//------------------------------// // Lost Cause // Story: Grief is the Price We Pay // by Scyphi //------------------------------//             Spike and Thorax didn’t get far in their flight before a trio of pegasus city guards appeared behind them, giving chase. Spike quickly spied them after they hadn’t gotten much further than a block away from Fly’s shop. “We’ve been spotted!” he cried anxiously to Thorax.             Thorax shot a glance back at the pursuing guards and immediately upped the speed of his flight. “Hold tight!” he told Spike. “I’m going to try and lose them!”             Spike tightened his grip about Thorax’s neck as instructed, and did so in time for Thorax to drop altitude so to be flying between more obstructing buildings, then turn sharply as he twisted around a street corner and onto a new street. The turn was so sharp that Spike felt his stomach get compressed into his liver as inertia tried to hurl him off Thorax’s back, but he maintained his secure hold of Thorax. The guards still kept on their tail though, and recognizing their targets were trying to lose them, they upped their own speed too. Undeterred, Thorax kept at it, weaving dangerously fast and sharply around buildings and anything else that could be put between them and their pursuers, trying to keep themselves out of the sight of the guards as much as he could. At most, though, the guards lost a little ground but otherwise successfully maintained their pursuit.             Deciding he couldn’t keep this up forever, Thorax changed tactics, and the next time he sharply turned around the corner, instead of continuing to follow the street below them, he used the small gap of time they had while they were out of sight of the guards to loop around one building and come shooting back onto the street they had just left, appearing behind the guards as they surged on ahead, not yet realizing that their targets were now behind them. Using their momentary confusion to their advantage, Thorax used the chance to try and put as much distance between them and the guards as they could. For a moment afterwards it looked like they had successfully lost the guards, but to play it safe, Thorax opted not to resume course for the airship yard just yet, and instead chose to follow a false course pointing in the direction of the Vanhoover train station. He was ultimately glad that they did, because abruptly the guards reappeared and resumed the chase, though neither Thorax nor Spike could tell if they were the same guards or in fact a different set.             At any rate, it didn’t matter. They weren’t losing them fast enough. “All right, enough of this,” Thorax decided, allowing his horn to reappear on his disguise as he planned out his next move.             “What are you planning to do?” Spike asked, having to shout in order to be heard over the rushing wind during their rapid flight.             “Something I hope will actually work, or it could end this chase very quickly!” Thorax admitted, deeply concerned the trick he was about to attempt would only go awry.             He didn’t have any better ideas though, and Spike made no attempt to suggest any alternative either, so Thorax proceeded with the plan, putting on first a burst of speed, going as fast as he could force himself to go, so to put as much distance between himself and the pursuing guards. He then did another sharp and abrupt turn around another street corner, but after getting little further than halfway down the street they had turned onto, he came to an abrupt halt, twisting around to face back the direction they had come, hovering in place. In that same moment, he cast a spell that created a sphere of faint cyan mist around them, shrouding them almost like a fog, but it tingled like the energy it was.             As the guards rounded the corner ahead of them and started heading right their way though, Spike started to panic and he pressed the side of his head into Thorax’s. “What are you do—?”             “Shh!” Thorax shushed, quickly clamping a hoof over Spike’s mouth, silencing the dragon.             The guards drew nearer and nearer to where they hovered, the tension growing thicker and thicker as they bore down on the dragon and changeling’s motionless location. Then, just when it seemed certain that the guards would be springing themselves upon the two, the guards instead abruptly flew on past them as if they didn’t even notice them, continuing to fly on down the street without slowing. Spike and Thorax twisted around to watch them fly off before vanishing from sight as they rounded the next corner at the other end of the street, continuing to search for targets they had already passed right on by. Once they were gone from sight, Thorax slowly flew over to a nearby rooftop to land, the sphere of cyan mist Thorax’s spell maintained following them tightly as they went. Only once he had all four hooves solidly on the rooftop did Thorax slowly remove his hoof from Spike’s mouth.             “Sorry about that,” he whispered to the dragon as he reoriented himself. “But I wasn’t sure the spell was going to mask sound too, so it was best we both stayed silent.”             “What did you do?” Spike asked in a similar whisper, regarding the mist shrouding them with puzzlement. His eyes widened slightly. “Did you make us invisible?”             Thorax hemmed and hawed to himself for a moment while he got his bearings for the direction the airship yard laid once more. “Sort of…more like I just made us…unnoticeable,” he explained. “It’s kind of a combination of spells using both pony and changeling magic that I had devised once during my studies, but I had never actually attempted to physically cast before now. I wasn’t even sure it was going to work.”             Spike winced, realizing just how big a risk Thorax took. “Glad that it did work.”             “Me too,” Thorax said as he took to the air again. “But the point is that we’ve given the guards the slip, and so long as I maintain the spell, it should at least be hard for them to pick it up again, so hopefully we can take a straight shot to the airship yard without problem now.”             “And get the hay out of here before something else goes wrong,” Spike added in agreement, warily watching their surroundings for trouble.             A table had been set out on the second floor of the shop and Fly Leaf sat down at it, under guard still, so to be interrogated by Twilight. By this point in time, word had reached the princess that Spike and the changeling had managed to give the city guard the slip, to the princess of friendship’s great concern. However, the city guard was quite confident that they were still in the city, were still actively searching for them, and were now beginning work to bring in the aide of the Vanhoover police as well. Regardless, the tense situation was still at its tipping point, and it was anyone’s guess still whose favor it was ultimately going to lean towards.             It made Twilight anxious, and it showed as she worked to question Fly Leaf while Applejack hovered in the background behind her, listening. “Miss Leaf,” Twilight stated, trying to keep her patience in light of the antics of the stubborn mare. “I realize this is all very distressing and difficult for you…but I really need to know anything, anything at all, you can tell me about where the changeling plans to take Spike.”             “Away,” Fly simply replied, for the fifth time since the interrogation of sorts began, being stubbornly unenlightening as she glared defiantly at Twilight.             Twilight frowned at this, but Applejack leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “Y’know, she really may not know,” she pointed out to the purple mare.             Twilight refused to believe that. She was quite certain Fly knew something that would be vital to their search, but the shop owner was deliberately withholding it out of what appeared to be pure rebellion at this point. And it was really starting to try Twilight’s patience. “Miss Leaf, please,” she begged. “It would be to the benefit of both of us and Equestria at large if you would just tell us what you know.”             “I’m still waiting for you to explain why,” Fly replied curtly.             Twilight sighed. “I’ve already explained the situation to you, so…”             “You’ve explained your version of the situation, but you haven’t given me any definitive evidence proving it.”             Twilight frowned. “Miss Leaf, I get you don’t want to believe it, but your two employees are not who they have claimed. You have been deceived.”             “You underestimate what I know, your highness.”             Twilight perked up slightly, as this was the first time Fly had made any real comment that she knew more than she had said, but didn’t want to get her hopes up, knowing Fly wasn’t going to surrender whatever knowledge she had so easily. “Why don’t you enlighten me, then?” she asked, still trying to be patient.             “I already tried,” Fly snorted. “You aren’t listening.”             Twilight licked her lips, already having an idea where this was going, but steeled herself so to humor the mare. “I am now.”             Fly regarded Twilight skeptically for a moment. “Thornton and Spike are innocent,” she said bluntly.             Outwardly, Twilight sighed as her expectations were unfortunately met. Inwardly, she was fuming at the mare’s stubbornness. “Spike certainly is,” Twilight relented. “But he has been misled, if not worse still, by the changeling. The changeling, however, most certainly is not innocent.”             “So you keep telling me, but princess,” Fly Leaf leaned closer, “just because he’s a changeling doesn’t mean Thornton is trouble.”             “Miss Leaf, I don’t think you know the changeling as well as you think.”             “Look who’s calling the kettle black. How long have you interacted with him? I’ve been working closely with those two for the past four moons, and have gotten to know them and their characters very well. Neither of them are capable of the criminal feats you’re trying to accuse them of. In the whole four moons they have been here, neither of them have done anything to cause harm or trouble for anyone, and in fact have actively looked to prevent such things!”             Twilight thumped her hoof on the table between them, her frustration about to reach a breaking point. “Miss Leaf, I will remind you that changelings are masters of deception and manipulation! I’ve seen them first-hoof go to incredible lengths to get what they want, and they aren’t afraid to go about it unethically! And this particular changeling is guilty of kidnapping, impersonation, threating the royal family, trespassing, plotting treason and conspiracy, assault, and potentially more that we don’t know about yet! It’s nothing short of a miracle that no one’s been killed by this changeling yet!”             Fly Leaf actually laughed scornfully. “Thornton isn’t capable of any of that!” she declared. “He can’t even kill a spider that’s fallen into a bathtub! On the contrary, he’d sooner help a pony than do them harm! I’ve seen him do it. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a gentler soul than his!”             “But I’m afraid your observations prove nothing,” Twilight replied flatly. “This changeling is cunning enough that he’s demonstrated he can manipulate others to believe what he wants startlingly well. I fear he has tried the same thing on you, Miss Leaf. I have little doubt that all of these traits you have mentioned are simply tricks of his to convince others that he is something that he is not.”             Fly Leaf gaped at Twilight for a long moment, staring at the princess as the depth of refusal to listen sank in. “You really won’t see him any other way, will you?” she breathed, her expression and tone a mixture of shock, disappointment, and dismay.             Twilight’s frown deepened, and she averted her gaze to glance through the notes she had been taking during her questioning of Fly. She decided she wasn’t going to dignify the comment with a response. But then Fly, seeing this, kept talking.             “Spike was right about you. You really are a lost cause.”             Twilight was suddenly on her hooves, slamming her front legs hard on the tabletop as she glared at Fly with a barely contained fury. Before she could do anything reckless though, Applejack was immediately at Twilight’s side, pulling her aside so to intervene.             “Twilight,” she said sharply. “Maybe it’s time ya took a break.”             “There isn’t time for a break,” Twilight hissed back at Applejack. “The longer this takes, the longer Spike—”             “Losin’ yer temper ain’t gonna help with that either, Twi,” Applejack pointed out simply, cutting the retort short.             Twilight shot a glare back at Fly Leaf (which was returned), then let out her breath in a long exhale through her nose, deflating a little. “Fine,” she conceded. “Maybe I do need to do something to clear my thoughts a little…there’s something I wanted to investigate further upstairs anyway.” She jabbed a hoof at the guard that was standing beside Fly though. “Keep her under close guard though. She is to not leave this building for anything without my okay, and monitor her actions closely.”             “Yes your highness,” the guard replied with a nod.             Twilight then jabbed her hoof at another guard who had taken a monitoring post at the second floor staircase landing. “As for you, I want to make it as hard as we can for them to flee the city. Keep patrolling the city border, the train stations, and the harbor, and I want ponies sent out to have any public means of transportation in and out of the city shut down. If they are going to try and escape, I’m at least going to make them work for it.”             “What about the airship yard, princess?” the guard inquired.             “Have them ground all flights until further notice,” Twilight instructed. Fly glanced up suddenly at this.             “Yes ma’am,” the guard said, and proceeded downstairs to spread the word.             Twilight turned for the stairs herself, but she twisted her head back for a parting glance at Fly. “We’re not done discussing this though, Miss Leaf,” she assured.             “Lovely,” Fly replied. Her voice lacked sincerity.             “I’ll be upstairs trying to open a safe if you need me,” Twilight then stated to no one in particular and proceeded to head up the stairs, vanishing from sight. Applejack gave Fly one last parting glance herself, her expression troubled but otherwise uninterpretable, before following Twilight upstairs.             Fly Leaf watched them go then allowed the silence to settle in the room in their absence, mulling upon her situation. She was frankly shocked and disturbed by Twilight’s attitude to all of this. When Spike had conveyed to her that trying to peacefully talk this out with Twilight was a lost cause, Fly had wanted to believe this wasn’t the case, that one just needed to keep trying until the right approach was found and that Spike was simply being faithless. But now that she had personally interacted with Twilight, she could see Spike hadn’t been exaggerating. Worse, it was almost tragic seeing just how much Twilight had deluded herself into thinking there were no other explanations for their situation than her own…and Fly worried that the fact that Spike, someone she suspected Twilight actually did still care deeply for, was caught exactly in the middle of all of this had only worsened this delusion of the princess’s.             Stranger still though was the fact that Fly wondered if Twilight was alone in this pattern of behavior, as she noticed other ponies didn’t seem to be thinking quite as resolutely on the matter as Twilight was. Applejack had largely kept her personal thoughts to herself while in Fly’s presence, but Fly could still see in the country pony’s eyes that she had her misgivings about Twilight’s strict approach to all of this, and Fly felt that it was Applejack’s reacting to those misgivings of Twilight’s various actions, being the voice of reason from time to time, that was keeping this matter from exploding even more out of control than it already was…and Fly felt Applejack knew it. Even more alarming was that Fly sensed that even some of the guards were reacting with slight hesitation to Twilight’s almost obsessive behavior.             Unfortunately, none of this especially helped Fly’s current situation, and it wasn’t so much herself she was worried about at the moment, it was Thornton and Spike. She took comfort in the fact that they had managed to elude capture thus far, but would they be able to continue to do so long enough to escape Vanhoover? And wherever it was they chose to go next after that, would they be any safer there? What worried Fly the greatest though was the fact that the longer Twilight Sparkle failed to find them, the more inclined she seemed to seal off any ways in and out of the city.             This most recent order wouldn’t be so problematic if it had kept to just grounding any means of public transportation in and out of the city, as Fly assumed Spike and Thornton would be taking the Vergilius, a private means of transportation. But then Twilight ordered all flights at the airship yard grounded, and that would certainly include the Vergilius, private or otherwise. And even then, knowing how much Thornton’s recent love of airships would be clearly reflected on things he possessed in his room, Twilight could put two with two even sooner than that and move to raid the whole airship yard. If Spike and Thornton weren’t out of the city by then…             Fly thought she’d feel a lot better about the matter if she could just get out of here and to their side, at least long enough to ensure their safe departure. But how could she do so when she was trapped inside her own shop and under constant guard? There was no way she could slip away undetected. Of course, that may not be a big problem if she simply got large enough of a head start. And it was around then that Fly, in watching her sole guard—an earth pony—keeping watch over her, the lithe stallion having moved to stand at the other end of the table from Fly to stand sentry, noticed that her one guard seemed fairly youthful in comparison to some of the others and she started to get a hunch.             She folded her forehooves on top of the table and leaned closer to the guard. “So…stuck watching little ol’ me, huh?” she quipped with a grin.             The guard, to his credit, acted unfazed. “I have my orders, ma’am.”             Fly gave him a mock salute, still grinning. “Understood. It’s nothing personal, then. You seem like you’ve got plenty of experience at this sort of thing anyway.”             At this, however, the guard shifted positions slightly, as if uneasy for split second. “Well…actually I’m still a relatively new recruit.”             Fly raised her eyebrows. “Oh really?” she asked, sounding intrigued, but inwardly was thinking, Bingo.             “Uh, yeah, they needed everyone they could for this little incident,” the guard elaborated, but then quickly added, “Not to say that I don’t still have enough training and experience for this, of course.”             “Of course, I didn’t mean to imply you didn’t,” Fly said. She shrugged. “Just so long as you have the ability to take orders and beat ponies senseless on demand, right?”             The guard chuckled nervously a little. “There’s more to being a guard than beating ponies up, ma’am,” he pointed out. “Besides, I’ve only just recently completed basic combat training, so…”             “Oh really?” Fly inquired, this time intrigued for real. “Basic combat…what does that include? Any martial art stuff?”             “Uh no, just basic hoof-to-hoof combat and a series of basic defensive spells for the unicorns,” the guard explained. “I won’t be getting any martial art training until the advanced combat training course that starts this spring.”             “So then you wouldn’t know any martial arts like, say…” Fly waved one hoof about casually. “…guizhou fa?”             “Uh, no, I guess I wouldn’t.” The guard then frowned and tilted his head at her. “Why do you ask, ma’am?”             Fly simply grinned sweetly at him. “No special reason,” she lied.