//------------------------------// // Testimony // Story: Canine Complications // by Wages of Sin //------------------------------// "Oh, Rainbow Dash, it is good to see you could join us." Celestia said, looking down from her throne beside her sister observing the hall. Rainbow didn't hear her princess's comment though, not over her own racing thoughts at seeing her there and only a scorch mark else in the hall where her currently canine companion should no doubt have been. She took off full speed for the princess, or at least she meant to, before the guards that had been chasing her took advantage of her pause to catch up and tackled her to the ground. "Whoa there partner! Calm down!" Applejack called before Rainbow could start throwing hooves. "Why?" She stammered as she saw the farm mare and the rest of the group running into the room. "Whadaya mean why?" Applejack asked as she began to make her own way up to the now-bound pony. "But! But! Celestia! She Twilight's not- The howl!" "Jumpin' to conclusions is how we got into this mess, how's about we just ask?" The farmpony herself asked, turning to the princess's, "Where's Twilight?" Luna was the one to respond, "Fear not, she is safe." "Then what was that howl?" Rainbow shouted accusingly. "That is what she went off to discover. Her wolves are being held in the dungeons, voluntarily I may add, until such time as they can be safely removed from the city without risk of panic. In the meantime though, I would like to hear more of the recent events as you tell them. Please, share with me your interpretation of the events leading up to your decision to send for my sister's aid. "Well then, Fluttershy dear? Would you like to tell us all your theory?" Rarity prodded. Fluttershy wilted at the attention, "It's not really a theory... more like..." Fluttershy felt a hoof slide over her back, finding Rarity with a supportive smile. "Just tell us dear, we just want to know as much as we can about what's been going on." "Indeed," Luna concurred, "there is no need to fear, this is not a trial where your words bear great consequence, rather, we only seek to bring order to the recent chaos." Luna's words seemed to help, as Fluttershy returned her soft smile. "I'm sorry it took so long to figure this out, but I..." she took a deep breath, feeling Rarity's hoof squeeze gently, she looked over to find her friends' encouraging faces, "Ok, I'm ready." "From the earliest if possible." Luna requested, “Twilight has presented her side of the story and my sister has attempted to convey her understanding stemming from what you all told her, so please, if you may, begin where your theory of the situation diverges from what was previously assumed." "Well... I guess that would be when the Timberwolves showed up." she said, before her gaze fell on Rainbow Dash, and she whispered something unintelligible. "What was that dear? You must speak up. Don't worry nothing you say will make any of us upset." Rarity calmly prompted. Fluttershy took a deep breath, "Right." She said with renewed confidence "I'm sorry Rainbow, but when the Timberwolves came, why did you tackle Twilight?" The pegasus looked confused, but quickly answered "Because Scootaloo was in danger!" "What made you think that?" Fluttershy asked calmly, despite her oldest friend's reaction. "Because Applejack told me about how Twilight tried to eat Applebloom!" "Did she really?" Fluttershy shifted her focus to the farm mare. "Now wait just a darn minute! I didn't say nothin' 'bout eating her! I said she was licking at her! I wasn't meaning to judge! Winona licks at everything, includin' me, and I don't see her eatin' anything she ain't supposed to." "Exactly!" Fluttershy said, "That's what I thought, and that's when I realized that we had been thinking about Twilight like a predator, not a wolf." "But is that not what a wolf is? A predator?" Luna asked obviously intrigued, but not understanding fully. "Well, yes, but what I mean is we've been thinking about the influence on her as if she had become an embodiment of predator stereotypes, when we really we should have been thinking about her as a wolf." "I still do not follow, if a wolf is a predator, is it not safest to think of her as such?" "You don't understand, wolves are predators, but that's not all of what they are. They are parents and children too, they have families, and a close-knit community through their pack. We all have been thinking that Twilight’s actions are related to her being a predator rather than thinking about the other aspects of wolf instinct and life. A Lot of what has happened makes much more sense when thought about with that in mind, like the incident with Applebloom. "I actually admitted it myself at one point that we were like Twilight's pack, so, as would happen in a pack, I think Twilight was actually just preening what was basically one of our pack's pups. "That's kinda what I was thinkin' actually." Applejack said with a little confidence leaking into her words. "Fine! So I misunderstood! That still doesn't change the fact that if I hadn't been there to save Scootaloo that she would've ended up a snack!" "You may be right, I mean Scootaloo-" Fluttershy tried to say before Rainbow interrupted. "You can't say that she would have- wait what?" "I mean you are probably right Rainbow. You probably did save Scootaloo. Twilight almost certainly didn't and doesn't understand what her new instincts are telling her... If her predator nose is telling her that she's smelling prey, she couldn't have known what she was smelling as prey. There is no way to know what would have happened had you not acted, but there were circumstances that made the situation unfair for Twilight." "What do you mean 'she couldn't have known what she was smelling was prey!' Ponies aren't prey!" "Uh, Rainbow? Ya know we kinda ARE though, right?" Applejack mumbled. "That doesn't change the-" "That's not what I said Rainbow," Fluttershy interjected, to the surprise of most, "I said she didn't know what she was smelling as prey. She didn't know what she was smelling but did know that it smelled like food." "But why would she think that Scootaloo smelled like food?" "That's just it, she wasn't smelling Scootaloo. That's why I said it was unfair for Twilight, she has a predator's nose, one that had just spent almost a week eating only eggs from chickens, chickens exactly like the ones that Scootaloo sought refuge with when the timberwolves attacked the coup. So not only was she presented to a starved Twilight as food, but she smelled of the same food she had been eating almost exclusively since her transformation." "But!" Rainbow shouted, only to find she had nothing to add, "...ok, I guess that makes sense." Finding the point to have been made, Luna spoke, "This is indeed enlightening, but tell me, do you believe that this event could re-occur? Indeed possibly without such fortuitous intervention?" "Well, I can't say she will not be as dangerous as anything else when starved, but she has already shown herself to be trustworthy even when confronted." she turned to Rainbow, "When you knocked her off of Scootaloo, What did she do?" "She just stood there before I scared her off." She replied confidently. "I'm sorry to say this Rainbow, but you didn't scare her off, she decided to leave. If she really thought about Scootaloo as prey at the time, a wolf would never just give up prey it caught like that." "Not to argue, but she just didn't think she could win, so she ran off. If I hadn't-" "Rainbow, she fought Celestia." "oh... yeah..." "Thank you Fluttershy," Luna said with a slight nod, "Your account has shed valuable light upon the situation. I'm sure that it will dramatically affect the course of action we take from here." "Now hold on there, 'course of action?'" Applejack repeated, "That sounds like you plan on doing something with Twilight. She just needs to be turned back into a pony, she doesn't deserve ta be punished." "Of course Applejack," Luna said with a smile, "Twilight is not in trouble, she has done nothing to warrant punishment, she has merely been a victim of circumstance. This has actually been fortunate though, as we have now become able to correct an injustice we had not even been aware of. As soon as Twilight returns we can-" "Princess!" Twilight shouted, bursting into the room, "They're gone!"