//------------------------------//
// 113 
// Story: My Little Fortress: Dawnpick 
// by Paaaad 
//------------------------------//

24th Hematite, 259 

Indigo knocks on Virtue's door, then enters. He looks very upset. "Hello, Lady Virtue. I need to talk to you. Please." 

Virtue turns her attention away from the work orders she had been pretending to pay attention to, to Indigo, as he comes in. Her expression is that of utter exhaustion, and she blinks heavily as she takes in his expression. He didn't look happy, that much was evident. "Oh, Indigo. What's wrong?" she asks in a similarly weary tone. 

"The accident is wrong. I know, you care deeply about ponies getting hurt in Dawnpick. I can see that, everypony can. What happened to Cross Stitch and Amber was our fault, the masons', not yours. Well, mostly Mortar's, but I sometimes double-check his work and I could have prevented this accident. We... shouldn't have let apprentices do our jobs. Normally knocking down a wall is fairly safe, but not when there is a catwalk or a pier or some other construction above it. We've grown careless. I'm... I'm sorry." Indigo hangs his head low, looks at the floor and his eyes become watery. 

Virtue's self-loathing dissolves a bit as she sees the remorseful expression on his face.  She wasn't the only pony hurting over this. "No... I'm sorry."  She sighs as she looks at a copy of the town's map hanging on the wall next to her, with the redrawn walls scrawled over the existing walls. "I shouldn't have asked you to relocate the walls. They weren't hurting anypony like they were..." 

"No, expanding the walls was a good decision, Dawnpick is getting cramped. And you just told us to do it, not how to do it." Mortar should be here instead of me. 

She simply sighs in response and looks down into her desk. At least this was just about Indigo apologizing on behalf of the masons, even if she didn't think an apology was necessary, at least not to her. Everypony made mistakes. No shortage of them from her. She was hardly going to hold him accountable for a mistake like this. 

"Some of the masons may be eligible for charges of negligence. If it comes to that... I'm considering taking some of the blame." But just considering. 

Her eyes go wide and she shakes her head. No. Absolutely not. She was not imprisoning anypony for this. "Indigo... it was an honest mistake. You and the others have done very well to say that nopony else has been hurt in nearly a decade."  Why didn't that help her any when she told it to herself? It probably wasn't doing him much good either. "The last thing I want to do is punish somepony for this... I think what happened was more than enough of that..." 

"How... how could I possibly make this up to Cross Stitch and Amber and her family? They lost their horns, and may lose their lives. There is nothing I can do. I can apologise, along with Mortar and Amor, maybe give them some presents or visit them at the hospital, but what would I even say to them? There is just no way to make it up to them." 

Virtue nods understandingly. "I wish I had an answer for that..." she begins, placing a hoof to her forehead. This was something she'd agonized for the better part of a day over. She didn't have much energy to be supportive right now, but she tries anyway. "...I'm afraid that's all we can do at this point." She offers the most sincere smile she could. "But showing support for them at the hospital... it means more than you might think. And... I've spoken with Panacea. She says that they will be okay." 

"Living without a horn is not okay. But... if it's any consolation, I talked to Amor. She hardly ever uses her magic at all and she agreed to help them rehabilitate. To adjust to living without horns. I'm... I'm not ready to face them in the hospital myself. I'm sorry." 

That was something she couldn't imagine herself, but she hardly doubted what he was saying. She avoids his gaze for a second. "This is tough on a lot of ponies... and I know I can't understand what's happened to them... not completely. But Panacea... she... she said they'd be alright. That's all I can hope for. They'll learn... at least Amor is willing to help them. I'm sure there are other ponies here who would do the same." 

She sees the pained expression on his face at mentioning being unable to face them in the hospital.  "I'm going to go see them in the hospital soon. You're welcome to join me, if you want... but if you can't... I understand.  I can tell them whatever you want me to... or nothing if you'd prefer." 

Indigo shakes his head "I... I can't. Not now. I'm sorry. Tell them... that the masons are sorry." He closes his eyes, and after a moment adds. "There is one more thing. When we need to pull down a building in the future, there is a safer way to do it." Indigo pulls out a piece of paper with a simple drawing. "Basically you replace some of the walls with supports, link them to a lever, remove the rest of the walls and pull the lever to collapse the building when there is nopony near it. Just tell architects and mechanics to do it that way next time." The paper has some wet stains on it, but is perfectly readable. "I know it is no consolation and comes too late, but we'll be more careful in the future. Mortar and Amor agree, that this way of demolishing buildings should be safer. It will take more time and effort, but nopony should get hurt in a stupid accident." 

She takes a look at the paper and nods.  "Yes... that looks like a much better way to handle such situations."  She looks up to him.  "I know you'll be more careful in the future.  Nopony did this on purpose... but it's reassuring to know that this will never happen again..." 

"I'm sorry. I... I'll go back to work now." Indigo gets to the craftpony's workshop. Without even fully realizing, how he got there, he works on another rock pot to take his mind off the tragedy. It helps a little, but he still feels absolutely terrible. Eventually, after over two weeks, he visits the patients with Amor. He sees dying Amber and feels sick and tired upon leaving the building. Amor handles the situation much better. 

Virtue bids him farewell and turns her attention back to the work orders. She felt... maybe a bit better. Maybe. Seeing Indigo for once without somepony getting in trouble was a relief, but she was no happier for learning how upset he was at the whole thing. Trading one concern for another... but she brushes as much of the worry out of her mind as she could. Indigo would be fine... as would Cross Stitch and Amber. When they were fine, she would be too. She pushes the work orders aside and heads for the door, planning to go see Panacea and her patients. Hopefully there would be some good news there. 

She feels a curious set of emotions as she exits and tries to maintain a bit of a straight face. It was reassuring to know that she wasn't the only pony who cared about what happened. Not that she really doubts it of course, but hearing it helps. Everypony would be okay. It would take a while, but they would all be okay.