Lost Fate

by Fluxxdog

Chapter 12: Brick Walls Are Gentler

Chapter 12: Brick Walls Are Gentler

Lookout was confused. She didn’t understand “a day off”. Well, not entirely true, she knew exactly what it meant. But she was afraid. The last she was left to her own devices, it ended up with her in the hospital near death.

Of course, that was over two months ago. Since getting out, she was essentially Rainbow Dash’s shadow. And now…

“Take the day off. I need to get some quality napping time in.” They had just finished setting up the clouds for the day. Some quality banks, gave some nice shade here and there, should be a nice day. Great for picnics. The local painters should like the cloudscapes. They managed to make a gentle breeze to make the flowers sway. And now, Lookout was by herself.

She didn’t know what to do with herself and wondered around the park, thinking maybe she could nap. Her wing twitched. She hadn’t had a shake since she left the hospital, but anytime she had what could be a bad idea, her wing would twitch. It was a constant reminder to focus on the good things and make good choices.

“Hey there, Lookout!” That sweet voice, Lookout turned to see Apple Bloom walking towards her with her friends. They still called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, even though one of them had theirs. “How ya been?”

“Hi Apple Bloom. You know your sister doesn’t like me talking to you.”

“Well, unless she wants to babysit me for the rest of her life, she better get used to me talking to who I want, when I want.”

Lookout chuckled. Ever since she got her cutie mark, Apple Bloom had become a beacon of personality. So much so that the town brat, Diamond Tiara, had stopped picking on others. “I don’t think I properly thanked you.”

Apple Bloom cocked her head. “Thank me for what?”

Sweetie Belle giggled, “Silly, you saved her life!”

Apple Bloom was proud of that, but she countered with, “Aw, that’s nothing. I just did what any pony would have done if they were me!”

Lookout got an idea. “Still, I wanted to thank you with a little firework display.” This got Scootaloo’s attention. “Keep your eye on the sky.”

Lookout flew to one of the cloudbanks. A little prod with her hoof showed that it was just right for this. She raced along the cloud, with sparks snapping at the hooves. The thunder started rolling. Little did she know, this roused Rainbow Dash from her nap, and she was going to be very upset with the cloud that decided to storm today.

At the edge of the bank, Lookout leapt off like a diver from a board. The Crusaders and everyone else watching saw the ball of lightning falling from the sky. At just the right height, she spread her wings and threw out her hooves.

A blast of lightning filled the sky leaving a ring of lightning lingering for just a few seconds. Lookout glided down to the ground by the Crusaders, suddenly aware of the applause everyone in the park was giving. She couldn’t help but blush from the attention.

Next thing she knew, Rainbow Dash was there. “Lookout! Was that you?!” The look on Dash’s face was one of deciding your sentence.

“Um… Yes?”

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Ponyville’s resident aerial stunt pony just gave her approval to her signature move, the Thunderball.

---

Slipwind looked up. He could have sworn Thunderlane told him there was no rain scheduled today. That much thunder, though? He’d have to hurry if he wanted to dodge the rain. Fortunately, he had one delivery left.

“Mr. Rich!” He happened to catch his target as he was getting home. “Delivery for you, sir!”

Filthy Rich turned to look at him. “Oh yes, Slipwind. The courier turned mail pony. Can’t understand why you traded down.”

Slipwind handed over the package. “Was a trade up for me. Courier business runs the risk of dry spells. Mail delivery, a lot more stability. I don’t have to worry where my next meal is coming from so much.”

Filthy smiled. “Well, well, well, you sound like a business pony. I always liked your work ethic. Too bad I can’t get you on a contract basis.”

---

Sledge looked up. That was thunder, clear as a bell. He knew Ivy would be out in the carrot patches today, working her whispers on the weaker ones. She didn’t like getting rained on. But then again, she wasn’t going to leave a job unfinished. He bucked his tree, knocking loose a number of apples. This was the life. And he got fresh apples to boot. The fritters, pies, and whatnot were good, but he enjoyed a fresh, raw apple more than anything else.

---

Ink Nose had just received a collection from Canterlot. A treatise on Chaos Theory. A series of historical theories, basically a bunch of what-ifs. Research findings on Cantrip lines. … She looked again. Her horn glared and the pages fluttered in front of her. The several hundred page book was read in a matter of seconds. This was her real talent, speed reading. And in those few seconds, she understood what Cantrip’s experiment had found. Artificial ley lines on a grand scale could produce wonders the likes of which not even the princesses could reproduce. The catch was it required one unicorn for each line.

This was intriguing. The princess… Who was she kidding? She didn’t think of her a princess. Twilight would want to see this as soon as possible. She headed for the throne room. However, Twilight had the most unexpected of visitors.

---

“I wish to surrender myself on three conditions, your highness!” Twilight didn’t like this. She was ready to start her questioning. She couldn’t go after Lookout, she would break too easily and could suffer irreparable harm. Ivy and Sledge were very tough. Their psyches would be stone walls. Slipwind would run her around in circles. That only left Ink Nose. She was the strongest when it came to the interrogation she had planned, but the weakest when it came to resistance.

And then, Cantrip just shows up to surrender.

“Name your terms!”

Cantrip had planned this for some time. “First, any punishments that would be exacted on my accomplices would be assigned to me.” Twilight knew exactly what this meant. Whatever the Crew, as their group of five came to be known, would be convicted of, he would take all the blame.

“Second, I be allowed in taking measures, even if in a role of assistance, to undo the consequences of my actions.” He wants to make things right, whatever he did. Fair enough.

“Third, that any punishments assigned to me not be exacted until said consequences are undone.” That was the catch. Whatever he did… no, whatever THEY did, he wouldn’t be punished for it until it was “undone”.

“Your terms are ambiguous. If there is any punishment, you do not receive punishment until they are ‘undone’. That could last until the end of time, meaning you get a clear conscience and no punishment.” Take that!

“I add the stipulation that I will bend every ounce of my power and every fiber of my being to making this right.” She hadn’t expected that. He wasn’t giving himself a loophole. He really wanted to make things for the better.

“Very well. We…” She gulped. This better not be bad. “We accept the terms of your surrender. Confess yourself that the terms may be carried out.”

Without missing a beat, “On the night you used the time travel spell, we stole from the Starswirl the Bearded Wing of the Canterlot Archives.”

She knew it was too good to be true. Now she had to wait to banish him to the moon.

Comments

[Sunlight Blaze]

So we start this out with Lookout getting a day off from following Rainbow Dash, who's decided to take the day off herself.
After a few minutes, Lookout finds Apple Bloom and the rest of the CMC and thanks the young filly for saving her life. And she wants to thank her with a little fireworks show.
And her little stunt gets everypony's attention, even Rainbow Dash. Heck, the thunderclap is heard all across Ponyville.

So we get a flash of Slipwind and Sledge enjoying their new careers before switching to Ink Nose, who is sorting a new collection of books from Canterlot.

A series of historical theories, basically a bunch of what-ifs. Research findings on Cantrip lines.

Wait...Cantrip lines? what, was Cantrip the head of a magical research team back in Canterlot?

So Ink Nose speedreads (....wow...it's like watching Read from "Criminal Minds," only ten times faster...) and is enthralled in Cantrip's theories of leylines and heads to the throne room of the castle to show her.

So we see that Twilight was fully prepared to interrogate the rest of the "Crew" and has narrowed her focus to Ink Nose. But then...

“I wish to surrender myself on three conditions, your highness!”

Uh......a bit sudden on this one, don't you think?

So Cantrip shows up and confesses to Princess Twilight, after making a few conditions, that he led the Crew in stealing one of the scrolls from the Starswirl the Bearded wing.

She knew it was too good to be true. Now she had to wait to banish him to the moon.

...............................I know I did not just read that the way I think it was meant to be read..... Because that line almost made it seem like Twilight wanted to banish Cantrip to the moon.......................................
THAT IS NOT TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!
Twilight is one of the more forgiving members of the Mane Six; She wouldn't think of punishing a pony unless it was absolutely necessary! In this case, Cantrip committed a crime and was determined to right his mistake; Twilight would have let him find that missing scroll (and take down whatever evil is behind all this) and then let him go, because going through that kind of hell to correct the mistake is punishment enough. Besides, Twilight is the Princess of FRIENDSHIP!!! It's her job to spread friendship to everypony in Equestria! Princess Celestia even said so herself! Punishing ponies isn't exactly a way to spread friendship here!

Besides, banishment to the moon isn't exactly a punishment befitting this kind of crime; theft should be dealt with in jail time, not banishment to a celestial body!

And another thing: Twilight isn't strong enough to banish anypony to the moon! I know what you're thinking: "She's an Alicorn; she's got a stronger hold on her magic now." Yes, but she only recently became an Alicorn; she does not yet have NEARLY as extensive magic powers as Celestia, who was the one who banished Nightmare Moon to the moon.

Speaking of which, she only did that because there was literally NO other option! She wasn't able to defeat Nightmare Moon without harming Luna in the process, and she wasn't able to dissuade Luna from turning evil. Cantrip, however, is FULLY willing to repent for his crimes!

So, I guess the whole point of this rant is that there is NO RHYME OR REASON TO BANISH CANTRIP TO THE MOON!!!!!

I know one line may not seem like much, but even simple one-liner thoughts like this can come a long way in flushing out a character's personality. But for somepony we already know as a character, this one line can be taken by readers to have major meanings, possibly unintended by the writer, as you just saw. And the implications of that line are, as I said, that Twilight wanted to send him to the moon. And that is NOT the Twilight Sparkle everyone knows. (Writing category: -4)