//------------------------------// // Confessions // Story: Earning Freedom // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Confessions Malich leaned back in his chair, a sigh of utter relief happily escaping his throat from the news he'd just received. The letter on his desk read out in bold red letters "Status of Target: Free." His initial reading left him feeling angry at first, since the report stated that the drake was found "guilty", but that point was quickly followed by the statement that gave the vice president so much joy. Malich finished reading the report and felt a grave sense of concern, they didn't give him the contract. "Post trial, the target was severally injured and teleported (presumably) to receive medical attention immediately after the Trial by Combat. The event happened too quickly for interception and there were no more opportunities to garner the agreement. As the lead of this mission, I accept full responsibility for this-" Already annoyed at the failure of his subordinate, the ashen pony pulled out a piece of new parchment, his reply already formed in his head. It was fortunate for Conno that Spike had such a rigid code of ethics if the report was correct. He hoped that the drake's sense of duty would be easy to manipulate and he'd sign out of a sense of gratitude. It was Triple M. that saved his sorry ass, after all. Though, Malich would rather have saved that little trump card for another instance, he couldn't say he was sorry. His letter made, the vice president called in Radcliff and sealed it for delivery. Once again alone, Malich pressed his lips and shrugged. It wasn't really important that the dragon sign the contract, after all: it was more than within his power to ensure his cooperation. Voluntarily agreed to or not. (Rainbow Dash speaks with Pinkie about what they almost did. Talk about what could have happened, and why it shouldn't have.) Pinkie sat in her room, the party pony looking unusually glum and forlorn. Her typically happy go lucky atmosphere had evaporated among the harsher realities of the world. All thoughts of parties distant memories as the many scenarios played over and over again in her head about what almost was. What would have happened if those griffons in the black jackets hadn't come, what would have happened if those other dogs hadn't testified, what would have happened if the big dog had gotten out his last word. The pink mare shuddered at the word. She didn't like the idea of it, she couldn't even think about it without wanting to unload the contents of her stomach. Which was nothing, considering she hadn't eaten since Rainbow Dash had practically shoved food down her throat during the train ride home, and even then, it was no where near what her sugar desensitized body craved and needed. Could she have done it? Yea, she agreed to help, but would she have actually gone along when push came to shove? Discord, Sin, Mac and Rainbow, they all looked so determined to help, and she didn't like the way Celestia handled things, but what they would have done, what she would have done... Would it really have been any better? Sin... he planned to kill them, the Diamond Dogs. He told her point blank that he had every intention to do it, no reservations, no concern for the lives he was ending, he just... it was like he didn't even care. Though, she shouldn't have been surprised. While she didn't witness his capabilities, she had heard from Macintosh and saw the fight that ensued. Even then, he was more upset that she and her friends were upset than that he ended another pony's life... and she was about to help him do it again. Placing her head into the pillow, Pinkie sobbed gently to herself, trying to keep her muffled cries from reaching the ears of her surrogate family. What had she almost done? She almost threw her family and her life away. She didn't regret it, but it did confuse her that she was in that situation at all. It scared, confused and sickened her the pink earth pony all at once and she shivered. "Pinkie?" She looked up to find a cyan pegasus standing in her doorway, eyes full of knowing concern. "Can I come in?" Pinkie nodded, approving of Rainbow Dash's entrance. Sitting on the bed, Rainbow sighed. "Still thinking about it?" Again, Pinkie nodded. Dash stretched out her wing and pulled the pink mare close to her side. "You can't keep beating yourself up over this. C'mon, this isn't you Pinkie." Something was muttered in reply, but Rainbow couldn't make it out. "He would have killed them." She managed through muffled sobs into her friend's neck. "He would have." The flyer agreed, pressing her lips. "But he didn't. It didn't happen, Pinks. Things worked out for us and nopony got hurt besides Spike." Rainbow felt the earth pony cringe at the inclusion and she internally berated herself for putting it that way. "But that was his choice to make. It was an unfair situation for him, that's why we wanted to help in the first place right?" She felt Pinkie nod. "So, we can't feel too bad about it, right? We were just trying to help a friend." Pinkie muttered something too distorted to make out but continued into coherence. "-all so wrong. I don't know what I would have done, Dashie. I was so scared, my tummy was full of rocks and vinegar. I keep asking myself why? Why it was happening, why Celestia didn't stop it, why she just sat back and let it happen. Spike was going to die! I love Spike, I don't want him to die. But if we stopped them, than somepony else would die!. No matter what happened, somepony was going to... to..." A hiccup sob interrupted her, and Rainbow felt herself on the verge of tears as Pinkie fell prey to emotional trembling. "It's not fair, it's all just not fair." Rainbow let out a defeated sigh as she held her friend. She was right, it wasn't fair, but it was the reality of the situation. As she sat being a pony tissue, the cyan mare's mind also wondered. She had one job, that was to take out that Valiar guy who was backing up Shining Armor. She'd gain the element of surprise and knock him out before he even knew what happened. It was assault. It was assault on a royal guard on behalf of protecting both Sin and saving Spike, and she was fully ready to do it and accept the consequences of her actions. She was also angry that the whole thing almost came to that when all Celestia would have had to do was show some spine and tell them that what they did wasn't acceptable. But she didn't, she just sat back and let Spike be taken and presumably killed. Pinkie, Spike, Mac, herself, they all had a right to be loathed with the princess's decision. She tried to convince Twilight to show some indignation and anger over it as well, what with it being her own son, but no matter what; Twilight was adamant that Celestia was wise in her rule. Nopony, nopony else besides them was willing to act, and that made aroused a rage worthy of the element she bore. It was the antithesis of her and everything she stood for. Betrayal. "What are we going to do?" Pinkie asked, breaking the mare from her thoughts. "About Twilight and them? I'm still kinda mad at them for not doing anything about it either, but I understand it at the same time. I don't know how I should feel right now." Rainbow had also given that consideration, while she was anything but thrilled with her librarian friend, it was clear that she was distraught and emotionally drained. She didn't want to use the word "weak" but it was something pretty close to that. "We have to forgive them, Pinkie." Rainbow said solemnly, tilting Pinkie's chin up to make eye contact. "They were afraid and as confused as both you and I are. We can't be too angry at them for doing nothing." "I know it hurts, Pinks, but it's for the best that we put this behind us. No grudges, no regrets, no resentments. Okay?" Pinkie looked into the confident and compassionate magenta eyes of her best friend. Her confusion slowly dissipated to acceptance, finding sound logic to Rainbow's reasoning. Being mad wouldn't last forever, Twilight was hurting and she'd need support, especially since she'd be caring for a bed ridden baby dragon. As the two held each other in a most platonic fashion, a small warmth returned to Pinkie as her memories and questions became less and less relevant for the hope of a better tomorrow. She wouldn't be top notch, A-Okay party planning mare extrordinare again, but she'd be better. Yea, tomorrow would be better. Soarin sighed as he looked out the window of the Ponyville express. His mind was a mess, he wasn't sure what he was capable of anymore. Applejack. The mare he'd meant only as a means to hurt a stallion who'd wronged him, had worked her way into his heart. The wonderbolt didn't know how it was happening, but he was slowly starting to fall in love with her. He cringed as he recalled what was done and considered how reprehensible his actions were. Closing his eyes, the stallion stopped a tear and attempted to rebuild the walls around his heart he'd made, to no avail. Not even the thought of Spitfire kicking the stuffing out of him helped his growing feelings. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, he was just supposed to string her along, get under Macintosh's skin a bit, and break it off. It was business, business for personal revenge, but business none the less. Her eyes, though. Her laughter, he genuine kindness, the way she laughed and kissed. The way her eyes came alive when she'd see him, the admiration and respect, it wasn't just because of the uniform, it was genuine feeling for the stallion behind the goggles. He groaned rubbed his hooves against his temples. No, no it wasn't genuine care, it was the love potion he slipped her. She didn't care about him any more than the rest of the equine around the country, not really anyways. Or so he tried to convince himself. The closest he'd ever felt to this was the little affair he had when he still worked under his father at the carnival when his sister introduced him to one of her friends. Glitter was her name. Glitter, the silver coated pegasus mare left a bitter sweet taste on the stallion's tongue. How he loved her, the two would often fly together after a show and take in the night's sky. Sharing stories about dreams and past experiences. Out of all of the ponies he knew, Glitter was the only one who didn't laugh at his dreams to become a Wonderbolt. They shared alot of things together, including many first times. Kissing, spooning, sleeping, sex. She was everything a stallion like him could hope for. Save for two very crucial traits... Honesty and loyalty. "You gonna cry or what?" Shuffle asked his son, the stallion looking up from his news paper. Soarin shook his head, dismissing that he was in thought. "Well think about something else. You and your sister are couplin' with a pair of farm hicks, don't need you embarrassing me more by crying about it." Soarin cringed to hold back his hoof from slamming the old stallion's head in. He was right though, he did need to figure this out before things got too complicated. He didn't want to hurt AJ again, but he also knew he couldn't keep his facade up much longer. The stallion was getting attached to a grudge in the worst way and needed to escape. That's when another thought hit him. What if he just pursued the relationship? Came clean about the love potion, apologized to both AJ and Mac for his actions and tried to work around the fact his sister was dating her brother? Than another part of his mind slapped the former part across the face and reminded it what happened the last time Soarin had opened his heart in such a way. Glitter was his number one fan, right until he'd failed his initial tryout. After that, it was utter abandonment with some of the most hurtful insults to add insult to injury. He could still remember that day, the day she'd left him. He cynical and dismissive laugh, calling him a wanna-be-bolt, and walking out of the bar with another stallion. With a growing tug of war between self preservation and protecting one he was growing to love, Soarin sat stumped on what to do next. He was a terrible pony, truly one of the worst.