Author's Note

I'm back boy-os! Sorry for the long wait. This chapter was more difficult to write than I thought, then Thanksgiving rolled around. I won't tell you much, but driving for several hours takes a lot out of a person. But hey, it's finished now. I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 6

3rd POV:

Thomas

"Everything." The word hung in the air for all of two seconds, before Celestia spoke.

"Very well. It started with Cadence going to look for you when she and your other friends thought you had gotten lost. During her search, she found your bag. It was in bad shape, and a few of the items inside were damaged, but still worked. As you had shown Golden Feather. Cadence folded a trail of blood into the alley you had been dragged to. She had an emotional magic surge which led to her teleporting herself and you to this hospital."

Celestia paused, as if to think about something before speaking once more. "If you'll allow it, I would like to move you to the castle infirmary. The best doctors and physicians in Equestria are employed there."

Thomas was silent, contemplating an answer. On one hand he didn't want to be anywhere near Celestia. On the other hand, maybe one of those docs could help him with his eye. And with better security, he wouldn't need to worry about any ponies giving him an unwanted late night visit. He hated it, but he'd have to give the pros of the castle the win here. "Fine, but later. Also, I want my bag. Hopefully those sons of bitches didn't break the irreplaceable shit." Thomas grumbled that last part to himself.

Celestia nodded, and then continued her tale. "The next few hours were… complicated to say the least. When Cadence found you, she had also used the Royal Canterlot Voice. This pretty much alerted the whole city something bad had happened. Your other three friends followed where they saw Cadence looking for you, and found the alley. The teleportation Cadence used was… unstable, to say the least. The resulting magic had…"

Celestia shivered, remembering the sight of what looked like a blood bomb that had gone off. "... There was a mess. I… I can't go into detail." For the first time since he had woken up, Thomas showed a bit of compassion for the Solar Alicorn.

"I can take a guess. Just tell me what happened next." Celestia nodded, regaining her composure.

"Alright. I too had heard Cadence when she found you, and immediately followed her magic signature to the hospital. It took a few hours before the doctors declared you stable, but still in danger. The damage was… extensive. From what I remember, you had numerous scars and bruises, burns from the magic blast you took, and blood was seeping into your now irreparable eye."

Celestia took a moment to push down the anger that had risen, then continued to speak. "You were also quite malnourished. That, plus your recent trauma, sent your body into a coma. A short one, thankfully, but a coma no less." Thomas nodded along, then paused.

"Celestia… What day is it?"

"If you're asking how long you've been out, it has been 3 days since your attack." Thomas sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.

"God damnit. I missed the entire first week of school. Probably the next week as well." Celestia shook her head at that.

"Not exactly, your… incident allowed me the decision of closing the High School for the rest of the week, and you should be well enough to return after the weekend, so you shouldn't have missed any classes." Thomas nodded, relaxing a bit now that he didn't need to worry about being behind.

“That's good. Anyway, continue.” Celestia nodded before speaking once more.

“After I got confirmation from the doctors you weren't going to succumb to your injuries, I headed back to the castle and started investigations into both the mare that ran the orphanage, and into the students of the high school. The first was actually much more simple and straightforward than I thought it would be, but the second one… to say it was complicated is an understatement.”

“Well, I got time.” Thomas said, crossing his arms. Celestia sighed, knowing this was going to be awhile.

1st Pov:

Celestia

Time:

~3 days ago

After leaving the guard captain’s office, I continued my way to the throne room, wanting Ms. Hope to still be there. If she wasn't, then I'd need to send some guards to retrieve her. Even if the investigation turned up nothing but not giving enough food to the children, that would still be enough for me to fire her. I don't know if I should hope more will come to light than that or not.

My body moved on its own on its predetermined path as I thought, my gaze seeming to bore into the carpet I trotted upon as I thought. ‘There have to be at least some witnesses to Thomas’s incident. I just hope that whoever has seen it will come forth. Though in all likelihood, they will stay silent from their distaste of having Thomas in the city.’

I soon found myself at the Throne Room doors, with my princess mask putting itself on just before I had come into the sight of my guards. They currently waited for me to signal them to open the doors. Taking a few breaths to calm myself, I give the slightest of nods, making them use their magic to open the doors. I trotted into the Throne Room for the second time this day, and most likely it won't be the last time.

Thankfully, Ms. Hope was still sitting in the Throne Room, right where I had left her. ‘Good, I need something to take my frustrations out on.’ The mare noticed my return, and bowed towards me. I smiled internally at this as I was about to make this noble become more scared than anytime in her life. “Guards, restrain Ms. Hope and bring her to an interrogation room. I have some questions I would like to ask her.”

I was also going to employ another technique I had learned from the NCIS show while I was Golden Feather. Waiting in a room with naught but your thoughts and a one way mirror apparently did terrible things to one’s confidence and psyche. That Special Agent Gibbs was a very impressive interrogator. Using legal scare tactics to get the truth was something I think… she would have admired about the human character.

I forced down the pang of pain in my heart as I continued past the shell shocked mare that did nothing until the guards started to drag her away. She then began ranting and raving, asking me what it is she had done wrong and several other things I simply didn't have the patience to listen to. When I was finally left alone, except for a few guards, I sighed and simply sat in the middle of the Throne Room.

I took off my tiara and looked into the amethyst gem set in the center of the headpiece. I allowed myself to get lost into the tiny details of it, from the engraved gold to the near imperceptible imperfections of the amethyst itself that would require a normal pony that doesn't have a cutie mark related to gems to use a special magnifying glass. “Even after all I have done, why does it feel like I have failed?” I could feel the gazes of my guards glancing at each other, unsure if they should step out of line to comfort me or not.

While I did wish they would sometimes step out of line, if only to show how much they cared, I did appreciate that they cared at all. I sighed once more, placing my tiara on my head once more. It held a familiar weight. One that even to this day felt like the weight of the world. I steeled my face once more, and made my way from the Throne Room to the designated interrogation rooms. A plaque which was just below the words 'INTERROGATION ROOM’ showed that this one was occupied.

Normally I would let my guards handle such things. But I felt like this one required a personal touch. Crimes against adult ponies were one thing, but foals? If she were still here, this mare would have already been placed in Tartarus, and I would have agreed. But it isn't a thousand years ago now. And she wasn't here. Besides, I wanted everything she has done to be brought to light, and for her to be charged for it all. I opened the doors to the Observation Room and stepped in. There were two guards that were in charge of recording everything that happened in the Interrogation off to the far side of the room.

I could clearly see Young Hope looking around the Interrogation Room nervously through the one sided window, looking the perfect image of a guilty pony. Other than the recording equipment, the two guards, and the window, the room was quite bare. “Has she said anything?” I asked as I stepped up to the glass, looking directly at the mare.

“Other than saying that she shouldn't be here, no your majesty.” Said the guard on the left side of the recording panel. I nodded as I continued to wait. It was only a few minutes until the guard captain came in. He looked shocked when he saw me standing there.

“Oh! Your Majesty, I wasn't expecting to see you here.” He turned to the mare I was still staring at. “... I'm just going to assume you'd like to be in charge of the interrogation ma'am?” A nod was all I gave him. “Very well. Here are the files we managed to get on her so far. I only took a glance, but even a rookie could tell you these numbers aren't adding up.” I took the files with my telekinesis spell, making the papers levitate over in front of me.

Pov 3rd:

Celestia

Time:

Present

“Unfortunately, I can't tell you what is in those files, or what happened during the Interrogation.” Celestia says, but she could see that I understood just fine.

“Yeah, yeah, confidential stuff and what not. I get it.” Thomas then yawned, and laid back, turning his head away from Celestia as he got ready to sleep. “Tell me the rest tomorrow. I'm tired. Night, princess. Shut the door on the way out… please.” He was short, curt. But at least he wasn't out right being mean to her. Celestia sighed, nodding as she stood, her legs having a dull pain in them from sitting for so long. She turned away from Thomas to exit his room, but before she could, Thomas spoke up. “Hey… thanks for telling me all this. I… I need to hear the full story. And since you're the only one who can tell me it… so… yeah, thanks.”

Celestia smiled, not saying anything as she could tell the air was now charged. She would be pushing her luck if she responded, so silence was the best response. Using her magic, she closed the door behind her. Once she did, she turned and saw Cadance fast asleep on the floor with several guards around her. Celestia winced mentally, knowing she should have told her niece to go back to the castle at some point. Celestia picked Cadance up in her magic, and deposited the sleeping Alicorn on her back.

Now with a passenger, Celestia made her way back to the castle with two guards, one on either side of her. The hospital was quiet, the only noise coming from the night staff and the beeping of monitors. Even when she exited the hospital into the streets of Canterlot, it was incredibly quiet. The only signs of life being from a high class bar and the late night workers getting off their shifts or going to start them. Celestia liked this side of Canterlot sometimes. The quiet side. It was one thing to have a quiet castle, it is another to be in a quiet city.

Sure, she wished the castle was more active sometimes. But with the city being more of a hustle and bustle, having the city be in a quiet ambiance was soothing in a way. Celestia chuckled to herself, shaking her head. How weird was she? Liking things to be the opposite of what they normally are. Looking up to the castle, Celestia took in a deep breath before letting it back out. ‘Things have been changing so much since Thomas has come to this city. Yet, I'm both excited and worried about what other changes he'll bring.

1st POV:

Thomas

Time passed slowly as I continued to think. Sleeping for a few days makes it a bit hard for one to be tired. I'm just glad Celestia bought my fake yawn. Now I had time to think. To process. The most immediate being that I had the wrong gender of the one in charge of the orphanage. I had never met the noble personally, just the pony that had been working in the orphanage as the caretaker before she was fired when it became clear that I could take over her role.

It was probably because of the planet I grew up on that I just expected the one in charge to be a male. One could call that sexist, but to me it was just the default until I got confirmation of one's gender. That, and Earth was still a male dominant society, while this one seemed the exact opposite. Then there was Celestia. I guess I too had fallen under the pretense that everypony else seemed to have. She wasn't perfect. Using the word pony sounds weird in this context, so yeah, she's human in that regard. Even though everypony regards her as this immortal perfect being who can do no wrong and has never made a mistake.

I sigh as I stare up at the ceiling, my gaze transfixed on nothing in particular. Suddenly, my mind goes from one pony to four others. My three friends… and one acquaintance. ‘God, how are they handling everything? How did they handle everything once they got word?’ More and more questions of a similar nature swirled about my mind, making me groan as I placed a hand over my good eye.

“Why did this shit have to happen now? Why not at the end of the school year or some shit?” I spoke to myself, before letting my arm fall back to my side on the bed. There were too many questions, and what answers I did get tonight weren't nearly satisfactory enough to allow my mind to rest. And so I could only lay there and let myself stew as the night crawled on. Eventually I did fall asleep, but it wasn't anywhere near restful.