• Published 17th Jun 2012
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Justice Itself - Autocharth



Tyrael destroyed the Worldstone, saving mankind and blasting himself unintentionally across reality.

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Act III - Ch. 22 Angry Apple

Aaaaaaaand here's chapter 22, after much delay from the return to Uni. This chapter, and this Act in general, is proving much more difficult to write. Ugh, why did I have to decide to try to actually do stuff involving feelings? It makes things so much harder! Good clean violence is the way, never had any trouble doing that.

Anyhow, hope you lot of rapscallions and dastards enjoy this, Chapter 22!

Chapter 22 Angry Apple

***

Twilight knocked at Paladin’s door. Letting him have a few hours of privacy had hopefully put him in a better mood. She knocked again after a few minutes without any sound from within. That was a bit worrying, since Paladin was an early riser by need and preference. Just as she started to get really worried the door opened, Paladin half emerging. His bulk barred any chance to see the room itself and he didn’t seem inclined to step out further.

“What do you want?” He demanded, expression flat and stony with only a hint of emotion to it - a rather hostile hint at that.

“I just thought I should check on you,” Twilight said, fighting the urge to back away. She wasn’t going to let his rather unwelcoming demeanor frighten her off. “They told me about Bulwark, uh-”

“Throwing me through a window. I have no wish to discuss it,” Paladin’s voice was as flat and empty as his expression.

Twilight nodded. “Okay, if you’re sure. But I still want to make sure you’re alright, you seemed pretty upset after Rainbow Dash shouted at you. If there’s anything I can do to help-”

Again he interrupted, this time with a derisive snort that sent her ears meekly flattening. “Help, from you?” He sneered.

“Uh, yes?” She was thrown off balance by his tone and deriding words.

He snorted again. “If I require aid from an obsessive, oblivious and careless child such as you, I will be too far gone for such ‘help’ to be of any use. Perhaps your time would be better spent ignoring Spike, since you seem skilled at that.” With that he stepped back and slammed the door shut in her face.

The unicorn stood there, her mouth hanging open, expression blank with shock. Slowly, her face changed as his words sunk in.

“W-what,” she asked the empty hall, stuttering, “j-just happened?”

Another door opened down the hall. Applejack stuck her head out, scowling. She glanced down the hall as she grumbled, apparently disturbed by the disruption.

“Don’t palace ponies have manners? Slammin’ doors like- sugarcube, ya’ll alright?” Applejack stopped short, her complaints dropping from her mind at the sight of Twilight and her shell-shocked expression.

“I’m...I’m fine,” Twilight stated, still staring at the door.

Applejack arched an eyebrow sceptically. She didn’t say anything, she just looked at Twilight. Her own door clicked shut quietly behind her.

Twilight glanced over and saw the look. “Okay, I’m not fine.” She sighed. “In fact, I think I... I feel rather hurt. P-Paladin said some things that weren’t nice. Applejack, I don’t ignore Spike do I? I’m not oblivious, am I?”

The questions caught her entirely off-guard. “Uh, oblivious? Ah dunno, ya can get a mite focused an’ block everythan’ else out, an’ sometimes that includes Spike, but ya’ll are usually pretty on the ball. Ya make sure he eats well an’ livin’ with you he’s sure as sugarcubes got an education,” she answered honestly, frowning even as she did. “Why ya askin’? What exactly did he say?”

Following the direction Applejack was suddenly sending a heated glare, Twilight realised the farmer was not looking calm and collected. She knew Paladin had done something that by Twilight’s own admission had hurt her. The look on her face was something approaching ‘furious’. It was a startlingly rapid transformation from concern to anger, especially for Applejack.

“Oh, nothing! Absolutely nothing,” Twilight assured her nervously. “I, uh, didn’t mean it before. That was a...joke.”

Applejack had not, unfortunately for Twilight, been born yesterday. She had more than enough years to see through that rather horrible lie. She stamped a hoof, the plush carpet robbing her of a satisfying thump.

“He did somethin’, said somethin’! What’d he do?” she demanded with a snarl.

Ears folding down at her friend’s violent reaction Twilight shook her head. “No, really, he didn’t!” She insisted. There was something not right with this. Applejack seemed to be almost shaking in anger, the sort of anger she had never seen the apple-farmer display/

“He did, Ah can tell!” Applejack felt her anger slowly growing, each moment seeming to spur the flame burning at her from the inside to even greater heights. Her teeth were bared and her ears stiff in telltale signs of aggression. “That dirty sonova...”

Twilight’s jaw dropped open again. She was trying to work out why Applejack seemed to be snorting and stamping, but it was just mad! Applejack could get angry, true, but never this angry and not so quickly. She barely even knew what Paladin had said and she looked ready to break down his door and beat him to within an inch of his life. With a start she realised Applejack had begin advancing on Paladin’s door while Twilight had been lost in her thoughts.

Another snarl tore its way from Applejack’s throat when Twilight interposed herself between farmer and door. “Twilight, move!” Her tail cracked like a whip as it flicked behind her.

Ignoring the order Twilight shook her head. “Applejack, stop. Something is wrong, you need to calm down.”

Applejack in turn ignored Twilight, both her words and actions. She advanced with steps that would have boomed on any harder flooring. “Only thing wrong is him treatin’ ya like that. He deserves more than Ah can give ‘im without some farm tools.”

“Treating me like what? You don’t actually know what happened!” Twilight pointed out, her rump hitting the door with a soft ‘pat’ as she was forced back by Applejack’s relentless advance. She gulped, unable to meet her friend’s enraged eyes. “Stop, just stop for one second, and think! This isn’t like you!”

“Ah’ll think after Ah’ve shown him what’s what!” By now Twilight was standing upright, back pressed against the door. “Move!”

“A-Applejack, please.” Twilight wasn’t ashamed to admit to herself that her voice quivered fearfully. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t terrified. One of her best friends had apparently gone insane with anger and even if she knew, logically, that that anger wasn’t aimed at her the simple sight of it was frightening. It was aimed at Paladin and that didn’t make her feel any better.

It was that frightened whimper that cut through the furious haze. Applejack saw the look of worry and fear in Twilight’s eyes. For a moment that just made her angrier. Somepony was frightening her friend! Whoever they were, she’d-

It's me.' The thought burned away the mist. ‘Ah’m frightenin’ her.’

With the gasp of a drowning mare taking her first breath of fresh air. Applejack all but leaped away, nearly slamming into the opposite wall. Her breathing hissed in and out she crumbled, her legs collapsing under her. The last minute’s events roared past her horrified eyes, her own rage-mad voice bellowing in her ears.

Twilight fell forward, staggering a few steps before moving further from Paladin’s door with a sigh of relief. She glanced at it once before a choked sound drew her attention to Applejack.

“T-Twilight, Ah’m so sorry.” Applejack’s guilt filled eyes met Twilight’s gaze for only a second before she looked away. She lurched to her hooves when the unicorn stepped towards her. “Ah, Ah don’t know, Ah got so angry an’ Ah’m s-so sorry.”

Another step closer from Twilight was matched by two steps in the opposite direction from Applejack.

“It's alright. We’re both fine. You didn’t do anything.” She felt like she was trying to calm down a scared animal. Twilight tried to get close but Applejack retreated. She frowned in confusion, understanding dawning when she looked at Applejack’s expression.

She is scared. But not of me. For me. She thinks it will happen again. And for all I know, it might.’ A sick feeling hit Twilight. She had no idea what had just happened to Applejack, but whatever it was, it had been horrible and entirely unnatural. Her frown was replaced with a look of determination.

“M-maybe ya wanna stay back a bit,” Applejack suggested shakily, her shaking nothing to do with anger this time and everything to do with guilt. “Twilight, stop!”

Twilight didn’t stop. In fact she reached out with her magic to keep Applejack from fleeing. “No.”

Applejack twisted and turned, trying to get out. She was afraid for her friend, afraid that the mindless rage would appear as suddenly and without warning as before. She didn’t want to hurt her friend. She had never in her life lost control before but now she had, she couldn’t risk any of her friends-

Her thoughts were cut off by hooves wrapping around her neck. Twilight hugged her friend, holding on as her magic faded. She worried Applejack would pull away, the stronger mare likely to have no trouble, but a moment passed and Applejack returned the gesture. She squeezed the unicorn, holding her tight.

“See?” Twilight smiled, although Applejack couldn’t see it. “You’re fine, it's passed.”

Applejack just nodded, filled with relief. She just held onto Twilight, her fear for her friend dying down. It was alright. She wasn’t going crazy. “Thanks.”

An almost unnoticed glow at the edge of her vision vanished, startling Applejack. Twilight smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, just a sound muffling spell. I was worried you’d attract the others and that didn’t seem like such a good idea. Paladin didn’t seem happy to see me, if everypony just barged in, well, I don’t think he’d take it well.” She explained.

Applejack frowned slightly. “Huh, didn’t notice yer horn glowin’, but Ah was kinda outta whack, guess Ah missed it. Twi’ ya got any idea what happened?” She looked away, her expression turning guilty. “Ah don’t wanna sound like Ah’m making excuses but that weren’t natural.”

Nodding in agreement, Twilight got up. “I agree. Losing control like that is very unlike you.” She turned thoughtful, a contemplative frown on her face. “We need to work out what caused it.”

“That was probably the trigger, but what caused your initial anger to grow?” Twilight began to pace. “We’re lucky you have a lot of self-control, things could have gotten a lot worse.”

“Ah was angry. Started just kinda annoyed an’ then it just blew up.” Applejack scratched her head. “Ah hope this is just some passin’ thing.” Her expression grew worried. “If this ain’t natural, an’ Ah hope it is, what if it can spread? Like some evil magic disease!”

That got a somber nod of agreement from Twilight. “I agree. The princess gave me an assignment, but it can wait. We need to get to the bottom of this. If we don’t, and it can spread, I would hate to see what it would do to somepony less emotionally disciplined like Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie.”

“Then we gotta get on top a’ this.” The farmer stated firmly. She jerked her head towards her door. “Let’s head in there, before one of the others finds us.”

“Maybe my room would be better, the princess had some of my research equipment dropped off so I can do a few tests.” The smile Twilight gave Applejack at the thought of tests was not particularly reassuring, sending a shiver down her spine. “I’m positive we can work out what it was.”

Applejack edged back slightly. “Err...Ya ain’t gotta do anythin’ weird for these tests, right?”

“Weird? Applejack, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Twilight hurried down the hall, turning to give Applejack a comforting smile. “Trust me, everything will be fine.”

Sighing, she nodded and Applejack trotted down the hall after Twilight. “Ah hope so, Ah really do.”

***

Paladin ignored the knock on the door. He had been ignoring everything since he slammed the door in Twilight’s face..He simply lay there in the shattered remains of his bed until he looked up and surveyed the mess around him. The mattress was torn open and the wood of the bed-frame cracked and broken. He thought he might have a splinter.

He didn’t say anything, simply burying his head in his pillow. Curses bubbled out of his throat, muffled and bitter. Guilt lashed at him for the damage he had wrecked, unintentional as it had been. He simply...he just had to do something to vent all the feelings, all the emotion burning him from the inside. The result was a room torn to shreds. And guilt. Even more, to go with what he already had. He was amazed nopony had come to investigate the sounds of destruction.

A fair simmering of anger was in there, mostly directed at being thrown out a window. Granted, the fall wasn’t high enough for him to be hurt. After watching Rainbow Dash perform destructive maneuvers on an old shed for Applejack, and a tussle with a Timberwolf - one entirely normal, thankfully - he knew he wasn’t made of cardboard. At the thought his eye throbbed and reminded him quite firmly that being punched in the eye did still hurt. The swelling had gone down on its own remarkably quickly, but still left him with a constant reminder.

The key words of ‘eye’ and ‘hurt’ unhappily segwayed his thoughts to the look on Rainbow Dash’s face when he said they weren’t friends. He winced, which just made his black-eye throb again. He took a deep, shuddering breath. Calm. He had to be calm. His anger might have shielded his emotions from Fluttershy, but he couldn’t sustain it at all times. He had to be calm. Calm meant control. Control was what he needed.

Control was what he lacked once again, his thoughts moving away from him when they touched upon the issue of Fluttershy. Her emotions were a distant, muted, thing he had to concentrate to really hear. But the presence was always there, lurking at the back of his mind. Despite his careful intentions to avoid it, he caught a glimpse of her emotions. Disapproval and disappointment hung heavy in her mind before he drew back, angrily chiding himself. Thought did not have to follow action, but when it came to this link it seemed to follow that as a rule. Yet he told himself he was thinking of it for one reason, only to realise it had been for another. It was a chaotic mess.

The knocking came again, barely registering. He dismissed it, dwelling on his problems as he began to tidy the room. Already Paladin was certain the disapproval and disappointment were directed at him, or his actions. For all the fact he had been thrown out a window, his manner had been cold and unpleasant. Had he met a pony treating his friends that way, he would have started at a stern talking to and worked his way up from there.

Friends,’ he thought bitterly, lifting a length of wood he suspected had bounced from under the bed. ‘Friends I must deny.’ For all his self-recriminations, he knew his lashing at them served a purpose. The pain he felt at the thought of Ardleon’s words and actions. The betrayal...

The sound of wood splintering startled Paladin’s from his thoughts. He looked around in confusion, a spark of pain alerting him to the fact he had cracked the wood in his hoof, his fetlock curled around it and tightening until it gave under the pressure. Biting back a curse he dropped it. Now he definitely had a splinter. And a cut.

“Blasted...” Quite conveniently one of the torn strips of bedding was about right for him to wrap around the cut, binding the wound tightly. Still he winced when he lowered his hoof and resumed his work, his thoughts as dark as before.

***

Fluttershy knocked gently at the door again. Twilight and Applejack were off in the unicorn’s room, doing something that involved a number of odd devices attached to a scowling Applejack. She had decided not to disturb them. With Rarity occupied looking for Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash off somewhere, it was left to Fluttershy to bring Paladin lunch.

“Paladin, it's Fluttershy.” She had a tray of food next to her, and as she stared at the door she gulped. Her voice was louder than normal, but it wasn’t a yell either. “Y-you didn’t come out for lunch.”

She knocked again, her ears cocking up at a hint of a sound. She waited expectantly, hopefully, for a minute but received nothing reply. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, Fluttershy gulped. She didn’t want to just give up. To her jammed open extra-senses he was a mass of repressed anger and a spike of pain she couldn’t block out despite her best effort.

The door opened and she stepped back, with what should have been a relieved smile on her face. But the constant low level of guilt and anger that seemed to be all she felt radiating from Paladin didn’t change. As he stared at her, the anger only grew and she whimpered.

“I-I brought you lunch,” she squeaked nervously. “Uh, d-do you want me to bring it in?”

“No. I do not require your aid. Do not do this again,” he said blandly, already closing the door.

Fluttershy had no idea why or how she did it, but she found herself jammed into the closing door.

“Wait!”

He stopped, his wide eyes less an indication of his surprise than the surge she felt.

“You haven’t eaten since breakfast and if you don’t want me bringing food-” She began before he could say anything.

Her constant unwilling sensation of his emotions changed, the anger fading as the guilt grew. Why, she had no idea. At least until he not-so-gently pushed her out.

“Do not bother me again.”

The door slammed shut, leaving the sad mare to sigh. Simple wood didn’t block out her unwilling intrusion though, much as she wished it would, and the anger and guilt she felt hurt more than his words.

***

Rarity pursed her lips.

“I shouldn’t ask, should I?”

Applejack gave her a flat look, the metal bowl strapped to her head serving to enhance it. “Please don’t.”

A smile tugged at Rarity’s lips as she slipped into Twilight’s room. “Yet I feel ever so tempted.”

“Please. Don’t.”

This time Rarity giggled. She circled Applejack, inspecting the array of wires, beeping devices and various bits of metal strapped to her friend.

“Not many mares could pull off the tin and wire look Applejack, but you, darling, seem to manage it marvelously,” she snickered.

Applejack just glared.

“Science chic? Or perhaps canned apples?”

“Rarity,” the farmer ground out through clenched teeth.

“I can make a new line, just for you. Farming meets industrial metalworking accident.” Rarity giggled, unable to help herself.

“Maybe you shouldn’t taunt Applejack just now Rarity.” Twilight’s voice preceded the mare as she emerged from the jungle of machinery now occupying the middle of her tower room. Technically it was her tower, but the rest of it was essentially a library. Not to say this central room wasn’t either, but less so. Even Twilight had been forced to make concessions for things like ‘living space’.

Applejack nodded. “Listen to the mare.”

Rarity arched an eyebrow as Twilight gently scolded Applejack for moving the head-gear. “I hardly think I am in any danger.”

The remark seemed to sit badly with Applejack, who fidgeted uneasily. Rarity’s discerning eye caught this, but she said nothing.

“Well, thing is Rares....” Applejack grimaced. “The reason Ah’m strapped into this nonsense-”

“Nonsense?” Twilight’s head poked out from another part of the maze of machinery. “I designed these personally! It isn’t quite as advanced as what I have at home, but it is very good model. The Canterlot University’s medical department uses a variant of this to test for magical influences on the brain.”

Applejack winced at her friend’s offended tone. “Ain’t nothin’ personal sugarcube, but this ain’t exactly comfortable either. Ah am glad ta hear the docs trust it though.”

Twilight nodded, her metaphorically ruffled feathered soothed. “Although that one broke recently,” she said, almost as an afterthought.

Rarity and Applejack exchanged looks. “Broke, you say?” The unicorn asked carefully.

Despite having vanished back within the chassis of a large, box-like part of her array Twilight’s voice answered her after a moment. “Oh yes, apparently when they scanned Trixie it broke. It was very silly of them, I did warn them it wasn’t made to handle heavy-duty scans like they would have needed.”

Both of her friends let out sighs of relief.

“They put the fires out very quickly, so it was only the most delicate instruments that were damaged.”

And just like they stiffened again.

“Ah swear she’s doin’ it on purpose,” Applejack grumbled.

“I am sure she isn’t.” Taking a step away, Rarity gave her friend a tight smile. “But let’s just be a bit safe. Now darling, you were explaining why you are so attired?”

“Right, Ah was.” Biting her lip in an uncharacteristic sign of uncertainty, Applejack told of her loss of control, the incredible rage that had just gripped her mercilessly. Rarity was speechless, and Applejack fell silent when she finished the story.

“Darling, you...”

Applejack sighed. “Ah know, Ah shoulda done somethin’, had more control, not let it-”

“Nonsense!” Rarity was suddenly much closer, looking her straight in the eye. “I do not accept that.”

“Huh? Pardon?” Applejack blinked.

“I. Do not. Accept that.” Rarity said it slowly, stressing each word.

The confused farmpony scowled. “What don’t ya accept?”

Rarity’s lips were pressed into a thin, disapproving frown. “I have known you since I was five. Everything I know about you tells me that I do not accept that you did not do enough. I refuse to accept that you chose let it happen. If you could have stopped it, you would have. You will cease to scold yourself with pointless self-recriminations or I shall distribute the pictures of Rainbow Dash with your hoof in her mouth across all of the Ponyville.”

It took about three seconds for the fact Rarity was blackmailing her into not beating herself up about something to sink in. When it did, Applejack still took a few seconds to actually reply.

“...ya know, blackmail is wrong,” she grumbled helplessly.

Rarity made a point of not smirking or looking triumphant. “I prefer to think of it as whitemailing, as it were.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Twilight making her return. She let out a sigh, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Alright, I think that should work. Rarity, could you step back a bit? Just a little bit further. Applejack, are you ready?”

Taking a deep breath, marshalling her trust in Twilight not to turn her into a newt or something, and nodded. “Go ahead.”

Twilight’s hoof landed on a large switch, pulling it down with a clank. “This might tingle just a bit.”

“Tingle? Ya didn’t say anythin’ about any tin-GAL!” She yelled the last word, her whole body twitching. It felt like a current was running through her whole body, a static shock that buzzed through her veins. She experienced an extended moment as the sensation transformed into a tingle that seemed to occupy every nerve in her body. Applejack didn’t hear the beeping of many machines and dinging of more through the daze she fell into for just a few precious seconds.

The sound of the switch clinking back into the off position cut through it all, silencing the array of devices.

“Now we just need to wait.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “These readings should help me work out what went wrong, why you felt such uncharacteristic rage. Let me help you get all of that off.”

Applejack let a sigh of her own, nodding gratefully at Twilight as her unconventional garb was removed. “That was pretty darn weird sugarcube. Ah don’t needa do it again, do Ah?”

“I wish I could say that you don’t, but, well, I can’t be sure yet,” Twilight said apologetically. “I need to go over the readings, analyse them, cross-reference, categorise, graph, compare, oh so many things.”

The smile on Twilight’s face was odd, to say the least. She giggled to herself as she gathered the print-outs from half a dozen places in the array, her manner that of a filly in a candy store.

“Well, yes, I am glad you have something to occupy your time. My time was rather futile, not a single sign of Rainbow Dash.” Rarity sighed in defeat. “I suppose she must be out on a cloud somewhere-”

The door burst open, banging as a pink blur shot into the room.

“I can’t find Dashie!” Pinkie wailed She paused, staring around the room. “Wow, you’re redecorated. Science chic? It's like the thingy in your basement, but there’s more parts.”

Rarity and Applejack exchanged a look.

“I was just doing some...science things,” Twilight said lamely. “You can’t find Rainbow Dash? We were wondering where you went. Rarity couldn’t find her either.”

The elegant unicorn shook her head. “She is not to be found. I assume she has flown somewhere I cannot otherwise reach her.”

Pinkie nodded. “I think she’s sad, so I wanted to make her smile. But I just can’t find her! I went up to the highest room in the tallest tower, but still no Dashie.” She crossed her forelegs, frowning. “It's like she doesn’t want to be found.”

“Darling, I think that is exactly what it is,” Rarity told the party pony.

This went in one ear and bounced for a bit before being rejected. “That can’t be it. Why would Dashie want to be all on her lonesome when she could be with her friends? That’s crazy!”

Twilight was frowning thoughtfully. “She did seem rather out of sorts after her encounter with Paladin,” she confessed. “Maybe she just wanted some time on her own, to do some thinking.”

Pinkie was pouting now. “Dashie doesn’t need to think! She has us!” She stated boldly.

A snort escaped from Applejack at that. Shaking her head, she flapped a hoof at Pinkie. “Pinkie, sugarcube, as funny as that was we gotta be serious. Twi’ told me about what happened. She might be hurtin’, but unless we can get her down here Ah don’t know what we can do. Maybe wrangle a guard, get one’a the pegasi ta go get her.”

“Speaking of pegasi, we still need to address the situation with Paladin,” Rarity reminded them all.

Twilight hm’d thoughtfully. “We do need to do something. In fact, we need to work out what to do. Pinkie, can you go find Fluttershy? Everypony else, to the balcony.”

Her friends shared a serious of confused glances before their eyes landed on Twilight.

“Ya got a plan?” Applejack asked plainly.

With her horn glowing, Twilight nodded. From within the ordered depths of her tower, a blackboard and range of chalk floated. “I do.”

“Should I get Spike too?”

Twilight thought for a moment before shaking her head at Pinkie. “No, he’s keeping Cadence company. She needs him more right now than we do. Just get Fluttershy and bring her back here. We are going to sit down and slowly, calmly, think about what we can do.”

***

Rainbow Dash was staring at the palace, reclining on a cloud above it. She was thinking. This annoyed her. Being introspective rarely went well for her. She usually only did it after screwing up, and having her flaws thrown in her face, even by herself, was never fun. It was quite the opposite.

“Aww, damn it!” She punched the cloud but found no enjoyment in it. The action merely served as a reminder of why she was being introspective.

She felt bad, and not just for punching Paladin. The bruising from her punch had been disguised by Paladin’s dark coat and Twilight had missed it. That was one thing she had been relieved about, except she now had to feel guilty about not telling Twilight as well as for hitting Paladin.

“He deserved it,” she muttered aloud, but it sounded hollow even to her.

“It really felt like that at the time.”

“GAH!”

Bulwark watched with an amused look as Rainbow Dash shot up a few feet into the air above the cloud. “There are laws against loitering in palace airspace you know.”

Glaring at the guardsmare as she landed, Rainbow Dash snorted. “Arrest me then.”

“Heh.” Bulwark settled onto the cloud. “You know, I think I might have made a slight mistake as well.”

“You mean throwing Paladin out a window was a mistake? Gee, who could have guessed!” Rainbow Dash shot at her dryly.

Bulwark nodded seriously. “Yep. I was hoping it would snap him out of it. You know, swap depression for anger. Worked with my husband, but I guess he might have been a little odd. Your father watched me do it that time, you know. He thought it was hilarious.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Bulwark for a moment before burying her head in the cloud. “You’re so weird. I can’t believe dad thought you were a good foalsitter. This isn’t helping, you know.”

“Probably not,” Bulwark admitted casually, getting comfortable. “But Flutters is too mad to talk to me right now, so I thought I’d check up on you since you’d run off. I gather you gave Paladin one in the eye, huh?”

The younger pegasus didn’t bother trying to work out how she knew. She was pretty sure the Princess had been able to spot it, and the look she had seen after Twilight helped her out of her ’state’ had lowered Rainbow Dash’s mental age by a decade or so. It was probably why she felt so ashamed. Princess Celestia was very good at looking disappointed. Some of Twilight’s stranger reactions to the idea of disappointing her mentor made a bit more sense now.

“Yeah...kinda regretting it now,” Rainbow Dash mumbled, letting out a long sigh. “I shouldn’t have hit him, but I just got so angry and that’s not an excuse and now he doesn’t want to be my friend and aaaaaaaargh!” She hit the cloud again, this time with her face. “I hate this.”

The muffled reply was entirely serious, even if didn’t sound like it through the cloud. Bulwark sighed and patted her on the shoulder.

“He’s still your friend. Ponies say things they don’t really mean, just like they do things they don’t really mean. Go say sorry, make it up to him, and do not let him tell you he doesn’t need friends.” Bulwark advised firmly. “I made a misjudgement. So did you. But he’s still going to need friends, even if he can’t see that right now.”

Rainbow Dash pulled her head out to stare at the larger pegasus with a scowl. “But he doesn’t want us hanging around him! He made that pretty damn clear, and he’s either refusing to let anypony in his room or is just rude and chucks them out. He even did it to Fluttershy when she brought him up some food since he missed lunch.”

Her lips pressed together in a thin line, Bulwark nodded. “Yes, he has made it clear. I suggest if you’re worried about how leaving him alone might make him take a turn for the worse, go talk to one of our princesses. She didn’t take being alone very well.”

“Paladin isn’t an immortal princess everypony is ignoring because they go to bed at night,” Rainbow Dash argued with a scowl. “It would be pretty weird if he was.”

“No, but he was an immortal spirit of justice and all that, who is now an emotionally fragile, emotionally inexperienced pony. My mistake was different from yours, and I’m going to apologise when I think he'll actually accept it. I made an error in judgement about how he would react. You just wanted to make him stop hurting your friend.”

Grinding her teeth in frustration, Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to assault her fluffy perch. “But...but what if he still doesn’t want to be my friend? Sticking around will just make that worse!”

Bulwark just shrugged. “Gotta try something. I can’t answer everything for you kiddo. I thought chucking him out a window was a good idea, so that goes to show how useful I am at this kind of thing. I mean, it was a pretty harmless fall and it's not like I wasn’t careful to aim for the hedge, but I can see why he took it so badly,” she said with a chuckle.

“Great, an emotionally stunted pegasus is giving me advice on how to make up with another emotionally stunted pegasus.” Rainbow Dash growled. A powerful flap of her wings lifted her into the air and tore the weakened cloud apart. She hesitated and for a moment her wings seemed to flicker, like a light bulb with faulty wiring. The moment passed and she descended in a rainbow-trailing comet into the palace.

Watching her go, Bulwark sighed. “Good luck,” She muttered.

***

Finding her friends was easy. Telling them she had punched Paladin in the face was slightly harder. Having taken one of the seats at the balcony dominating table, she received roughly the reaction she expected.

“YOU HIT HIM?!”

Rainbow Dash’s ears splayed to the sides as she rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh...a bit?” She offered with a nervous smile.

Twilight’s mouth worked for a moment but no sounds came forth. After a few more seconds she settled on a wordless groan to express her feelings. Her horn lit up and the blackboard behind her was wiped clean, various boxes that formed her linear thought bubble of ideas for helping Paladin vanishing under the glowing whiteboard wiper.

“Now we have to start all over again.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead.

Applejack, who had been drafted into Twilight’s committee based plan for forming a plan, dropped her head onto the table. When she looked up, she was glaring daggers at Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight, Ah still say we should just go be up front, let ‘im know we care an’ we wanna help, it's just that simple,” the farm-mare argued.

“Yeah, that’ll work. The guy who has had emotions for less than a year is definitely gonna get over having a friend turn on him so easily.” Her tone glib, Rainbow Dash edged away from Twilight, stretching her wings as a breeze brushed across the balcony.

Fluttershy looked up from the table she had been staring at, her mane hiding her expression. “Oh no, he isn’t new to emotions. He said he was, uh, new to ‘mortal emotion’? I think....” She frowned slightly at herself, looking away.

Sitting down, Twilight let out a sigh. Padded benches lined the table and she was grateful the Princess was allowing her to borrow the balcony more reserved for one of a number of governmental committees.

“Paladin has always had emotions,” she explained, remembering her long talks with Paladin on the subject. “But he feels them differently now. From what he’s said, he had a rather more limited range, since he was either always fighting or always planning for the next fight. His emotions also come with a lot of baggage now. He was a being lacking any of the chemicals that make up how brains work, or anything of the sort. He was always clear on what he felt, on why. Now...”

“Now it's a lot more complicated. Uh, that’s what he thinks anyway...” Fluttershy trailed off as everypony fixated on her. She blushed. “Well, I mean, that’s what it feels like. He isn’t sure why he feels thing a certain way and that confuses him.”

Her gaze wandering from her meek friend to her not-so-meek friend as Rainbow Dash tried to interrogate Fluttershy for more, Rarity interrupted with a quiet cough.

“So, essentially, emotions as he feels them are completely new and in the time he has been here he has, shockingly, not experienced every emotion possible.” Rarity concluded calmy. She arched an eyebrow at Twilight. “Now that we have settled that matter, shall we move on to the particular problem?”

Twilight nodded, smiling at Rarity’s concise summarisation. “Of course. Now, the first thing we should look at is-”

“Why the hay didja think punching him would help?” Applejack asked Rainbow Dash, giving the pegasus a narrow glare. “Ya had ta know it would just make the whole thing worse.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I just...I wasn’t thinking, okay? He was really being a di-”

“Ding-dong!”

Everypony stared at Pinkie for a moment. She smiled at them.

“I’m the swear button.” She said brightly.

“...right...” Twilight blinked a few times, trying to turn her thoughts away from the mystery that was Pinkie Pie. “Okay, anyway, yes...” It took her awhile to get her train of thought back.

Rainbow Dash preempted her. “I know it was stupid, okay, and I know that saying ‘I was just so angry’ doesn’t make it right, but I want to fix it! You think I wanted him to say he doesn’t want to be my friend?!” She demanded from Applejack with a growl.

“Ah don’t think ya do, no. But ya know what ya gotta do, regardless of anythin’ else.” Applejack kept her expression flat and humorless. Considering her own run-in with anger, she just wanted Rainbow Dash to do the right thing.

Shoulders slumping, Rainbow Dash scowled at the table, not looking any of them in the eye. She knew she would see the same answer in all of them. “I gotta say sorry,” she muttered.

While Fluttershy offered her a warm smile, her feelings of reassurance and comfort practically radiating across the table to her prideful friend, Rarity nodded.

“That is a good first step, yes.” She agreed, taking a sip of her tea.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head to eye Rarity suspiciously. “Waddaya mean ‘first step’? I say sorry, he accepts it or he doesn’t, and then....” She trailed off.

Rarity didn’t say anything.

“Fine, I get it, first step blah blah blah.” Rainbow Dash hunched her shoulders, as gracious as ever.

“Try to sound a little more like you mean it when you apologise to Paladin.” Twilight advised dryly. At her behest the chalk began to scratch out a new box, the first step of their algorithm.

Applejack watched the chalk for a few seconds. “Do we really gotta put it up like that? Ah mean, seems kinda....”

“Lame?”

“Cold,” Applejack finished testily, elbowing a certain pegasus.

“Putting a plan of action down physically improves how well we can problem solve. It's science.” Twilight told them, trying not to rub her forehead again. “...peer-review pending.”

Fluttershy blinked at Twilight. “Um, sorry, what was that last bit?” She asked politely.

Twilight coughed and pretended not to hear. “So, first step; Rainbow Dash Apologises.” She smiled as it was written into the first box. “Now, from there we have two options depending on how Paladin reacts. Wait, no, three. Paladin accepts, but still refuses help sorting out his feelings. Paladin doesn’t accept. Paladin accepts, but with conditions...wait, no...”

Her friends watched for a few moments as Twilight redrew the next step, muttering to herself. Eventually two boxes were formed, one labelled ‘Paladin Accepts’, the other ‘Paladin Doesn’t’. Beneath the first another box had been made, Twilight filling it in.

“....” Applejack glared at Rainbow Dash. “We already went through this, an’ now it's startin’ again. Couldn’t ya keep ya hooves to yerself?”

“How was I supposed to know Twilight would want to do this? That’s not my fault,” she protested.

“So, if Paladin does not accept Rainbow Dash’s apology, what do we do?” Twilight asked, ignoring the conversation going on between the two to her right.

Rainbow Dash looked away from Applejack, fixing her eyes on Twilight. “‘We’ do nothing. I punched him, I need to deal with it. You girls try to work out what to do for him. He needs help, even if it's just us giving him a little space while we be there when he wants us. Once he’s not angry at me anymore I can actually do that. Until then, we better just focus on different things.” She said firmly, drawing herself up.

Twilight’s expression melted into a frown as she looked at Rainbow Dash. “But he’s hurting and trying to push us away.”

“Yeah, and that’s annoying.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Not much we can do about it right now. You try to think of something to do to help him, I’m gonna go see if we can still be friends.”

Fluttershy broke the silence as they stared at Rainbow Dash. “We just need to be there.” She said quietly. “He’s so angry, and guilty, and hurt. He’s pushing us away, trying to isolate himself. I...I don’t know why. But we can’t pretend he’s not hurting, and just leave him without support. When he wants helps, we’ll be here. Right?” She gave them all a small, warm smile.

“But what if he keeps pushing us away?” Twilight’s tail was flicking in agitation behind her and she was tapping a hoof anxiously. “If he never wants help, even when he needs it-”

“We help him anyway.” Rarity stared down into her empty tea cup. “He is our friend. His right to be alone is all well and good, until he begins to let it control him. We should watch and wait. A few days to himself may be merely what he needs.”

As she spoke she delicately refilled her tea cup, staring into the placid brown liquid. She was glad to see Rainbow Dash, especially after her unsuccessful search, but she did wish she had brought news that wasn’t so unfortunate.

Applejack’s mouth was pressed into a thin line. “Ah’d like ta agree with ya Rares, but we for all we know we ain’t got a few days. That angel fella turns up again, Paladin’s on his lonesome, what then?”

“Oh, no need to worry about that.” Twilight interrupted. “The Monkey King left two of his guards here, and the Princess has them watching Paladin’s room. They’ll act the moment anything happens.”

The two primate warriors were more than up to the task, at least Twilight hoped so.

“Ya sure? Ah’d feel better tryin’ ta be there for him. He’s a big boy, he don’t need coddlin’,” Applejack said as she shifted awkwardly. “An’ considerin’ that he slammed the door in yer face...”

“More reason to give him some space,” Rarity said, her teacup clinking as she set it down gently. After a moment to wipe her lips she spoke again.”If he reacts that badly, he will not take our attempts to help well. They may well end up doing more harm than good.”

Applejack was shaking her head before Rarity was finished. “The key word there, sugarcube, is ‘may’. Leavin’ him on his own might be just as bad. How’s he gonna feel if we don’t turn up or even pay him another visit? Like we’ve just abandoned him when he needs us most?”

Rainbow Dash slipped from the bench as her friends continued to argue amongst themselves. She passed through the door almost unnoticed, but as she stepped through a wave of...of reassurance, of trust and optimism, washed over her. It was like a wave of warm in a cold place blooming within her. She turned slightly, enough to show Fluttershy a half-smile as she trotted out.

Twilight watched Rainbow Dash leave, not trying to stop her. She was going to give her friend some trust in this. Her horn tingled slightly and she focused her attention on Fluttershy. There it was again. Fluttershy was wrapped in some strange, barely perceptible aura. It had gone unnoticed for the most part, but Twilight had sensed it a time or two since the Nightmare attacked Ponyville, since the bond between the seven of them formed by Tyrael’s power had been revealed. Now it was stronger, and it had seemingly surged as Rainbow Dash left.

As if sensing her friend’s gaze, or perhaps simply her curiosity, Fluttershy looked at the unicorn. She eep’d at the calculating look in her eyes.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight’s questioning tone cut through the debate raging between the other two. “What did you just do?”

Fluttershy gulped slightly. “I-I, uh, sent Rainbow Dash some nice feelings.”

A notepad levitated up, a quill and inkpot following it apparently from nowhere. The scritch-scratch of the quill at work began as Twilight’s expression turned thoughtful. “I see. You mean you sent her positive emotions? With your empathic abilities?”

“Yes, I thought she needed a little bit of reassurance.” Fluttershy looked back through the door Rainbow Dash used, concern in her eyes. “I, uh, I didn’t mention this because you were all so busy but..I’m having trouble blocking out everypony since the Gala.”

She was trying very hard not to look at Applejack as she said this. The reason why was already occurring to the farmer and her ‘debate’ with Rarity was forgotten.

“Fluttershy, ya mean, ya’ll are feelin’ what we feel? A-all the time?” Applejack asked, gulping. “Like, say, a couple hours ago?”

While Pinkie looked between them, confused, Fluttershy gave a small, timid nod. Rarity said nothing, simply watching for the moment.

“...oh.” Applejack stared at the table. “Ya felt it.” It wasn’t a question.

"Felt what? Did I miss something?" Pinkie asked curiously.

Rarity coughed quietly. “Girls, I do hate to intrude but perhaps you had best explain it to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie? They should know too.”

Twilight looked at Applejack, silently asking for permission. Taking the nod she got as assent, she explained the situation and her as yet fruitless attempt to magically scan Applejack.

“There was no sign of anything untoward,” she finished with a sigh. “The same mix of natural earth pony internal magic with Paladin’s angelic energy intertwined with it. No hint of magic influence, not the traces a potion of some sort would have had. I’ve only given it a brief look while we waited for Fluttershy, but nothing unusual I could see. But I could be wrong, very wrong, without a proper, in-depths review of the data.”

Pinkie gasped. “No no no! That’s not right! We know it wasn’t Applejack! Applejack wouldn’t do that and when you look you’ll find the nasty magic that made her do it!”

Her reassurance fell on deaf ears and Applejack shook her head. “Ain’t nothin’ ta find out. Twilight can’t find nothin’, meanin’ it was my fault. Ah lost control.”

Her guilt radiated from her, feeling to Fluttershy like a furnace a foot away. She whimpered, disliking the sensation. It was sharp and painful in a way that escaped immediate description.

“Just because I didn’t find anything doesn’t mean there was nothing there. At the moment I am far more willing to believe I just couldn’t find anything yet than that you were to blame. It is just so utterly unlike you.” Frustration was leaking into Twilight’s tone and making it clear this was a topic they had argued over before. “I can’t believe it."

Applejack again shook her head. “Can’t or won’t?” She demanded, jerking her hoof away from Rarity’s. “Ya didn’t find nothin’, an’ ya said it yerself that ya magic is jacked up by Pally.”

A frown to match Applejack was on Twilight’s face by this point. “I....” She paused before she started, staring off into the distance. Applejack’s words ran through her mind. “You’re right. I didn’t find nothing. Double negative.”

“Yeah-. wait, what?”

“Darling, it is clear you’re frustrated but this is not the time to correct Applejack’s quaint ignorance of proper grammar.” Rarity pointed out.

“Yeah- wait, what?!”

Twilight had turned back to the blackboard and was wiping it off. Her chalk floated up, beginning to scratch out notes as fast as her magic could follow her thoughts. The sheets of scan read-outs floated up around her, shifting position as she needed.

“I did find something! Paladin’s angelic essence, the thing linking us! I just didn't think it was related, because its nature...” She looked at Fluttershy, immediately making the pegasus cringe back. “Fluttershy, you can’t stop yourself from feeling our emotions? Tell me, what is it like? I need more details.”

Peeking over the edge of the table, Fluttershy slowly lifted herself from her hiding spot. “W-well, I just kind of get all the most, uh, obvious? The most obvious feelings. Like what ponies are feeling right now. I-it is really hard to block out, and I’m feeling yours quite a lot. When Applejack and P-Paladin were angry earlier-”

“Paladin was angry?” Twilight wasn’t even looking at the board as she took notes. Her eyes were wide, as though her brain wasn’t big enough to process all the thinking she was doing. “At the same time as Applejack?”

Fluttershy nodded. She was already feeling bad about sharing what Paladin was feeling, like she was violating his trust and privacy. “Y-yes, I, uh, I really didn’t like it. He’s been so angry since the Gala. It's like he’s refusing to not be angry and I really, really don’t like it.”

A white hoof slipped around her shoulders. She hadn’t noticed Rarity coming over to her, and hugged her friend back.

“Darling, why didn’t you tell us? We could have tried to help.” Rarity hugged her, giving what comfort she could.

“I-I didn’t want to bother you,” came the predictable answer.

“Bother us? Fluttershy, ya’ll should know better.” Applejack told her off, burying her guilt, trying not to think about it. “If ya need help, ya should tell us.”

Fluttershy stared down, looking ashamed. “I know, but P-Paladin needs our help more than me.”

The background scratch of chalk came to a stop, Twilight staring at the blackboard. “Girls, I think I have an idea. Fluttershy, Paladin was angry, right? At the same time as Applejack lost control?”

The gentle mare nodded from her position in Rarity’s hug. “Y-yes, it was very unpleasant.” She cringed at the memory and the fresh guilt from Applejack.

Twilight’s mouth twisted, her eyes boring a hole into scrawling notes. “I have an idea. I can’t prove it yet. I need more evidence. But it feels right. Okay, was he angry when Rainbow Dash punched him?”

“Ah’m pretty sure bein’ smacked in the face would tick off anypony,” volunteered Applejack.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight rubbed her forehead. “Not when he was being punched. Before it. When Rainbow Dash teleported away. I need to know. Was she angry at the same time as Paladin?”

Fluttershy nodded. She couldn’t feel Twilight’s thoughts, but alongside Rarity’s concern and Applejack’s buried guilt she felt the presence of something else. Curiousity. Certainty. “Yes, I think,” she added, realising Twilight couldn’t see. “Why?”

“....I’m not going to tell you yet,” Twilight answered a few seconds after Fluttershy asked, finally taking her eyes off the board. Before her friends could try to decipher them her magic wiped it clean. “I need to be sure. I have an idea. Your inability to close your empathic powers is the key. The next time Paladin feels an emotion and one of us is feeling the same thing, I need you to tell me right away.”

“I’m...I’m not sure I can do that.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Because they’re his emotions. I just, I don’t think I should go around sharing what he’s feeling with anypony. I don’t want to do it to any of you either.” Fluttershy shuddered. “I already feel so nasty and rude, because I know what you’re all feeling and I shouldn’t be.”

Rarity stroked her mane, the maternal gesture calming Fluttershy somewhat. “We understand darling, we really do. But you have my permission to share with Twilight if it happens. I do not like it either, but it is not your fault, and this is to help Applejack.”

“Ya got my permission. If Twilight thinks it's important, Ah trust her.” Applejack threw in immediately.

“Please, Fluttershy, this could be really important. I’m sure we’ll all agree, right Pin- where’s Pinkie?” Twilight brought to light the abrupt lack of Pinkie Pie. She had been unusually quiet before, so her departure had gone unnoticed as they were drawn into discussion.

The other three mares looked to where Pinkie had been happily sitting and waiting for ponies to swear. There was nopony there.

“When did she leave? How did we not notice her?” Rarity looked across the balconey but failed to detect the presence of pink party pony. “Why did she leave without saying a word I wonder?”

Fluttershy stiffened suddenly, her eyes widening. “Dashie!” She cried, pulling herself from Rarity’s hooves and wings flaring as she rose into the air, bursting into movement. “Oh no!”

Twilight didn’t bother trying to move around the table, bypassing it in an instant with a flash of magic even as Fluttershy sped into the hall beyond. Rarity was still spinning in place, jerking to a halt when Applejack grabbed her.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Twilight flashed forward, nearly catching up with Fluttershy. Her eyes widened when she realised they were nearly forty feet from the balcony door. Fluttershy had crossed the distance faster than she would have believed the timid mare possibly could.

“It's happening!” Fluttershy called, her frantic tone bouncing down the hallway.

Flashes of magenta light flared down the hall, Twilight teleporting in rapid succession to just keep up. “What is?” She tried to ask, but either her question or the answer were lost in the race.



Not much earlier, Rainbow Dash stood in front of Paladin’s door, gulping nervously.

“I can do this, come on!” She urged herself, the pegasus pacing. Her tail flicked in her wake. “Just mare up and do this!”

Despite the way she was behind herself one-hundred-and-twenty percent, Rainbow Dash failed to actually knock. She certainly raised a hoof to do it, she entirely stopped in front of the door, but somehow her hoof never took the last step of the maneuver by striking the thick oak.

Lowering her hoof she tried sending the polished oak a heated glare, as though it was to blame. She couldn’t have warmed soup with it and gave up after only a few seconds of lukewarm staring. Her rump hit the plush carpet, one hoof running down her face.

“Nngh, why is this so hard?” She asked herself, banging her head against the wall. Her eyes, closed on impact, popped open to stare at the white wall. She ran her gaze up, jerking it away before she reached the ceiling. “Why am I talking to a wall?”

Saying sorry was not something Rainbow Dash liked to do. She shuddered, drawing herself into a ball. Saying sorry while she was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane was even less appealing. With a deep breath she forced her anxiety down. She only had to be here for a little bit, until she said sorry to Paladin. She just had to not think about the walls and the ceiling and the floor boxing her in and-

With a groan she forced herself to stop thinking about it. She had to say sorry. She had to apologise, and as much as using his busted window, she doubted that would endear her to Paladin when she was trying to make up. Rainbow Dash focused everything on just saying sorry to Paladin, she would endure this to say sorry, she would be strong enough to do this and not whimper like a foal who needed her mother because the big scary wall made her cry.

As previously stated, Rainbow Dash did not like saying sorry, because it meant she had been in the wrong about something. Worse, it meant she might have hurt one of her friends. The fact she had literally hurt Paladin in no way helped. It hadn’t even been a satisfying hit. It hadn’t made her feel at all better.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

She bounced her forehead against the wall again. It didn’t feel better the more she did it, an empty gesture as unsatisfying as the feeling of her hoof striking Paladin right in the face. She did feel a headache coming on, which she felt deserved. Paladin’s head probably hurt a bit, so it felt fair. Not very fair, but a little bit.

Belatedly she realised it was still Paladin’s room on the other side of the wall, about the time his door began to open.

Forehead pressed against the wall, wings closed tightly as her tail curled under her was how Paladin found her. Rainbow Dash gave him an awkward grin, head still where she had struck. Like so many other smiles, it withered when confronted with his harsh, angry frown. He didn’t bother asking what she was doing. He just glared.

“Hey, Paladin! Didn’t mean to...” She trailed off before sighing. “Okay, okay. I was trying to build up the nerve to knock on your door but I kept chickening out...so.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, air shooting out her nose a moment later. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you. It was an overreaction, even if you were acting like a giant flankhole.’

“He snorted. That had not been the reaction she was hoping for. “You sound so very sincere.” Sarcasm dripped from every word.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “I am! I think you were ungrateful and mean, but I still shouldn’t have hit you. I get it, that was stupid of me. And. I. Am. Sorry! I really, really am! I wish I had never done, I don’t know why I did but it was stupid and bad and I’m sorry!”

She stressed the words, putting everything into them. She didn’t like saying sorry, but damn it she wasn’t going to lose a friend because of this. His expression flickered and for a moment she felt hope. The moment passed and Paladin once more fixed Rainbow Dash with a harsh, stony glare.

“Oh come on, I mean it!” Taking his silence and glare as disbelief, Rainbow tried to think of someway to prove her earnest desire for forgiveness. “I’m sorry! You’re my friend and I hurt you for stupid reasons, reasons even I know are stupid, which is bad and I feel bad.”

“Wrong.”

She stared at him, lifting an eyebrow. “Huh? ‘Wrong’? Seriously, I’m not wrong. I know that I’m sorry, how can I be wrong about that?”

His flat glare never changed. “I believe you are sorry. You are still wrong.”

“What? How?” Rainbow Dash demanded, nostrils flaring. Her attention fixed on him, her wings lost the tenseness of her fear.

“You are wrong, because we are not friends.”

His door slammed shut, leaving her staring.at it with wide eyes. Her mouth moved silently for a few seconds as her voice failed her. It came back in a sudden rush and she hit his door head on. One hoof banged against the wood, the other tugging at the handle.

“Hey! You can’t- Y-you’re not- Open up!” She cried out, furiously beating at the door. But the door never opened, locked from the inside. Her attempts only grew more frantic until at last her hoof came free and she shrieked as she hit the wall behind her.

Rainbow Dash stared, blinking rapidly. Her eyes were as hard as riverbed stone. Power welled up within her and her wings were wrapped in soft silver light.

“Not coming out? Fine. Then I’m coming in!” She declared, teeth clenched.

Her wings glowed, the brightness growing into a brilliant flare. Narrowing her eyes, she began to will herself to do it. A moment passed without flash of light. Another came and went, leaving Rainbow Dash still in the hall as one moment segwayed into the next.

The anger slowly faded away from her expression. Her gritted teeth relaxed. The furious contortion of facial features loosened. The light began to fade, taking with it any strength in her limbs. Slowly, Rainbow Dash sank onto the ground. Her stare was a thousand yards long, each yard as empty as the last. She didn’t even notice as she began to curl up.

The anger was gone. In its place guilt and sorrow dug their claws. It was her fault. Everything was her fault. She had hit Paladin, she had been stupid and wrong and now she had lost a friend. Her hopes of reconciliation were ground to dust beneath her guilt. She had been wrong and stupid and wrong and it was right for Paladin to not be her friend. Why would he be her friend? She had hurt him. Not just him, she had hurt her friends at other times. Let her pride rule her and turn her into somepony they must have been ashamed to ever associate with.

She didn’t know when she began to cry, sobbing wetly. She felt so guilty, so sad. It was all her fault. Everything that had happened was her fault. Her guilt crushed every protest, every reasoning dismissed as a pathetic excuse. No logic was applied, swept aside as emotions gripped her in an unnatural grasp, straining her thoughts and leaving only those fit for such a pathetic-

Warmth wrapped around her, pinks hooves stroking her mane.

Shhh, it's okay Dashie.” Pinkie cradled the crying mare, murmuring into her ear as she stroked her mane. “Come on, don’t cry. Pinkie’s here to make everything better!.”

The words failed to register. The outside world was lost to Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t think any more. The comfort of her friend was lost.

Pinkie kept smiling, because if she stopped smiling she would frown and be sad. Right now, being sad wasn’t going to help Rainbow Dash. There was no fight in the pegasus as she was uncurled and Pinkie hugged her. She didn’t get a reaction at first but Pinkie didn’t stop. She continued to murmur quiet reassurances, promises that it would be okay, that everything would be just fine.

Fluttershy came careening down the hall. Her hooves slammed into the floor, dragging along until Twilight winked into existence at her side. Both stared at the sobbing pegasus desperately clinging to Pinkie Pie. Only one of them felt what was going on.

“W-what? What’s going on? Pinkie Pie, why is Rainbow Dash crying? Rainbow Dash? Are you okay? Speak to me!” Driving herself frantic at a record pace Twilight moved to Rainbow Dash’s side. She earned no reaction. Things were falling into place and she lambasted herself for missing it, too fixed on the whole issue to really listen to Rainbow Dash’s reasons. She should have known the moment Rainbow Dash described her strange anger, but she had brushed it off as Rainbow Dash being Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy joined her, hugging Rainbow Dash as well. “You wanted to know, and Paladin is feeling sad right now. S-sad and guilty. And so is Rainbow Dash.” Her voice shook. “S-she’s so sad Twilight, i-it's...it's crushing her. I’m trying to tell her it will be okay, that she shouldn’t feel guilty but its not working, like she can't hear me!”

With great effort, Twilight forced herself to stop and think. It was incredibly difficult. Rainbow Dash was crying. Sobbing like a little filly. Right now, Twilight would have given anything to spare Fluttershy from feeling all of that as she knew she must be. Reason and logic were the key here. There had to be something she could do.

“We need to get her away from here.” She snapped the order, keeping her eyes closed as she focused. “Maybe distance from Paladin will help. Fluttershy, keeping trying to give, or send, or whatever, every positive emotion you can. Everything.”

She couldn’t see, but she guessed Fluttershy was looking at her in confusion. “W-what? From Paladin?”

“Yes, away from Paladin. Fluttershy, its his emotions. I’ll explain it later, but now, just get her away, okay? Trust me.” She implored Fluttershy, opening her eyes at last.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to ask another question but yelped in surprise when Rainbow Dash began to move. Pinkie stood, balancing on three hooves as she kept the other holding Rainbow Dash up.

“Come on! We gotta Dash!” She exclaimed. “Ask Twilight later, vamoosh like a goose now!”

Despite the silly phrasing Pinkie Pie couldn’t have looked more serious. Fluttershy came to her side, taking Rainbow Dash’s other side.

“O-okay, let’s go. We can take her to Mama’s room, it's on the other side of the palace, near the barracks.”

Twilight’s horn lit up. “I don’t know the room, but I can get us to the area.” She closed her eyes as she concentrated.

Rarity and Applejack rounded the nearest corner in time to catch the light of the teleportation enveloping their friends.

“Darn it!” Applejack growled. “We missed ‘em!”

Rarity nodded vaguely, approaching the spot they had seen their friends at. Her eyes flicked across the door. Paladin’s room. Light flared in her eyes and with an almost physical lurch to her senses her sight became Sight.

She zeroed in instantly on a near impossible dot of darkness on the carpet. Leaning down, Rarity ignored Applejack as she lookd at the dark spot on the floor. She knew what it was already. Something in the way it looked to her told her it wasn’t just casually spilled water.

“Tears.” She murmured.

“Tears?”

“Gah!” Rarity leaped a foot in the air, coming down barely keeping herself from tripping. “Goodness, I forgot you were there.” She chuckled with a blush.

Applejack gave her an unamused look. “Uh huh.” She waved at the spot Rarity had been so focused on. “Whatcha mean, ‘tears’?”

She didn’t answer right away, Rarity going over the conclusion she had drawn without knowing why. “There are tears there. Considering the name Fluttershy shouted before she flew here like a madmare....”

The obvious conclusion went unsaid. They just looked at each other and Applejack turned.

“Rarity, tell me why Ah shouldn’t smash that door ta bits an’ drag him out.” Applejack’s voice was not quite empty. It was flat, in the way the ground over a particularly well hidden land mine was flat. “Tell me now, because if ya don’t Ah’m gonna do it.”

Rarity eyed the door as well, as though considering the idea herself. “Because it might make things worse, and we do not know what happened.” She pointed out, standing next to Applejack.

“Takes a lot ta make Rainbow Dash cry.”

“Yes.”

“Seen it about twice since Ah met her.”

“Indeed.”

“Good thing Ah didn’t actually see her cryin’, because Ah might have lost it again.”

“I am not sure you would be alone.”

“Ah hope she can explain it. Because right now Ah’m not far from doin’ more than givin’ him a talkin’ to.”

They were still there ten minutes later, struggling with their choice, when a maid came scurrying along with a message from Twilight. Almost reluctantly they turned from the door, leaving Paladin’s privacy undisturbed.

***

Bulwark returned from her daily training regime, sweat in her coat, to find six mares in her room. One was curled up in her bed, not moving.

“Is that Rainbow Dash?” She asked, staring in shock at the quivering blue pegasus. She kept her eyes there as her daughter rushed to her side and, ignoring the sweat, hugged her. “Fluttershy, what’s going on?”

“Uh, Twilight can explain better than I can.” Fluttershy mumbled, looking away. “Dashie has been like this for a while.”

When the larger pegasus glanced her way, Twilight put her notebook down. “She’s stuck in some sort of feedback loop.” She said bluntly. “Fluttershy’s abilities are stuck on, which she says you know, but I think it's doing more. It's connecting the seven of us in a much more intimate way right now, particularly to Paladin. I suspect this is because he was the original source of these powers.”

“And that’s doing what? What’s wrong with her and why the hay are you all just sitting around doing nothing?” Bulwark asked, glancing across the room.

“It is making our dear friend sad and guilty, or so Fluttershy tells us.” Rarity chimed in. “We have tried everything, but this ‘feedback loop’ has left her empty to the world. Nothing we do registers.”

“I tried popping a balloon when she didn’t expect it, I tried tickling her, I tried everything!” Wailed Pinkie, her mane hanging flat with her chin resting on the bed, staring at Rainbow Dash mournfully. “Dashie just won’t cheer up.”

Twilight confirmed it, lifting a diagram. “Right now, Rainbow Dash is locked in a cycle of two negative emotions: guilt and sorrow. I suspect that when she and Paladin both felt these emotions, very strongly, their connection through our link and Fluttershy’s power was strengthened. Rainbow’s emotions fed Paladin’s, which in turn fed hers. When her guilt was made stronger by his guilt, his guilt was made stronger by hers, which made his strengthen hers again and so on and so forth. I think it has already happened twice before now, with Rainbow Dash’s anger and an incident with Applejack.”

“A feedback loop.” Bulwark stared at the shuddering, whimpering pegasus who seemed so tiny right now. ‘And it's effecting Paladin? We should check on him.”

Applejack shook her head. “Already suggested it, won’t do any good. If Twilight is right, it’ll be the same with him as it is with Dash an’ she’s got them monkey fellas keepin’ an eye on him. We’ll know if somethin’ happens ta him. We gotta focus on one of ‘em, break the loop. Do it ta one an’ it’ll work for the other and Twilight thnks she’ll need all of us.”

“That’s the idea,” Twilight confirmed. Despite that, the idea of leaving Paladin alone was clearly not one that sat well with her or the others.

“What is the idea? Do you know what you’re going to do?” Bulwark looked around the room.

Silence greeted her.

“I see. Have you told the Princesses yet?”

This time she would have gotten an answer, but for the sound of a hoof at her door. In a rather obvious way, she did get an answer.

“Your highness.” Bulwark bowed, backing away from the door to give Princess Celestia room to enter.

“Thank you, captain. I hate to intrude but Twilight’s message was rather urgent.” She stepped in, her motherly air and the passive glow of her presence immediately going quite a ways to soothing the tense atmosphere.

“Princess, thank you for coming so quickly!” Twilight sighed in relief. “I’m glad you’re free.”

“Hey, I’m here too!” A voice piped up from Celestia’s back. Spike’s arduous climb off the princess was interrupted by the glow of magic picking him up. “Hey!”

Twilight ignored his protest, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry Spike, I was going to come find you but things have been very hectic.”

“Yeah, I read the note.” Spike agreed, returning her hug after a moment and looking at the bed. “Is...is Rainbow Dash still...?”

She nodded, looking up at her teacher with a dire expression. “Princess, please, I’m not sure what to do. Nothing has worked. She’s just...lying there!”

“I see.” Celestia looked down at Rainbow Dash, her lips pressed into a grim line. “This may be hard for you to hear, but I fear there is nothing I can do.”

“What? But Princess, you’re the Princess!” Twilight protested, her eyes wide with shock and horror. “There must be something, you had magic to look into Trixie’s mind, why can’t you do that here?”

“Because what mental magic I could use safely lets me look. Look.” She stressed the word. “To do more is to risk damaging the mind. To tamper or alter is to destroy. I am sorry, but I have no magic for this. No solution to simply give you. I wish I did.” She reached down with one great wing and drew Twilight and with her Spike into an embrace. “I am sorry, my faithful student, but in this I can do nothing.

Twilight slumped against the princess, looking bleak. There had to be something she could do, some way to help her friend. She just had to think. She bowed her head, eyes closed as she thought.

I have to think clearly. I need to help her, but I’m so worried. Just...just calm down, calm down and think.’

With her eyes shut, the sudden flash of blue-white light within them went unseen. The true effects, however, were certainly noticed by the unicorn herself. Her breath escaped her in a single moment. A sense of coolness ran through her thoughts. That was the only way she could describe it. It felt like her brain had just taken a dip in a mountain spring, the chilled water washing away fatigue and fear, leaving her refreshed.

Supported by her teacher, surrounded by her friends, Twilight thought.

***

Paladin sagged against his ruined bed. His cheeks, he noticed absently, were damp. Odd. Who would have thought that losing a friend, even on purpose, would hurt so much? It was for her own good. She might have looked devastated, like he had just crushed something unique and precious. He rather felt like he had.

“It was...for her own good...” He muttered, but it felt feeble even to him. “For all of them....”

It hurt. It hurt so much. Another day hadn’t relieved the pain. Doing this should have made him feel better. In some way, keeping his friends safe should have made it hurt less. But it didn’t. It hurt more, like a dagger wedged in his chest had been driven deeper. It was a dagger that couldn’t be removed, that would never stop hurting. It hurt even more now but he was making them safe. He was doing the right thing. He was doing the right thing and it still hurt.

Paladin stayed there, laying prostrate in the ruins of his room, and began to push the dagger deeper. He could keep them safe, even if he had to push it all the way in.

He didn’t know, he couldn’t know, but with each dark thought he sank a dagger into another, his guilt and pain and sorrow burrowing into Rainbow Dash’s mind. Though her fears and torment washed past his own mind without touching him, the spiritual links simply carried her own emotions to her, fueling deeper and darker thoughts, digging a deeper and darker hole.

***

The frostiron hung in the air, gently spinning. A gasp, a groan, and it hovered closer to the shattered puppet that was Ardleon.

“Yes...it will work. I suppose I ought to thank you, mortal.” He murmured to the silent Cryptic Word. “It will serve its purpose. The herd tells me so. I will be whole again, and stronger than before.”

The pony didn’t reply, his expression horrified.

“I will not forget that you were so weak as to give up such knowledge. All I required was fear, and you obeyed. Was it worth it? They didn’t die, at least.” He gave a contemptuous snarl. “Pathetic, all of you. At least in the windigos I have found some redeeming features. They will aid me. With their strenght and the knowledge I took from you, I will have the means to return to my full glory.”

He took a moment to savour the word.

“Glory. Nothing on this world understands true glory. Nothing. Tyrael was Justice incarnate. He held an aspect of Anu’s perfection as his very being. But this world, this filthy world! It tore him down, made him weak and mortal!” He shook, the air trembling at his fury. “This world damned him and then it marred me! It scarred me!”

The loud neighs of the herd filled the air around him, egging the angel on. He knew they were basking in the hate he was emanating. He knew it on a primal level, and that the strength they gained was returned to him. Their misty ghost-flesh continued to seep into his shattered form but he was still weak. Still unfit to proper absorb the power they were lending to him. Their natures were too different to properly bridge without the correct medium.

“I will free Tyrael, and in the end some small part of that can be credited to your weakness.” He made a creaking gesture, the fragments of his shattered weapons appearing before him. Ardleon felt his anger grow again at the sight, making his armoured form quiver as he hung in the embrace of the windigos.

Frostiron joined it, more floating from the now open bags. He had no need to carry it in such paltry things. It was of the cold and the ice, just as he was. Each nugget shone to him like silver gold.

“I will be whole.” The herd gathered around him, eager to begin. “This world will pay for its crimes. And that will happen, thanks to you.”

The ring of metal on metal rung through the frozen north, driving beasts to their shoulder, sending predators fleeing. The life that survived there was hardy and strong, because nothing less could survive. But that sound struck something deep within them. It made them afraid.

Cryptic Word watched on, his expression frozen in silent horror by the ice that clasped him from all sides. His expression couldn’t change, but then if it could he would look just as horrified.

Author's Note:

And there it was, Chapter 22! Hope it was enjoyable, and if it was, leave some feed back. If it wasn't, well, leave some feed back but in a respectful, polite way. Not because I massively deserve a vast amount of respect, but because it's polite and it doesn't take much energy to be nice about things rather than being a dick about them.

This story, I just realised, has been going on for over a year. I think at least, because I recall starting it second semester 2012, and it's now second semester 2013 so....I hope i can get it done before another year is out, I have so many ideas and I want to get started on my World of Warcraft crossover before the next expansion is out.

Working on Chapter 23, but no idea when it will be out. Working on my Short Story and Micro-Story for Writing Short Fiction unit, plus various essays for various other units. Let me just say this: I detest Modernist 'flow of consciousness writing style', it's just unpleasant to read, I don't care WHAT point they were trying to make with it. I did however get to spend a tutorial ranting about how Rime of the Ancyent Mariner contains the most disgustingly unjust display of immaturity if it's viewed as a spirit who liked the albatross taking revenge. Damn spirit, if I ever meet it in a dark alleyway I will most certainly give it a very sternly worded talking to!

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