Part 28 - The Caged Kindness
Ponyville Detention Center
June 10th, 12:34 PM
It took Twilight less than five minutes to walk from the library to the Detention Center, just missing Phoenix and Pinkie Pie as they left the plaza.
When she arrived, she noticed there was a minor commotion outside; one of the pegasus guards was huddled in a corner sobbing and inconsolable, babbling something about an evil enchantress who had put him in trances while his partner was lying on the ground in a fetal position sucking on his hoof like he was a foal again; the pair attended by a pair of pony paramedics who looked like they weren’t sure what to do.
Oooookay, then. Twilight decided not to ask questions, slipping by the scene quietly and presenting herself to the replacement guards at the entrance.
Announcing that she wished to visit Fluttershy, Twilight was given permission to enter, waited a few minutes for the guards to retrieve her, and was then escorted down the slightly dark and musty hallway to the meeting area by a trio of unicorn and earth pony stallions, two in front and one behind. They led her to the visiting room, with instructions to keep her visit brief and reminding her to use no magic while inside. It was not simply a request—as she entered the building, she had felt a magical suppression field wash over her that would prevent most spellcasting; even simple levitation spells were off-limits.
An annoying but sensible precaution, she conceded, though it would make the task of taking notes more difficult.
Twilight looked around the meeting room, though there wasn’t much to see except for a series of partitioned booths, separated from the other side by what she could sense was some enchanted glass designed to resist both physical and magical manipulation. So this is what it looks like in here. Not really what I was expecting. I was thinking it would look a bit more gritty and dark! she mused, deciding she’d probably been reading too many detective novels. But darned if the Fetlock Holmes books aren’t REALLY good reads!
Twilight walked past the row of booths until she spotted a huddled shape on the other side of one, and it gave a familiar gasp upon seeing her. “Fluttershy!” she exclaimed as she sighted her imprisoned friend, the lights in front of her booth quickly coming up as they sensed her approach.
“Um… h-hi, Twilight,” her shy friend said in a near-whisper as she moved out of the shadows, her head bowed and her ears drooping, teal eyes filled with fear and sadness.
Before replying, Twilight pulled the book out of her saddlebags with her mouth, put it on the floor and flipped it open to a bookmarked page with her hoof. Taking a moment, she placed a hoof tip on a particular line and cleared her throat. “’Fear not fair sir or maiden! Thy defender of truth hath come forth to comfort thee in thine time of need. We will raise thy spirits with an eloquent elegy that shall light the lantern of hope, even in the depths of this foul dungeon!’” she quoted, affecting an olden accent again.
Fluttershy’s facial expression went from scared and worried to completely confused, visibly trying and failing to parse the statement, leaving Twilight feeling more and more awkward.
After staring at her friend for a few moments more, she shut the book in frustration and spoke normally. “Never mind. Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I’m going to get you out of here!” Twilight promised, returning the olden lawyering guide to her saddlebag. This book must’ve had the most pretentious author EVER! “You’ll be happy to know that I am going to be taking over as the defense attorney for this case.”
Far from reassured, Fluttershy looked troubled at that. “What happened to Mister Phoenix?” she asked in her trademark timid voice, but Twilight scowled upon hearing his name, her lips tightening and ears flattening.
Twilight closed her eyes at that. “Just forget about him, Fluttershy,” she said, directing the statement as much to herself as her imprisoned friend. “We don’t need him. I’ll clear both you and Rainbow Dash myself!”
“Um… okay. If you say so. Thank you,” Fluttershy said tentatively, still looking uncertain.
I better change the subject, Twilight decided, both for Fluttershy’s benefit and her own. “So how’s it going?” she asked, shrugging off her saddlebags and taking out a piece of scroll paper and quill, getting a sharp reminder of the magical suppression field when she reflexively tried to use her aura to levitate them and felt a moment of painful feedback through her horn. She knew she could likely overcome it if she didn’t mind the pain, and at full power could probably even cancel the spell, but the unicorn guards would sense it and she’d end up in a great deal of trouble if she tried.
Fine. I don’t need magic! Fumbling a bit, she managed to get a saddlebag pocket open with her mouth and dump its contents out in front of her, positioning a piece of scroll paper and a capped inkwell on the floor in front of her. “Are they treating you well?”
“Th-they’ve been asking me about that feather,” Fluttershy said softly, visibly cringing at the memory of her interrogation.
Twilight nodded in sympathy, sitting down on her haunches as she pulled a quill free. This is what you did to her, Phoenix! Are you happy now? “Do you really think it came from one of your animals?” she asked next around a mouthful of feather, setting it down beside the inkwell.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Fluttershy said softly, very much wishing she could leave with her friend. “I can’t remember any of my new birds having feathers that brown or big.”
“I don’t think so either, and I’m certain they’ll clear you once they establish that fact. But it’s still odd to see a feather like that in Ponyville,” Twilight mused, next getting the inkwell open by holding it with a hoof while she turned the top with her teeth, glad she’d had the foresight to loosen it slightly when she was outside.
“There is something strange about it, Twilight,” Fluttershy noted, trying not to gawk at her friend’s awkward efforts—she clearly wasn’t used to manipulating objects without her magic.
Twilight’s curiosity was piqued. “Strange? What do you mean?” she asked quickly, getting the inkwell open but now fumbling for the quill again, finding it very hard to pick it up off the ground with her hoof and suddenly wishing Phoenix was there as he could easily do so with his fingers.
She all but growled at that. It’ll be a cold day in Tartarus before I get help from HIM again! Twilight silently promised as she finally succeeded in getting it back into her mouth.
Fluttershy’s brow furrowed, finding the clumsy manual efforts of her normally sure-horned friend mildly fascinating. “I mean, there’s something strange about the feather. It feels like I’ve seen it before,” she said uncertainly, her teal eyes looking up at the ceiling like she was trying to pin down an elusive and possibly unpleasant memory.
Twilight looked up in surprise. “You’ve seen it before? Wait! So it really did come from one of your animals!?” she asked around the quill feather in her mouth, scarcely able to believe Phoenix could have been right about that.
“I don’t think so, but still…” Fluttershy hesitated before speaking again. “I can’t put my hoof on it, but I keep thinking I should know where it came from.”
“Fluttershy…” Twilight rubbed her head with a hoof, feeling a headache coming on. “If this ends up having come from one of your animals, you’ll be in even more trouble!” she reminded her faint-hearted friend, who cringed and gave a frightened sound. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that!” Twilight just as quickly backtracked. Great. Now I’M apologizing like her!
“Look—we can’t control that, so let’s talk about the trial, Fluttershy,” Twilight changed the subject once more, deciding moving to a new topic would be best. “There were some odd things you brought up in your testimony,” she said, resetting the quill in her mouth so she could jot down some notes. Ick! How do earth ponies and pegasi write like this? I’m getting feather bits in my teeth! she grimaced, lowering her head to dip the quill in the inkwell. It took her three tries to succeed as the quill tip kept glancing off the bottle’s rim.
Fluttershy lifted her head up to look at Twilight, noting again her awkward efforts. “Odd things? L-like what?”
Twilight nodded, struggling to write a line. “As much as I hate to say it, you should have seen Apple Bloom leave that forest,” she told her through the gritted teeth that held the quill, scowling anew at the memory of who had uncovered that contradiction. Just forget about him, Twilight! You don’t need him, and you’ll have recovered enough power to send him back home by this evening! Then you won’t have to think about him ever AGAIN! “Are you absolutely certain you were watching the woods all night?” she asked further.
Fluttershy nodded almost imperceptibly. “Yes. I watched it the entire time, but I didn’t see Apple Bloom leave it,” Fluttershy insisted on her alibi.
Twilight gave a heavy sigh, losing hold of the quill in her teeth when she did so, watching helplessly as it fluttered down to her hooves, frustrating her further. “Fluttershy, she got home that night after being lost in the woods. There’s only one road in and out of there, and that’s right in front of your cottage. If she can’t fly, she had to have taken it! And you had to have seen her if you really were watching the forest after the lightning like you say,” she said in annoyance, both at her friend’s answer and at her own clumsy attempts to pick the writing implement up with her hoof again, struggling to dip it in ink. It only took her two tries that time, but she got too much ink on it; grimacing as it dribbled black spots over the paper as she raised it back up to her mouth.
Fluttershy began to tear up again. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I didn’t see her,” she insisted, cowering like she was in court again, half-afraid Twilight would accuse her as well. “Please believe me?”
“I do,” Twilight quickly assured her friend, but between her struggles with the quill and the lack of answers, the young mage was getting more than a little frustrated. Ugh! This makes no SENSE! I don’t think she’s lying, but if she isn’t, then how did Apple Bloom get out of the forest without being seen? Maybe I need to have a chat with a certain little filly today! she decided, jotting another very sloppy note along those lines.
“Well, they still don’t…” she shuddered, remembering her earlier interrogation. “The police keep questioning me about it.”
“It’s okay, Fluttershy. They’re just doing their jobs. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation to all this,” Twilight claimed, trying to calm down and re-dip her quill—it took two tries again, but at least she got the right amount of ink on that time. “So why were you watching the forest after the lightning, anyway?”
Her shy friend had an answer for that, at least. “I wanted to see what was chasing after Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy explained, looking up at the ceiling again. “She acted like she was trying to get away from something fast, and she never does that.”
Twilight raised her head up and nodded thoughtfully, not noticing that the motion spattered a few drops of ink over her chest and forelegs. “I guess it makes sense. Rainbow Dash is never one to run away—or rather, fly away—from anything. I’d probably be curious as well,” she agreed, jotting another note and wincing when she saw how poor her penponyship became without her magic, suddenly having new appreciation for Spike’s elegant claw-written script. Maybe I should have brought him along. If nothing else, I swear I’ll never get on Rainbow’s case for poor hoofwriting again!
“Yes; that’s why I watched all night. I wanted to know why she was flying away so fast,” Fluttershy claimed.
Twilight paused to dip the quill in ink again, pleased that she did it on the first try. See? Nothing to it! “Then there is that issue with the lightning,” Twilight brought up next. “You’ve got to tell me you heard two bolts!” she all but pleaded her friend to say, looking up at her sharply and sending fresh spatters of ink flying, several dribbling down her chest.
Fluttershy looked crestfallen again. “I only heard the one bolt of lightning at 8:40. I’m sure of it.” She timidly but emphatically stuck by her trial testimony.
“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight’s frustration finally got the best of her as she stomped a hoof and raised her voice a bit in frustration, not noticing the impact sloshed a small amount of ink out of its well, the black fluid running under her hoof.
Her shy friend cringed again. “Um… I-I’m sorry, but I really didn’t hear it.” She started to tear up once more.
Twilight forced herself to calm down, her own emotions still raw and not helped by the frustration over trying to take notes without her magic. “You don’t need to say sorry, I believe you,” Twilight reassured her friend, trying to force a smile, realizing a piece of a feather was stuck between her teeth. UGH!
“Oh. Sorry for saying sorry.”
I really feel like putting my face in my hooves right now! Twilight thought to herself, but settled for rubbing her temple again. “The thing is, more questions than answers come from the testimony you gave. Why didn't you see the second bolt or Apple Bloom? It’s all so mysterious,” she noted in frustration.
“Just like that paper I found…” Fluttershy agreed, giving Twilight an odd look like she wasn’t sure whether to mention something or not.
“Yeah, just like that paper—” Twilight agreed before she belatedly realized the import behind the words. “Wait. Paper? What paper?”
“I found half a letter outside my house the morning after the murder. It might have blown in from the forest,” Fluttershy revealed, her gaze repeatedly flickering to the side of Twilight’s head.
Twilight sat bolt upright, her purple eyes wide and jaw falling open, the quill falling from her mouth again in turn. “Why didn’t you say anything about this? That paper could be evidence!”
Fluttershy cringed again. “Um… because I thought it was litter and didn’t want to bother anypony about it?” she offered meekly.
“Fluttershy…” Twilight sighed wearily, closing her eyes and rubbing her head again, still not noticing the spilled ink on her hoof. “Where is it right now? And what did you mean by ‘half’ a letter?”
Twilight didn’t understand why Fluttershy briefly blushed and hurriedly looked away. “It’s in the scrap paper basket I use for cage lining next to my front door, but it looked like somepony ripped it in half.”
“Do you remember what it said?” Twilight asked, jotting down another messy note. Soon as I’m out of here and can use my magic again, I’m rewriting these notes more legibly and burning this sheet! No WAY am I letting Spike or anypony else see this!
Fluttershy was helplessly staring at Twilight’s face, her cheeks flushing again as she did so. “It was really short. It said something about saying goodbye, and it sounded really sad.”
I have GOT to see this thing! Twilight knew. “Fluttershy, I’m going to your house to get this letter you’re talking about,” she announced, removing the quill from her mouth and capping the ink bottle, noticing some had spilled and gotten on the tip of her hoof. Great. Now I have to clean up, too! She stifled a groan, trying not to be too obvious about spitting out the pieces of feather in her teeth.
“Okay. Um… Twilight? While you’re there, could you feed my animals for me?” Fluttershy asked.
“Sure thing,” Twilight happily accepted, grateful she could do that much for her friend, at least.
“And, um… tell Angel Bunny why I’m not home?” Fluttershy added, though Twilight had the impression she was originally going to say something else.
“Yeah, I’ll do that too,” she agreed, though in truth Twilight didn’t much care for the little white rabbit, who could be unfriendly, possessive and greedy, and didn’t always treat Fluttershy the best. ‘Angel’, my furry flank!
“And um…” she trailed off, looking embarrassed.
“Yes?” Twilight prompted when her shy friend didn’t finish.
She opened her mouth twice, only to close it each time. “N-nothing. Thank you, Twilight,” she gave up, looking away, her cheeks flushing again.
Twilight didn’t understand why Fluttershy was blushing, but decided it wasn’t important. “Remember what I said, Fluttershy. I’m going to get you out of here! I Pinkie Promise!” Twilight proclaimed, going through the motions of making the party pony’s oath, ending with her sticking a hoof against her closed eye. For the first time all morning, Fluttershy smiled, looking like she was trying hard to suppress a giggle.
Well, at least I cheered her up a bit? Twilight decided as she left the meeting area, already planning her next move, not understanding why the guards seemed to be stifling snickers of their own as they led her back out.
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117578 If you think about it, the feather could easily be a Griffion feather. Just sayin.
1498144
Mhrm. My theory is that the Pinkie club was used as a lightning rod by Lenora whilst Cruise Control set off the cloud a second time. The lightning would have been soundless as it would have hit a small object close to the cloud which apparently would make it silent. From there, it could have been directed at Ace, and Lenora and Cruise Control could have set up Rainbow Dash to take the blame.
1498598 that's a good theory. however, how does Sonata fit into all this?
1498701
Sonata doesn't directly fit into the murder. She was blackmailing the racers - not murdering Ace. Maybe she is involved, and frankly I would like to see her get sent to the sun, but I can't see that she would want Ace dead, even with the resignation.
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WHY HAVEN'T I DISCOVERED THIS SOONER?! i have watched the YT vid but at least with words (in chapters even!) i can take a break and not worry about losing my spot as easily
1498472 Does she do it for a reason or is it just to mess with him?
I think you may be right. So TAKE THAT, Trixie.
Man, the fic is all right, but you could really improve your grammar.
For example, in a dialogue, you need to learn how to use commas and periods.
Commas go if there's a dialogue tag after the dialogue:
"Hello," Twilight said.
And also, you start with lowercase after the dialogue, just in case you don't start with a subject:
"Hello," she said.
And periods go if there's a description tag after the dialogue:
"Hello." Twilight waved a hoof around.
In this case, you use caps for the first letter, since it goes after a period.
"Hello." She waved a hoof around.
Also, I'd really, really stop with the present tense. It looks horrible to have both present and past mixed together.
Hope you can improve in the future.
115637
It's actually a novelization of a series of youtube videos, but yeah.
1498762 you done goofed.
That feather.. Could it be.. A griffon's ? Dint dunt dunnnnn...
That was one good p-INK-ie promise if I do say so myself.
Wow us with your attorney skills, Twily!
Ia! Ia! Pinkthulhu fhtagn! Ia! Ia! Pinkthulhu fhtagn! Hastur, we wait for thee, we dream of thee...
Not well, I'm afraid. Unless you're one of those /MLP/ guys that think the ponies are about the size of a German Shepard.
Yeah, no. I wouldn't expect Arkham Asylum on Equestria.
orig14.deviantart.net/dfdd/f/2013/357/8/2/the_mane_iac_by_leibi97-d6z26kp.png
Then again...
Ugh! I never pegged Twilight as one of those people who'd read "I do solemnly swear or affirm..." instead of one or the other, but it hits my cringe button all the same.
Wha? I didn't write it. Oh...
First-world equine problems.
She spilled so much ink on herself she wound up resembling the creature from the black lagoon?
Wait, just a theory.
Fluttershy recognized a BROWN feather.
Gilda is framing Rainbow
Oh no! Twilight gave herself a black eye.
Don't know didn't liked the part with Twilight perspective in the video. Felt dragged out.
9916363
Well, we’ll see if this version works any better for you. Fun fact—originally, the Part 3 Twilight section was supposed to come before the Phoenix one, but the latter was finished first and thus released first.
I never really understood why stories would have twilight fascinated with a pen. Considering pen and pencils do exist in equestria. I mean even in season one Apple Bloom was seen using a pencil in class
10127417
They have pencils, but they use quill pens which have to be constantly re-dipped in ink. Given that, I’m sure she she’d find a pen that writes continuously without any magic or ink bottle to be of interest.
Pencils, yes. Not a pen. If you’ll wait a few chapters, you’ll see Twilight acknowledge and use a pencil on her return trip to the detention center.