//------------------------------// // 55 – "It Was Never Your Fault." // Story: Spike Quits His Job and Goes on Numerous Quests // by B_25 //------------------------------// ~55~ "It Was Never Your Fault." Canterlot is a city belonging mostly to royalty at the side of a mountain, becoming the capital of Equestria due to its dualistic rulers establishing both their castle and home there. It is common for ponies on their first trip to the city to sometimes vomit on arrival, due to the high altitude that the city rests on. It is also due to this reason that a misconception was associated with this city. Average ponies believe that royalty built the city sky-high back in the day to forever display their superiority over them, as well as to have the nobles always looking down at the working class without having to move their neck. It is unknown how many noble ponies know that this is a misconception as well. The Circular Platform is sometimes labeled as the center of Canterlot by the surrounding inhabitants, not because it branched off into five paths that each led to a separate district of the city, but rather because it’s believed that the circle that overlooks the nature far below it is in the dead center of the city. Currently, the platform was not overflowed by ponies trying to reach their destinations but rather filled with the Royal Guard tossing one another spears and displaying their purpose by standing still in the place they were ordered too. The Princess of Day came to a swift landing on the same platform with a few steps ending her flight. She caught sight of her stallions filing up and down the many staircases and taking guard atop the roofs of the surrounding buildings, which they cast a shielding spell around in an attempt to prevent as much damage as possible. The Princess loves her guards, but they weren’t the ones her eyes were searching for. The purple orbs came to rest on the corner of the platform filled with ponies all lying down, some huffing as if their next breath would be their last. Celestia cut their distance between them in an instant as she spoke upon her arrival. “How it brings me tremendous relief to see all of my little ponies back together and okay.” Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie all rose their heads away from their friends to the source of the new voice. They quickly stood and bowed to their Princess, who merely shook her head at the gesture.“None of that, please. For now, we are all friends pained by the agony our friends are experiencing...how are they? Each of the younger mares looked to one another for they knew not how to put the situation into words, opting to step aside and let the Princess see the scene for herself. Twilight lay asleep with her back against the wall, each breath still more like a pant. Fluttershy sat a few hooves away from her as her quivering form obscured whatever it was she was crying over. The Princess was delicate with her next few steps as she approached the side of the mare, where she found Rainbow Dash body lying on the ground. Celestia suffered a loss of breath as gibberish absorbed her thoughts for the moment. Then Rainbow heaved a heavy breath, which caused Celestia to do the same. “Goodness gracious, I thought Rainbow hadn’t survived the dragon encounter!” Fluttershy only pressed her face further into the fur of her friend at the idea of her friend being killed. The Princess knew she had made the mistake in not only saying her thoughts out loud but in allowing the Elements to treat her like they would a friend. For each and every one of their eyes silently judged her character. “Tell me, Fluttershy.” Celestia tried to ignore the eyes trained on her back in order to comfort the friend she had definitely hurt. “I can see now that my guard has already disinfected Miss Rainbow Dash’s cuts and sewed together any slashes that have gone too deep. So why must you weep so much for your friend that’s going to be okay?” Fluttershy tilted her head back so she could close her eyes before being able to see the sky. “I don’t know!” The sight made Celestia take a step back as she glanced over to the cowpony, reading the implications written over her face. She didn’t waste a second in sitting next to the kind pegasus and wrapping her in an angelic wing. “Shhh, my little pony. It’s not your fault. It was never your fault.” Fluttershy still cried with her head falling forward, coming to hang as more sniffles still escaped her. “What happened, happened because Rainbow loved you enough to want to protect you with her life. She’ll be okay soon enough, and I’ll see to it that the dragon responsible for this horrible incident pays for his crimes.” Fluttershy didn’t have anything to say in response, besides burying her head in the wing and nuzzling the white feathers. It was an act that brought warmth to the solar ruler’s heart as she tightened her wing. But the measure to make her promise come to fruition had yet to be put in place, causing her a great pain as she slowly slipped away her wing and returned to her hooves. The remaining Elements saw that their relationship with Celestia would go on hold by the way their Princess stood. “Elements of Harmony!” The elegant voice rang loud enough for the nearby sniffles to cease and for a certain pair of lavender eyelids to split. “I come to you with one request that you, unfortunately, must accept. It is your choice whether or not you wish to fight alongside the guard against this dragon, but regardless of your choice, you must feel nothing but compassion for this enemy.” Three surprised voice shouted the same word in unison. “What!” Celestia could only close her eyes and nod her head. “Listen closely, my little ponies. I cannot begin to imagine the terror that began to possess you at seeing your best friend snatched away before your very eyes, and I can very well understand wanting to fight this dragon with everything you got in revenge. But rage and malice toward this dragon will do nothing to seal away his harm toward other ponies.” “So you wish for us to forgive this dragon for giving us the impression that our friend could be eaten alive at any moment!?” Rarity played the silly idea in her mind and the anger derived from it fueled her to stand proudly against her monarch. “Even if that dragon were Spike in disguise, I could not forgive anyone that possibly cruel.” The alabaster mare knew exactly what cards she was playing with when she mention the Princess’s son, testing her resolve with an equivalent situation. While she didn’t like to play other ponies games, Celestia knew she had to empathize with her ponies. “Even if it were the creature I care for as much as I care for all of you, I would still seal him away with the power of the Elements of Harmony if he meant to do harm to my ponies.” Rarity dared another step forward as she rose a brow. “And just how much of that do you actually believe?” The taller and smaller alabaster mare were locked in a staring contest to see who’s resolve would falter first. At one point in both of their lives, a certain young dragon had labeled the two mares angles. If that same dragon were to see them at this moment, then he would have an entirely different opinion. “I think you may be misreading my feelings in this matter.” Celestia tried to keep her tone composed, but she couldn't hold back on it spiking at times. “I seldom feel anger for I know it a waste of time even in my eternal life, yet I can’t help but desire to rip the claws off the dragon that dare hurt my previous ponies and shove it down his throat. But I know that I’ve exhausted too much magic protecting the city and that our only chance lies in sealing the dragon in stone.” Rarity went to take another step and to raise her voice so she could match the Princess in the argument, but a small voice next to her had already spoken first. “I don’t think I can do that.” Both alabaster mares looked to Fluttershy, who had picked up Rainbow’s head and laid it on her lap. “How could I ever forgive the dragon who almost...killed my best friend? Even if he didn’t mean it, how could I ever wish something good to someone like that!?” Celestia continued to watch the kind mare begin to tear up again as she cried her next words. “I-I agree with Rarity!” Fluttershy tried to speak through the sniffles, closing her eyes as to not get any tears on her friend. “Even if it were Spike who had turned to greed by mistake, I don’t think I could ever forgive anyone who tried to kill the only friend I had when I needed one!” The Princess hid behind her poker face to hide away the agony she felt at watching the scene. Being a mare of both war and peace, she knew what sacrifices needed to be made in order to ensure that latter, regardless of how many times she saw it. But it still broke the latter mare’s heart at asking for the undoable. “I-I’m sorry Princess.” Applejack stood up next to Rarity’s side, taking off her hat with a slight bow of the head. “I know we need to do this in order to defeat the dragon, but asking us to have compassion for him is too soon. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think erase this hatred that I feel.” “I could.” Everypony turned to Pinkie, who sat on the ground with her mane in a mess. “I wouldn’t want to, but if I had to feel a certain way to help out a friend, then I’d be willing to do so.” Silence reigned over the small corner of the Circular Platform as everypony had to digest their thoughts at the moment. No one had noticed that the lavender Princess had awaken, though she was still too weak to yet speak. “Y’all...need to stop being wimps….” Everypony looked to Applejack, who merely shook her head in response. “That...wasn’t me.” “Feeling...instead of fighting...is supposed to be your forte, Rarity.” the muffled voice spoke once more. “...and...whatever happened...to the Applejack that would do anything it took...to save her farm. Or...are pony lives...just not worth the same…?” Everypony’s collective heads began to trail to the back of Fluttershy, who rose her head and opened her eyes to the source of the new voice. “...you...Fluttershy….really? A kind mare like you...would forgive a dragon who accidently destroy a town...even if he weren’t Spike…” Even the Princess couldn’t hide her surprise behind the poker face as her eyes lit up in the reveal. “...The Princess...is right. You gotta do...what ya gotta do…” Everypony, with the exception of Twilight, promptly screamed and surrounded the now awaken pegasus. “Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow Dash rolled over her head and gazed at everyone one of her friends, even going so far as to give a slight nod to her Princess to compensate for a bow. “Who else would I be?”