Humans in Equestria

Humans in Equestria

Chapter 9

Punishment

Jane stood up from her bed, collecting her clothes as she went. Her puppet was still asleep, but that was OK. Right now, she preferred to have some quiet time. Her last defeat had been a crushing new experience for her, and she wanted to set the score in her favor soon. No one had defeated her in her own game so far, but this made this even more interesting for her.

As she picked up her hot-pants, something fell out of the pouch on her belt. Five somethings to be precise. Five brown gemstones glimmered in the twilight of her hideout. Jane frowned, since she didn't remember putting these in there. Nor did she remember having any gems of this color in her possession. As she picked the first one up, she could suddenly hear the dying screams of someone. Her frown turned upside down, as she realized what she had found.

Five additional souls had been delivered to her, and she didn't even know who to thank for this invaluable gift. Now she had five more puppets for her game, and she intended of making good of them. At first however, she would have to separate what she needed from the bothersome rest....

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Luna paced up and down in her study again. Problem after problem was brought to her attention and it was still a few days until Celestia could leave the tank. Discords daughter hadn't shown herself again so far, but neither had the lord of chaos himself.

“What's wrong mother?”, Silk asked, as she entered the room.

“A better question would be what is NOT wrong these days. First this whole business with discords daughter, then your fathers soul gets abducted, we have to fight his “darker” side and just half an hour ago your great grandfather came here to tell me that your grandfather is missing!”, Luna almost shouted, while putting a hoof up to her temples.

“Sorry Silk... I know it's not your fault, but this is just a little too much for me right now.”, the Princess of the night apologized.

“Then let me help you some more mother. I'm worried about dad too, but you barely let me do anything! On top of that, you haven't slept in what? Six nights and days? That's not good for you either.”, Silk protested.

“I can stay up for weeks if I have too.”, Luna retorted, stomping a hoof on the ground for emphasis. In Silks eyes however, it looked more like the gesture of a stubborn little foal, who doesn't want to go to bed.

“And at what price? The longer you stay up, the more of your power is used to keep your bodily functions going. What if that strange woman attacks and you are too tired to defend yourself probably? The next thing we know, I'd have to fight you AND dad, and we both know that I can't beat either of you in single combat!”, Silk light shouted, her wings extended.

Luna shook her head. Her daughter just didn't understand. Faust had given her a deadline by which she had to show results, yet there was nothing she could show. Instead everything went further and further downhill! She had only three days left, until the immortal creator of this world would pass judgment on her, and she knew it would not be a good one.

In the best case scenario, she would just loose her powers, in which case she would still be able to assist her family as a Pegasus. In the worst case however.... she would be forced to let her body catch up with her actual age, which would cost her life. Faust had already demonstrated to her that she could do it, and Luna had not been able to stop her.

Just as she wanted to turn around to her daughter again, to tell her why she was so set on doing this without rest, some spell hit her in the back of her neck. Everything started to blur before her eyes, before she fell into a deep slumber.

Silk was by her mothers side to catch her, before she hit the ground. She hadn't wanted to do this, yet she hadn't seen any other option. Her mother needed rest, and that wasn't only her common sense talking. Silk had scanned her mother with her magic, and had detected unusual high levels of stress hormones, which were slowly taking their toll on her mothers heart. It was either rest, or risk cardiac arrest. Since her mother didn't want to rest out of her own free will, Silk sedated her with a spell her father had taught her. It wouldn't be the same as natural slumber, yet it would be better then nothing at all.

Already she prepared herself for the lecturing session that surely awaited her when her mother woke up. Not to mention that she would probably be grounded for the next century or so....

Silk sighed while she levitated Luna onto one of the sofas, and covering her with a comfy blanket. After she was sure that her mother was comfortable, she summoned the magical images of every guard captain, every high ranking soldier and every police pony in all of Equestria. Soon the room was filled with an enormous and confused, yet respectful crowd of magical images.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lyra hated to bring bad news, but with the palace in such disarray and the guards having their hoofs full, this task had been assigned to her. This was one of the downsides of being the personal student of one of the Princesses.

It was particularly hard for her, since she knew all of the mares, whose families she had deliver the bad new to. First she had went to Twilight Sparkles parents. The Unicorn had helped her to become Lunas student in a way, so it was only fair, that her parents should hear the bad news first. They had taken it... very badly. Twilights father had actually hit her, and screamed something about it not being funny to spread such lies. She had accepted the punishment, without retaliating. Lyra felt bad for telling them that their daughter was missing, but it had to be done.

She had tried her best to assure them, that there was still hope. They hadn't found a corpse.... yet after all....

Raritys parents reaction to their daughters death couldn't have been more different. They embraced each other, and even extended their hug to her, once they noticed the tears in her eyes. Rarity had been a good friend of her, who had always been willing to listen to her theories about humans over a cup of tea, even if as Lyra knew for certain, they hadn't interested her in the slightest....

The family of Pinkie Pie had been the worst for her. Aside from Bon Bon, Pinkie had been her closest friend, so she had ended up being consoled by them, rather then giving them any kind of comfort.

“I am glad to know that Pinkamena had such good friends. Please tell me of her life in Ponyville, Miss Heartstrings. She has never told me much about it.”, Pinkies father had said, while hoofing her a handkerchief. Pinkies sisters, Inky, Blinky and Maud were.... hard to read, but she had been able to see the tears in their eyes, even though they tried to hide them.

And so she had spent several hours recounting how she had met Pinkie Pie on the day she moved to Ponyville. How Pinkie had insisted on throwing her a welcoming party, and how she had met Bon Bon there after years of separation.

She told them how Pinkie had helped her move, and had helped her and Bon Bon financially when the bank didn't want to give them a loan for their Sweetshop, even though it was now direct concurrence to Sugarcube corner. She told them about all the happy times she had spent with Pinkie, and about the times in which Pinkie came to her for some comfort.

She told them about Pinkies insecurities, and how she had spent countless hours consoling the crying mare, who never showed her vulnerable side to anyone but her.

After she had left the Pies Rockfarm, she had tried to get into contact with Fluttershys parents, but they never answered her letter, even though it was delivered by magical mail. Lyra just hoped that they would reconsider, and come talk to her, instead of still being ashamed of their earthbound daughter, who was afraid of heights....

That left, the most heartbreaking occurrence of the day.... The Apple family. Big Macintosh had greeted her in his usual cheerful way, but his mood soon sank, when he saw the look on Lyras face. He was not a stallion of many words, but he sensed that he had something important to tell him, that she didn't want to say.

Lyra had refused to tell him, until he had gathered Granny Smith and Applebloom in the Apples kitchen. Now the Apples had two deaths to mourn. The old mares heart had given out, at the news of her oldest granddaughters fate. Lyra had, intentionally, left out any details on how it had happened, but Big Mac wouldn't let her leave until she had told them everything.

Applebloom was sitting on Granny Smiths recliner, while staring into the distance without seeing anything, while Big Macs eyes were streaming tears as he approached Lyra. Even though the big red stallion was crying like a foal that had fallen onto it's knees for the first time, his voice was steady and full of anger as he spoke. It was the first time in all the time she knew him, that Lyra had an actual conversation with Big Macintosh....

“Y'all know who did it?”, he had asked her.

“I'm... I'm sorry Mac, but we don't. The royal guard is still investigating, and Princess Luna is doing her best in coordinating the efforts to find the culprit, but so far we only have a vague idea of who it might have been.”

“So then... SPILL IT!”, he had shouted at her. Lyra understood the rage, but other as with Twilights father, she backed away a few steps. If Big Mac lashed out at her, she feared she would end up in the hospital... or in the morgue if he lost control.

Big Mac noticed that she backed away from him, and tried to calm himself by inhaling long and deep, before speaking again.

“A h'm terribly sorry Lyra, but ya have ta understand. Ah lost mah sister and mah granny in a single day. Ah wanna know how ta buck the face for this.”, he had said in a more normal tone, but Lyra could still detect the traces of anger swinging in his voice.

“We.... Well... We think the order of justice might have something to do with it. The guards killed by the copy of Princess Lunas husband were partially eaten, but all of them were executed quickly. Not one of them was tortured. And since there was only one other group that infiltrated the palace that night, we assume that they have something to do with it.”, Lyra explained, while keeping a shield spell at the ready.

To her surprise, Big Mac relaxed after that. He seemed to have come to a conclusion that he didn't want to share with her. All he did after this, was ask her to leave the farm and not come back for a while. He was polite enough about it, but Lyra couldn't help but think that Big Mac was hiding something from her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Guard Captain Goldshield sat down at her desk. She had just received orders from Princess Silk Light, to coordinate her search efforts with the local police and the Nightguard. The conference had been exhausting, and very time consuming, but at least they had a plan now. When she looked for a quill, to issue a written order to all solar guards that were stationed outside the capital, she frowned. There was a new folder on her desk, that she did not remember putting there. As she opened it, the faces of five of the six bearers of the elements of Harmony looked at her. All photographs had been crossed out with red marker. Beneath them was a document, which she read carefully.

Name: Applejack

Age: 22

place of dwelling: Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville

Race: Earthpony

Crimes:

Monopolization of the apple market in Ponyville. Assisting in a coup d'etat.

Punishment: Execution

Name: Rarity

Age: 21

place of dwelling: Ponyville

Race: Unicorn

Crimes:

industrial espionage, sabotaging contestants during Canterlot fashion show, bribing judges during Canterlot fashion show

Punishment: Execution

Name: Pinkamena Diane Pie

Age:19

Place of dwelling: Ponyville

Race: Earthpony

Crimes:

Encouraging of young fillies and colts to take party drugs to make them enjoy her parties even more, suspected to bake said drugs into her goods

Punishment: Execution

Name: Fluttershy

Age:20

place of dwelling: Ponyville

Race: Pegasus

Crimes:

Animal abduction, sabotaging an a cosmetic research facility

Punishment: Execution

Name:Rainbow Dash

Age: 21

place of dwelling: Ponyville

Race: Pegasus

Crimes:

Cheating in the Equestrian 500, suspected to have used drugs to enhance her performance, causing public unrest, drunken flying, slept with a member of the Wonderbolts to get preferential treatment in the Wonderbolts academy tryouts.

Punishment: Execution

Goldshield could only read in horror. She knew for a fact that none of these accusations were true. The tryouts for the Wonderbolts academy had been held near the rainbow falls, and she had went there. Rainbow Dash didn't need to bribe anypony to impress the judges. She had also been at the Equestrian 500, and Rainbow Dash had only made it fifth place due to an injury on her wing. How was that supposed to be cheating?

She hadn't known the other bearers of the elements so well, but she knew that their criminal record was clean as could be!

Goldshield knew that the apples from Sweet Apple Acres were the best in all of Equestria, so why wouldn't everypony prefer to buy from them? Their prices were fair, and the family was nice. The order of justice had delivered this report to her, of that she had no doubt, but so far they hadn't made a single mistake....

“There is a first time for everything I suppose...”, she murmured with a grin. Now they had more charges then they needed against this organization. They had abducted the prince, which made them enemies of the state in itself, but this would be a bomb if she leaked it to the press. She could already see the headline:

Ancient justice group executing innocent Ponies!

The Princess might not approve of that method, but this would certainly turn any civilians who knew anything about that group against them. Even hardcore supporters would be hard pressed to find a reason to stay quiet, after she had told the press all the gruesome details of these “executions”. Goldshield was sure that, by tomorrow evening, the order of justice would have nowhere to hide anymore!