//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen // Story: Dreams and Disasters // by Quillery //------------------------------// Dreams and Disasters by Quillery Chapter 19 Hospital Flowers “There are few words I can think of in Equestrian that would convey my disappointment right now,” Chancellor Gorim said. His voice was tense, angry, and surprisingly reserved as he paced before Dash and Gilda back in the private booth. Dash held her head low, wincing in pain every time she tried to move. Cuts covered her body, with a prominent laceration above her eye. She tasted blood in her mouth, and chances were, it was probably her own. Gilda fared no better. What she lacked in cuts, she made up for in bruises, especially a big, glowing shiner that was growing around her eye. She too held her head down as Gorim continued berating the two of them. Dash tried to turn back to Twilight, but each deviation of her attention was met with more shouting from the agitated gryphon elder. The only glances she could get of her friend were met with concern and worry. Northwind stood beside her, and shared the sentiment. “I expected better from an emissary of Equestria,” Gorim said to Dash. “And I expected better from my own flesh and blood,” he said to Gilda. “She started it!” Dash and Gilda said, pointing at each other. Gorim held up his claw. “And I will see fit to end it. The last thing I expected to happen during the Games of all things was to be disciplining younglings at my age.” He glanced past them to Twilight. “Your ‘guards’ explained a disturbance between the teams in the locker rooms. Would you care to explain, Miss Sparkle?” Twilight blinked. She slowly approached Gorim, and bowed her head shakily. “Um… well. One of the Wonderbolts’ athlete’s fell ill just before her event. I offered my assistance in determining what happened, and the results were… unsettling.” Gorim raised an eyebrow. “Unsettling how?” Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, we determined that Spitfire, the athlete in question, had been poisoned with an allergen. Someone had placed pomegranate seeds in her meal and she suffered a severe reaction to it.” “Poisoned?” Northwind exclaimed. “Who would do such a thing?” Twilight winced. “Well, that is the unsettling part. Initial evidence pointed to...to—” “She blamed Mace for it, uncle!” Gilda blurted. Northwind gasped, but Gorim’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “That… is a very serious accusation you are bringing to me, Miss Sparkle.” “I-I wouldn’t be bringing it forward if there wasn’t any merit to it, your honor.” “So you choose to stand here and tell me to my face that my own nephew committed this crime?” “Well...n-no. I only found probable cause. I hadn’t made any formal conclusions, I only expressed my interest in pursuing the possibility. I meant no disrespect to your family or your hospitality.” “And yet my nephew has been accused of a serious crime by your portable guards, and my niece stands before me bruised and injured by your own escort.” Gorim glanced to the door. Mace leaned against it, watching with a stone like expression. “Mace, what say you to these accusations?” Mace shook his head. “Ridiculous, Uncle. As I said to Miss Sparkle, anyone would have had the opportunity to harm Miss Spitfire, and the means to do it. I agree that I looked rather guilty with the ‘poison’ in question in my claws. If Miss Sparkle had looked closer, she would have seen that I had eaten the seeds, and left a portion of the skin, nothing else.” Gorim grunted and turned to look out at the field. The games were still proceeding, roars and cheers pouring in from the windows. Gorim rested his claws on the edge and arched his shoulders. Dash glanced back to Mace. He cocked a wicked, malicious grin in her direction. She spun back. “He’s lying! I can see it in his face that he did it!” “Dash,” Twilight whispered, ”Don’t.” “Miss Dash,” Gorim said, pushing himself off of the railing. He turned slowly, and stared at Dash with a neutral expression. “Your offences against my family has been noted. I don’t know the extent of your past with Gilda, but I imagine it had not had a pleasant end, which would explain your little brawl in the Baron’s locker room.” “I was only defending myself,” Dash said. “She attacked me, like she always does.” Gilda’s eyes widened, but she quickly frowned and looked away. “And what a spectacular job you made of that. I look forward to my brother’s reaction when I send her home with these injuries. I assure you I am far kinder a gryphon than he.” Dash caught Gilda shudder out of the corner of her eye. “Storm Breeze!” Gorim barked. The black uniformed guard stepped into the room past Mace and over to Gorim’s side. “Yes, your honor?” “I have seen reason to make this exchange briefer than intended, to prevent further antagonizing.” He approached Twilight, who attempted to take a step back away from him. He held out an open claw to her. “Your book, Miss Sparkle.” Twilight blinked. She shook her head and opened her bags, withdrawing one of her history books. She placed it carefully in Gorim’s claw, who quickly thrust it to Northwind. He took it in one of his wings and placed it in his own saddlebag, and then withdrew a book of his own. Gorim snatched it and held it in front of Twilight. She looked at it with concern, but nodded in understanding and took it and placed it in her bags. “There,” Gorim said. “Exchange complete. I see no reason we need to continue our hospitality any further.” “Gorim!” Northwind exclaimed. “You can’t mean to kick them out. What would the princess think?” Gorim glared at him. “I will let you worry about your princess thinks. I shall continue to prioritize the needs of my people as I always have, and not bother by the shackles you think I wear under the hooves of Celestia.” Gorim looked at Dash and Twilight one final time. “As for them. Get them out of my sight.” ***** “I am so sorry, Chancellor Northwind,” Twilight said as they walked together out of the stadium. Dash followed closely behind with her head hanging low. Storm Breeze took up the rear, holding the Chancellor’s flag to keep the crowd away. “You need not apologize to me, Miss Sparkle,” Northwind said. “I fully understand your intentions to help, and I do thank you for your assistance. Regardless of my admiration for the team, I am glad they had you there to help.” He turned his head back to Dash. “And you can stop dwelling back there, Miss Dash. I do not fault you for defending yourself, if that is why you think to be so hard on yourself. Gorim has a great fondness for his relatives. He would shout even at me if I were to say the same thing.” Dash looked away. “He’s right though. It was my fault. I barged in without thinking, even with Twilight trying to stop me, and goaded Gilda into attacking me. I’m such an idiot, and now we’re getting kicked out of the country.” Northwind chuckled. “I wouldn’t say the country. Regardless of what Gorim thinks, I still have to agree with such a decision before it is final. But, for the sake of maintaining his composure, I agree that leaving the arena was a positive course of action.” Dash looked at Twilight. “I am so sorry, Twilight. First the Duke, and now this… Maybe I should just stay at the train station from now on.” Twilight sighed. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Dash. I am upset that you rushed in without a plan, but I would by lying if I didn’t know it was your nature. Me trying to curb your passion would be as easy as dealing with an ursa major.” She smiled. “Just… try to think ahead next time. We did what we came here for, so as far as I’m concerned this trip is still a success.” Dash grumbled under her breath. “You’re too nice sometimes, Twi. Even to me.” Dash skipped a breath when Twilight slowed her pace to match her own. Twilight brushed up beside her and placed a leg around her neck. “You’re my friend, Dash. We have our disagreements, but we’ve always found a way through them. I would never hold something like this against you.” Dash blinked. “Y-you… really mean that?” She smiled. “Definitely. I’ll always be your friend, Dash. No matter what.” Dash felt her mind try to protest against Twilight’s use of the word friend, but for once since her journey began, it didn’t. Dash felt a calm wash over her, relaxing a part of her mind that had tormented her for weeks. She’ll always be my friend… no matter what. Northwind cleared his throat, and smiled. “Now then, it’s good to see that this little upset hasn’t affected your mood. I think we can learn something from this, in time, but for now, let’s get you to a hospital, Miss Dash and get you cleaned up. It’s the least we can do before sending you off. No need to get on a train all bloodied, now do we?” Dash swallowed. “Am I going to get stitches?” Northwind narrowed his eyes, examining Dash’s wounds. “I wouldn’t think so, although that one above your eye might need some more immediate attention.” Dash grumbled, prompting a giggle from Twilight. “You aren’t afraid of getting stitches, are you Dash?” “No!” she said quickly. “I just don’t like it when somepony sticks a piece of metal in my skin.” “Oh, so its the needle you’re afraid of? Well, don’t worry, I’ll be there if you need a hoof to hold onto.” And just as quickly as her mind had calmed, Twilight had tossed another wrench into Dash’s mind as the trotted away from the stadium and deeper into Spurrlin. ***** The next morning, Dash, Twilight and Northwind were standing at the train platform with a guarded escort. A chilly wind blew through the deep valley, rustling Dash’s feathers as she waited for the train. She brought a hoof to her forehead and rubbed it, but it was quickly slapped away by Twilight. “Stop picking at it, Dash. You’re going to pull it out.” “But it itches, Twilight,” she whined. “I hate stitches.” Twilight giggled. “You hate your stitches because it itches? I never knew you could be so poetic, Dash.” Dash grumbled to herself as Twilight laughed, fighting the irritation at the top of her eye. She sat down on the platform and propped a leg under her chin. “Ugh, when is the train gonna get here?” Northwind reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. “Perhaps another few minutes. The avalanches that cut us off from Prance have made quite the mess, especially on our end. Many visitors of the games are not native to Spurrlin, and will have a great deal of trouble getting home.” Dash chuckled. “Tell ‘em to go through Antlerdam. That’s what we did.” She glanced at Twilight with a playful smirk. “Just warn them to stay away from the hard cider.” Twilight’s ear twitched as she looked away. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Dash laughed. “You know, I wonder what the girls would say when they found out you were such a party mare, Twi.” “I’m not listening!” Twilight said in a singsong voice. Dash continued laughing to herself, when she heard a flourish of wing beats above her. She turned her head, and couldn’t believe her eyes. Gilda landed on the platform beside her with a stumble, covered in bandages. She stared at Dash with a sombre expression. Dash felt her frustrations return in force. “What do you want?” Dash said acidly. “Did you come to gloat about how you won, or maybe—” “I’m sorry.” Gilda said. “ —you just want to hit me one more—” She blinked. “Wait, what?” Gilda sighed. “I said I’m sorry. I want to apologize, Dash. For everything. You were right.” Dash tilted her head. “About what?” “About Mace.” Gilda growled as she said his name. “He is probably the biggest jerk I know, but he’s still my brother. The only reason I defended him was because he’s been there for me before, but I never thought he would be capable of doing something like this.” “How did you find out?” Gilda sighed. “I was about to go to bed last night. He and Sigur share a room, and he left his door open a bit. I heard them talking about it like it was some grand scheme that went off without a hitch. I couldn’t believe him. He’s done a lot of rotten, underclawed things before, but this… this was too much.” Dash lost a breath in her chest. “What did you do?” “What do you think? I turned him in.” She looked away. “I’m not proud of it, but I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.” “You ratted out your own brother?” “Like I said, he’s a jerk. I will do a lot of things to win, Dash. Like train harder, and train longer, but I will never cheat. You taught me that cheating is for losers, and I’ve never forgotten that.” Northwind stepped forward. “What did your uncle say?” Gilda chuckled. “Say? He hasn’t said anything. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t stopped screaming yet.” Northwind frowned. “Oh dear. I suppose I should get back there before he ends up setting the arena on fire.” Dash frowned. “But the arena is made of stone.” Northwind smiled. “Oh, I assure you, Gorim would find a way.” He glanced at Twilight. “I’m sorry I can’t see you off, Miss Sparkle. I hope the rest of your journey is pleasant.” He and Twilight bowed their heads to each other. Northwind shouted a phrase in Germaneic and his escort snapped to attention. They took to the sky in a flash, and soared away up the slope of the mountain. Dash watched them leave, and then turned to Gilda. “So… what now?” “Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve alienated myself from my brother for the rest of my life. He’s been banned from the Red Barons for his dishonorable conduct. He’ll avoid prison, only because I’m sure uncle Gorim knows sending him back to dad will be a worse punishment.” Gilda let the tiniest smirk tug at her mouth. “The Barons won the gold with Spitfire out of the way, but as soon as they heard what my brother did, they forfeited the medal to the next team. They refused to win like that.” “Wow…” Dash said. Gilda glanced at Twilight. “And Uncle Gorim wanted me to extend his apology to the both of you.” “Really?” Twilight said. Gilda shrugged. “Well, he didn’t say it, but I could get that it would be one thing he’d have to do. He won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure he’s scared of Celestia.” Twilight laughed. Gilda glanced at Dash, and back to Twilight. “Can you give me and Dash a minute?” Twilight reared her head. “Oh! Um… of course. Take all the time you need.” Dash lifted a hoof, but Twilight had already started trotting away. She slowly brought her eyes to Gilda, who stared back. Gilda brought a claw to her mouth and coughed. “So…” Dash looked away and rubbed her neck. “Yeah…” Gilda groaned. “Ugh, just say it, Dash!” Dash sighed, knowing exactly what Gilda was talking about. “Do you really have a crush on me?” Gilda bobbed her head. “Had would be a better word. I’ve grown out of it, but I still remember the feelings.” “But why? I just don’t get why you would feel that way.” Gilda sat down. Her face fell, and her gaze dropped to the ground. “You remember how I said I was your only friend?” “Yeah…?” She traced the ground with an extended talon. “Well, it was the opposite that was true.” “You mean…?” “Everypony at flight school was afraid of me when I first transferred. You were the only one who talked to me.” “Because I thought you were cool! Gryphons are awesome, and I thought you would be a great friend to have.” Gilda’s cheeks tinged red. “Yeah, well, I guess you talkin’ to me left an impression. Looking back on it now, it was just a stupid little kid crush, but it didn’t stop me from trying.” Dash frowned. “But I don’t get it. I’m trying to remember anything you tried to get my attention, but I don’t.” “Because I didn’t. I was too scared.” Dash blinked. Gilda lifted her head. “And now you feel the same thing, don’t you?” Gilda glanced across the platform. “About her?” Dash followed Gilda’s gaze to Twilight. She was reading her map, turning it around and humming a tune that carried across the platform. It was a happy song, one that Dash had heard her sing before. Her voice was melodic, and Dash felt a sense of longing the longer Twilight sang. She glanced back at Gilda. “Yeah… I do.” Gilda smirked. “I figured. You look at her the same way I looked at you.” Gilda placed a claw on her chest. “The feelings are gone, Dash. I promise you that. I don’t think it needs to be weirder between us than it has to be. I just want to be your friend again. It really hurt when we fought last year.” Gilda leaned in closer. “And I’ll deny it to my grave if you ever tell anyone I said that.” Dash couldn’t help but grin. Gilda leaned back with a relieved sigh. “That feels better, to finally say it.” She shot Dash a hard look. “So you better get your flank in gear and tell her, Dash.” Gilda poked a claw in Dash’s chest. “Because these feelings, if you don’t let them out, they’ll eat you from the inside. And it hurts. A lot. Take it from me.” “Gilda…” Gilda lifted a claw. “Now I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. Let’s just say our goodbyes.” Dash smirked, and Gilda tilted her head. “What?” “You know, we can’t just leave it at a goodbye, right?” Gilda blinked a few times, and groaned. “Really?” “Yes, G. Really.” “Ugh, fine.” Gilda leaned forward, arms spread. Dash did the same and the two shared a friendly hug. “I’m sorry for everything, G. I mean it.” “Me too, just don’t go spreading it around.” “No promises. You should come back to Ponyville sometime. I’d like you to try again with my friends. They are really awesome once you get to know them.” “I’ll try. I’ll have to deal with my dad first. Somehow I feel I’ll still get punished for letting Mace even attempt what he did.” She sighed. “So much for a peaceful vacation.” Dash chuckled. “Tell me about it.” Dash finally let go of Gilda. She stood and stretched her wings, wincing a few times. “You bruised me up pretty good, Dash. I forgot how hard you could hit.” “I wasn’t too pleased about the stitches I had to get.” Gilda laughed. “You look cooler with a scar, even a tiny one like that.” Dash laughed too. She felt a world's worth of tension die with the relief that the had finally, truly reconciled with one of her oldest friends. It wasn’t an easy battle, but she truly felt at peace with everything that happened. Gilda started flapping her wings and rose to the air. “I’d better get back. I have a feeling I’ll be sent home early once Uncle catches his breath.” She turned to the sky and drifted in the wind, calling back one last time. “You’d better tell her, Dash. Don’t make the same mistake I did.” And she was gone. Dash watched her race through the air after Northwind and his guard towards the arena. The whistles of a train brought her senses back to the earth, as she watched it pull into the station beside her. “That was kind of you,” Twilight said. Dash jumped. Twilight was right behind her. “Twilight! How much did you hear?” Twilight shrugged. “Nothing. But I saw the hug. I take it things are okay between you two now?” Dash nodded. “Yeah, we’re ok. I’ll be seeing her again.” “That’s good.” Twilight smiled. “I’m proud of you, Dash.” Dash frowned. “Why?” “You could have rejected her apology. I honestly wouldn’t have thought any less of you if you did, after what had happened last year and last night. I wasn’t certain you two could ever truly reconcile, but you proved me wrong. It took a lot to hear her out, even more to accept her. It was nice to see friendship triumph over all things considered.” “Y-yeah, I guess it did.” Twilight nodded and turned to the train as the doors slid open and ponies began filing into the cars. “Now, we better get on the train. The last thing we need is to be late in getting to Stalliongrad.” Dash froze. “Did you just say… Stalliongrad?!”