Applejack
At first, Ah thought this was it. The low point. Could it feel any worse than watchin' a bunch of kids get killed in an accident that was practically my fault? Yes, it could. Now it was rainin'. We kept walkin’ in wet silence fer a while. The harbor wasn't too far from the castle, but it was far enough to be at least a thirty minute walk. The image of her corpse wouldn't leave my head. Goddess, Ah mutilated her damn face... Who was the monster, really?
“Hey...” Ah heard my captive say behind me through the rain. It was startin' ta get heavier and we were only half way ta the park. Ah didn't want ta respond ta him. The longer Ah keep my mouth shut the longer Ah keep from lashin' out.
“Look I... I'm sorry...” he said. Ah could feel the veins on my forehead begin ta bulge. Ah stopped and turned around.
“Sorry!? Sorry fer what!? Fer gettin' a bunch of teenagers killed? Fer lettin' that girl die? Fer half my goddess damned tail!? Tell me asshole, just what exactly are ya sorry fer? 'Cause right now, Ah think ya should keep yer damn mouth shut.” Ah eyed the teary bastard fer as long as Ah could stand ta, then turned around and kept walkin'. He didn't say anythin' back and followed quietly. Obedient little shit. We made it ta the castle after some more walkin' in the rain.
“What... is this place?” He asked, awe struck by the castle. Ah suppose the rain cooled me off because Ah didn't lose it again when Ah answered.
“Fer the next five or so hours, yer home of incarceration.” Ah walked up and knocked on the door. “Ah have the prisoner Twilight. Where do ya want me?” The door slid open and then responded,
“Take him down the second hallway to the right, then into the last door on the left. Where is... um, Blur?” Twilight said from the door.
“On my back at the moment. She passed out durin' the fight.” We started down the hallway until we found the door Twilight was talkin' about. It didn't look quite the same as the rest of the castle, and inside it was a table with two chairs and a lamp. All the walls looked like mirrors and reflected every image in them in the light blue color that most of the upper castle floors were.
“Sit tight. Ah don't know what exactly we're doin' with ya, so Ah'm about ta go find out.” Goose nodded and took a chair, all the while keepin' his eyes trained on the floor. Lookin' at him in this red eyed, sorry state reminded me of somethin'. Fer a second, if only that, Ah felt a twinge of sympathy. Bastard musta been cryin' the whole way here... Ah shut the door behind me and turned ta find the whole gang in the hallway, includin' the night princess.
“Geez! Damn it Twilight, we talked about this!” However, she didn't react right. She looked... concerned, her ears down and that frown on her face... everypony but the princess, and oddly enough, Fluttershy, looked that way.
“Applejack... are you okay, darling?” Rarity asked. Ah sighed.
“Fer now... let's just not, alright? The laser cauterized my tail on impact, and Ah've only got a few bruises here and there, so Ah should be fine. If anypony, y'all should look at Pinkie. Ah lost track of her durin' the fight and Ah don't know if she got hit on the head or not.” Rarity took a step forward, but the princess interrupted whatever she was about ta say.
“Twilight, I do not have all night to be here. I cannot stay to console whatever wounds their battle inflicted,” Luna said. Twilight sighed.
“Applejack, open the door across from the mirror chamber. It's a conference room, so you can say whatever you need to in there,” Twilight said. Ah nodded and did as Ah was told. A long table that could seat more than twelve ponies was in the middle with chairs lined all around it. Ah took the head of the table and sat Pinkie in the chair ta my left, then waited for everypony else ta come in. They all made their way in on either side, Rarity and Fluttershy sorta limpin' ta their seats, and Luna lookin' a little irritated like Ah took her spot sittin' next ta me. Once everypony was seated, Fluttershy was the first ta ask.
“W-what happened, Applejack?” she said, surprisin'ly at volume.
“And more importantly, why have you called me here?” Luna added from the other side of the table. Ah was tempted ta giver her a look, but Ah started ignored her.
“At first, it didn't look like anythin' was gonna go wrong. But once we got ta the harbor thin's kept gettin' worse. When we got there, we thought the harbor was empty and immediately knew somethin' was off. We found out we were stuck in a one way prison when Goose showed up. Goose is a power pony of some kind, but he has more than one power. Ah couldn't tell how he was doin' it, but it definitely was him and not somepony else because Ah knocked the wind out of him and he stopped teleportin'. He also took a punch from me and didn't have his forelegs broken afterward, so he's more than just an earth pony. He's a damn pervert with some twisted sense of justice that makes him think it's not okay ta hit a mare which brought us ta the proposal ta fight off his harem for his freedom.
He had seven girls with different powers come at us all at once and it went about as well fer them as ya think it would. After we'd taken out about five of em', Ah offered ta let them surrender, and that is when thin's took a turn fer the worse. One of the two teenagers had the ability ta spawn portals on surfaces she could see and opened up a hole somewhere that had a... a mirror in it. It was strange and curved, like it reflected more on it's surface than possible. She took that and put it on her chest before either of us were any wiser fer it.
Her body started pulsin' with all her veins turnin' black just under her coat, and then it started ta change. In this grotesque, awful soundin' transformation, she turned inta a damn dragon of some kind. All big and spiky, lined with crystals along her spine, scales now coverin' her body. She roared and broke the prison we were in, then fired some kinda laser in the just about crowd of grunts Goose had workin' the pier. Pinkie saved as many as she could, and Ah tried ta stop the monster from firin' in the first place but... she killed just about twenty ponies with one shot. Ah'm not sure if that's right or not, Ah was... there was a lot goin' on. There were... limbs and charred pieces... everywhere..." Ah shook the images outta my head and tried ta get back ta the story.
"Ah figure seein' all that death at once just about sucked the will ta fight outta Pinkie and she collapsed. Ah couldn't stop the dragon from firin' and so Ah grabbed Pinkie and tried ta get us away. That's when she got my tail... Ah don't remember too much after that though. Ah think Ah started ta get my senses back when Goose kicked me off her body. She broke one of my wrist bands, and Ah guess Ah used the other one ta strangle her. At some point Ah ripped her eye out, and at another Ah put a hole in her mouth... She was barely breathin' after all that, but Goose found and broke the mirror that had become part of her body in a fit of rage. She reverted, but... that... that was the end of her.
As it turns out, Goose had been rescuin' his ponies while Ah was out of it, and even got Pinkie ta safety...” Ah paused fer a minute just ta let that sink in. Ah almost didn't believe my own words. Ah shook my head and got back to it. “The reason Ah called ya here was ta ask what kinda monsters y'all have been fightin'. These thin's were just about exactly what Ah needed ta have ta fight that damn dragon. That and ta ask fer a new pair with thicker cables. If Ah ever run inta one of those again, Ah need somethin' that won't snap as easy when it gets slashed at.” Ah turned ta the princess, but she however, was not lookin' at me, but the table. Everypony else had a face of shock, and Pinkie was still out cold. It took a while but eventually, Luna spoke up again.
“I see you have had an... eventful night. I... have things I must attend to. I will send a new pair of cable braces here for you sometime in the week. This has been... informative. Call upon me again if anything like this happens in the future.” The princess said, then got up from the table.
“Hold on a minute, that's it? Ah watch twenty teenagers die in one night, one of which just so happens ta turn inta a monster that you gave me tools perfect ta fight with, and ya just up and leave after Ah tell ya? What kinda shit is this!?” Ah yelled.
“Applejack...” Twilight began. Ah cut her off.
“Don't you Applejack me, Ah don't give a damn who she is, this is fucked up!” The princess didn't look at me, but spoke.
“I understand your concerns, but as I said, I do not have time for this. We will speak privately about this matter at a later date.” Ah stood up. Ah wasn't ready ta give up yet.
“Why? What's more important than havin' yer subjects turn inta fuckin' MONSTERS!? This ain't just the virus actin' up, this a threat to yer people that not every city can deal with! If it weren't me, who else do ya think coulda dealt with that!?” She finally looked me in the eyes. Hers were cold and mostly emotionless, but deep in there there was a hint of sadness.
“I have my own job to do, Major. I protect the citizens from things you could only imagine in your darkest nightmares. On top of that, I deal with all the high courts and legal matters during the night, when most acts of crime and villainy occur. I have countless ponies to attend to, and even more to protect from the things that would like to devour them. Your concerns are validated, this is true. However, I can not spare any more time for you now. You will have audience with me as soon as I can arrange it, but until then, there will be no more cursing and shouting at me, do you understand? Major?” Somehow, she managed to keep from raisin' her voice even once. The princess kept her icy tone the entire time, save fer the moments she emphasized with stone. Specifically, every time she called me Major. Ah sat back down.
“Yes ma'am...”
“Good. I will see you soon. Goodnight to you all,” she said as she headed for the door. Twilight looked like she was gonna try ta stop her, but she relaxed and looked away instead.
“Um... thank you for coming... Aunt Luna...” Twilight said, her voice trailing off toward the end. The princess paused at the door.
“... You are welcome, my niece.” She walked out and gently shut door behind her.
“Gah! Marevelous, look out!” Pinkie yelled, breathing heavily. She then looked around and took note of where she was. “Wait... what happened? Why are we back in the castle?” Her settled on me and suddenly Ah started ta feel anger well up inside again. Ah tried ta shake it off and answer her as best Ah could. That princess pisses me off in just all the worst ways.
“Well, ya passed out durin' the fight at some point. Ah don't know what ya remember, and outta all of us, he probably has the best picture of what happened.” She looked away fer a moment, then turned back ta me, her eyes all wide under those pink goggles.
“You didn't bring him here did you!?”
“Ah didn't really have much of a choice, all thin's considered.”
“Ugh, that creep is in my house? I still can't believe you made a deal with him to begin with. Unbelievable.” Now my anger was beginnin' ta build toward her.
“Listen here, Blur, That creep is probably the reason you're still alive. Ah lost track of ya and my own damn senses and Ah didn't get em back until Ah'd killed that teenager. Ya mighta been helpful initially, but after you watched all those kids ya couldn't save die ya just fell apart! Ah don't know what you've seen since ya started doin' this, but you're a hero fer goddess sake! If ya...” Ah took a breath. “Had ya not... then maybe that girl would still be alive...” Ah trailed off. Ah could feel my teeth diggin' inta my cheeks. Pinkie looked away from me, and a deathly silence fell in the room. The other three didn't know what ta say, Ah was feelin' sorry fer myself, and Pinkie was probably doin' the same. After what seemed like hours, somepony finally spoke up, and Ah don't think any of us expected her to.
“S-suck it up,” Fluttershy said. The attention in the room shifted, and suddenly it was all on her.
“... What?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“S-suck it up. Y-you did what you could. A-and we can't ask for any more than that. P-ponies die. N-no matter what you do or who you save, t-they'll all die eventually and there is n-nothing you can do about it. N-nopony on this earth is like Twilight and her family, y-your actions can only prolong the lives you s-save and that is all there is to it. W-what else there's nothing you can do a-about just so happens to be this s-simple fact; s-sometimes, it's kill or be killed. I-I don't know if you realize it, but you f-fought off a dragon tonight. S-she may have been a pony at one point, a-and she may have left the corpse of a p-pony at another, but when you were f-fighting, all you did was try and s-survive, and there is nothing wrong with that.
O-of all of us in this room, I would have expected y-you to know that best, b-but I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet. Y-you cannot save everypony. Y-you will not save everypony. L-letting the death of one w-weigh you down just keeps you from p-preserving the lives you could save. T-the world is cold and indifferent to us, s-so we put on these masks to try a-and make it better. B-but feeling sorry for yourself? T-that isn't going to do anything for anypony, e-especially not you.”
It made me wonder. Just how much has she seen? How many has she killed? That shy yellow pegasus, and the monster that lies just beneath the surface. Just which one has done more? Has she been holdin' that in all this time? Twilight tried ta break the tension in the room.
“Fluttershy, I don't think that that's really appropriate right now...” Ah shook my head.
“No, she's right. Ah do know better. Ah should know all of that, and Ah shouldn't have ta have somepony tell me any of it. Ah don't know that there is anypony in this line of work that hasn't watched somepony die or been the cause of death. Ah'm sorry Pinkie. Ah shouldn't be blamin' anypony fer anythin' right now.” Pinkie shook her head and sniffed.
“But... you aren't wrong or anything... If I wasn't in your way things probably would be different right now...” She said. Now Fluttershy stood up from her spot next to Pinkie. She looked... mad.
“R-really? T-this again? G-get over yourself! T-this is the third time since you've joined that you b-broke down in the middle of a fight. H-having a conscience is fine, b-but if it weighs you down that much, t-then you might as well quit. H-how many bullets have I put b-between somepony's eyes for you? H-how many brains have we s-splattered for you over these last six months? H-have you been counting? B-because it feels like any time we do, y-you fall apart like some whiny little b-brat trying to play super hero. M-maybe you're right. M-maybe you are just in the way. I-I'm going to bed. C-call me when you aren't h-having a damn hug box. I-it's fucking suffocating in here.” Fluttershy got out of her chair, whipped Pinkie across the face with her tail, and slammed the door on her way out. Pinkie broke down and started cryin', Ah was more or less stunned that Fluttershy had that in her, and Rarity tried ta console Pinkie.
“I um... I think we might all be tired right now. Why don't we pick this up in the morning?” Twilight said, tryin' ta brighten the mood. Ah looked ta Rarity and we both nodded at each other.
“Ah figure that's fer the best. What are ya gonna do with Goose? Even prisoners get a bed ta sleep on at least.” Why am Ah concerned about him?
“Oh, right. I can arrange a bed in that room I suppose. This isn't exactly mother's castle, so there aren't any dungeon cells beneath it. Oh, and before I forget, I'll try to get a hold of mother and see if there's anything we can do about your tail. I'm sure your family would be concerned if you came home suddenly without half of it.” Ah felt my lower spine twitch. Aw hell, Ah completely forgot about that! Ah'm missin' half an appendage, of course they're gonna be concerned! There ain't enough lies in the world ta cover this up. They think Ah'm a damn janitor...
“Oh shit. Uh, yeah, do that if ya would. Goddess, that's gonna take one hell of a lie ta cover up...” Ah helped Rarity take Pinkie back ta her room and Twilight went ta talk ta Goose from the one way mirror in the room next door ta the mirror chamber. Based on what she said, He wasn't gonna go anywhere any time soon. Tonight was stressful, and Ah don't think anypony felt good about what all happened here. Just another night at work Ah suppose...