Airships and Alicorns

by folded_napkin

A Thousand Reasons To Hate

The fallen leaves rustled as the wooden cart raced across the worn dirt road. The lone stallion pulling the cart couldn't be more annoyed. Aside from his oddly care-free passenger's loud snoring, he had to deal with the constant creaks from the cart behind him, as the cart would do this over every small bump and crevice in the road. Unlike most roads throughout Equestria, this one was rarely used, and was laden with bumps, rocks, and almost anything that could cause disturbance to the carts passing over it. Somehow, this stallion was supposed to remain sane while bringing the cart and its bothersome cargo to the farthest reaches of Equestria, far away from any civilized groups of ponies. The cart, with a large metal cage over it, had only one piece of cargo, a light brown unicorn, snoring loudly while laying up against one of the corners of the cage. Aside from the snoring, the stallion was quite grateful the prisoner was asleep, as the princess placed a spell on the cage alone, not on the stallion himself. He was content though, as not long into the trek the unicorn fell quickly asleep, and was like so for the past few hours. Even though they had been moving for the better part of the day, they were not yet to their destination, as they had much further to go.

To equal surprise to both the stallion and the sleeping unicorn, the cart hit a particularly large rock in the road, and awoke the unicorn. The light brown unicorn yawned loudly, and shuddered as he realized where he was, but quickly relaxed. This is what annoyed the stallion more than anything, the unicorn seemed to be completely calm in the situation he was in, and even seemed quite glad, besides the fact that his attempt had failed. His attempt though, had not failed in its entirety, as the princess will never mentally recover from the incident, and the royal guard had lost one of its most loyal members. This attempt, the first of its kind, came as a shock to the few that were told of it, and hopefully, word didn't spread out to the common folk of Equestria, or even past the few that were intended to know. Overall though, the unicorn failed, and would be brought far away, so he couldn't try again. He was close to success, and this is what worried them the most, as the only reason for his failure was the brave sacrifice of the guard, who would not be quickly forgotten. Surprisingly, the princess ordered the guards not to execute the unicorn on the spot, and after a minute of thought, she decided this plan would be much more "effective" on the unicorn. Although it seemed like the incident was well over, the stallion felt that it wasn't, and that the unicorn would somehow return, and possibly succeed.

Now fully awake, the unicorn brushed away his dark mane from his face, and decided to attempt a conversation with his captor. He didn't think it would be very productive, as the stallion was set firmly to concentrating on the path ahead. The unicorn, even wondered of the stallion even knew he was awake or not, but despite this, he tried anyways.

"Uh, hello there", the unicorn awkwardly said. The stallion took no notice.

"Well, I don't believe they would have left you out, and that you surely know why you are going to such lengths to bring me out here." The stallion gave a slight nod in response to this, so the unicorn kept going on.

"As much as you may know, no pony except for me knows the entire story behind it, but i will gladly share it with you, just to pass it on. So my story, what my life has meant to me for all these years, won’t die out now. This time, the stallion was obviously listening, and quickly looked back at the caged unicorn before returning his gaze to what lay ahead of him.

"It all started when I was a young colt" the unicorn began again, "One could say that my family wasn't prosperous, and in fact, we were quite poor, barely having the bits to get by, but somehow, we made it through. Obviously, an act such as mine wouldn't happen without reason, and the hatred began all that time ago and only got worse until now." The unicorn had obviously captured the attention of the stallion, even though the cart still moved forward at great speeds.

"Well, the hatred started when I was young, due to the fact of my family's lack of prosperity. We always needed someone to blame, as we all thought it couldn't be our faults, so one day, my father decided to place the blame on our dear Princess Celestia, and it all went from there. Not only were we blaming problems with money on her, we blamed her for anything, from complete accidents, to even the things that were clearly our own fault, and not her own."

"So, I, the only offspring my parents dared to have, grew up in a world where all blame was placed onto the princess. I lived like this for over ten years, that is, until my parents tragically died." To this statement, the stallion seemed genuinely surprised, as he began to realize how sad the story of his prisoner was, but he quickly pushed the thought out of his mind, and returned to the road ahead.

"As a young colt, I was introduced into an orphanage, which i quickly abandoned, due to the fact that the rest of the children clearly didn't share my hatred, nor my belief. So i set off on my own, in a world where all worship and thank went to the princess, except for mine. I worshiped nopony, and I had no thanks to give, not even for life, as that had become a curse to me. But for some odd reason, I kept living, all on my own, with nothing at all to live for. Until that one fateful day, when I devised a simple plan, a plan to get my revenge. Obviously, there was only one who I had revenge to seek, Celestia, the only pony I had ever learned to hate."

Night had fallen long before the stallion even realized his dear princess had lowered the sun, and made way for her sister to raise the moon. At this point, the stallion decided it would be fine to rest here, even though the unicorn's story had thoroughly intrigued him. He knew that the unicorn would be anxious to tell the rest of his story, and unknowing to him, the unicorn knew he was eager to listen. Long after the stallion had fallen asleep, the unicorn looked up at the stars, and felt the same loneliness as he had felt ever since he was left to live on his own. He knew that this loneliness would haunt him till the end. He knew of only one other thing that would stay with him, the hate for his "dear" Princess. This would stay with him, and he would not forget this hatred until the end. As he looked down upon the sleeping stallion, he suddenly was overwhelmed by the need for sleep, just now realizing the only sleep he had in a few days, was his slumber in the beginning of their trek. He slowly drifted off, and as he turned his head to the stars once more, he silently promised to himself, that he would see this through till the end, no matter how long it took him, no matter what it would take from him.

The sun was high in the sky when the unicorn finally awoke, only to find the stallion readying himself for the rest of their journey. Oddly, for the entire time so far, he had not said a word. This posed many questions for the unicorn, because he thought that his story would have sparked something in the stallion. If it did, the stallion was great at hiding it. In fact, the stallion had many questions about the unicorn's story, and he was indeed trying to hide it, trying not to provoke him more. Their trip was bad enough as it was, but the story was troubling the stallion, he had no idea that life in Equestria could be as bad as the unicorn described it. The stallion knew the unicorn had every reason to lie, just to gain his trust and friendship. However, the stallion felt a strong feeling that the unicorn's story was true, but if it wasn't he knew the unicorn wouldn't succeed at this attempt. The stallion quickly finished readying himself, reattached the cart, and quickly set off with the caged unicorn trailing behind him.

It was not long before the unicorn decided to return to his story.

"So," He started, "I believe I abandoned the orphanage and set off on my own." The stallion gave a slight nod of approval, so the unicorn continued.

"After I left, One of the most influential things happened. To me, it seemed like just any other day, but that day must have been special, because all the ponies seemed to be out and about, gathering for some event unknown to me. In a relatively short amount of time, the ponies milling about gathered around the edges of a street, clearly waiting for something. Then I saw it, down at the far end of the street was a large carriage pulled by two armored stallions. There sat the one pony I hated most, the white alicorn that everypony knew, Princess Celestia. I still despise that moment, the one source of my problems, being paraded around like an idol."

The stallion remembered that day, as he was one of the guards pulling Celestia around the streets of Canterlot. Despite this, he couldn't remember seeing this unicorn on that day.

Before the stallion had much time to think, the unicorn continued his story, "What hurt me most that day, was yet a simple gesture, but it hurt me more than Celestia could ever dare think."
The Unicorn took a breath and continued, "As she passed, she turned around, just in time to see me, the lone filly covered in grime, staring back at her. Our gaze was locked for a mere moment, before her smile turned to a frown, and looked back to what lay ahead. At that moment, before I even realized it, I started to cry. Still to this day, that was the one time I cried, even on my parents' death, I hadn't shed a single tear. But as I cried, I turned around and ran. I ran until I was well out of Canterlot. It started to rain as I collapsed on the ground crying. Celestia, the one pony I hated most, could have saved both of us at that moment, but she didn't, she shunned me, treated me as scum, and from that day on, my hatred for her only grew."

"From then, after I recovered from the incident, I set of my own to find a place where I could live alone, away from Celestia. After a long search, I eventually found a worn down shack off in a secluded forest. This, I would find to be my home for six years, up until a few days ago, it remained my home. I felt that it was the one possession of mine that I would have missed. Although, I have discovered that I don't."

To this, the stallion pondered what would it be like for him, if he had to give up everything. He then stopped that thought, as he remembered that the unicorn had only one thing to lose; His life. This was what troubled him since this all started the morning before. Why Celestia had not executed him on the spot, getting rid of the threat altogether had confused him entirely. There must be some deeper meaning to the unicorn's punishment, although neither of the two ponies could see it.

Much further into the day, with the unicorn nearly finished with his story, The stallion was relieved that the trip was almost over, and he would soon be able to begin the peaceful journey home. He wondered sort of reward he would receive for completing this task. While the thought faded away, he realized the unicorn was beginning to wrap up his story.

"After a week of planning, I was finally able to carry out the mission I had dedicated six years of my life to. The plan was simple, yet it had to be perfect, if I overlooked a single detail the entire scheme would miserably fail. The preparation was quick, I donned the black cloak I would use for concealment, and sheathed a large dagger. This particular dagger was made specifically to kill an alicorn of Celestia's size. This brutally dangerous weapon took a long time to acquire, as I had to venture through the Everfree Forest and much further afterward to arrive at the sole place I could find a weapon of this sort. The harsh journey to obtain the blade took me nearly a year, and at the time, I thought it was worth it. As it turns out now, it wasn't. After I was ready, I made sure the weather was right. It was nearly pitch black, and a light rain had started to fall, just as expected. So I stepped out into the world, feeling a cold wind rush through my recently cleaned mane. As I trotted forward towards Canterlot, I knew it was perfect, the rain justified the cloak, and a quickened pace would seem normal in this weather. As I reached the first signs of civilization just outside Canterlot, I slowed my pace slightly, not to alert anypony of my business. After a few minutes, I spied my first hurdle, the large gate to the city. The gate was never closed, but there was always one or two members of the Royal Guard standing watch for anything too suspicious. But my plan was flawless, I passed by the two guards seemingly unnoticed, and under the city wall, briefly escaping the cold rain. The first challenge was over, yet it was the easiest, and the rest would require stealth, skill, and no small amount of luck. Although the next task was all too easy, simply traversing the city to the castle. The plan went perfectly here too, most ponies were sleeping in their homes, and the ones that were out took no notice of me, just as expected."

"As I approached the castle, I felt a slight sense of accomplishment for getting this far, yet it had only just begun. As I neared the corner in the path just before the castle gate, I veered off the path into the brush. I knew I had no chance of being let in through the guarded front gate, so I had spent many moons figuring out a way into the castle unseen. One of my discoveries was that there was a small gate unknown to most just off the path, that led directly into the courtyard. The gate's locking mechanism was a simple latch that could be opened from both sides without the use of a key. As I passed through it, I silently closed it behind me, yet left it unlatched, in the case of a hurried escape. I passed through the dark courtyard up to the castle wall undetected. From here, all I had to do was slip through a small wooden door on the side of the castle. I reached the door in a matter of minutes, not having to avoid a single guard, but I knew, the second I entered the castle, it would become much more difficult, as I had not yet explored this far in my preparation. I walked through the small door and the sheer darkness surprised me, and I knew it would be hard to navigate now, besides the fact I was used to the darkness. I had to tread carefully, as with each step, the soft sound echoed throughout the lengthy stone corridor. Now that I was inside, all I had to do was find Celestia and carry out the deed, while remaining unnoticed. Luckily, I had observed Celestia many times before, and I knew where she would be at this time. Yet there was only one problem, I needed to find that place, and quickly."

"I slowly approached a dark stairwell, and I knew enough that my destination required me to go up, up quite high. Yet as I stood there, I heard a faint sound from behind me. I quickly spun around to see the soft glow of magic illumination just around the corner. It was getting brighter, and I knew I had little time to act before the guard stumbled upon me. Without glancing back, I silently dashed up the dark stairs, narrowly escaping the guard. The next guard I ran into was a few flights of stairs up, in which I hid behind a suit of armor to avoid detection. Avoiding detection could have been much harder, but magic worked in my favor, as detection spells were physically draining. No normal unicorn could sustain a detection spell on his rounds without passing out, and even if he was suspicious, using a spell would put him in a defenseless state. Due to all of this, the Royal Guard uses an illumination spell instead, which is much less draining of the user. This all worked in my favor, all I had to do was simply stick to the shadows, and I would be fine. On a night like that one, there was no shortage of shadows. After the second guard, I managed to reach my desired floor without any other complications. Yet I knew I had to traverse the length of the castle to be in my desired position."

"Now the full moon had appeared in the sky, barely escaping its prison in the clouds. As the light came through the windows, it had cast eerie shadows across the floor. I could have waited for the moon to inevitably return behind the clouds, but if I did, I might have missed the only chance I had. So I began my perilous quest across the castle, sticking to the left side of the hallway, in the shadows. I had to glance back every so often to make sure I wouldn't be seen, as I also had to stick to shorter hallways. It wasn't much longer till I ran into another guard. This particular one had his helmet off, and I could see his dark blue mane. He was pacing back and forth, clearly waiting for somepony. I decided to wait with him, hidden within the shadows, hoping to get some information on the current location of the Princess. As I assumed, another guard showed up. This one, slightly larger was wearing some sort of golden insignia on his armor. I deducted that he was a higher ranking member of the guard, and would have some precious information to discuss with the other. Not long after their greeting, the two ponies began to discuss a few topics, mostly not pertaining to what I needed, but right before I was about to sneak away, the larger one mentioned Celestia. Apparently, he was in charge of escorting Celestia to her room tonight, and requested that the other guard would join him. This was perfect for me, all I had to do was silently follow them to reach my target. They had no idea they were leading their enemy right to their dear Princess Celestia."

"As I trailed behind the two guards in the darkness, I pondered how I would distract the two of them, as if I didn't, they would surely get in the way. After several minutes of walking, my hoof brushed up against a small pebble. Despite its size, this would accomplish its goal. With the pebble ready, I continued to follow the guards until the hallway grew wider. Now I had to follow behind at a larger distance to avoid detection. But alas, the time had finally come, and I readied myself as I witnessed the princess step regally into the hallway. I was about to execute the plan, but I noticed a near fatal mistake. Instead of the direction I thought they would travel, she and the guards started to walk towards me. I silently cursed and thought to myself, How could I let this happen! My plan is ruined! I stood there and thought for a second. It's not over! There's still a chance! Within a split second, I sent the small pebble hurtling high above the heads of the three ponies. Further down the hallway, as the pebble struck the ground, its sound echoed throughout the long corridor. As expected, both of the guards turned around and walked into the darkness. It was perfect, Celestia foolishly turned around, and I began to run. I could barely feel my legs as I raced down the hallway towards my unknowing target. As I neared her, I magically lifted the dagger from its sheath, and raised it above my head, shrouded in a dark hue of magic. The time had come, I was there, the deed would be done, and it would all be over. I was so caught up in all of this that I barely noticed the blur that flashed across my vision right before the dagger struck home”

The commanding chief of the Royal Guard patiently waited just outside the door, along with the new recruit he had chosen to accompany him on his daily task. He had chosen this stallion to help him today not because the fact that he was new, but that he held great faith in him, He had instructed him the exact same way he did to every other guard that had helped him on this simple, yet crucial task. The new guard was to say nothing, and only bow as the chief did. The chief though, would do all the talking. On cue, the chief's beloved Princess Celestia stopped out into the dark corridor, with the only light coming from the guards' horns.

“Good evening Princess.” The chief recited as he always did.

“Why yes,” Pronounced Celestia, “And I take it this is the new guard you have much faith in?”

“Yes Indeed he is, now would you like us to proceed?”

The princess nodded, and the three began to walk down the hallway towards their destination. The journey was simple and routine, they started at one end of the castle in front of Princess Luna's room, and walked the length of the castle to Celestia's. Today was different though, normally, their route would lead them the opposite direction, and pass through the main hall. Yet tonight, they had to take a different path, to avoid disturbing the Royal Guard's meeting. This route was rarely traveled, and was not lit up like the casual one would be. This was an important day for the young guard, as the chief was not training just any guard, he was training his replacement. The chief loved serving the princess, yet he was looking forward to a relaxing retirement. Soon, he would have it.

Mere minutes into the escort, the chief noticed a subtle twinkle directly above them in the darkness, which he quickly dismissed. Yet a second later, there was the soft sound behind them of a small stone hitting the floor. The chief leaned over and whispered to the young guard to check it out, and he quickly disappeared into the darkness. A split second later, the chief did too, halting the illumination coming from his horn as he passed into the darkness. Yet the chief stayed there, just out of the light, waiting, because he recognized what the small twinkle was. He knew the small stone flew over their heads behind them, and it had to come from in front. Something was odd about this, and he quickly realized it as he saw a shift in the darkness beyond the princess. He waited. He could now see a dark form surging through the darkness. Yet before he could fathom what it was, the soft glow of magic appeared above the form. In a split second, the chief came surging out of the shadows, just before he knew he was too late to stop it. Just as he passed by, the object struck home.

“I closed my eyes as I was sent hurtling over a large figure, falling with my back to the floor. I had done it, I had succeeded, I had won. In my glory I opened my eyes. I didn't expect what I saw, nor did I believe it. When my eyes opened, I saw a large white pony standing over me. I couldn't tell if I was dreaming or if it was in reality, and I couldn't decide which before a blur of a hoof came out of nowhere. I felt a sharp pain, and then nothing.”
The Unicorn took a long breath and finished, “The next thing I knew, I was in this cage, trapped by the one pony I had sought to destroy.”

The stallion nodded and waited for a few seconds until the unicorn noticed. While the unicorn was deep within reliving his own story, he hadn't noticed that night had fallen, and that the stallion was now intently staring at him.

“We're here” The stallion muttered, “I don't mean to do this, but I have to leave you here now, the protection spell on the cage will wear off by sunrise.” The unicorn silently nodded, surprised by the stallion's sudden outbreak of speech. “As much as it hurts to say it, I must wish you a farewell, and let's hope our paths will not ever cross again”

To this, the unicorn shuddered, as he knew he would now be alone, more alone than he ever could have imagined. He sat there and watched as the stallion valiantly faded away into the distance, disappearing forever. The unicorn gave one final look up into the clear night sky, and found him staring at a star that was alone. The star reminded him of himself, alone in the vast expanse of the universe. He knew, he just like the star, would live out its life in utter loneliness, until the day it died. As he drifted off, the last feeling he had was of a warm tear falling from his face