The Fairytale

One month had already passed since Jet had first met Aurora and the two had firmly cemented their relationship. After their third date they started spending as much time as they could together and Jet introduced her to Shining Armor and Cadance. It wasn’t an easy thing to pull off, Aurora had to be extremely cautious about when she left home and make sure she returned before anypony noticed she had been gone. Up until now, she had been hesitant about introducing Jet to her father. It wasn’t that she was afraid of what her father would think, she was afraid of what he would do. She was walking on thin ice, but she hoped that somehow, some way she might get him to understand. She finally pulled her courage together to just do it, no matter what the consequences were. She needed to stand up to him; no matter how difficult it was, because otherwise she’d never be her own individual. She’d remain her father’s doll for the rest of her life.

Jet himself didn’t know what to make of the situation, not even Shining Armor had any good advice on how to manage such a delicate situation. From the way Aurora put it, her father, a wealthy businesspony named Upper Class, was extremely strict and had a very rigid structure to his life and the life of his family. It was something seemingly passed down his family, as every marriage from five-generations forward in some way increased the family’s social standings and wealth. Aurora never met her grandparents, so she had no idea how they had operated, but she was positive that what her father was doing was still wrong, even if it was tradition.

Aurora eventually set a date with Jet for him to come to her home and planned to meet him at the same overlook they had spent their first date at. Jet and Shining Armor arrived as the sun was setting, dressed in the best outfit they owned. Aurora immediately embraced Jet and the two kissed for a short moment before her attention turned to Shining Armor.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I just thought that maybe it would help to have someone like Shining Armor along, maybe the opinion of the brother to Princess Celestia’s apprentice would hold some sway,” Jet explained.

“I don’t know, I guess it can’t hurt,” Aurora’s voice trailed off, and fairly overt indication her anxiety over the situation. She certainly didn’t look very good; he knew she had been stressed by the whole situation, but up until now she hadn’t really showed it. Now she just looked so exhausted and worried.

Jet gently held her against his and rubbed her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Let’s just get it over with, that’s all we need to do,” he told her and she smiled a little.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” she said and began leading the two away. But while Jet had managed to comfort her, deep down Aurora couldn’t help but feel dread emerging and her insides felt all twisted into knots.

For whatever reason, the walk to her home felt like it took forever compared to all the other times he’d walked her home, but there also was a sense of anxiety hanging over the three of them. They stopped at the stairs and could only look at each other, not sure if they were really going to do this.

Aurora started up and opened the door, poking her head inside to see if anypony was there. With the coast clear, she motioned for them to follow her and slipped inside. The place was a complete contrast of how it appeared on the outside.

While looking like just a random brick building, the rooms inside clear boasted the wealth of the occupants. Be it elaborately decorated carpets to numerous paintings depicting the family and Princess Celestia, there was nothing here that wasn’t expensive. Aurora pulled them along, bringing them into some kind of grand ballroom and into a small foyer adjacent it. She sat Jet and Shining down on a couch and disappeared into the next room to retrieve her parents.

“Makes you afraid to touch anything, doesn’t it? I bet those drapes alone cost more than our tuition,” Shining remarked as the two looked around at the room.

“You never had anything this fancy, did you?” Jet asked.

“Not really, sure we had a few things that were nice, but I can’t say we had anything as grand as all this,” Shining replied and the two sat in silence after that.

The wait was certainly agonizing, mostly since by this point Jet knew it was not going to go well. As hard as Aurora may try, it was clear what her father valued the most and it certainly wasn’t her. It was almost sad, really, wasting your entire life amassing all this money and completely neglecting those closest to you. For the first time Jet actually felt glad he had been rich, he couldn’t imagine everything that Aurora has had to go through during her life.

Minutes passed before the sounds of somepony descending the stairs echoed in the halls and some barely-audible voices accompanied them. Jet and Shining sat up just before Aurora appeared with a larger male unicorn, who immediately stopped and glared at Jet. He was thoroughly intimidating, for even though he was at home, he looked like he was just about to step into an important meeting. His mane was slicked back, he wore a very expensive tailored suit and his hooves were spotless. You couldn’t imagine this guy ever once played in the dirt when he was just a colt.

“So, dad, this is-“ But before she could finish he raised his hoof to demand her silence.

Maybe it was just from a habit, but Aurora immediately and obediently went silent.

“I know who he is, Aurora, believe me, I know exactly who he is,” he said, eying Jet slightly before he looked towards her. “Were you so arrogant to think that you could keep this hidden from me?” he asked, pushing his face almost right up against hers. At that point you could almost visible see all of Aurora’s confidence fail her, already her body seemed to be shivering from fright and you could see tears forming in her eyes. “My reach extends all across Canterlot, Aurora, and I have plenty of eyes to watch what goes on and they are more than willing to let me know when they see you with filth like this,” Upper Class said, pointing towards Jet.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jet asked, standing up, but Shining Armor pulled him back down.

“You, you have no right to speak to me, so keep your trap shut you inbred mongrel!” he yelled at Jet and turned his attention back to Aurora. “Now, Aurora, I want to know what the hell you think you were doing with this rabble,” he said and stepped back.

Aurora stood there, her eyes down on the floor, barely able to bring herself to say anything. She had seen her father upset plenty of times before, but nothing to this scale before. Never had he so thoroughly yelled at her before, up until now he maintained a calm, but stern voice of disapproval whenever she had misbehaved. What he was doing now was nothing she had encountered before.

Jet looked at Upper Class and then looked towards Aurora. “You can do it, Aurora,” he said to her, and she looked up towards him.

Her eyes met with Jet’s, just like at the party over a month ago. Something about him brought her courage back to her and she soon felt like she could do this. She took a deep breath, stood up straight and turned to her father. “Because he cares about me, dad, he cared about me, more than you ever have! Ever since I was born, you have had to control every facet of my life, never once considering how I felt. All you cared about was your own ego; you could not see anything beyond that! But I will not end up like mom; I will not let myself be some pawn in your stupid games for money and power! Jet Stream cares about me, about who I am and treats me like I really matter and I don’t care what you think about him. Jet Stream has treated me better in one month that you ever have over 16 years,” Aurora said as tears came down the side of her face, but maintaining a very stern look on her face.

Her father stood there, seemingly stunned at everything that was just said. For minutes the room was silent as everypony waited to see what would happen. Finally he approached Aurora, stood there for a moment and then did the unthinkable; he hit her across the face with his hoof.

Jet and Shining both jumped to their feet at the moment, but neither knew what to do.

Upper Class grabbed Aurora and pushed her against the wall. “How dare you, after everything I’ve provided for you, you have no right,” he said, each word laced with anger. “Everything you have here is because our family has continued its march to power; right now we are almost as powerful as that idiot Fancypants. I will not allow you to throw everything away that our family has worked for; I will not let you destroy everything I’ve created!”

At that point, something in Jet just snapped; seeing Aurora, seeing the way her dad was treating her, some just broke in him. He jumped up over the couch and down next to him and landed his own hoof into Upper Class’s face. He reeled back, clenching the side of his face where blood was now flowing and glared at Jet. Jet took a defensive position in front of Aurora and stared right back at him.

“You piece of trash, you dare attack me?” he asked, stepping back slightly.

“No, I am protecting Aurora from the likes of you!” Jet yelled back, his own anger matching that of Upper Class.

The stallion’s own anger was almost visible and he gave Jet a look that could kill. “You get out of my house, right now, or I will have the guards arrest you!” Upper Class demanded.

Jet ignored the demand; he helped Aurora back up to her hooves and held her protectively.

“Jet, please, just go,” she whispered to him. “I’ll be ok, just go.”

Shining Armor walked over and nudged him also. “Jet we really need to go, now, you don’t need to get yourself arrested,” he said with a nervous tick in his voice.

Jet look down at Aurora, not wanting to leave her, not after what had just happened, how could he leave her with him? But, whether he wanted to admit it or not, they were both right, he had to leave. So he gently leaned in and gave Aurora a kiss, wiping some blood off her nose before he turned and followed Shining Armor out of the house. The last time he saw her was as she stood at the door, next to her father.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Ok, explain again what happened?” Cadance asked as the three of them say in a restaurant, recovering from what had happened.

“All I know is her father hit her and something just told me that I had to defend her, so I hit Upper Class back,” Jet replied, staring down into a cup of water before him.

“Cadance, what that guy was doing, that wasn’t right, she didn’t deserve any of that,” Shining Armor added.

Cadance looked at them and shook her head a little. “So, what happens now?” she asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea. Upper Class could press charges, but I doubt he will do so; all we’d need to do is prove he was defending Aurora and his case would collapse,” Shining replied and leaned back as a waiter brought them their food.

“In any case I think that’s it for me and her, after what happened I don’t think I’ll ever see her again,” Jet said and rested his head against his hoof. “I just… I just don’t know what went wrong,” he added.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aurora sat alone, her eyes trained on the sky just outside of her window, tears cascading down her face. Everything had just gone so wrong, so fast; she could almost barely get a grip on what had just happened. But now she knew she was not her father’s pretty doll; she was his prisoner, trapped in a cage of money and power. In all her dreams she had never imagined he would ever hit her, but he had shown just what he thought about her.

“Aurora?” her mother called in from behind her door.

While Aurora was not in the mood to see anypony at this moment, the fact that her mother came to consoled her was enough to change her mind. “You can come in,” she called back and got up from her seat at the window and walked towards the door.

Her mother, a pale yellow unicorn with graying hair entered and gently took Aurora into her arms. “Aurora, I can’t tell you how proud I am of you,” she said softly and wiped the tears from her face.

“What are you talking about?” Aurora asked, slightly perplexed by her mother.

“Well, my daughter, you did what I could never do. You stood up to your father, you are the first in the family since this damned tradition started who stood up and said this is not right,” her mother explained and took a seat on Aurora’s bed. “I still remember how my father treated me, not as bad as Upper Class, but close enough that I still despise him. But I never had the courage to stand up to him, I never had the courage to stand up to your father,” she explained.

“Well, that’s good and all, but I just destroyed everything I ever wanted. Dad will never let me out again and I’m positive Jet Stream will never want to see me again,” Aurora said and sat down with her mother.

“Do you really think that, or is that your father talking?” her mother asked.

“I… well, I don’t know,” Aurora said, unable to come up with a response.

“Aurora, that young stallion risked a lot to protect you. Tonight, he showed you just the kind of pony he is, one who will protect and cherish you. I’m almost certain he won’t forget you anytime soon,” her mother said with a smile and Aurora couldn’t help but smile as well.

“But what do I do now?” she asked.

“Well, my daughter, you must do what you have to,” her mother replied and looked towards the window. “Say, just hypothetically, if I were too, I don’t know,” she started saying and went over to the window. “Accidentally unlocked this window,” she said and used her magic to gently open it. “Would you have somewhere to go?”

Aurora thought for a moment, but it didn’t take long for her to come up with an answer. “Yes, I believe so, there’s this one, I think she’s the fillyfriend of Jet’s friend, we got along very well when I met her and I think she’d help me,” Aurora said and got up. She quickly then grabbed her saddlebag and whatever few things she might want to bring with her, knowing that this was her one and only chance to leave.

“Well Aurora, then in think I will give you some privacy,” her mother said and walked back to the door.

“What about you? How will you handle dad?” Aurora asked, approaching her.

“You don’t worry about me, daughter, my time passed a long time ago. What matters now is allowing you to avoid the mistakes I made,” she said and the two embraced each other for what could be the very last time.

“I love you mom, and I promise I will do better,” she said and gently pulled out of her mother’s hooves. She turned and went to the window, stepping up until she had a hoof resting on the frame. “Goodbye,” she said and slipped out of her room for the very last time.