Chapter 4

I slowly and sluggishly opened my eyes after being awoken by the ringing in my head. My whole body tingled painfully as I slowly regained my vision. I was back in my cell, somehow still alive after getting my fucking head repeatedly slammed on the table by Celestia. It caught me totally off guard for her to do something like that, even for her. Why in the hell didn’t she just use that truth spell thing like Shining was about to? Did she just want the satisfaction of seeing me in pain by her doing? Though, now that I think about it, I guess I only have myself to blame for provoking her like that.

My mind is still a little fuzzy, most likely due to the fact that I have a concussion, but I still remember my conversation with Shining Armor. He knows my secret, how I’m taking the blame for Luna. He’s now trying to find whatever evidence is left hidden in Blueblood’s office. I also remember those documents in the drawer, and how Blueblood burned them to cover his tracks. Then there’s that letter I read from that organization. Those bastards are as fucked in the head as Blueblood, but could they still be hiding and ready and waiting to attack? The letter made it sound like they’d clear out and abandon the usurpation if anything happened to Blueblood or if someone caught wind what they were planning.

As the ringing started to dwindle, I glanced to the side to see a blurry figure come into my field of vision. I heard muffled voices and another blurry figure join the other as they both near me. I then felt a tingling sensation around my head and the ringing in my ear and vision started to get better much quicker. The blurriness cleared up, the ringing stopped, and I looked to see Shining and the local doctor standing by my bed.

“That should do it.” The doctor said as he canceled his magic.

“You’re sure?” Shining said.

“He was beaten pretty bad, but I managed to take care of any neural damage to his brain. He’ll probably have a headache for a good long while but that should also pass.”

“Thanks doc, I appreciate it.”

“Of course, maybe now those guards of yours will give this colt a break. After what Princess Celestia did, maybe they’ll see that what they were doing was cruel even for her standards.”

“Don’t worry, even if they don’t, I gave a certain direct order so no one could beat the prisoner up anymore. They so much as take a jab at him, they’ll receive proper punishment.”

“Seems fair enough, even if he did commit the crime, no pony should have to go through this much abuse. I should go, I don’t want to keep my other patients waiting.”

“Of course, take care doc.”

“You as well, Captain.”

The doctor left Shining and I and Shining pulled over a chair and sat down. He then finally noticed my open eyes which made him smile a little.

“Hey.”

I blinked in response.

“Can you talk?”

“…water.”

“Oh, right.”

Shining pulled out a canteen of water from his belt and uncorked it and handed it to me. I reached out to grab and downed the whole thing.

“sigh, thanks.”

“No problem, how do you feel?”

“Like I got my head slammed on the table repeatedly.”

“That was really stupid, you know that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t act dumb! Why the buck did you provoke Princess Celestia that?! Were you trying to kill yourself?! She was beyond pissed when she left the room and you looked like you were dead in your chair! Tensions are high enough as it is and you don’t want to get on Celestia’s bad side more than you already are!”

“As long as she focuses on me-”

Shining cut me off and grabbed my shirt collar and hoisted me up.

“Shut the buck up and listen to yourself! Why the buck are you doing this?! You think you’re being a hero right now?! Is this what a hero does?! Getting his shit kicked in day in and day out, almost getting killed by the Princess, and ruining any chance of you getting out of here?! That’s the most bucking stupidest thing I’ve ever bucking heard in my bucking life! Well I won’t let you do this to yourself! Especially the fact that you let the guards treat you like a punching bag! Grow a pair and stand up for yourself!”

“How can I do that when I haven’t really eaten anything or have gotten a good night’s sleep?!”

“That’s all gonna change because as you may have heard me tell that doctor, no pony is to inflict any physical harm on you or treat you like dirt any more! From here on out, you’re under my sole supervision.”

“I don’t need your protection!”

SLAP!

“Yes you bucking do, you bucking brain dead moron!”

Shining shoved me on my bed as he glared down at me.

“You have got to be the stupidest creature I’ve ever met.”

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one else was around and glared at me again.

“After you told me what really happened, it dawned on me: your so-called secret you’re keeping for Princess Luna is a complete wasted effort!”

“How is it wasted?!”

“Look at you! You’re in prison! Something that could have, no, should have been avoided had you told the truth! Yet you decided to play hero and take the fall for something that clearly wasn’t yours or Princess Luna’s fault! Blueblood died trying to kill you when Princess Luna saved you! What did you think was gonna happen?! That you would be thanked for your efforts and Princess Celestia would eventually get over Blueblood’s death and set you free?! Or better yet, somepony would go too far in beating the shit out of you that you’d get killed?! How do you think Luna would feel if you died?! She’d have both Blueblood’s and your death on her conscience, including mine! Once again, and I’ll keep saying it until you get through your thick human skull: YOU’RE A BUCKING MORON! I’ve met some pretty stupid stallions, but you sir are pathetic!”

Shining’s words pierced my mind like a knife. All these months I thought I did the right thing…but did I? What he said was true, that Luna saved me at the cost of Blueblood’s life. I stupidly believed that I had done a righteous act of heroism for Luna when all I did was put myself in a worse situation from an already bad one. Not to mention the fact that I poured more salt on the wound by provoking the abuse from the guards and angering Celestia by boasting about her nephew’s death right in her face.

“I just…wanted to help.”

“You call all this helping?”

“I meant stopping Blueblood. And I wanted to keep Celestia from hating Luna.”

“Why would you think she’d hate her?”

“Because of her banishment?”

SMACK!

“Try answering again instead of bullshit.” Shining sneered after he smacked my head.

“Ow! Ok fine! It’s because of Luna’s hatred for Blueblood!”

“What do you mean?”

“I may not have been in this world long, but I knew that Blueblood was not a well liked pony to anyone who had a clear conscience. And if I were a betting man, I’d say Luna hated him more than anyone around combined. If Celestia found out that it was Luna’s fault, she’d accuse her of killing him purely out of spite.”

“Do you honestly think Celestia would jump to that conclusion without even hearing Luna out?”

“Why wouldn’t she? Blueblood was still her nephew, her family, and she cared for him despite his many faults. I mean she cared about him enough to imprison me and even assault me herself.”

“But she wouldn’t do that to Luna. You made the choice to tell her to run, you held the dagger in your hand, and you decided to take the fall. If you just used common sense, you should’ve helped explain what happened that night instead of instigating the situation out of control. I said it before and I’ll say it again, this whole self righteous plan to punish yourself for the sake of another is a fool’s errand and a waste of time.”

Once again, his words cut deep. He was right, I shouldn’t be in prison for something that could’ve easily been avoided. If I had not been blinded by my pride, maybe I’d still be free.

“Shit…I feel so stupid.”

“As you should, but let’s not dwell on that right now. I’ve come to tell you that you’ll be getting better treatment around here from now on.”

“How do you figure that?”

“I personally declared you a P.O.I., or pony of interest.”

“And that is?”

“Basically it means I’m gonna be making sure you are not abused anymore or approached by anypony else without my say so. Not even royalty can seek an audience with you without coming to me first. So from now on you won’t be harassed by the guards, you’ll be fed properly, and receive proper treatment for the rest of your injuries that are still healing.”

“Well that’s a relief-”

“But I haven’t made it official yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want something in return. I’ll continue looking for evidence against Blueblood, including questioning whichever nobles were on his payroll. But if and when I do find something that will help your case, you need to confess.”

“You mean tell what really happened?”

“Yes, you need to tell Celestia the whole truth.”

“But what about Luna?”

“You needn’t worry about her, she’s a Princess and can take care of herself. Plus I’m sure Celestia will understand it was an accident once I find what I need and she calms her nerves as she grieves. But you also need to promise me you won’t instigate the situation anymore. Especially not letting anypony walk all over you like a doormat.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“That’s because it is. I’m not gonna help you if you keep up this defiant attitude of yours. You need to change for both yourself and for Luna.”

“I guess I made a big stink over something avoidable for the wrong reasons but for the right intentions.” I sighed.

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

“Ok, I’ll confess when the time comes.”

“Why not now? If you let Celestia or me cast a truth spell on you, you’ll be able to be released.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Don’t tell me you’re back to thinking like an idiot, are you?”

“Of course not, I’m actually thinking about this logically. Look, whoever these ponies Blueblood was working with obviously knew what they were doing if they were able to get something like those collars in order to subdue even Celestia and Luna themselves. Not to mention those nobles I saw chatting it up with Blueblood. There’s not a doubt in my mind that there’s more than one rat in the hole somewhere in this castle. That includes those working as your fellow guardsmen.”

“Now hold on a moment, some of the guards I will admit are a little rough around the edges. But dirty? They’re all under my command, they wouldn’t go against what they signed up for.”

“Now look who’s the naïve one. If Blueblood can convince some of the nobility to follow him, you really think it’d be that difficult to pay off the guards? There’s probably even a guard or two, maybe more, who were on Blueblood’s payroll and you don’t even know it yet.”

“I guess that makes sense, but why keep the blame?”

“If anyone were to catch wind that I wasn’t the one who offed Blueblood, who do you think they’d direct their attention to?”

Shining pondered my question for a moment until his eyes widened once he figured it out.

“Exactly, she may be an alicorn, but these guys seem to know how to handle her.”

“That just makes things more worrisome. They’ll probably even try to come after you.”

“I doubt it, I mean I am in prison after all. If you think about it it’s the safest place to be, especially since you’re gonna be personally in charge of looking after me.”

“I guess you’re right, but what about the organization?”

“I’ll let you deal with that on your own. Right now let’s focus on getting me out of here. Will you be able to find something on Blueblood?”

“Unfortunately he was as crafty as the snake everypony knew him to be. He always hid his secrets well so it’ll take time to actually find anything.”

Damn, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Could there have been a hidden compartment in his desk or something? Maybe a hidden room in his office? There’s gotta be at least something he left behind. Not to mention those ponies…I…saw…

“Wait, those five ponies I saw that night, I think maybe you can start with them.”

“Can you identify them?”

“If you give me something to write with and paper I can draw them.”

“You can draw?”

“I doodled a lot when I was a kid during class and always got in trouble for it. But I eventually became rather good at drawing faces. I remember the faces of those who exited Blueblood’s office.”

“Ok, I’ll go and get you what you need.” Shining said as he exited the cell.

As Shining left to get me a pen and paper, I leaned back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. To think I was so stupid enough to let myself get accused of something that was never to be blamed on me in the first place. Well hopefully this will all change soon. And hopefully Celestia will understand if and when she learns the truth.

That Night

For the first time in months, the day went on without me getting hit, excluding that time with Shining. After I drew the faces of the nobles for Shining, I was left to myself in my cell. I had even received a proper meal instead of just receiving whatever rations they scrounge up. I noticed that any guards who passed by my cell gave me dirty looks, probably wanted to have a go at me but they knew they couldn’t since I was a P.O.I.

It was late in the night and I was lounging on my thin bed just thinking all that had happened today. Hopefully Shining can find the evidence he needs to prove my Blueblood’s true nature and pardon Luna and I. But for now, all I can do is wait.

The familiar sounds of hoofsteps were heard from the halls outside of my cell, which could only mean one thing. I waited patiently until I glanced over to see a hooded figure stand behind the bars which made me smirk a little.

“Hello Princess Luna.” I said, sitting up and on the edge of my bed.

Luna tilted her head as she removed her hood and stared at me curiously.

“You seem…brighter than usual.”

“Well there’s a good reason for that.” I then went into great detail about my discussions with Shining Armor. At first she was worried that Shining would go against my promise to him, but I reassured her there was nothing to worry about and we could trust Shining.

“It’s a shame you’re still in danger even if you’re in prison.”

“I guess I can’t keep myself out of trouble.”

“I suppose not, but are you sure this is wise? My sister is still very displeased with you.”

“When the time comes to use the truth spell for what really happened, it’ll be when Shining has enough evidence in proving who Blueblood really was and what he and his conspirators were planning.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re going through all this trouble. I’m the cause of Blueblood’s demise, I should be thrown in prison or maybe sent back to the moon.” Luna said sadly.

“You say that one more time, I’m calling off the deal with Shining and I continue to rot in jail and I’ll call Celestia a bitch to her face.”

“But-”

“But nothing!” I snapped as I stood up from the bed. “It was an accident, ok? An ac-ci-dent, you saved my life and Blueblood held on to the dagger too tightly when you tried to take it from him. You were simply trying to protect me but things got out of control. You shouldn’t blame yourself for something that clearly wasn’t your fault. It was his fault for not thinking clearly and you acted out of desperation. His blood is on his hands and his only.”

“Why the sudden change of heart? What made you wish to cooperate and reveal all that had happened?”

“Because I am not gonna satisfy that bastard prince by letting him take me down with him. He deserves to feel the sting of defeat not once but twice, even in death. And you need to have more faith in your sister.”

“But how do you know she won’t send me to the moon again?”

“She wouldn’t do that, not her. She will be shocked if I’m being honest, but at least the truth would be revealed. Plus there’s a chance that she’ll pardon me and forgive you when she finds out what happened. You just need to trust me on this Luna. And again, what happened that night was not your fault.”

Luna stared at me for a moment before nodding her head.

“Very well, I trust you.”

“Thanks, I’m gonna go and sleep now so you should probably get out of here before someone sees you.”

“I shall make sure you have pleasant dreams, farewell.”

Luna turned and walked away as I laid back down on my bed. Those ponies who conspired with Blueblood, hopefully they and that organization can keep quiet for a little while longer as they have been until Shining finds what he needs.

“And now I play the waiting game.” I said as I drifted off to sleep.