Trixie didn’t struggle when the guards placed a horn ring on her, or when they put shackles around her hooves and began escorting her to an armored chariot with a steel box behind it.
She did, however, hurdle closer to the guards when she realized her escapades had drawn attention. Plenty of townponies had seen the brawl in the sky between Rainbow and Lightning, and Roseluck had seen the pair exit Carousel Boutique. This meant what could only be described as a mob without torches and pitchforks had surrounded the building by the time Trixie had been escorted out.
Needless to say, seeing their former captor hadn’t done anything to improve their mood. Several ponies began trying to push past the guards, despite all of them and Chief Book ‘Em attempting to calm them.
The cries ended when Rarity stepped forward. “Stop this at once! You aren’t barbarians! Trixie has been arrested and will face her punishment in due time.”
“But she banished Twilight!”
“She tried to kill her!”
Several other voices were raised in agreement.
“So, you’re doing this for Twilight?”
There were several cries of agreement.
“Okay then. Is that really what you think Twilight would want? If you can honestly picture Twilight asking you to do this, then go ahead.”
There was a silence. Then, the entire crowd dismissed themselves, some muttering about the situation being handled.
Trixie stood stiff another few moments before taking a deep breath, relieved. She turned to thank Rarity, but she was already trotting off, away from her. The blue Unicorn didn’t get much of a chance to think about this before the guards began leading her again. She didn’t put up a fight.
Rainbow Dash watched Applejack and Sweetie Belle being loaded onto an ambulance as another doctor bandaged her up. Luckily her injuries weren’t serious enough for a trip to the emergency room.
When Rarity reached her, she spoke. “That was… well, I wasn’t expecting you to be in such a hurry to stand up for Trixie.”
Rarity was silent for a moment. “…I wasn’t. I don’t know if I’ll ever be.” She sighed. “But what I said was true. Twilight wouldn’t want Trixie to get beaten by that mob.” She looked at the ambulance speeding off. She’d be following them if the guards hadn’t asked her to stay and answer some questions.
“…I wish she was here too,” Rainbow Dash said. “She’d never have let Trixie surprise her like that.”
“Are you sure?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “What?”
“Are you sure? Twilight is clever, but not even she can be alert all the time. What if those three had just jumped her when she came home?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Uh… well, wasn’t she worried about Trixie? I…” she sighed. “I don’t know. All I know is we never got beat up this bad when she was around. Even those dragons went down without sending one of us to the hospital.”
“Well… I’m wondering if Twilight would have done any better against that Earth Pony. There was just… something about him. It wasn’t normal.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “I totally get what you’re saying. I guess…”
“Rainbow Dash!”
Both ponies jumped. They hadn’t noticed Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. The Pegasus portion of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was talking in a kind of scared excitement. “We heard what happened Trixie was here and you guys stopped her and it was cool and… and…”
Scootaloo stopped and wilted when she saw Rainbow Dash was looking at her angrily.
“Uh…”
“You went in the Everfree Forest!”
Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom tensed up in fright.
“Honestly, the one place I told you not to go. Really? Do you think you’re being brave or something? Because going and looking for trouble isn’t brave, it’s just...” Rainbow Dash trailed off. "Stupid" was the word she had been thinking of, but she didn't want to call her that.
The two shrunk down.
“Scoots… go home. Now. You better be in your room when I get home, because you’re already in enough trouble.”
“But…”
“I don’t have time to discuss it now. Go home and wait.”
Scootaloo timidly backed away before turning and running. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and immediately began analyzing is she handled that well enough.
Rarity spoke to the remaining filly. “Now, Apple Bloom, I’m afraid your sister got banged up a bit and had to be taken to the hospital. We were given instructions to take you there, but we were to remind you that you are in just as much trouble. Do you understand?”
Apple Bloom gulped and nodded. Tonight was not going to be fun.
When the group arrived at the hospital, they were greeted to quite the cathartic site of Dr. Malpractice following a supervisor into a side room to get chewed out. It seemed that, once word got out that Sweetie had been brought there days before, everypony wondered how anypony could have missed so much dark magic. Later the Chief of Medicine would inform Rarity that he was being sent back to medical school for some extended reeducation.
Most ponies went in to visit Applejack. Rarity intended to do so as well, but she had another, more important stop first.
She opened the door to her sister's room to find her crying. She had bags under her bloodshot eyes, which were sticking up from the covers she had wrapped herself in.
"Sweetie?" She trotted over to the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"…It hurts," she said. "But… not really. It's… I don’t know…”
Rarity stroked her sister’s mane. “Shh, shh, there there… it’s over.”
“I hope they lock Trixie up forever,” Sweetie said with tears in her eyes, burying her face in her sister’s chest.
Rarity bit her lip. She was debating how to respond when Sweetie spoke again. “What’s going to happen to her?”
Rarity sighed. “Well, I don’t know for sure, but Trixie did a lot of the things she did because of the Amulet. Celestia will probably pardon her for a lot of it…”
“What? But… what she did to me… she put a spell on me…”
“Sweetie, yes, I understand how you feel, but...”
“Why would they just let her get away with everything?”
Rarity waited a bit to make sure her sister wouldn’t interrupt her before going on. “Sweetie… I’m not going to act like I’m ready to forgive Trixie, not yet. I think it’s important we do so eventually. She wasn’t herself…”
“She brainwashed me…”
“So did Twilight once, and you still love her. You and your friends brainwashed Miss Cheerilee and Big Macintosh, and they still love you.”
“Yeah, but… they’re friends, and Trixie…”
“Is a pony who made some bad decisions,” Rarity answered. “She turned herself over willingly and is getting help.”
“…I don’t know if I can…”
“I know, I know, it will be hard. It can be hard to forgive somepony who hurt you, but we need to try.”
Sweetie just cried some more. Rarity held her for a good five minutes.
“You shouldn’t have gone into Everfree,” Rarity said.
“I… I know. Am I grounded?”
Rarity smiled. “I think this whole mess is punishment enough,” she said. “Besides, you’re going to be in bed for at least a week recovering, according to the doctor.”
“...Doctor Malpractice, or a real doctor?”
“A real doctor, don’t worry.”
Rainbow Dash paced her living room. She needed to do this now. Scootaloo was upstairs, miserable, and it would be cruel to keep her in suspense about her punishment.
Still, Rainbow Dash needed to make sure she was ready. This was it, the defining moment, the one she had known was coming since she decided to take Scootaloo under her wing. The first time she was actually going to have to punish her.
Rainbow Dash had asked her friends for advice a week after she had gained custody, but they weren’t much help. Spike was so well behaved Twilight had no advice, and she couldn’t take Applejack’s advice and try corporal punishment, not with what she had already been through.
Taking a deep breath, she moved herself upstairs, but felt herself lose her nerve almost immediately. Had she already messed it up by callously sending her home earlier? Maybe she should have let her visit Sweetie in the hospital…
She steeled herself again, moving up the stairs. Before she knew it she was in front of the door to Scootaloo’s room. Not delaying any longer, she opened up.
Scootaloo lifted her head off the bed. She had been crying, at least when she had first arrived home. She looked up at Rainbow Dash, guilt still in her eyes.
The elder Pegasus steeled herself. She needed to be firm here. “The Everfree Forest. Really, Scoots? The one place in town that you’re told is dangerous, and you just go there?”
Scootaloo said nothing, so she went on.
“I did not go through all that trouble to get you just so you could wind up timberwolf food. Honestly, why did you even consider disobeying me?”
“…Well, we were just going to visit Zecora, but we thought… it would be…” Scootaloo couldn’t finish.
“I think what you mean is, you weren’t thinking at all. What you did was stupid, dangerous, it… I don’t even know how it got in your mind! I already fought off somepony to get you, I don’t want to add a few wild creatures to the mix.”
“I know.” Scootaloo’s voice was a bit more steady. “We already agreed it was a mistake… we’ve been wanting to talk to Sweetie about it.”
“Well, you’ll get your chance tomorrow when I take you to visit her and Applejack in the hospital, right before I drop you off at Sweet Apple Acres.”
Scootaloo nodded as if expecting this. “My punishment?”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Applejack wasn’t hurt too bad, just three days of bed rest, then she’ll be sore for a week. In that time, you’ll be doing all her chores, and then some. In fact, you better be clearing your schedule.”
Scootaloo gulped. “You mean I’ll be working there all summer?”
“Yes… but not as hard as you will be next week. Just a couple of days a week while Applejack does some work for the princesses. You and Apple Bloom can pick up her slack. Maybe Sweetie will help you, if she’s feeling nice.”
Now Scootaloo looked angry. “You mean Sweetie’s not getting in trouble? Why?”
Rainbow Dash glared at her charge… but only for a split second before realizing Scootaloo hadn’t been told the full story. So she told her the full story.
“…I guess that makes sense.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Besides, from what Rarity told me, Sweetie had symptoms worse than the flu. Now then, there’s another part of your punishment.”
Scootaloo was angry once more. “What? But aren’t I getting… ahh!”
The foal shrieked as Rainbow Dash pounced on her, sending her on her back. Instantly her wings were at her sides, the feathers dancing on her ribs.
“Hahahahaha! No! R-Rainbow D-Dash, please! Please! …Hehahahaha!” Scootaloo kicked and squirmed, but her caretaker was too big for her to even hope escaping.
“You’ve got to take it like a champ, kid!” Rainbow Dash said before bringing her face down and blowing on her stomach. Every raspberry caused the young foal to shriek.
Finally she relented and released her. Scootaloo breathed heavily, trying to get air back in her diaphragm. Rainbow Dash lay next to her, wrapping her forelegs around her charge and pulling her close. She gave her a kiss on the forehead.
“I love you, Scootaloo.”
“I love you too. I’m sorry I went into Everfree.”
“Well, I hope you’ll get the message. Now, why don’t we get some sleep? We’ve had a hard day.”
Trixie had spent a few hours in a dungeon cell before receiving a horrible summons. She was to go straight to Princess Celestia.
Her legs shook the entire time the guards led her. Luckily they didn’t hurry her, helping her like an invalid walk.
Eventually they brought her to two large double doors. Immediately Trixie noticed something off. This didn’t seem like the entrance to a throne room. It seemed too… cozy.
Then the doors opened, and Trixie saw why: this was a bedroom. The Princess had her brought to her own living area.
The guards had trouble undoing her shackles because her shaking got ten times worse. Eventually they left her in just her horn ring, gently pushing her through the door.
Celestia was sitting on a mound of cushions. She looked at Trixie with a neutral expression, one that she developed over centuries of putting up with stupid requests. “Stand before me.”
Trixie had never been so scared. She moved slowly toward Celestia. After a few moments, she practically ran, dropped to her knees in a bow.
“Please, Your Highness, I’m sorry, I…”
“Be silent.”
It wasn’t said harshly, but it was enough to cause Trixie to stop.
“Rise.”
Still trembling, Trixie obeyed.
“Trixie Lulamoon… I have spent the last few months reading up on you. And the last few hours hearing about what you’ve done since your takeover of Ponyville. You’ve caused quite a bit of trouble while wearing that Amulet.”
Trixie didn’t dare speak, so Celestia continued.
“There will be consequences for your actions, which will be decided in due time. However… I’ve gone over what happened earlier today, and I feel something must be done first.”
Trixie was crying at this point.
“Trixie… do you want a hug?”
The Unicorn gaped. Had she heard her correctly? She just looked at the Princess in disbelief. Just when she was about to ask if she had misheard her, Celestia opened her wing.
After a few moments, she ran into the Princess’s embrace. The tears started to flow as the wing closed around her.
Wow! Three updates on two months? You're on fire!
*comence reading*
Okay, so Trixie gets a punishment, Scootaloo gets a punishment, then Applebloom, Malpractice, and Sweetie already got hers. Seems that the chapter's title is justified alright.
You and Applebloom?
MORE SCOOTALOVE!!!
And Celestia being motherly was an excellent touch to the end.
Another great chapter.
Excellent chapter, bro! Loved it! Can't wait for the next one!
However, I think you made a bit of a flub in the conversation between Scootaloo and Rainbow. To wit:
I think that you might've meant
right?
Just tryin' to be helpful.
Lots of feels in this chapter.
There is one mistake I noticed from this paragraph when Rainbow Dash was talking to Scootaloo:
You mean Apple Bloom, right?
The rest of this chapter is good! Can't wait for the next one!
That ending...
"Aw, now I have to go to the mirror pool to clone myself?"
"Sorry, Scoots, that's the way it works. You have to take care of her, too."
That ending... It's nice to see Celestia still thinks Equestria is about redemption and rehabilitation, not just punitive measures. Now, if Trixie had been brought before the other Princess, well... Let's just say she should really savor that hug.
All of that sounds pretty fair. Scootaloo deserved to be punished but I totally agree with Rainbow that she'd take a spanking the wrong way. Chores are annoying and unfun but productive, gets the message across and helps Applejack.
I wonder what Trixie's punishment will be? I suspect something like parole and community service. She'll be under supervision, probably have a regular psychiatric appointment, and do so-and-so many hours at a facility. Seeing as her special talent is stagecraft, it'll probably be something like entertaining foals at a hospital or orphanage (assuming they let her use magic). Her main source of income is dried up so I wonder what she'll do for a living?
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Nope, there going make a dozen clones of Scootaloo to make up Applejack being out of the game, and finally convince Applejack to let go when Scootaloo finish all her chores without telling them about the clones . Also, Rainbow Dash is going to adopt them all to have a army of Scootaloos to love. .
I am surprised there was a lack of their apple leader. I wonder if this will set her on the right direction, or make Applejack give up the leadership for she believes that she never deserved it. Which is all tied into the fact she's been so use to being second in command, that she never had to deal with deal with the negatives of a decision even if it was a good idea. Hope to see in the next update.
5554175 It's probably best for all involved if Applejack gives up being the leader. She's a good authority figure within her family, but her stuborness and pride too often hold her back. She's capable of leading by example, but only when it doesn't go against her way of life which is quite often.
Someone like Rarity or Fluttershy should be the unofficial go to leader when Twilight's not around. Rainbow Dash is still a bit too brash to make sound judgements all the time, and Pinkie Pie is completely unpredictable so any attempt at trying to understand her decisions would just lead to confusion.
The difference being the intent. Trixie brainwashed Sweetie with purely malicious intent. She did it to manipulate and harm her. Which she did.
Neither CMCs brainwashing of Big Mac and Cheerilee or Twi's brainwashing of them/the town were meant to be malicious. The CMC thought they were helping and Twilight, well she wasn't trying to harm anyone, she wasn't trying to help either. A bit grey there. In either case, no one was really hurt.
Hmmm. I was just re-reading Families. When I came up or air, this updated. Coincidence?
Nah.
Good to see Sweetie's safe after all. And good girl Celestia hoofing the line between punishment and rehabilitation, and Rarity taking the high road, and Dash fully stepping up into the parent role, and things staying good between her and Scoots... we're actually left with good feelings.
And thus Arc 1 comes to a close?
The entire chapter was good, but that last to section really stood out.
Dash did a good job with giving a meaningful punishment for something that Scootaloo did wrong, while not being mean about it.
And then there was Celestia and Trixie. Thataway Sunbutt! Good show!
5554224 Hm... maybe, Rarity, but not Fluttershy
While Fluttershy is not stubborn, she still have a crippling desire to help everyone a leader and is not very assertive. A leader needs to be able to get people to pay attention and will need to make hard choices for the good of the group, sometimes at the expensive of people in the group and outside of it. So Rarity make a better leader, but not by much.
Rarity suffers from her own problems as she can be suborn and even more single minded then all of the Main 6 on a task. For when she is set onto a task, she cannot stop, despite is being healthier to stop. Her dress making is an example. She does not stop a project, even on flights of fancy and will rope others in a project weather they want to or not. She also annoys them more to join up rather then charisma that Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash seem to have. She does seem happy, but its obvious its due a hobby the other desire.
I think it all ties back to the leadership have been too dependent on Twilight to planing and organizing the group, something neither of the others have any experience and all of them have the potential to grow into, even Pinkie Pie (part organizer), Fluttershy (once she steps up) and Rainbow Dash. Applejack was the clear choice for she was the second of command of the group, but there is a difference from being a sergeant and being a general, and Applejack just didn't want to be the one to replace Twilight for she cares too much for them... Dammit I just add to the shipping fire, but I will not back down for I think its a fair point.
5554274 Well, Twilight wasn't exactly sane when she cast the "Want It, Need It Spell" on her doll. The CMC adminsitered the love poison believing it to be a harmless love potion.
Commence read.
Hugs all around it seems.
Motherly Celestia is always good.
Pretty sure whatever pardons that Trixie gets she'll be getting for the same reason you aren't in trouble for turning Pinkie into stone, Sweetie. Dark magic that clouds your mind and your judgment should be an immediately familiar topic.
I extra love Celestia's reaction at the end.
5554566 I was reminded of the end of 1984, honestly.
And then, Trixie realized. She loved Big Brother Princess Celestia
I just realized something, regarding Sweetie's reaction: Trixie basically used her for her own sake, with the most disregarding care for her body and well being, something that extremely affected Sweetie in an emotional level, leaving her really traumatized and hurt. Fridge Horror ensues when you interpret that as Child Rape, making Sweetie's reaction even more painful.
Well that was an intresting chapter.
I think that a whole summers worth is a bit overkill
But atleast its not corporal punishment AJ....
5555929 Well, Southern people tend to have that kind of mentality. They consider it a form of "tough love". But I'm pretty sure it's not anything more extreme than spanking.
That part made me laugh out loud
if
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The CMC went into the Everfree what chapter?
And Momlestia is probably the only pony to ever give Trixie the hugs. What with Trixies life being coniderably more worse than the life of toilet water. Still can't wait to see what happens to Trixie.
5554175 Okay.
And I think that AJ does just fine as temporary leader. There is a reason why she's Twilight's acknowledged second-in-command, you know.
And from what I've seen on the show, when she has to take command in Twi's absence, she does a pretty good job.
5558669 And I agree that Applejack is a good leader. Its just my aspergers was making an ass and my mind saw my hand write a dozen words that never made it to the page.
What I meant is that Applejack thinks she doesn't deserve the leader. That she tries to shed all responsibility away for she thinks she makes a terrible leader. I'm talking more of the mental war building up when Rainbow Dash of all people point out Applejack is not thinking of the future of her family to sustained themselves in a real life.
I'll edit it now.
Great chapter. I loved the ending.
I think you meant if instead of is.
There is a reason why Twilight loves Celestia so much and I think we've seen it here. She is, despite her age, wisdom, power and likely immortality, an immensely warm and loving pony.
Trixie is responsible for some things and was the helpless passenger in others. The determination of what things she was actually in control of and what was just the Dark Magic corrupting her decision-making process can come later. What matters now is to start the healing process.
Hmm... interesting, I look forward to seeing what degree of punishment Trixie is given... and the arguments that may well come about because of it
Because, while her current psychological state and trauma may be grounds for a degree of leniency, what a lot of people forget is that she was, ultimately, responsible for her own actions.
Because, yes, she did many of the things she did because of the amulet. The amulet she actively and willingly sought out and used for the purpose of confronting, humiliating and attacking someone who had done nothing to her. And given that every time it's brought up, the dangers of using it are mentioned, one can't say she was unaware of its corrupting effect. Yes, she was being corrupted, but it was a corruption she willingly brought upon herself.
Think about it this way: if a (willing) drug addict commits a crime while under the influence of drugs, they're not acquitted due to impaired faculties because it was entirely voluntary impairment.
Still, as I said the trauma she suffered is probably grounds for some leniency, and I'm interested to see how much. If nothing else, she definitely needed that hug.
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Er, no. I assume from your tone you're not from the south yourself? 'Cause that'd be considered a bit overkill down here too...
5564166 Really? I thought Southern folk tended to be a bit more open to that sort of thing.
I think she needed that hug, but I think Celestia will use Trixie for her own ends. Its what she does.
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A bit, yeah, but not too much more than any other part of the states.
5566208 What sort of use could Celestia have for Trixie? I doubt Trixie has the know how to detect changelings, and she most certainly wouldn't like being used as a front to attract them or one of Celestia's other enemies.
5566634 Celestia finds a use for all her pony's. Especially the ones who can use magic and can be used to track down her former compatriots in arms.
http://youtu.be/Ogwgq7JsRtE?t=42s
I know, I'm horrible.
if
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5554813 It makes more sense of you consider Celestia as less of a Princess and more of a benevolent, occasionally strict, deity.
Dash really needs to learn more about parenting. Punishing a child that young for that long is not the right way to go. The only thing Scootaloo will feel after a few weeks is resentment and the guilt will be gone. Punishment of children must be quick while they still remember what they did.
That punishment is far overkill and overkill in the worst possible way. A punishment for a child can only last 2 weeks, anything beyond that is pointless suffering. If you want to be harsher you need to be intense in those 2 weeks.
I'm not so fond of this extreme emphasis of punishment. Discipline means teaching, not punishing. Dash seems to be treating Scoots like a cadet or something rather than a child.
There are a lot of comments, and I didn't read them all, but your use of tickling and especially the 'take it like a champ' line, while I know meant to be playful, tends to run me the wrong way, especially with the situation Scoots was in. I'd been a foster parent for seven years now, and that pretty much goes against what you're supposed to do. Just thought I'd let you know.
Otherwise I really love this series.
Dr. Malpractice is going back to medical kindergarden.