//------------------------------//
// A Scholar's Apology 
// Story: My Little Pony: The Brothers of Discord 
// by mr.myxsiple 
//------------------------------//


CHAPTER 31
A SCHOLAR'S APOLOGY


The next day...

The unicorn opened the door, and the pegasus mare strolled in without so much as a greeting. "It's been a day; what did you find out."

"Good morning to you too." the unicorn said closing his door. "I have the results on the soil analysis...We have a problem." he said approaching her looking solemn.

Dread began to fill his companion. "What is it?"

He sighed. "That stuff was a magical catalyst, a spell in a bottle. In it was a spell that's suppressing the Light flowing into Ponyville's soil. I took another soil sample earlier; there's less Light in it than predicted.

The mare's eyes were wide. "Wh-what?! They know about the Light? How can they know about that."

The unicorn held his chin as he did some thinking. A thought occurred to him, making his freeze. The pegasus noticed this and stared at him confused. "What is it?"

Slowly, he lowered his hoof and looked at her eyes wide. "Is it possible?...Could it be...them...?"

The same thought also occurred to the pegasus mare making her both shocked and excited. "It...It actually worked." She gave a small laugh. "They actually showed up; our leader was right."

"Indeed. Find them." The unicorn ordered. "Next time one of those ponies show up, tail them. Find out where they're staying. Soon, we'll have them in our clutches..."

"There's a problem; they've all got weird powers." the mare pointed out. "The two of us can't take them all on."

The unicorn did some more thinking. "Perhaps...we should call in Butch."

"Butch?!" the pegasus cried out incredulously. "Ugh, I hate that guy! I don't wanna work with him..." she complained.

"Oh hush. You won't be working with him directly. Just find out where those ponies live, and he'll take care of the rest."

She sighed. "Yeah yeah whatever." she said making her way to the door. "Hey, You better be making a new schedule; we both want to get out of here before the Light goes critical."

"Of course." the unicorn said with a nod. "I'll have another date after some time. I don't wish to get caught up in it either. It would be a shame if Libra's plan for Ponyville succeeded at the cost of one of their most brilliant scientists."

The pegasus rolled her eyes as she left the house. "I'll tell you when I see them." she called out taking to the skies, keeping her eyes peeled for the brothers.



Later that afternoon...

Scar sighed as he stared at the front doors before him, his body sagging slightly. He wanted so badly to go outside, but nervousness kept him indoors. The truth was, he had been spending the past twenty minutes shifting about in front of that door debating whether to leave or stay.

Ever since Blues returned two days earlier saying that negotiations had gone well, he had been considering paying Ponyville another visit. Now that things between the brothers and the mares were going much more smoothly, he was planning on finding Dash and explain himself to her.

Did I really betray her? he wondered gloomily remembering Psych's words to him. He tried to shake those thoughts away, but they continued to pester him. He didn't mean to hurt her or any of her friends, but he just had to do it. Now was the perfect time to explain everything fully.

But she looked so upset and pissed off when she found out he had been trying to get the Elements. She knows that they had no intention of hurting any of them, but would she still forgive him for lying to her?

"Scar?"

Said pony jumped upon hearing his name called. "What're you doing here just staring at the door?" Ironhead asked coming into view.

"Huh?...Oh, I was uh..." He scratched the back of his head and sighed, his ears lowering. "Actually, I dunno what to do..."

Ironhead could tell that his brother was being troubled most likely by the same thing that was troubling him. He sighed as well and trotted up to him. "Well...I know what I'm gonna do."

"The same goes for me Ironhead." Both brothers turned as Solstice appeared in their midst and made his way to them. "Scar, I've watched you grow up and never saw you back down from a challenge. I can tell that Rainbow shares that same spirit. Would she back down from something such as this?"

Scar did some thinking. "Actually...She's really too proud to say she's sorry."

"Well good thing you're not." Ironhead said with a chuckle. "Listen bro, we all screwed up big time here. I'm gonna try and fix it, and so's Solstice here. If you really love Rainbow, then go get her back."

Scar took a deep breath and got himself pumped. "Alright...I'm doing this. Even though Rainbow might now want it, she deserves an explanation. All I can do is hope that she forgives me right?"

"That is what we all hope for Scar." Solstice told him, and Ironhead nodded. "They are good, understanding mares; I'm certain they will see reason."

Scar smiled as he approached his eldest brother. After Ironhead did the same, Solstice lit up his horn, and one quick teleportation spell later, the three brothers found themselves standing in the middle of the town square which was thankfully empty.

"Good thing nopony saw us. They all probably still remember us." Ironhead said.

"Indeed. I suppose this is where we part for now." Solstice told them.

"Yeah. Let meet up back here at sunset...No matter what happens." Ironhead replied with a little pause.

Scar nodded, spread his wings, and hovered a little. "Good luck guys." He gave them a friendly salute before turning around. Ironhead took a deep breath and steeled himself before heading down the path that led to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Ironhead, Scar, please wait a moment." Solstice called before either of his brothers could get too far. Both of them returned to him wondering what he had to say. The unicorn cleared his throat and gave a low bow. "I...I would like to apologize to you both first. It was rather harsh, extreme actions that caused this whole incident. Had I been much more gentle, perhaps things would have turned out differently. Please forgive me..."

Both of his brothers looked at each other before turning to him. "C'mon bro; you don't need to do that." Scar told him. "Ironhead said we all screwed up her, so it's not totally all your fault."

"But-"

"It's OK, seriously." Ironhead told him. "Look, you just get over to Twilight's and make sure everything's cool with you two. You just worry 'bout that OK?"

Hearing that quickly brought his smile back. "Thanks you Scar, Ironhead. Good luck with your efforts."

On a much happier note, Solstice lit up his horn once again and vanished with a flash of teal light. Scar saluted his brother again before taking to the skies thinking of places Rainbow would be staying. Alone, Ironhead sighed and galloped away towards Sweet Apple Acres with the determination to make things right with the mare he had hurt, the same determination that his brothers had.

And like his brothers, he was completely unaware that their arrival had been witnessed by a pegasus mare hiding behind a nearby shop. Once the brothers parted, she left her hiding spot and made her way to the middle of the town square, Scar's and Ironhead's figures retreating slowly.

Hmm...I'll go with...that one...

She spread her wings and took flight.



Solstice wound up in front of the familiar door to the town library, his stress levels a little raised, but not high enough to trigger a surge. Among his brothers, he was the most calm one when he decided to talk with Twilight once again. He sighed and adjusted his glasses a bit slowly dragging out the seconds that separated him from her. Steeling himself like his brother did, he raised a hoof and knocked three times on the door. His heart hammered in his chest, but his face showed complete and utter peace.

A few moments later, the door creaked open, and a voice rang out. "I'm sorry, but we're in the middle of reorganizing. Would you like to make a reser-Solstice?!"

Several book she was levitating with her magic suddenly cluttered to the floor at the sight of the teal unicorn. He cleared his throat. "Er...Good afternoon Twilight."

"Um...H-Hi..." she answered awkwardly. She clearly wasn't expecting him to show up.

"F-Forgive me, have I arrived at a bad time? I could return a little-"

"Actually...I'm pretty free at the moment." Twilight admitted.

"You are?" Spike called out from within the library.

Twilight turned to her assistant. "Yes Spike. Why don't you go out and take a break?"

"Huh?...Oh. OK; See ya later I guess."

Spike ran past Twilight and Solstice and headed into town. "Why don't you step inside Solstice?" the former offered extending a hoof towards the interior of her home.

Solstice thanked her and followed her in. The interior was slightly messy with books scattered about. Using his magic, Solstice moved them aside, being careful not to step on any of them. He followed Twilight to a nearby table. "Have a seat Solstice." she offered.

He did so while Twilight sat across the table. The tension between the two ponies filled the air as they just stared at each other wondering if the other would make the first move. After much hoof tapping, throat clearing and false starts, the silence was finally broken.

"Twilight I-"

"Why did you threaten me and my friends?" she cut him off. "I really think you're a good pony Solstice, and Blues told me that you all never wanted to hurt any of us, so...why?"

Solstice hated seeing her so distraught. He slowly reached over and took Twilight's hooves in his own and gave her a sincere, pleading look. "Twilight...I know fully well that my actions harsh and somewhat extreme, and I wish to say that I'm sorry for hurting you and making you feel threatened. And please believe me when I say that I would never, ever, even think about causing harm to you or any of your friends."

She saw the truthfulness in his eyes and heard it in his voice. "Then why did you threaten them?"

Solstice sighed and gently let go of her. "I do not understand. What was it that I said or did that made you feel threatened?"

Twilight nervously rubbed her hoof. "You said that if I didn't tell you where the Elements were, something bad would happen would happen to me, my friends and all of town."

He blinked twice and leaned back on his seat. "Oh..." He still remembered that moment when she became tense at the mention of the Elements. Thinking back, that did sound like a threat. "I see. Twilight, I swear I did not mean that as a threat."

She looked at his wanting to believe that. "What do you mean?"

Solstice sighed and adjusted his glasses. "The six of us are needed. I cannot tell you everything, but a great tragedy is about to befall on Ponyville, and only my brothers and I can prevent it.

"R...Really? Ponyville's in danger?" she asked surprised. "Can't I help? Can any of us help?"

"Yes, but we should be the ones who end it for good. This is a task for us." He nervously placed a hoof on his chest. "We alone are responsible for preventing this tragedy from happening..."

He sounded so brave as he spoke about his family's mission. "That sounds like a huge thing to bear." she commented after a short silence. "I should know; I've had the fate of Equestria depend on me and my friends before."

"I know." Solstice asked resting his chin on his hoof and gave her a smile. "I know about the Elements' job to restore peace to Equestria. You and your friends are very brave Twilight."

She blushed a little upon hearing that. "So...all is forgiven...?" Solstice asked meekly.

He gave her a puppy-dog pout complete with matching, slightly teary eyes. To her, it was just too adorable to resist. "Oh...I...I forgive you Solstice."

A smile quickly returned to his face as he took her hooves once again making blood rush to her face again. "I feel so relieved to hear that. You've no idea how much this means to me Twilight. I'm so glad that things between us have been settled."

Feeling his hooves holding hers and staring into those blue-green eyes of his, she fidgeted a little. Seeing this, he let go of her quickly. "F-Forgive me. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"What? Oh...It's fine." she told him awkwardly. "I'm just...uh..."

Solstice made a motion to stand up. "Perhaps I should-"

"No!" Twilight herself was surprised by the volume of her voice. "I mean...why don't you stay a little. You could..."She quickly looked around. "Help me finish up the cleaning over here..."

"Hmm? I thought Spike was assisting you." he said not that he was complaining or anything.

She smiled at him, the first time since he arrived, and it made his heart soar. "I think he won't mind a little more time off. Besides...you love my library. This could be a good time to...get to know it better..."

Solstice smiled and chuckled a little before levitating a few books off the floor. "Now then, where do these go?" he asked glad to be of help.

Twilight was glad to be helped by him. "Those two go in the astronomy section over there." He moved those books to the shelf she pointed at. "That one goes in the fiction section under fantasy, and that one..."

Solstice couldn't be any happier helping her out. Yet, despite how wonderful things turned out for him, he couldn't help but gaze out the window and think about Scar and Ironhead and wonder if things with them were going just as smoothly as they were with him.

"Solstice? Are you listening? The sociology books go in the shelf under that."

And yet, glancing back and seeing those clear eyes, watching that spreading smile and hearing that elegant voice, he found all his troubles quickly melt away.