//------------------------------//
// 17: Past Mistakes 
// Story: Bear, Scribe and Paladin 
// by Speven Dillberg 
//------------------------------//

Jefferson Memorial, late-2280


Giacomo Esposito
2226 - 2277
Scientist, father, dreamer 
May his work live on forever


So read the simple plaque, crudely nailed to the outer wall of the Jefferson Memorial. Dom knew her father wouldn’t have cared, though. She knew that the greatest tribute she could give him was to be the best woman she could be. 
“Hey, Dad,” the ghoul said awkwardly. The reason she was talking to a metal sheet as opposed to a gravestone was that they had never found his body. The Enclave had disposed of it somewhere, as if to taunt Dom with a lack of closure. “I guess it’s been a while, huh?” 
She stood there in silence, shuffling her feet awkwardly. “God damn it, Dad, I miss you. Why did you have to do that?” she asked bitterly. “I need you, Dad. You always knew what to say, or what to do. I... I don’t know how I’ve lasted three years without you.”
“The world is a sadder place without James.” Dom turned around at the sound of the elderly, gentle voice. Behind her stood Elder Owyn Lyons in his dark gray-blue Brotherhood robes, his long bushy beard now reaching down to his chest. “His actions were always dictated by what others needed. The only selfish act he ever committed was abandoning Project Purity to raise you.”
Dom stood there silently as the Elder stepped closer. “I know why you’re here, Elder,” she stated.
“You do?” the old man asked, sounding a little surprised.
“Yeah. You’re gonna tell me to leave the Brotherhood.”
Lyons began to chuckle. “Did you really think me so heartless, Esposito?” he asked. “I would never force you to do that. You’re free to leave if you want, but we’ll never force you,” he calmly explained.
“But... I’m a ghoul,” Dom said slowly.
“And one of the best Paladins we have,” Lyons countered. “That counts for more, the way I see it.”
“Won’t the others complain?”
“Let them. They haven’t been through the things you have.” Lyons turned to look at the Citadel, on the other side of the Potomac. The Enclave had managed to collapse one of the outer walls in one of their attacks, but the damage was superficial. “We’ve sacrificed so much, and lost so many. To turn away anyone willing to help would be the height of foolishness.”
Dom nodded, thinking his words over. “Thanks, Elder.”
“Call me Owyn, dear.”





Princess Celestia cleared her throat. “Perhaps we could move away from that topic,” she suggested, trying to hide how sick the very notion of the palace’s destruction and abusive treatment of civilians made her.
Dom shrugged. “If you want.”
“Oh yeah, I just remembered,” Thomas said suddenly. “Dom, that bet?”
“Oh, that,” the ghoul replied with a smirk. “Which one busted your jewels, again?”
“If’n ya mean the one that went and bucked him in his stallion bits, that was me,” Applejack answered timidly.
“They still hurt,” Thomas commented.
“We want to see if you can put a dent in that,” Dom said, pointing at the Scribe.
“Hey, what did I do to you!?” Veronica asked loudly as every eye in the room fixed on her.
Applejack stared at the woman, one of her eyebrows disappearing into her mane. “Now why would ya want me to go and buck her?”
“Yeah!” Apple Bloom added. “Why would ya wanna hurt her?”
“It took hours for my implant to undo the damage you did when you kicked me,” Thomas said, ignoring the little filly’s protests.
“Is that a big deal?” Rainbow asked, herself not entirely happy with the idea of meaningless violence.
“A knife in the gut takes half an hour, if that.”
Applejack’s friends turned to stare at the shocked farmpony. “This is why we need more earth ponies in the Guard,” Shining muttered. 
“Am Ah really that strong?” she asked quietly.
“Okay, now I’m scared.” Veronica had started backing away slowly, hoping to make a run for it.
“Calm down, we just want to see if she can put a dent in a T-51b,” Thomas commented offhandedly. 
Veronica just looked at the man. “Are you completely insane? If she can put a dent in this, it’ll shatter my ribs!”
“You could just take it off,” Dom suggested.
“Yeah, but I don’t have anything else to wear,” Veronica pointed out. “I’m not going around topless around this pervert, either,” she added, jabbing a thumb in Thomas’ direction.
“I’m not a pervert!” Thomas declared angrily.
“Oh, right, sorry, it must have someone else who slept with ten different women last week,” Veronica replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
“That’s neither here nor there,” he retorted.
“Do you mind?” Rarity demanded loudly. “There are children here!”
The other ponies had mixed reactions to the little argument they had just witnessed. Rainbow and Pinkie had found it hilarious, both of them trying and failing to hide their laughter. Twilight stared at the pair as though they were completely insane, which was a fair assumption to make. Fluttershy was trying to make herself as small as possible, and had already curled up into a ball about a third her normal size. Applejack and Scootaloo’s father, just like Rarity, had grabbed their family members and were covering their ears, lest the bickering humans say something else inappropriate. Shining Armor and the other Knight stood there stoically, but the stallion’s expression showed his bemusement.
Celestia and Luna simply watched. They fight like siblings, the elder commented.
The way Thomas seems to care for the armoured one, they may as well be.
What do you make of the third?
Troubled, to say the least. She seems to overreact to the slightest thing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she were to break down from the stress. To be in such a state, she must have seen so much evil, Luna replied. It’s truly quite sad.
“Yeah, both of you shut up,” Dom said loudly, butting in. “Don’t make me smack your heads together.”
“Do you have to resort to violence for everything?” Twilight asked. “Couldn’t you just talk about it?”
The ghoul stared at the unicorn. “I used to be like that,” she said quietly.
“Like what?”
“Like you. Naive.” When the mare began to splutter, the Paladin continued. “I used to think everything could be solved with a sharp tongue and clever wording. That you could talk a man down from doing something stupid or violent. But no. I learned that the hard way.”
“What happened?” 
Dom glanced over at the three fillies and their protective family members. “Get the kids out of the room. I don’t want them to hear this.”
“It’s that bad?” Veronica asked skeptically.
“Well, it’s a few things,” the ghoul explained. “Nothing I want them to hear.”
“But why?”
“Thomas told me that they’re innocent. I don’t want to destroy that.”
The ghoul’s answer shocked them all. Up until that point, she had seemed perfectly fine with traumatising the ponies to the best of her abilities, as well as being crude and inconsiderate. To suddenly have this change of heart, what she had to say must have been horrible, even by her standards.
“Your highness, have suites been set aside for the Element Bearers?” the Night Guard pegasus asked.
“Yes they have,” Princess Luna replied. “Escort the fillies there and supervise them, Sergeant.”
“As you wish,” he replied. “Come on, you three.”
“But Daaaaaaad!” Scootaloo whined, “I wanna hear what she’s gonna say!”
“No,” he replied as he exited the room, the Crusaders in tow. “Consider this your punishment for stowing away like that.”
As soon as the door closed, Dom spoke up. “Tenpenny Tower. Practically a fortress. Even had its own security force. The man who ran the place, Tenpenny, was a bigot. Refused to let a group of ghouls in. The chief security officer, Gustave, wanted the ghouls dead.
“The ghoul’s leader, Roy Phillips, wanted me to let them in through the basement, along with a pack of ferals. Basically wild animals,” she clarified. “He wanted every human dead.”
“You didn’t let that happen, did you?” Rarity asked quietly. She was regretting not following her sister, she did not like the direction this story appeared to be heading.
“No, I managed to get them all in peacefully. Managed to convince the other bigots to leave, while Tenpenny just wanted the ghouls to pay up like everyone else had.” Dom let out a sigh. “It was about a week later, after I’d finished scavving through a RobCo building, that I went back. Not a human in sight. I found Roy, and asked him just what the hell had happened.”
The ghoul’s expression hardened as she faced her boots. “That sick bastard had them all killed. I got him what he wanted, but it wasn’t enough. I have over one hundred deaths on my conscious because I didn’t shoot that homicidal maniac when I had the chance.”
“I... I’m so sorry,” Twilight said quietly, not sure what else to say. 
“How could he do that?” Applejack asked, her tone a mix of angry and shocked.
“Because he was greedy. And now he’s dead,” Dom spat. 
The sudden turn from sombre and depressed to furious and spiteful was alarming. 
“No wonder you are so...” Everyone looked around at the source of the quiet voice.
“Private Lulamoon, I almost forgot you were there,” Shining commented. “Take off your helmet, Private.”
“Tri - I would rather not, sir.”
“Private, it’s not as if you’re disfigured,” Shining replied seriously. “Take off your helmet.” When the mare did nothing, his expression hardened. “Private, that was an order.”
The Private’s head was enveloped in a glow of magic as the helmet came off. She shook her head to get her mane out of her eyes before giving a tired, uncaring stare at Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
“You!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, me,” Trixie replied with a roll of her eyes. “Prepare to be behold feats of magic and yada yada yada,” she said flatly, rotating a hoof. “If you’re planning on yelling at me about the Ursa incident, get it over with. Trixie’s armour fitting was tiring and she needs her sleep.”
“What the hay are you doing here!?” Rainbow asked loudly.
“I’m sorry, did you miss that Commander Armor called me by rank? Or the armour I’m wearing?” Trixie snorted. “And here I thought the Element Bearers had to be smart like Sparkle.”
Shining sighed angrily. “Private, don’t antagonise her.”
“Are you calling me stupid!?” the rainbow mare yelled as she tried to surge forwards. Only Applejack grabbing her tail in her mouth stopped her.
The former showmare blinked. “This is why Trixie is glad she is no longer in show business,” she muttered as she turned her gaze to one of the stain-glassed windows.
“Am I that bad?” Dom whispered to Veronica as she pointed at Rainbow. When the Scribe nodded, the ghoul frowned. “Well shit.”
“Trixie, why are you in the guard?” Twilight asked.
Trixie glanced at the other bearers, their expressions a mix of distrust, anger and confusion. “The Ursa incident ended Trixie’s career. After several months, I signed up, hoping to become strong enough to best you in single combat.”
“The only reason you joined was to get revenge?”
“What did you expect, Trixie was shallow and petty back then. And the Ursa had destroyed my caravan, so I had nowhere else to go.”
“What about your family?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“As far as Trixie is concerned, they are as useful as a scalpel made of chocolate,” she replied angrily. “If they had their way, Trixie would have gotten involved in the nobles’ petty politics and been married off to some fool with more teeth than brain cells. I knew the idea of a noblepony’s daughter enlisting in the guard would infuriate them,” she smirked. “So I did.”
“Ah don’t get it,” Applejack piped up, having let go of Rainbow’s tail. “Ah thought a lotta nobleponies were in the guard.”
“None of them enlisted like a commoner,” Trixie explained, briefly turning the haughtiness up a few dozen notches. “For the most part, it’s symbolic, a throwback to when the nobility actually had significance. Half of them need help putting their armour on,” she chuckled.
“And the bulk of the guard is pegasi,” Rainbow chipped in. When everyone turned to look at her, she shrugged. “Hey, my grandfathers were guardsponies, they told me this kind thing all the time.”
“Anyway, shortly after Nightmare Night, Trixie realised how petty she was being. I also enjoyed what I was doing in the guard. When Commander Armor approached me several weeks ago, about becoming a Knight, I accepted.” When she got a series of blank stares, she sighed. “Why, what did you think Trixie did after the Ursa incident? Worked on a rock farm to get enough bits to buy an ancient pendant so she could banish Twilight Sparkle from Ponyville?”
“Uhh, sorta?” Rainbow replied.
“That does seem like the kind of thing you would do,” Rarity added. 
“Once a upon a time, Trixie might have. But, she has matured.” 
“Well, good for you!” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, popping up behind the unicorn. “Now that you’re nice, we’ll have to - oof!” The party pony fell to the ground suddenly as an attempt to put a hoof around the armoured mare’s neck failed, with her leg going right through her.
“Sorry, but Trixie was worried that at least one of you would try to hit her,” she said as she cancelled the illusions. Everyone performed a double-take when she appeared next to Shining Armor, Thomas and Dom being especially disturbed. 
“She fooled my Pip-Boy,” the ghoul muttered. “First time I’ve seen that happen.”
“Private, what have you been told about doing that?” the Commander asked. 
“Sorry, sir, I thought it was a matter of personal safety.”
“Is there anything else that needs to be said, Commander?” Luna asked, turning to face him.
“No, your highness, everything that had to be said was said within the first ten minutes,” Shining replied, scowling slightly.
“In that case, have our guests escorted to their rooms. Night Court is opening soon,” she explained.
“But-but-but the party! For Trixie! And Dom!” Pinkie spluttered gesturing wildly between them. “And Thomas! And Veronica!”
“A party can wait, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “Right now, I just want to get some sleep.”
The other girls agreed with Twilight, leaving Pinkie sitting on the ground looking scandalised. “Fine,” she pouted adorably. “But none of you are getting out of a party!” she yelled loudly as she followed the rest out. “Especially you!” she finished, pointing a hoof at Thomas.
“That’s scarier than it probably should be,” he commented as the door closed.
“Yes, the Bearer of Laughter can be like that on occasion,” Luna answered, wearing a small smile. 
“Again, something about a Bearer,” Veronica said. “What’s up with that?”
“I’ll explain it along the way,” Shining replied, motioning towards the door.





Author’s Notes:
No I’m not fucking with Fallout canon. Giacomo is the Italian equivalent of James. It makes sense that he would just use James as it’s simpler.
I reckon Tenpenny Tower would make her feel that diplomacy is a lost cause.
Trxie keeps switching between first and third person because she’s trying to break the habit, with some success.
I actually did enjoy the episode, just thought it’d be nice to poke fun at it, and to reinforce that this story completely ignores Season 3 canon.