The Wizard's Request

Banana hissed angrily. "Lies. All lies, meant to keep chaos repressed. Discord may not be a benevolent god, but He's far from malicious. The Second Reign of Discord, though short, was the best thing to happen to Equestria in a long time! No more harmony to worry about, no more being forced into orderly, boring predictability! The world! Made! Sense!" She was yelling by the end, not really caring who else heard at that point, her horn sparking with multicolored energy.

By this point, Red Cross is starting to get irritated. With an even tone that contained a hint of anger, he clarified, "I never said he he was malicious. Honestly, I don't care if he is, or if he didn't realize the repercussions of his actions Gesturing at his flank, Cross' voice steadily rose in pitch. "Do you see my cutie mark here? It's not just for show, I'm a nurse. I work at Canterlot General. Even now, we get the occasional pony who has a relapse. There's even a couple who are on suicide watch while they go through daily psychological therapy sessions. Don't you DARE tell me that this is "lies, all lies", because I've seen it firsthoof, and by Celestia, I will not let you declare that all those poor souls have been faking it." By this point, Red Cross' face looked both red and cross.

"Tchah," she scoffed. "Believe what you will. Lord Discord's power cannot be responsible for this. Perhaps some ponies were affected adversely by the flowing chaos, that only makes sense, it is chaos after all. But the sort of widespread devastation you claim is Discord's fault can't be. Chaos is not so one-sided as that." Still, she didn't seem as sure of herself as she had been previously. There were niggling doubts in her mind. Chaos was random by nature, but that did mean that one-sided results were more than possible. Could it be that Discord had not been as kind to Equestria as He had been to her?

Having taken a deep breath, Cross responded. "You're right, chaos isn't one-sided. All those events that push us out of our daily routine, our comfort zone, whether it be the unexpected death of a loved one, or missing a train and making a new friend while you waited for the next one, all these experiences form the sum of who we are. Without chaos, life is stagnant. The problem with Discord is that he had either ill-will or a lack of forethought when he introduced his brand of chaos. Even discarding the equine element, let's take the chocolate rain as an example. I think most of us can agree that chocolate milk is tasty. No harm, no foul, right? Wrong. That's not exactly healthy for the wildlife and plants, and if the Elements of Harmony hadn't reverted all of Discord's effects on our world, what do you think would have happened to the puddles of milk that would have accumulated? The milk would have curdled, creating a large health hazard and a horrible stench besides."

Darn it, he was making too much sense! "This conversation is over," she replied curtly. "I will not let you slander Discord's good name like this." With that, she turned her back to Red Cross petulantly, although she had to admit, short of outright attacking him, she couldn't stop him from talking. And she didn't want to attack him.

The thought was odd. What had he done for her, this Red Cross? He had healed her in the tower, true, but that was probably just because he recognized that, unlike himself, she had both the power and the will to fight, to do whatever it took to be walking away at the end. He had done nothing for her that should make her unwilling to fight him. And yet she was.

How puzzling.

With a strong exhale, Cross finished up. "Honestly? Unless Discord is actively malicious, I wouldn't mind seeing him freed. The long-term implications of the imprisonment of something embodying chaos without the opposite also sealed away is rather worrying. However, unless it could be verified with absolute certainty that Discord would limit himself to the kind of chaos that helps foster life, rather than break it down, I could never support such a venture."

Visibly loosening up, Cross got into different mindset as he asked, "I know you're upset at me, but I would ask you to come as close as you can over here, so I can take a look at your injuries. It'll be harder, since I'd have to work by sight, but better safe than sorry."

She was still mad at him, but his conceding, even if just a little bit, loosened her pride enough that she did as he asked. She was clearly still angry, but not enough to be overly stupid about it. And she did ache.

Cross examined Banana Nut Sundae, getting as close as he could. He asked her to move into a different position once or twice, and got a decent idea of his condition. [24 total, 8 on roll, +7 for Heal, +5 for cutie mark, +5 for Freaky Knowledge, +1 for AoAT, -2 for distance.]

Finishing his observation, Cross said "You've got a somewhat deep cut on you. We should really get that taken care of, or that'll get infected, and you really don't want a festering wound."

"Fair enough, you're the expert," Banana said stiffly. "Do you need me to do anything?" She didn't mention the loose bar she had noticed; after all, he had said he didn't want to escape anyway, so what would be the point?

"All my medical equipment was in my saddlebags, and it appears that they have been confiscated. We should probably call for the guards; if they wanted us dead they would have simply done so, instead of moving us to this cell."

"You can if you like," growled Banana, "but I refuse to speak to my captors. Chaos was never meant to be confined."

Nodding in agreement, Cross turned towards the bars and yelled "Guards! Can we please get some bandages and disinfectant?"

Silence answered the pony's words for a long moment... But after several minutes stretched on in silence there was the clatter of armor as a slit cut the top of the door - an eye looking in on them.

"Yer thinkin on askin for favors after what ye did?"

Shaking his head, Cross responded: "No, I'm not asking for a favor. If you were going to kill us without trial or warning, as Calcifer Sunspark attempted to do so, we would not be here. Ergo, we are currently being held prisoner, most likely awaiting trial or interrogation, and we have the rights of such. My name is Red Cross, I'm a nurse at Canterlot General. My ID should be in my saddlebags, which I presume you are in possession of. My... associate, for lack of a better term, is Banana Nut Sundae. She has a cut that is deep enough to carry a risk of infection, and should be treated as soon as possible. As far as I can tell, under these conditions, the rest can be left to heal naturally."

"Ye talk too much." He snapped. "Fine, ye'll get yer wraps an' gunk."

A few minutes later, a packet of bandages were tossed through the slot along with a half-empty tin of disinfecting ointment.

Turning towards his cellmate, Cross began to give instructions. "Ok, Banana, since I don't have a horn, and these collars won't allow me to get close enough to bandage you myself, so just do as I say, alright?" He then began to give precise and detailed, yet easy-to-understand instructions on how to properly treat the wound [25, 7 on roll, 7 in Heal, +5 from cutie mark, +5 from Freaky Knowledge, +1 from AoAT. Dan has already confirmed that this passes the assist check, so go ahead and add +4 to your Heal check].

Banana began to attempt to wrap her wounds, although the dark made it a little difficult to see what she was doing. [Total 14; 4 rolled, 6 Heal, 4 from Red Cross's assist]

As she bandaged her wounds, she called, as politely as she knew how, to the guard, "I hope you remember that we have a right to a lawyer. If a Mr. Phoenix Wright is available, I'd prefer him." [Total 31; 16 rolled, 15 Persuasion due to Cutie Mark]

Wincing a little at the sloppy application of the medical supplies, Cross remarked on Banana's comment. "Oh, I've heard of him! I have NO idea how a phoenix is able to practice law, maybe he's affected by a spell or something, but I've heard he's an ace attorney."

Banana grinned. "Indeed, he's the best defence attorney I know of. I've heard rumors that he's not actually a phoenix, though, which might explain much."

[XD]

[Good thinking, good roll. Excellent combination.]

"Mrgrgfhpphh..." He grumbled, "Only ones who read the laws are the ones meanin' to break em. Figures."

He trotted off, "Ye'll get it."

"Thanks," she called after him. Then, once she was sure he was gone...

"Now, to take a look at this..." Banana turned her attention to the loose bar and began to use magic to carefully probe it, to test how easily it might be removed. [It's Witchraft 19; 10 rolled, 9 Arcana (trained)]

Noticing where Banana's attention went to, Cross asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I noticed a loose bar there," she said. "You may want to stay here, but I don't, and if I need a quick getaway, this is the most promising option."

With a look of minor disbelief, Cross just shook his head and said "Of course I don't want to stay here. But we're being treated with due process, and if we escape, we validate their assumptions about us. Why would innocent ponies break out of jail, after all? Besides, the evidence is in our favor. We were defending ourselves, and the guards should have the letter he sent to me and presumably you, as well as what I assume the prophecy Calcifer kept rambling on about."

With a sigh, he continued on. "Anyways, I don't know about you, but I can't leave the patients. Besides..." At this point, Cross mumbled something to himself.

[Roll a Perception check, please.]