The New Recruit

Two weeks later, the investigation was closed. Ace was brought back up to the school, and though he wasn't recovered enough to finish his end-of-term exams or participate in training yet, he was allowed to attend lectures and watch the other students perform.

Due to taking three weeks of an eight-week term off and away from practising, the students were given little choice but to pull double classes. They were all pissed off about that, except for Ace. He didn't have time to be pissed off, as aside from double classes, he also had extra tutoring courses in First Aid and Hoof-to-Hoof Combat. He hadn't requested the combat class, but Spitfire had insisted, wanting him to be able to defend himself if he needed to. He was finding it difficult to find time to sleep.

Blitz was gone. Thirteen years for criminal defacement, five years for making a false report to the Cloudsdale Mirror, seven more years for attempted negligent homicide, and more than twenty combined counts of obstruction of justice and perjury would keep him locked up for effectively the rest of his life, though he was allowed to apply for parole when he was seventy-eight. In any case, he would never be a Wonderbolt, and it was unlikely that he would ever be joining the weather factory when he was released. There was no sense in keeping his status as a student here.

Likewise, Eight Ball was gone. Drug trafficking was something Spitfire took pretty seriously, and with his clients all selling him out, Spitfire now had enough evidence to be rid of him. Ace had taken the news in stride, and had even made a joke about it; "As a gambler, myself, I should have known that we wouldn't be friends. Aces and Eights are a bad combo." She didn't know what that meant, but it didn't matter. He'd be in the dungeons for longer than his life expectancy.

Poinsettia, however, was still around. She'd broken some academy rules, but no laws. The same could be said of Golden Pomade. They would be receiving punishments of their own, and Spitfire would see to that, but they would be related exclusively to the academy, and they would not be barred from attending classes.

Other than that, everything was back to normal. Other students still treated Ace with disdain. There was some amount of holding back, as they pitied him for his injuries, and some amount of pushing, as he was seen as being the reason they were assigned double classes, but they seemed to cancel each other out. No matter, though. Ace was used to it.

He was eating lunch one day, alone, when he remembered what happened. Well, not remembered, but managed to piece it together. The cafeteria was filled with ponies, there were guards all over, Some Wonderbolts were here... He knew he was safe. And yet, there was privacy in the din, if he could keep his voice down.

Finishing his lunch, he changed tables, sitting across from the pony that had been glaring at him from across the room. "What do you want?" he growled as Ace sat down.

"I want to forgive you."

"I'm not apologising."

"I don't expect you to. You probably think Celestia and Luna were wrong."

"Excuse me?"

Ace leaned forward. "Your sister, right?"

He glared at Ace again. It was the same glare that he'd given when Eight Ball had threatened him on his first day back at the academy. It was the same glare his mother had given in the conference room when Celestia had given her ruling. "You have no right to talk about her."

"Easy, now," warned Ace. "This is a public place. Lots of ponies can see what's going on, and there are a lot of guards present." He took a deep breath. "I know it was you that beat me up."

The other stallion sighed. "When did you remember?"

"Oh, that memory never came back. But thanks for confirming it."

"So you're going to run to your marefriend, now? Tell Spitfire I was being mean and have me kicked out?"

Ace shook his head. "No. No, I'm going to sit on this information. Enough ponies have been hurt by this event, and if I say anything, it's just going to hurt the two of us further. You'll be charged with assault, I'll be branded as a coward and a tattletale... I'd be doing the right thing, turning you in, of course. Criminal actions deserve to be punished, but I think I'm done watching ponies be hurt on my behalf."

"You expect me to believe that you're just going to keep quiet about this?"

"No. I don't expect you to believe anything. That's on you. I'm telling you that I'm not going to say anything, as long as I have no reason to change my mind about it."

"So, it's blackmail, then?"

"Not quite. The way I see it, we have three options. Option one, we forget about the whole thing. We go our separate but parallel ways and never speak of this again. No one is hurt, no one takes a hit. Option two, you tell Spitfire yourself and take on the punishment for yourself. In doing so, I will be unable to hold it over you, giving you a prison sentence for assault and a discharge for bad conduct, but you take away any power you perceive me to hold over you. Or option three, you can hit me again, and I'll be less forgiving. I like option one. No more fighting, no more injuries, no more problems. I came here to ask which direction you wanted to go."

The stallion just stared at him, flicking his bread roll in his hoof.

"You don't have to tell me now. Take your time. In fact, you don't have to tell me at all. If you never want to see me again, I'm leaving the room now, and if you spot me in the future, you have the option of walking away at your leisure. Or you can hit me, or you can talk to Spitfire. We don't have to be friends, but I'd like to not be foes." Ace stood up and leaned over the table. "It's your decision to make, and I won't stand in the way of you making it."

As he walked away, Ace put it out of his mind. It was true that he was covering up an assault, but knowing what it was like to be blamed for putting the rest of the students in a position where they have to take twice as many classes as usual, he wouldn't dream of forcing that on somepony else. Besides, he was the victim. If he foisted it on somepony else, that would make him the aggressor, and it would just make somepony else the victim. And that wasn't what Ace wanted.