Convalescence

When I came to, it was in hoofcuffs, wingcuffs, and a low-power dis-band. The smell of death still lingered, though it wasn't quite bad enough to send me back to Luna land, but judging by the way the rest of my body felt, I'd gladly go back. My ear drums felt like they had recently exploded from the inside. A million gears still creaked and grinded in my skull, while everything else prickled with pins and needles.

"Oww..." I clenched my eyes. My ears needed rubbing, but my hooves refused to cooperate.

"Wake up."

I knew who that was. She sounded angry, which would be cause for concern if I was more lucid. At that moment, it was more of a suggestion near the bottom of an extensively long list of choices.

"Just lemme sleep, whoever you are. Reality is pain right now." The metal chair I was sitting in had no right to be as comfortable as it was.

"Oh, you're in a world of hurt all right, Lily. Git up!"

I peeked one bloodshot eye at the dingy room. "Pumpkin, is that you? Can I get a mint or an ice pack? I can't get the smell of pestilence out of my head." I said.

"A mint? I reckon your brain's gone sour as last year's milk," she chastised. "And you will refer to me as Sergeant Smash. That's an order, not a suggestion." That let me know we weren't alone. For whatever reason, Pumpkin doesn't like it when I use her first name in front of other ponies. Her tact and finesse were lacking, but she was a good pony through and through. She was built strong, stronger than most earth ponies, and looked about as orange as, well, a pumpkin. A tuft of short-cut brown hair poked out from underneath her sweat-stained police cap, adding to her frazzled appearance.

Hooves slammed on metal, and I made a soured face as a light swiveled to blind me. The darkened forms of Police Sergeant Pumpkin Smash and Warden Fetter Fetlocks were sitting across the table. In an interrogation room.

This is where bad ponies sit. I had been a bad pony.

"So, this is about Rafflesia, right?" I asked. Pumpkin took in a breath, as if about to yell, when she was cut off by the warden putting her arm over her mouth.

"Yes, it is," she stated matter-of-factly. "I have an idea of what has happened based on preliminary reports, but we would still like to hear what you have to say." Her normally maroon eyes and coat looked downright black in the ominous dark of the interrogation room. If she was ever angry, I'd never know. I've never seen her be anything other than cool and focused, but then again, I'd also never woken up in three varieties of restraints before today. Anything was on the table. And the table was being assaulted every few seconds, before my very migraine-affected eyes.

"Okay then," I said. "I shouldn't have broken protocol, but I never thought something like that could even happen. You could weaponize that smell!" I took a deep breath, which dredged up all the remnants of that terrible odor, making me gag. I felt like a sewer system. Whatever that feels like.

"That's all ya have to say?" Shouted Pumpkin. "Ya downright caused a break out!"

"What?"

"You weren't supposed to say that yet, sergeant." The warden rested her chin on a hoof, as the sergeant bit her lip.

"Excuse me, you mentioned a break out?" I asked, panic starting to twist a knot in my chest.

The warden spoke first. "Yes. Rafflesia Blossom, after incapacitating you, proceeded to incapacitate the guards assigned as your escort. Using the counterspells laid in the guard's horseshoes, she removed the disabler bands keeping her strength at bay."

"Then she went and freed half the wing!" The sergeant shouted, slamming her hooves on the table again. It was bent and battered for a moment before the warden used her magic to mold and smooth the table back into its pristine form. There was no telling how many times this table had been destroyed and rebuilt. It was a lot like an old friendship, able to come back from any beating and battery, or something. I was suddenly getting interested in studying every little line and crease on the table and thinking metaphorically instead of thinking about how a potentially major disaster was triggered by my ineptitude.

"You weren't supposed to say that either, sergeant." There was no hint of frustration in the warden's voice. "Do you carry out all interrogations with this little attention to the rules and procedures?"

The sergeant leaned back in her chair, adjusting her police cap. I got the feeling she would much rather have been wearing a cowboy hat instead. "Aw, what's it matter anyway? Everypony and their grandmares know Lily wouldn't do a thing like this on purpose. She's just too trusting for our own good. That agency and their lax regulations need to-"

"You mean my own good?" I asked.

"Don't interrupt me!" She jabbed an orange hoof in my direction, and laid down a manila folder on the table, stamped with the official seal of D.E.F.E.R. "We got confirmation from D.E.F.E.R. that a certain Spathyphyllum Apology was given a file detailing the danger posed by Rafflesia. I want to know why in tarnation y'all would remove the filter-muzzle of somepony capable of putting a whole fortress to sleep just by huffing like a deadbeat in a glue factory!"

Reflexively, I checked under my cuffed wings for the dossier, but it was gone. "Oh. About that..." Looking around, it wasn't on the table either. "Where is the file now?"

"Gone. Rafflesia must have taken it with her when she fled," the warden said. "But I would also like to know the answer to the sergeant's question. Was the information outlined in the dossier insufficiently comprehensive? Did you think you would be immune to the effect? It's unlike D.E.F.E.R. to be incomplete with their reports." She was absentmindedly rotating a clipboard and pens in her telekinetic grip, leaving echoes of ticking clocks ringing in my head.

I squirmed in my seat. I wasn't about to lie, but it didn't feel good to expose myself either.

"I... I didn't read much of the file, actually. I think, in order to do my best job as a rehabilitator, I need to get to know a pony by actually sitting down and talking with them, not by reading about them in a report. Ponies are more than their actions and their words, and they should be treated equally with respect and dignity." I put on a determined look. "That's the truth."

My two interrogators shared a glance before looking at me. My determination quickly crumbled into dust, sucked up by a vacuum of fear, as well as Pumpkin's lungs as she took in an enormous breath.

Sergeant Smash is a good name. Very fitting for what she did to that table.

The warden carried me to a waiting room near the lobby of the prison, for visitors. Unlike the old-fashioned construction on the lower floors, the upper levels were more similar in appearance to a dentist's office. Linoleum and muted pastel carpets abound. I was getting ready for a drill in my skull at any moment, maybe a literal one this time. The floor tiles were suddenly as intriguing as a certain table. They still hadn't taken off the cuffs and dis-bands, so the warden simply dropped me onto a bench like a sack of guilty potatoes.

The warden looked at me with an odd expression somewhere between pity and smug satisfaction. "Miss Apology, I know that you understand the gravity of the situation here, so I won't be berating you. Sergeant Smash took care of that in spades." She took a seat next to me, gentle as silk. A far cry from the raving mare who wanted to "pluck me like a goose in a pillow factory."

"We've had rehabilitators working with the Baltimare Penitentiary for many years, and in those years, none have had as successful of a record as you, Lily. I don't doubt your methods one bit."

"You're too kind," I said. "Seriously. Please say mean things instead, so I can forgive you instead of feeling awful."

"It doesn't feel good to be on the other end of a bad deed, does it?" She replied, chuckling for a second before returning to her usual even-keeled demeanor. "Even the best of us make mistakes. Isn't that one of your steps to forgiveness?"

"Yes, but this is a really, very big mistake. Shouldn't I be, you know, punished?"

"Do you wish to be imprisoned?" There was a certain sudden eagerness in the way she spoke that made me shiver from my head to the tip of my tail. I dared to look down at her cutie mark: a pair of hooves locked up in manacles. I tried looking away, only to see my own hooves locked up too. The floor was starting to seem highly attractive again.

"No... But there ought to be something! Dangerous ponies are out there, free to roam because of my stupid flank!" I flushed, flattening my ears. "Sorry about the foul language, warden."

"Working here as long as I have, you get used to that, Miss Apology," the warden said. "While it is true you've caused us all some trouble, so long as there was no conspiracy planned between the prisoners and yourself, I can chalk it up to a fault in the system, so to speak. We are notably understaffed, and almost all the equipment in this facility is highly outdated. The rehabilitation program is currently our best method at dealing with unruly, erm, guests." The warden closed her eyes. "If you tell me it was an accident, then I believe you."

"That's... trusting of you." I said, looking up from the floor.

She must have heard the uncertainty in my voice, because she opened her eyes again, looking directly at me. "You wouldn't tell a convincing lie if you thought that lie might cause harm to an ant. Celestia knows, virtues like honesty and kindness are hard to come by these days. But Equestria doesn't run on good intentions alone, and the truly righteous are rarer than ever before," Warden Fetter said, eyeing me curiously, "and I know you don't think freeing a collection of dangerous criminals would help them, either. You're naive, not stupid."

"So, what happens now?" I said, blushing in embarrassment.

"Now..." The warden furrowed her brow and began thinking, which was enough to give me the shivers again. She was a pony who liked to stick to the books as much as possible, but that didn't mean her punishments didn't get a bit creative at times.

"Yow!" I yelped, as my wingtip was plucked. The dove-gray feather did a dance in the air, before hovering back toward me in the crimson grip of Fetter's magic. A single tear welled up in my eye. I just preened those!

"What happens now is as follows: I'm sending in a report to D.E.F.E.R. for your temporary suspension due to negligence, in order to undergo a rigorous training regimen on correct protocols," she said. "It should take a few weeks, and you get to spend some time back in Canterlot. You were planning on taking a short vacation there soon anyways, right?"

"Oh. That's right." I knew I was in trouble, but the warden sure made it seem like it was nothing. I wonder how she knew about the vacation though. Someone at D.E.F.E.R. must have mentioned it.

"I'll also recommend that they send Sun Downer to keep an eye on you, just to ensure things go smoothly."

"Oh." That was a name I hadn't heard in a while. Sun Downer wasn't the easiest pony to interact with. Even less so if you were "under her supervision," but it could've been worse...

"I'm also going to tickle you relentlessly with this nice feather here, in front of any staff members present." She added. A few of the guards and desk ponies turned to look in our direction with varying degrees of amusement and horror.

"Oh." I blinked. "Wait. Seriously?"

The warden nodded solemnly, as if a dire punishment had been sentenced.

"Um, actually, please don't do that. N-not in f-front of all these other p-p-ponieeeees!" There was no use in begging. The warden was merciless in her assault, and I couldn't do a thing but cackle and squirm and cry.

"N-no! S-stop it! J-just arrest m-me insteeeeead!"

"You've been what?"

"Suspended from duty." I rubbed at my forehead, wiping away residual tears. I didn't even know if they were from laughing or from being sad anymore. The incessant ticking of a clock bounced around on the inside my skull, but there was no clock in the prison phone booth I was crammed into.

"I don't really want to talk about-"

"Talk about what? Are you okay? Tell me what happened!"

"Can I just-"

"Tell me tell me tell meeeee!" I had to hold the phone away from my ear before my head exploded from the sound waves. Something in her voice rattles the synapses like nothing else.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." I said, defeated. Grape Vine could be quite pushy when she wanted to be. Some might even call her a nuisance, often to her face. She tends to take it as a compliment. "But, Vinny, please don't go around telling everyone about this. I know it's your talent to spread information and all, but this kind of thing could come back to bite me hard."

"Oh, don't you worry, Lily. There are a hundred stories I'll be spreading around town that don't involve you in any way. My hooves are full as it is," she reassured, though it wasn't reassuring at all. Maybe I'd leave out some of the key details. Namely, the gross negligence and subsequent prison break.

"One of my clients was a little more... difficult than expected. I'm okay, but I'm being sent back to Canterlot for a while." A few weeks would be a lot longer- and sooner -than the vacation I had planned.

Grape Vine whistled through the receiver. "Wow, somepony even you couldn't handle? Must have been a real piece of pecan pie, that one. And I hate pecans! What was her name?"

"I don't know if I'm allowed to say..." I said. "Wait, how do you know the client is a 'she'?"

"I didn't." She said, and I facehoofed. Loudly, based on the looks I got.

"Come on, a simple name won't hurt anyone. It's only a little trivia for a bored young lady." I could practically hear her grinning on the other end of the line. There was a crack in the dam and soon she was going to have the whole river to drink for herself. Thankfully, I already cried out an entire river; she'd have to scrape the mud at the bottom to get anything out of me.

"Look, I'll tell you about it when I'm in town, how does that sound?"

"Oh, fine. I'll wait." Her disappointment was tangible, but she immediately perked up again. "Where are you staying? Do you still have that tiny horseshoe box of a rowhouse on Orion Avenue?"

"Actually, that's kind of the reason why I called," I said, scratching the back of my head. Asking for favors always feels so wrong. "Do you think I could stay with you in Canterlot for a little while? I've been renting out my old place to this darling little unicorn mare with the sweetest singing voice, and I couldn't bear to kick her out on such short notice, and-"

"Wait, you want to come stay at my place? Really?"

"Yeah? Why do you sound so surprised?" I asked.

"Nobody ever wants to spend time with me at home, for some reason. I have no idea why," she said. "Oh, but how great is this? We'll have so much to talk about, and you'll have so much to tell me..."

It was going to be a long few weeks.

Apart from some disdainful sneers from the staff members, I was allowed to leave Baltimare Penitentiary without any additional fuss. The warden signed off all my papers and I did my best to keep my head low so that Pumpkin wouldn't get the urge to knock it off my shoulders. Most of the commotion of the breakout had resolved while I was asleep, so the only thing left to do was a mountain of paperwork. Thank Celestia, there were no injuries besides residual headaches, bellyaches, and my entire sense of self-confidence. I overheard some ponies saying only a small hoofful of prisoners had actually gotten away and were currently being tracked down by the police. No genuinely threatening individual was kept in any prison outside of Tartarus itself, but there was undoubtedly going to be some mischief in town for the next few day. Or weeks. Months?

There was just the matter of going home to pack my luggage. And tend to the garden. And maybe a short cry in the shower. Or right now in the halls. Yeah, it was happening already. Time to go.

Nopony bothered me as I exited through the front doors. The sun hadn't started peeking up from over the horizon, but the sky had begun shifting from black to a mystical shade of dark blue. Upon exiting the threshold of the front steps, I was hit with a wall of fresh winter cold that I had forgotten about, and drew in my wings to keep warm. Nopony was outside. The parking lot still had a thin layer of snow that was mostly brown mush. The environmental simulator enchantments in the facility don't include the low temperatures of winter, nor any inclement precipitation, for practical reasons.

It's always springtime in jail.

Sniffing, I took some time to watch little fog clouds of my breath fade into oblivion. The stars above were fading away into the endless swath of icy blue. My nose was going numb from the cold, but I wanted to see a little bit of Celestia's orange sunlight before I made the flight home. I couldn't remember the last time I was awake at such an early hour. It was like a whole different world, again...

"Lily!"

Snapped out of my trance, I looked back at the prison entrance, where a wild orange blur was barreling towards me. Instinctively, I covered my face, bracing for impact.

Skidding to a halt, I swear Pumpkin's horseshoes left burn marks on the asphalt. It also splashed me all over with a wash of muddy snow-sludge. Judging by her concerned expression, it wasn't done out of malice. She might have a temper, but there wasn't a mean fiber in her being.

"Sorry about that, sugarcube." She said, taking a hoofkerchief out of her saddlebags, handing to me. "Warden said you'd left already, but I know you."

"What do you mean?" I said, wiping down my face and wings.

"I know you wouldn't leave until you got to finish saying your sorries, and I was still all burnt up something fierce when the warden wrangled you off and a half-dozen officers rushed me with all their after-action reports." She stopped suddenly, as if surprised by what she said.

"What's wro-" I started to ask, before being sprayed with spit and mucus.

"Achoo! Hah. Whoops. Sorry 'bout that. Cold and I get along like changelings and rock farmers," she said, handing me another hoofkerchief, which I took graciously. It was a good excuse to wipe the tears away.

"Am I that predictable?" I asked.

"Nah, only with this kind of thing." She straightened out her uniform. There were bags under her eyes and her hair was looking wild, but her face was calm. Those zebra meditation lessons she started attending were making an impact. Either that or she got all the rage out of his system on a poor table already.

"I hardly know what goes on in that funny head o'yours, but I do know you're all about turning wrongs into rights," she gave me a little nudge, "so go on then, Lily. Say sorry so I can forgive you, so you can get on home and tuck yourself in before your trip."

"Okay..." I twisted my hoof around in the snow, feeling a tingle from my cutie marks.

"Sergeant Smash, I apologize for the mistakes I've made. It was dumb to neglect basic protocol when dealing with potential dangers, even if I thought I was doing the right thing. I let my personal opinions influence my actions in ways that hurt others, and that's not okay. I've created a lot of extra work for you and I'm being sent away without a chance to help fix this or help you in any way." I paused to breathe.

"Will you forgive me, sergeant?"

She sighed, smiling tiredly. "Course I do, sugarcube. Just try and make sure you don't let your good nature get you hurt, y'hear?" She scratched the back of her head. "Besides, I'm sorry too, for being so cross with you. The warden calls it 'unprofessional,' but I know what she means. I might disagree with you about how you handle things, but that ain't no reason to be shouting your ears off. We're on the same side anyhow."

At that, my cutie marks radiated a kind of warmth, as a brilliant sensation flooded through my entire being. Apparently, it's a unique sensation caused by my talent. It isn't pleasure, nor is it pain. It's not even truly physical. It was a feeling as though everything in the world was perfect, for a single, fleeting moment.

"I forgive you, Pumpkin."

"Great," she said, "oh, and don't let nopony hear you calling me Pumpkin, neither. I mean it!"

Leaving Baltimare was blessedly uneventful, up until the train ride. I have a habit of packing light, and the magically-enhanced fertilizer would ensure all the flowers in my garden would stay healthy for about a month or two, even in the biting Baltimare winter. Most of them, that is. Spring was coming around the corner anyway.

D.E.F.E.R. gets most of its funding straight from the authority of the princesses themselves, which meant any rehabilitator in need of rapid transportation could easily find themselves in the first-class cabin of an express train. It didn't feel right, to be spending so lavishly on a pony who was basically being sent to a glorified detention. Normally, I would've accepted the economy-class seating, but the privacy of a personal room felt somewhat desirable in light of recent events. I spent most of the ride staring out the window at the rapidly passing landscape. Endless fields of white stretched out for miles, ending in the muted silhouettes of far-off mountains.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is-" I said, turning to my side.

It was Leap Year, sitting right next to me. My head hit the ceiling.

"Whoa there! I'm not that ugly, am I?" She said, as I tumbled back to the ground, rattled for one too many times in one day.

"How- what- you- huh?" I sputtered, as tiny doves orbited around my head. I shut my eyes tight, shaking my head.

"Um, you all right there?" She asked, with real concern in her voice.

"Yes, I'm okay. I'm going to open my eyes and you're going to be gone, or you're going to be somepony else and this was a big misunderstanding." I said, not sure which option would be better.

I opened my eyes to a yellow unicorn making a ridiculous, teasing face. Shimmering blue eyes, blinding white mane, obnoxious yellow coat. Terror was momentarily put on hold as my eyes trained in on the infernal trinket dangling around her neck: a plump, multicolored gemstone wrapped in what looked like twisting branches made of pure gold. It was exactly as I had remembered it about eight years ago.

"W-what are you doing here?" I said. "I'm not asleep! At least, I think..."

"Quit trembling, Lily. It's making me uncomfortable," she said. "Again, I'm not really here. You aren't asleep though, just crazy in the head."

Somehow, that was comforting. "Okay, less panicked now." I exhaled deeply. Very deeply. "What's going on? You've been showing up in my dreams more and more, and now you're even bothering me while I'm awake?"

"Hey, I'm not really in control of this. Although, I do enjoy visiting you in particular. It's always such a laugh," she sneered.

"So you're not a fragment of my imagination?"

"Like I said before, it's complicated. Besides, why would you believe anything I say?" she said.

"Somepony recently told me I'm naive. I'm sure they're right."

"You believe that because you're not stupid. You see the world as it is, as much as you want to see it in the best possible light." Leap Year said, in a strangely soft tone. "There's a fine line to be found there. I don't have the subtlety to know where it is though."

There was a knock at the cabin door that made my mane stand on end. The door opened, as an attendant pushed in a cart laden with dozens of snacks and goodies. "Excuse me, miss, would you care for any refreshments?"

"Yeah! Can I get a tray of pecan cookies, a jar of some peppermint sticks, and a half-dozen chocolate glazed doughnuts?" Leap Year said. "Oh, and a slice of that carrot cake, too. You can put it on her tab."

I winced at the magnitude of the order, only to realize the train attendant waiting patiently as I spaced out.

Coughing, I addressed the attendant. "Sorry. One piece of carrot cake, please," I said, as Leap Year feigned dismay. The cart of treats probably smelled delicious, but there was still a hint of bodily decomposition in my sinuses that made it hard to think of eating much.

I put the cake on the windowsill as the attendant left the two of us alone in the compartment again. Leap Year immediately leapt up to snatch the dessert, only for her arm to phase through it as though it wasn't there. It was my turn to giggle at someone else's expense.

"You've got no idea just how much time-travel makes you crave sweets, you heartless filly."

"Yes I do. I don't even plan on eating this." I said, resting my head on the windowsill.

"How could you taunt me like this? It's been over a century since I last ate!"

What a drama queen. "You don't even exist, except to creep me out and make me think I'm crazy."

"Oh, but I do exist!" She said. "That's part of the reason why our paths seem to be crossing more so than usual. Surely, you haven't forgotten our upcoming date." She made an effort to look charming. Or I imagined her looking charming. Hmm.

"Leap day, huh?" I said, abruptly shifting my attention back to the window outside. Not too far off, the fantastic city of Canterlot sat on its perch, hanging off the side of a great mountain. It had been a while, hadn't it? Something about the royal capital seemed so timeless. While the rest of the world surged ahead in technology and modernized its appearance more and more every year, Canterlot always felt like Canterlot. Spires and castles. Old fashioned. Classic. Outdated, even. Like it didn't belong in this world at all.

"The infamous Februmarey twenty-ninth!" Leap Year proclaimed, procuring a scroll from underneath her robe. "Why the princesses insist on including leap years and days in the official Equestrian calendar has been a source of mystery to astronomers for centuries, though it could probably be passed off as a work of royal Alicorn whimsy," she read aloud.

Fun fact, it's also my birthday.

"On that day, I should be zapping back into the time stream. Ooh, it's only a couple more weeks! Hard to believe it's been eight years since our last meeting, since its only been a few minutes in my subjective time." She smirked, and I felt something ignite somewhere deep inside my gut. "You will bring me a cake to celebrate our reunion, won't you, Lily?"

"Like Tartarus I will!" I spat. "I'll have members of the royal guard monitoring your re-entry, and you'll be thrown in a pit until you tell me how to get back!" Fuming, I couldn't help but think I was spending too much time around Pumpkin Smash. Anger was usually something I saw other ponies experience, not something to experience myself. It felt terrible, but also terribly good.

The train lurched and the window shot open, the sound of rushing wind pouring into the cabin, as Leap Year laughed. "That's not how it works, unfortunately. Canterlot would never authorize a mission like that because I'd just bring those guards with me in my next leap. You'd have even more explaining to do to those families facing sudden loss."

My blood went from lava to ice in an instant. Even if this was an elaborate hallucination, I couldn't take that as an empty threat. I could never let anyone else risk going through... that. The rattling of wheels on train tracks started to grow into a busy clamor. Strange, considering the private chambers are usually given extra soundproofing.

"Besides, even if you do toss me in a pit, that won't solve the real problem you have here." Leap Year's voice projected over the noise clear as day. "You have no idea what to do with me."

"I'd feel a lot better, at least." I panted, feeling suddenly feverish. The ambient noise was so loud that I almost had to cover my ears. It was the endless sound of metal on metal. A constant rhythm. Click click click.

"You would not feel better!" She shouted. "You can't get me out of your head!"

It was so quiet, all I could hear was my heartbeat.

It sounded like a ticking clock.

The whole train plunged into darkness, and I saw nothing, save for a bright yellow ghost wreathed in a sapphire-blue nebula. When she spoke, the words came not from a mouth, but from invisible machines that echoed off of walls that weren't there.

"After what I've done to you, how could you forgive me? You can't, but you have to. You won't, but you will." She said.

I tried to speak out, but my throat and lungs were filled with some kind of sand that made me wheeze and choke.

"You had better make up your mind before long. Time is running out."

I opened up my mouth to speak, but only sand poured out, swirling away into the endless void.