Aldred: The Wizard on the Run

by DaringWizard

Chapter 2: Secrets

The guards escorted Twilight into Celestia's castle. She opened the door and saw the majestic princess standing there, waiting for her. She looked very distressed and sad until she saw Twilight there, then, it was replaced by relief.

"Twilight... where have you been? I've had search parties all over the place."

"I slipped and fell off the trail while looking for the elements... and I lost consciousness." Twilight said, trying to keep her cool.

"Do you have them?" Celestia asked, Twilight nodded nervously, as she used her magic to bring the five elements she actually had, out of her bag.

"Laughter... Honesty... Kindness... Loyalty... Generosity... Where's your element?" Celestia asked, Twilight stared at the floor with sadness.

"Some... creature took it... It's weird... I've never seen anything like it... it called itself a 'human', I think?" Twilight answered, Celestia stared in surprise, but her expression softened.

"Was his name was 'Aldred' by chance?" Celestia asked, Twilight looked up at her.

"Yeah... how did you know?"

"I had a run-in with him a while ago... I met him while I was looking for you." Celestia answered, she looked to the guards.

"Put all of Equestria that's within a ten-mile radius of the Everfree forest under curfew. Bring him to me, alive, and well." The guards nodded, Twilight looked surprised.

"I realize I haven't told you about the humans. Their history has been nearly lost here in Equestria, they are an ancient species much older then ours. Some say we owe our existence to them... others claim they are hostile to our kind and should be avoided."

"Well, that one sure was... and was mad to the point he stole my element..."

"...Yes... but if they are hostile to us... we only have ourselves to blame... or at least... I do..." Celestia said, she looked out the window.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"...Half of Equestria was treating them like sub-species, animals... simply because they are so different from us- their diet, their clothing, their traditions... and their overwhelming magical power..." Celestia's voice trailed off and she looked over to her throne. She walked towards it and pressed on the cushion, after a few seconds it fell backward- revealing a hidden hallway.

"Come this way, these are my private archives- you'll find more answers here." She said, they began to walk down a long, brick-walled, torch-lit hallway.

"You're right about them having magical power... the trail he was on was made of clay and he was able to shape it into snakes- and make them come alive... it's scary, actually." Twilight said.

"Yes, humans have a knack for creating golems- creatures born of clay... if he wasn't on a clay-rich trail, they may have been able to stop him." They passed by a bunch of paintings of humans, Twilight looked at them in awe- why didn't Celestia tell her?

"...No... they wouldn't have." Twilight said, Celestia stopped to look at her.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"He... had some help... I just know it." Twilight said, Celestia looked very confused at her student.

"When he was confronted by the guards... after changing the clay into snakes, he looked up to the sky and shouted this strange... language." Twilight said, Celestia stared.

"When he did, some golden energy of some sort descended and... it was absorbed into him... after that he was capable of spells I've never even seen before... he caused a firewall... was able to throw giant boulders... and cause the water from the river to crash down on some of the guards... Celestia- do you know what it is? What was it that he called out to?" Celestia stared in shock, bombs went off in her mind, a thousand red flags rose, and her heart pounded in her chest.

"Magicae Princeps..." Celestia whispered.

"What?"

"Aldred is one of the 'Magicae Princeps'- the Princes of magic... advanced practitioners who are so powerful... not even the elements of harmony could hold a candle against them." Celestia said, she looked frightened.

"What? That can't be possible." Twilight said, Celestia shook her head.

"I've seen it with my own eyes, we tried to banish them because they were getting too powerful... too... dangerous... but when we confronted them- the elements didn't even respond to us... they responded... to them... even though Luna and I were wearing them..." Celestia said, Twilight stared in awe, then, her eyes went wide, then they turned angry.

"Is that the reason why they detest us?" She said, Glaring at her mentor, Celestia stopped, confused. Then, she understood why her faithful student- who's faith was about to be tested - was mad at her.

"Twilight-"

"You banished them because of their power? From what I could tell, they don't want anything to do with us!" Twilight said.

"They were frightening our citizens! Their power was-"

"What about 'Kindness', 'Loyalty', 'Honesty', 'Generosity', and 'Laughter' didn't we understand back then? There's no wonder the elements couldn't be used!" Twilight said, her rage was getting the best of her- How could Celestia do this?

"Please- please understand... they- they made me do it- I had no choice..."

"Who? Who made you do it?"

"The-the high council... they said there was no other way... I-" But Celestia stopped as Twilight turned to walk away.

"You come back here, Twilight! Please, let me finish!" She exclaimed, Twilight stopped and turned to look at her mentor.

"After hearing a story like that... I don't want the title 'princess' anymore. Good-bye." Twilight said, and she walked away.

Why won't anyone listen to me to the part when I say... I was at death's door because of one of them? Celestia thought, her heart began to ache.

"Is this guilt I'm witnessing, Celestia?" A voice said.

"Aldred-!?" Celestia exclaimed, she shot her head up.

"If so, blame yourself. You started this, not the high council." Aldred said, he stepped out from behind a wall and into the doorway leading down the hallway.

"You sent me that letter asking me to heal you and this is how you repay us!? How dare you!" He faded away as if nothing was there- she was just hallucinating, but her heart ached even more then before.

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Twilight slammed the door open and shut it with an even greater force. She trudged upstairs and grabbed a bag- and stuffed a multitude of books into it.

"Twilight? What are you-" Spike was interrupted.

"Pack your things, we're leaving." Twilight said.

"What? What happened?" Spike asked.

"I'll tell you when we're far away from here." She said.

"Twilight-! Twilight, stop! Twilight-! TWILIGHT!" He said, Twilight stopped to look over at him.

"...does it have anything to do with this?" Spike said, he held up a scroll, on it was written letters that were obviously rapid-written and scrawled on the page. Twilight rolled her eyes and read it.

Twilight,

If you detest me for the little things I have told you about, then I do not blame you. But the times I spoke of were very dark. I never wished to banish the boy or his kind, I tried to tell you that while they were treated as a sub-species... they also treated us the same. Well, some of them, anyway. The boy you met was the one that once stood out, the one that brought us together and could live in harmony together... he was a true hero. But while Equestria accepted them, we were smaller in number compared to the humans. For every pony that accepted them, there were hundreds of humans that accepted us, and only slightly less detested us. Almost half of the humans would turn violent at the sight of us; the dark times were not over... it may been sparked by Luna's initial banishment... I do not know for sure, I may never, but I beg you, if not as a friend or a mentor, then as a princess, please do not hate me for my past."

Celestia

Twilight read the note over and over again, and, reluctantly, she put down her bag.

"...Twilight?"

"Never mind, Spike... I'm sorry, I just got into an argument with Celestia..." She answered, Spike looked at her worried.

"It's all right... Twilight?" Twilight began to unpack her books.

"Yeah?"

"What happened? And, what's a 'human'?" Spike asked, Twilight looked up to the ceiling, then down to the floor.

"Twilight?" Spike asked, Twilight gave him a blank expression, then, she walked over to the closet, and pulled out a raincoat. She walked towards the door and Spike followed.

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"R-remind me w-why we're going into the Everfree forest a-again?" Spike asked.

"To find the human I was telling you about." Something hissed in the bushes- a common garden snake, but Spike jumped nonetheless.

"Gah!" Spike shouted.

"Shhh! Quiet! Remember why we're here, Spike!" Twilight said, they walked until they came to the five-way fork in the road Twilight had been at earlier. They walked down the leftmost path, and continued to follow it, they stopped. Spike hopped down and reached his hand to the ground and picked up some black, powdery material.

"Ash? It's still warm..."

"He used a spell to try to get away from the guards- three, actually- see how he was able to throw those boulders? And look there- the ground is still soaking from when he threw the water from the river." Twilight said, Spike looked scared.

"H-he did all this? Twilight... maybe we should-"

"No. He has the element of magic... if I can't get it back from him, I want to know why he took it..." She said,

Or as he puts it, took it back... She thought, they looked around and found a path with strange tracks on it- made by shoes, no doubt.

"He went down this path. See how spread apart they are? They were made by something... him... running... these are his tracks, no doubt about it." She said, they began to follow them down the slope and they followed a red, dirt trail to a stream of fresh water.

"Uhm, Twilight? This is off the maps!" Spike exclaimed, Twilight stared at him, then turned her attention away from him to the edge of the stream where two deep depressions lay.

"These aren't tracks... he knelt down here... to take a drink, probably... then he got up... and walked over towards-" Twilight stopped as a shadowy figure emerged from behind a tree, Wearing dark blue robes with silver rims, identical to Aldred's. Spike yelped and hid behind Twilight. It removed it's hood to reveal itself to be a man with long, flowing black hair with a long beard and mustache, probably in his thirties.

"We mean you no harm." He said.

"W-we!?" Spike yelped, the man outstretched his arm and pointed behind Twilight and Spike, they turned to see three figures, one with crimson-red robes and bright red rims, one with white robes and golden rims, and one green robes and bronze rims. Twilight couldn't see their faces.

"Watch for intruders- make sure nobody sneaks up on us!" The man said, and the three figures went down the path to take watch. The man knelt down next to Twilight and Spike, he bowed his head.

"It is a pleasure... your royal highness." He said, he brought his head up, and smiled, his eyes glowing bright green in the afternoon sun with pride, and amongst it, excitement and hope, he got up and started for a short path.

"Come. We have much to discuss." The man said, and they walked inside a small hut.

Comments

[Dragonlover553]

So Celestia's reasoning is that anything stronger than her should be destroyed.... No. Just, no. With that kind of logic, mankind should march on the Gates of Heaven.