Rarity's Colt: Snickers's Harmony Trials

"Once, just over two thousand years ago, after the three tribes united to create Uniformia, the precursor to what was renamed Equestria seven hundred years later and after the land was tamed and other races left because ponies weren’t as weak as they seemed and could defend themselves with magic that no other race had; such as the minotaurs who were- ouch, who pulled my tail? Rainbow Dash, I’m telling a story.

“Ugh, anyway, given the disparity of gender, skewed seven to one for females to males, males were commodity used to show status, wealth, or position between female tribes. It wasn’t uncommon for one stallion to be in a herd with up to twelve mares, however it wasn’t a nice place for a stallion to be.

“It was his task to serve the mares of his herd in every way, from cleaning after them to cooking meals for the top three… as well as having sex with any of the mares when they wanted it. Spells, potions, and even training were used to keep a stallion ready to take care of a mare’s physical needs at a moments notice.

“This led the mares to believe all stallions were akin to pets or servants and had no say in any matters or manners and would often be beaten, abused, starved, or punished by any means that didn’t detract from their perceived use as slaves to the whims of their mares; to the point that…” the fillies noticed the mares looking very uncomfortable suddenly, “after a colt would be added to a herd, if he was deemed a permanent member, and he earned his cutie mark… each mare would brand their own marks onto his legs to signify their ownership of him.

“In the event a mare would leave the herd,” every mare looked sorrowfully at Snickers, “their mark would be removed from the stallion once the next year’s had summer had come. Often by branding an ‘X’ over the mares mark, or by cutting or scratching it away.”

Rarity gulped loudly. “Absolutely, horrendously barbaric times. If I could go back, I’d certainly teach those mares a thing or ten about respect.”

Twilight continued. “It was a brutal time by our standards, but then it was life for ponies. It wasn’t until there was a conference between the three tribes in what is now Mustangia to the north that things changed. Stallions weren’t dumb, by any means, and had created a secret language we now use as a way to speak for the deaf as well as talking when they were allowed to gather with one another.

“These conferences happened every two years, and each year the stallions became more and more irate with their lives. There were eighty stallions brought with one thousand mares from all three tribes, the mares were there to argue over the next two years’ weather, economics, laws, and trade of their stallions’ worth.

“The stallions were broken, sad, and angry with how their lives were being treated and, according to written accounts at the time from mares guarding them all in a meadow, without a word, probably thanks to their sign language, walked to a nearby cliff and began jumping from the ledge one hundred feet below to their deaths… or to the point some of them wished to be dead, I’m sure.

“They fought the mares guarding them and only a nine were spared the fall. The ones that survived the landing, whether from cushioning of others under them or blind luck, didn’t survive from the internal injuries for very long after that.

“By the time word reached the conference the stallion population of Equestria had declined eleven percent in a single hour. The mares, having lost so much wealth and status,” Twilight spat the words and the other mares scowled, “got into fights and arguments about who was at fault, then they started trying to buy the remaining stallions that survived offering to create a giant herd for each stallion.

“It was shortly after that, maybe five hours after the event, that the mares realized the stallion population was now very, dangerously low. There were only sixteen thousand ponies on census at that time, that’s including guessing from outlying ponies or more tribal, feral ponies that were nomadic and would follow- ouch, really Applejack, you too?

“Fine, I’ll stick to the story. Sheesh, a few facts and everypony gets edgy… well, the mares now outnumbered the stallions beyond not only making then a point of simple commodity, it was also realized that it was a matter of survival now.

"In a single day we'd neared the point of ecological extinction. Miscarriages, still births, and death by sickness or predator were commonplace then for foals and their dams, so the risk of our entire species dying out was likely within two generations.

“That was when one thousand mares cried, one thousand mares felt the sorrow and pain they’d caused for the stallions they had and enslaved. That was when they realized they lost the love that bound them to one another and the future. It was the day of one thousand sorrows, and it was only the beginning.”

Scootaloo raised her foreleg at the same time as Silver Spoon and they glared at one another. “Yes, Scootaloo, you had a question?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, in school Miss Cheerilee said when the mares cried it was over, are you saying more happened?” Scootaloo asked.

Silver Spoon’s eyes widened. “That’s what I was gonna ask.”

Sweetie looked between the two disagreeable fillies. “See, little things make a big difference. Maybe you can be friends now?”

Both fillies looked away from one another and scooted apart, unsure of how they were side by side. “As if. I don’t like her and she doesn’t like me.”

Scootaloo nodded at the wall. “Exactly.”

“Anyway, girls, can I get back to my story? Thank you. Now, you might wonder how the pegasi fell, especially since they’re more impact resistant. The stallions had that figured out, too. Sadly, they leapt before an earth pony and unicorn, working together as the three tribes… only the pegasi leapt first and the others right after to land on them.

“It was horrible, and only three pegasi survived the fall and crushing, but died within the day. Now, a lot of the story is written and we have the official documents, but there are some thoughts such as how many mares may have actually cried or if they even did.

"Some things are dramatized over the ages to teach lessons within the stories. Well, what happened between the Day of One Thousand Sorrows and when they got back to their homes, but it was about a month later that the mares began warring within their tribes over the stallions and colts that didn't leave with the conference.

"It led to a civil war that lasted about two years, until the stallions, one day, were just gone.”

“Wait… er, excuse me, Miss Twilight,” Apple Bloom asked then raised her foreleg to the amusement of the mares in the room. Twilight nodded to Apple Bloom to continue. “Well, if the stallions and colts were gone… where’d they go? We’re here now, so they didn’t go far, did they?”

“That’s a wonderful question, Apple Bloom,” Twilight praised the filly, who puffed up with pride beside her friends. “I’ll skip some of the unnecessary parts and tell you about the males at the time. While mostly illiterate, there were many who had learned some basic pictographical and characterized lettering and were able to keep track of their own experiences.

“There had been decades of anger and betrayal by the males that they conveyed when they could meet. It was always nice to be around one another and when they had time, some even fell in love and would try to hide away to hold one another and talk about their personal lives. Sex very rarely occurred between male couples since they had too much as it was and no emotional support.

“It took a couple short weeks of planning and on the second full moon, the stallions pleased their mares until they all fell asleep and with cloth wrapped around their hooves, the stallions sneaked away and to a small community they’d been setting up over years by stallons that would escape their mare herds and enslavement, always ready for the Day of Freedom, something you’ll actually be taught next year in school.

“Typically, it doesn’t get much importance unlike the mare’s version and focus,” Twilight said letting her disappointment show clearly. “The community was hidden in what is now Whitetail Woods, far from any known path and far from civilization. Over the two months the stallions stayed hidden, the mares became desperate to find them. Fall estrus was happening soon and mares were urgently hoping to carry foals to replace that which was lost.

“The stallions eventually sent an envoy to a settlement far enough away to make contact with the mares. It went worse than can be expected and the mares physically fought over the stallions, raping them for their sperm to the point the stallions resolved to leave the mares to their fate, and the entire pony race to extinction in Uniformia.

“Days turned into weeks, months, and finally a year and a half before the stallions sent another envoy to the mares, this time armed with stones, makeshift spears, and clubs. They encountered the same mare township and attacked before they said a word to show their solidarity in the matter of topic.

“A young mare named Bella Donna was chosen to be the intermediary and was allowed to go alone with the stallions back to their home in the Whitetail Woods. To say she was impressed was an understatement. The stallions had created a working town with the settings of democracy and representation in place of the rule of a matriarchy.

“There were hundreds of all three tribes living in monogamous relationships, if they chose to be with another. They’d created farming, harvesting local berries, there was a river that passed nearby they fished at. It was a complete village enhabited by stallions only. Bella Donna was the first mare to step within and she was suddenly terrified when the stallions looked at her.

“By her recorded accounts, she was attacked, beaten, her tail was tied into her mane, then she was leashed to a pole in the center of town for two days without food or water as a way of showing her a tiny fraction of the shame the stallions felt every day of their lives. Colts were told to look at the mares entire body and explained each part and how they pleased the mares.

“Afterward, the colt would take a length of rope stolen by one of the stallions before he ran away and would whip the mare across her thighs and across her--”

“Lady parts!” Applejack added in. “What, Ah’m not comfortable talkin’ about parts like that with fillies.”

“Hey, nopony’s judging you,” Rainbow said tipping Applejack’s hat forward so she’d have to adjust it, “much.”

“Um, girls? Can you keep it down, please? Snickers has had a very long day and is exhausted from it all and needs his sleep. He’s emotionally overloaded, as you know.” Fluttershy said softly and got agreements from the rest of the room as the colt whimpered quietly and twitched his legs against Fluttershy’s barrel.

“Okay… where was I? Oh, yeah. Well, after three days, Bella Donna was fed, watered, and guided out to a point where she’d be able to reach her gathering of mares and fillies without the males help, still in the embarrassing position only now with welts across her entire rear and her… bodily wastes across her legs and hooves as well.

“While Bella Donna was being cared for, a band of stallions charged the camp and slaughtered nearly every mare and filly starting a one sided gender war where the stallions that were most hurt, abused, and punished by their herds, in their eyes, started to attack mares sending the message stallions were more than objects.”

“Miss Twilight?” Scootaloo raised a foreleg.

“Yes, Scootaloo?” Twilight answered.

“That doesn’t make sense to me; if they were slaves and objects to the mares, how does killing teach a lesson? And isn’t that always been a bad thing?” Scootaloo asked.

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know, who understands stallions besides other stallions most of the time? Eh, that kinda sounds gender-ist, doesn’t it? Okay! Ow, you didn’t have to tug my ear, Rarity; I’ll tell the story. I’m almost done, anyway.

“The stallions broke up into packs to go town to town attacking mares in the night, not always killing them, but tying their manes and tails together in braids after muzzling them and then posting them in a public place to be looked at by the other mares. It’s amazing, but not a single mare was used for sexual pleasure through this even.

“Again, a conference was quickly held at a different location by one thousand mares who thought of ways to stop the stallions and try to save our species. That was when it was revealed that several mares had been spared any form of punishment by apologizing for what they’d done and begged forgiveness.

“It turned out that the way to stop the attacks wasn’t through force or threats, but to simply apologize and mean it. The stallions eventually returned to the mares but not as slaves, but as guarded equals. It wasn’t even complained about since the new generation of foals wouldn’t know anything about branding their stallions or using the stallions only for foaling.

“It was actually during this time that mares began mixing tribes and cross-tribe breeding started in ernest. We ponies actually increased physically in size and weight, became smarter, faster, and had a more potent bonding with out own tribes’s abilities. Food was farmed faster, weather wasn’t ferally creating storms that damaged or hurt anypony, and magic like mine became possible.

“So, now do you understand why Snickers is so precious to us and should be taken care of? And why you should be careful when you fight around him?”

“Kinda,” Sweetie said, “but why can’t we fight around him? Isn’t that something colts like to do? I see stallions fight over mares during estrus seasons all the time, even some colts in class do for practice and fun.”

“Actually, Ah’ll take that one, sugarcube,” Apple Bloom cut in. “Colts goin’ on through their lives are really sensitive types, why givin’ some a little present after a long day for them can get ya a mighty warm hug.”

Applejack chuckled. “Close, little sis. Colts only get inta little scraps here’n there like fillies do. It’s a mares job ta make sure ta show colts like Snickers that fightin’ ain’t the way ta solve a problem when they grow up. Why, think about if ya saw stallions fightin’ over a corn cob at the market?”

The fillies giggled. “That’d be pretty funny,” Sweetie supplied. “‘Hey, that’s my ear of corn. Put ‘em up, hyah!’” she said giving a mock punch that the other fillies enjoyed a lot.

“Well, all that being what it is, do you feel you’ve covered enough, Twilight?” Rarity said implying the purple mare should be finished.

“Almost, there’s one last thing to cover, as you know.” Twilight said and Rarity looked away nodding. “The last thing I have to say about the story of One Thousand Sorrows is that even though everything only took two years from the beginning to the resolution of the story, it took eight hundred years for the pony population to not only recover from the effects losing so many stallions and colts affected, but it affected Harmony as we understand it.

“Harmony brings balance between Order and Discord. Without Harmony, the world wouldn’t be able to be tamed by ponies and nature would run wild around us. It’s because of that that we need Harmony in our hearts and Order in our minds; to keep Discord at bay from ruining life as we know it.”

The mares nodded in understanding. Rainbow punched the air several times, boxing an imaginary foe. “That’s why we took down Discord in a single whammy of rainbow lasers, he’s not gonna be messing up the world with Harmony around and through us.”

“Hush, Rainbow,” Fluttershy scolded, “you’re bothering Snickers,” she said and everypony looked at the colt.

“She’s right,” Twilight said and motioned to the door, “we should leave. Fluttershy, would you like to tuck him in, or would you like to hold him until he wakes up?”

Fluttershy looked at Snickers, snuggled against her. Maternal instincts didn’t stand a chance of being overruled by any thoughts and she leaned down to kiss the top of his head. “I’ll stay, Twilight. He should wake up with someone he truly trusts watching over him. Oh,” Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she looked at Rarity, who was clearly hurt, “I didn’t mean he doesn’t trust you, I’m certain he does in some ways that--”

“No, you’re right, darling. I’ve been a poor example of a parent figure… I only hope that with all your help I can begin to focus more on him and less on trying to make my life work.”

Twilight agreed. “Yes, we didn’t know how badly you had it and we’re here for you. Maybe we can prove to Rainbow and Fluttershy that you’re a good enough mother to him to keep him, right, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked into Rarity’s sad eyes, then down to the colt that weakly smiled in his sleep, and her heart melted looking at him. “Yes, for Snickers, I’ll give you a chance,” Fluttershy looked at Rarity, “but I can’t speak for Rainbow Dash. You have to prove you’re worth a chance to her on your own, and this is the last one I can give. Snickers is too precious, more precious than any colt I can think of, that needs a good home and supportive family.”

Rarity opened her mouth to reply, to thank Fluttershy, but closed her mouth and turned, leaving the room in a trot to lead Rainbow downstairs.