Plebeian

by Sleep Sonata

Till Proven Innocent

For the first time it what seemed like an eternity, I woke up refreshed. There was no pain, no stiffness, and absolutely no struggle to walk. I was finally feeling like my old self, although now I had some appreciation for the things White Lightning could do. She was always the star athlete, and I was the braniac. I had always wondered how we became friends, but I could never figure it out. But I didn’t care. I’m not one to question my blessings.

I headed downstairs to the kitchen, expecting to see Gemini and Polaris, and I would help prepare breakfast. Instead, Gemini was absent, and Polaris was furiously packing. Food, canteens, and bits were all being thrown haphazardly into the same sack. Of course I was concerned, but I had no idea what could have had her doing this. I began moving over to her, but my hoof steps must’ve startled her, because she nearly hit the ceiling until she saw it was me.

“Polaris, what’s wrong? You’re acting like you’re guilty of something.” My little jab of humor apparently wasn’t very appropriate. She glared at me. I was starting to get annoyed as to why she wasn’t explaining anything to me.

“It’s not me who’s guilty of something.” She directed me over to center table, where I noticed there was a newspaper, a copy of the Ponyville Express. It didn’t take me long to find what she was taking about. My legs may not have been sore, but they just about gave out after reading the front page.

“Two dead by magic. ERI called in to investigate.” Polaris began reading the headline. She’d memorized it by now. “It’s get’s better. Did you see the composite?” I skipped the article, and went straight top the page with the composite sketch. It was a mare unicorn, with a white coat and pewter mane, combed forward into spiked bangs.

It was me.

Or rather, it was my duplicate. She really was going mad, and it was happening faster than I ever thought it would. The article said that she was provoked by a couple who simply bumped into her. If that’s all it took to set her off, it wasn’t just White Lightning’s safety I had to worry about.

One thing that was certain now was that she was more unpredictable now. I thought she would lie low until the storm was over, just like I was doing. I never imagined she would do anything so brash, and on a whim no less.

“I can’t believe this. You’d told me she was dangerous, but this is simply horrifying. What if she comes looking for you? We won’t be able to stop her!”

“Calm down!” I felt like such a hypocrite. I was frantic on the inside. “She’s going after White Lightning. We don’t have anything she wants.”

“Neither did that poor couple in Ponyville!” She exclaimed. I’d never heard her speak that way. She became so stern, almost irate. It was in stark contrast to her soft demeanor from the past couple days. “Gemini is out getting the balloon ready. We need to get to Cloudsdale.”

I was about to agree with her, until I realized exactly what she had said. “We?”

“Of course. You, Gemini, and myself. Hopefully we’ll be able to get your friend and go somewhere safe.”

“No! I need to stop her myself. I can’t let her hurt any pony else.”

I would have gone on, but I felt the sharp blow of a hoof on my face. It wasn’t brutal, but it did hurt, and it only hurt more to see that it was Polaris who had hit me. “Stop feeling guilty for what she could do! We’re trying to help you before this get’s even more out of hoof. If you won’t accept any pony else’s help, then you might as well be signing Lightning’s death warrant right now!”

I wanted to shout. I wanted to scream. But all I could eke out were a few unintelligible grunts. How dare she lecture me! She had no idea what it was like to be responsible for another pony’s death. After all she’d done for me, her’s was the last one whose blood I wanted on my hooves.

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Everything was spinning out of control, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t know how to solve a problem. I wanted to hide, somewhere I’d never hear another word from another pony. At least then I wouldn’t know if anything bad happened.

Polaris placed her hoof on my shoulder, dabbing my eyes with the handkerchief in the other. “I know this is scary, but you have to know that you don’t have to do this on your own. It won’t make you any less responsible to get help.”

She’d returned to her calm demeanor, the one that greeted me when I woke up in her house for the first time. Once I could see again, I looked her in the eye, which immediately put me at ease. I almost got upset again for getting mad at her, but I knew that would only make me feel awful again. I breathed in, and expelled my negativity with a long breathe.

“There you go. Deep breathes. Better?”

I could speak again. It was good to at least be in control of myself. “Yeah. I’m so sorry I snapped. I just…”

She cut me off. “Not another word on it. You’ll only work yourself up again. You should focus on the task at hand. Go grab your things and meet me outside.”

As always, she was right. I just nodded in agreement before rushing up to the guest room for my saddlebags. They were still packed, so I was back outside with Polaris in no time at all.

As soon as I set hoof outside, I barely took two steps before narrowly avoiding getting slammed by a flying tree limb. If I had been any faster getting outside, I would've been knocked senseless. I suddenly began to question whether it would be possible, let alone sane, to try and leave during the storm.

I glanced around, but I struggled to see through the rain. It came down like a curtain, and the lack of sunlight only added made seeing more difficult. I was able to make out a silhouette in the distance, that of a dirigible, being tended to by two ponies. They were Gemini and Polaris.

As I made my way over, the driving winds and torrential rain forced me to cover my eyes. Using my hoof as a visor, I eventually made my away over to the balloon, where I could finally hear the two sisters. Gemini was at the helm.

“She’s as ready as she’ll ever be. We need to take off, now!”

Polaris saw me struggling against the storm, and ran over to my side. I could feel her pushing me forward. “C’mon, Stardust! Almost there!”

She said more, but that was all I heard over the sound of the wind. The winds picked up, forcing me to cover my eyes completely. I couldn’t see at all, having only Polaris’s eyes to guide. me. It wasn’t the first time my life had been in her hooves. I had faith she would see me ok.

With a yelp, I no longer felt Polaris ushering me towards the balloon. I called out to her, but was meant only by the howl of the wind. I didn’t know if we’d made it to the balloon, but I knew that even if I had, Polaris hadn’t. She’d must’ve been hit by something, so she could have been hurt.

In a panic, I tried to feel around with my hooves, but was only met by the force of the wind. I couldn’t believe that after all she’d done to help me, I was powerless to help her when she needed it most.

Or was I? I remembered then my ambience spell. It was exactly what I needed. Without hesitation, I fired up my horn, and began to scan the area. The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of debris whirling around me. Providence was all that kept me from being hit.

The next thing I found was the balloon, with Gemini still frantically trying to keep it intact. It seemed far away, but I could definitely make it. Still no Polaris, though. I pushed out further, but I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t give up though, not on her.

Once my radius reached back to the house, I hit my limit. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t search any farther. But I hadn’t found Polaris, and the storm felt like it was gaining strength. I couldn’t give up, not until she was safe too.

I began walking. Not towards the blimp, but towards where I felt her fall. If both of us couldn’t live, I didn’t deserve too. I only took a few steps, but against the storm, it felt like a mile. I would’ve walked a thousand.

When I finally found her, she wasn’t moving. I forced myself the remaining distance, until I was by her side. I couldn’t check her then. I needed to get us both to the dirigible. I hoisted her back onto my back, and began to work my way back to the balloon. I couldn’t sustain the ambiance much longer, so I simply faced the balloon, quit the spell and walked straight as I could.

I could feel Polaris breathing against my back, but it was shallow. I began to walk faster, but as I did so, I felt something sweep my legs out from under me. It must’ve been fast whatever it was. I tried to stand up, but when I put weight on my right front leg, I screamed out in pain. It must’ve been broken by whatever hit me.

But it was nothing compared to the disappointment I felt in myself. Ever since I started school, I’ve done nothing but let ponies down; Chi Chi, White Lightning, now Polaris. It was too much to bare. Even in the pouring rain. I could feel tears stream down my face.

Suddenly, I was being grabbed by something. It was cold and hard, like metal. It wrapped itself around my body, and began to hoist me upwards. I honestly thought that I had died.

To my surprise, to wind had stopped, as did the rain. I felt myself lying on a hard surface. I opened my eyes to see if I could, and was amazed to see a ceiling. I rolled my head to my right, and saw Polaris, finally beginning to stir. I tried to reach over to her, but the pain came back to remind me that my leg was broken. I cried out, which startled Polaris awake.

“Stardust! Oh Celestia, what happened!? Gemini! What happened!?”

She was hysterical, like I’d never seen her before. I guess I would’ve behaved the same way, only speechless.

“I don’t know! You two never made it to the balloon, so I took off, and used the crane to hoist you up. I don’t know how her leg got messed up like that!” Gemini was obviously more focused on piloting the airship than conversing with her sister, which Polaris recognized, and proceeded to turn her attention back to me.

“Stardust, can you use your rear legs to walk?” I’d never had to think about walking before, but I tested my hindquarters, which seemed to be normal. I gave her a nod, and she lifted me on my bad side with her shoulder. “Come on then. We need to get that leg wrapped up.”

She had no idea that I’d almost gotten her killed.

Polaris had wrapped my leg, but I still felt awful. The pain wasn’t from the cast, but rather from the fact that she had been nothing but kind to me and I’d been nothing but trouble for her. Because of me, she had to abandon her home and nearly been killed.

“How are you felling, Dusty?”

Polaris was standing next to the cot, levitating a fresh set of bandages and a splint. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. I buried my face in the pillow, struggling in vain not to make my cries audible.

“Stardust, please tell me why you’re so upset.”

I at least owed her an honest answer, after everything. “All I’ve done since meeting you is be a burden and a danger, and been nothing but kind. I feel so guilty.”

“It makes me feel worse to see you so upset. Is that what you want?” I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t take any more sadness.

“Do you know why I was in Ponyville the night I found you and Gemini?” I finally worked up the courage to look her in the eye, but I could only give a choked up no.

“I was writing my will. I had planned to kill myself that night.”

I did a double take when she said that. “Kill yourself?”

“Yes. I hadn’t seen my sister in over a year, and I had no pony to comfort me. I felt so lonely.” This was beginning to sound familiar. “I figured since Gemini was gone, I had nothing left to live for. I planned to take a stroll through the Everfree Forrest until some monster decided to get me.

“That changed when I saw you and Gemini. I heard her voice, and all of a sudden I had a reason to live. That fact that you were with her made that two reasons.”

I couldn’t believe it. “So then..”

“In a way, Stardust, you saved my life.”

I began to cry again, but this time I wanted to. I tried to wrap my legs around her, but winced as my right leg cried out again. I forget these things fast, apparently.

“Don’t hurt yourself again. If you did it on purpose I really would be mad.”

I laughed. I hadn’t done that since I was at home. It was good to have friends.