Eyes of the Accused

It wasn’t long after his first battle to defend Cloudsdale Ace had gotten himself some furniture and made himself a nice home in Cloudsdale and he could now understand why Rainbow Dash preferred to live in a cloud home rather than on the ground in a regular house.

It was so much more comfortable waking up in the morning and walk on soft clouds, it was entirely different than the wooden floor he was used to.

Only days later she had been there, waiting for him as he was on his way to get some practice in fighting, she reminded Ace of his favorite bedtime story his mother used to tell him.

Ace couldn’t remember what it was called but he knew that it was about a mare who lived alone in the big city and meet a stallion she loved endlessly but when he suddenly disappeared she felt lonely and had to go back to her family again until the day when he shows up again and they moved away.

She looked just like the mare in the story was described.

Light gold colored coat with a white mane and tail, she wasn’t older than him either and Ace thought it was a dream but he knew he was well awake when she spoke to him. Ace couldn’t believe his ears when he heard that voice.

Ace felt as if an angel was talking to him, she invited him to have some muffins with her.

Her name was Cloudmane and not long after they meet she told him that she had seen him in Ponyville but she felt like the time wasn’t right yet and as the hours passed by at the speed of minutes she had told him how she had seen him in Ponyville bringing home groceries and some of her past.

Ace had also told her about his past.

Being the only pegasus in a village of earth ponies, the decision he had make leaving for Ponyville and what had been chasing him like a ghost.

The accident in the weather factory and he finished his stores by telling her how he had been feeling about the recent events.

Getting captured and locked away by those he had once called friends.

Cloudmane noticed a tear from Ace eye as she looked at him as he turned his head away in an attempt to hide it.

“I think you should go back to your uncle, tell him that you are feeling right now.” Ace looked back at her.

“Maybe you are right.” and he went back to his home and left everything he didn’t need. Ace walked towards his shadowbolt suit and he decided to use it,

Didn’t take long for him to put it on and he grabbed his goggles leaving for Ponyville passing Cloudmane on his way and she seemed to know where he was going but to Ace it felt like she wished him good luck.

Ace went airborne and once he was clear of any buildings he used his ability for travel as he knew that he had to do this.

Ace stopped on a cloud not far away from Ponyville to make sure the suit hadn’t been ripped during the flight. Ace felt relieved as he noticed that it was just like when he left Cloudsdale.

“seems like it won’t be a problem after all” Ace told himself with a smile before looking down at the building he was going for but couldn’t help noticing.

Shadowbolts walking on the streets and no pony seemed to have anything against them and not long after Ace noticed the fact that no pony in Ponyville cared about the shadowbolts walking around there among them in their suits and all.

Most of them wasn’t wearing the goggles but he wouldn’t remove them for any reason.

He jumped off the cloud and began his glide flight down to the street and as he landed he began walking down the street he had walked down when he first arrived.

He noticed that nothing had really changed and he could see as Twilight and her friends where at Sugarcube corner eating cupcakes but Rainbow Dash wasn’t there.

“odd, I didn’t think they would be gathering and eating cupcakes without Rainbow Dash, well not really my problem right now.”

Ace thought to himself before he heard Twilight.

“It’s a shame Rainbow Dash couldn’t join us here today” with Pinkie Pie responding by saying “I heard she joined the wonderbolts to retake Cloudsdale...” Ace stopped for a moment, he had just passed Sugarcube corner and was out of sight for Twilight and her friends unless one of them went outside. “Wonderbolts?!” he thought to himself.

”I sure hope she wasn’t captured,” Ace thought to himself for a second but soon kept thinking whether she should hope Rainbow was captured or not as he kept walking down the street and soon he reached the building.

This was it, where his uncle lived. Ace knocked the door but nothing was heard from the inside and when Ace knocked again he didn’t get any response.

“He isn’t home.” Ace heard Twilight telling him, she was standing a bit behind him,

“he left a few days ago, he said it to painful for him to stay. What would a shadowbolt want with him anyway” Ace heard Twilight continue he turned around to face her.

“Perhaps you should watch your words Unicorn.” Ace said and gave her a glare of hostility though the goggles without removing them but it wasn’t needed as Twilight took a step back.

Ace noticed that Rarity looked at him with a surprised look obviously wondering what could have triggered such hostility towards her friend.

Ace had an idea where his uncle would go and left Ponyville and he jumped in the air and began the flight towards his old home, he hadn’t been there since he needed to hide and it would be logical if that’s where his uncle went.

Ace had been flying a long while before he arrived and soon he knocked the door and soon his uncle opened the door.

“what are you business here shadowbolt?” he asked with a hostile voice.

Ace looked at his uncle, “looking for you.”

Ace lifted his goggles and  his uncle looked back at him in tears, “Why Ace? WHY?”, “Because you never came to visit me” Ace replied to his uncle.

“I want to know why you never showed up” Ace continued as his uncle moved aside for Ace to enter.

“They told me you had gone insane and it was too dangerous to keep chasing you, but you seem to have became the last thing you should have became.” his uncle told him before he went and opened a closet that was always kept locked for some reason.

Now Ace knew why it was always kept closed, it had an old torn and bloodstained shadowbolt suit hanging inside, around there was pictures of the brothers.

“it was before you where born Ace, he was part of a raid against Canterlot, his objective was to assassinate Princess Celestia but when they got there the defence was too strong and he died when a member of the royal guard grabbed him and pushed him through a window and he fell, his wings where wounded in the earlier fighting so he couldn’t fly and he hit the ground, he could have been saved but was left to bleed to death.”

Ace uncle was now shedding tears from the memories, “I told myself to never let any pony I could stop from becoming a shadowbolt.”

Ace walked up to his uncle, “sorry about your brother, but they will pay for what they did to him, I will slay them for it” and soon he left asking his uncle to tell his mother.

Ace walked outside after he had made sure to pull down the goggles, but he didn’t leave, he wanted to make sure that his uncle would tell his mother, he could hear as his mother was sad after hearing what had happened but soon she raised her head and stated, “so he became a shadowbolt after all, may the sun and the moon watch over him and judge him fairly for his actions.”

Ace hated to make his family live through this but to him, hearing about his uncle’s brother but he knew, he knew that they would pay dearly for this, he would leave no survivors not after what they had caused to his family.

Ace made his way back to Cloudsdale as he had followed Cloudmane’s advice in visiting his uncle and also learned something he had really rather not known, but now he knew and he decided to make all those guards pay with their own blood, but it was nothing compared to what he would do to Princess Celestia, he would give them a quick death but he would torture the Princess, give her a painful bleed out and he wouldn’t regret any of it.

Ace arrived back to his home and he noticed, Cloudmane who had been waiting for him, “so, how did he react to seeing you?” she asked.

Ace looked into her beautiful pink eyes, “He was happy to see me and told me something I had rather not known.” Ace told her with sadness in his voice.

“What did he tell you?” she asked with a questioning voice.

“How his brother used to be a shadowbolt like me but got killed and even though they could save him they let him bleed to death.” Ace told her as he tried to hide his sorrow. “so that’s why you are this way. your family have suffered from that haven’t they?” Cloudmane aked him.

“No, it was before my birth, but when my uncle opened that closet which was always locked when I grew up I began feeling an even stronger hatred towards Celestia and her guards. They refused to save a pony they could have saved.” Ace replied and Cloudmane could feel the sorrow around him.

“You need to get some rest, your day have been heavy and I don’t think you should stay awake with all this on your mind.” she told him and joined him as he started to walk towards where he lived nowadays and once they got there Ace looked at her.

“Do get some sleep, you need it more than ever, I can tell by the feeling I got after hearing about what you’ve heard today.” Cloudmane told him before he walked inside.

Ace didn’t feel like sleeping but he still knew that the mare was right, he had to get some rest.

Ace tried to find the voice in his head but he heard nothing until the moment when he had fallen asleep and in his dream he could see his uncle’s brother in shadowbolt suit but it was the voice in his head who spoke.

“you have gotten yourself onto a path where I can’t help you, you are on your own but you should know this, I never existed in your head you have always been alone and I am nothing but an illusion in your own head.” and Ace could see the shadowbolt fade away into the never ending darkness around him.

Ace woke up in fear. It was only minutes from when he had decided to get some sleep but instead he was woken up by his own nightmare, he kept telling himself quitely,

“im not insane, im not insane, im not insane.” for nearly an hour. Ace wouldn’t allow himself to fall into madness.

Not now when he felt like he had devastated all probabilities of Twilight and her friends ever accepting him as a friend again. Ace came thinking of that he has to accept what he is, an outcast, the black sheep and his mind began trying to handle what seemed like an endless chaos of thoughts and feelings.

“Twilight and her friends captured me to lock me away because they looked at me like some pony that was a threat, If she want a threat I will gladly be that threat.” and Ace could slowly feel himself falling asleep again and he hoped he wouldn’t have more nightmares tonight.

He felt confused in this new chaos, had he been alone all the time even when the voice in his head was there, maybe it just did it’s best to make him miserable. Could he possibly trust Cloudmane?

She hadn’t told him anything about her family yet, all he knew about her was that she had lived in Cloudsdale most of her life and she was good at reading faces and reactions.