Princess Celestia sat in her quarters filled with exhaustion over the events of the past few days. She, along with her sister, had executed a pony who had gone behind her back in the wake of unforeseen circumstances. She had given her minister of justice, Instant Justice, an order to find and bring to justice, the organizers behind the Storm King's attack on Canterlot. In her mind, Celestia was going to try and punish those responsible in a legal and ethical manner.
But, that was not to be.
Her minister had betrayed her and she was left with no choice: she had to bypass the trial and execute Instant Justice since he was too dangerous to be put on trial. Now, he was dead, and she wanted to move on and focus on helping her subjects recover from the Storm King's attack on Canterlot.
Then, the sounds of pounding were heard on her door.
"Get your hooves off of me!" barked a gruff voice as the sounds of grunting and struggling were heard. "Princess Celestia! Open up!"
In a calm manner, Celestia got up and walked to the doors of her quarters, opening them to reveal two of her sister's guards restraining Chancellor Neighsay, the head of the Equestria Education Association. Almost immediately, she had a suspicion of why he was here in front of her.
"Let him go," she said to the guards.
"But, your highness…"
"Let him go," she said again and the guards did as they were told, releasing Chancellor Neighsay from their bonds. The angry stallion advanced towards Celestia as she shut the door behind him, growling menacingly. "What can I do for you, Chancellor? I must warn you that if you came to try and…"
"No, Princess Celestia," he interrupted sharply, stamping his foot down. "I've come here on behalf of a pony that you executed for treason."
"Instant Justice? I'm sorry that we had to execute him, but…"
"My brother was trying to avenge this kingdom over what had happened," Neighsay snapped. "Tell me something, Princess Celestia, why would you kill him? I've asked myself this question repeatedly since he was executed. This was a pony who was doing what nopony else had the guts to do and that was to avenge Equestria for what happened in Canterlot!"
As Neighsay spoke, Celestia couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him. But, she was the ruler of Equestria and a pony that had to live by a code to protect Equestria according to fair and honest judgment.
"Tell me something, Princess Celestia," he said. "Princess Luna went behind your back, so why didn't you execute her?"
At that moment, any sympathy that Celestia had for Neighsay went right out the window.
"You watch yourself, Neighsay," she seethed, knowing that Neighsay was crossing personal boundaries. "Leave my sister out of this!"
"Oh, don't tell me what to do! I have a right to say anything I want!"
"No…you…don't! Perhaps you have forgotten the fact that I am the princess and you serve under me! How dare you drag my sister into this conversation when this is between you and me! Your brother flat out murdered creatures without mercy, my sister tried to bring eternal night to Equestria. Even when we were apart, I knew that her actions didn't warrant execution, even though I sent her to the moon!"
Neighsay merely rolled his eyes in disgust at this statement.
"I can tell you right now, Neighsay, that Luna's actions didn't warrant an execution unlike Instant Justice's! I'm sorry we had to execute your brother, but if he hadn't done what he did, then things would have been a lot more different than they came out to be!"
"He did what had to do to avenge Equestria! He had guts unlike you and your fellow princesses! Why else do you think I shut down Princess Twilight's school? Because those 'students' she was trying to bring in were unpredictable and dangerous!"
"But, you assumed that every creature other than ponies is dangerous when there are some who are not dangerous! That's called racism and prejudice, Chancellor Neighsay! Something that I figured out your brother was and what motivated him to commit the crimes that he did commit! At first, I had sympathy for him over the loss of his wife and son, but then he committed the crimes he committed and defied all of Equestria!"
"But, this isn't also about just those Storm Creatures, you know. It's about showing sympathy for a pony who betrayed us all and you kept her alive!"
"Fizzlepop Berrytwist? Even if she led the attack on Canterlot, she didn't deserve to be executed! She deserved another chance and she is going to get that second chance, unlike your brother!"
Neighsay snarled at this and realized that talking to Princess Celestia was like talking to a brick wall. In Celestia's mind, Neighsay was nothing more than a servant who was responsible for accrediting Equestria's schools. But, he did it by his rules, not Celestia's.
"Before I go Princess Celestia," he seethed, walking to the doors. "I want you to know that you not only destroyed my family, but you put an entire nation and kingdom to shame by sparing the life of the instigator and killing the pony who tried to avenge this kingdom! What's more, you killed a pony who was close to me, my own brother! Now, you'll live with that for the rest of your miserable life!"
Celestia had enough of this and motioned for Neighsay to leave her quarters. Once Neighsay was gone, Celestia was left alone again and walked over to her bed and laid down.
"Your brother wasn't a savior, Neighsay," Celestia thought to herself as she went to sleep. "He was a murderer and I hope you realize that one day. If you say talking to me is like talking to a brick wall, then that's how I feel about you. Then again, you always were nothing more than a brick wall while your brother was a shady character who showed his true colors when he tried to exterminate a race of creatures because some of them chose to follow a conqueror."
Sighing heavily, Celestia went to sleep, her mind filled with disgust and displeasure over what had transpired.
…
THE END
