To protect the society

by TwiwnB

The truth in all subjectivity

Responding to Twilight’s wish, the doctor entered the bedroom as the doctor was leaving it.

“Doctor.” greeted the one leaving, having confirmed that the princess wasn’t suffering of any illness.

“Doctor.” greeted No Nothing who had come from the jail.

“Come here please.” said Twilight who was still lying in bed.

The psychologist came near the bed and sat.

“Are you feeling well your majesty?” she asked.

“Yes.” reassured her the alicorn.

A little moment awkwardly passed, as the doctor was waiting for Twilight to tell her why she had been summoned.

“I’m still new to this whole judicial mess.” the alicorn said.

“I understand.” Nothing replied. “I will help to the best of my capabilities.”

Twilight smiled.

“I was simply wondering. How come you didn’t tell anypony Rainbow Blaze was innocent?”

“I didn’t know he was innocent.” the doctor replied.

“But you have spent years as his psychologist. You must have realized your were talking to an innocent, mustn’t you?”

The doctor sighed. It was kind of painful for her to be remembered how blind she had been. She was feeling guilty for having been unable to do anything to help that stallion. Still, she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“It is important to understand that a pony’s mind is a very complex thing.” she began to explain. “I once encountered a pony that claimed his innocence for years and made several ponies believe him, but one day suddenly not only confessed but proved that he was guilty. Some ponies are incredibly great when it comes to manipulation. Some ponies even tell you the truth when they say they are innocent, because they truly believe they are innocent, as they are unable to accept their own guilt. Some other ponies will make sure you believe they are guilty until it is proven they aren’t, may it be to cover somepony else of just because they take some pride in being guilty, or because they simply believe they are guilty to compensate for another guilt of something else entirely. There is a case, in our history, where everypony was guilty of a crime, even the inspector that was in charge of the case. In some other cases, nopony was guilty.”

“This isn’t sufficient.” Twilight said. “I need to find out what happened in a certain case. Can’t you help me?”

“I can try.” Nothing said. “But I can’t promise you I’d be right. In fact, I can assure you that my conclusions would be assumptions at best.”

“How am I supposed to throw somepony in jail if I have no certitude?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe you are not supposed to throw that pony in jail.” the doctor proposed.

“But if he is guilty, he will attack his victim again. And I would have allowed him to.”

“Then throw him into a cell and lock the door. This way, you will be certain to eliminate that risk.” Nothing replied.

“I can’t! I need to be certain he is guilty.”

“You can’t be certain.” told her the doctor. “Even what we call hard evidence, evidence that give the certitude of someone’s guilt, there is still a doubt. You can find some cases where the evidences were conclusive, but where the culprit was actually innocent.”

“In other words, you tell me we know nothing.” Twilight sighed.

“I wouldn’t put it that way. We know some things, and we have to do our best with it. I just think us ponies are lucky to have you princesses to guide us when we doubt our own judgment.”

Twilight didn’t reply. She simply thanked the psychologist and let her walk away. She then closed her eyes and tried to forget that weird world where lies are forming the fabric of the truth.

She opened her eyes as she was feeling the presence of another pony in the room with her. She looked around and saw Rainbow Dash, sitting in the middle of the bedroom.

“Dash?” she asked, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m delivering a letter.” the pegasus said with a smile, while coming near the bed,

Twilight got up, and took the letter from her friend’s hooves.

“What is it? Is it from you?” she asked.

“No. My father asked me to give it to you.” Dash explained. “I have to warn you, it might be very important.”

Twilight looked into Dash’s eyes, but got comforted by the certainty into the pegasus’s look. There was something reassuring in Rainbow Dash’s attitude. She seemed to always know what was to be done, even when she was wrong. Mostly when she was wrong. But Dash would always follow her heart and even if the consequences were sometimes pretty bad, like the time she kicked a dragon in the nostrils, you knew you could trust her to be doing the right thing, or what she thought was the right thing.

“Come on, read it.” said Rainbow Dash, thinking Twilight was hesitating because of the seriousness of the letter. “I want to go fly. I’ve got to train: there is a race coming and I intend to destroy my competition!”

“So why are you waiting for me to read the letter? You could have given it to Spike.” Twilight stated.

“’Cause I want to know what is written of course.” Dash explained.

Twilight was feeling the exact same weird feeling than the last time. In fact no, it wasn’t the exact same, it was way worse. She was under the impression there was a bomb about to explode around her. That impression the world is about to implode, kept together only by a tiny piece of wire.

And it was coming from Rainbow Dash. The same Rainbow Dash that was smiling before her. The same one that was looking at her with that confident look.

Twilight opened the letter. There wasn’t much written on it. It just said:

Please watch over my daughter for me.

Thanks for everything.

It wasn’t even signed. Twilight wasn’t sure how to interpret it.

“I should have known.” said Rainbow Dash who had read it as well. “He told me he was very proud of me. He said I should keep being awesome.”

“He said?” asked Twilight, before she realized.

She had understood what that weird feeling had been. She hadn’t noticed it before, because it was very faint, but now that her eyes were opened, it was almost obvious. Rainbow Dash was smiling. Not because she was happy, but because she had decided to be happy. And that smile was a controlled one, and her confident eyes were controlled eyes, and her confident attitude was the result of her will. Her whole body was forced to show only strength and optimism. Everything else was ignored or pushed aside.

“What happened?” Twilight asked, unable to hide how worried she was for her friend.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ll be able to understand why.” Dash replied.

“When?” Twilight insisted.

“During the night. I don’t really want to talk about that you know.”

Twilight hugged her friend and Dash hugged her too.

“Are you feeling okay?” the alicorn asked.

“It hurts…” the pegasus replied. “I… it… it hurts a lot.”

“I’m so sorry.” Twilight said.

They stayed that way for a long moment, hugging each other, and for an external observer, it would have seemed like Rainbow Dash was comforting Twilight, which was a part of the truth anyway.

“If there is anything I can do…” began Twilight.

“I’ll be sure to ask. Don’t you worry, I’ll remember that one.” the pegasus replied with a little laugh. “I might even abuse it when the time comes.”

“How can you…?” Twilight asked, but stopped as she was feeling she shouldn’t push that matter too hard.

“He told me he was proud of me. He told me I should keep being awesome.”

Twilight understood and cried a little more.

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[cheesinator]

Is he alive or did he leave?