//------------------------------// // Apologies // Story: Direction // by Darth Link 22 //------------------------------// What followed was the most awkward, miserable two hours in Gilda’s life. Even with what she went through in the months afterward, which was plenty painful, did not compare to how horrible the whole thing was. First was apologizing to the other ponies. Thankfully, they took it in good grace. With Fluttershy, this was no surprise, given what she already knew about her from flight school. Pinkie surprised her a bit more, though in hindsight it really shouldn’t have. This was the same pony that tried to throw her a party even after finding out she was a bully. After that was apologizing to Granny Smith. She hadn’t thought this one would be so bad, because she remembered the elderly mare as being a few apples short of a basket, but she seemed to have things more together than before. Thankfully, she had quite a forgive-and-forget attitude as well. It was then time to set up tents. She mostly worked in silence... or tried to, anyway. Pinkie inevitably came over and tried to talk to her. “Hey Gilda!” Gilda cringed, but remembering her promise to Rainbow Dash, put on the best smile she could manage, which ended up being more terrifying than friendly. “Yes, Pinkie?” She was thankful that this pony’s name was easy to remember... Pinkie was pink. She hoped to catch the names of the others before it got awkward. “Have you ever been camping before?” She asked. “Not really. I never liked the ground too much. Fluttershy didn’t even know about it until she fell...” Gilda had met Fluttershy shortly after she had met Rainbow Dash. She had never liked her in those old days, only barely tolerating her because of Dash’s presence. Thankfully, she didn’t have to spend much time with her, because the things they liked to do rarely overlapped. In fact, she wasn’t even sure what the two had in common to be friends. Her resentment for Fluttershy expanded when Rainbow Dash was kicked out of flight school following an incident that Gilda never got the full details of. When that happened, Fluttershy had been on her way to her apprenticeship in Ponyville, and Dash, having nothing better to do, decided to go with her. Gilda had been angry at the time, Dash hadn’t even asked if she wanted to move to Griffonstone. In hindsight, it was obvious why not. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t want the move to a foreign country, away from everyone she ever knew. Ponyville had Fluttershy. But at the time, a childish anger prevented her from seeing the logic, and an even more childish mindset made her blame Fluttershy. Being caught red-clawed in her actions was an embarrassing, but eye-opening experience, even if it took awhile for the lesson to sink in. And now... “Ooh! Ooh! We should throw you another party to make up for that icky one that happened last time. I think Dashie will avoid pranks this time. She’s a responsible mama and I don’t think Soarin would appreciate it too much.” “Wait... Soarin? “Yeah.” “As in, the Wonderbolt?” “Uh-huh. They’ve been dating since the Royal Wedding.” “Which Royal Wedding?” “The Royal Wedding where Twilight’s brother and foalsitter got married, and we had an absolutely emotional moment, and we fought off an evil army of shape-shifting bugs.” “...What?” “And then we fought off this evil group with a leader that didn’t really think things through, and Dashie and Soarin were drugged, but they managed to fight some ponies off while Twilight scared the rest by telling them all the different ways she could kill them.” “...What?” “And after that we vaporized an evil Shadow Pony, then stopped Trixie, and then some pony stole Twilight’s Element, so she had to go into a mirror to stop them.” “...What?” Gilda turned and saw Applejack had trotted up to them. “Is all that true?” “Yep. It happened sometime after Twilight took Cerberus back to Tartarus.” “...You know, if you ponies had told me you were this hardcore, we could have been friends a long time ago.” Applejack looked a little annoyed at the comment, but she suppressed it quickly. “Yer gonna be in a tent with Rainbow an Scootaloo, ain’t ya?” “That’s right,” she said. “Figures. Well, ya think you can make room fer one more? I think Trixie’s gonna be bunkin’ with you two.” At hearing this, Gilda felt a bit of a chill run across her back. “The Unicorn that attacked the town? Is she already here?” “She is. She’s in the barn, preparing for something else that she needs to do.” Celestia looked at the Sun Stone. She never thought she’d see it again, this magical object, from a time before even she existed. Very few ponies knew about this even existing, and she wanted to keep it that way. Daring Do, by now looking very much healed, was gazing at it with a reverence that was rare for her. While Daring always had a certain respect for history and understood the importance in preserving it, very rarely did that take precedence over the adventure. But here, sitting in plain sight, was the legendary artifact that Megan had used. It was breathtaking. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” “It is,” Daring agreed with the Princess. “Have you... ever seen it before?” Celestia shook her head. “No, Megan was long before even my time. I remember learning, from Clover the Clever before his death, from Starswirl the Bearded after the Reign of Discord, from several others, the massive power the three artifacts held.” Daring Do nodded. Even if they were rarely involved in the same story, the three major artifacts the legends spoke of were always mentioned together. The Sun Stone, the Flash Stone, and the Rainbow of Light. It was the dream of every archaeologist to find them... “And I let six rookies find it instead of me,” Daring said. Celestia put a wing over her. “Don’t feel too bad. Have you found anything in your studies?” “...I think I have,” Daring Do said. “I’ve been looking through the records, and I found a reference of Megan being seen in what is now known as Kludgetown.” Celestia looked at Daring, not showing any emotion. “Megan traveled the world, fighting monsters. Could it simply be another of her adventures?” Daring shook her head. “It’s more complicated than that. This was after Megan’s little world tour and the formation of Tartarus. This record... it’s a letter, apparently written to one of the castle staff that got stuck inside one of the library books. As a result, it got preserved but would otherwise be considered unimportant. It’s written by some stallion writing to a friend in the castle. It’s mostly unimportant, but... in the middle of it, he mentions a pony he only calls the village idiot who claimed to have seen Megan. They mention the Campaign and say that not only had it ended, Megan was supposed to have departed to her world by now. They mock him as an idiot. But maybe she was there hiding the Rainbow of Light...” “Or the Flash Stone,” Celestia said, musing. Daring Do looked at the Princess. “The Flash Stone was destroyed,” she reminded her. “According to the legends,” Celestia reminded. “The Legends are sometime inaccurate. Remember, King Scorpan seemed to disappear after the Legend of Midnight Castle, and... were the Grundles ever heard from again after the Story of the Smooze? I must go over the legends again.” Daring Do saw her point. Records could lie... “I would like permission to depart for Kludgetown as soon as possible,” Daring Do said. “I can allow it, just be careful. Queen Novo just reported the downfall of some tyrant known as the Storm King.” “The Storm King?” “Apparently he started some campaign or another, but Novo found out, contacted the Dragon King Dyne, and together they ran roughshod over him.” “They didn’t contact you?” “No need. They handled everything. Queen Novo has an all-powerful Pearl, and it’s not like she would just go run and hide. But during the Storm King’s reign, Kludgetown became a hotbed for criminal activity. Piracy, smuggling, maybe even a slave trade, so tread carefully.” “I will. Trust me, I can handle myself.” This was a kind of living Tartarus for Trixie. She had never in her life felt worse, even when her parents kicked her out, even when her livelihood was destroyed, even when the Amulet’s influence was finally purged from her. But as bad as it was for her, she couldn’t imagine it was any better for the pony she was about to meet. The pony she had wronged the most during her time under the influence of the Amulet. Her stomach felt like it was trying to implode in on itself. She wanted to throw up, but held it in. If somepony as young as Sweetie Belle was facing this, she had no right to complain. So she sat in the barn, waiting for the one she had been waiting for to enter. She wanted to get this over with, wanted to move on from her mistakes. But... some mistakes stick, don’t they? Her parents had shown that. Zecora was next to her, occasionally giving her student a nuzzle. Trixie appreciated the gesture, she had appreciated having somepony... well, some zebra to confide in. Through all her solo traveling, through all her caring about herself, she had forgotten how much others could bring her life up. The barn door opened, and Trixie’s heart started beating three times as fast. Rarity walked in, keeping her eyes on the showmare. There didn’t seem to be anger in her look, but there also didn’t seem to be any forgiveness. She looked neutral, which worried Trixie even more than an angry look would have. She suspected that Rarity’s emotions were warring with each other so much that none managed to reach her face. After a moment, the second figure entered. It took her a full minute, because every step for the little Unicorn was slow, like each of her hooves had been weighed down. “You don’t have to do this,” Rarity said. Her face finally showed emotion, one of motherly concern. “This is all your decision.” Sweetie looked like she was considering it, but continued moving forward. Trixie felt tears prick her eyes, despite her attempts to hold them back. Sweetie, this Unicorn, looked so small and afraid, afraid of her. She knew she deserved the fear, after what she had done to her. She had become a monster, and even if she wasn’t in her right mind wearing the Amulet, she had still deliberately sought it out for a petty cause. She felt something brush against her and nearly started. Sweetie had reached her, unseen through her tears. She hadn’t even realized how badly she was hiding her emotions. The young Unicorn could barely be seen through the thick wall of tears. And she... she was nuzzling Trixie. This small Unicorn foal that she had hurt so badly had seen how much she had been hurting and was trying to comfort her. She felt the tears come out even more. Slowly, Trixie opened her forelegs. Very carefully, Sweetie allowed herself to be hugged. Applejack watched the scene through the small crack in the barn door. Giving a satisfied smile, she pulled back and looked at Fluttershy, who seemed apprehensive. However, Applejack’s happy look calmed her. “Looks like everything’s gonna work out.” Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness,” she said. “Now let’s hope the rest of the town is as forgivin’ as Sweetie is,” Applejack said. There was a moment of silence before Fluttershy spoke next. “What do you think will happen next?” “No clue. Celestia seems done with us fer a while, so maybe things will get peaceful ‘round here... but then again, whoever lured Twilight into the other world probably ain’t gonna just wait around until she gets back.” She gave a sigh. “Oh, this is bad. I hope Twi’s havin’ more luck than we are.” “Do you think the Changeling Queen had anything to do with this?” “I doubt she has the brains to pull this off,” Applejack said. “She ain’t too clever fer a creature that can shapeshift, if ya haven’t noticed.” Fluttershy didn’t reply. Applejack suspected she didn’t want to concur, finding insulting even the Queen to be a bit much. “Let’s just focus on th’ here and now. Gilda an’ Trixie are what we need to worry about. We’ll take everythin’ one step at a time.” Trixie broke off the hug, and for a moment the two Unicorns just looked at each other. “I... I don’t even know where to begin, trying to make everything up to you,” Trixie said. “I don’t even know if I can. But... I’ll try.” She started tripping over every world. “I... I’m... sorry, for whatever that’s worth.” “Twilight said something like that to me once.” Trixie started. “Twilight Sparkle? But... she...” “She’s made mistakes,” Sweetie said. “I... I don’t think I should tell you everything. But... she made everything better eventually.” There was silence for a moment, then Sweetie spoke again. “We should get outside. The tents are set up, and that means they’ll be making smores soon.” Trixie felt the conversation shouldn’t be left at that, but then wondered if simply letting time pass would be best for this. So, she rose to her hooves and let Sweetie guide her out of the barn.