The princesses, and dragoness, looked at me with varying expressions, though all had an air of confusion about them. Princess Twilight looked more intrigued than confused, Princess Celestia was looking at me with mild curiosity, at least I hope its curiosity and not weariness, and then there’s Barb. She is looking at me like I just went insane. I mean, technically I’m not insane, but I do feel like it sometimes due to the ever increasing amount of internal monologs that I’ve been doing lately. Like right now for instance, and it looks like Barb is about to give me an earful, given that her cheeks just puffed out adorably again. “Are you serious? Are you really trying to bribe your way out of this, because if you are it’s not going to work! Nothing you say or do right now is going to let you get away with this, because at the end of the day you undermined the laws that were put in place to keep everypony safe! Not to mention that what you were doing is not only extremely dangerous to you, but if you made one mistake you could have been the cause of so many innocents’ deaths! My friends’ lives could have been ended by one mistake on your part! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED EVERYPONY I CARE ABOUT!” Barb shouted.
When Barb stops her rant she’s holding me up by the collar of my shirt with one claw and the other was currently not even a centimeter away from cutting my throat. The only thing that stops me from having to change my pants, even though they’re brown, was the fact that she was crying. Just seeing her, or anyone, cry was enough to make me do something that could either end well, in a sense, or very bad. She drops me when she notices how close she was to ending me, and that’s when I make my (hopefully good) move. I reach out with both arms and give her the most sincere hug I can manage, all while I say I’m sorry over and over, even though I know that no matter what I do could help console her like a friend of hers would. That thought alone sent another jolt of guilt through me, and the worst part about this is that when I came to this town to start the project, it was under the pretense of it having one of the lowest populations and only one large business. To me the people of the town where just another number, and I knew that it was wrong, and through the whole project I never once thought of how, if the engine was to go super critical, it would affect the families and friends of those who would perish.
When I finish my internal struggle/rant/tirade, Barb and I are both crying into each other’s shoulders, slumped into a kneeling position, with the two Princesses staring at the both of us in shock and confusion. I would be too if I was in their position. Seeing your sister/daughter verbally scold a wanted criminal, almost kill that criminal in the process, then break down and cry onto his shoulder only to have the criminal start to cry as well. Add all that up together and you get a mass of sobbing, confusion, and a one sided feeling of relief to be alive.
Though that feeling was very short lived for me because one moment she was there, in the next I’m being forced off the ground and away from her, only to meet the eyes of what amounted to a literal god. “Mr. Skies, as I loath to admit it, as much as I appreciate you trying to console my daughter, I wouldn’t recommend doing it again unless you’d like to become something to be swept under the rug. And might I remind you that it was your actions that caused her this pain, so in my eyes you have done much more than simply gone against the law. Though unfortunately I must admit that it takes courage, and much of it, to attempt to console an emotionally fragile dragoness.” She puts me down gently, which is really surprising, and turns to Princess Twilight with what looks like a knowing look, I really don’t know because not a word were spoken and Princess Twilight gently ushered the much better looking , albeit still distraught, Barb outside. Though just before she makes it off the front porch, which is still covered in guards by the way, she stops and turns around to look directly at me. We just stare at each other for a few seconds before she mouths ‘thank you’ and hurriedly makes her way down the rest of the steps and out of sight with a, evidently, confused Princess Twilight at her heels.
I stand there for a while, looking at the spot Barb had previously occupied, and wonder about what just happened, and in my head is a very simplistic representation of it, an over view if you will. So I get scolded by a cute deadly dragoness who shortly after breaks down on my shoulder when I give her a hug, only for me to break down and cry like a baby too in front two of the most powerful beings in existence. After that’s all said and done I’m not so subtly threatened to be turned to ash, given a very small amount of thankfulness by said Princess, who is also Barbs mother, who wanted me dead. Only for Barb to say thank you to me? Is it just me or is my life becoming more and more insane by the minute, and should I be worried about these internal recaps I keep having, because it’s been…okay, I’ve been looking at nothing for the past six minutes while in the same room as the Princess, the one who I think doesn’t hold even a grain of respect for me ( I don’t count the whole courage thing. I don’t think she really meant it) alone. She stares directly into my eyes, hers hard and ready to serve justice, and mine only getting wider as I come to a realization. “So, Mr. Skies, we have much to discuss.” I am utterly screwed.