Wild woke up the next day with the knowledge that he had not completed what he set out to do. That he had failed. That a mere letter frustrated him more than a fight for survival. He had given up when he just needed to push through. What was a letter in comparison to what he had gone through? It was nothing, that was the answer, and yet, and yet...

Wild got up and went through his morning routine. He did not want to write the letter. The process of proper letter writing was exhausting, more involved than he had anticipated, with rules that were there for the sake of making letters more difficult to write, no doubt. When he used internet - and wasn’t that a lifetime ago? - he never had to bother with it. But then he had been a kid, and he had never needed to write any sort of formal letter. There was a half-memory of writing a letter for his English class, but that was so long ago he barely remembered anything aside from the fact that it took place once.

Even beating everyone he sparred with during the Martial Arts Club training didn’t bring him much reprieve from the need to think about his future and to act on it. The letter continued to sit in the back of his mind, taunting him, laughing at him, reminding him that mere words on a piece of paper stopped him from doing what he needed to do.

When he was eating breakfast, he was joined by Artful, which helped him take his mind off the letter.

“Hey,” Artful greeted him, “So, um... there’s a, uh, club, I guess, where we talk politics and all, and, you know, changelings come up now, and there’s the petition to not make all that dumb stuff into law that would make their lives hell and all... would you mind attending? You’d just need to be present on this side of the argument, sign the petition, and... well, I won’t push you, but it’d be nice if you spoke up and said why you’re on our side.”

Wild nodded slowly but gestured that he was unlikely to speak. Even as he thought about it, there was a sort of pull that didn’t allow him to even entertain the possibility, making him step back. Standing in front of a crowd, however small, and being required to speak gave him anxiety as a child, and he did not long to repeat the experience. If he were to speak, he would only speak to a few people, no more than perhaps two or three at a time. Preferably, he would only ever speak to one person at a time. He started with Luna, did it again with Precision, and perhaps he could, in time, expand it. He was only grateful that Precision had not yet mentioned the fact that he could speak to anyone else, and he hoped it would stay that way until he was ready... whenever that would be.

“That’s fine,” Artful told him, “Anyway, we’ll be in room fifteen on the second floor at eleven thirty. That works for you?”

Wild nodded once again - he had no plans aside from the letter, which he did not want to tackle until later in the day or, better yet, tomorrow, when he had a day entirely to himself. In truth, he did not want to dedicate an entire day to this either, but did he really have a choice?

For the next few minutes, Wild and Artful ate in a relatively comfortable silence. Wild was glad that Artful didn’t attempt to make small talk with him - Wild had no idea how to make small talk. It was meaningless, after all. He would rather talk about things that truly mattered at least a little bit. The weather, the general ‘how do you do’ and such... he never cared to discuss any of that, especially since asking about the weather or how he was did not, in fact, provide an invitation for any actual discussion.

“Wild?” he heard from behind him and turned around. A young unicorn was standing there, a letter in their grasp, “There’s a letter for you.”

Puzzled, Wild nodded and took the letter. It was sealed, the seal itself a stamp he didn’t recognize, so he wondered who sent him a letter. He opened it and found out it was from Doctor Fay, which was part surprising and part expected, although the topic of the letter was not something he anticipated.

Dear Wild,

It has come to my attention that you have not been given proper basic education yet. It is understandable, considering that you had to learn the language first, but from what I understand, your level of language comprehension is now enough in order to receive the said basic education.

Your primary caretaker, Luna, is currently unable to provide you with it, so she entrusted me with it. If you would rather hear it from her, feel free to stop reading the letter now and send your response telling me of your decision. Otherwise, please continue.

Wild, in truth, trusted Luna far more than he trusted Doctor Fay. He had, metaphorically and in reality, showed his soul to Luna, and he thought it meant something, had to mean something, and... if there was anyone Wild could trust with any sort of education, or anything for that matter, it was Luna and, so far, Luna alone.

However, it was Doctor Fay who trained Luna in psychology and psychiatry. Doctor Fay had more experience too, as mind-boggling as it sounded considering just how much older Luna was. So, perhaps, he could extend his trust to her. She had already earned some of it, at least, by not pushing him anywhere and telling him the answers to the questions he had, as well as by alleviating some of his fears.

He continued reading the letter.

Everyone at the Royal Orphanage is taught to speak, write, and read if able, as well as apply basic mathematics to everyday life. This much is enough to seek further education or for basic employment opportunities. However, there are other areas of life that young ponies need help with. Personal finance is one such thing, and the other is how to manage relationships with different people in healthy ways, be it familial, friendships, romantic or sexual relationships.

He gulped, feeling his heartbeat increase after reading the last part. He did not want-

But he needed it. Had he not had difficulties with relationships? He had no friends. He didn’t even remember if he ever loved anyone. And... in truth, he did want to touch and be touched. He would not give his dead tormentors the satisfaction of having a grip on his life after all this time.

If his hands were real, they would tremble slightly, but he continued reading even as he caught Artful looking at him with worry in the corner of his eye.

Sexual education is extremely important as it gives you help in understanding yourself, recognizing various situations of sexual nature and how to deal with them, and how to safely experience sex if this is what you want.

A monthly lecture is coming up, which I would recommend you attend. If you are uncomfortable with it, there is the book titled ‘Sexual Education Basics’ available in the library.

Wild was not ready for listening to lectures, so he would certainly pick a book instead. His relationships, whatever they were, would be kept private.

A week from the lecture, you will have two options: either we will have a talk and I will question you about what you learned or I will give you a questionnaire if you are uncomfortable with discussing the matter in person. The questions that will be asked will depend on your orientation, so you may not need to answer all of them.

Wild was relieved that he would not have to talk about women as they have never interested him. Of course, as any curious teenager, he had learned more than he probably bargained for, but he did not care to learn anything more. He knew that unprotected sex led to pregnancies, and since he would never have sex with a woman, he didn’t need to worry about it. He remembered he had once looked up what pregnancy was and, in truth, he was rather grossed out. Women went through that willingly? Perhaps he was lacking perspective as someone who did not like women, but he simply couldn’t see why so many would want to line up to become pregnant. Thankfully, it would never be an issue for him, which was a positive side to being gay.

No matter what your identity is, it will not be invalidated or disrespected. Whomever you like or do not like is not for anyone to judge, and whatever you decide to do or not to do with others is no one’s business as long as everything is done consensually.

Consent... he had been robbed of it once. He did not intend for it to happen ever again. He was stronger now. He would not let himself be defiled again. No one would ever get the satisfaction of subduing him.

There was more to the letter, which he skimmed over before putting it back in the envelope and then wrapping the string the envelope was attached to around his neck. He definitely needed to get something with pockets if he planned to carry more with him.

“Everything alright?” Artful asked him. Wild just shrugged, and he was glad no more questions came his way. Artful was surprisingly thoughtful like this, but perhaps it wasn’t surprising now that Wild knew he was friends with a changeling.

Wild wondered whether the princesses were even aware that they had a changeling in the Royal Orphanage - he had certainly never seen them before, likely because the changeling was disguised as a pony every time Wild saw them. He only got a name to go on - Jade - and he didn’t even know if they used the same name as a pony. Considering that he was attacked by a changeling back on the day of the Invasion, he didn’t believe anyone noticed anything off, and the princesses likely didn’t know.

Did he need to tell them? Would it be best to expose the changeling, whatever the consequences? He cast his mind back to the previous day and... no, he could not do it. The changeling, he remembered, was afraid of him. They did not try to attack him either, and he expected they would if they wanted to avenge their princess or to strike back against ponies for thwarting the invasion. Considering everything, they would have had the time to strike against him or anyone else yet they didn’t. Artful was friends with them as well, and he had a suspicion that this friendship was older than the amount of days since the Invasion.

With all the talk of branding changelings, Wild would commit a great crime by exposing the changeling before the very idea of branding was off the table, dead and buried. Not a second before would Wild entertain exposing the changeling who, as far as he knew, had never hurt anyone.

Despite his thought process, he couldn’t help but realize that he was not as safe as he thought. Or, perhaps, not as knowledgeable about his situation as he thought. In truth, it wasn’t any different than not knowing if the person sitting opposite him on the bus was a serial killer, yet the illusion of relative safety continued to crumble further and further.

Wild... did not know how to restore it.

***

It did not take long for Wild to find the room for the politics club slightly before the meeting time. Artful was there to greet him.

“Hey, glad to see you came,” he said, “Almost everyone is here already. Would you like to sit with me?”

Wild nodded - it was good to be near a familiar face. In the room itself, there was a number of various sitting places arranged in a semi-circle in front of a small stage, behind which was a blackboard. A few podiums were stored in the corner - perhaps for debates? Wild, frankly speaking, did not know anything at all about politics. Of course, he knew the Pledge of Allegiance, which he always thought was stupid as well as part of what he now deemed as brainwashing, and he also knew who the president was, or at least had been at the time of his death - Donald Trump. Some more names were somewhere in his memories, but he didn’t care to dig them up, certainly not when he was no longer in the US and would not be impacted by what happened on Earth ever again. What mattered to him was the fact that politicians never did anything for him aside from Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, although he didn’t know whether they could be counted as politicians. Of course, they were involved in politics, but he had never thought of politicians as people who involved themselves in something like running an orphanage. He couldn’t imagine Luna wearing a suit and delivering some boring speech that promised nothing in too many words just like he couldn’t imagine Donald Trump caring about someone like him. Wild was very glad that he would not get to ever actually meet the man considering what he knew about him.

In the end, Wild needed to learn more about politics, which was partially the reason why he came to the club in the first place. Most importantly, he had to make sure no one would ever be legally obligated to get branded.

It wasn’t long before everyone was there and it was time to begin.

“Good day, everyone,” a pony began after stepping onto the stage, “For those who don’t know, my name is Clever Word, and I am the head of the Politics Club. There are a bit more of us here today than usual, so I will cut straight to the chase - the topic of today is, as it was recently titled, the Changeling Question.”

Wild wasn’t sure why, but the title of it made him uncomfortable.

“Over the last few weeks, two sides have been formed: those who wish to welcome changelings to Equestria, and those who wish them to be gone. Our club has compiled points from both sides, and it is time we have a debate. Let’s go over the debate rules right now.”

First and foremost, each side would elect a speaker, which would then be sat against the opposite speaker. They would go in turns, a minute each to state a point, then eight minutes to discuss it, four per speaker. The speakers may not be interrupted during their turn, and those on the sidelines could not participate in the debate unless the speaker chose to consult with them for the maximum time of two minutes per point. After the debate was concluded, the audience would vote for whatever side they found most convincing.

Wild did not know whether the rules made sense, and he was fairly certain most debates never happened in a way this organized. However, he would be there only to listen and not participate in any talks, considering that he could not talk, and neither would he wish to have so many people pay attention to him at once.

Soon enough, the club was separated into two groups, as well as the audience who would not participate. With voices at half-volume, the groups discussed between themselves how to proceed, and Wild saw Artful adding his own suggestions here and there. In time, the groups were ready, their speakers elected, neither of which was familiar to Wild.

“Alright, the speakers have been chosen - Melon from the pro-changeling side, Yellow Feather from the anti-changeling side. Melon, you may start first.”

Melon was an earth pony of black mane and green fur with no talent mark, and Wild thought the name was apt despite the fact that they didn’t have any watermelon stripes. Yellow Feather was a pegasus of, predictably, yellow fur and two-tone orange-and-brown mane and no talent mark either.

“I believe changelings should have the same rights that us ponies have, as well as protections from discrimination,” Melon said, “Many of them have lived peacefully for many years in Equestria, forced to present themselves as ponies to avoid loneliness, inability to find a job, being unwelcome in educational establishments, and so on. Many of them felt like they could do nothing else but to turn to Queen Chrysalis if they wanted to be themselves freely, believing that only having power over others would help that. We must show them that they are welcome and would be accepted for who they are.”

Melon indicated that he was done speaking.

“You speak of noble ideals, but it is true that changelings have proven to be dangerous first,” Yellow Feather said, “It was their choice to attack us first, and no law of ours would have excluded them from participating in our society without deceit.”

Many points were talked over, rehashed, and talked again, neither side willing to lose ground, and frustration rose. The changelings were dangerous - yet they were not any more dangerous than a pony. The changelings could impersonate anyone - ponies could also impersonate others, although with more difficulty, and none of it mattered because impersonation was already illegal regardless of method. The changelings thrived in social situations, and it was unfair to exclude them from them because of who they were - yet the changelings couldn’t be trusted because they would inevitably turn on ponies.

“Even if something is to be done about changelings impersonating people, do you really support branding them?” Melon demanded.

“No, of course I don’t, that’s cruel!” Yellow Feather agreed, “But they can’t run unchecked!”

It went for some time with no resolution. Frankly speaking, Wild was leaning towards the pro-changeling stance since their position made more sense - everything bad that changelings could do was already illegal. However, Wild didn’t understand much about legal protections - since changelings weren’t barred from schools and colleges and having jobs and so on, could they not just partake in it already? They definitely did not need to be forbidden from taking jobs, and Wild found Yellow Feather’s insistence that the changelings were inherently untrustworthy suspicious and distasteful.

Naturally, Wild voted for the pro-changeling stance - the opposition was simply ridiculous in too many places.

Wild didn’t know whether he would return to the club - it seemed like it would involve constant arguing over the same points over and over again, which was not something he could spend time on even if he wanted to. However, he still signed the petition the pro-changeling side presented, urging Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to take action and protect the changelings. His signature was his name as well as stripes of color representing his colors, and, lastly, the black circle that was his talent mark. Truthfully, he was a bit thankful for how simple it was - he couldn’t imagine having to use something more complex in his signature, especially since it was already more than he was used to.

When Wild finally exited the club, he didn’t feel like he accomplished much outside of listening to arguments. Perhaps writing his letter would be a more pleasant thing to do after all. At least it didn’t involve any sort of loud noises outside of what he produced on his own.

Author's Note

Wild, unfortunately, doesn't know much about protections that minorities need in order for discrimination to be fought. Wild is just too ignorant about politics and laws, and he has much to learn about it all.