing wrong to begin with, we hope that you remember and learn from this mistake if there ever comes a time somepony who did do wrong and wants to make right does come to this town. For the most important thing is for my little ponies to be true, honest, kind, charismatic, generous, loyal, friendly, loving, tolerant, and forgiving."
Mayor Mare nodded. "That is true." She turned to the crowd. "We all have learnt a very valuable lesson from this experience." She dropped her eyes in sadness and shame. "Even Lady Justice and I have learnt from this. Even though he did forgive us, Abacus has every right to be bitter and hateful toward the both of us. Even if we did try to make things right. If we could change the past, we would, but we can't." She looked up. "But we are willing to change for the better, and to try to be true friends with him. To be the mother-in-law to him, the mother I never got to be. All this not for our reputations, or for our careers...but for him, for Tiger Lily, for everypony...but most of all, for ourselves. If Abacus Sum was here, we would let him know that we are all so deeply sorry, from the bottom of our hearts. And we will never hurt him again."
Celestia and Luna smiled at the heartfelt, genuine words Mayor Mare had just said. The Main Six, Spike, Lawful Eye, Lock Down, Warden Rehab, and Southern all smiled, and nodded at Celestia and Luna looking at them. They nodded back at them as they turned back to the crowd.
"You really do care about Abacus Sum, and want him back, don't you?" Luna asked.
The crowd all nodded solemnly in unison. "Mm-hmm."
Celestia smiled. "Well, it looks as if the efforts Twilight and her friends have made secretly while setting up this celebration wasn't wasted."
The crowd looked at each other at what the sun princess had said. Mayor Mare tilted her head. "You're highness?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were confused too, as they turned to the others wondering what Celestia had just said.
"What's the princess talkin' about?" Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie Belle scratched her head. "What efforts did you secretly do?"
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Tell us what it is, guys."
The Main Six, Spike, Lawful Eye, Lock Down, Warden Rehab, and Southern said nothing, they just smiled at them sweetly. The three fillies faces lit up like the sun, wide-eyed with hug smiles as they looked at the other.
"Are...are you saying...?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders asked in unison.
Celestia and Luna looked at the crowd, seeing that some of them were beginning to have the same joyful faces as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"This is not just a grand opening celebration of the police station. It is also a welcome home party, for he has arrived and is here." Celestia smiled, and turned the crowd’s attention to the stage curtains behind her and Luna. "Fillies and gentlecolts, may we at long last personally welcome home, and present to all of you in Ponyville, Mr Abacus Sum!"
The stage curtains behind Celestia and Luna opened up. The crowd stayed silent as the faint sound of hoof steps came from the stage. Slowly stepping out onto the stage, coming into the light was the sight of dark brown coloured hooves. And then finally revealed Abacus with his recently done facial surgery. The scarring on his face was still a bit visible, but it looked close to normal, and was not at all hideous to look at. Abacus stopped in the center of the stage and looked out at the crowd's silence for a moment.
"Abacus!"
Abacus turned to the side of the stage to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming up to be the first to welcome him home. Abacus opened up his hooves, and the three little fillies jumped into him for a hug. The crowd smiled and cheered as the Main Six, Spike, Lock Down, Warden Rehab, and Southern quickly came up after to welcome him.
"Abacus Sum! Abacus Sum! Abacus Sum! Abacus Sum!"
The look of surprise could be seen on Abacus as he heard the crowd happily cheering his name, for they were not saying "Scum". It had been so long since he had heard his name being really said with no trace of hatred or anger in anyone's voices. The others watched as tears began to leak out of Abacus's eyes, but these tears were different. They were not of sadness, these were tears of joy, for there was something else present, something Abacus had not done since Tiger Lily died. For the very first time in a long time, Abacus smiled. Then Abacus saw Lawful Eye walking up to him, smiling with the sweetest smile. When Lawful Eye came over to Abacus, she leaned her face in towards him, and the two shared a loving kiss. The crowd began to cheer even louder at Abacus and Lawful Eye kissing up on stage.
"Come on, everypony!" Pinkie Pie brought out her trademark party cannon on stage. "LET'S PARTY! Woo-hoo!"
Pinkie Pie fires a huge amount of party confetti into the air with the crowd still cheering.
The celebration lasted until the very early hours of the morning. It was the biggest welcome home party anyone had ever seen, just as Lock Down once predicted to Abacus on the day he was released. Things were never going to be the same without Tiger Lily and his mother, Arithma, but with Lawful Eye soon to be his wife and a set of twins he was going to be the father of soon, his friends, old and new to love and support him, and his good name on the mend, things were going to be okay for Abacus Sum from now on. His nightmare was over.
Five months after Abacus was released, the legal processing of the policy of removing the steelectric collars was resolved, and all the prisoners had all their collars removed. All except for a certain number of prisoners, the minotaur, Armstrong, all his guards, and all the members of the Canterlot investigation force, for Warden Rehab felt that it would be better to leave their steelectric collars on forever, with the exception of Turncoat. Ironically, they were sentenced to spend the rest of their lives behind bars at the very prison they were once in control of. And what was more ironic was the prison cell Armstrong, and Rotten Eggs were to share in was cell number 132, which in fact was Abacus Sum's old cell. Many believed it was poetic justice for that happening. Two years later, Armstrong was found dead in his cell one morning. The autopsy revealed that he died of a massive heart attack in his sleep. The news of Armstong's death was greeted with no sympathy, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison grounds.
During the two before Armstrong’s death, all the surviving, innocent victims were cleared of all crimes they were falsely convicted of. After Armstrong died, Hoofstrong Prison Center closed. Sadly, the victims of the first two years of the corruption ring, many of them deceased, could never be truly, legally be cleared of their wrongly convicted crimes. Instead were released anyway by order of the alicorn rulers from Turncoat's word. The innocent prisoners that survived were too psychologically and physically damaged to be released into the public, and many were sent to hospitals and psychiatric institutions to undergo years of reconstructive surgeries, physical therapy, and psychological reconditioning to even basically function in society again. Some would never recover from what happened to them, and were given induce amnesia, completely erase their memories, much to all the heartbreak and revulsion to the families of the surviving victim's families, and the general public. In total, there were 483 victims imprisoned from the corruption ring that went undetected for over a decade, not including the many children killed or sold to slavery. After Hoofstrong closed, all other true prisoners were transferred to other dangerous prisons around Equestria.
Hoofstrong Prison Center soon became a museum and a popular tourist destination, with many of the instruments and devices used to torture the prisoners, as well as all the numerous stories and photographs of what went on in that dark place were displayed and told. Hoofstrong Prison Center would always be remembered for it very dark and corrupted past. A past of how greedy, corrupted members of an investigation force with a disregard for life formed a secret, blood-thirsty, corruption syndicate with a high security prison meant for serving justice, and turned it into a place of horrors. For the surviving victims, the families of the victims who suffered and died, and the families who were left to pick-up the pieces following the ten year reign of terror of the corruption ring that operated between Canterlot investigation force, and Hoofstrong Prison Center, their nightmare will never be over.
Turncoat
Turncoat was treated more as hero than a prisoner, and used his time inside to help with clearing the innocent prisoners with the members of Task Force River. When Hoofstrong Prison Center closed down, he was released for his good service in clearing the innocent victims, and works as part of the special royal services in Canterlot. He remains in contact with Lawful Eye.
Blue Ward and Cover-up
Blue Ward and Cover-up, were sent to Mestenoton Detention Facility, where Cover-up committed suicide just a week after being transferred by hanging himself with a towel in his cell. Blue Ward continues to serve his time, while on suicide watch.
Rotten Eggs
Rotten Eggs's family, the Egg family have never visited him since their first visit, and have disowned Rotten Eggs, knowing he would always be known as the bad egg of their family responsible for the suffering and deaths of countless innocent victims. Abacus held no hatred towards the Egg family, for they were a good, loving, well respected family of Fillydelphian egg farmers, and remain on very good terms with them. When Hoofstrong Prison Center closed down, Rotten Eggs got transferred to Trottawa Penitentiary, one of Equestria's most dangerous prisons. No one comes to visit Rotten Eggs anymore since.
Strike Law and Rogue Order
The former police ponies of Cloudsdale were each sentenced to twelve years in prison, with a non-parole period of six years. Strike Law was sent to Port Trotter Penitentiary where four years later during his sentence, he got into a confrontation with a violent inmate, and was beaten to death with part of an exercise bike. Rogue Order was sent to Alcatrotz Island in San Franciscolt. After she served six years of her time, she was released on parole, where she moved to Las Pegasus, and got a job as a bouncer at a casino.
Warden Rehab
After the last innocent prisoner was cleared and released from Hoofstrong Prison Center six months after Abacus returned to Ponyville, Rehab retired from working in prisons, giving up his title of warden. Then he moved to Ponyville to work as deputy chief and watch house keeper of Ponyville police station as part of the Ponyville police force as he promised he would. He moved in with Derpy, and has been dating with her with the plans to marry her. He remains great lifelong friends with his police station colleges, the Main Six, Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Abacus Sum. He also had become a father figure to Abacus.
Task Force River
Detective Chief Superintendent Open Case, Detective Inspector Under Cover, and Investigator Tough Job of the FPI’s Sydneigh office worked around the clock to get every innocent prisoner legally cleared, and exonerated, as well as track down all the children of the female victims that were sold to a sex trafficking ring. When the last innocent victim was cleared, the children all found, and the sex trafficking ring shut down, the task force was disbanded, but the three investigators continue to work together, and remain in Sydneigh as members of the FPI. They also remain in contact with Lawful Eye if either should ever need the other for assistance. Task Force River would go down in Equestria history as a devoted team of detectives who took down the worst police corruption, conspiracy ring ever recorded in Equestria’s history.
Lock Down
Since Lock Down and his family moved to Ponyville, they have been very happy. His wife, Sugar Dough had formed a baking partnership with the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner. She enjoys the joy of having her husband more closer to home than before, and to spend more time with her and their children. Lock Down became one of the most trusting, and approachable ponies, even while on duty. He and his family became very close to Lawful Eye and Abacus Sum, and remains great lifelong friends with them, the Main Six, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Lock Down became a big brother figure to Abacus, with his children calling him their uncle.
Storm Dasher
Since before and after his punishment with Coco-Nut, Storm Dasher has since been admitting to therapy, anger management, and counselling for how he feels. Like for how he felt when his wife, Firefly died on Scootaloo's birthday, how he want into a state of great depression and developed anger issues to the point of quitting his old job, how he turned to drinking, and where he would take it out on everyone, including his own daughter. Since after his short time in jail, he has tried to make things right again. Since seeking help, he has been getting better to being his own old self again, and has not touched another drop of alcohol ever again. He regrets not doing it earlier. His sister and sister-in-law, Lofty and Holiday have been a great help and support since moving in with him and Scootaloo. He has also made amends with his daughter, Scootaloo, and works as a partner manager with Rainbow Dash on the weather control group in Ponyville. He and Scootaloo had become close again. He eventually became friends with Abacus Sum, and has become closer friends with Coco-Nut due to what they went through together.
Coco-Nut
Coco-Nut and his family have been getting their lives back on the right track. They have been making amends with Abacus after their huge misunderstanding that got them all in trouble. Their daughter, Buttercup even apologized to Abacus for calling him scum at the Cloudsdale courthouse. Coco-Nut and his family, like Storm Dasher have had no trouble from anyone in town, for what Lock Down said to them about their convictions not giving them trouble was correct.
Sapphire Shores and Rad Ballad
Since hearing Abacus's tragic story, she and Rad Ballad have shared a somewhat close bond with Abacus. Right after Abacus released his autobiography of what he went through, her famous filmmaker friend, Film Reel once again asked for the rights to his life story to make the film on the events of Hoofstrong Prison Center, with the promise of a good share of the profits made by the movie and Sapphire Shores's new song. Abacus agreed. The movie was a great success, winning many awards, including best movie of the year, highest grossing film of the year, best story, and best production design. Sapphire Shores and Rad Ballad's song they wrote and recorded together for the movie became one of their bestselling albums, and winning many awards at the Equestria Music awards. It was generally well received by music critics, who frequently referred to it as the best ballad of both their careers. And as they had promised, a cut of the profits the movie and album made went to Abacus. They continually make a friendly relationship with Abacus. Rad Ballad has since had a very successful solo career, while still being Sapphire Shores's piano/keyboard player and co-songwriter. Using much of the money he makes from his music career to help care for his brother, Sound Wave, and his nieces and nephews in his father's care.
Lady Justice
Lady Justice continues to work as the court judge in Ponyville Courthouse, but still carries the guilt of how badly she misjudged an innocent stallion for a crime he did not do. If anything, the whole thing had made her a better and wiser judge. She and Mayor Mare wrote their own autobiography together about their pasts, and their point of view of the Abacus Sum case.
Mayor Mare
After the very good deed she and Lady Justice did, Mayor Mare's reputation was restored. She even once again won on the next election of mayor of Ponyville. Mayor Mare and Lady Justice wrote their own autobiography together about their pasts, and their point of view of the Abacus Sum case. They always treat Abacus with great respect, are always genuinely nice to him, and treat him like a true friend. While Mayor Mare also treats him like a son, like she should’ve been with Tiger Lily. As well as be the grandparent to Abacus and Lawful Eye’s twin children. Although Abacus had forgave them, he is still understandably a bit weary around them and does not fully trust them yet. Neither Mayor Mare nor Lady Justice hold that against him, but have faith that they both will earn his trust again.
Southern
Since joining the Ponyville police force, Southern has become quite popular, especially with the mares, mainly due to is former secret agent career, and his British charm. He also spends time with his sister, and his nephew, Pipsqueak. Pipsqueak looks up to Southern, and loves to be with him, calling him "The Best Uncle Ever!".
The Main Six
The Main Six remain great, close friends with Abacus Sum, Lawful Eye, Southern, Lock Down and his family. Then a few weeks later after Abacus's return, Twilight became an alicorn, and was granted the title of princess of friendship.
Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye
Lawful Eye had been working very well with being the chief of Ponyville police, with Abacus returning to work as a freelance accountant and tax agent. Three months later, Abacus and Lawful Eye got married, with all the ponies in Ponyville organizing a huge wedding, and followed by a one month honeymoon in Hawhinny. Then one month after they got back, Lawful Eye gave birth to twin foals, a unicorn colt they named "Keen Eye", and an earth pony filly they named "Lily Pad". Lawful Eye continues being chief of Ponyville police, as well as being a loving, caring, and devoted mother and wife to her family. She remains a good, loyal friend to everyone in town, especially with the Main Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and her police force colleges, Lock Down, Southern, and Rehab.
Since returning to Ponyville, Abacus wrote an autobiography about his life, as well as the horrors of what he went through. His autobiography quickly became a very big selling book, especially since the release of the movie, and Sapphire Shores and Rad Ballad's album. He soon became one of the wealthiest ponies in Ponyville, rivalling even Filthy Rich. Taking Coco-Nut's suggestion in his apology letter, Abacus took up learning both boxing and karate, as a physical and mental health motivator. Abacus even goes to schools and conventions to give talks about his experiences, while also working as a freelance accountant and tax agent in Ponyville, and being a loving, caring, devoting father and husband. Although his mental state had made great progress, that he tries to be happy and positive, and that his psychotic rage episodes are gone for the most part, he still suffers from post-traumatic stress, and depression. And would need extensive therapy, as well as love, support, and affection from his friends and family.
Authors Speech
This story is a example of people round the world. People who like Abacus Sum in the story have suffered, and are and were victims of being imprisoned for crimes they do not commit. These reasons come from either from miscarriage of justice from tunnel visioned investigators, mistaken identity, or in the most malicious circumstances, conspiracy from criminals or police/government official corruption. This does not happen in just the USA, but everywhere round the world, even here in Australia where I live. The most famous example of this is arguably the case of Andrew Mallard. In 1994, Andrew Mallard, who was convicted of violently killing Perth woman, Pamela Lawrence in her Mosman Park jewellery shop. He was sentenced to 20 - 30 years in prison, despite the lack of evidence. Andrew Mallard was released 12 years later after journalist Colleen Egan, and shadow attorney general John Quigley found out that the Western Australian police had deliberately withheld vital information and evidence from Mallard's defence team.
After reviewing the case, they quickly located a record of a palm print which matched that of Simon Rochford, who had confessed to murdering his girlfriend, Brigitta Dickens, on the 15th July 1994, seven weeks after Mrs Lawrence was killed. The print had been found on the top of a display case in Lawrence's shop, which was significant, as it had been the practice of the shop staff to wipe the top of that case after each customer left. On this basis the review became a cold case review. The weapon used by Rochford to kill Dickens was a steel collar of the type used by weight lifters to secure weights to a bar. Rochford had attached the collar to a broom handle and used it to club Dickens to death. The actual collar could not be located in 2006, but its dimensions were known and a photograph was available. The shape and dimensions of the collar were consistent with the form of the wounds in Lawrence's skull. The photograph of the collar indicated that it was painted blue and a rucksack belonging to Rochford was found to contain blue paint flakes which were identical in chemical composition to those removed from Mrs Lawrence's wounds. Rochford's appearance, in particular his beard, was more consistent with the original accounts of eyewitnesses than was Mallard's. After being questioned about Pamela Lawrence's murder, he committed suicide in his prison cell.
With this uncovered information, Mal Shervill and David Caporn, the police officers in charge of the case, and the leading prosecutor in the Mallard case, Ken Bates were being investigated for corruption, and conspiracy by the Commission on Crime and Corruption. All three resigned from their jobs, thereby removing any chance of disciplinary proceedings going ahead, and to escape any prosecutions against them.
Andrew Mallard was given a payment of $3.25 million as settlement though the Premier of the state, Colin Barnett. Mallard should never have been behind bars in the first place, and he still suffers from the torment of being wrongfully convicted and spending 12 years incarcerated. Understandably, he says that he will never fully recover from the ordeal.
Abacus Sum in the story represents the victims who suffer from wrongful convictions and imprisonment around the world. Wrongfully convicted people may experience psychiatric and emotional effects from the conviction and subsequent imprisonment. They undergo enduring personality changes similar to that experienced by people suffering a catastrophic experience. They often exhibit serious psychiatric morbidity and display symptoms of disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Wrongfully convicted people may also suffer ongoing emotional effects from the conviction and the disengagement from society that it brings. Fear of physical and/or sexual assault may cause some people to develop physically aggressive/intimidating character traits as a coping mechanism. They often exhibit feelings of bitterness, loss, threat, paranoia and hopelessness. Ironically, the accelerated pace of release that the discovery of a wrongful conviction will normally herald can have adverse effects. The graded release mechanisms (i.e. programs to facilitate gradual reintegration into the community) used in most jurisdictions can cause a greater upheaval to the person.
The process of being inducted into 'total institutions' such as a prison involves stripping away the prisoner's former identity. A new identity is forced upon them by the institution and/or other prisoners. This new identity may simply be 'a prisoner' or 'an offender' but also may extend to specific identities such as 'a rapist' or 'a murderer'. The acceptance and rejection of these labels by wrongfully convicted people involve considerable costs in both assimilating to the prison environment as well as qualifying for privileges. Maintaining what Campbell and Denov refer to as the 'burden of innocence' may be seen by prison authorities to evidence a lack of rehabilitation, therefore raising a prisoner's risk of recidivism. This may considerably impair a prisoner's chances of parole or other privileges. Within prison society, some offenders enjoy or suffer greater or lesser degrees of respect by reference to the crime for which they were convicted: sex offenders tend to be treated with disdain by prisoners and prison administrators, while murderers may be accorded a measure of respect, at least among fellow prisoners. In such an institution, respect may be a valuable asset in surviving. Given that wrongful convictions often go undetected, protesting innocence may not be in one's best interests.
Aside from these direct effects of accepting or rejecting their wrongful conviction, the possibility, however unlikely, of their innocence being discovered also means that prisoners lack certainty of a release date as a yardstick upon which to measure the effluxion of time. Wrongfully convicted people also suffer the physical effects of a confined environment, and may suffer physical and sexual assault, and abuse by inmates and even guards whilst incarcerated in prison. Even be physically scarred, deformed, and disfigured.
Abacus in the story suffered all of these things. Not all wrongly convicted prisoners are as deeply scarred as Abacus in the story, but all wrongly convicted prisoners can suffer a profound hurt for the rest of their lives. The road to recovery is long and hard for the wrongly convicted prisoner. There are speculated to be more than 1,000,000 new victims of wrongful imprisonment around the world every year.
