2.6 - School Hard With A Vengeance

Dusk Melody was bored.

Actually it was fair to say Dusk was very bored. He’d spent the last weeks’ worth of evenings hoofing his way through dozens of books borrowed from Twilight’s library and the Canterlot Royal Archives. Snapping one shut with a grunt of irritation he threw it to one side and reached for another in the huge pile of dusty tomes on his desk.

“What the hay am I doing?” He asked himself for what felt like the hundredth time as he opened up the next book in the pile. He hoofed through the pages of ‘Noble Genealogy volume three and asked himself that same question again. Celestia’s sake it was a sunny Saturday, his friends were having fun, his Vocal was curled up asleep in his pet bed at the side of the desk having been walked again by him mom and here he was in his suite sifting through hundred year old books!

“Ugh…this is hopeless…” He muttered to himself grudgingly. Although…it hadn't been totally pointless. Dusk had managed to track Blitzwing’s family tree right back to the year eleven hundred, a hundred years after his mother had been banished to the moon. Progress though it was he needed to go back to the very first stallion, the first of the family line for his plan to work.

"I'll get you Blitz..." He thought as he was tempted to give it up. The thought prompted him to reach for another book and go back through another fifty or so years of pony family history. Dusk resolved to keep looking. He had warned Blitzwing last Monday at university in Rosetta’s Languages class he’d make sure his Aunt punished his family if he carried on messing with his friends, and the midnight blue pegasus was determined to make good on his threat.

Groaning inwardly Dusk leant over and picked up his cup of almost cold earl grey tea. Without thinking he took a swallow and winced. Placing his chip back on its coaster he leafed back through more of Blitzwing’s family history, cross referencing families and bloodlines, tracing them back over the centuries. Absent mindedly he turned over a few pages in his hoof and froze.

There it was. On the ancient page in front of him in faded mouth writing was the barely legible script showing the start of the bully’s line. Baron Ravenwing, born to Marquess Ravenwing and Marchioness Midnight Moon in the year eight hundred and fifty three.

“Damn…” Dusk grinned. There was the name he’d been looking for. As he reached for his pen and a scrap of paper to note the names down he reflected how it was suddenly well worth spending every spare moment of the past week looking through enough dusty old books to give Twilight a small orgasm.

Grabbing another piece of paper he left a note for the slumbering Vocal. It didn’t seem fair to wake his pet when his parents had walked him all the way to the train tunnel that cut through Canterlot Mountain and back again. Gently the midnight blue Pegasus placed the note in the pet bed and gave his unicorn a soft kiss on his lips. Vocal Chord murmured in his sleep and rolled over as Dusk made his way quietly out of his suite and headed to his mom’s chambers.

~ ~ ~

Dusk nodded to the bat pony guards as he approached his mom’s door. He recognised the younger mare, Midnight Blossom, from her free time she spent in the royal gardens. Last Sunday she even worked up the nerve to ask if she could throw Vocal his ball. She returned his nod with a ready smile that earned her a frown from the older stallion, Night Watch.

“Your Highness,” Night Watch offered in greeting as he and his partner bowed and stood aside to allow him entry, “Princess Luna is expecting you.”

“Thank you Night Watch.” Dusk had to continuously fight the urge to call him ‘father’ on duty. Such informality mortified him, and Dusk had been taken to task over doing just that twice in the past.

Hoofing open the large doors Dusk entered his mom’s expansive suite. Immediately his ears picked up the most beautiful music coming from the main chamber. At once he smiled as he made his way through the small hallway, the sound of the cello getting progressively louder. Dusk always loved the way the music seemed to soothe his very soul when his mum played.

Luna was reclining on her sofa, her back to him as Dusk entered the main chamber of the suite. Beyond her Octavia was stood with her cello, eyes closed, utterly lost in the piece she was playing. His ear picked up the piece, Polonaise in C major, a favourite of his mom’s. And of his own, if he was honest. It was one of the first pieces Octavia had taught him on his violin.

“Mom?” Dusk announced his presence quietly so as not to interrupt the performance as he approached the sofa, though he was sure a bomb could go off and his mum would keep playing.

“Dusk!” Luna smiled and shifted on the sofa, making room for her son to sit next to her. “How nice of you to stop by, finally. We were going to issue a search party for you.”

"Mom…” Dusk rolled his eyes at his mom, who cut him off with a smirk.

“I mean, it's been so long since we’ve seen you, Tavi has to look at photographs to remember what her boy looks like.”

“Mom!”

“My apologies Dusk, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” Luna paused her teasing long enough to give her son a warm hug, “Did you find whatever it was you were looking for all this week?”

“Um…yes, actually I did,” Dusk shifted uncomfortably on the sofa and looked him mom in the eyes. She never really spoke of the time before her banishment, nor the period of time itself, which was understandable. Still, if Dusk was to get the evidence he needed, he’d have to ask. “Mom, do you remember an old noble family by the name of Ravenwing?

“Ravenwing…Ravenwing…” Luna tapped her chin with a hoof as she thought for a moment, then her face dropped as she remembered the family her son had asked about. She had hoped to not hear the name again. “Why in Equestria would you be asking about them?” She asked with a quiet terseness in her voice that Octavia immediately picked up on, the bow of her cello wavered ever so as she dropped a couple of notes of her piece.

Luna did indeed remember the Ravenwing family. In the years leading up to her fall, before the Nightmare had taken hold of her the nobles of the Ravenwing family had been foremost amongst her supporters. They had even gone so far as to celebrate her night. Every year on the winter solstice the family had held huge parties, dances and celebrations in her honour. The Ravenwing’s had considered themselves first amongst the ‘Lunaites’, as her supporters called themselves.

“Lulu…” Octavia had noticed her wife’s change in mood, the slight twitch in her eye that while silent spoke volumes. “Are you alright my love?”

"I'm fine Octavia.” That she had used her beloveds full name had given away that she was indeed, not fine. Inwardly she cursed herself. “Please, continue playing, pet.”

Silently Octavia nodded, took hold of her cello and drew the bow across the strings, “Yes, Mistress.”

“Mom…are you alright?” Dusk asked as he also noted the minute change in his mother’s demeanour.

"Hush Dusk.” Luna silenced her son with a wave of a hoof and took a deep breath before she continued. “The Ravenwing family were staunch supporters of mine, until I fell to the Nightmare. When I turned, they turned on me. They removed their support and gave it to Celestia instead. I…Nightmare Moon, wasn’t kind to them Dusk. I was betrayed. By those who by their own claim were my allies. I stripped them of much of their wealth and land. When I came back from the moon a relative of the family was one of the first nobles to request I be sent back. ” Luna blinked away a tear at the memories of those dark times.

"Mom…I thought…is there any chance, you could maybe restore the family? Dusk asked as he laid his hoof on his mother’s, suddenly wishing he hadn’t raised this subject.

“Restore them?” Luna asked incredulously as she shook off her son's hoof, an irritated scowl on her muzzle. "The matter is closed, and I do not wish to discuss it any further Dusk. Take it up with my sister, she’s the one they worship now.”

"Mom...please…"

“The matter is closed Dusk!” Luna sprang from the sofa and stomped a hoof on the carpeted floor, leaving a visible dent. “Now leave me be son!” Princess Luna turned on her hoof and stomped off to her bedroom, magically opening and slamming the door behind her.

Dusk glanced over to where his mum had been playing when he noticed the music had stopped. Octavia had put her cello away in its case and trotted over to the young stallion. The pegasus shrank back on the sofa, hiding from the look of thunder on his mum’s face. “Dusk…” The earth pony mare delivered his name with a rare venom, “Luna may not recognise the current bearer of that family name. I do.”

Octavia moved her muzzle scant inches from her sons. “If this is some infantile game you’re playing to score points with your little friends and Blitzwing then so help me Dusk I’ll never forgive you for upsetting your mother.”

Dusk looked away, unable to meet his mum’s intense gaze as an icy block of guilt wrapped in his gut. “Mum…I…”

“That’s what I thought.” Octavia turned her back on Dusk and trotted over yo the bedroom door. “Dusk,” she paused in the doorway, “You need to grow up and end this with Blitzwing or somepony you care about is going to end up hurt.”

~ ~ ~

“Ah…Dusk, good afternoon,” Princess Celestia looked up from her little table beside the large window. Her sun poured warm light through into her suite as she poured herself a cup of tea from the teapot held in her magic. “You’re in time for afternoon tea.” She indicated a seating pad opposite her, “Won't you join me?”

Dusk sniffed, breathing deeply of the scent that came from the teapot. He and his aunt had always shared a love of earl grey tea. He nodded, taking the offered pad with a smile, noting, not for the first time, how diametrically different his aunt’s suite was to his mother's. Where hers was decorated in black marble and tapestries depicting the constellations his aunt’s quarters were purest white shot through with gold sun decorations.

Dusk smiled as the alicorn poured him a cup, ‘Just like night and day,’ he thought, though he supposed, that was probably the point.

“So, to what do I owe this visit from my favourite nephew?” Celestia asked as she took her cup in her magical hold and brought it to her lips.

“Favourite above Blueblood isn't really saying very much auntie.” They both shared a little chuckle at that.

“No, no I suppose it isn’t,” Celestia’s giggles died away and took another sip of her tea, “Now, is there something I can help you with Dusk? Only…” Dusk saw his aunt's gaze drift towards the large stack of official notes and orders stacked on her table, “I do have paperwork to attend to before today's court session.”

“Sorry to take up your time auntie, I’ll be quick, see I wanted to ask you about a noble family…”

Celestia held up an alabaster hoof. “Dusk, let me stop you there. You’re playing a very dangerous game, asking about the Ravenwing family.”

Dusk took a sip of his own tea, wondering how he’d been called on it so quickly. “What do you mean auntie?”

Celestia shot him a look that screamed ‘really?’ as she lowered her delicate tea cup. “Dusk Midnight Melody. Accept that I know when my sister upset.” She levitated her phone from her bag to land on the table between them. “Accept as well that when my sister is upset that your mother and I talk.”

“So…you aren’t going to help me then?” Dusk asked, crestfallen that the past week with his head in half the archives had possibly been for nothing.

“I didn’t say that,” the solar alicorn started, the look of irritation still on her face, “It just depends upon what you want from me.”

"Well...the Ravenwing family, they supported mom, back before she um…” Dusk trailed off at the dangerous look on his aunt's face.

“Became Nightmare Moon, yes, I’m aware my sister had her supporters during the rebellion, and that some families found themselves on the losing side. The Ravenwing family especially fell particularly hard during the time of reparations.”

"Yeah..." Dusk took a deep breath and reminded himself it was for his friends that he was doing this, “About that…is there any chance at all you can restore the family to the status they held before?”

Celestia didn’t respond straight away, she merely held his gaze for ten long quiet minutes. Inscrutably she stared, her eyes seeming to bore to the depths of his being before she finally answered her nephew. “No. I cannot and will not restore that family. They openly supported Luna. It is for her and the Night Court to restore them.”

Dusk had to fight to contain his glee at his aunt's declaration. Here was just what had wanted to hear. He needed one more thing to make his victory over Blitzwing complete. “I um, don't suppose I could get that in writing, could I please auntie?”

Celestia gave him that dangerous look one more time as she floated over a fresh scroll and her pen. “I will take this moment to reiterate what Octavia told you. Dusk, you are using your position to point score with your friends.” She said coolly as she magically wrote out the declaration, “Use this and you will end up hurting somepony close to you.”

“I don’t know what you mean…” He lied shamelessly.

“Dusk…” Celestia sighed as she signed the scroll and floated over her wax seal, “You have never been very subtle, politically or otherwise.” She said as did dripped melted wax onto the folded scroll. “Like my sister you wear your heart on your sleeve.” Celestia pressed her seal into the wax. “I am over three thousand years old Dusk. I'm older than Equestria, and I've steered her through too many political games to mention. Coups, rebellions, invading nations, I've seen them all off and I'm still here.” She floated the scroll over to her nephew who took it in his hoof.

“I know when a game is being played Dusk. I can smell them like a fart in a car, especially one this amateurish.” Celestia looked away from the pegasus and floated over the first of her scrolls to authorise for court later.

“Aunt Celestia, if it's that much of a mistake, why sign this?” Dusk asked, more than a little confused.

Without looking up from her scroll the alabaster alicorn answered; “You are young, Dusk. Your mind is made up on a course of action that cannot be altered. You have in your hoof a weapon that could, if misused, destroy not only a pony but a family.” Celestia floated over her pen to sign something else, “I am not your parent. Your mistakes are yours to make, as are the consequences yours to live with.”

"Aunt Celestia...I…”

"I'm sorry Dusk, I'm busy. I've said all I am prepared to say.” Celestia floated over another scroll, “Thank you for sharing tea with me, and I hope you think long and hard over exactly what I and your mother have both said to you. Good day.”

~ ~ ~

The afternoon bell rang, signifying the end of the Monday lunch break. Blitzwing checked his schedule and smiled, Double Science was always fun, and more so as he was sharing it not only with Dusk but Wildfire ad well. Plenty of scope for winding them both up.

Today the dark grey stallion was feeling particularly confident. The head of the family had managed to secure a meeting with Princess Celestia herself, and they weren’t about to squander this opportunity. Not since the dark days when the Ravenwing Viscounts had been advisors to Princess Luna had the family been in the castle proper.

Blitzwing had the scroll under his wing, ready to show the Bastard Prince and rub it in his idiotic muzzle. Ravenwing were on the cusp of greatness again, and it was so close to finally happening he could almost taste it.

Blitzwing hoofed open the door to the Science class with a sigh, today being the third Monday was when Twilight Sparkle took the class. Not that he had anything against the Princess per se, it was her sudden rise to ‘something’ from nothing that grated his nerves. Still, she was at least tolerable, unlike Dusk.

Putting on his best smug look Blitzwing entered the class, and found to his delight Dusk and Wildfire sat on their pads at the back of the lab, absorbed in whatever pointless chit chat they occupied themselves with. He also noted there were apparatus and beakers already laid out and set up on their lab benches, the prep team’s work no doubt.

“If it isn't the illegitimate foal of night and disharmony and his marelover.” Blitzwing sniggered as he made his way over to their station, smug look still very much in place.

Wildfire looked up from her conversation with her best friend and glowered at Blitzwing, wanting desperately to smash that stupid smug look off his face; “Blitz why don't you just bu...”

“Well,” Dusk interrupted her, “If it isn't a pegasus who isn't as well supported as he thinks he is?” The midnight blue stallion asked, wondering what in the world could’ve given Blitzwing cause to look that smug. Whatever it was, Dusk was looking forward to wiping it off his muzzle.

“Pfft…” Blitzwing scoffed in response, “It is fitting that Princess Twilight is here today to see the end of what she should have finished years ago.” He pulled out an ornate scroll from under his wing and presented it to Dusk with a flourish, “Read, bastard, and see. The head of our house has been invited to the palace to address our grievances.”

“Good afternoon students!” Twilight entered the lab as Dusk scanned the scroll that Blitzwing had given him, the Princess all bright and breezy, excited for an afternoon of teaching and learning. She had her cue cards ready and her lecture prepared.

The rest of the class greeted their teacher while Wildfire leant over her desk, getting close to Blitzwing, “Yeah, I'd love to see you at the palace Itzy Blitzy.” She muttered as she got out her textbook from her saddlebags.

Dusk read and re-read the scroll that Blitzwing had given him several times while Twilight got herself settled and started the class. He was genuinely impressed as he rolled up the scroll and passed it back in his hoof. “Well that certainly is check, Blitz,” he said with a tiny smile, allowing the dark grey stallion his moment of victory.

“Check and mate.” The pegasus turned back to his own workstation, satisfied he’d just scored a major victory over the pony now behind him.

“Attention class!” Twilight called out in a clear loud voice, interrupting the conversation at the back of the lab, “Today we'll be working with hydrochloric and sulphuric acids. You’ll find them in coloured beakers on your stations. You’ll find safety goggles there as well. I must insist you wear these at all times.” The Princess put an emphasis on the last two words she spoke as she turned to face the white board and started to draw some diagrams.

Wildfire picked up her safety goggles in her yellow hooves and slid them over her head, securing the band just below her ears. “Ready D?” She asked as she started uncorking the acids in the beakers. Immediately she was hit by the smell of the sulphuric, the fumes hitting the back of her nose.

Dusk pulled on his own goggles, cursing that he wasn’t a unicorn when the band caught his midnight blue fur. “Ready Wily.” Leaning forward over their station he whispered to Blitzwing who was similarly getting ready, “Oh, Blitzwing? I think my king has had a regeneration.”

“You are an idiot.” Blitzwing spared Dusk a half glance of irritation, “There is no regeneration in chess.”

“Well, as my good friend Air Raid is fond of saying, "I don't like to lose"… Dusk fished with a hoof into his own bag and retrieved the scroll that his aunt had signed. Her warning, and the warning of his parents, was far from his mind as he laid the scroll on his station. “You’ll want to come round here to read this.”

Blitzwing feigned an eye roll as he got up and moved around to the front of Dusk’s station, a sneer of contempt on his muzzle, “Is it your letter of resignation?” His sneer disappeared when he saw Celestia’s seal on the scroll.

“No…” Dusk smiled smugly as the dark grey stallion picked up the scroll and cracked it open, “This is me changing the rules so I win. I believe that's check and mate.”

Blitzwing read the scroll through once then twice, and a third time as his eyes grew to saucers with the realisation of what he was reading. He read the signature at the bottom, and again a second time.

Princess Celestia had abandoned them. Ravenwing was a Luna matter. The realisation sunk in his family were effectively through. “Buck you!” He slammed his forelegs into Dusk, his wing reaching back to the station for something, anything to throw at the hated pegasus sprawled on the ground in front of him.

Dusk fell to the floor with a loud oomph, all four legs sprawling from under him from the impact of the incensed pegasus standing over him. “Gah!” He winced, biting his tongue as his head struck the hard floor.

“Hey!” Wildfire whipped off her goggles and roughly shoved Blitzwing aside, bending down to check on her friend. “D? Dusk…Dusk are you alright?” She asked, concern on her face.

“What's happening back there?” Twilight called over her shoulder, her attention still occupied with writing out the experiment.

Blitzwing’s right wing found and seized the beakers of acid, and, without stopping to look what he’d grasped, threw them at Dusk.

“What the...” Wildfire caught the movement of Blitzwing’s powerful wing in the corner of her eye, and in that split second turned to face the dark grey stallion as he threw the beakers, the glass beakers shattered as they impacted her face, spilling the two concentrated acids straight into her wide brown eyes.

Blitzwing didn’t waste a second. He barged Wildfire aside with a shoulder, sending her spiralling to the floor, too stunned to realise what exactly had just happened to her and launched himself on Dusk’s prone form, rearing up to slam down upon him with both his forehooves.

Wildfire laid there silently for a millisecond. A tiny fragment of time that seemed to stretch forever. The millisecond passed all at once a moment later, with an ear-splitting “AAAAGH!!!! AAaaaaAAA!!” Wildfire screamed as the concentrated acids start to burn into her eyes.

“What the...” Twilight turned to see what the all the noise was about behind her as another scream from Wildfire silenced the rest of the class.

“AAaaaaAAAAGH!!” Wildfire’s lungs burned from the screaming, she clutched her hooves to her face, unable to see as steam rose from her face, her eyes boiling away in her skull.

Blitzwing mounted Dusk’s barrel, the Prince still too stunned to react effectively. Rearing again he rained  down a series of punches to Dusk’s chest and shoulder.

“ENOUGH!! Twilight overcame her moment of indecision, finally grasping the enormity of that was happening. Seizing Blitzwing in her magical field she lifted him off of his mounted position as she quickly trotted over to the altercation.

Wildfire grovelled in pain on the floor, a sticky white mess dribbling slowly through her hooves grasping at her ruined face, “AAAAGH!! H-he-lp m-me!”

Blitzwing struggled uselessly in Twilight’s hold, trashing his limbs against the lavender bubble encasing him. “I will kill you if it is the last thing I ever do!” He screamed, pure murder in his eyes, his anger focused entirely on Dusk.

“W – Wildfire!” Twilight maneuvered herself around the workstation and froze in shocked horror at the scene that greeted her. Wildfire’s screams had dulled to a low whimper as she squirmed in a foul smelling puddle of viscous muck on the lab floor.

“It…b – bu - rns! Burns! AAIIIIEE!!” Wildfire tried to sit up but slipped in the mess at her hooves, the mess that used to be her face.

“Shh…” Twilight held her still and used her magic to wash out and cleanse the affected area of her student’s face. “Oh sweet Celestia!” The Princess swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat as she delicately cleaned out Wildfire’s face. She could clearly see empty scarred and pitted sockets, her eyelids melting together under the effects of the acids.

Blitzwing thrashed harder in Twilight’s grasp, fighting desperately to get to Dusk on the floor, utterly uncaring of Wildfire screaming on the floor. His entire focus was getting his hooves on the Prince. “Let me go you idiot and I'll finish what you failed to do!”

Dusk groaned on the floor, starting to come to his senses as Wildfire whimpered in excruciating pain.

Satisfied for the moment that Wildfire wasn’t in life threatening danger Twilight finally turned her attention to the struggling pegasus held in her magical hold. “Look what you've done to her!”

“Me?!” Blitzwing never ceased in his struggles to get to Dusk, foam started froth at his mouth as his temper flared again, “This is your fault you failed excuse for a princess!”

Twilight extended her magic, activating the intercom. “Professors Last Legacy and Water Colour to science lab two, medical emergency!” She lit her horn with a purple light, applying a painkilling magic to Wildfire’s melted face, and she whimpered in relief as the magic started to take effect. In anger she turned her gaze to the unrepentant pegasus still struggling in her magical aura. “Mind your mouth from here on, my little pony. Under my authority as Princess of Equestria I'm placing you under arrest, Mr Blitzwing.”

Blitzwing actually paused in his struggle and scoffed at the angered alicorn; “You have no authority! You lost that long ago you inept mare.”

Twilight glared at him and breathed once or twice through her nose, calming her anger to an even tone as she replied. “I said to watch your mouth. Anything you say or do will be used against you in court.” The lavender Princess cast a glance at Wildfire on the floor then looked back at the captive stallion. “Do you have any kind of apology to make?”

Dusk finally managed to get up, standing on shaky hooves. He refused to believe what his eyes were telling him. “What...what's happen...WILY!”

Wildfire heard her friend, and despite Twilight’s magic let out a pained mewling whimper. “D...” She gasped, lances of pure pain shooting through her tortured sockets as her skin started to solidify and form scars over them. “It hurts, it hurts!”

“Apologise? You're one of them. Usurped by the nightmare!” Blitzwing ranted, all reason seemingly driven from him.

Twilight took a few extra deep breathes before she spoke again. “Keep talking Mr Blitzwing. I will remind you again you are under arrest.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dusk stagger over and take Wildfire’s hoof in his, giving it a squeeze. ‘Where are those professors?’ She thought to herself with a grimace.

“D…Dusk…I can’t see…”

Blitzwing pointed an accusatory hoof at Dusk. “It was him! He did this!”

Dusk squeezed Wildfire’s hoof again, letting her know he was still there. A cold sense of dread and guilt started wrapping it's hoof around his heart. As he knelt beside his friend, his very best friend in the world his mother's and his aunt's warning came back to haunt him. ‘Somepony you love is going to get hurt’. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine it would be Wildfire.

He had caused this. He, Dusk Midnight Melody. Just like his aunt had said. Point scoring in a pointless foals game. He paid no attention as Twilight used her magic to force Blitzwing to sleep, silencing his maddened ranting. He didn’t notice when Principal Last Legacy and Vice Principal Water Colour came barrelling into the science lab at full tilt, coming to a skidding halt beside the workstation.

All Dusk could focus on was his friend slumped against the cupboards, right hoof held across her face, grimacing and whimpering in excruciating pain with the remains of her eyes running down her cheeks, her boiled face starting to scar over.

The thought resonated through his conscious: he had caused this.

“Yes, Princess Twilight?” Last Legacy asked as he took  in the horrific scene unfolding before him.

Twilight shot the two teachers’ a grateful look, “Professors, Ms Wildfire needs an ambulance, and I need the police, please.”

Water Colour motioned for the other students to go to the cafeteria, and moved aside for done quiet as he pulled his phone from his jacket. “At once, Princess.”

“What happened Princess?” The Principal asked as he carefully moved around the mess on the floor to get a better look at Wildfire on the ground, his right forehoof over his nose to guard against the smell.

“I didn't see the attack, Principal Legacy,” Twilight answered in a shaky tone, “I only heard it. Prince Dusk?”

Dusk didn’t answer straight away, the enormity of just what he’d done momentarily robbing him of the ability to process his thoughts. Eventually, after several attempts to speak he found his voice. “M - Me and Blitzwing had a…a disagreement, he punched me to the floor. Wily got in the way and he threw the acid at me.”

Last legacy recoiled from the sight of Wildfire’s melted face as she started to panic. “I...I c-can’t see! W - Why c-can’t I see?”

“Shh Wily, it'll be ok, I promise.” Dusk tried sliding a hoof around her shoulder, holding the yellow mare close.

“Sweet Celestia!” Last Legacy exclaimed, getting over the shock he felt to lay a hoof on Wildfire’s other shoulder, “I've never known Mr. Blitzwing to be physically violent.”

Dusk didn’t look up from his friend as  he answered sadly. He felt every syllable of every word like a knife to his heart. “It was me Professor...we had a...difference of opinion.”

Wildfire squeezed Dusk’s hoof involuntarily, hissing as a lance of pain surged through her face. “Wh - what h-happened?”

Last Legacy gave Dusk a confused look, certainly issues and relations between Blitzwing and Dusk had been at best tense, at worse strained, but they had never been physical before. “But... but you never pushed the political issues Prince Dusk.”

“The ambulance has arrived,” Water Colour noted as he looked out the large lab windows, “I'll guide the paramedics up here.” Hovering a feet from the floor the Vice Principal flew out of the room down the corridors as fast as was safe.

“He...we...it's been building between us for many months, perhaps years Professor. We both snapped.” Dusk admitted, the admission doing precious little to assuage the guilt nestling in his gut. “Wily I'm so sorry.”

“D...I'm scared…”

“Shh…hey, the paramedics are here, you’ll be just fine, you’ll see.” He lied through his teeth, hating himself even more.

“Over there,” Vice Principal Water Colour re-entered the science lab, leading two unicorn paramedics and two police unicorns, a mare and stallion each. The pegasus stallion gestured with a hoof, first at Wildfire then at Blitzwing. “The yellow pegasus is the victim. The magically held pegasus is the perpetrator.”

“I’m Lime,” The female paramedic introduced herself as she shooed the Principal away and started to get to work. “Saline solution and gauze Bloodmoon. I'll start a drip. Does anypony know what caused the injury?”

“It was one hundred millilitres each of concentrated hydrochloric and sulphuric acid.” Dusk released his hold on Wildfire’s hoof while the medical ponies got to work, giving Lime’s partner room to start wrapping the gauze over her eyes.

“They were for an experiment, for the class.” Twilight supplied as the two police officers made their way over to her and her prisoner.

“I can’t see…” Wildfire started to panic when she felt the strange touch of the paramedic. “W - why can’t I s-see?”

The stallion smiled, and paused to lay his hoof on her shoulder. “I’m Bloodmoon Ms. Wildfire, I'm covering your eyes with a protective gauze bandage so you won't be able to see.” He spoke in a calm, smooth reassuring tone that instantly calmed the panicked mare.

Wildfire breathed deep heavy breathes, her lungs screaming with every inhalation, pain in her chest combining with that in her face. “It h-hurts…”

Lime gave her partner a look, and he nodded, floating over a differently coloured morphine bag for the drip for her to attach. Swapping out the bag she laid a hoof on Wildfire’s chest. “The pain should fade as the drip will have a stronger morphine dose in it.”

The two police ponies, a white unicorn mare with a black mane and a grey unicorn stallion with a white mane, approached Twilight, surrounding Blitzwing with their auras’. “Sergeant Revolver, your Highness, this is Constable Evening Star.” The white mare extended a hoof to Twilight, who met it with her own. “Could you please release him to us Princess Twilight?”

Twilight released her hold on the sleeping pegasus to that of the police. “It would be my pleasure, officers. It’s a standard level three sleep spell affecting him, other than that he hasn’t been touched.”

“Thank you Princess Twilight.” Evening Star helped his partner move the captive stallion and together they removed him from the room.

“Wildfire,” Lime, the paramedic, whispered calmly, “Please keep your wings folded. We are going to lift you to the stretcher.”

Wildfire nodded, keeping her wings tight to her barrel as she felt herself lifted up in what she assumed was Lime’s magical aura. “It doesn't hurt...” She sighed with relief.

Both paramedics secured her to the stretcher, Lime fastened the straps across her chest and forelegs, while Bloodmoon secured the straps holding down her hindlegs. Once they were happy their patient wasn’t going anywhere Lime nodded to her partner, who pushed the stretcher with his magic. “We’re rolling.”

“Dusk,” Twilight stopped the midnight blue pegasus as he started to trot with the stretcher. “Leave me your phone, I'll let Air Raid know.”

Dusk gave her a grateful smile as he hoofed over his phone to the lavender alicorn. “Thanks Twilight.”

Wildfire panicked, she tried to reach a hoof for her friend, found she couldn’t move and her panic increased. “D! Come with me, please!”

“I'm sorry there is no room for a passenger.” Lime said to Dusk as they wheeled through the corridors of the university while Bloodmoon did his best again to calm the agitated yellow pegasus. “We are going to Canterlot Royal Hospital, you can fly overhead or fly ahead.”

“Canterlot Royal.” Dusk galloped past the stretcher. “I'll wait for you there.” He called over his shoulder, barrelling through the main doors and taking off at speed towards the hospital.

With everypony gone and the lab empty Twilight Sparkle slumped to her haunches, alone amidst the chaos of the last thirty minutes. Her brain tried to catch up with what had happened. Luna’s son had been attacked, in public with witnesses; a student had been attacked and had suffered a grievous injury and her carefully prepped lecture lay in tatters.

She tried to think, to process what had happened. In her class no less, but try as she might her brain kept replaying the scene over and over. Twilight wanted to do something, anything, to help. The problem was there was precious little for her to do. The police had Blitzwing. The paramedics had Wildfire. No doubt the Professors’ were informing the various family members and keeping order in the school.

‘I know,’ she thought to herself, ‘I can tidy this mess, that’ll help’. If she was honest it would help her OCD too, but that was by the by. With a sense of purpose Twilight started to pick up the larger pieces of debris, starting with Wildfire and Dusk’s saddlebags. As she moved Dusk’s bag from the top of the workstation two scrolls, now missing their support, rolled off the work surface and fell to the floor.

Startled by the sudden movement Twilight caught the scrolls in her lavender aura just as they were about to hit the mess. The alicorn rolled them up to put them away, but as she turned her attention back to the prospect of cleaning her curiosity started to get the better of her.

Using her magic Twilight unfolded the scrolls and held them in front of her to read. She read Blitzwing’s first, her interest starting to wane after the first few paragraphs. She had read hundreds if not thousands of these type of thing, a request for the Princess to see the family for whatever reason. Certainly this was nothing remarkable, other than a request for House Ravenwing to meet with Celestia, when it should be Luna.

Twilight then kicked herself for not recalling the history of the House. Mentally she made a reminder to study up on it when she next had the chance.

Next she read the scroll that Dusk had presented to Blitzwing, that Celestia had written. Her eyes went wide as she read the line where the Solar Princess had denounced Blitzwing’s family as ‘A Matter for Her Royal Highness Princess Luna, Goddess of the Moon’. Reading on further, and putting everything in its context, the attack, while certainly not condonable by any stretch of the imagination, was at least understandable.

‘When one loses everything, one has nothing to lose.’ The alicorn thought to herself as she re-rolled the scrolls and tucked them away in her saddlebag. She had a feeling she’d need them later. “Oh my little ponies…Dusk…what have you done?” Twilight asked the empty classroom, her voice echoing in her ears as she began cleaning the lab.

Sadly the Princess levitated the fallen pieces of the apparatus to an adjacent workstation, and with a heavy sigh she vanished away the remnants of the broken beakers. She had been so looking forward to this class, as she looked forward to all the classes she volunteered to take. Glumly Twilight floated over a bleached cloth and started to scrub the floor, trying her best not to think about exactly what it was she was scrubbing up lest the bile return to her throat with a vengeance.

Finishing her task Dusk’s mobile phone caught her eye. Facehooving with an internal groan at forgetting her promise to Dusk she picked up the phone with her magic and scrolled through the contact list until she found Air Raid’s entry. With a heavy heart she hit the dial key.

Air Raid threw her saddlebag onto the passenger seat of her Fiesta and followed it in with a disgusted look on her face as she slammed the car door shut behind her. “Buckin’ Tartarus!” The pegasus screamed at her windshield, slamming her hooves into her steering wheel. Qualifying was hard enough as it was, without having to break in a new co-pilot. Not for the first time, since he had stormed out of Dusk’s suite, Air Raid cursed Slingshot’s name.

She had her hoof on her ignition switch as her phone rang in her bag. “What now?” The lime green mare asked herself, fishing a hoof through her bag to find her mobile. “This had better be bucking important Dusk…” Air Raid groused to thin air as she hit the answer key and flipped her phone to hooves free.

“What’s up Dusk?” She asked, irritably thumping the ignition switch and jamming her car into gear.

“It’s Princess Twilight, Ms Air Raid,” the alicorn corrected her, “Do you have a moment?”

“Princess?” Air Raid pulled her brake. It wasn’t just the fact that she’d never called her before that gave her pause, there was something about her tone that sent chills up the racer’s spine. “What's wrong?”

Twilight paused to gather her thoughts. Should she dress it up or just be honest? Ultimately she decided on the latter. ‘Applejack would be proud,’ she thought as she took a deep breath. “It’s Ms Wildfire...she…I’m afraid she's had a...accident, in my science class, Ms Air Raid.”

‘That can’t be good…’ Air Raid thought, “Is she alright?” She asked with a growing sense of trepidation. She hoped there was nothing seriously wrong with her marefriend, but Twilight wouldn’t be calling her if she had just cut her hoof.

“She's been taken to Canterlot Royal Hospital Ms Raid.” Twilight’s breath hitched, her voice faltering as she took a moment to steady her nerves. “B – Be pre…prepared, she'll need your support, Ms Air Raid, Ms Wildfire…she...she's been blinded.”

“WHAT!?” Air Raid forgot who it was she was talking to as she shouted down the phone. Taking her hind hoof off of her brake pedal she reversed out of the stadium car park. “I'm on my way.”

“Ms Air Raid I’m…” Princess Twilight Sparkle didn’t finish her sentence as Air Raid hung up her phone. “Sorry.”

~ ~ ~

Dusk was waiting on the paramedics as the ambulance pulled into the hospital’s emergency admittance bay. He trotted in with Lime taking care of the morphine and Bloodmoon steering the stretcher. They trotted straight through the automatic doors and down past the reception area to a closed off room, labelled simply ‘Emergency Theatre 03’. Lime shouldered open the door and they entered.

Dusk made to follow after them but was immediately stopped by a nurse. “I’m sorry Prince Dusk, you can’t go in there.” She laid a restraining hoof on his shoulder, and being an earth pony, it actually did restrain him.

“Look, nurse…” Dusk looked down to check her name badge on her uniform, “Lone Heart, that’s my best friend that’s just gone in there!”

Nurse Lone Heart removed her hoof with a sympathetic smile. “I'm sure she is, Prince Dusk, but you still can't enter.” She pointed an adjacent door, “You can view from the gallery if you wish.”

Dusk nodded, “Fine, thank you nurse Lone Heart.” He said with a grateful smile as he turned and trotted through the door to the gallery.

Dusk Melody took a seating pad to, well, get comfortable was probably the wrong turn of phrase. He recognised Lime and Bloodmoon, the paramedics that responded to Water Colour’s emergency call, though he didn’t recognise the third pony. He guessed she was the surgeon on duty, a rather severe looking pegasus, she had a crimson coat and a short cropped white mane. The half-moon glasses completed the ‘disciplinarian’ look nicely. Dusk suspected in this hospital she was the Princess.

“I administered the anaesthetic on the way here, Doctor Hatch,” Bloodmoon began, indicating the intravenous line connected to the cannula secured to Wildfire’s right foreleg. “She’s been asleep for just under seven minutes.”

“It was a mix of hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, one hundred millilitres of each.” Lime supplied to the surgeon as she used her magic to secure the stretcher to the fastening catches in the theatre floor.

Doctor Hatch paused in shock as she used a wingtip to delicately remove the gauze covering Wildfire’s ruined face. “What?” The surgeon gasped open mouthed, “Luna be damned this is bad.”

Ten minutes later Doctor Hatch had completed her examination. Scribbling some notes down she tossed her clipboard to a metal table holding some medical equipment that Dusk couldn’t even guess the usage of, and turned back to her patient with a sad frown that Dusk did recognise. “I can clean out the sockets and ensure there is no infection. Though given the extent of the damage, I don't think she can even be a transplant candidate now.”

“Oh sweet Aunt Tia...” Dusk Melody sat stunned on his pad in the gallery, the realisation of the enormity of what he’d done settling in his gut like a sickening lead weight. Not only had he ruined Blitzwing and harmed his entire family, in the process of his ‘point-scoring’ he had severely injured his best friend.

‘Somepony you love is going to get hurt.’ Octavia and Celestia had both warned him, and in his quest to hurt Blitzwing he had chosen to ignore them both. Now as he sat in the hospital gallery watched the surgeon and paramedics gently clean the discoloured fur around Wildfire’s destroyed face he found he didn’t have the words to describe the remorse he felt for what he’d done.

“Has anyone gotten a hold of her parents yet?” Doctor Hatch asked, not looking up from her work.

“Her dad...” Dusk groaned, mentally facehooving, “Oh crap I’ll have to tell her dad.”

“Princess Twilight has authorized any needed surgery.” Bloodmoon said to the surgeon as he wheeled over a tray of tools. “We didn't find any identification on her to give an address.”

Lime checked and adjusted the anaesthetic, “Prince Dusk accompanied us here. He is up in the gallery.”

“Very well, I'll do what I can.” Doctor Hatch scrubbed her hooves in the sink, and slipped on a surgical mask as she trotted back to her sleeping patient.

Dusk decided right then it was the right time to go and call Wildfire’s dad. Not that he was squeamish or anything, no…not at all. “I should definitely go call her dad.” He stood and trotted down to the hospital reception. At the door to the gallery he caught the doctor’s comment, “The scaring is heavy, and I doubt she will ever be free from some degree of low level pain.”

“Excuse me,” Dusk asked the receptionist with an apologetic smile for interrupting her, “Do you have a phone I can use please?”

The mare looked up and dropped her pen, stunned that a royal was speaking to her, her of all ponies! “Y - Yes sir,” she stammered, “P - Please use mine.”

“Thanks Miss.” Dusk gratefully took her phone in his hoof and reluctantly dialled his friend’s home number. He checked the clock on the wall behind the desk, two twenty five in the afternoon, there was a good chance Cold Front would still be compos mentis.

“Yeah…what?” The drunken slur he got by way of a greeting sunk Dusk’s hopes.

“Hello Mr Front, it’s Dusk, Wildfire’s friend, I have news about Wily.”

Cold Front dropped the half empty can of lager that he’d been holding in his magic and hiccupped down the phone line, watching with a twinge of regret as the liquid spilled out of the can. “What about her?”

“Sir, she's been in an accident at school.” Dusk tried to keep his tone even as he explained, in simple terms, what had happened to his daughter.

“So?” Cold Front slurred, reaching for another can. Finding it empty he staggered on unsteady hooves towards the fridge.

Dusk stomped a hoof and snorted in frustration, causing the receptionist to jump a few inches from her seat. “She's been blinded!”

“Yesh?” The drunken unicorn managed, after the third attempt, to open the fridge door and extract his ninth can of lager.

“You're gonna have to come look after her!” Dusk exclaimed, his anger barely contained.

Cold Front cracked open his can, staggering so much he spilled half before he had the chance to drink any. “Look after who?” He slurred as he slumped and leant against the open fridge door.

“Wildfire! Your daughter! She's at Canterlot Royal Hospital.”

“Yeah...” The unicorn swayed his way back to the couch and flopped down, his head hitting the armrest. “Why’s that?” He asked, his drink addled brain completely forgetting what his daughter’s friend had just told him.

“Just get sober and get here!” Dusk hung up and returned the phone to the reception pony, who was doing her best to appear like she wasn’t listening into the conversation, which of course she was.

Dusk merely shook his head, uncomprehending of how a waste of fur like Cold Front had ever managed to spawn a wonderful mare like Wildfire. He turned on his hooves and headed back towards the gallery, to be greeted by the surgeon and paramedics wheeling his friend out of the operating theatre. “Lime, can you take our patient to room two one four on the fourth floor please?” The surgeon asked, before turning her attention to the midnight blue pegasus.

“Prince Dusk,” the crimson mare adjusted her glasses and extended a hoof in greeting. “I'm Doctor Cross Hatch, could you meet with me in my office please? Ms. Wildfire will be out for at least one more hour.”

Dusk shook her hoof, that by now familiar sinking feeling returning to his gut after his brief conversation with Wildfire’s dad. “Sure thing, Doc, it's…bad, right?”

The surgeon nodded as her patient was wheeled away towards the large elevator. “Yes sir, very bad.” She said with a note of sadness, cleaning her glasses with a wingtip.

Dusk nodded, the feeling of dread in his belly settling for permanent residence. “I thought so...well of course I'll meet with you.”

Dusk fell into step and walked beside the surgeon as she led the way down a small hallway to her modestly sized office. Unlike the pastel shades of the rest of the hospital Cross Hatch’s office was a riot of vivid colour, except for the wall behind her that held all her certificates and diplomas. The other three walls were full of Zebra prints, wall art and other various tribal mementos.

“Memories of my internship in Zebrifica.” Doctor Cross Hatch noticed his interest with a smile as she took her seating pad behind her desk and laid her note filled clipboard upon it. “Close the door please.”

“Sure” Dusk hoofed the door shut and took the pad opposite the pegasus.

“Prince Dusk,” Cross Hatch said, studying her clipboard as the stallion took his pad, “What is your involvement with Ms. Wildfire?”

“She's my best friend.” Dusk replied, the admission doing nothing but increasing the leaden ball of guilt in his belly. It wasn’t necessary but he felt the need to elaborate. “I've known her since forever, Doc.”

Cross Hatch picked up her pen in her mouth and crossed off a couple of check boxes before making a little scribbled note. “Then you have no responsibility over her care?”

Dusk shifted uncomfortably on the pad he was sat on, “I wish I did, but no, I don't. There is her marefriend she lives with, Air Raid, and her useless drunk dad.”

Ticking off another checkbox she offered Dusk her best reassuring smile. She’d seen enough parents like that in her time. “She is of age so there is no reason to involve her father. Her mother?” She asked, taking up her pen again.

“Silverbolt, dead I'm afraid, for 7 years.”

“Very well, since Princess Twilight is involved in this case, can you report to her?” Cross Hatch asked, finally laying aside her clipboard with a crimson wing.

“Certainly I can,” Dusk answered with a grim expression. He had to ask his next question but he didn’t want to at the same time. Reluctantly he drew breath and asked, “So, how bad is it Doc?”

“Well, it couldn’t be much worse.” Cross Hatch removed and cleaned her glasses, a stalling technique she employed when she didn’t want to give out bad news. “She will need to learn a new life. I can't understand why both acids were out at the same time. Anyway, her eyes boiled and exploded in the socket causing severe damage to the ocular nerve. Because of this she is not a candidate for eye transplant surgery. The ocular bone did stop any damage to the frontal lobe of the brain from my exam. Tests will need to be run to be sure. She inhaled some of the chlorine gas and has minor scaring to her lungs. Over time that will heal. The heat burned away the fur around her eyes, but that should grow back as it is mostly second degree burns. No evidence of any third degree burns. I suspect she will be in a constant, but dull pain, for the rest of her life.”

Dusk Melody slumped despondently in the seating pad. What made everything worse was the knowledge that he, Wildfire’s best friend, had caused this. “Oh no...no, no...her eyes exploded? Sweet Aunt Tia, no wonder she was screaming...while I was holding her it was like she was melting...she'll have the scars for life as well?”

The surgeon nodded, once again taking a moment to clean her glasses. “There are no fur follicles at the back of the socket. She could have fur transplanted there after the healing is complete, but yes, the scaring will be there. You can hide it with cosmetics or she can wear mask of some sort.”

“Damn...” Dusk exclaimed almost under his breath, “Is...Is there anything else?”

Replacing her glasses to her muzzle Cross Hatch quickly consulted another page of her notes from Wildfire’s examination. “All of her face had some minor burning and fur loss for it, but all that should heal and disappear in four or five months.”

Dusk suspected the answer to this next question, but he asked it anyway. “And, there's no chance whatever of her being able to see, in any way?”

“Not medically.” The crimson pegasus replied sadly, “They are making advances in cloning technology, but that is still decades away. It may be possible to find a scrying enchanted item that will allow her some form a vision.”

“I see.” The midnight blue pegasus looked aside, finding the Zebrifican décor rather interesting as tears stung his pink eyes. “How long will she be here for, and what kind of care will she need?”

Cross Hatch consulted the last page of the notes she had made. “So to not risk ammonia from the lung scaring I recommend she stay here for at least a week. She will get physical therapy to prepare her for a sightless life. After that she should be placed in a facility for the newly blinded to train her in braille and how to move around using her wings.” The doctor reached into a drawer at the side of her desk and retrieved a leaflet on just such a facility. “One small benefit for a Pegasus. Flying is a much more difficult issue though. Is Air Raid a Pegasus too?” She asked, hoofing the leaflet over to Dusk.

“She is, although she has Scootaloo's Syndrome, if that makes a difference.”

“Oh my, that is a rare disorder.” Cross Hatch scribbled the note in the margins of her already packed paper. “In that case I'd recommend that Ms. Wildfire get used to being grounded like her partner. Manoeuvring using her wings as a guide will be even more important if she is to want any independence.”

Dusk smiled in spite of his maudlin mood. “Wily's independent alright.” His smile faltered almost instantly as a thought struck him. “Her job...she's a reserve firefighter with the Residential Fire Team...”

Cross Hatch smiled a rare smile. “With training she can do paperwork and dispatching.” She explained to the relieved Prince.

Dusk managed a sigh of relief. “Good, giving that job up would kill her. And the university? This was to be her last year.”

“If they are willing to do all course work via audio, she can go directly back. Otherwise she will need the training in braille to do written work.”

“Thank you Doc.” Dusk slid off the seating pad and stretched his legs. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

“It would be best if she stays with over the counter pain medication as they are not habit forming. If the pain is severe enough though a prescription could be made for a short term narcotic pain reliever.”

Dusk took a moment to shake Cross Hatch’s hoof. “Again, thank you. You said she'll be out for some time yet?”

The surgeon glanced up at her clock with a nod of her head. “Thirty minutes at the least, maybe up to forty.”

Dusk did a quick distance and time calculation in his head, factoring in his speed. “Alright, I'll go report to Princess Twilight at the university and I’ll be back in twenty seven minutes.”

Cross Hatch looked at the terminal on her desk. “She is in room two one four. Prince Dusk, I don't believe she knows she is blind yet. We will have a nurse in the room with you when she wakes up.”

Dusk paused in her doorway as the doctor’s pager beeped. “Thank you for everything Doctor Hatch, and I agree with you. I'll be sure to be here when she wakes up.”

The crimson pegasus exited her office with Dusk, a strained smile on her muzzle. “Well, another emergency has come in, a mare ‘accidentally’ fell on her stallion’s hoof.” She sighed audibly. She hated domestic violence cases. “Anyway, fare thee well Prince Dusk.”

~ ~ ~

“Hey, Prince Dusk, how’s Wildfire?”

“Dusk, what happened?”

“Hey, what happened in the science lab?”

“Is it true what I heard about Wily?”

“Is she really blind?”

These questions, and more besides, were fired at the midnight blue pegasus as he raced through the halls of Canterlot University. Mirage; Compass Star, Purple Weave, Daisy and Sunny Daze, he ignored them all, his attention directed solely upon his destination.

Scant minutes after landing at the University Dusk found himself at Principal Last Legacy’s office. Twilight’s muffled voice from within bade him enter and he did so, cautiously hoofing open the door.

“Principal Legacy, would you please be so kind as to give us a few moments?” Twilight asked with a polite nod.

“Of course Princess. Please, take as long as you need.” The unicorn stallion excused himself and closed the door shut behind him as he left his office.

“Now Prince Dusk,” Twilight began, turning her attention to the young royal, her tone all business, “I believe you have a report for me?” She asked in a clipped, authoritative tone that made Dusk feel like he was under inspection.

“Yes Princess Twilight, I have the medical report from the surgeon that attended to Ms Wildfire at the hospital.” Dusk reached a hoof to his saddlebag and pulled out the doctor’s written report and with a grim shudder passed it over to the Princess.

Twilight Sparkle took the doctor’s report in her magical hold and started to read, muttering to herself every so often at key words and phrases that stood out to her, highlighting such things as Wildfire’s specific injuries, her unsuitability for any kind of transplant procedure and the rehabilitation and aftercare the pegasus would need going forward with her life.

Once her read through was complete Twilight gave Dusk a look. One of those looks that he wanted to run and hide away from. The kind of look that said they weren’t done. “Do you have anything further to add, Prince Dusk?”

That sickened feeling was back in full force in Dusk’s belly, just from the tone of her voice he knew the next few minutes of his life wouldn’t be pleasant. He also knew he deserved everything he got here. “No…no Princess Twilight. I have nothing to add.”

"Oh really?" Twilight levitated the two scrolls from her bag and held them in her magic under Dusk’s nose. “You can explain these then, I assume?”

“I…um, well I err…the um, the thing is Twilight…” Dusk started to say, then as his answer died on his lips he found himself unable to meet the alicorn’s stern gaze.

“That’s what I thought Dusk.” Twilight’s voice dripped disappointment with every syllable.

"Twilight, I…I'm…”

“Save it.” Twilight cut across him, silencing the pegasi’s words. “I don't want to hear how sorry you are. You can tell that to Ms Wildfire, your best friend, when you see her. What I want to know is, why.”

"Why?" Dusk asked, confusion all over his face. “Why what?”

“Why,” Twilight responded, staring an icy cold stare straight through him that Fluttershy would’ve been proud of. “Why anypony in their right mind would show a scroll bearing the contents that this scroll does,” she indicated the scroll written by Celestia, “to a staunch Celestia supporter.”

"I...well I…I didn’t think…”

“I can only conclude one of two outcomes,” Twilight cut the stammering Prince off again, “You either didn’t entertain the idea of consequences, or you weren’t bothered about the consequences. Which was it?”

“I…I didn’t think…” Dusk trailed off lamely, his throat tight with the tears he was choking back.

“You. Didn’t. Think.” Twilight punctuated each word slowly and carefully, making sure Dusk didn’t miss her meaning. “Do you have any idea what you have done, what has resulted from you ‘not thinking’?”

“Yes, Twilight, I do.” Oh, Dusk knew alright.

“Do you? Do you really?” Twilight’s voice seemed to bore to his very soul. “Because of your petty actions, Prince Dusk Melody, an ancient noble family stretching back over fifty generations lies in tatters! Because of you, your best friend went through the most horrific experience I’ve ever witnessed, and will have to live the rest of her life blind!” With each sentence the lavender alicorn’s voice rose in pitch and volume, finally rivalling the Royal Canterlot Voice, “And because of you, you thoughtless pegasus, I’ve spent the last thirty minutes cleaning a mix of acids and I don't want to think what else off of the lab floor!”

“Twi I’m sorry!” Dusk cried, the tears finally welling over and spilling down his midnight blue cheeks.

“No. No I don't believe you are, not yet at any rate.” Twilight snapped scornfully. “I hope your little game was worth the price.”

Dusk didn’t answer, he merely sat in front of the Princess of Friendship and wept silent tears, his very core consumed with guilt and remorse.

“I’m telling you now, Dusk, that because of your involvement the charges of Actual Bodily Harm will be dropped, and I will use whatever influence I have to ensure that Mr Blitzwing of House Ravenwing escapes a custodial sentence and that he gets the very best care at the finest mental institution in Canterlot.”

Dusk sat dumbfounded, disbelieving of what he’d just heard. “You…you aren’t punishing him?”

Twilight Sparkle shot him a foul look. “How dare you ask such a thing? The situation wouldn’t have escalated were it not for your involvement, and I will not see a citizen punished unfairly, do you understand?”

“I understand, Twilight.” Dusk slid off the seating pad he was sat on and stretched his hooves. “I’d um…better get back, to the hospital, Wily’ll be waking up soon, and I want to be there for her when she does.”

"Dusk...wait.” Twilight stopped him at the door to the Principal’s office. “Your friend, Ms Wildfire…any help she needs, I’ll do whatever I can for her Dusk.”

“Well…can’t you cast a spell or something, fix her eyes?” Dusk asked hopefully.

Twilight shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry Dusk,” a single tear rolled down her lavender fur as she spoke, “Magic cannot fix everything.”

“But…surely…as powerful as you are…” Dusk started in desperation, only to have his last hope crushed.

“Magic can do many things Dusk…” Twilight looked sadder than Dusk had ever seen her in his life. “However even I can’t create something from nothing. I’m sorry Dusk.”

"But..."

“I said I’m sorry." Twilight said with awful sense of finality, "Without a functioning optic nerve there’s nothing I can do.”