--- Facing the Consequences ---
Out of everything that had happened today, Twilight was at least thankful that Sweet Apple Acres was so relatively remote when compared to the rest of the town. The long, slow walk through the apple orchard was just what the doctor ordered for her freshly-agitated nerves. It wasn't an easy decision that Twilight had just made and now she was left to wonder if it had even been the right one in the first place. Momentary feelings of regret were enough to get her to reconsider her actions and see if there was still a way to wriggle her way out of this. The three guards who had come to collect her now surrounded her and Spike in a triangular formation, two behind her to the left and right and the third directly ahead of her. Meaning that there would be no way for Twilight to abort this mission without at least one of them seeing her book it. It was a no go, she was in this for the long haul. Once they got back into town, everyone would know about her being an alicorn. A worthy sacrifice to help take some of the attention off of Spike, at least she hoped it would, but it still wasn't a sacrifice that she wanted to make. The logic was sound.
"Twilight?" Spike whispered at her, drawing Twilight's attention back to the real world and the situation she found herself in. "Everythings gonna be okay, right?"
"Of course, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't sure." A confident smile accented Twilight's lie convincingly enough, at least enough to get Spike to ease up a bit. This in turn acted as a way to get Twilight to calm down ever so slightly about what she had roped herself into, but it was unavoidable at this point. "It might be rough for a bit, but we'll get through it."
That part wasn't a lie, though it was meant more for herself than it was for Spike. She needed the reminder that this wasn't the end of the world, even if it felt like everything was collapsing at the seams around her. This was a phenomenally bad idea, Twilight had only realized in retrospect, one that was undoubtedly going to cause far more problems than it would fix. It was all becoming clear to her now as her panic continued to fester behind the calm facade she held for Spike's sake. All it was going to take was one person to see those wings of hers for the chain reaction to start, news of the sudden and previously unknown alicorn spreading like wildfire through the town. From there, it wouldn't take much for that rumor to spread far and wide across Equestria. For the most part, Twilight was able to theorize that most individuals would just write it off as some tall tale or lie, a logical assumption to make given the scarcity of alicorns in the world. Even without this parade through Ponyville, with how many people who had seen her today, it would have only been a matter of time before this news reached the right ears and would draw curious eyes to her and Spike. Queen Celestia would be amongst those who believed the story, and Twilight didn't even want to think about all the possible ways that conversation could go.
Thankfully, a distraction from these thoughts was quick to make itself known.
"Did... did that... he... just talk?" The guard to the left muttered in shock, slowly stammering through the question with great care to try not to offend either of them in the process. She was clearly taken aback by the prospect, eyes locked upon Spike with great intrigue and conflict.
"Yes... he did," Twilight managed to reply as calmly as she could. Despite the guard trying to not insult, Twilight had taken some deal of offense to the way she had begun to word that sentence. "And he has a name. It's Spike."
"H-hi..." Spike gave a cheesy, toothy grin and a nervous wave to the quizzical mare observing him intently. This had gotten one the attention to the guard on the right, and he similarly peered around Twilight.
"Whoa! How'd you teach him to do that?" The young stallion asked with absolute wonder held in his eyes, trying to get as good of a look as he could without breaking formation. The question wasn't an outlandish one, Twilight could at least give him credit for that much. Even if it looked more like he had just seen an animal perform an impressive yet novel trick, it was to be expected after all. While they weren't ideal, these kinds of reactions were to be expected. And Twilight was going to have to expect a lot of them from here on out.
"The same way you'd teach a foal," she replied blankly, "I just... talked to him. Read to him. Helped him build up a vocabulary... nothing out of the ordinary."
"He must be a pretty clever little critter then," the mare guard idly commented, "What is he anyway? Some kind of magic iguana?"
This was absolutely absurd. It had only been less than a half-hour ago when these two guards had been trying to bound and gag Spike in the belief that he was some dangerous wild animal that needed to be contained. And now here they were, playing a game of twenty questions with Twilight trying to learn as much as they could about him. While this sudden turn around gave Twilight hope that maybe the townsfolk would be accepting of Spike without much fuss, but some irritations came with this development. The worst part was that they didn't seem to acknowledge he was even there, speaking about and above him like he was some kind of pet or accessory. She could only imagine how humiliating and demoralizing that must be for Spike to sit through right now, especially after everything else that had happened today. She didn't need to look very long to see him slightly trembling beneath the gazes of the two curious ponies. It likely didn't help that he had been previously tackled to the ground by these very guards, something that Twilight couldn't help but think about.
"Save the questions for the station," the older guard leading the way was quick to interject, much to Twilight's relief and the other two's dismay.
That was all it took for them to go back to being as stoic as they could, occasionally stealing glances at Spike now and again. This change got Spike to loosen up a bit, which in turn got Twilight to relax more as well. Right now, every concern in her head was centered on making sure that Spike got out of this mess with as few drawbacks as possible. Twilight herself was already well practiced with dealing with having these kinds of issues and anxieties, something that her son was far less experienced in. She could count the number of times she had witnessed these kinds of hardships affecting Spike on her hooves, and most of those incidents had happened within or very near Ponyville itself. Much as Twilight's cloak had been torn from her, Spike had lost a sense of security and safety within the past several hours. Even after supposedly making up, Twilight could still sense some confusion and distrust between herself and Spike. Not enough to get him to run away again, thankfully enough, but it was clear that he was still somewhat alienated by everything going on around him all at once.
Twilight hoped with all her heart that this would be the first step in repairing the harm that she had unwittingly caused her son in that fit of rage and pain, and mentally fortified herself for the worst as her little escort party passed beyond the large gate leading into Sweet Apple Acres. It wouldn't be long now before they were back in Ponyville proper, and now there was certainly no withdrawing from this plan to use herself as bait to keep the heat off of Spike. Twilight did everything she could to keep her anxiety and squirming from showing on the surface as they passed the first few buildings of the township, finally coming back into the town proper. And just as Twilight had been dreading, it wasn't long before they encountered the citizens within. The hustle and bustle caused by Spike's running about had calmed down in the time since Twilight last saw. Only a dedicated few seemed to keep the search efforts alive while the rest had simply gone back to their mundane everyday routine. Things changed when Twilight and company began making their way down the streets, and it didn't take long for one set of wayward eyes to catch sight of the trio of guards and their willing prisoners. At first, the pony who had noticed them had caught glimpse of Spike and had begun to make some kind of an uproar, something along the lines of "there it is" from the sounds of it. But his eyes hadn't remained on Spike for long, and once his gaze hit Twilight he fell silent and wide-eyed just as everyone else who had seen her today had. The interrupted outcry was enough to get the attention of a few other ponies and it all snowballed from there.
Never before had Twilight viewed Ponyville as such an alien and foreboding place, but the silence that followed the first few sightings was quick to put that perspective into her head. All she could hear was the light crunching of grass beneath hooves as they all proceeded forward at a painfully slow rate, as well as her escalating heartbeat pounding in her ears. The silence was utterly damning. Now and again she heard a few hushed murmurs between clusters of closer ponies, the gossip almost equally split between the unusual dragon and the unexpected alicorn walking through their town. Rumors and speculation wouldn't take long to circulate around the town at this rate, upsettingly enough. The guards surrounding her and Spike were enough to keep most at bay, though now and again they would have to turn away someone too curious to remain shocked in silence. But this thin layer of protection wasn't enough to protect Twilight from what was going on in her head.
She could practically feel every single wide set of eyes that fell upon her as the slow march moved ever forward, unrelentingly gazing upon her like the wondrous oddity that she was. Each one served to further escalate the constantly growing sense of anxiety and dread building up within her. Every fiber of her being was focused on remaining as outwardly calm as she possibly could, the only sign of her dismay that was able to shine through was the occasional twitching of one ear or the other. Over and over again she kept telling herself that every set of eyes on her was one that wasn't on Spike, and that was enough to keep her as casual and calm as one could be in her current predicament.
The act of walking into the town guard station brought with it a sensation of relief that was almost unrivaled in Twilight's mind, the sudden lack of eyes upon her causing a huge weight to lift itself from her shoulders. Of course, she wasn't out of this mess yet and that was made clear when the first guard asked her and Spike to continue down the hallway. Again, Twilight didn't put up any resistance and emplored Spike to come along as well, and after a much shorter walk through the precinct with far fewer eyes falling upon them, the two were brought into a dull room lit only by a single lamp in the middle of the ceiling. The only features to be seen within the stony grey walls was a simple table, a few chairs, and a very large mirror. An interrogation room, if ever there was one. The guard politely asked Twilight to wait here for some time and simply walked off, gently closing the door behind him when he did. There was no accompanying click of a lock afterward, so the two of them weren't trapped here at the very least. Not that a simple lock was going to be enough to keep Twilight in here though. Either her willingness to comply had earned her some good faith or they didn't want to tick her off again.
Regardless of their reasons, the second that there was some semblance of privacy Twilight let out the longest sigh of relief she could remember unleashing into the world. It wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be, but that short walk through Ponyville was going to have ramifications very soon. And at this moment that fact was weighing heavily on Twilight's mind.
It's gonna be okay, it's just gonna take time, Twilight silently told herself again, taking long and slow deep breaths to calm her agitated nerves. It might take a few days... or weeks... or decades... but everything's going to be fine.
"Twilight? You don't look okay..." Once again, Spike served well as the anchor tying her down to reality as he made his concerns known. "What's gonna happen?"
The fear held in his voice was enough to get Twilight to snap out of her funk, shaping back to a calmer persona to lessen the tension in the room. "I already said, everything's going to be fine. But we're in a bit of an awkward situation right now, so we just need to sit down and explain—" A sudden tingling surge running across her body got the alicorn to stop dead in her tracks.
Spike wore his confusion plainly as he waited for Twilight to finish her thought. "... Explain what?"
There wasn't an answer, Twilight far too focused on the unusual sensations tickling and prodding at her. It wasn't painful or invasive, but it was noticeable enough. It was like a weaker version of that numb sensation you get when your leg falls asleep, except it was moving in shallow waves up and down Twilight's body. Offput by the bizarre feeling, her head snapped off to the left to glare at the large mirror at one end of the room, and she instantly knew what was going on here. Everybody knew about the one-way mirrors that were used in these kinds of interrogation rooms and how they were used to observe whatever was going on within, and Twilight didn't need to be told what was going on beyond the glass.
"Spike, do you feel weird at all?" Twilight didn't take her eyes off of the mirror even for a second. "Like a... weird tingling sensation?"
"I... don't think so?" Spike's anxiety only seemed to worsen with Twilight's questions. He recoiled inward in a meek flinch, placing a claw against his chest in an attempt to better sense if anything was wrong with him. "What's going on? Is there something happening?!"
"It's nothing bad. They're just checking me for illusions or anything like that," Twilight ruffled her feathers as the unseen scanning washed over them again, "And they're not being very subtle about it either."
"Why are they doing that?"
"They probably don't believe I'm an actual alicorn." Twilight scoffed in the dirrection of the mirror with an almost smug grin. "Not that I blame them."
"Wait, why would they even know about that? You..." The dragon's statement trailed off when he took a closer look at Twilight. The look that came upon his face at this moment was the exact same look that Twilight had been receiving from others all day, although the exact emotions behind Spike's reprise were a bit different. "Y-y-your cloak! You're not wearing it!"
"Did... you only just now notice?" There was something of a short chuckle on Twilight's part as she smiled softly at him in response. "Well, you've probably had a lot of other stuff on your mind."
"B-b-but why aren't you wearing it?!" And now the only thing on his mind was Twilight, which he showed quickly by rushing up to her in a panicked state. "You told me before it was really important that ponies don't know about your wings! And we just walked through—" He stopped mid-sentence and pure horror formed on his features. "We just... walked through the whole town... and I thought they were staring at me... but they were actually... oh..." There was a deafeningly silent pause as Spike in the ramifications of what had just transpired, Twilight inwardly cringing at him figuring it out on his own this quickly. "Why would you—"
"Because you're more important," Twilight answered without a second of hesitation, "You don't need a million ponies gawking at you right now. And this was the only way I could think of to get some of that attention off of you."
The unwilling investigation of Twilight's person had ended at around this time, the magical poking and prodding of her person stopping just as suddenly as it had started. All was rendered quiet in the interrogation room, with Twilight and Spike being left to their own devices for the time being. And as the minutes continued to tick by without change nor interruption, they both found themselves growing less and less anxious and more bored than anything else. The time was used wisely if nothing else, Twilight putting in the effort to try and ease Spike's worry about the discussion that was to come next as much as she possibly could, as well about his dismay towards everything else he had been confronted with on this day. And much to her delight, there was some decent progress being made on that front. It was slow progress but the long dragon was starting to come back out of his shell. With each passing moment, he was drawing ever closer back to the Spike that Twilight remembered and loved. The healing process had begun, and that was what mattered most right now.
It had been nearly seventy minutes of waiting before someone finally came into the room to deal with the Twilight and Spike, which served as a swift and potent reminder to them both of where they were and why they were there. An older, though not quite as old as Granny Smith, earth pony mare stepped into the room with little fanfare or haste. She carried with her a small dossier, likely containing everything she believed she needed for this discussion. Her dull tan coat and greyed mane was a sign of the pony's age, while the golden framed glasses and green ascot gave the impression that this pony held a great deal of importance. Twilight was able to recognize her without much effort on her part, as this hadn't been the first time she had a run-in with the town's own Mayor Ivory Scroll. Although the last time these had spoken had been a much briefer and less substantial occasion, just a quick greeting while Twilight had been in the process of registering as a citizen of Ponyville.
So they went all the way to the top, the idle comment formed in Twilight's head as the other mare sat down at the table across from her, Guess nobody else knew what to do.
Ivory sat at the opposite end of the table and rested her folder upon the wooden surface, glancing across it towards Twilight and Spike with her rich indigo eyes, caught somewhere between curiosity and surprise. The lack of the traditional wide-eyed stare was enough to tip off Twilight that she was at least expecting to have a run-in with an alicorn today, not something that many of the other residents of the town could say. Though that didn't stop her from modestly gawking at the sight before her, as even being told in-advanced what she was in for wasn't nearly enough to prepare her for this unusual encounter. And after an awkward silence, the older pony cleared her throat as politely as possible before she began.
"So... there will be another joining us sooner or later to figure out what we're going to do, but for now, you have some explaining to do." Her tone was equal parts frustrated, tired, and curious. Understandably so, given the impossible scenario that had been brought to her attention. "Specifically regarding those registration forms you filled out when you settled down in my town. About how you identified yourself as a unicorn with no... company, to put a word to it." She gestured calmly towards Twilight and Spike in a slow wave. "I don't think I need to point out the discrepancies here."
Respectfully authoritative would be the way Twilight would describe the tone that was being used here. Ivory Scroll was without question the one who held superior power here as far as the law was concerned, and she wasn't letting Twilight's true nature as an alicorn intimidate her into bending over backward. She was treating Twilight the same way a regular person who was on the wrong side of the law would be treated, yet still, the older pony was at least respecting Twilight's dignity. Something that Twilight could both respect and appreciate.
"Now, while I do have my concerns about that first part, I'm personally far more invested in the company you keep. If I may be so audacious, could you explain your friend here?" Ivory kept the same level tone throughout her request, only breaking eye contact with Twilight to gesture towards Spike briefly. The question itself, however, was met with a raised brow on Twilight's behalf.
"You're... not going to ask about this?" A wing was raised and presented alongside the question.
The mayor's outward persona faltered for a short moment with that reply. "There's... technically nothing illegal about being an alicorn, and I don't believe it's a story you're going to be willing to tell me."
Should have caught me earlier, you wouldn't have been able to stop me, Twilight joked at her own expense.
"But, if you insist, I'm sure there's a few who'd appreciate some form of explanation. It's not every day an alicorn walks into Ponyville, after all."
Twilight didn't know what she was expecting to happen when she shifted the focus to her wings on her own accord, and the new request was enough to make her sigh. "It's a... very long story. The short version is that there was an incident that made the Queen want to make me an alicorn—" a disgusting oversimplification—"and you can ask her yourself if you don't believe me. And I'd be willing to stay in custody for however long it takes for you to contact her if that helps."
"It... does... I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything more than that..." It was obvious that the vagueness of Twilight's answer was a point of irritation here. "I hope your explanation for him is a bit more descriptive. As he is one of the primary reasons for this little meeting of ours... as well as your actions towards my town guards, of course."
Before Twilight could say anything, Spike very calmly propped his forelegs up onto the table to better present himself. "She's my mom."
Those three simple words got two very unsimplistic reactions from the two ponies in the room. It was Twilight's turn to give Spike a pair of impossibly wide eyes and a hung-open mouth, an expression that the town's mayor was matching in an almost mirror-like fashion. And while Twilight couldn't speak as to why Ivory was reacting this way, she knew very well why Spike had roused this reaction out of her. The meaning behind those three words by themselves was enough to justify every horrible thing that had happened today. The sheer amount of joy and love that began to swell up in Twilight's heart with that statement was almost too much to bear. She had to actively fight the urge to outwardly react further, as while she wanted to drown him in an unending torrent of love and affection right now, there were other more important things to deal with at the current moment. With the mayor's interview being one of the bigger ones.
"My word, he-he-he can actually talk!" Ivory Scroll stammered out without any dignity or grace. "I-I-I was told that he could, but I didn't think—"
A thunderous crash brought everything to a stop when the door was suddenly kicked in. The loud bang was followed up with a loud, irritated groan and a very long slurp from some mug. A very tired looking Rainbow Dash was the one responsible for these abrupt interruptions, carrying with her a half-drank cup of coffee and a very bad attitude. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused, her usually unruly mane even more so, and her posture was wobbly and uncertain. She looked like there was a very good chance she was just going to fall over and die right then and there as she stumbled further into the interrogation room, kicking the door shut behind her with just as much force as she used to open it. The pegasus had earlier claimed that she had been up for over twenty-four hours and based on how dead tired she looked right now that claim was believable.
"Alright, Ivory, there better be a damn good reason why your boys got me up to—" The bitter words stopped right when those half-lidded eyes noticed Twilight and Spike. And for a time, she just stood there. Lackadaisically gazing upon the alicorn and dragon in much the same way a very dumb cow would gawk at an oncoming train. There was this long moment where Dash didn't look like she could even process what she was looking at or understand the implications of it in the slightest. But this moment was just that, a moment, and soon enough Dash was able to catch up with what was going on. Her lazy expression transformed into one of severe disappointment and irritation, the pegasus practically fuming at what she had just been thrown into.
"One day. All I asked you. Was to go one day. Without getting into deeper shit. Just one day," the pegasus forcefully placed her mug upon the table as she spoke harshly through clenched teeth, "What. In the ever-loving buck. Did you. Do?"
This got the surprise that Ivory held to be redirected away from Spike and over towards Rainbow Dash. The way Dash had been talking was more than enough to tip the mayor off, and she picked up on it without any difficulty. "Wait... Don't tell me you know her?"
"Oh, I know her all right," Dash didn't take her searing eyes off of Twilight for a second to address the mayor, "And I really wanna know what she did to wind up here. Exposed. With her dragon and everything." Ever so slowly, Dash's head slowly turned back to glare at Twilight with unprecedented malice. "The floor's yours, egghead. Take it from the top."
For a time, Twilight honestly didn't know where she should begin. She had known from the beginning that she'd have to explain the day's events in some form or fashion, just to try and give some context to herself and Spike, yet she hadn't once considered what exactly she was going to say in their defense. What aspects of the story would she leave out? The idea was to try and de-escalate the situation from where it was now, and there were a few pieces of the tale that likely wouldn't serve that purpose. Leaving those bits out wouldn't be that difficult of an endeavor, it wouldn't be the first time Twilight had only told half a story, but the sudden introduction of Rainbow Dash threw a wrench in that plan. Not that Twilight was any less willing to spin half-truths for the pegasus, but the issue arose from Dash's connections and contacts. Pinkie Pie and Rarity specifically, the two ponies who had unintentionally acted as the catalyst for all of this. Yesterday's events had proven that the three of them were well acquainted with one another. It stood to reason that Dash would hear some recount of the tale from at least one of them at some point or another, and lying to her now could prove to be disastrous in the future.
Or at least, that was what Twilight was able to hypothesize given the current standings of everyone and everything. If Pinkie wasn't going to be the one, Rarity more then certainly would be the one to squeal to Rainbow at one point or another. It seemed like the better option to just get it all out in the open right now, after all, how much worse could this situation possibly get? So Twilight, for once, did as Rainbow Dash told her and went back to the beginning. A few of the specific details were left out of the recap, but most of everything was put out in the open. From her shameful encounter with Pinkie and Rarity up to her standoff with the town guards, and everything else in between. The two ponies hearing this tale for the first time were at a loss for words for most of it, with varying reactions through the whole experience. But by the end of it all, both of them looked to be thoroughly done with today in general, caught somewhere betwixt anger, confusion, and mental exhaustion.
Dash sat in utter silence, her face cupped by her forehooves as she processed Twilight's recount of the day's events, slowly shaking her head back and forth seemingly in denial or some other similar sentiment. Mayor Ivory, meanwhile, was in much the same boat in all honesty. Her head was propped up by a foreleg as she sat there with her eyes closed, a long and drawn-out sigh signaling almost perfectly what was going through her head at this very moment. Twilight took the lull in the conversation as an opportunity to check up on Spike, seeing quite clearly that he had regressed into a very obvious state of guilt. It wasn't ideal, but it was unavoidable at this point. The following silence seemed to drag on forever, nobody having the resources or state of mind to form any kind of cohesive reaction.
"You... really don't like making things easy for yourself, do you?" Rainbow was the first to break the stalemate, resting her forelimbs on the table with a strained look of great vexation. "Most of it wasn't that bad... but it certainly wasn't good."
"I'm not going to try and defend my actions. I shouldn't have done what I did or acted how I acted, plain and simple." Twilight spoke clearly and plainly without a moment's hesitation. "And I'm willing to accept the consequences of what I've done. Whatever they are."
"At least there's that," Ivory growled to herself as she reached for Dash's half-drunk mug of coffee. The long since cooled beverage had gone ignored by its owner thanks to that very interesting story of Twilight's. "I need this more than you." That was her only response to Dash's shortlived protests before the older mare buried her snout into the lukewarm liquid. A heavily muffled gurgling scream could soon be heard emanating from within the porcelain cup for an extensive period before the mare swiftly withdrew herself with a loud gasp, her pale snout now stained by the brown beverage.
"Alright! Let's just forget about the alicorn part and the dragon thing, and just focus on the things that are actually covered by the law! Alright? Alright!" Any and all signs of the dignified demeanor that Ivory Scroll once held were gone entirely, replaced only by this frantic and stressed out persona that looked like she just wanted this problem done and dealt with. "Ignoring all of that, all we have to deal with is just one case of disturbing the peace within the sanctity of your own home, one unwilling displacement of one town guard, and seven charges of minor assault against seven town guards." After the momentary meltdown, Ivory quickly sucked in a deep breath that she released very slowly, allowing her to regain a fair bit of her lost composure.
"Thankfully... no one was severely hurt in any of these occurrences, which does help all of us out. So if it pleases the alicorn and the Black Hoof, I'd like to do a follow up with those most affected by these occurrences to see how they feel about all of this?" She turned towards Twilight and Dash in turn, waiting with a startling amount of patience for their answers.
"Seems like the best course of action, to me," Dash's answer held just a bit of bitterness in it, "But I'm going to have to write another report back to HQ about this though... and I'll be mentioning you by name this time, egghead. And I'm going to bring up the crap from last night, too. You blew your free chance."
"More than fair," Twilight directed towards both of them in turn with a pair of calm, courteous nods. This was about the outcome she had been expecting when she hastily decided to go through with this, anything less would have been frankly disappointing. She took the time to collect her composure and take note of Spike's reaction to all of this. His worry was about as plain as the scales covering his body, but he remained silent on the subject. And while this worried Twilight deeply, there were still things she needed to take care of before she could focus on him again. "I'm going to guess we'll be spending the night here?"
Ivory sighed in relief, shockingly enough. "That would be preferable, given how half the town is in an uproar about you're little parade through town—"
Rainbow Dash bopped a hoof against her head in a moment of great revelation. "That's why everyone outside was freaking out! Gah, I'm dumb."
"—We'll call it protective custody for the time being if that makes you feel any better. And I'm going to be the first to assume that you'd rather have your son with you for your stay?"
"If you'll let me," Twilight answered boldly, "If not, I know someone who'd be willing to keep an eye on him." This got Spike's absolute attention, the anxious aura emanating from him practically doubling in potency at the implication. She wasn't wanting to spend any more time away from him herself, but given the situation she found herself in, it would be in her best interests to comply with the authority figure's demands as much as possible. Hopefully, Fluttershy wouldn't mind watching him if it came to that, and hopefully nobody would storm her house for a good look at the long dragon.
"Given your story, I don't think separating you two would be good for anybody. And I certainly don't want to be the one to try." Ivory's loaded statement cut deeply into Twilight, even though the alicorn had done everything to deserve such animosity from her.
"Alright, let's get you two in a cell," Rainbow Dash growled through a sigh as she stood from her chair and sauntered on over to the door, "The good ol' mayor and I got a whole bunch of new work to get done thanks to you. So we need to get started on that right away. Unless you have something else to add?"
There was not a single shred of resistance on Twilight's part, and she was quickly able to quell the doubts her son held about the whole situation at least for the moment. And just like that, Twilight was back to being led through Ponyville's precinct as she had been earlier today. After everything that had happened, the orange hue of the setting sun could be seen making its way in through the few windows within the building, a clear indication of just how much time this whole endeavor had eaten up. An entire day that had been blown away like dust in the wind all because of one stupid mistake on Twilight's behalf. The shame and guilt she felt because of this were neither minuscule nor ignored, Twilight fully embracing the punishment that was to come her way soon enough. For the first time in her life, Twilight was grateful for the wings sprouting from her back, the prestige and power they symbolized having done her at least a few favors today to counterbalance some of these severe setbacks. If nothing else, they had stopped the authority figures she had surrendered to from separating her from Spike during her willing incarceration. It was a small victory, but after today she was going to take what she could get.
Twilight and Spike were swiftly escorted by Rainbow Dash towards the rear-end of the complex, leaving behind the more office-like portions of the station in favor of a long hallway filled with holding cells. As they passed each barred room, it became increasingly clear that there weren't many ponies here at all. Most of the cells were either empty or occupied by very hung-over looking individuals—likely there due to a rowdy night of drinking. Either Ponyville crime rates were relatively low, or there was another complex for more permanent tenants. Twilight didn't know for sure, and she didn't care at the moment.
"Psst, egghead," Dash whispered, stepping to walk side-by-side with the alicorn as opposed to leading her. "Don't think you're getting off easy. I gotta waste my time dealing with your mess, so I'm putting you to work dealing with mine. Capiche?"
Twilight turned her head and raised a single eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Remember what I said this morning? 'Bout me letting you help out more? Well, just do what comes naturally and keep me in the loop. " Dash's words brought back hazy memories from earlier this morning, a point in time that felt like a lifetime ago to Twilight after everything between then and now. "And don't tell anyone else. This stays between us... sorry if he hears anything..." She jutted her head towards Spike before looking straight ahead again in absolute silence.
A multitude of questions formed in the alicorn's head thanks to the black hoof's cryptic instructions, but not a single one was answered or even acknowledged by Dash as they kept walking down the hallway, much to her frustration. The worst part of this being that she felt like she should have known what Rainbow Dash was even talking about, the answer was just sitting there right on the tip of her tongue, but for the life of her, she just couldn't place it. Today had been an exhausting endeavor, physically and mentally, and Twilight was not in the right mind to make these connections.
All too soon had they arrived at the deepest point within the facility, signaled by the wall that accompanied the very last two holding cells in the lineup. It didn't take much for the pegasus to usher Twilight and Spike into one of them, locking the door behind them with a hefty metallic clang. A purely symbolic gesture, as there were at least a hundred ways Twilight could get out of the cell without even having to think about it, but she didn't have any plans on doing that any time soon. Rainbow didn't waste any time mincing words before she left the alicorn and her dragon to their own devices within their new temporary residence.
"Twilight?" Spike finally made his voice known again once the echoes of Dash's departing hoofsteps faded. "We're gonna be okay, right?"
"Of course we are," there wasn't a shred of doubt it Twilight's answer, "It's a little messy right now, but we'll come out of this alright. We always do."
"But you attacked people... I saw it..." The despair that Spike's voice carried was even more heartbreaking than the prospect of losing him had, and Twilight couldn't help but share in that feeling as he shared it with her. "They're not just gonna let that go..."
"No, they won't..." Twilight paused for quite some time, taking in a deep breath and letting it out before slowly walking over to her son. Much like she had done earlier today, she embraced him with hoof and wing alike in an attempt to comfort him in this time of great stress. She felt a smile slowly creep over her face when he returned the hug as best he could. "But I promise that things will get better. It might take a long time, but it will get better. I promise."
The two of them sat there like that for a long time, unmoving and silent. Both of them were scared right now for different reasons, but both were able to take comfort in the other's presence. Even if her concern wasn't necessarily with their emotional well-being, the mayor's kindness in letting the two of them remain together did immeasurable work in making this difficult time just a little bit easier. And although it was just for a short moment, Twilight and Spike were able to ignore the severity of the situation that they found themselves tangled up in. For that moment in time, they weren't worried about whatever troubles the near-future would bring to them. There would certainly be severe consequences, but those would be dealt with in the future.
Like all good things, however, this moment didn't last forever. Soon enough a stirring could be heard from the cell directly across from theirs. At first, Twilight assumed it to be another drunkard pony moving to get a better look at their new alicorn neighbor and readied herself to ignore whatever drunk or hungover comments came her way. But it wasn't a drunken slur nor hungover whine that came to meet her ears, though she sincerely wished it had been.
"Well, well, well, I see they finally decided to apprehend you, too," an all too familiar voice almost sang out before taking on a far more sinister tone, "Took 'em long enough to get you, though."
Still holding her son close, Twilight's head snapped over to see who it was incarcerated just across the hall from her. And much to her surprise, the amber eyes of her former employer were looking back. Looking to be much less hungover than he was this morning, Knox Onwud sat in the center of his cell with a bitter scowl strewn across his face, clearly just as unhappy to see Twilight as she was to see him. And for a time, the sarosian's presence here was a mystery within the headspace of Twilight Sparkle, until the memory of Pinkie barging into her come came back to mind. The mare's intrusion had been triggered by Onwud being arrested in the first place, an incident which Twilight herself had helped put into motion. The pieces all fell into place like dominos after that, the irony of that cruel twist of fate bit at her sharply, but not as sharply as the much more recent memory of Dash's unusual instructions and why she had given them. From there, Twilight didn't need a degree from the school for gifted unicorns to put finally complete the puzzle.
This sentence of "protective custody" had just become an interrogation, and she had been unwillingly appointed as the lone interrogator.