The monster was dragged into Canterlot, but he had been captured in Ponyville around noon. The creature was chained and shackled and taken directly to the dungeons. Even so restrained, the creature did not look down in fright from his captors, but kept its head held high in a proud manner. It did not speak, it did not cry out, it did not make any of the animalistic grunts and growls commonly associated with beasts: it was silent.
Immediately after the creature was unceremoniously dropped to the floor of its cell it moved to the center and faced towards the door.
Around 5 when the guard came in to give the creature its afternoon meal it made its first sound since first coming to Canterlot, and the guards were amazed.
For when it made noise, it did not groan, grunt, or growl, it said in a strong, clear voice, "I request a meeting with your leader, if at all possible."
The beast refused to speak any more than that, even under threat. And so the message was relayed to Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria. She agreed to the meeting and it was decided to hold it that very evening.
Inside the banquet hall, many ponies had gathered. The time for the beast's meeting with the Princess was now. The rumor of a beast that could speak had wound its way through the entire city and many fought to catch a glimpse of the beast. Celestia herself was seated upon her throne, and at Celestia's right side stood 6 young mares, a cut above the rest.
The entire hall was alive with chatter and gossip, but the loud noise caused by such was immediately ended upon the beast's entrance into the hall.
It stood more than half again the height of most ponies, and it stood on both of its hind legs. Its forelegs and hind legs were shackled together, making it very difficult for the creature to move. Across the beast's entire body rested foot upon foot of bandages. Its left side bandages were stained with the blood of wounds not healed. Only its face was uncovered, and that in itself was a grizzly sight. Whatever that had caused such damage to the beast's entire left side had evidently not spared its face. The beast's left side face, from top to bottom, was a mass of melted skin and swollen bruises. The swollen wounds had sealed its left eye shut. The beast's left cheek was no longer there, if one was close enough, one could see inside the beast's mouth. All the was left were a few strings of flesh connecting bottom jaw to skull.
It was a wonder the beast could even move.
Again, even in the face of Equestria's highest authority, shackled so much as to make it difficult to move, and wounded in some terrible manner, the beast walked down the central aisle with his head held high and a straight back.
The beasts wheezing could be heard throughout the entire silent hall, perhaps a side-effect of whatever had caused its grizzly wounds.
The guards that were escorting the beast brought him to the bottom step of Celestia's platform, and left him there for whatever would come. The guards took up their position on either side of the alicorn.
Surprisingly, the beast spoke first.
With a slurred voice that took pauses between each breath, probably caused by the horrendous damage taken, the beast said, "I apologize if my wounds weep. If it were my choice, I wouldn't have came before you, weakened so."
There was no malice in the beast's voice, though neither was it friendly. It was as neutral as a politician could make a voice sound.
The beast's voice, slurred and warped as it was by the wounds on its face, was still strong, clear, and had a sense of authority about it. The ponies in the crowd gasped at his perceived slight, his voice, his surprising vocabulary, they had assumed that if a beast could talk it would speak no more than monosyllable words, it seems, and his appearance.
If one were to look closely at his words, with the skill of a lifelong politician, one would see the double speak behind the words. While apologizing to give the pony being apologized to a sense of power, his second sentence was the beast marking his displeasure at being before the princess at all, the beast merely used his wounds as an excuse. The beast was using clever political double-speak to tell Celestia that he wasn't fond of her.
And Princess Celestia picked right up on that, she herself had been in the political arena for centuries.
However, Celestia was denied her chance of answering the beast. A small, yellow pegasus, one of the 6 mares standing by Celestia's side, disengaged from her fellows and walked towards the beast.
The mare said in a soft voice, "Oh my, you're hurt. Here, let me-"
She was cut off by the beast.
"Get. Away. From me. Beast." The beast said coldly, not raising his voice, while he was glaring at her.
The sheer venom in his voice startled all present but especially the one it was directed at. So powerful was the venom that is overcame the pegasus' natural protective instincts and reengaged her frightful nature. She quickly retreated back to her friends.
The 5 other mares were upset with him, while at the same time shocked. No creature had ever scared Fluttershy off from helping others; she even tried to help a manticore once. And this one beast could scare her off with just a sentence? The beast's wounds were even worse than the manticore's, but it still managed to fight off Fluttershy? It was unheard of.
"Your majesty," The beast spat out with great sarcasm, shocking many, "If you would permit it, I would like to tell you the tale of my time in Equestria."
Princess Celestia inclined her head, and gestured for the beast to speak his tale.
"In my homeland, many tales are told of Equestria. Of its beauty, its lands, its… inhabitants. In all of these, you would be hard-pressed to find a single story with something bad to say of Equestria."
The ponies were pleased with how well known and well thought-of their lands were.
Only Celestia, in all of her wisdom, knew that this was a story that wouldn't end well. No story spun by a captive about how great their captors were would ever end well.
The beast continued, "But chief among all of the stories, are those of the locals. Many, many tales tell of friendly ponies, accepting ponies… tolerant ponies." He spoke the last with a hard voice.
"But, even with all these stories. There are some in my homeland who doubt, who insult the ponies as being beneath us, as being no better than their appearance, as mindless beasts."
The creature paused to let that sink in; he was a skilled orator, indeed.
"So, I decided to learn for myself. I came to Equestria for the sole purpose of seeing which was right: friendly ponies and beautiful lands, as the stories say, or mindless beats, as the others say. The answer… might surprise you."
"When I entered Equestria, the stories were right about your beautiful lands. I had not made it more than a mile inside your borders and I was struck by everything I saw. Your lakes, your rivers, the forests, the plains… all of it unspoiled and free. For the first few weeks of my stay, it was heaven."
The ponies didn't know what heaven was, but could only assume it was a good thing.
"I weaved my way through Equestria, rarely coming across ponies. But eventually, I came upon a village. A quaint little place called Ponyville."
The ponies were surprised by that. They knew he had come, or was captured in Ponyville, but they were surprised by what he called it. 'Quaint and little' are not 2 words that anypony would describe Ponyville. It was on the larger side, as villages go, and it was one of the more advanced technologically.
His voice retained the fairy-tale like narrator's voice he had been using since the start, "As I walked into Ponyville, 3 times was I confronted. In the outskirts, ponies ran, screaming from me. In the square, a mob brewed up and tried to chase me out of town. And once more on the outskirts, I came across 6 mares and some guards."
His voice now hardened, "In all of this I was insulted, demeaned, harassed, and attacked. When I come across the law-enforcement in Equestria, my attackers were not detained, no, instead I was! I ignored the ponies' infantile threats, their mob-mentality attacks. Not once did I lift a finger in their direction. I merely kept walking. I walked away from them, and still they harassed me. And then, when I come across those who exist to defend truth and justice, I was attacked again!" he yelled his last sentence.
The ponies were shocked and appalled by his words.
The venom in his voice scared many, "Those 6 young striplings that cower behind your coattails: they performed some sort of ritual. They shot me with some rainbow-based weapon of mass destruction! And they had the gall to look frightened when it melted skin and crushed bone, when I howled in agony, they were frightened of me."
The beast had worked himself into a fever pitch, until he was practically screaming at the princess. At least the 6 young mares had the decency to look ashamed. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself, before the guards could do it for him.
In a calm voice, he continued, "And so I found that both were correct, and both were wrong. Equestria is a place of great physical beauty, that much is true. But its inhabitants are not friendly, and neither are they mindless beasts, no; they are far, far worse."
"I hear that the ponies are friendly: I was attacked by them in mobs. I heard that ponies were tolerant: and they attack me for no more reason than that I look ugly to them. They called me monster, they called me beast. Never once did I react to their petty insults and threats, I just walked from them."
The beast fixed a dangerous eye in Princess Celestia, "And then, after all of that, the local monarch decides that I am a danger to society…"
The ponies were shocked beyond words. They had never seen it that way before, they had though him just a mindless monster.
The beast continued once more, "In my homeland, there are many differences. Men of different creeds, colors, and races. But my people have learned to look past that for the greater good of mankind. Since I was a child, I was taught to look underneath the bare skin of another, see what they truly were in their hearts before making a judgment. Taught not to judge them by how they look, but by what they truly are. This place… has yet to learn that lesson."
His hard gaze never wavered from Princess Celestia's.
"I had decided to reserve my judgment for this place, until after I had met the locals. I had chosen to look past their bestial bodies and look into their heart for what they truly were. But what I found? You are no better than the beasts you appear to be."
He fell silent after that; he had said his piece and he would take whatever these animals would throw at him with his head held high, and his back unbowed.
Several minutes passed before Celestia first spoke, "It appears as though all of Equestria has made an error in judgment."
The beast replied, "I agree."
Princess Celestia stood and walked down the steps towards the beast. As soon as she was near, she aimed her horn at his left side and her horn glowed with the color of her magic. In moments, his body was healed. His face and body regained what flesh it had torn from itself by the rainbow weapon. But the scars would last forever.
The beat flexed his left side, and put a foreleg to his left cheek.
"Don't think this changes my opinion of this place." The beast said.
Celestia leaned down her head towards the shackles and chains surrounding him. Her horn glowed again and the chains lit up with the same color. After a moment, the shackles and chains fell away, unlocked.
"I would be disappointed if you did." The princess replied.
The beast rubbed his forelegs over where the shackles had been and moved to take the ones off of his hind legs as well. He threw them into a heap against the wall. Once done, he started pealing the bandages off of his body, in full view of all those present. The sheer volume of bandages took him several minutes to unwrap, and he refused any help from anypony.
Once he was done, he stood before them in nothing but tattered half-pants and a tattered shirt. The ponies gasped at the sight: his entire left side was a mass of scars and healed wounds. It looked like a roadmap of Equestria had been drawn onto his skin. When the 6 mares gasped and looked at him, he snapped.
"What? Can't stand to see the consequences of your actions? This, right here," He ran his forelegs up and down his left side, "This is all your fault! I don't need your false pity, your faked compassion. If you had taken a single moment to stop and think about your actions, this never would have happened."
The mares looked down, too ashamed to meet his eyes.
The beast looked at Celestia, "I'm leaving now, and you're not going to stop me!"
She nodded her head, agreeing to the terms he had spoken.
As the beast walked down the aisle, he glared at all of the assembled ponies. He spoke in a loud voice the entire way down the aisle.
"I wonder how my countrymen will react. Some will undoubtedly clamor for war, while others will be through with Equestria and never have contact with you. Me, for my part, will do my very best to tell all who I know about the treatment one would suffer at the hands of Equestrians. No one that I know will ever visit this god-forsaken land; we will tell everyone that Equestria is a lost cause."
By this time, he was at the doorway, just a step from Canterlot. He turned back towards the assembled ponies and flicked his forelegs at them and simulated the act of washing.
"I wash my hands of Equestria. Never, shall I return."
He turned back to the doorway, and walked out.
