Mule: The Untold Story

Chapter 3: Brought Into the Light

“Thank you, thank you so very, very, very much!” the cream colored mare repeatedly chanted into the neck of Mule, both her tears and his neck distorted the words.

“Um, exactly what did I do again?”

Mayor Mare returned to an upright position, wiping the tears off her muzzle. She stared at Mule for long silent seconds, without saying a word. At this time, Mule started to believe there was an awkward silence fairy that had a serious vendetta against him. He figured that there wasn’t any point in waiting for a response, so he invited her in. Mayor Mare accepted with a wide smile on her face. She trotted into the structure, her well trained eye scanning the surroundings.

The political pony was less than pleased with what she saw.

‘Such a dank home. How is it that somepony would choose to live like this?’

“So, my question. What exactly did I do again?” Mule asked again to Mayor Mare, who took a seat on his squeaky bed.

“To put it bluntly, you saved my life.” Mayor Mare said coughing in her hoof, speaking in her professional politician tone.

“And how did I do that exactly?”

“I think we both know the answer to that question.”

“I think you might be blowing this out of proportion.”

“No, not really. I’ve dealt with horrible businessponies for years. I’ve never had the courage to act against them, for fear of what they would do to our town.” she began with a slight frown that soon turned into a smile. “But then I reviewed your plan last night. At first I was skeptical, however, after many years of being told what to do, I felt particularly bold. And what do you know, this morning when the memo was sent to the affected parties, they immediately folded! Who would’ve guessed?”

Mule donned a small smile on his face. The mare in the room returned the gesture ten fold. Good feeling all around started to drift away as Mules' smile faded. His face began to contort and twist. Mayor Mare was about to ask what was wrong, but she was stopped by the disheveled equine opening his front door.

“That news is fantastic, you can leave now.” He said in monotone..

“Wow, I thought that you would be a little bit more happy about this.”

“I said that the news is fantastic, and now, you can go.”

“What’s with the sudden temper?”

“I’m not temperamental!” Mule shouted taking deep breathes .

“Your actions beg to differ.” The Mayor responded coldly.

“Just shut up! I’m too tired to deal with your kind!”

“. . .Is there something I should know about?”

“I mean, you just, AH!”

The mule slammed shut his door and walked over to a corner of his house. Miss Mare joined him and lent a comforting hoof to his upper back. To and fro her hoof moved creating a comfortable friction based heat. The air was silent and still, until curiosity got the best of the mare.

“So what’s really bothering you?” Mayor Mare said with a very soft voice.

“Like you care.” Mule responded, not changing the cynical tone.

“Is it such a stretch to say I do?

“Yes.”

“Well it shouldn’t be, because I’m all ears.” The mayor said plopping her flank down on the ground next to Mule.

“You aren’t going to leave anytime soon, are you?” He joked receiving a vigorous nod from his house guest.

A reluctant sigh escaped Mules’ lips. He looked at the mayor with a hesitant fear. That was never something to hold him back ever since he was a child; his story started the same time. Everything from his orphaned roots to his current career solution was.

Mule was sweating. All of the exhaustion pulsating from his jaw took it's toll. It was starting to go numb from all the motion. A weight from his mind was seemingly lifted, making him feel almost weightless. This weight did not just linger though. The force of gravity forced it back down, unto the head of the single audience member. He ended his lifes summation with a head nod, indicating he got all of the details.

“H-H-How, w-why?” Mayor Mare managed to mumble.

“What, the goat problem? Well it was a simple matter of electrical wiring and cheese.”

“No, I mean, I know every pony in this town, yet I wasn’t aware of any of this.”

“I guess I wasn’t high on the priorities list.” Mule shrugged. His comment horrified Mayor Mare.

“That’s not it at all! I didn’t know I swear, If I knew I’d-I’d-I’d.” she couldn’t speak past her sniffles and tears.

“It’s obvious that you didn’t know, so you don’t have to get upset. It wasn’t your fault, besides I fine with ok now--” the sympathetic tone of Mules voice was replaced by an enraged mares.

“IT’S NEVER OK TO TREAT SOMEPONY LIKE THAT! You never deserved such treatment. As the mayor I have to protect everpony in my town, and I didn’t.” she started to cry more.

“If it’s any consolation, it makes me feel better to see somepony actually care about me.” Mule whispered in the ear of the mayor, as he threw his arm over her body, pulling her close to him.

Such close proximity allowed for intimate sensations. A heartbeat, strong and steady, thumped gently against Mayor Mares cream colored ear. The heat being traded between the two was a greater than that of the air around them, creating mildly uncomfortable perspiration. Mayor Mare coughed quietly, hinting to Mule to release his grip on her.

“So um. . .” she began.

“With that being said. . .” Mule continued aimlessly.

“I think we both know what we have to do now.”

“What would that be?”

Mayor Mare wasted little time in lowering her muzzle behind Mule, much to his red faced embarrassment, and bite down on his tail. I quick yelp of pain ran out of the mules mouth, as he was be dragged out of his house. He frantically asked over and over where they were going. The mayors mouth was full however, and so her words were extremely muffled.  But what he could make out, town hall, got Mule to madly claw at the ground. His attempts were in vain though, Mayor Mare might be a little pony, but their was a plethora of power in her small stature.

Mules reputation had fallen even further from what it was the day before. The gossip queen Rarity had decided to take it upon herself to tell her tale to everypony that would listen. She spoke about how Mule was stalking both her and Sweetie Belle. The rumors worsened when Rarity heard the Applejack’s and Rainbow Dashes stories.

Eventually the public image of him formed into: a violent, creepy, foal abusing, good-for-nothing, lazy, disturbed equine.  So imagine the shock on everyponies face when they saw their mayor drag the pariah by it’s tail.

“Um, mayor, what are you doing?” a random pony from the accumulating crowd inquired.

“Oh, I’m glad you all are here. There’s going to be an impromptu meeting at Town Hall. Would you all tell everypony else to meet in half an hour?” Mayor Mare announced dropping the tail from her mouth. Before her prisoner could get away though, she stomped on his tail.

The Ponyvilleians smiled at the news, and raced off to tell their families of the news. Mayor Mare looked approvingly at the enthusiasm from the crowd. Mule looked longingly at his tail, imagining the days when it wasn’t in total agony.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt your tail?” The mare asked, just noticing the pain on Mules face. He only moaned in pain for a response. “Sorry about that. But we should get going to now.”

“What are you planning Miss Mare?” Mule asked concerned.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan. And I promise you, after the meeting, you won’t have to worry about anything from these ponies again.” She said with a grin.

“You don’t have to do anything rash on my behalf.”

“We aren’t going to go over this again.” Mayor Mare began, but quickly retracted her harsh tone. “I said that you are going to be treated like everypony else, and you’re going to be treated like everypony else.”

“If you think so. I’ll put my trust in you.”

The entirety of Ponyville waited impatiently in the crowded room. Some ponies began visibly shifted their weight from hoof to hoof, as time created mental and physical pressure. The combined breaths of everypony significantly increased the temperature in the room. Air became an uncomfortable necessity, but the drive to experience the meeting overid it all.

The mane six had taken it upon themselves to sit in the front of the crowd. Rarity was still gossiping with every mare within earshot about yesterdays events. Her fellow elements were on the receiving end of most of it the night before. The constant talking about Mule lead to a consensus amongst the group; any disagreement was quickly weeded out with a barrage of counter arguments.

Mayor Mare graced the audience with her presence on the stage.  She was greeted with roaring appreciation, which lasted far beyond her expectations. She stood behind the mayors podium, with the poise of a professional politician. The mayor’s hooves lifted to eye level motioning the audience to settle down. Mule remained backstage, per request of the mayor.

“Hello everypony, I’m so glad you could make it. What I wanted to talk about was--”

“The repeal of your economic reform?” a snooty voice interjected from the audience.

“Yes and no Mr. Rich, I was going to say that I wanted to thank the pony who allowed it to happen in the first place.” Miss Mare said turning her attention to Mule, and motioned him out to the stage.

Jaws fell to the floor and jeers were thrown with merciless force. The anger was palpable in the room. Ponies were screaming with rage. Mayor Mare was taken aback by the reaction. What she had heard from Mule didn’t manage to explain the amount of hate in the room. It seemed to be disorganized though, maybe there would be time to rethink her strategy. . .

Oh how glorious that reality would be.

“You must be mad! There's no way you would let something like that make such a big decision!” Filthy Rich shouted without reservation. His loud voice startled his daughter standing next to him.

“That’s the second thing I wanted to talk about. I’ve heard quite a lot about Mule here, and how he lives day to day in our fair town. I just wanted to know if it was true.” Mayor Mare spoke in a calm, quiet voice.

“If what was true?” Filthy asked with anger still present in his voice.

“If the daily harassment, bigotry, and unwarranted hatred is true.” she answered precisely. The crowd began to mutter to one another. Some ponies ‘whispered’ louder than the others, gaining the ire of the two subjects on stage.

“Mayor Mare, if I may be so bold, I believe you’re mistaken.” Twilight Sparkle began, effectively hushing the input hungry crowd. “Ever since I came to Ponyville, I’ve seen the prime example of kindness in all of Equestria. So my conjecture is that the claims you’ve heard are greatly exaggerated.”

“Miss Sparkle, do you think I’m a newborn foal?”

“Of course not! I just--”

“Then trust me when I say that I understand when my constituents are genuinely upset. And frankly, I’ve never heard such horrid treatment of another pony in this village.” the mayor said not stopping, despite hearing all the objections to her accusations. “I came here today to tell you all that I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed in all of you, for acting in such a horrible way. But I’m mostly disappointed in myself for not seeing it sooner. Because of that a poor soul suffered more than he should of.”

“Mayor, with all do respect, this thing isn’t as innocent as you think. He attacked my friend Applejack!” the element of generosity bellowed.

“It’s interesting that you bring that up--”

“He also insulted Scootaloo, a little filly.”

“Well now, about that--”

“I also have it on good authority to believe he’s stalking my sister and I!”

The crowd started up in a commotion. They had begun yelling their own questions at the overwhelmed mare. She was sweating profusely, her mind failing to comprehend the simultaneous input. Mayor mare tried to intervene but her voice was lost in the crowd.

“Miss Rarity I would. . . Now Mr. Rich I don’t. . . Bon-Bon, I didn’t know you had such a mouth!”

“Just let me handle this.” Mule said getting up on the podium next to Mayor Mare, taking up the other half of the stand. “For one, my ‘attack’ on Applejack wasn’t intentional. I was the one to stop the bleeding! The Scootaloo situation, I. . . kind of take credit for that. Although, I would ask the filly to keep in mind, if you act like an adult mare, you should be prepared to be treated like one. Finally, for you Rarity and your sister Sweetie Belle, no I am not stalking you. I heard singing and wanted to see who it was. I was slightly. . . embarrassed so I trying to sneak away without anypony noticing me, that’s when Sweetie Belle caught me.” the mule explained to an audience who blinked at him.

“See? There’s a reasonable explanation for everything.” Mayor Mare said with a sigh and a pleasant smile directed at Mule. A smile that was not missed by a certain business pony.

“I get it now.” Filthy Rich began with an evil grin. “Sweetie, take you and your friend back home, I’ll make sure to be there soon.”

Diamond Tiara looked at her closest friend, Silver Spoon, shrugged, and they walked out of the building. Other parents in the crowd took the cue and excused their children as well. A good portion of the parents left with their children. Mule and Mayor Mare looked at the business tycoon, wondering what stupendously stupid sentence was about to be spewed.

“As I was saying, I figured out why you are being so generous to your friend. . . He’s rutting you, isn’t he?”