The Man With No Country

Chapters

1: The Report
2: The Day of Reckoning
3: The Champion of Lost Causes
4: The Crossroads
5: The Keepers of Lore and Legend

1: The Report

Rainbow Dash had returned the morning after Nightmare Night to find the sleepy town of Ponyville in ruin. Not something unexpected for Ponyville’s track record, but enough to wilt her whistling tune. Smashed windows, overturned carts and stands, brown blood stains veining their way through the cobblestone streets— there’s only so much a pony can see before her stomach starts twisting in knots. Yet she did not see any broken trees, or collapsed buildings; there was no sign of parasprites, or changelings, or anything that had plagued Ponyville in the last few years. She settled on an uneasy trot as she scanned for any sign of her friends.

She knocked on the door of The Golden Oaks Library. Five sets of eyes peeped back at her. Thank Celestia, they were all in one piece, if a bit shaken up. There had been a riot, they told her. The library seemed to be the safest spot to hide. A strange creature, a human, had emerged from the Everfree forest in Dash’s four month absence. The cunning carnivore had tried to fit in, but was too violent, too unstable. It had to be driven out of town when the thing killed Pokey Pierce, and tried to kill Lyra too.

The autumn had been a grim affair by her friend’s account. Fluttershy found him savaging her chickens with her own kitchen knife. Twilight tried to find him a new home, but the human and its employers insisted on keeping him in town. The jobs he gathered were disaster after disaster, making a scene wherever he went. He worked briefly on Applejack’s farm, and that only ended in him scaring off all of their hired help. If only Twilight had known how the human’s stay was to end, she would have nipped it in the bud, and driven him back to the Everfree Forest the day he came out of it.

And what was Dash to do? She would have protected her friends had she been there, though the damage already done, justice already dealt. The last anypony had seen the human was Princess Luna magically banishing it to wherever it came from. With the rest of Ponyville, she rebuilt the broken town, that much more wiser, and that much more cautious about anything else that came from the Everfree.

Ponyville was no stranger to cataclysmic events. After ursa minors, parasprites, Discord, and marauding dragons, cleaning up after a riot was little more than a weekend chore. For one, Dash was just thankful that none of her friends were hurt, and glad of her purchase of a cloud home. The mortgage was a bit steeper, but then again, it came out of almost every disaster unscathed. As she unpacked her bags from her trip, she took a rare moment to count her blessings.

A few months after that, the earth pony Loose Leaf approached Dash, asking about any experience she had with the human. Loose Leaf was a bookish pony, yellow coat, a short mussy mane and a cutie mark of stacked paper. He spoke matter-of-factly, and had a judicious manner. Dash had heard he was an out of towner, some pencil pusher for Mayor Mare that moved to Ponyville a while back.

Dash told Loose Leaf what she knew, which was little. He jotted down some notes, and thanked her for her time before trotting off. The whole process took less than three minutes.

She saw him occasionally around town, talking to this pony or that. She heard a rumor that he got Lucky arrested, the pony that saved Lyra’s life. Dash didn’t know Lucky either and gave it little attention. Within a month or two, she rarely thought of him or the human.

At least until this morning.

Wedged between her utilities bill and the newest chain letter from her aunt in Neighvarro, was the little booklet. Report and First Hand Accounts with the Human in Ponyville, Jeremiah Walker, Assembled by Loose Leaf. The title text was black on white, serifed and unassuming; the cover, unadorned. Rainbow had almost not read it, because it did nothing to grab her attention.

Dash did not consider herself a particularly curious pony. She threw it on top of the mound of mail accumulating on her kitchen counter. No time to read the mail now, she was going to be late for her weather duties. At the end of the month, she would perform her regular mail purge, opening or tossing her unread letters as needed. She decided she would pay the bill then, and discard the other two. At least until she saw Princess Luna’s name as one of the many interviewees. If she was interviewed, then that meant there was a first hand account of her kicking the human’s butt. That was something Dash could sink her teeth into. A quick skim through of the report, and she would be on her merry way.

Four hours later, Rainbow Dash finished reading the report for the third time, and it still didn’t make sense. Not to her anyways. How could Loose Leaf get away with publishing this? Were the residents of Ponyville even capable of all of that?

Were her friends?

With a furrowed brow, she threw it back onto the stack of Daring Do novels by her bed. Then she laid down, and stared at her ceiling. She fought the urge to kick something.

Her friends gave her the full account of the story. Then where did all these made up details come from? Nopony had mentioned his employment with Applejack was ended when a mob of ponies chased him off her farm. Nopony mentioned how he was vilified from the moment he set foot in town, nopony mentioned how he’d tried to make amends to Fluttershy, nopony mentioned how ponies refused to sell him food, or how they threatened him and chased him off. Nopony mentioned how he was legally a pet. Nopony mentioned how Pokey Pierce, minutes before dying, had attempted to frame him for an assault as part of a hare-brained scheme to win Lucky’s marefriend back.

Her friends would never, ever let all of that happen. They were the Elements of Harmony for Celestia’s sake. Loose Leaf, whoever he thought he was, was just trying to make Twilight and Fluttershy look bad.

She wanted to clear her mind. And as she always did when she needed to think, she flew.

It was scheduled for a heavy rain all day, a rain that she was supposed to help set up, but Dash didn’t care. Her head was as troubled and roiling as the skies she bobbed and weaved through. She ignored the calls of the other pegasi on weather duty as she saored by. Who let the human —No, Walker-— be treated like he was?

She ought to go find Loose Leaf and give him a piece of her mind. She decided that, she muttered it to herself, but somehow she found herself flying towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

Even though it had been a year since the human had wandered onto Fluttershy’s property and slayed Elizabeak, she had not taken down the chain link fence around her property, in part because she still harbored a healthy fear of the human, but mostly due to the fact that they were set in concrete, making them notoriously burdensome to remove.

Fluttershy answered the door fairly quickly; dash only had thirty seconds of thumping on the door. She had taken to only using two of the six locks installed on her door, again, a product of Jeremiah Walker’s unexpected visit, and again, fell into disuse because the knobs and levers were hard to grip with hooves.

Normally Flutters would have smiled to see Dash, but Dash had a burning fire in her eyes that made her Fluttershy recede back into the doorway.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward before Flutters had the chance to shut the door. Fluttershy winced, thinking that Rainbow Dash was about to yell at her. Rainbow Dash thought so too, but was surprised to hear her voice, low and choking, ask, “Why didn’t you help him?”

“The human?”

“Jeremiah Walker. He has a name,” Rainbow said, throwing her copy of the report onto the kitchen counter. “You of all ponies, had every chance to help him, and you just hid.”

She tried to respond, but Rainbow Dash cut her off once more. “You know what? You did less than nothing. You broke his arm. Everypony knows it. You, Twilight, and the rest of our friends did nothing but make his life worse.”

As brave as she could, Fluttershy bit her lip. “Rainbow dash, you seem really, really upset, please, just sit down so we can talk about this.”

Reluctantly Rainbow Dash sat down at the kitchen table. All the critters in the cottage chittered nervously. Fluttershy threw them a worried smile. “Don’t worry little ones, The human isn’t going to be coming back anytime soon.”

That made Dash grit her teeth. “You know what? I have every right to be upset. You treated him like a monster, and that’s what he became.” She jabbed a hoof towards Fluttershy.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath before meeting Rainbow’s eyes. “You weren’t there Dash. If you were with us, you would have been just as scared, and confused. I know now I probably should have done something different, but what else would we have thought to do?”

“You’re right, I wasn’t there, and I believed that excuse when Twilight told me when I came back to find the town in ruins. You all told me how you tried to help, but it couldn’t be helped, because he just wasn’t meant to live alongside ponies.

“I was reading the report, because I wasn’t here, but then it kept on saying how our friends did these horrible things to him. I didn’t believe it though. Not at first, but how could so many ponies lie?”

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Tell me, why didn’t you do anything to stop him from being hurt, from being chased out of town?”

Fluttershy’s mind was filled with what-ifs. What if she hadn’t waited till the last minute to go shopping on that fateful day, and she had gone earlier in the week? What if she had eaten a little less, and had a few things left in her pantry instead of bare shelves? What if she hadn’t stopped to talk to Cloud Chaser on the way back, and she had found him before he even found her cottage?

She could have greeted Walker like any other animal —no, like any other guest— in need of food and water. She could have easily given him some fish, or worms, or anything. If that happened, maybe nopony would have been afraid of him, nopony would have gotten hurt, and he could have joined Ponyville to open hooves.

But fate conspired against all of that, and she found Jeremiah Walker the infamous human before anypony knew his name, pinning down poor Elizbeak with his knees, jerking her very own kitchen knife through the chicken’s neck as she gave one last desperate flutter.

She had dropped her groceries, and barreled towards him. In the crash she heard the snap of bone. She was standing over him, he was clutching his arm, covered in chicken blood, his own blood. After so much confused shouting and apologizing, she had been too overwhelmed to do anything but order the nearest bear to watch the human while she fetched the veterinarian.
Dr. Horse came at once to take the human away, leaving Fluttershy to grieve over Elizabeak.

The news spread quickly, and nopony blamed her for avoiding the human. Yes, she was the town’s unofficial animal caretaker, but how could you ever open your home and hospitality to some rabid creature that broke into your home, and slaughtered one of her own pets?

Guilt still haunted her sometimes though. When anypony had asked her about the human, she only mumbled how she wished he would just go somewhere else. In a twisted way, she got her wish.

There were so many times she could have stepped in. So many ponies were in hysterics about how he ate anything with wings, pegasi included. Everypony whispered how he was just waiting for the right chance to come and kill everypony. What they seemed to forget was how wild, carnivorous creatures often kill their food, at least until they’re asked to stop. And this was a human, a creature capable of speech and reasoning. Fluttershy was well aware that he could be persuaded otherwise by the time Dr. Horse took him away.

He did apologize when he left. But Fluttershy didn’t mention this. She didn’t correct anyone about the rumors surrounding his diet, and just kept her head down. She saw him in the marketplace too, trying to use what few bits he had earned to buy food. Instead he got shouted at. She didn’t say anything then either.

When Loose Leaf, the young stallion started his interviews, he went straight to Fluttershy. She had declined to give Loose Leaf a statement either.

“Are you sure? This could help Princess Luna find out what really happened on Nightmare Night.”

She simply shook her head, then too.

She conveyed as much to Rainbow Dash, who only scowled throughout the whole explanation.
Fluttershy looked up. “I’m sorry. I think we all are. But you shouldn’t be mad at Pinkie Pie. She didn’t do anything to the human.”

“Except spread rumors like it was her job,” Rainbow dash muttered.

Fluttershy continued. “Rarity either. She helped him when nopony else would too.”

“I guess she’s the only friend I have that gives a damn about non-ponies.” Rainbow got back on all fours and marched through the door. “And they call you the element of Kindness,” She muttered scornfully.

Fluttershy tried to apologize one last time, but Rainbow Dash was already airborne.

Rainbow banged on the door of Golden Oaks library, but Twilight had left town a week earlier, to visit her family and ‘visit Celestia.’ Dodging out of town before the report was released, Rainbow Dash realized. Her last knock left the door with a horseshoe indent and short a few splinters. “Out of town my flank,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.

Rarity poured her troubled friend a cup of Jasmine Oolong tea. The pitter patter of rain turned into constant drumming against the window pane of her kitchen. Rarity stirred a lump of sugar into her own cup, taking a sip as she looked expectantly at Dash.

Rainbow Dash sat quietly, brow furrowed, too deep in her troubled thoughts to drink. Her gaze was lost somewhere in the steaming cup between her hooves. Rarity thought to prompt her into discussing her feelings, but waited for her pegasus friend to give voice to her own thoughts.

“I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash finally said. “We’re the elements of harmony. We’re supposed to prevent stuff like this from happening. But here they all were, shouting the human down. Applejack let a mob chase after him, Fluttershy broke his arm, and Twilight spent the entire time trying to kick him out of town. I thought we were better than this!” She thumped the table. Rarity levitated their cups up just enough to prevent them from spilling.

“Rainbow, darling. I know it’s awful to think that we all played a part in this. Although you have to understand, Applejack was trying to help Walker, by giving him a job. And Twilight, while misguided, was trying to find a safer, better place for the human to live. Pinkie Pie,... well, is Pinkie Pie. Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh?”

“Harsh? Harsh?” She flared her wings out. “Letting a mob chase after somepony for what they eat is harsh. Not batting an eyelid when somepony is threatened with a gun in public is harsh. Standing by when somepony is harassed for trying to buy food is harsh. Letting a lynch mob chase after somepony is harsh. Ponies died. And they’re all just as guilty for not having done anything.”

Rarity tapped her hooves together gently. “Well, I suppose you’re right. Although you must realize, Elements of Harmony or otherwise, we are not without faults and errors. For what’s it worth, Applejack and Twilight both spoke to Loose Leaf, and told him the truth, even though it didn’t reflect well on them. It’s because they told the world what they did wrong that you even know about this. They’re not guiltless, but they’re doing what they can for the situation.”
Rarity cast another glance at her friend “It’s hard to take a step back and look at a situation objectively when you’re in the thick of things. I was afraid of him too, at first.”

“Then what changed your mind?”

“Second impressions, Rainbow Dash. I’d heard everything about him, and when he came knocking on the door to my boutique I thought I was going to die. But he acted like the perfect gentlecolt, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was a paying customer who wanted nothing more than a new set of clothes and to apologize to Fluttershy. That last part didn’t end so well, but regardless, I think you would do well to take some time, and look at the situation again. I understand you’re upset about how our friends acted, but they need that second chance from you, just as Walker needed that second chance from me.”

Dash huffed, and took a gulp of tea that did more to agitate her knotted stomach than to soothe it. “I guess I can talk to AJ.”

Rarity smiled warmly. “It’s a start, Dash.”

Applejack rested a foreleg against the porch beam. She shook the rainwater from her mane, and readjusted her hat. “Ain’t you cold? You’re soaked to the bone for land’s sake.”

“You’re changing the subject, AJ.”

She met Rainbow Dash’s gaze, even and steady. Her green eyes looked at unflinchingly, even if with a pang of remorse. “I did wrong by Walker, and I’ll own up to it.”

Rainbow Dash scowled. She thought hearing somepony confess would set her back at ease. It only made her grit her teeth harder. “Owning up to it won’t fix what you did. You were supposed to be giving him a job, but you let him get chased off your farm by a bunch of angry ponies.”

“I tried to help, RD, honest. I still thought he was dangerous, and I was doing anything and everything to give him a job, and to make all the ponies feel safe.” She sighed. “Then he goes and puts his hoof in his mouth like nopony’s business, shouting to the whole wide world that he eats cows and he’s damn proud of it. What would have happened if I stood by him when he said that?”

“He would be safe right now,” Rainbow Dash spat. A cold drop landed on her nose.

“Could I have calmed down the situation if I’d done something differently? Even if I could have, he was making it mighty hard to help him. I ain’t proud of what happened and I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s in the past, and there isn’t nothing to do but to learn from it and live with it.”

“You have a lot of learning to do, that’s for sure.”

“Rainbow, this human wasn’t exactly what you’d call a model citizen. He killed his own brother, in addition to everything else. It said so in that report.”

“It’s not fair to judge him for that, damn it! You didn’t know that when you kicked him off your farm!”

“I reckon I didn’t. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of him though. If I had known that I wouldn’t have even let him set foot on this farm to begin with.”

Rainbow gave AJ a dark look.

The front door to the porch creaked open. “AJ, Is everything alright?” Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack ruffled her sister’s hair. “Everything’s A-okay sugarcube. Would you get Rainbow a towel and some hot cider? ” She turned to Rainbow. “We can talk later if you like. I know it’s a lot of bad sounding stuff in that report. I’d be huffing and puffing like a bull in a tomato patch if I were in your horseshoes. Come, get yourself warm and dry. Stay for dinner and we can have a full talk afterwards. I recognize we don’t exactly see eye to eye on this.”

Rainbow stamped her hoof. “I don’t want to talk about it! I want…” she trailed off.

What did she want? Justice? Answers? Apologies? She clutched her head, trying to put words to the nameless feeling burning in her chest. She wanted to help somehow, she wanted to hurt, and to feel hurt. Yet no one had acted against her or her friends. She wanted to shout and to cry, to carry on and pretend the whole thing didn’t exist. Yet it did exist, and nothing she could shout would change that fact. She wanted this to never happen again, not for any human or other creature coming to Ponyville, and not for Ponyville either.

At the end of the day, she could not in good conscience let Ponyville fall down this path, and that’s all she could decide with any kind of certainty.

“Did you read the report?” Applebloom asked softly, barely louder than the falling rain.

“I did,” Dash replied. She did a double take. “When did you get a cutie mark?”

“I got it when the riot happened,” Apple Bloom said, with a bit of embarrassed glee. She looked at her new mark, a magnifying glass on top of a shield.

Rainbow looked at it. “You helped him, right?”

“I guess so,” Apple Bloom said. “Ms. Rainbow Dash, I know you must be really upset about the riot and the report and all.” Rainbow nodded stiffly in agreement. Apple Bloom continued. “I know a way you can help. Not the human, but a lot of folks out there aren’t being treated like they should be.”

Apple Bloom handed Rainbow Dash a flyer.

“Non-Equine Rights movement?” Dash read aloud.

“You’ve must have heard of it! It’s been all the talk around town,” Apple Bloom said.

Dash dimly remembered throwing out such a flyer during the previous month’s mail purge. “Um, yeah. Totally.”

Apple Bloom scratched her head. “I guess you weren’t here when all this stuff was happening. Well, Spike realized that the human wasn’t able to become a full citizen of Ponyville, and neither was he. Or anybody that’s not a pony. We’re trying to fix that. I help Spike with some of the stuff too.

“We’re actually having a meeting this weekend. He’s calling it a town forum, I think. Tons of ponies are going to be there talking about the report, and the movement, and all kinds of stuff. I know ponies are up and arms about the report, but I think you should come.”

AJ’s flat look was ignored by Apple Bloom.

This so called town meeting wasn’t going to bring Walker back. It wasn’t going to change what Rainbow’s friends had done. It wasn’t going to make the town magically friendly to any stray humans.

Rainbow reluctantly accepted the flyer. “Well, it’s a start.”

Author's Note

This was a long time coming.

Edited by me :|

2: The Day of Reckoning

Author's Note

Note: story takes place during seasons 2-3
edited by me.

2: The Day of Reckoning

Twilight had spent countless afternoons in Celestia’s study, sharing tea with her. Although she never appeared quite so nervous. Her mane was in slight disarray, and she trembled slightly. Then again, she never had anything to appear quite so nervous for.

Celestia hid her weariness behind a demure smile, as she poured Twilight a cup of tea. Amidst the cups and saucers and teapots, Twilight’s essay about the human rested on the table.

True to her student’s nature, it was thorough, from sketches to approximate measurements, eating habits (both observed and rumored), to its social behavior and linguistic capabilities. Prescriptive, objective, something to please any biologist in pursuit of a taxonomic report on the Homo Sapien.

And true to her student’s nature, it totally missed her point.

Celestia sipped her tea. She was vaguely aware of Twilight talking her through the subsections.

The day the human arrived in Ponyville, she had been enroute to Zebrica with Rainbow Dash. Twilight’s letter on the human had been forwarded from Canterlot to her. And on that carriage, she read the letter hastily. A strange and interesting creature, came out of the Everfree forest. Potentially dangerous. Potentially friendly. Strange and unusual creatures were nothing unusual in Equestria. So unimportant the letter, and so pressing were the diplomatic arrangements, her post haste reply was simply,

Twilight,
I have full confidence that you will handle this situation appropriately in my absence. Please report back to me on the situation as soon as I return to Equestria.

Kind Regards,
Celeste Apollo Asteria

How she came to regret that expediently drafted letter.

Twilight was still talking. “I was able to to interview him, and although he seems dissimilar to most civilized, social races, he told me that humans have their own towns! Not only are they capable of building structures, but like us, they also have totally distinguished and specialized roles. He told me he was training to be a pastor, which—”

“Twilight,” Celestia interjected softly. “The very same day that Luna released her report, I wrote you that we needed to discuss the human. Did you truly believe that I wanted a scientist’s perspective on the human’s social habits?”

“I.. I wanted to impart all the information I gathered.” She kneaded the pillow underneath her with her hooves. “I want you to know that I tried to solve the problem, that i’ve been taking my studies seriously.”

“You only saw him as a creature to be studied and relocated, when more than anything Jeremiah Walker needed a friend.” It felt as though there were a stone in her stomach. She continued. “I’m disappointed in you.”

Twilight’s pupils shrunk to pin points, her ears drooping. “P-Princess, I can write you a better essay, I can tell you whatever you need to know. If I knew the rubric, I could…”

“I’m not disappointed in your essay writing abilities. I’m disappointed in your conduct. I’m disappointed that you let this human be kicked around by Ponyville, and that you let the situation escalate into a full blown riot.” She realized her voice was starting to crescendo. She steadied her tone. “I have expectations of you Twilight, great expectations. I could understand any other pony’s inaction, but I hold you to a higher standard. I need to know I can rely on you to stop these things from ever reaching such a boiling point. I need to know that you’re helping keep the peace instead of adding fuel to the fire.”

Twilight was fighting back tears as she spoke. “I let you down princess Celestia. I... failed you.” She winced as she said the word. “I don’t deserve to be your student. A real student of yours wouldn’t have let the human be mistreated. Especially a student studying friendship. I just… I don’t want to leave Ponyville. I want to be around the girls and Spike. Without you, without my studies, they’re all I have. Please…”

“I did not call you to Canterlot to dismiss or punish you. You forget Twilight Sparkle, failure is a part of learning. I will not pretend that i’m not hurt. I feel let down by what became of the human under your watch. But I am looking for a way for us to move forward from this.” She took a breath to compose herself. “Now, let us understand what went wrong, and hope you use that knowledge to better your future judgement.”

“I.. don’t know where to begin,” Twilight murmured, tears on her cheeks.

“In your own words if you will, tell me what happened.” Celestia poured herself another cup, and added three scoops of sugar.

Twilight sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I mean, I thought that it wasn’t safe to let him live in town. I thought he was a liability. Fluttershy is the kindest pony, and the best at handling wild animals. If she was afraid of him, I thought maybe he would be better off with creatures more similar to him. I didn’t think he would fit in, especially if his first reaction is to kill animals without even asking permission.”

“So you thought he was not a good fit to live among us.”

“I didn’t. Not right away.”

“And you were so invested in trying to relocate him, you didn’t acknowledge he was trying his best to coexist,” Celestia said, “And you became so ingrained into thinking how to remove him that you didn’t consider alternatives outside of that. You didn’t see any other aspect to the situation.”

“Something like that. Towards the end I realized that he was genuinely trying to adapt to our society. He came from a society like ours, and he actually could have settled here with my help. But by then it was too late.”

“This is not the first time you had such tunnel vision. Do you remember when you had the whole town fighting over your smarty pants doll?”

Twilight fidgeted with her cup. She still had not taken a sip. “I was so focused on the fact that I hadn’t sent you a weekly friendship report, that I tried to manufacture a friendship problem, just so I could write about it. I should have realized that sending you a friendship report wasn’t that important.” She eeped. “I mean, they are important, but I should have told you I had nothing to report on, instead of causing a scene.”

“The friendship reports were not as dire of a priority as you made them out to be. But you were so focused that it didn’t cross your mind. Your focus is a great strength of yours, but to a fault. Twilight, recognize this tendency, and know when to stop and fully asses the situation. You could have prevented the riot if you had stopped to think about this situation outside of your friend’s biases.”

She bowed her head. “I’m sorry, I feel like such a failure.”

Celestia lifted her chin. “Failure is a part of learning. You have made some critical mistakes. But I know you were acting with the best interests of Ponyville in mind. It was merely a misguided attempt. I have failed too. I gave you this task without fully understanding it. I should have taken more time to gain a fuller picture. Leaving you in charge without further instruction was a rushed decision.”

“You can trust me though! I won’t let you down.”

“I hope that is the case. You’ve proven yourself to me many times before. And you have let me down before. But I have big plans for you, and I need to know that you’re capable of thinking clearly in tough situations like these. I need to know that I can rely on you when all the cards fall. I need to know that you won’t get locked into one frame of mind at the expense of other avenues.”

“What do you want me to do? I’ll do anything! I promise!”

Celestia sighed. “I have a letter from Spike. He’s telling me that he’s started a movement to allow non-ponies to become citizens.” She stood up, and walked to the window. Outside, she saw Canterlot, and the valley below, the southern swath of Equestria. Since the nation’s founding, it had been a nation of ponies. And they thought it daring to unite earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi under one banner.

What would the founders think of this movement now? She almost chuckled at the thought.

“He has been. And it’s been causing a lot of tension. Between him and me, and in Ponyville,” Twilight said.

This did not surprise Celestia. “Tell me, what do my little ponies think of Spike’s proposal?”

“I’m not sure… a lot of ponies are against it. Some are for it. The mules and donkeys and griffins, I’m not sure what they think.”

“I ask that you keep an eye on things in Ponyville for me while this happens. Spike’s movement was born of the human’s arrival, and now that Luna’s report has been released, I fear that Ponyville is a powder keg for unrest.”

“You want me to support Spike’s movement?”

“As ruler of Equestria, I will leave that up for my ponies to decide. If the nation calls for a vote, I will host one, and act according to the will of my ponies. I will not tell you which causes to support. I only ask that you make sure that there’s not another riot. Make sure voices are heard, and make sure the conversations are constructive. Truth be told, I never before entertained the idea of non-ponies becoming citizens. It simply never occurred to me. But Spike feels a need for it, and I will listen to what him and others say.”

“Celestia, consider it done!”

“Twilight, do not be afraid to contact me if you feel that things are getting out of hoof.”

“I won’t let you down!”

The sung hung low in the sky. Celestia met her sister on the topmost balcony of the castle. The two nodded towards each other. With some telekinetic persuasion, she rocked the sun beneath the horizon.

There. The day was finally over. A sudden wave of weariness hit her, so she slumped onto her hindquarters as Luna raised the moon.

“I’m feeling more confident about my princessly duties,” Luna said, looking at the stars.

Celestia gave a slight smile. “I’m glad.” Even though it had been three years since her return, she still grateful for Luna’s presence, her support in controlling the heavens and the kingdom.

Luna saw her sister on the marble floor. She walked over. “You seem distressed. Tell me sister, how did the conversation with Twilight go?”

Celestia was grateful for her emotional support too.

She rose to her hooves, and rested on the balcony. “I think she understands the gravity of her actions.” Celestia paused to look at the stars. In Luna’s absence, they had fallen into disarray. It took her some time, but Luna had arranged them back into beautiful swirls and constellations. “I think the best thing for her is to stay in Ponyville, and make sure there’s no aftershock riot in the wake of this report.”

The two walked off the balcony, and toward the dining hall.

“Do you still think she’s princess material?” asked Luna, with the faintest hint of contempt.

Celestia kept her voice low as they passed by guards, servants, and other attendants out and about. “I don’t know anymore. I think everyone is in need of a second chance, so I gave her one. She’s too valuable of an asset. I care too much about her. I… I have a hard time believing that this happened under her watch is all. I feel betrayed.”

“Yours is a philosophy of forgiveness. I am not so,” Luna said as they rounded the corner. “I would have dealt with her harshly.”

“I may be a ruler, but I am also a teacher. Punishment can only teach so much. I’m not prepared to lose another pupil without trying to help them see their own weaknesses.” She stopped to think. “What about the human, Jeremiah Walker? Whatever became of him in this whole mess?”

“Now that the report is released, we can serve justice to the ponies that tried to kill him. Though this will do little to send him home. He still wanders Equestria, searching for a way to atone for killing his brother. It is the only way to find passage back to his own home. But for the life of me, I can find no information on how that is done.”

There was a small circular table set in the corner for the two princesses. No other ponies ate at this time, the long feasting tables empty. They sat down as their meals were presented to them, a light dinner for Celestia, and breakfast for Luna. “I can only remember so much from those days,” Celestia said. Before her was a pear and goat cheese salad, with toasted walnuts and vinaigrette. She poked the salad with her fork, trying to get each of the components of the dish into a single bite. “I thought I might try to help you, but I found little about the Wanderers in the archives.”

Luna chuckled as she drizzled syrup onto a stack of pancakes. “I do remember you saying on countless occasions that you were too busy making history to write it down.”

“Yes, when you live as long as we do, everything we say seems to come back and bite us in the flank.”

“Do you remember that one Wanderer, Ishmael? The one that helped defeat Tirek before the Crystal Empire vanished?”

“Hardly. I think he went home after that happened. I remember not how. Do you remember that cat like creature, also a wanderer that helped us save the Breezies?” asked Celestia.

Luna swallowed a mouthful of pancakes. “No.”

“Oh. My apologies. I believe that one happened in your absence. I only heard rumors about that one. I think that all happened in the time you were on the moon.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Celestia had finished her plate, and was now eyeing Luna’s scone. She levitated it to her mouth and took a bite. Luna gave her a flat look. “Did you want to split, Lulu?”

Luna sighed. “No, Tia. I wanted that for myself. Why didn’t you just ask the cook for another?”

“We’ll have to do that next time,” she said with a wink, and she ate the rest in a matter of seconds.

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re back in better spirits.”

“A good meal sets the mind at ease,” Celestia replied. In truth, she did feel better. Spending time with her sister did more for unburdening her troubles than most anything.

“What do ponies call that now?” Luna tapped her chin. “Is it, ‘eating your feelings’?”

“Lulu, I’ve been eating my feelings for a millennium now.”

“That explains the couple pounds of pudge,” Luna said wryly. “And the suspicious lack of foals around the castle.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Speaking of foals, how is your little assistant Loose Leaf doing?”

“Harr harr. He’s doing fine. I would hardly call him a foal, though. I visited Ponyville the other week for the last interview. He’s sent me letters, saying that—”

“—That Ponyville is a little tense?”

“Yes.”

“So what will you have Loose Leaf do? Now that his work is done, and the report complete?”

“I instructed him to stay in Ponyville. Conveniently there was an opening for town clerk.”

Celestia furrowed her brow. “Why keep the colt in Ponyville? I thought you would want him to leave after he kicked the proverbial hornet’s nest.” The two of them got up and walked away from the dining hall as soon as the dishes were cleared.

Luna sighed. “I need somepony in Ponyville to make sure that all the ponies involved are brought to justice in a court of law, and that new laws are made to prevent this from happening.”

“If you were going to bribe a politician, you might have wanted to find somepony a little higher up, and preferably in the legislative branch.”

“Harr, Harr, Celestia. I don’t need to put my hoof on the scale, the evidence is sufficient. I only need someone to make sure that the lily-livered mayor of Ponyville does something for once, and acts on the report. I’m going down to Ponyville as soon as a trial starts. And truth be told, I want Loose Leaf there. I need someone there I can trust.”

“Luna, I didn’t realize you felt so nervous. I can come with you,” Celestia said. She extended a wing, wrapping it around Luna.

“Sister, I’m afraid that this is something that I must do without you. It’s time that I made my authority known, independant of yours. I don’t want to be seen as forever walking in your shadow. I want to know ponies trust and respect me because I’m me, not the sister of Celestia.”

“I see.” Celestia paused. “Did I tell you of Spike’s movement?”

Luna shook her head. “But Loose Leaf has told me much about it. I wonder what will become of it, and if it might play a role in my own plans.”

“Ha, my wayward student in Ponyville, and your young politician in the same area, working on the same civil rights movement.” Celestia looked at her sister, a bemused twinkle in her eye. “Perhaps we should arrange a date.”

Luna rolled her eyes.

3: The Champion of Lost Causes

Loose Leaf’s day began with a newspaper tossed onto his doormat, and a little later, a brick thrown through his bedroom window. The crash might have startled him awake had he not already been in the snooze-button-phase of his morning routine. After making his bed, he fetched a broom and dustpan he now left out for easy access. The brick had a booklet tied to it; as expected, it was his report. Instead of the usual profanities and threats that normally occupied the margins, the commenter had thought his point was better made by pressing a cow pie between the pages. On the back cover was scratched, Next time it won’t be your window.

This statement was truer than the author probably realized. His apartment had increasingly fewer windows to throw bricks through. He deposited the booklet into the dumpster in the adjacent alleyway, and placed his newly acquired brick with the others. There were now four beside his night stand. Loose Leaf didn’t know exactly what compelled him to keep them somedays. Luna had asked him to stay in Ponyville for the time being, so that only meant more for him. He entertained the idea of building a fireplace out of all the bricks thrown through his window. Now wouldn’t that be something? Failing all else, it would be quite the conversation piece. Of course this all relied on him actually having panes of glass to smash through. He would have to go speak his landmare about scheduling some repairs. Part of him wondered if he should forgo his dreams of a fireplace entirely and install iron bars over his windows.

He brewed himself a pot of coffee, and poured it into a tea cup. His friends back in Las Pegasus had found it endlessly amusing that a pony named Loose Leaf would only drink black coffee, and as a birthday present one year, bought him a tea set. He missed them.

After smearing jelly on top of an everything bagel, he retrieved the newspaper from his door mat, and placed it on his table. With a deep breath, he unfolded the pages, skimming through for any mention of the report. Sure enough there was a story in the back section about it, nothing too deep, just a description of a “controversial” report on the Nightmare Night Riots.

That couldn’t be all there was. He searched further into the paper. Just in case the brick didn’t fully convey the town’s opinion of Loose Leaf and his report, the editorial section of the Ponyville Herald was kind enough to spell it out for him.

Yes, there was a disturbance caused by the human on Nightmare Night, and some ponies were injured and even killed. But to call such an event a riot, as both Princess Luna, and her lackey Loose Leaf do, is to misconstrue ponies simply attempting leave a crowded area for their personal safety.

The tall tales of the human’s mistreatment are hyperbole at best, and at the end of a day, a fruitless attempt to shame us for pushing away a human (who shouldn’t have entered Ponyville in the first place.)

Another writer accused Loose Leaf of libel and slander. The supposed targets were the local heroes Twilight Sparkle and Lucky, the latter whom Loose Leaf had unjustly arrested. (Like most ponies, this commenter missed a step in the fact checking; it was Lyra who levied the charge against Lucky, not Loose Leaf. Though he did encourage her to do so, admittedly.)

In yet another column, Lacey Loom, widow of Pokey Pierce, weighed in on her husband’s death. She adamantly refused to believe that Pokey and Lucky were trying to frame the human, and insist the two stallions were there only to save Lyra. To the widow and children, Loose Leaf was telling wretched lies about a dead stallion to further some twisted agenda. As for Lyra, her head took enough knocks for her horn to fall off that night; whatever Lyra remembered, she probably remembered wrong. Her testimony must not be taken at face value. This second article ended with,

If Loose Leaf hates Ponyville so much, I don’t see why he sees the need to live in our humble town. I think he’d be much happier somewhere else, where ponies don’t mind their names being dragged through the mud under the guise of ‘justice’.

He let out a sigh. One should not seek peace of mind by perusing through editorial sections, the earth pony decided.

Still, the newspaper was not all doom and gloom. The editors of the newspaper put an op-ed on the adjacent page, that appeared to actually discuss the ramifications of the report. The human Jeremiah Walker was not as vicious as we believed. Rather, our town was unaccommodating, and dare I write, hostile. This event shines an uncomfortable light on how uncivilized we can behave. It was not Jeremiah Walker that destroyed the town, or killed Pokey Pierce. It was ponies that did all that. He is not the monster, we are.

Loose Leaf sipped his bitter coffee. Well, one hundred twenty pages, and ten months of work. At least one pony seemed to get the message.

He read it again. He thought he would find a voice echoing his own reassuring, affirming even. Instead, the experience was oddly deflating.

He got up to look out his one good window at the streets. Apart from missing bricks from the adjacent building, everything was business as usual in Ponyville. Loose Leaf wasn’t quite sure why he would have expected anything different. He didn’t think that everypony was going to storm town hall, begging mea culpa, begging Mayor Mare for laws and reform. But he didn’t think that they would all be doing nothing, either.

* * *

After a brief stop at the police station to report this morning’s act of vandalism, Loose Leaf entered town hall to begin the day’s work.

Pepper was busy transferring the office mail into everypony’s inbox, but still gave him a friendly nod when he arrived. “Morning Loo,” Pepper said, smiling warmly as he trotted into town hall. True to her name, Pepper Mill had a grey coat and black freckles. True to her name, her cutie mark was a pepper shaker. Loose Leaf found it funny that most civil workers had literal cutie marks. The observation’s wit fell flat when he had pointed it out to his coworkers. Office humor was one of his “needs improvement” skills, it seemed.

“Morning, Pepper.” He dropped his messenger bag by his desk, adjacent to hers. He still was not used to how clean his desk looked. When he was assembling the report for Princess Luna, he was excused from his normal duties in town hall. The days had been hectic, filled with organizing notes and checklists, half on his desk, and half stuffed in his bag. He was always running out of the office for interviews or for seeking out ponies he had to talk to next. For the first time in eight months he could see his desk calendar. He ripped off as many pages, or at least until he ran out of them. With a sigh he made a note in his journal to buy another.

Pepper’s voice cut through his thoughts. “I cannot believe it. I’ve been secretary here for eight years, and in two weeks on the job, you’ve gotten more fan mail than anypony else has gotten in their careers.”

By fan mail, she meant letters about the report on the human, which were vocal about their enmity towards Loose Leaf, and liberal in their use of colorful obscenities. Those that did not threaten violence would often threaten to vote against him, or even impeach him. Both meaningless gestures as he was a low-wage, unelected employee. He could be fired, but not impeached; though he doubted that he would be fired solely on the basis of popularity. Even if his superiors were swayed from their indifference of him by the voice of the masses, they would hesitate to directly defy the princess.

Well, he took job security where he could find it, he supposed. “I’ll look through them,” he said.

Pepper looked at him strangely. “Are you sure? I was going to throw most of this out. It’s only going to ruin your day.”

“I may as well read through them, in the off chance there is anything constructive written. Nothing they say will bother me as much as the fact that nopony is doing anything about it all. At least when ponies hate me, I know that I had some sort of impact.”

“Okay, that’s your prerogative, and I’m not going to stop you, Loo.” She paused. “But I still think you’re being stubborn and masochistic.”

He gave a wry laugh. “I think you may be right.”

“Here’s the interdepartmental mail,” she said, laying down two letters into his inbox. “And here’s from the mail slot.” She dropped a wrapped parcel, and a hoofull of letters.

The parcel was yet another copy of the report, annotated with unsavory hoofwritten comments, and illuminated with crude drawings of phalluses and graphic depictions of the events described. He quickly threw this away.

The first letter was a complaint that his report was biased; he only interviewed ponies that were sympathetic to the human. Where was Fluttershy’s interview? Where was Lacey’s interview? The only pony who dared to directly disagree with you got arrested. What are we supposed to make of that? The second letter was a chain letter from his pegasus auntie in Cloudsdale, some nonsense about how if he didn’t forward this message to at least fifteen ponies, some forgotten empire would be re-enslaved by a mad prince thought long dead. He tossed that one out before he finished reading it. For the life of him, he had no idea why she sent it to his work address instead of his apartment.

“Well, that was fun,” Loose Leaf muttered under his breath. Now it was time for his actual job, which he had no idea how to do.

Luna had told him to make sure that nothing like the Nightmare Night riot ever happened again. Such a vague, unapproachable task. He had no idea what such a law would even look like. There were umpteen little things that led to that bizarre night. What was he to do? Ban ponies from hiring non ponies? Make rioting somehow even more illegal? There were endless crimes committed, from property damage, to harassment to battery, and the evidence to prove it all. Yet no pony save Loose Leaf seemed keen on pressing charges, or even preventing future occurrences. As most ponies were concerned, it was good enough to ban all humans.

He hardly had a year of experience, if that, working in town hall. He had no idea how he, a town clerk would even get a law passed. His special talent was organizing, processing, and collecting information. The corresponding cutie mark on his was a stack of paper —another literal cutie mark, he reflected wryly. He wanted to be an archivist, and working in town office seemed as good a place to start as any. Somehow he found himself out of his comfort zone. He wasn’t a persuaded, or public speaker, or a writer of legislation. If anything, he felt like a fish out of water. Or more appropriately, like an aspiring record-keeper asked to single-hoofedly reform an entire town.

But it was Luna’s wishes he was acting on, and he would find a way to carry them out. Everypony starts out unqualified, his mother had written to him earlier in the year, when he first started the report, filled with doubt and trepidation. Learn by doing. He was proud of his work when it was done, but it had little effect. So, he would just have to make the effect.

The previous conversations he initiated with Mayor Mare ended with her humming and hawwing. Any attempt to approach the subject of the human, and pressing charges against the ponies (let alone actually drafting a law), led to evasion after evasion.

Today, he was changing tactics. Today, he had a meeting with head councilpony Gray Slate.

At precisely a quarter past two, he found himself in the councilpony’s office. It bore simple decorations, a few pictures of his children now grown up, an athlete, a scientist, a nurse. A shelf of books rested atop a large filing cabinet in the corner. The stallion himself was waiting for him behind his cherry-wood desk. Gray Slate’s pictures showed him as having a jet black mane, though now it was streaked with flecks of grey and white, and his eyes had the faintest traces of crow’s feet. He wore a green sweater, with a skinny black tie tucked inside of it. An engraved ideograph of a stone tablet hung from the wall, in the likeness of his cutie mark. Again, a very literal name, Loose Leaf noted.

“Good afternoon, Councilpony,”

“Good afternoon, Loose Leaf.” The councilpony gestured for him to sit down, which Loose Leaf did. “I’ve been told that you’ve had some hooligans damaging your property. I’m sorry to hear that some ponies have been so narrow minded as to express their disagreement through an act of violence. ”

“I actually meant to speak to you about the report. Did you have a chance to read it?”

“I have. It’s quite a sad tale,” Gray Slate said, resting his hoof on a copy.

“Then you must understand the need for taking corrective action,” Loose Leaf said. “For a start, I’ve spoken with Luna. Her and I agree, it’s time that we bring charges up against the ponies who participated in the riot. It’s time that we draft laws that will prevent ponies from descending into chaos.”

“I understand the need to punish those that destroyed property on Nightmare Night,” Gray Slate replied, his words intoned and deliberate. “We can’t let ruffians believe that we’ll abide their misdeeds, lest other ruffians feel emboldened, who might inspire yet more of their ilk, so on and so forth.” He paused to raise an eyebrow at Loose Leaf. “You’ve heard of broken window theory, I take it? However, what you are suggesting is beyond the scope of necessary action. Ponyville faced a threat, and as is often the case, a group of concerned citizens banded together to address said threat. I’m certain you know of the return of Nightmare Moon, just three years prior? If it had not been for a group of ponies, and the Princess of The Sun herself, well, I don’t know what might have happened. I imagine Luna must be quite grateful for the intervention of our citizens.”

Loose Leaf felt himself slouching. He tried to keep his chin up. Now that he thought about it, the town did seem awfully reliant on Twilight Sparkle and others for almost all of their crises. “Those are different situations. When Nightmare Moon was released, ponies weren’t acting out of hate and fear. No pony died when she was dealt with. These weren’t concerned citizens, it was a mob of vigilantes who took it into their hooves to kill the human, without judge or jury.”

“I will admit, the situation was not resolved as cleanly as others. We experienced an unfortunate death, and some took advantage of the situation to cause destruction. That is unfortunate. But to change the laws, or even punish ponies for acting for their community is a fool’s errand. Not only would I lose the support of the ponies I represent, but It would dissuade good samaritans from saving the town if they fear they may be punished. In my sixteen years of service to Ponyville, I’ve lost count of the times I surely thought the town was going to be destroyed. Such is the nature of being so close to the Everfree Forest, but I digress. Each time we were saved by our citizens, or the occasional stranger roaming into town.”

“But…” Loose Leaf wracked his brain. Here he was on the defensive, when he hoped to at the very least, someone who would help refine his ideas. “But when I talk about passing new laws, it’s not about dealing with these sort of crises where the town is destroyed, It’s about preventing them from happening in the first place. If the human wasn’t treated the way he was, this might have never happened at all.”

Gray Slate looked flatly at his subordinate across the desk. “And tell me, in all your youthful wisdom, what would such a law look like?

Loose Leaf shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “That’s what I was hoping to discuss with you. I believed you would know the best way to create such a law.”

“The nature of a crisis is that it is often not seen before it occurs. What may prevent one crisis might not prevent another. The only thing we know for certain is that if we had not allowed this human to live in Ponyville, then that riot would have never happened. If you are suggesting that we pass laws of how to deal with uncivilized creatures entering our humble town, I am inclined to agree with you.”

“Councilpony, I must remind you that I’m acting on behalf on Luna, and she would not be pleased to see you obstructing her wishes.” Loose leaf’s voice was low. He didn’t want to pull the working-for-the-princess card, but here he was. He almost felt guilty about it.

The Council Pony gave a dry laugh. “Is that a threat, coming from someone whose payroll I control?”

“It’s a fact, not a threat.”

The two earth ponies stared each other down until young, foolish Loose Leaf lost his nerve and redirected his gaze. With a sigh, Gray Slate rose from his chair and retrieved a pitcher of sweet tea. He poured two glasses and offered one to Loose Leaf. Loose Leaf shook his head. “I insist. You wouldn’t expect it by my cutie mark or profession, but I do pride myself on my culinary skills. I know sweet tea’s not much, but I find a bit of lemon, pepper and a sprig of mint goes a long way.”
its
Loose Leaf took a sip. He didn’t care for it, he was too focused on rallying his scattered conviction to really focus on the flavor. Finally, he said, “Councilpony, the fact remains that this is the will of Canterlot.”

Gray took a long drink and sat down. He set the glass on his desk and gave Loose Leaf a soft chuckle. “The mayor answers to the princesses. I answer to the good ponies of Ponyville. I’ve been chosen to make decisions and manage this town according to the will of its citizens. And if my constituents were voicing the same concerns, I would duly act upon them. But you’re a one pony parade Loose Leaf! The princess may be cheering you on, but there’s a common sentiment that Princess Luna has meddled enough.”

Loose Leaf raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘meddled enough’?”

“I do not mean to offend. I truly appreciate the vigor that you’ve shown for participation in our town. And I do acknowledge Luna’s concerns, even if I do not agree. However you must understand. Us politicians — be it the humble servants of a town, or the princesses— we rule only with the consent of the people. Going against their wishes, which have been so clearly demonstrated... well, let’s call it politically foolish. I fear that Luna may not fully understand how much she is asking you to defy the will of the ponies. They don’t want to continue to let these dangerous creatures in. They want to be safe, confident in the harmony of Equestria, and all of those who inhabit it. I fear Luna may not get the reception she expects. She has a history of unpopular decisions, if you’ve heard the legends. I’d hate to have that perception of her persist even after her redemption. And I’d hate you Loose Leaf, to take such a risky course of action so early into your career.

“The report was a necessary step in the healing process. So many vagaries in the story that you were able to clarify. It was important to the healing process of the town. We better understand the intricacies. But I fear that how you’ve presented this information is too divisive, as though Ponyville is solely to blame. You would be advised to let the turbulence die down, instead of rocking the boat further. A town clerk is a great position of a pony your age. Your job isn’t to act out Princess Luna’s whims, it's to be a servant to the town. Don’t worry about making laws, or seeking justice. Let the ponies in charge of those areas handle that.”

“I only worry because no has bothered pressing charges for violent criminal acts, because ponies are turning a blind eye to injustice!”

“You’ve done enough, Loose Leaf.” The councilpony’s voice was even and short, though he gripped his glass tighter, and bit his lip. He stiffly reclined, and took another sip of tea. “You do not speak for Ponyville, you deal with certificates and forms and minutes. I would hate to have others feel as though you’re stepping on their hooves. If the princess wishes a course of action to be taken in Ponyville, the town council would be more than pleased to be to invite her to our meetings and listen to what suggestions she has. But I will not be instructed to change laws on the ill-defined premises you are presenting. Now I think a drafted letter is in order to the Canterlot administration. Thank you for raising your concerns. I imagine Pepper will need some help with those change of name forms that have been piling up.”

Loose Leaf nodded his head curtly, and departed back to his desk. He stared a hole into the cardboard sheet that was once his desk calendar. It would have been in his best interest to write yet another letter to Luna about his lack of progress. As soon as he was up for it. He wanted to to think, but all of his plans ultimately relied on ponies actually listening to him and Luna.

* * *

The longest day of the year, the day of the Summer Sun celebration, had already passed, and though the days were long they were dwindling back down. It was the golden hour when he left town hall, weary and confused. A few scenic clouds drifted across the sky, catching the rays. All around him, the vendors in their marketplace were laughing, chattering, packing up their carts to return home. He watched a husband and wife, an earth pony and a pegasus, play with their foal, lifting him up to better see the view from the terraced street.

With a sigh, he took the cobblestone road back to his apartment. Despite his muddled thoughts, he mentally composed the letter he would write to Luna about his fruitless meeting. His train of thought was derailed as he saw his planned pen strokes devolve into a bumbling apology and resignation.

He shook his head to clear his mind, as if he got the angle just right, the nagging doubt might tumble out of his ear. Yet still Gray Slate’s words echoed. The idyllic scenery of the little town reminded him that he was the disruption, a disturber of the peace, a judgemental outsider.

He pushed his door open and slumped into the comfy chair in the living area. He was in a position more than anypony to know what had happened throughout the previous year. Yet the truth seemed like muddied water, like all of his searching just kicked up more silt and now he could see even less than before. He was kicking up mud for mud’s sake, and the townsponies pitied him, almost felt embarrassed for him. Loose Leaf, who was trying to guilt ponies that were recovering from a terrible tragedy. Loose Leaf who didn't know a lost cause when he saw one. Loose Leaf, who wouldn't just let the past be the past.

In the gloom of his apartment, a crumb of glass gleamed from the kitchen floor. He pulled himself off the chair and dutifully fetched the dust pan. In the process of cleaning, he in turn saw a letter resting in his mail slot catcher.

Picking it up, he was half surprised to see the letter was signed, and returned addressed to the Golden Oaks Library on the West side of town.

Loose Leaf,
The Non-Equine Rights Movement seeks to address the ill treatment of non-equines in Equestria. We have long felt that we were not seen the same as ponies, and the events of Nightmare Night proved that. A non-equine was hunted for a crime he did not commit, by a mob that had anything but due process on its mind. A non-equine that was denied the right to work and live in Ponyville, with the constant threat of being exiled and left to die in the everfree forest.

Since that night we have struggled to get the “proper” citizens of Ponyville to acknowledge our concerns, to even raise awareness on the issue. At least until you published your report, Loose Leaf.

In those interviews, so many non-equines saw bits and pieces of their own lives: being denied jobs, having doors slammed in their faces, and being taken advantage of without any legal recourse.

Your interviews have brought to light the misdeeds and prejudice straight from the ponies’ mouths. We are indebted to you. You helped us fully understand the challenges we face as non eqs, and gave the foundation to address our problems.

Our first goal is to make Ponyville the first town in the nation accept all species as equal citizens. We are hosting a forum to generate ideas and determine the movement’s direction. We would be honored if you could attend, this Thursday at eight o’clock, at the Golden Oaks Library. We gladly welcome any insight you can provide.

Regards,
Spike the Dragon.

Loose Leaf assembled his dinner, a couple of leftover carrot dogs. Somepony —well not somepony but someone, a whole bunch of someones— had taken his message to heart. Any excitement Loose Leaf might have felt was curdled by the fact that he didn’t have any solution, in spite of his government position.

He pondered if Spike’s faith wasn’t misplaced. He chewed as he gazed at the cardboard taped over the lack of a window, trying to see through it.

4: The Crossroads

Through might, magic, and opposable thumbs, Trixie and Walker helped the old stallion get his wagon the last three miles towards the Neighvarro trading post. The stallion hobbled along, his hind leg in a makeshift splint of Walker’s own design. As the creaky cart came to a rest outside the general store, the stallion let out a sigh of relief. “I can’t thank you enough Trixie and your….” He circled his hoof at Walker.

“Minotaur,” Trixie offered helpfully, telekinetically wiping the sweat off her brow with her hat. Before she met Walker she would have resolutely refused such a manually intensive task. But Walker, ever eager to help, roped her into such shenanigans often enough that she didn’t think twice of it, save for some muttering under her breath.

“...Your minotaur friend, Caleb. What a helpful bunch. I swear if you two hadn’t come along and heard me hollering up a storm, that might have been the end of old Stock Shelf here.”

Stock Shelf was happy to throw them a few bits and some extra supplies while they took a moment’s pause. In the shade of late afternoon, they caught their breath against the side of the trading post. Panting, Walker unlaced the leather cuff he kept on his left arm, and traced the marking that covered the length of his wrist to elbow.

“Still there, huh?” Trixie asked, not even looking, as she beat the dust out of her cape.

“Yeah,” Walker replied.

“What, did Luna say it would disappear when you are ‘officially redeemed’?”

“Not really, there’s still a lot she’s researching. I mean, she’s the one that gave it to me, but still she doesn’t understand how it gets me back home.”

“So I take it you’re not going to be raptured away anytime soon.”

“No, not soon.”

Trixie let out a soft chuckle. “Good. I’d hate to be left all alone in this dump.”

“I figured if helping ponies with broken-down wagons was my ticket out of here, I would have noticed some change after the fifth one.”

“Ooh, maybe just a couple more fixed water spigots, or finding more lost foals at amusement parks?”

Walker frowned. “Maybe menial repair work isn’t racking up enough good samaritan points.”

Trixie rubbed her chin in parody of deep thought “Have you considered pro-bono legal work?”

They both laughed.
“Well, I feel like I could do some good if we just were in one place for long enough. You know, to actually see what’s going on.”

“And what, fix friendship problems, Twilight style?”

“What? No. I don’t know. It’s just that whatever we’re doing now, it isn’t getting me any closer to home. I know I have to do something to redeem myself but.. after what I did to my brother, to Pokey, all of this isn’t anywhere close. Even if I could get home, I—”

“Y’all want to stick around and crack open some ice-cold sarsaparillas?” Shelf Stock hollered towards them, poking his head around the side of the building.

Walker demurely took off his hat and had that I-don’t-want-to-be-a-burden-so-I-refuse-hospitality kind of look he got, so Trixie chimed in, “Yes, we’d love some. thank you so much.” She was far too dehydrated to deal with his humility.

After days of living off of stream water, soda was sweet ambrosia to her. She quaffed it all in moments, and let out a small belch.

“Thirsty one, aren’t ya?” Shelf Stock quipped.

“Much appreciated, friend,” Walker said.

“Some of the boys are curious about our new mysterious strangers. Well, between you and me, they wanna see this skinny minotaur fella. We’re having ourselves a bit of a cookout in a couple hours at sunset, care to join in, Trixie, Caleb?”

“Well, we should actually be going—” Walker began.

“Whatever happened to sticking around in one place?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Whatever happened to keeping a low profile?” he returned under his breath. Even though he’d long since fell out of the news cycle, the two of them had habitually avoided larger settlements, drifting from crossroad to crossroad. Though he wouldn’t admit it, Trixie suspected he was wary of large crowds of ponies. Given his experience, she didn’t blame him.

“Well, it’d be trying something new, right? Maybe there’s more to redemption than being a stranger of few words who does roadside repairs.”

He faltered with his words for a moment. “Fine, we’ll give it a shot, but we leave at the first sign of trouble.”

Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Deal?”

“Deal.” She turned to Shelf Stock. “Sure, We’ll stick around.”

The creeping thoughts spoiled Trixie’s mirth, much in the way that vinegar curdles milk. She bit her lip, pantomiming the warm smiles and guffaws of all the ponies around the campfire.

Here he was a stranger in a strange land, a fugitive hated, and reviled by scores of ponies, the scourge of Ponyville, a damned murderer. And he delighted all the ponies with a mundane story of how he and his brothers got scared when they found a bear’s paw print camping. There were no heroics, and no prestidigitation to enhance the story. No real danger in the tale. Still, the performance held the ponies rapt.

Her own story was on the tip of her tongue, a far better bear story. How somepony sent an Ursa Minor after her with the express purpose of humiliating her, and how it marred her career, how she ended up here, huddled around Appleloosan hicks behind a general store. Next to the fugitive human who somehow was more loved than she.

She directed herself to be happy for her friend, who finally let his guard down and began talking to ponies. Frankly, she should be happy for herself too, not having to answer every question on his behalf.

But now, given his own voice, his own story, Trixie’s normally commanding presence was diminished to a whisper. Trixie the Great and Powerful was reduced to half-ignored comments and interjections in a group conversation. It was maddening.

You aren’t worthy of their notice, the creeping thoughts told her. You can’t even compete with the infamous human, even though she decided herself she would never think of attention as a competition again. Look at you, a waste of your parent’s time, of everyone’s time whoever you helped you. You had potential, and you squander it, faffing about the backwaters of Equestria, because you humiliated yourself out of a career. Your only friend is the most unwanted, most hated thing in the land, and look at that! Everypony likes him more than you. You—

Trixie excused herself. Nopony seemed to register her withdrawal. A year ago she might have demanded their notice through magicks and theatrics. She almost conjured a cloud of colored smoke right then and there. Trixie restrained herself, seething, wounded.

“You alright miss?” the general store clerk asked as she walked in.

“I need to send a letter. Get Trixie an envelope,” she barked, as though the tone in her voice was answer enough to his question. She tossed two bits onto the counter, part of their earnings from when her and Walker helped repair a bridge a couple towns over.

Leery, the mustachioed clerk fetched her a quill and paper. She drafted her message.

Hi Flannel Fleece,
Hope all is well. Everything is going fantastic here! Going from town to town, always drawing a crowd! Just mastered a new trick where I can make three ponies disappear at once. You wouldn’t believe the ponies I’m meeting either. Looks like all my magic practice paid off in the long run after all! In spite of a certain sister always interrupting, haha.

Don’t know where I’ll be off to next! My manager has a bad habit of booking things moment to moment.

Send my love to mom and dad, and all the others.

I miss you.
Lots of love,
Trixie Lulamoon

On second thought, she buried the last three lines in the broad strokes of a calligraphic signature that took up the last third of the page.

Signed,
The Great and Powerful Trixie

She read it again and felt deflated, suddenly aware of her outburst. Sheepishly she hoofed over the letter, avoiding his gaze.
.
“Miss, is everything alright?”

“Yes… I’m sorry.” With that, she slunk back outside.

She took a deep breath and willed herself back into the present moment. Walker was still telling his story as twilight faded, showing Luna’s speckled skies. The moon was peeking above a distant hill. Glowing fire motes jumped out of the fire and into the clear frontier night. Here she was, surrounded by company, warmth, each pony resting on a barrel or bench behind the one gathering spot in the whole outpost. And it was great to see Walker with the spark of a smile on his lips. It was a sight that was becoming more and more familiar to her, glimpses of a Walker who didn’t always have his guard up, her constant travel companion and friend for the last eight months.

And yet, there it was again, a lingering guilt, a lingering jealousy. She attempted to drive the treacherous caprice out of her mind in a rout, as though it were a beast that could be shooed out of a house. But like a bogart, the more she tried to banish it, the larger it grew.

Why didn’t she tell her sister about Walker and their travels? Why wasn’t she proud of everyone who she and Walker helped? She scolded herself, and then scolded herself for scolding herself.

It seemed that the more Walker came out of his shell, the greater Shelf Stock’s hospitality became. As the moon rose to its zenith, and the ponies shuffled off, Shelf Stock offered them lodging down the dusty trail. He arranged with the owner of the saloon to get two beds fixed up for the weary travelers on his dime. With profuse thanks, Trixie and Walker bid Shelf Stock goodnight and retired to their rooms. Trixie noted that she was never offered lodging unsolicited until she had started tagging along with Walker.

The washroom was little more than a bar of soap, pitcher, water pump and basin. Walker washed up first, then Trixie, both surprised to remember what each other looked like without a layer of dust and grime. Had she really fallen so far from grace?

They climbed into separate beds on either side of the room and Walker blew out the gas lantern on the nightstand, once again leaving Trixie alone with her thoughts. She wrapped the covers around herself and her dour mood half-dissolved amongst the sheer creature comfort of it. It occurred to her that this was the first time they’d slept indoors in at least a month. She glanced over to Walker as his legs dangled over the end of the bedframe, ill-suited for his taller, lanky body. Trixie always found it funny how he’d start the night with feet over the edge of the bed, only for him to give up fifteen minutes in and sleep curled.

“Someone’s popular with the frontier ponies,” Trixie offered cautiously.

If there was bitterness in her voice, Walker did not notice. “That was nice actually. I felt like I could talk to someone for the first time in a while. I mean aside from you obviously. It’s been so long since I just sat down and had a conversation, without trying to tell a lie, or hide something.”

“You still like talking to me though, right?” Trixie asked.

“Without a doubt. Like it or not, you’re my number one confidante.”

“And you would still travel with me, even if you didn’t need me to talk to ponies, right?”

“I think we have too much blackmail material on each other to part ways at this point,” he said with a grin.

Trixie ignored the cheeky remark.

Walker had told her the whole story in bits in pieces, and she told him hers.

She was cursed with potential, her parents nurtured and fed what they saw as a way to restore their family name to former glory: Lulamoon the sorcerers. Their fall from grace and time spent wallowing among common folk would end with this generation, as Bellatrix Lulamoon would achieve greatness, and restore prestige. the attention and training had given her finesses, ability, and an ego that was large and brittle. When she left home, she made little friends and many enemies.

She knew he had slain his own brother, and in some cosmic twist of fate, ended up lost in the Everfree forest that same night, and like her, ended up shunned and rejected by the lot of Ponyville. But where Trixie would have left, Walker’s guilt drove him to stay in a town that loathed him. He suffered abuse after abuse, and deep down, he knew he deserved it. The hysteria culminated in a bloody riot, leaving ponies dead and the town in shambles. It was in the long aftermath of his escape when they found one another and began their travels.

She could not imagine what compelled someone to such levels of self-inflicted suffering. Then, she chuckled. In her adult life, she rarely traveled with anypony for long. It was easy to dismiss all the failed assistants and co-stars as petty and ill-suited for life on the road, ill-suited for the life of a magician. But deep down, she knew she was abrasive.

“Walker, you’re a glutton for punishment, you know that?”

In the darkness, he thought on this for a couple of silent moments. “I do.”

“First off, you put up with my shit.” She left the more unpleasant example unmentioned.

He laughed. “I don’t. believe it or not, I try pretty hard to keep you in check.”

“But that’s what I mean. Every time I find myself slipping back into… well, I guess I’d call her ‘Stage Trixie’, you know, insufferable, vain, needing attention, you’re there to snap me back. As much as I’d hate to admit it, I’m a better pony around you. You keep me helping others, and giving to the world. You keep me humble.”

“And you keep me, well… safe, I guess.”

Trixie pondered this. “Safe from ponies?”

“Yes, well not quite. You help me feel safe. You help me walk around this world without fear. I’m… starting to feel like I can be around ponies again. And when I’m in danger of giving up, you’re always there to throw me a rope. I know I’ve done a lot of wrong, and I know what we’re doing right now isn’t working but with you around, I have the strength to try something new.

Trixie felt the faintest smile growing on her. “You mean that?”

“Of course. I don’t know where I’d be without you guiding the way. ”

“You big sap.”

“Fine, I’ll keep my sincerity to myself.”

This was the end of the conversation as Walker drifted off. However, the words kept on bouncing around Trixie’s head. Two roaming souls, hoping their travels take them back onto the right path, whatever that may be. In all her time, she sought admiration for her skill and finesse. It was a new sensation to be needed.

When morning came, they went to the main area of the lodge to gather their breakfast. Something was wrong. The few scattered patrons kept their eyes locked on Walker, whose good cheer withered under their gaze.

“What are you looking at, slackjaw?” Trixie said, snapping at a stallion by the entrance. seeing a newspaper underneath his hooves, she telekinetically yanked it away and read the headlines. Front and center, a surprisingly accurate woodblock print of Walker was on the front page, showing a sulky, sullen man, furtively glancing over his shoulder. The resemblance was unmistakable by proportion and by face. she read the title with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Ponyville Reports on the Fugitive Human Jeremiah Walker.

She met the stares of everypony in the quiet frontier inn. All stayed in tense stillness. Only the sound of the breeze was audible. Something told Trixie the “skinny minotaur” bit wasn’t going to play anymore.

Author's Note

Live Again (Trixie's Ballad) - Metajoker

(Edited by me, criticize the grammar as appropriate)

5: The Keepers of Lore and Legend

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