Mental Trigger

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.