The Ballad of Midnight Edge

After recovering their senses, the three stood in awkward silence. Applejack wondered what would be the proper course of action, Midnight Edge was scared, fearing the possible outcomes, and Babs Seed was merely ashamed. Finally Applejack broke the silence.

"What in all of Equestria is going on?W She was angry and concerned, she did not know what to do, and only wanted to inflict pain upon the stallion before her.

"I was... It was not his fault!" Babs Seed responded realizing Midnight Edge was in trouble.

"Hold on sugar cube. He should be worried, not you."

Midnight Edge spoke not in his defense, but to protect the one he loved the most. "It was her idea, but I take responsibility for this. I did nothing to stop her. I allowed this to happen. If anypony deserves punishment, that would be me."

"Oh! I wish it could be so easy. I would buck you in the face like an apple tree. But I think somepony else should handle this."

Applejack decided it was Granny Smith who should decide their fate, she was the head of the family after all, and therefore the highest authority. If there was somepony Midnight Edge should beg for mercy, it was her. Of course Applejack and Big McIntosh had voice on the matter, but it was the old mare who would dictate the fate of the couple.

...

The three ponies were inside the house, speaking as if it was some sort of trial. Applejack explained the situation first, and nopony seemed pleased with it, no matter what version of the events was said, the facts were clear, Midnight Edge had sex with Babs Seed, and she was much younger than him. Big McIntosh was not only angry, but actually enraged, holding back his desire to pummel the green eyed unicorn, Applejack was still shocked, and Granny Smith did not seem pleased, however she did not display any anger, she remained silent, thinking of a way to handle the issue.

"What he did was wrong!" Applejack spoke filled with rage. "We should call the royal guard and let him rot in a dungeon! And you little miss. Your parents will not like this.W

"Eyup!" The big red stallion responded, he was a pony of few words as usual.

"I know what I have done might be held as immoral. leave her out of this. I will carry the burden of our actions. She should not be shamed any further for my mistake."

"Um... Can I say something?" Babs Seed spoke scared, feeling things would end badly for her beloved stallion.

"No sugar cube." Applejack responded placing a hoof on the filly's mouth, then looked at Midnight Edge. "You took advantage of this little filly! Were you thinking there would be no consequences? Were you thinking nopony would find out?"

Midnight Edge looked at Babs Seed, his eyes showing regret, knowing his acts, or rather his lack of action, led to an unfortunate end for their relationship. "What I did... I had no regard for consequences." His mind took a turn in a different direction. In his mind he heard his own voice, Are you giving up now? Is that how it should end? Do you want this? Do you want this for her? He was scolded by his own mind, he could see both devil and angel on his shoulder. The devil rudely insulting him, compelling him to take the filly and run away, planeswalk if necessary, the angel ordering him to protect her, but without giving up on their love, begging him to find a way to emerge victorious and benefit the little filly. Both sides agreed on something, no matter how wrong or immoral their love could be, it was worth fighting for it. "And I knew somepony would find out. But I decided to let her take the lead because I love her. I would have stopped if she asked me to do so, in that moment I willingly followed her command and the passion in my heart."

Applejack was angry, but she could not detect any deception in the words spoken by the stallion. "There is something wrong with you, but I will let Granny Smith decide what to do. I want to leave you in a cell and throw the key away, she knows better than I about the laws and traditions of Equestria."

"Enough!" Babs Seed was angry, she was tired of feeling so powerless, as if she had no saying over her own fate. "I won't let him take blame for that! It was my idea. And for all I know, I knew what I was doing better than him." Midnight Edge blushed in shame as the fact that before that moment his knowledge on sex was merely theoretical and he had the sexual experience of a mango, or even less, hit him in the face. "I might be young, but I am old enough to know about all those things. He didn't take advantage of me, he just did what we both wanted to do."

"Babs, don't say such things. I already said I will take responsibility for my acts. I will not give up on our love, but first I must face the consequences."

"And you will." The Apple family matriarch spoke, she did not seem angry. "Back when I was younger this was common, but not anymore. I hope this is no surprise to you." She looked at Applejack and Big McIntosh. "You will do as the law and tradition say. Do you understand colt?"

"Yes ma'am. – Midnight Edge spoke, expecting a severe punishment, maybe not a horrible one, but still a form of penitence." I shall atone for my mistakes. All I hope is for the love Babs Seed and I share to be preserved.

"Enough of that nonsense." The old mare spoke in a not so solemn tone. "You will follow our tradition and marry my granddaughter."

"What?" Everypony in that room replied in surprise.

"But she is too young. She can't get married!" Applejack opposed the idea, wondering if her grandmother had grown senile.

"Eyup." The red stallion responded in shock.

"Of course they won't marry now." The old mare smiled, she would have laughed if the situation was not so serious. "But when she gets older, they must marry. And look at me young stallion. If you try to run away or abandon her, you will have all the apple family after your hide." She spoke hoping her warning would never come true.

"I understand. But what about the law? And what about her parents?"

"I'll handle that. I don't know how they would take it if it comes from somepony else." The head of the family knew it would not be easy to handle, and probably she would be vague when delivering the news.

"I think my sister shouldn't find out for now." Babs Seed hoped to keep such information away from her extremely protective sister.

It was settled. Midnight Edge was meant to marry Babs Seed once she reached adulthood, and until then if the relationship ended he would be the one in trouble. There was also the legal part. As far as he knew the law was in his favor, but that could change, and he was at disadvantage. The next day he would have an audience with Princess Twilight Sparkle to settle the dispute, that was Applejack's plan. As he wrote in his journal the final words for that day were a bittersweet reminder of the affair. A shotgun wedding doesn't seem that bad.

...

Twilight Sparkle was requested to handle the matter. When Applejack informed her of the situation she wrote a letter to Princess Celestia, this time it was her, and not spike, who wrote the letter, she could not allow such information to spread further. Celestia's reply was not what she expected. To Celestia age was less relevant than to everypony else, and her reply made it clear, there were no laws for, or against it, and so Celestia commanded Twilight Sparkle to handle it herself. It would be the first legal case she would handle. And so she was stuck in a meeting with two of her friends, and a filly, as the involved parties.

"Your case is quite unusual indeed." Twilight Sparkle kept the regal manner of a judge. "I had to read several legal cases to find a precedent and make a decision. But I found one."

"Can we cut the charade?" Midnight Edge seemed cocky and angry now, he wanted to get over with the situation before it escalated even further. "We should go to the part where both of you admit you hate me and want me dead so you found a precedent to justify my execution or something and now I must run away against the best of my interests and the promise I made to Granny Smith."

"Except we won't." Twilight Sparkle responded. "It is true that I feel upset about what you did, and so does Applejack, but we don't hate you. And the precedent is actually in your favor."

"It is?" Applejack responded, still upset about the events of the last night. "I don't hate him, but I really think he should be in jail or something."

"I would rather make sure it was in favor of Babs rather than myself." Midnight Edge changed his tone, expressing regret for his previous statement.

"It is in favor of both. And actually it has to do with the Apples. The record says Applejack's grand uncle had an affair with a filly who had obtained her cutie mark just weeks before they made it public. While the law no longer allows foals to get married, at the time it did, and they got married. The law was changed years later, but only the part about marriage." Twilight Sparkle had mixed feelings about the case, but it was clear there was no crime in this case.

"Wait! You mean he did nothing wrong!" Applejack was surprised.

"Not yet. But it's just as Granny Smith says. Midnight Edge has an obligation by law to marry Babs Seed once she reaches adulthood. If he refuses, or otherwise the relationship ends before, or after she reaches adulthood, he will face a jail sentence of fifty years." Due to her knowledge of the law Twilight Sparkle did not hold Midnight Edge's behavior in such a negative light as Applejack, and she was trying to convince her friend of listening to her grandmother's judgment and calm down.

"Fifty years in jail or staying in a long term relationship with the first individual I ever felt love in such a way for life... Sounds pretty great to me. There is only one logical choice of course, but it is a great choice. It's like being told I must chose between drinking hemlock extract or a milkshake."

"Not so fast. I don't think you should go away with just a slap on the hoof." Applejack was no longer that angry, but she was wary about him. She knew if he got away with it that night at the barn would not be the only night he would do that with her cousin

"And he won't. Babs... Could you leave for a minute. I will talk to you later, in private." Twilight Sparkle knew the law better than anypony else and would make sure everypony would uphold the law, it was her duty as an authority figure, but the next part was something Babs Seed should not know.

"Ugh. Fine." Babs Seed pecked Midnight Edge on the cheek and left the room.

"You know there will be consequences if we find out you took advantage of that filly, don't you?" Twilight Sparkle sounded more serious. "I believe in your words when you say you love her, but the law states that any sign of abuse means you will be charged as a criminal."

Midnight Edge sighed, knowing this was far from over, but also aware of the fact that his actions were not against the law. "I expected so. But I feel no concern about that. In fact I am glad it came to this." The two mares looked at him with surprise on their faces as he continued. "We were getting tired of hiding our relationship, and Babs was getting impatient, we even tried to slip it in front of everypony, to spread the rumor in order to make it public. In fact some ponies were aware of it, but did not seem to care."

"I know." Twilight Sparkle let out a sigh as she continued. "Babs Seed made some questions about it in the past, and I knew you spent a lot of time together back in the Crystal Empire, Babs also made some unusual questions about love to Cadence, and Thorax acted strangely when you were around. I imagined it could be because of something like this."

"Go easy on her." Midnight Edge made an unexpected request. "I know you will interrogate Babs to make sure I did nothing that could harm her. I don't know whether you will assume I am guilty or not, and I don't know what will be your predisposition about it. But I want you to go easy on her. If I did something wrong it was all my fault, don't make her feel bad about it."

There was silence in the room. Applejack and Twilight Sparkle did not expect him to act like that. Normally when ponies got in trouble, specially on trial, they would try to cover themselves and seek an easy way out. Midnight Edge was more concerned about Babs Seed instead, and seemed willing to accept the consequence of his acts. He also seemed earnest, which was made apparent because he was not precisely a good liar whenever he lied to those he liked. With his foes he was an expert in deception and manipulation, but with his friends any lie was made evident quite fast. His friends were not aware of such weakness, but that was only because he preferred to not even bother with lies, and so he did this time. He was telling the truth, he cared deeply about Babs Seed and loved her more than anything in the world. It was impossible for him to cause any harm to her or take advantage of her, at least intentionally.

After the pause, Midnight Edge continued. "I should leave now. I assume there are things you two should talk in private, and then you might want to have a talk with Babs... A date in the bowling alley was not a good idea after all. If you need me, I will be in my tower." Midnight Edge left the castle still uneasy but with hope in his heart. I tried my best. Now I let the dice roll and pray for a twenty. The words were on his mind.

"Should we let him go just like that?" Applejack was not pleased, she was no longer as angry as the night before, but still wanted to see the case go to an end before the stallion walked away.

"He won't run away Applejack."

"How do you know?"

"Because he would have done so already if he wanted to." Twilight Sparkle was right, ever since he was caught, Midnight Edge had many chances to planeswalk away and not face the consequences of his acts, and he considered doing so, but Babs Seed meant so much to him he could not leave her behind, and he did not feel like running away with her.

...