I don't know why I did it. Something inside of me, I... I just snapped. I couldn't control myself. My friend, he was bickering with somepony. A grey manned earth pony, with a coat matching the color of charcoal. I was stood by my friends side, keeping quiet, afraid to intervene. That was until the unnamed earth pony shoved my childhood friend backwards, causing him to fall to his haunches. The moment that damn earth pony laid his hoof on my friend, I just stopped thinking, and I acted. I saw red, time slowed, and then... I found myself thrusting a bright blue shard of solid magic through the unfortunate earth pony... thus ending his life.
I killed that thug... I killed him! I was in shock, I never meant for it to be like this. It was never my intention to hurt anypony. I knew what was coming next, I could already hear the panicked screams of the townsfolk who had witnessed this calling the guards to restrain me. And so I sat down on my haunches next to the lifeless corpse of the earth pony, my eyes clamped shut, fighting back the tears that were beginning to emerge. I could hear my friend shouting my name, but I paid him no mind, I couldn't focus.
Barely seconds after the incident, the screams of the townsfolk died down, and the faint metallic clanging of the Day Guards armor reached my ears. From what I could hear, there were two guards, one positioned at either side of me. And so I slowly stood, and turned to face the guards in gold. They had their spears aimed at me, their teal eyes fixed upon my shaking figure. The guard to my left spoke, but what came out was disoriented. I tried to speak, but my tongue was heavy in my mouth, and I was struggling to stay upright. My ignorance of what the guard supposedly ordered seemed to anger the guard, as he took at step closer to me, bringing the spear he held in his hoof closer to my body. His mouth was moving rapidly, possibly yelling at me, but I could not tell. A peculiar ringing noise within my head muffled out any outside, causing me to stagger.
Not a minute after he finished 'speaking' to me, darkness started creeping into the corners of my already disoriented vision, I tried to stay upright, but I felt sleepy... so very... sleepy. And so I fell forward. Two golden streaks rushed forwards towards me, and that was the last glimpse of color I saw before I finally succumbed to the darkness.
"I'm... sorry."
________________________________________________________________________________
I awoke to the screeching of rusted iron hinges, and the somewhat distant echoing of hooves against stone. I took note of it, realizing that somepony was slowly making his or her way towards me.
I didn't want to talk, I just couldn't, not that I could remember much anyway, my memory was still a little hazy. So instead of turning to face the approaching figure, I kept my eyes closed and focused on the surface of which I lay upon. It was a soft, rectangular object.
'A mattress? A crude one at that. Not to mention damp...' I thought to myself. 'Oh Celestia, am I in prison?'
A gruff voice answers my question, instructing me to stand up, which was then followed by what sounded like a hoof striking iron bars. I do so with great reluctance, wincing as I stretch my aching joints. Images of rather scary forms of interrogation flashing into my thoughts, I ponder why i would think of such things, before dismissing the thoughts entirely.
'Note to self - Stop listening to those old ponytales Lyra keeps telling you about... her and her hooman nonsense...'
Shaking my head, I glance around my cell. There wasn't much to look at in this cage, the back of the cell consisted of an uneven stone-brick wall, with an occasional patch of bright green moss on the various stone bricks. The floor was slightly more 'well managed', not a patch of moss or cracks to be seen, almost as if the floor was made of polished stone, instead of the same dirty, mossy stone bricks the walls were made of. The sides of my cell contained nothing more than a view of more cells, very much identical to my own.
Call me weird, but I love new places. I was actually enjoying being in this cell, oddly enough, it was a new experience. That is until I found my gaze shifting towards the entrance of my cell. Stood at the entrance of the cell was none other than-
"P-Princess Celestia..." I stammered. My ears flopped towards the sides of my head. My pupils shrinking to mere blue dots. I could barely hide the surprise in my tone. Why, out of all ponies, was she here?
Her magenta eyes gazed upon me, studying me, as if to see if I truly was a threat, before speaking.
"What is your name?" She questioned.
I could detect just a hint of anger, and disgust in her voice.
"My n-ame... is Hollow." I replied. Obviously scared, but at this point, I couldn't care less. The Princess of the sun herself was here to question me.
"Hollow? Such an odd name. Tell me, who're your parents?" She replied, the anger in her voice no longer apparent.
'Why is she asking me these questions?'
"Forgive m-me Princess, but my family is not a subject I like to speak about." I responded, my voice laced with sadness and a hint of anger.
Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow at this, but remained silent.
"... Hollow, do you know why you are here?" Princess Celestia questioned.
I remained quiet, suppressing the urge to burst out into panic.
"Well?" The Princess continued.
"Y-yes." I confirmed. A single tear trickling down my cheek.
The Princess hmm'd at this, before gesturing for me to continue.
"I... murdered somepony, and I am here to suffer the consequences. " I couldn't hold it anymore, I started sobbing, tears forming below my eyes. I was panicking, yet again. Unable to control my emotions.
The Princess seemed shocked, if not surprised that I would break down like this. Her expression showed that she was no longer angry, but slightly worried for me.
"Hollow. Follow me." She said, before gesturing for a guard to follow.
"We have much to discuss."
I was led through what seemed to be the hallways of the Canterlot Castle, which were surprisingly empty. Celestia led at point, whilst a rather scary Day Guard marched behind me, watching my every move. I couldn't blame him really; I was a prisoner being led to some unknown location by the Princess herself. I could practically feel his gaze burning into the back of my head, which is not a nice feeling. So I trotted onwards, our hoofsteps echoing throughout the empty corridors. The whole time I found myself trying desperately to keep as far away from the Princess as possible without seeming like I’m trying to slip away and make a hopeful escape. Which wasn't an easy task, considering that the guard would shove me forward every time i’d try to slow down, Mind you, I wasn't trying to slow down on purpose, it was all subconscious. I knew the Princess wanted answers, and I knew that she was going to resume questioning me when the time came. And that is what I was afraid of.
I glanced downwards, staring at the white marble tiles reflecting my image. I was not in the best shape I have to admit. My eyes were bloodshot, my navy blue mane in a mess... hey, I looked like some madpony. Which... was not a good thing, I wanted to be seen as innocent and trustworthy as possible, not like some somepony mentally ill. Not that changing my appearance would make much of a difference... after all, I did murder somepony. But it was all worth it, right? Every second I spend in here. It's all worth it... all worth my friend’s life...
...
I must've stopped walking; because a sudden jolt of pain erupted from my flank causing me to jump forward instinctively to escape what I presumed was the culprit of the pain I had just been presented to.
"Keep moving, Prisoner." The guard commanded in that deeply intimidating voice of his, spitting out the word 'Prisoner' with apparent disgust.
I obliged without a word, but not before glancing behind at my flank which now had quite a large cut right above the cutie mark. A thick, crimson liquid oozed out of the newly formed wound. It stung like Tartarus, but I wasn't going to complain. It could be a whole lot worse. I took one final, worried glance at the guard before continuing on my way. The wound wasn't deep, but it was large, and dangerously close to my cutie mark.
It took around ten minutes for us to reach our destination, which was the throne room. As Celestia approached the oversized double doors, the pair of unicorn guards stationed at the doors began to open the large doors with magic as their horns were engulfed in matching silver auras.
I take a single fearful look at the guard, who motions with his hoof for me to follow Celestia in. And seeing that I had little choice, I reluctantly followed the Princess in.
The throne room was empty except for Celestia’s throne, and a red carpet down the middle leading up to the throne. The room was eerily silent, the only sounds being the suppressed hoofsteps of mine and the Princess'.
The guard must have stayed outside which made me less nervous, but not much. Now was not the time to relax.
Near the center of the long, crimson carpet Celestia stopped and looked back at me with an expression that made me feel like she was going to enjoy what was in store for me. I gulped, all of my senses telling me to run and to leave this place, but I stood absolutely still. I knew I didn't have that much of a choice and I was going to receive whatever she had in store for me. Not that I could run anyway, this palace was practically swarming with guards...
[POV Change]
After a while Celestia, coughed and as if on some unseen command a servant approached Celestia from behind the throne carrying a pot of tea with two cups of which were placed on a table in the corner of the large throne room.
After it was set down Princess Luna flew into the throne room and landed over near the table. Her mane like that of the night sky looked a bit odd and out of place in the day time but he wasn't worrying about that, he was confused about the fact that my flank had started to stop bleeding from when the guard had cut him with his sword.
Celestia walked over to the table and made herself a cup of tea while Luna went to drink hers, he realized this unusual sight and slowly spoke up
“Uhm... could I just ask what are you doing?”
Celestia looked at him straight in the eyes and said “We are enjoying a cup of tea while we wait.”
Aegis gulped and asked “For what?”
Celestia smiled as she finished her tea and said “You must be kidding. What else would we be waiting for?” he was about to reply but as he opened his mouth to speak a guard burst through the door and yelled out “Princess! We are under attack!”
“But How?” said Luna her face was one of sheer fear and shock, Celestia’s on the other hand was simply full of shock. Neither of them were expecting an attack so out of the blue.
Celestia snapped out of her daze and said to Aegis “I guess your punishment can wait for now, stay here and under no circumstances are you to move outside of this room.”
'I’m not going to stick around here, there is no way I’m going to stick around and get killed.' Aegis thought, but he nodded in response.
He looked at Celestia and she looked like she was aware of Aegis' thoughts, which worried Hollow quite a lot, he didn't know the full power of the Princess, maybe she can read minds?
Luna let out a small cough to catch Celestia's attention, before flying out the room supposedly to gather more guards. Celestia took a deep breath and ran out of the throne room followed by a battalion of day guards.
Aegis waited a few more seconds after the Princess' had departed before slowly trotting towards the exit doors, warily glancing around for possible threats or guards posted to make sure he was not to run off.
As he approached the large doors, they blew open throwing up a cloud of dust and tossing him backwards. He just managed to summon a solid blue shield before the doors hit him, thus throwing him behind the throne.
Whatever blew open the doors must have not seen what had just occurred as he heard hooves slowly echoing around the room, slowly approaching the throne. A feminine voice spoke out up merely seconds after the explosion “I guess the princess’s are not here, they must of ran off... oh well, Canterlot will be ours either way.” And with that the mysterious figure turned around and walked out of the throne room.
Aegis thought to himself 'Canterlot will be ours? Just who are the Princess' dealing with?'
He pondered for a while, standing behind the throne. Before another thought hit him 'How did I summon a shield? Did they not seal up my magic so I couldn't fight back against the guards while they were transporting me?'
He shook his head clearing it of his thoughts. This was his chance to make a hopeful escape, he turned looking for anything to help his escape but he was disappointed. All that was behind him was an open door leading out to a balcony. He couldn't jump, he would die from the fall... there was always the now blasted-to-bits doorway he could exit from, he could wait here for the Princess' to decide what to do with him or he could attempt an escape and hopefully get back to Ponyville. After weighing his options for a good few minutes, Hollow takes a deep breath and slowly makes his way towards the busted hole that was the doorway.
