//------------------------------// // Culpability // Story: The Stars Will Aid Their Escape // by Drhoz //------------------------------// "I'm sorry! I mean it, Applejack! I'm so sorry!" The farmare wouldn't even turn around. "Rainbow... I... I don't even want to look at you right now." Dash turned to the other ponies, face twisted in anguish. "You guys understand, don't you? I wouldn't hurt Scoots and Applebloom and Sweetie for anything. For anything!" Fluttershy was crying, silently. Pinkie was still, shoulders sunken, as she leaned against Fluttershy in support, and watched Dash. Rarity looked for a moment as if she wanted to say something, then shook her head and turned back to the little form on the bed before her. Dash sobbed, once, and fled, wings churning to get her as far from the Canterlot Infirmary as they could take her. Faster and faster, until the wind whipped her tears away as quickly as they formed. There was silence in the room, for a little while. Fluttershy spoke up, eventually. "Do... do you think I should go after her? Rainbow didn't know the fillies were in there... and she should be here for Scootaloo..." Applejack said nothing. Rarity looked up from Sweetie’s bedside, eyes empty, but nodded, once. Pinkie hugged Fluttershy, and the pegasus fluttered off to try and bring the other pony back. Pinkie moved up closer to the beds. She'd already brought get-well cards and balloons for the fillies, but they lay limp as the young ponies themselves. "So Doc. What's the verdict? They gonna be OK or not?" Applejack's tone was full of false energy, but her eyes stared at the wall. Doctor Bayo shuffled his hooves, and looked apologetic. "The princess got them here as soon as possible, of course, but they were very badly hurt. They were incredibly lucky none of them were underneath the heavier parts of the building, frankly. Fractures, concussions, internal bleeding... we've done all we can for now." He shrugged, and looked sympathetic. "I wish I could be more confident, Applejack, but I wouldn't want to lie to you." Applejack nodded, once, but said nothing, and didn't move from the side of the bed, where she kept her hoof on that of her little sister. "Is the Princess OK?" asked Pinkie. "Celestia said she was resting, when we got here." Bayo nodded, slightly. "She collapsed just after she'd apported in with your fillies. She shouldn't have tried so many long distance teleports in one night, especially this time of the month. But of course, if she hadn't..." "We'll have to tell her how grateful we are." said the orange mare, flatly. "The biggest problem was finding a bed her size. We don't often have alicorns in here. Not in, oh, centuries I should think." He looked down at the three patients. "I'm a bit more worried about the way they don't respond. I'd have expected them to have started moving a little, by now. Don't get me wrong! Complete rest is exactly what they need... but I don't like how still they are." Pinkie slumped onto an empty chair and toyed vaguely with the things she'd purchased in the Infirmary gift shop, her pink hair flat and covering half her face. One of the gifts was a little blue plush pegasus. She looked down at the still and silent Scootaloo, and fumbled her grip on the plushie. She choked a bit, staring at it on the floor, "I'm... I'm going to check on Spike and Twilight. Are you girls going to be OK?" Rarity nodded. Applejack didn't seem to hear. Pinkie's slow progress to the other ward ended in a long, high room, with bright windows overlooking the Canterlot Falls, and the two-thousand-foot drop into the valley below. The ornamental lake built to shape the falls gleamed like silver in the sun, and the gardens outside rustled gentle and fragrant in the breezes. Both Princesses sat on the rugs beside Twilight's bed. The unicorn had been strapped down - after the last dose of sedative magic had worn off she'd almost thrown herself out the window in her frenzy. Spike, eyes dark with bruising and exhaustion, sat on the bed beside her, stroking her mane. He looked up, nodded acknowledgments to the earth pony, and resumed his silent vigil. Princess Celestia looked up as Pinkie neared the bed. She too, looked tired, a faintness to her luminosity, a dullness to her ethereal mane and tail. She'd been up all night, co-ordinating the search for Trixie and through the archives, as her sister recovered from her overuse of magic. And recovering from her own mental trauma. "Pinkamena? How are your friends? Do they wish me to come to them again?" Pinkie shook her head. "I think they just want to be alone with the fillies for a little while, your majesty. Sorry. Fluttershy and Rainbow went off somewhere. She knows how badly she messed up, I think." Celestia looked pained. "She will be protected, regardless. Rainbow fell into a clever trap. She couldn't have known Rarity had been controlled to lure you into it." Pinkie nodded. "Thought that was it." she murmured dully. "Post-hypnotic suggestion, right? I guess we were lucky Trixie didn't manage to get more of us." Luna nodded. "We still don't understand why the mare Beatrice would do these things. Even if she was disturbed of mind, her imagined vendetta was with Twilight Sparkle. We cannot understand why she and her associate would harm the rest of you, or innocent fillies." Celestia sighed with sorrow. "I begin to fear you were correct, my sister. Somepony has found Ivory Tower's research, and is using it to attack the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They may not even realise the danger they pose to all Equestria." Pinkie started to sniffle, then cry, tears streaming down her cheeks as the Princesses and the dragon stared, shocked. Celestia came to her feet first, moved to the weeping Bearer of Laughter, and nuzzled her against her side, sheltered her under her wing, protected her like a mare with foal until Pinkie's tears finished soaking into her warm, pearlescent flank. "Hush. Hush, Pinkamena Diane Pie. I am here, and I will keep my little ponies safe with my last breath." Pinkie's tears slowed "It's my fault, Princess. I was the one that sent him to the library. If I hadn't... if I hadn't..." "Then they would have found another way. Our enemy is cunning, but the six of you are here now, and we will not leave you unprotected." Twilight's brother entered the ward. He'd come as soon as word had reached him, and had been ordering the search for Trixie, Herald, and the creatures ever since. "How is she?" Luna shook her head. "No change, Shining Armor. We have attempted what we can, but such magicks are terrible and subtle. She will recover in due course, or she will not. I cannot hasten her return without risking great harm to her mind." Armor sagged. He lowered a stack of notes onto the bedside table. "Reports are in from the Whitetail Woods. No sign of Trixie, her creatures, or the stallion. I've got teams checking the lakes and rivers, in case those things can breathe underwater. Pegasus Team Four have Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy under observation, but I've told them not to intervene unless they look like they're leaving the security zone." "Thank-you, Shining Armor. We will send word to you immediately, if there is any improvement in thy sister's condition." The unicorn stallion hesitated "There's one more thing - are you going to cancel the Eclipse?" Luna and Celestia exchanged a glance. "We should - if there are going to further attempts upon the Bearers, then we should limit visitors to Canterlot." Armor nodded, unhappily. "Especially after what happened last time there was a security scare." Pinkie looked up, her hair threatening to wilt again. "Can... cancel a party?" "NO!" The ponies turned to stare at a furious Spike. "Don't you dare cancel the eclipse, don't you dare! Twilight was so excited when you announced you'd be working together on it, she was so happy I could, I could...." his anger choked off his words. He took three deeps breaths. "She was so happy to see you working together on an eclipse, the first time in 1030 years, she could barely speak. Twilight worked so hard looking up old eclipse traditions, and she almost exploded with JOY when you wrote to say she could be with you both tomorrow... so... don't you DARE cancel it just because some sick stallion thinks he can hurt my... hurt Twilight, and get away with it!" He turned back to the lavender unicorn, and muttered, more softly. "I'll stay with her the whole time. So don't you dare." Celestia nuzzled Spike's shoulder, very gently. He flinched for a moment, then relaxed a little and squeezed Twilight's hoof with his claws. "I apologise, Spike. We had not considered your feelings on the matter. And you are correct - my student has awaited our eclipse with heart-warming anticipation, it would be wrong to not celebrate the day, if there was no reason to cancel it. Shining Armor - Luna and I will be with the Bearers at all times, from now until the madmare and her associate are captured. Do you think this will be sufficient?" Armor considered, and nodded. "We'll have that creature you caught under guard here, soon. I can reassign the escorts to city defense when they get here. Just to be sure." Celestia looked to Spike. A single tear was tracking down the purple scales of his cheek, where the bruising hadn't made them puff out. "... thank-you, Princess Celestia." Pinkie hugged him gently, and Twilight's brother nodded in silent understanding to the dragon, then turned to go. "I better get back to the search. Don't worry, your majesties - she can't get near the palace with us on guard." *** A flash of magic erupted deep in the woods near Canterlot. " - show you who the greatest pony in Equestria i-OW." Trixie landed heavily in the undergrowth. Around her, trees exploded with trunk-splintering detonations, and boulders shattered, as the Dark Young were extruded back into reality with complete disregard for anything that might have been there first. Trixie spat out a mouthful of leaves, and glared around her. It was broad daylight, now, and this certainly wasn't Ponyville. "Coward! You can't get rid of me that easily, fraud! Trixie will show you, and not even the Princesses could deny how Great and Powerful I am!" She stomped around, snorting, then collected her singed hat, and tried to get her bearings. The creatures squatted silently, watching her with their eyeless bulk. The Canterhorn loomed into the afternoon sky and she could see the polished marble of Canterlot gleaming just around the edge. "Hmmph. Miles from Ponyville. Well, those bumpkins won't be rid of Trixie THAT easily. I'll be back there even if Trixie has to walk all night." She found the book, added it to her saddlebag, and set off back towards the village. Her trees blocked her way, and moved to frustrate her when she tried to go around. "Stupid tree!" she screamed, and kicked it. "Trixie wishes to go that way and you have to do everything she says!" They didn't move. Slime dripped from her hoof. "Stupid thing! Trixie will turn you into matchsticks!" She tried to levitate one out of the way, but it didn't budge. She panted in exhaustion. "Trixie has changed her mind. She will take the scenic route." She trotted off in the other direction, towards the capital. After some twenty minutes, the creatures flowing silently behind her, she perked up. "In fact, the Great and Powerful Trixie will not go to Ponyville at all! She will go straight to Princess Celestia, and show her her magic directly! Then all the ponies will admit they were wrong about Twilight Sparkle, and that Trixie should be Archmage. Ha!" The Dark Young seemed to relax at those words, slumping into more fluid configurations, and muttered darkly in their bleak and eldritch tongue... *** Fluttershy perched silently on a cloud that eddied behind the Canterhorn. She could see the guardponies watching her from the peak far below, and from behind other clouds, but she didn't mind. Instead, her attention was devoted to the hummock of vapour nearby, where Rainbow had long since sobbed her way to silence. At least she'd stopped screaming at Fluttershy to leave her alone. "I suppose you hate me too, now." came a muffled voice from inside the cloud. "No, of course I don't hate you, Rainbow." she answered gently "WELL WHY DON'T YOU?!? YOU SHOULD! I'm the one that didn't listen to Luna, I'm the one that went after Trixie and that other pony alone, I'm the one... I'm the one..." She started to weep again, sobbing into the cloud stuff, and Fluttershy edged a little closer. "Rainbow." "And now Scoots and the fillies are maybe gonna DIE and two of my best friends won't even look at me because it's their sisters and it's MY FAULT." "Rainbow." "They're gonna die and it's my fault and not even the Princesses will want to look at me-" "Rainbow!" The cyan pegasus looked up, her pink eyes red from crying. Fluttershy had moved close enough to touch her shoulder, where her wings were still flapping jerkily, randomly, every time she remembered the sight of the three little bodies in the wreckage, and she just wanted to fly, to get away, to flee the guilt and the expressions on her friend's faces. "We don't hate you, Rainbow. You're still our friend. Just because you did something that... didn't end well... doesn't mean you did it on purpose. Luna didn't have you locked up when she got here, did she?" Fluttershy shuffled closer, and gently nuzzled her friend's ear. "Not even Applejack and Rarity hate you - they're ... upset... now. It might take a while before they want to talk to you again, but they don't hate you. Rarity was the one who agreed I should come find you! Would she do that if she really thought you were responsible? Scootaloo should find you there when she wakes up. And we need you too, Rainbow - you're still the Bearer of Loyalty, aren't you? How bad would you feel if you turned your back on your friends now, when we need you so much?" Rainbow Dash sniffled, and wiped her muzzle on her foreleg. "Thank... thank-you Flutters. I... I don't wanna go back right now. Can we stay here a while?" Fluttershy nodded, and settled down on the cloud beside her friend, gently touching flanks. Before them, behind the hills, the sun sank slowly towards darkness. *** The intensive care ward was quiet, apart from the muffled noise of guardponies patrolling the corridor outside, or the whisper of them flying past the window. The breathing of the three fillies was so shallow as to be inaudible, even this close. Applejack and Rarity barely moved, as they sat and watched their sisters, so still, so quiet, under the bandages and splints. "Rarity." The earth pony's voice seemed harsh, over-loud, in the silence. She looked up. "Yes, Applejack?" When she'd found Sweetie Belle in the wreckage, she hadn't fainted. She hadn't screamed. Simple shock had rendered her speechless, even as the other ponies rushed in to aid, and Luna had gathered the three fillies with her magic and vanished once more to Canterlot. There were still bloodstains on her white hooves, where she had held her little sister until Nurse Redhead had gently pried her loose. Applejack didn't look over at her friend. Just continued her statement. "I don't blame Rainbow. I don't." Rarity nodded. She understood her friends well enough for that. But Applejack had still flinched away from the pegasus as they had cleared the debris, still refused to meet her eye, still refused to speak with her for the entire flying chariot ride to Canterlot, even as Dash's desperate guilt had built and grown. "Iffen I'd taken the girls with us, if I'd gone with 'em to the farmhouse, if I hadn't been running around like a blue-assed fly all dang night... If I'd just grabbed Rainbow's tail!" Rarity had her own burden - she, after all, had been set up as part of the trap. "I know who's to blame, Rarity. I don't care who that stallion is, or what that book’s about." Nopony was there for Scootaloo. She lay alone and silent on the third bed, both eyes covered, wings bound, limbs splinted. "They hurt my family, Rarity. Nopony messes with the Apple family. Nopony. If Trixie hadn't come back to Ponyville my little sister - Sweetie and Scootaloo too - would be A-OK." Rarity understood, even if she didn't entirely agree. But Applejack went on. "And if I see that showmare again, I think I'm gonna kill her."