//------------------------------// // Accountability // Story: Broken Fences // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// It was a terrible thing to see a unicorn without its horn, the mockery of a magical creature lying motionless on a hospital bed. It was even more painful when this unicorn was one who you knew for a long time as a friend of your family. This was the situation Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor found himself in as he visited the dehorned Most Honorable Star Dancer in Canterlot General Hospital. Only her life had been preserved, mostly due to the vigilance and determination of some of Shining's subordinates - everything else of value had been taken from her. Without her horn, she could no longer effectively fulfill her duties in the Royal Observatory and most likely she would have to live the rest of her life in the manner earth ponies did - a serious disability more in perception than reality, but still enough to be a significant life changer. As far as Shining knew, Star Dancer would have no one to help her now. Her filly, Moon Dancer, seemed to have walked away from her social obligations to anypony else and gone into some kind of hiding - Shining wasn't even sure if she was still in Canterlot at this point. Star Dancer's parents were long dead, as was her mate, and she had no siblings to step up in caring for her. The possibly-illegitimate second filly and her claimed sire - a secret Star Dancer had tried to hide for so long - had not shown up either. Shining Armor was turning over in his mind the possibility of asking his parents to take her in when he heard Captain Gibraltar's voice calling him. He turned to see the old unicorn Captain of the Guard standing at the door of the hospital room. "Shining, I need you to come back down to the lobby." Gibraltar says in a very somber tone of voice. "Yes, sir." Shining quietly replies, looking back at Star Dancer's battered, hornless form laying in the hospital bed. The only sounds he heard were the steady beeping of the heart monitor and the quiet hissing of the ventilator she was hooked up to. He couldn't keep the gloominess off his face as he slowly walked out of the room to join the Captain... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Has the doctor said anything about her condition?" Gibraltar asks Shining Armor as the two start their way back to the hospital lobby. "Yes sir, and most of it is bad news." Shining Armor replies sadly. "Not only does she have a number of broken bones and fractured ribs, her horn is completely gone - with how much of it was cut off, it's not likely to grow back anytime soon, if at all." "That means she won't be able to properly carry out her duties. I've already advised Princess Celestia a replacement needs to be appointed for her position as soon as possible. We won't even wait for the formality of a resignation letter due to the urgency of the situation." "Understood, sir. Has anypony found Moon Dancer?" "Negative. All we know for certain is that she's probably still in Canterlot somewhere, we've been watching the trains in and out of the city and she hasn't been spotted on any of them. With her stallionfriend dead and her mother crippled, she's going to be laying low and maybe grieving for a long while. As far as we're concerned, she's lost to any influence we might be able to exert on her. If this problem is going to be fixed, your sister is going to have to be the one to do it." Gibraltar explains. "I understand, sir." Shining replies, his expression visibly depressed and his ears drooping low. "My condolences to you, I know Star Dancer was a good friend of your parents." Gibraltar responds sympathetically. "But just as I said before, you just couldn't do enough to change the outcome of these events. Not just the perpetrators, but your sister, will one day have to be held accountable, in some way, for their actions." The rest of the trip to the lobby passes in awkward silence - Shining remains crestfallen that this was a scenario where he couldn't save the day, where he couldn't have made enough of a difference to change anything. He also hated the thought his beloved sister had a good part of the blame for the events that transpired, but deep down in his heart he knew it was true. Twilight Sparkle would have to amend the broken fences she left behind, somehow and someday, all by herself... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Shining Armor and Captain Gibraltar got back to the lobby, the former was surprised by what was waiting for him: a filly only a little younger than Moon Dancer and Twilight Sparkle pleading with two of his subordinates for the release of a cream-coated unicorn stallion in their custody! "What's going on here?" Shining turns to ask the Captain, concerned about the public spectacle taking place. "I wanted you to see what's going on here." Gibraltar responds. "The filly is Java Jive, the sister Star Dancer tried to keep secret from Moon Dancer for so long." "Full sister, or half-sister?" Shining asks. "Full sister, we believe. We'll need to run some tests to be absolutely sure, but the stallion she claims to be her father we don't think is her actual father." "I recognize that stallion - isn't he from the morning shift, a lackey in lockstep with Aten's policies?" "Now now, Shining, we must maintain some level of professionalism here when referring to a fellow Guard member." Gibraltar gently scolds. "But yes, he's from the morning shift. He surrendered himself into custody shortly after Aldebaran's squad rescued Star Dancer on the mountainside, claiming he was an Agent of Chaos. We've kept him in custody in hopes of getting some answers on what happened to Star Dancer." Shining stared at the somewhat bizarre scene with silent concern. He wasn't sure what affected him more - the cream-coated stallion's humiliation, or Java Jive's teary pleading for the stallion's release. Gibraltar stepped to the guarded stallion, speaking in a low tone Shining couldn't make out. After a minute, Gibraltar beckons Java Jive to follow him, which she reluctantly does. "I'm taking the filly back up to Star Dancer's room. Aldebaran can brief you on what else needs to be done." the Captain says to Shining as he goes past with the filly in tow, and Java Jive's confused and pleading worry briefly sears Shining's heart before she is lost to sight. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shining turns to face the captive stallion, clears his throat, straightens himself up, and walks over to where the captive stallion is seated. The cream-coated stallion looks down in shame, rather like as if he knew he had made a terrible mistake long ago. He was currently guarded by Lieutenant Aldebaran and one of his squad. "Lay it on me, Lieutenant." Shining Armor says to Aldebaran, who was sitting next to the captive on his right. "After we found Star Dancer on the mountainside and were trying to get her safely airlifted to the hospital, the stallion..." Aldebaran begins to explain. "I know he has a name, Lieutenant. Please use it." Shining interrupts, and the captive winces a bit as the words are spoken. "Yes, sir." Aldebaran acknowledges before continuing on. "Lieutenant Ventas here approached one of my squad, asking the filly with him being transferred into our protection temporarily. After I got Star Dancer off the mountain to the hospital, I took custody of the filly and then Ventas told of what had happened to Star Dancer in the mountain caverns." "So he was also an Agent of Chaos?" Shining asks, keeping a critical eye on Ventas. "That's correct, sir. After his confession, we placed him into custody until the Captain could deal with him. He's already been stripped of rank and commission, but the Captain left his ultimate fate for you to decide." "Can we court-martial him?" "Not without evidence beyond his confession. All written documentation that could've been used was destroyed in the record tower fire, and the statute of limitations on any civil crimes he may have committed has since expired. And of course, Aten will be pissed about this..." "I'm not worried about Aten. He can rage all he wants, but there's nothing he can do to change the situation." Shining states. "What I need to know is how the ex-Lieutenant got involved, why the filly thinks he's her father. I'll speak with him alone. Leave his horn ring on, and go check in with the Captain about custody of the filly. Understood?" "... Yes sir." Aldebaran replies after a moment, giving a skeptical look about leaving Ventas and Shining Armor together without anypony else watching. He and the member of his squad with him undo the shackles binding hooves together, taking those shackles with them as they depart to check in with the Captain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ventas had trouble maintaining eye contact with Shining, now that the two of them were face-to-face in the hospital lobby. Ventas had no particular animosity against the Lieutenant Captain, but his face burned with shame as he remembered the enthusiasm with which he had echoed and affirmed Aten's disparaging comments against "the favorite of Celestia". Once again, he wore the expression of a pony having chosen the wrong side in a conflict and now suffering for it. Shining, for his part, found his initial anger tamped down by curiosity. Up to this point, any "defections" from Aten's faction were on the fringes, Lower Classes mostly. This was the first of Aten's major supporters to crack, and the confessional of being an Agent of Chaos lead to suspicions that Aten himself was a leading Agent, or at least his ambition was being harnessed to advance their cause. Nevertheless, the speculation could wait. Shining needed answers, and he hoped Ventas had the ones he needed. "Ventas, come with me. I need to know how all this fits together." Shining firmly states, beckoning Ventas to follow. The latter does so, albeit with a heavy step and a heavy heart. Most of the damage had already been done in this situation, but Shining thought that just maybe he could make something good out of it...