//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: After Discord // by Faindragon //------------------------------// The truth might hurt. But even worse are the statements that seemed to be the truth. The statements that are the lies that poison our minds. The lies that hurt the ones we love. The lies from the ones we thought were our friends. *^* Lightheart looked at me, disbelief in his eyes. “So what you are saying is that these...” “Celestial goddesses.” I said, filling in the sentence. “Right, the celestial goddesses, defeated Discord with the help of the ‘Elements of Harmony’. In his own castle.” “Look around you Lightheart, the truth is in front of your eyes! The celestial eyes, the sun and moon, are moving as they should, moving in peace, in harmony! The balance of nature has been restored to Equestria, the goddesses have stepped down to secure the peace, harmony and balance forever!” “And they turned Discord to... stone?” Lightheart asked. It was clear that he did not believe me. “I’m not entirely sure, the only thing I remember is that I became stiff, I could not move a single limb. I felt all the anger and hate rush through me, and then. Nothingness. I was completely empty.” I looked out into the Luna hour, her eye had barely rose over the horizon. It felt as if I had been sitting here for hours. It had probably not passed more than one. I looked back at Lightheart. “Anything more you want to know? I have work to do tonight, and you might want to write something to your wife. You are after all going to the gallows tomorrow.” Suprise flashed over Lightheart’s muzzle, but it was gone in a second. I was not even sure that I had seen it in the first place. “No, it is quite alright with what you have said already.” He smiled at me. A smile filled with... victory? “And I think I will take the opportunity to write to my wife. Thank you for tonight.” He turned around, facing the desk in the office. “And be careful out there my friend.” I turned toward the door, taking the letter that lay on the table, while I thought about what I had to do. “Goodbye, my friend.” I said as I walked out from the office, making my way down the tower. I directly noticed that something was not right. As soon as I had exited the tower did the door to the tower slam shut. The sight of three groups from the guard greeted me outside. Four unicorns stood in front of me, each one of their horn glowing. Their black armor did not reflect the light at all, instead it seemed as if they were swallowed by the night. Two of the unicorns, one of them I recognized as Corelight, held crossbows with their magic; aiming at me. These bolts was not enchanted. Four pegasis floated in the air, their steel armor reflecting Luna’s grace from above and sides and the light from the unicorn from below. Each of the pegasi held a crossbow in their hooves. The bolt shimmered weakly, they were enchanted with armor piercing. All of the bolts was aimed straight at me. And lastly stood two earth ponies in front of me, each pair holding a net. The earth ponies wore light armor. Each of the guards smiled victorious at me as I looked at them. I felt my muscles harden, the adrenaline pump through my body, the rage building up inside me; tearing down every mental wall I had put between myself and it. I heard Lightheart’s voice from above me. “Corelight, arrest him. Arrest him for treason and murder.” I looked at the unicorn in question, the rage inside me welling over its limits. My entire body burnt, my very being burnt. He had betrayed me. I trusted him! I felt how my blades unsheathed themselves, each one being prepared to draw blood. The four pegasis took better aim, each of the bolts aimed at my heart. I prepared myself to throw myself forward at the sound of snapping wires. A heart beat passed, a second, ten seconds, half a minute. The air was dense with silence. Corelight smiled. “To bad, I hoped you would attack so we could kill you. Instead now we must arrest you without any blood being drawn.” he sighed and looked over to one of the earth ponies. “Capture him.” Both groups of earth ponies threw the net they have held. I reacted swiftly, blurring around and cutting through the thick ropes that was the nets with my blades; each rope snapped as if they were made of strings. “You will not catch me that easy, Corelight.” I said, smiling lightly at the unicorns expression. Corelight was angry, that was clear. “You should be lucky that we are not allowed to attack you!” he shouted. I snorted. “Lucky? I think I know the rules as good as you do. As long as I do not threaten you or any other of the guards with a weapon or by using violence are you not allowed to use that against me.” Corelight was taken aback. But he had soon found his composure back and smiled at me. “You are right, we must not use violence against you. We can, however, do this!” The light that illuminated two of the unicorns horn spread outwards from them, slowly wow their way towards me. I stood completely still. I knew exactly what the light was, and the only way to run from it would be to run towards one of the guards. An act they would take as violence and shoot me down. I could not do anything as my hooves were rooted in place by the red and yellow light. The good thing was that they would not be able to move me from this position unless they got another net, this magic did not allow them to move me. Just stop my movement. I heard the door open behind me. The sound of steel against stone announced that Lightheart had exited the tower. My rage built up in intense, the burning spread until I could not see anything else than the orange flames of the rage inside me. “Good work Corelight, the traitor and murderer is arrested.” He walked and stood in front of me. He looked furious. “I invited you every night! I trusted you! And then it turns out that YOU are the one that goes around killing the leaders of our city!” I only stood there, looking at him with hate and rage in my eyes. My thoughts went to Honey. What would happen to her? “You told me you was going to be lead to the gallows for treason!” I said, keeping the anger and hate out of my voice. “I was, but I got the option that I could have you arrested instead. All I needed was to make you confess in front of me, get all information I could from you. And that was easy.” he said, looking at me with a sad smile. “I thought you were smarter than that.” I snarled at him. “I trusted you, Lightheart! How could I not tell you, I owed you that much!” I spat at his face. I was hit by his hoof, blood started to drip out of my mouth. “Take him away, I do not want to see him anymore!” A net was thrown over me, and I felt something hit me on the head. My last thoughts went to Honey, Celestia let her be safe! Everything went black.