//------------------------------// // Getting Results // Story: Drastic Measures // by Nimnul //------------------------------// Baron Chook paged through a sheaf of papers. "Hm. Yes. I'm afraid most of what you may have heard about your target is true." "I knew it!" Berry nodded, even though she had really heard nothing about Pan Flash that wasn't at least ten years old by now. "He killed the operative known as the Red Boa in a five hour duel and it is true that he brought down the airship 'Amber Wings' after his entire team lay dead around him." Chook clicked his beak. "By all accounts he is fast, brutal, and without remorse." "If your eyebrows go up any higher they'll pop off your face, Berry," Lyra joked. Bon Bon seemed amused, as well. "I would not willingly oppose this gryphon," Chook concluded. "Wait, what? We're lookin' for a unicorn stallion!" Berry felt like her composure was slipping. "He is also a master of disguise." "He sired a unicorn filly, you two-bit clown! What'd we even pay for?" "There's no cause for being hurtful." Chook made a disapproving sound, clicking his beak. "Hm. Ah, wrong dossier. My mistake. Wonder how those got mixed up." Bon Bon rolled her eyes, then rubbed her forehead with a hoof while Lyra snickered. He proceeded to pick up a single sheet of paper. "This is your stallion. He's nobody. Finished a prison sentence about a year ago, works for the Silver Lining Bakery, some pet project of the crown that hires former convicts since they're not particularly attractive on the open market." Berry was quite disappointed, but remembered Bon Bon's request to be nice to the gryphon, so she didn't lash out verbally, much. "Hm. What a waste of time. You got an address at least?" "Certainly, as well as a list of his activities. Please keep in mind that my associates haven't been able to observe him for long enough to conclusively establish patterns of behavior." Lyra nodded along before frowning . "That's well and good, but can we go back to the other guy? A five hour duel? If somepony is that tedious to kill, maybe it's time to just wire a bomb to his cupboard. Next time he makes breakfast, problem solves itself." "It's not as easy as all that, Lyra. I'd probably try poison," Bon Bon remarked. Berry inspected the single-page dossier. "He's got a marefriend? That doesn't even make sense, why'd he want to dig up this stuff if he's got a new relationship?" Chook waved a claw dismissively. "Completely unremarkable mare. Tried to shoplift mane care products at age thirteen, never got into any other noteworthy trouble. Works as a mane stylist." He shrugged. "Civilian. Doesn't even bear wasting a sheet of paper on." "Ugh, well, fine. Barely seems like it was worth the money." She really wasn't happy about the expense, but it was a 'buyer beware' thing, and she tried to give Bon Bon enough credit to assume if there had been something interesting, this gryphon would have dug something up. "For a very modest additional fee I can have some of my associates secure this stallion for a conversation in a private location, if you wish." Chook regarded Berry expectantly, predatory smile playing around his beak. Berry noticed Bon Bon leaning forward, presumably to indicate her interest, but she dismissed the idea. "Pff, nah, we'll just grab him ourselves, since we know when he comes off work." "You sure?" Bon seemed like she disliked the idea. "Baron Chook's people know the area a lot better. Discreet option." "We're done spending money here, girls. Let's pay up and get going. It's time to get this over with. Trust me, he'll fold." "If you say so." Both of her friends frowned, but didn't argue. The three of them were strolling along a reasonably busy street, morning traffic, ponies going to work, same as any other city, and certainly a better part of it than Berry's old stomping grounds. They were going to check out the bakery Pan Flash supposedly worked at, then find some way to pass the time until he got off work. According to their meager intelligence on the topic, the stallion started work early, as befitted a bakery. At least, that had been the plan. Bon Bon knew that plans rarely lasted long until you had to start improvising. "Hey, look at that. He's off schedule." Berry nodded towards a stallion hurrying in the same direction on the other side of the road. Orange coat, white mane, the horn seemed a little short to Bon Bon, maybe it had been broken off and was regrowing? All sorts of things could happen in prison. "Wonder what he's up to." "Maybe he overslept? Happens to the best of us," Lyra ventured. "Comes with being able to turn off the alarm without movin' a muscle. If it wasn't for me, Lyra'd sleep in all day," Bon Bon teased. She was a little jealous, in truth. She didn't usually manage much restful sleep herself. "Har har, let's get him!" Berry was off before she could say anything, trailing the stallion until they passed a convenient narrow alley. "Yo, Pan, wait up!" The stallion slowed down and turned his head to check who was calling out to him. Recognition dawned, along with fear. "Oh, uh, didn't expect to see you, Berry." Neither Bon Bon nor Lyra were used to that sort of reaction directed at Berry. "Well, you got some explaining to do," Berry stated reasonably. "Hope you didn't expect to be writing that kinda letter and then, you know, not have me track you down." "I can explain! But I'm already running late for work, and I can't afford that. Maybe some other time?" "I won't take but a moment of your time." Pan Flash wasn't a real impressive specimen of stallion, and Berry hustled him into the alley with no particular difficulty. "No need to make a scene in public." Bon Bon was starting to have a bad feeling about this. "Not gonna lie," Berry claimed, "I really wish you hadn't written." "Me, t-" He didn't get any further than that before Berry's hoof connected with his head near the base of his horn. Forehead wounds could bleed impressively without necessarily being all that threatening. In any case Berry's hoof must have split the guy's forehead open pretty well. The blow to the head had rendered him unconscious immediately, it seemed. Probably, hopefully, really, not for any length of time. Still, Bon Bon knew that this was a worse sign than any of the blood. "Hm. S'not what I meant when I said he'd fold. That's just sad," Berry commented idly. "Why'd ya have to go and be so bloody unprofessional about this, Berry?" Bon Bon used a harsh whisper, trying to keep it down. "You told me you wanted to talk first! You think no one saw you pull this guy in here? You've got blood on you! You really want this guy dead so badly?" "Bah. Not my fault the guy's such a house of cards. Just wanted to make my position clear, y'know, start negotiations." Berry shrugged. "I guess we should drag him off somewhere, see about waking him up?" Lyra finally spoke up, whispering as well. "Drag him off, in broad daylight? Don't be stupid. This seems a nicer part of town compared to where you learned to solve problems. Plus Swampy's gonna draw some attention, not a lot of ponies in town with dogs." Sadly true. The dog was steady and loyal and even now stuck to Bon Bon's side, albeit restlessly. But it was still a dog, and Lyra was right about not many ponies keeping their own carnivores. Berry scoffed. "Not that nice. It'll take ages for cops to show up, this far from the tourists. Trust me, it's gonna work out." On one hoof, Berry knew Las Pegasus better than Bon Bon did. On the other, it seemed doubtful to her that the other earth pony's experiences in her poor neighborhood extended over much more of the town. She also didn't much care for the impulsiveness of the attack when there had been better options. "This is stupid. We could have had a nice plan, something to account for different outcomes, anything from 'he backs down and apologizes' to 'take a hacksaw to him and dig a shallow grave'. Well, neither of those are real practical in the middle of town after you started in on him like that!" Berry glowered, first at her friends, then at the unconscious stallion. She sounded mostly resigned, however. "Just walk away. Never shoulda gotten you involved, anyway. Just lemme deal with this, don't care what happens then. If we're both out of the picture, Pinchy's gonna be okay anyway, and the book's closed on Las Pegasus." "This is not the sort of conversation a princess should walk in on." It seemed as if the alicorn had simply stepped out of shadows too light to have obscured her. She was accompanied by two of her night guards and one Ditzy Do. Berry reacted, not instantly, but quickly, trying to lunge for Pan Flash again. If she was busted, it appeared that at least she wanted to have actually done extensive harm to the stallion. Bon Bon was quicker. Berry wasn't the fastest of ponies, too used to taking it slow and trying to remain steady, but she had been working out. Bon Bon had been a professional, however. She drew back her left foreleg and hooked it forward so swiftly, the strike would be measured only by its aftermath. It was a quick lashing out, but she hadn't dared to put all her strength into harming her friend. She might as well have punched the brick wall for all the good it initially appeared to do. She caught Berry square in the jaw and the other pony barely flinched. Lyra gasped, yelled for them to stop, which distracted Bon Bon. In sober truth, she wasn't real comfortable fighting another pony. She'd fought literal monsters, not so much the figurative 'ponies are the real monsters' type. The distraction and hesitation had a cost. Fortunately, it wasn't Pan Flash who paid it. Perhaps luckily for all involved, Berry wasted precious moments lashing out at Bon Bon. She hurled her full weight against the cream colored mare, and Bon Bon reacted imperfectly. Both tumbled to the ground. At least Lyra had the good sense to try and calm down Swampy. Poor critter must be frightened and confused. Trained to be harmless to ponies, and having known Berry as a friend and mother to a filly who was quite affectionate, the tussle was riling him up bad. For good measure, Berry managed to slam the back of Bon Bon's head into the pavement before the former monster hunter managed to throw her off. That just seemed petty, but given the choice of finishing off an unconscious guy, and making a target that actually hit her regret the move, Berry seemed to have picked retaliation without a moment's thought. The pain wasn't the worst that Bon Bon had experienced, but she'd be nursing a headache, and her wounded pride. Bowled over like a green rookie. At least they hadn't decided to bring along any of Chook's cronies, the old bird'd never let her live it down. Berry didn't even look real mad. Maybe she'd just wanted to underline that nopony got to just hit her without expecting a beating, that'd be just like her. Before the fight could really start, Luna restrained Berry and lifted her up by magic. "CALM YOURSELF!" Berry momentarily ceased her struggles against the restraints, stunned by the Royal Canterlot Voice used in the cramped confines of the alley. "Lemme go! I didn't come all the way back here jus' to do nothing!" After that plea she recognized the grey pegasus Luna had brought along. Ditzy was cowering on the floor, obviously startled by the voice. "Y'know what, maybe you ought to hold on good and tight." Her voice quivered with sudden fury. "Cause once you let go I'm liable to try and tear one of your ears off for getting Ditzy involved in this. Highness." She started struggling again. She'd been aggressive with her mother, and she apparently hadn't held back when hitting Pan in the head, but she hadn't seemed really angry either of those times, not like this. Bon Bon had caught on that Berry didn't think highly of the ponies she was surrounded by in her youth, but Ditzy probably counted as an uninvolved innocent, not to mention a good friend. The earth pony's strength was, of course, entirely useless compared to Luna's magical might, but the boiling rage with which Berry glared at her was probably somewhat unexpected. The princess helped up the pegasus. "I apologize for the volume." Meanwhile, her guards were checking on Pan Flash, Lyra hovering around them, concerned herself. Bon Bon wished she had some task to focus on. "Can't say I'm a big fan of it, either." She was feeling pretty annoyed herself, even though she should probably be glad the princess had arrived when she did. Better her than the cops. "He'll probably be alright," one of the guards remarked as they worked with a first aid kit. "Might need a couple stitches, though. We're just glueing him shut for now." Berry worked her jaw, then spat out a tooth. It was cold comfort to Bon Bon that the blow she'd landed had at least left some mark. Her friend seemed to have gone from struggling to quietly fuming. "Consolation prize. You lock me up, my filly goes to better ponies than I. They got money, they got connections, Pan's got no chance." She grumbled. "Biggest mistake was dragging them along. It's all on me, Princess." She suddenly chuckled. "Y'know what, you can let go. I'll do my time for attacking him. Pinchy deserves better than me, yeah, but she sure deserves better than Pan. So long as he keeps away from her, I'm willing to let him be." Berry glared again. "But if he's serious about advancing some sort of claim, you better put me on the moon, Princess. Ain't no hole in the world deep enough to put me in." There was quiet menace in her voice. "The less Las Pegasus she's got in her life, the better." "I think we're past the point of making threats, Berry. They got us, fair and square, now let them get in a word edgewise," Lyra tried to scold gently, and Bon Bon recognized that tone of voice. It usually worked when she herself had been unreasonably riled up about some nonsense. In all honesty, she was feeling pretty angry herself. "You shut up!" Berry snarled. "It's your fault, too! If you two hadn't distracted me I coulda put an end to this. You and your stupid conscience." Still, despite her anger, she turned to yell at the guards. "You better treat her nice! She didn't do nothin' wrong." "We were trying to help you get this sorted like an adult, you dumb goon!" Bon Bon had snarled before managing to check herself. It was all going wrong again, she hadn't been alert and quick enough to safe her idiot friend from herself. She ground her teeth and snorted. Before long she felt both her marefriend and her dog try to comfort her. "Are you quite finished?" Luna gently set the mare down, but the shimmer of her magic remained. Clearly she wasn't too trusting. "Heh. Smart mare." Berry eyed Luna's ears meaningfully. The sudden calm probably had to be carefully maintained. "Yes, quite. If you're done ranting and posturing, perhaps you should listen to your other friend." Ditzy, stepped forward, seeming on the verge of tears. "Berry, ... " she all but whispered before raising a hoof and slapping the earth pony. It wasn't much of one, Berry probably barely felt it. Bon Bon hadn't much cared for the consequences of hitting Berry, but she didn't think anyone had expected the current reaction. To her knowledge, Ditzy just didn't resort to hitting other people unless someone else started it. And even then, she was so non-confrontational, it practically never happened. Berry seemed shocked, completely stunned. All her anger appeared instantly extinguished. There was only room for surprise. Surprise and concern. "What'd ya go and do that for, Ditzy?" The mailmare hugged Berry. "S-sorry, Berry, I'm s-sorry, it's-it's j-j-just, it's just ... " She frowned in concentration. "Shhh, c'mon Ditzy, barely even felt it. Take it slow, always time for that, hey?" Berry, self-described blunt instrument when it came to emotions, gently stroked Ditzy's mane. Although, at the same time, she spread around a glare that seemed to promise enduring, patient hate for any pony fool enough to try and rush Ditzy along. "It's just ..." Ditzy took a deep breath. "It's just, you're such a stupid, insensitive meathead." Berry didn't respond beyond looking sheepish. Another pony might have defended herself, but she'd told Ditzy to take it slow, and she knew there'd be more coming. You could accuse Berry of a lot of things, but she had all the patience in the world for her friends. "Do you not think that it will ruin Pinchy's life? If you go to prison? Why-why won't you believe anypony? When they say that nopony can take your daughter away. You've done ... done good enough. Not great, good enough. She needs you." Ditzy held her eyes closed, that seemed to help her concentration, perhaps because she couldn't see the audience. "I'm not sure that's true," Berry quietly replied. "She never wants to lean on me. She'll worry about being a blank flank – to anypony but me. Help with homework? If Dinky can't help her, she'll ask you, or Lyra, cause Lyra's smart, too." The earth pony's voice grew thick with emotion. "Her first heartache? She'll go to you, or maybe even Bon or Lyra, cause she knows I'm a screw-up that way, too, and she doesn't want to embarrass me. Yeah, she loves me, I know. But I think it's too late to get her to trust me with her hurts and problems. She grew up watchin' me barely able to deal with my own, y'know. Formative years seein' me weak, that'll settle under your brain, stuff ponies act on without thinking, cause it's just how the world works to them." She rubbed at her eyes. "So if I can just make sure my problems don't get to be her problems, that'll have to be good enough." Ditzy took a step back and inspected Berry critically. "Spending time in the library?" "Lyra's always reading about how ponies tick, and Spike likes helping somepony who tips." The pegasus dismissed the topic with a shake of her head. "I'm not done yet. What about Dinky? She loves you, I think. You're not just Pinchy's mother to her. She's known you - known you as long as I have. Likes what you've done with yourself." Conversing with Ditzy did seem to have a calming effect on the earth pony, despite the situation. "Aw, you know she thinks I'll be useful in case somepony actually gets under that thick hide of yours." Berry scratched her head. "I guess she didn't figure on it bein' me. I knew you'd be the only pony who could get away with layin' a hoof on me, but I didn't figure on bein' the only pony who'd get you to do it." Ditzy, for all that she was physically toughened up by years of carrying heavy loads, hated violence. Feared it, perhaps. Most ponies did. Even Berry would know that the light slap the earth pony had barely felt might hurt Ditzy for a while yet. "It's more than that. You never, ever, treat me different from other ponies. She'll credit you that forever. But it'll break her heart, if I lose my best friend. She won't forgive you that." As she talked in that slow rhythm, Ditzy always carefully enunciated every word. "Aww, you know that's a cheap shot, Ditzy." Berry tended to claim she hadn't been a real friend to Ditzy until recently, but obviously the pegasus didn't see it quite the same way. "It's the truth. I'm tired ... I'm really tired of you thinking ... thinking you matter so little to ponies around you." Ditzy squared her shoulders and squinted her wandering eye shut. "You say Pinchy doesn't trust you. She's at home, thinking – thinking you'll get this sorted out reasonably. You know what she says about you?" "It's easy to be a better pony than me?" Ditzy sighed in actual annoyance. "Yes, that too. She says you'll do it right, because you're being a good pony for her. Here you are, risking prison. Talking about foisting being her mother off – off on our friends." She bit her lip before adding, "You want her to f-feel betrayed? Knowing you can't trust, can't trust your f-family messed you up! Don't do it to her! You're better than that." "Damn," Lyra muttered under her breath while leaning against Bon Bon. Berry Punch, the mare who'd been seriously considering taking another pony's life, who'd threatened violence against an alicorn and probably meant every word, flinched and seemed stunned into silence. Far from resenting the pegasus, the fact that she'd done something to deserve having Ditzy hit her right in the heart like that just seemed to drive home the point of how much she'd screwed up. The earth pony seemed on the verge of tears, but apparently wouldn't permit herself to cry. "Don't matter what my excuse is, does it. Only how it makes her feel." She swallowed thickly, then snorted in annoyance. "Tch. I'm an idiot, like always." She lowered her head and fell silent, except for audibly grinding her teeth as she struggled with her emotions. Ditzy hugged Berry again, who allowed it with little reaction. The mailmare wrapped her wings around her friend as she addressed Princess Luna. "I've known her f-for g-going on ten years. Ups. Downs. Listened to her ramble when she was sad-drunk." She grimaced, then made soothing noises at the earth pony. "Berry's never been afraid for herself. Never. No matter what happened in Ponyville, she only worried for her filly." "Fear comes from uncertainty. When we're absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we're almost impervious to fear." Luna seemed quite uncomfortable, watching the internal turmoil of this mare who, moments ago, seemed ready to take a life. "Well, you know, for some ponies it's a neurological condition," Lyra offered. Probably something she'd read while trawling the head shrinker's section of the library while trying to get a grip on Bon Bon's bad moods. "I take it you have nothing of real value to contribute?" Luna looked at the unicorn crossly. "That's about the size of it." Bon Bon did feel a measure of pride that Lyra maintained her calm at the moment. The brief diversion seemed to have been used by Ditzy to line up her next statements. "Sometimes I think the idea that she'd turn out anything like her mother ... even by accident ... scared her into drink. Made it worse, anyway." Berry appeared totally defeated, but was getting a grip on herself. "Was a time when I was a little filly, elementary school, I got sent home for something, I forget what I'd done. So mom asks what happened, and knowin' her, I made her promise, promise not to kick me if I told her." "So she smiles and takes this kindly sorta tone with me. 'I'm your mother, of course I won't.' So I tell her. She promised!" Berry couldn't quite choke back a sob. "She ... she beat me ...with a pipe. With ... a ... pipe." That would teach a developing mind all kinds of bad lessons, Bon Bon knew. She saw Lyra looking ill at the idea. "You drag me all the way out here to jump this clown on some real specious reasoning and yet your mom's still alive after that? Any time I think I got you figured out, I swear." "Yeah, I suckerpunched Pan, but I never promised anypony not to hurt 'em and then weasel around it to beat 'em down anyway. Day I do that is the day I toss myself down Ghastly Gorge." After a moment, Berry added, "I guess dad saw something in her, and I couldn't bear taking that away from him, even if I thought it was idiotic. Still," her voice turned thoughtful, "I guess he did leave her now, didn't he?" "Although I might read the relevant obituary with a measure of satisfaction, I must ask you not to plan your mother's demise in front of me, Berry." Luna took a reasonable tone with Berry. Perhaps she really wasn't joking. Before Berry could respond, one of the guards called out. "Highness, the victim's coming around." Princess Luna had apparently decided to take charge of the situation and verbally roll over the stallion. "Pan Flash! You are safe now, and your grievance shall be addressed. However, in the interest of clarity, you should explain your unexpected interest in your previously neglected progeny." Funnily enough, the guy wasn't nearly as cowed by Luna as he'd been afraid of Berry. "Let a pony wake all the way up, will ya? My head's killing me." Taking stock of the situation, he sighed. "Uh, no offense, Highness. Didn't expect to wake up to a Princess." He glowered at Berry. "I really could have done with the past staying the past, y'know? I didn't really want to write the letter, didn't want to give her ideas that I might have money to spare." Berry scoffed, but there was no real feeling to it. "Yeah, like I ever expected to be able to squeeze blood from a stone. We got along fine." "Yeah, well, I was hoping you'd just tell me to get bent and leave it at that, but apparently I hadn't counted on you still being the same type of psychopath you were when we were younger. Guess whose face is red now! Oh wait!" "At least I never went to prison." "Big deal," the stallion sneered. "Only because they tried you as a minor. You always were a dumb thug, Berry. You seriously telling me I'm the first pony you brutalized in over a decade? I'm so honored right now." The guy didn't seem particularly pleasant, but that was understandable after being dragged into an alley and laid out in one hit. Being hit in the face once hardly counted as brutalizing in Bon Bon's book, anyway. She knew Berry had gotten into fights since then, but they'd been brawls, she'd mostly stayed out of trouble. "Sir, I'll ask you to keep a civil tongue in your head in the presence of the Princess," one of the guards remarked. Maybe he felt inclined to be sympathetic towards Berry after her heart to heart with Ditzy. Although she hadn't been addressed, it was Berry who looked chastened. She extracted herself from Ditzy's hug and approached the stallion slowly, as if to reassure the present authority figures. "I kept out of trouble, Pan. Had a daughter to raise. I really, really tried. So why'd you write? You don't want me in your life any more than I want you in mine. I know you got a new marefriend." The stallion seemed to despair. Since he'd woken up and apparently taken heart from the presence of the authorities, he seemed vulnerable for the first time. "Please don't tell her about this. I'm trying, too, y'know. Stay legit, be a better partner." "Then why? Explain yourself." Luna had stepped forward. She didn't seem particularly impressed with this stallion's claim that he'd have preferred that Berry and the filly he'd sired stay out of his life, but perhaps she'd decided not to address the point, since it was what Berry wanted, as well. "It's ... it's her mother, your Highness." Now Bon Bon had a really bad feeling about this. Lyra uttered a tiny "Uhoh." "When I got out of prison I ran into her by accident, once. She gave me a hard time about bein' a deadbeat, but y'know, everypony knew Berry's mom's psychotic or something, so I just walked away. I guess I expected if she felt that way, Berry would probably feel, y'know, the opposite." "I'm with you so far," Berry agreed, sounding vaguely confused and uneasy. He shivered. "Never paid it any mind for months, except a while ago she tracked me down again. Starts bloody blackmailing me about taking responsibility, threatening to tell my marefriend if I didn't get things squared away with Berry. She must have followed me home or something! That mare is nuts." After a moment, he added, "Well, first she threatened to tell my boss that I'm an ex-con, which would usually work except that's sort of the entire point of Silver Linings, you know? So she changed tracks." "Oh no." Ditzy's comment seemed to sum up the mood among most of the listeners. "So you're telling me," Berry's voice was dangerously quiet, "I'm not calling you a liar, mind you. You're telling me that my mom went off the deep end, probably after my dad left her, which you wouldn't have known, and she got her tail in a twist about, I dunno, stallions running off on their mares? So she just had to meddle in our lives, even though I ran off on you, and I don't bloody want you back in the first buckin' place." Berry leveled an unsettling stare at Princess Luna. "Are you absolutely sure we can't plot my mother's demise while we're here? It seems like the thing to do." "I'm afraid I must insist," Luna allowed some regret to color her voice. She really wasn't quite as good at loving all of their little ponies as her sister was, Bon Bon suspected. "This is quite a pickle," Berry stated evenly. "It seems I got so worried about my stupid past catching up and ruining my life, I just about ended up doing that to you, Pan. My apologies." The earth pony trembled faintly. "I'm in a bit of a bind here, Ditzy." "Huh?" Even Ditzy wasn't quite sure what to make of Berry's reaction. "I wanna save up all my yelling for my mom, see, but I'm so angry it hurts. I think my heart's gonna burst." As if to forestall the mailmare's reaction, she ground out, "Please don't touch me right now." Berry stood in place, swaying, occasionally twitching or trembling. She seemed to be experiencing an unprecedented, titanic rage, with absolutely nothing to vent her towering fury on. All things considered, she was displaying a downright heroic level of control. "I'm not even real surprised," she whispered, mostly to herself. It was worrying, to say the least. Berry generally seemed pretty placid. Sure, she'd been a bit more annoyed lately, pushing over her own mother to threaten her hadn't been particularly level-headed, and yeah, she'd occasionally casually threaten a beating she never went through with, but she hadn't ever been truly enraged as far as Bon Bon could remember. She probably wasn't practiced at it, not like herself, who could get raging mad about the stupidest things, but knew how to handle it. Even the hateful look she'd given Princess Luna earlier seemed downright harmless now. Berry's mother had crossed some kind of line by kicking off this whole mess which might well have ended quite poorly and separated Berry from her daughter. Obviously this wasn't at all acceptable to the pony when it was engineered by someone else and didn't stem from her own mad notion that it would be best for the filly. Apparently Ditzy wasn't in the mood for over-thinking things. "Oh, n-nonsense." The pegasus rushed to comfort Berry. The earth pony flinched and tensed, for a worrisome moment Bon Bon wasn't totally sure that Berry wouldn't snap and drive the pegasus into the ground like a tent peg, for no reason other than the fact that Ditzy was the first thing that got too close. Nothing happened, and she felt a little foolish. Berry wouldn't hit Ditzy any more than Bon Bon would. Berry didn't hit ponies who'd done nothing to her, she'd claimed so herself, mentioned it as one of her good points even while in a dark mood. Although obviously Ditzy currently had more faith in that fact than Berry herself. "It's okay to be angry. I'm upset too. Anypony would be, now. But you don't have to lash out. You're not your mother. Trust yourself a little. Or trust me, if that's easier. I know you." "I hate all of this. But, I got this. I'm not gonna do something stupid. I'm not." After a moment, Berry added, almost pleading, "I just wanna be home. Ponyville doesn't make me so angry. Not gonna do something stupid. Just lemme not do something stupid, please. I can handle myself." "I know you can," Ditzy agreed. "You're not stupid. Okay? You're not stupid. What you have in your heart or head, it may not mean a lot to a lot of ponies, but it's still yours. And maybe you haven't heard that enough, so I'll say it again: I care about you. You mean something." Luna weighted in as well. "I strongly suggest that you trust your friend enough to believe her in this." "Fine. Whatever." Berry didn't seem wholly convinced, but nodded, slowly. "It's got to stop. She went too far, I won't let this go." She took on a musing tone. "Y'know, I only ever hit her back the once, mostly reflex. She's a coward, stopped tryin' to 'discipline' me once I was coming up to her size and I spent as little time as possible at home to stay out of her way. I was too patient." Maybe her self-esteem problems had kept Berry from properly motivating herself to try and solve the problem. Bon Bon thought back to what little she'd seen of Berry's mother. Implying that the authorities might take her child away had been both cruel and, in hindsight, kind of bizarre. Perhaps the older pony figured she'd gotten away with her awful treatment of her daughter and could invoke the specter of government intervention without introspection. She found herself taking slow, controlled breaths, because the whole thing was really making it hard to stay calm. She felt Lyra lean on her hard and whisper into her ear. "I wanna tell mom on this lady. She'd crush her for this." The thought did serve to lift Bon Bon's spirits. The older Heartstrings fancied herself a friend to all children and generally found something to appreciate in anypony, and the large, shaggy unicorn was ever ready to make peace with ponies as they were, not with ponies as she would like them to be. Bon Bon appreciated that greatly. Enkindle Heartstrings was also immensely strong by Equestrian standards and while realistically, she would not lower herself to beating up some other pony over this, the mental image was satisfying. Bon Bon had learned that some ponies, even when confronted with someone genuinely troubled, expected them to act as if they were living in a safe world, where ponies were pleasant, trustworthy, or in any case consistent. Little of this seemed to have been true in Berry's childhood, and that was generally a good way to set up expectations the other pony was bound to fall short of. Bon Bon was thankful every day that even at her worst, both Heartstrings had been extremely patient with her. Fortunately, neither Ditzy nor Luna seemed the type to think like that, either. "I could take the way she talked to me, y'know, I got thick skin, and she was nice to my daughter the time or two I could stand to visit for my dad's sake. That's all I ever wanted." Berry took a shuddering breath, squinted her eyes shut and continued with comparatively little inflection. "Fine. It's my fault too, for worryin' myself off the deep end over this. Pan coulda just written me and started off with 'Help, your mom's crazy' and I woulda been on his side, kinda, but I'll take responsibility. He just wrote wrong, I came unglued. Shoulda known you'd be too dumb to know to write 'visitiation rights' on your own." "For that, I'm sorry," she eventually ground out. "Okay, Berry, alright. I coulda done that better." Pan seemed to look for something else to say. "I don't hate you, you know that? I was a different pony back then and it was stupid not to go with you, but that was another life. For the record though, I worked on my education while in the joint." He hesitated. "I don't have a lot of cash, and as I said I'd rather we get out of each others' manes, but ..." "Stow it, Pan," Berry snapped. More evenly, she explained, "I probably make more than you do. Besides, I got a friend whose parents are real smitten with my daughter and they're loaded. Also, for your information, the old lady in question is huge. Never seen a mare that big, I swear. Made me feel like a little filly." Something in her tone, tightly controlled as it was, suggested that she hadn't much cared for being made to feel small. Maybe she was just trying to make smalltalk to distract herself from her anger. "Lady Heartstrings is, indeed, a very large mare," Princess Luna agreed. "I suspect making a friend of her was your one sensible decision in this entire fiasco." Pan had seemed doubtful until Luna's comment. "Huh. Well, good for you." He started to turn. "I guess I'll be going?" "Hold." Luna shook her head. "You've been wronged here, and we will see to that. Besides, you will have to see a medical professional. Surely, you will miss work over this. We will make an appearance and appease your superiors. You were on your way to work when you were assaulted by an old associate, only to be saved by my vigilant guards. The best excuses are the true ones." Pan's reaction wasn't unexpected. He'd been the victim here, but his trained response would still be to get some distance between himself and authority figures while they weren't looking for an excuse to make trouble for him. Beyond the certainty that their presence would keep Berry from doing him harm, he probably had no conception that they might actively care enough to right wrongs he'd suffered. "I won't press charges," Pan stated quietly. "You figure where to go from here with Berry. I just want to carry on with my life." He gingerly touched his forehead. "Would really appreciate if you could tell Berry's mother to stay away from me, though. Please? This is all her fault, anyway." He turned to Berry one last time. "Life's a series of closing doors, Berry. Types like us don't need to go out of our way to shut more of 'em. Go back to your daughter." Berry just nodded. Bon Bon would have felt better if the stallion had turned out to be as bad as Berry had seemed to remember him. "We will see to that," Luna agreed. Taking charge of the situation again, she pointed at her guards. "You see to it that he gets medical attention. You stay with Berry Punch. I shall briefly visit your place of employment and excuse you." With a smile, she added, "I shall be most cross if my guard is not returned to me intact, my friends." The stallion remaining behind rolled his eyes. Refreshing to see that Luna's guards were a little less stoic and staid than their counterparts serving other princesses. "We promise, Princess." It was Ditzy who had spoken first, but Berry nodded. "Yeah. Promise. I'm not hitting anypony else today." Unbalanced though she was by the events, she wouldn't make a liar out of her best friend. "Good on him for goin' legit. Wouldn't have liked to cause that new mare of his grief, either," Berry commented quietly as Luna, Pan and one of the guards were leaving. "Or wouldn't like to have have a murder on your conscience?" Bon Bon was pretty happy that the bloodshed had been minimal. She would perhaps have accepted doing away with the stallion if he'd actually been up to something nefarious, she hadn't expected Berry to just start improvising without so much as talking it out. Foolish in hindsight, she should have known better and cursed her own complacency. After several long moments, Berry merely shrugged lamely. "Wouldn't have liked to keep a secret from the fillies." Occasionally she wondered if there really was so little more to Berry's conscience beyond a list of things Ditzy, Dinky, or Ruby Pinch would disapprove off, or shouldn't learn from the earth pony. Maybe she just got into moods of self-loathing where she figured her own conscience didn't much matter. Besides, perhaps she subconsciously kept Pan in the same category as herself, distinct from more valuable 'good' ponies. She'd previously encountered that manner of thinking in ponies with similar backgrounds. You'd ask them about family, siblings perhaps, and they'd rush to assure you that those others were good ponies, as if the speaker's own petty crimes had permanently diminished their value compared to their family. It didn't feel all that fair to be analyzing Berry like that, however. Once she'd calmed down and had a chance to reflect, she'd be glad that she hadn't hurt Pan more seriously, and not just because other ponies would expect her to feel that way. Right now she was probably too busy trying to keep her anger stowed away for later use to engage in introspection. Ditzy leveled a disapproving frown at Bon Bon and Lyra. "Oh, so now, now you know this was all wrong? Not good enough," she stated. "I expect more sense from you. More sense than to just, just let it happen." The disappointment stung, all the more because it was so difficult to upset the pegasus normally, but was understandable. "No excuse. Shoulda grabbed hold of her soon as she saw Pan." Ditzy's frown deepened. "I'll go easy on you, Bon. Getting the Princess involved was good. But I've known B-Berry longer, longer than any of you, even before Bon and Lyra moved to, moved to Ponyville. Nopony thought to, to t-talk to me properly?" "Now I just f-feel gullible," she concluded. "You knew I'd just assume you guys were, were going to do this right. I'm silly like that." "Well, you are friends with a bunch of nutjobs," Lyra agreed. "I think things worked out comparatively well, though." "I'm real sorry, Ditzy. You know I know you ain't thick. I feel awful about makin' you feel that way. I wasn't thinking right. I knew you'd trust me," Berry admitted. "And I just figured that way you'd not get dragged down with me." "I know how you tick," Ditzy agreed with a sigh. She still glowered at Lyra, though. "Com-comparatively well?" She evidently wasn't at all convinced. Still, she sighed, shook her head and addressed Berry again. "You're like a sis ... sister to me, but ..." "But sometimes I need adult supervision?" "Yes," Ditzy sighed. "Sometimes you need, need a friend to n-nudge you the right way." She placed a hood on Berry's shoulder. "I'm here for you. Maybe we can talk to your mother together. I'll be angry, too, b-but I'll keep you from doing something stupid. Then, we'll go home, and give our daughters hugs, and things go back to normal." She shot Bon Bon a look. "With some improvements." Berry tried to smile, but it was more of a pained grimace. "Tall order. Doubt I'm off the hook for busting Pan open. But thanks, Ditzy." "Trust," Ditzy reminded Berry. "Maybe you'll be in some trouble. But I'm s-sure Princess Luna can fix it so you can be ... you can be in trouble in Ponyville." "Well, they let Twilight and her friends get away with stupid stuff all the time, or so I'm told," Lyra remarked. "Still, you actually intended wrongdoing, they might say that makes a difference," she cautioned with a frown. "You wouldn't have to worry ... to worry about this if you'd talked to me," Ditzy pointed out. "You got a favor from a Princess and all she did was ... all she did was what you should have done. Talk to me. Could have avoided trouble, maybe." "I'm sorry Ditzy. I thought I had it in hoof," Bon Bon explained. "I was sold too quickly on not, not burdening you with this nonsense. I shoulda known better." Had been a disservice to the pegasus, really. Ditzy had a calming presence that really could have helped Berry when things had started out on the wrong hoof in this city. Lyra probably paid all her attention to Bon Bon out of habit and hadn't noticed quite how much Berry had been fraying round the edges. "That's fine," Ditzy said gently. "You've got to do better, from now on." More sternly she added, "I'll be paying more attention."