Aldred: The Wizard on the Run

by DaringWizard

Chapter 5: Truths

"Y-you..." She said.

"Miss-" he was interrupted.

"Aldred... what happened, really?" Twilight said, trying to shake off her tears. She had gone through a breakdown earlier. It was just too much- all the things she had found out in such a short time made her feel like she knew nothing, and it had hurt her. Celestia never telling her about any of what Ivar knew, knowing the elements were stolen from a boy, knowing about the atrocities that had happened... the very thought Celestia could have done something like that- even if it was an accident... she couldn't take it. Aldred looked down at her with sad eyes.

"Please, miss, don't cry. I'm sorry." He said, and Twilight shook her tears off.

"What happened? I saw... your sister... you defected and-" at this moment, Aldred put a finger to her lips.

"Shhh, miss. Shhh... don't worry yourself over my troubles. You don't have to share my pain." Twilight moved away from him.

"But-!"

"I am fine, miss. Whether or not I defected needs not to be your concern. Please, do not ask me of my troubles." He said, Twilight stared.

"But... I..." Twilight stopped, then, a thought popped into her head, then many.

"Wait- the element of magic-"

"It's in a safe place. Do not worry."

"...Thank you..." Twilight said.

"Miss... I should be the one to thank you."

"Why?" Twilight asked, Aldred gave her a sad smile.

"You found the element of magic and took care of it for so long... thank you." Twilight smiled up at him, but it faded.

"Aldred- I need to ask you something. Two things, actually..." Twilight said, Aldred knelt down.

"What is it, Twilight?"

"Aldred..." There was a long silence, Twilight looked down at the floor.

"What is Twilight?"

"Do you have... regrets?" She asked, Aldred looked confused.

"Regrets?"

"About your... defection..."

"...Huh?"

"1028 C.E., ... Celestia had your family assassinated... and then... you defected." Aldred looked away from Twilight upon hearing this.

"I... no... I have no regrets." Aldred said, he stood up.

"You don't?" She asked.

"I'm loyal to the end- loyal to my purpose. My choices in life, I always think through. Celestia brought everything upon herself. I didn't want to defect originally... but when I started thinking about what was truly important to me... I realized nothing from my home world or Equestria... was important to begin with. I had nothing. Nothing except what I stood for."

"What do you stand for, then?" She asked, Aldred exhaled.

"...Do you remember me telling you five of the elements are fake? Do you know how I know that?" Upon hearing that, Twilight looked irritated.

"Their not fake!"

"I never said the elements themselves were fake- just the ones that you girls picked up were."

"W...what?" Twilight asked.

"No one but myself knows where the six real elements are... do you want to know?" Twilight looked up at him, anxiously. Aldred reached down his pocket and brought out a large gold plate adorned with five gems, with a small indentation at the center. The five gems hummed harmoniously.

"What is that...?" Twilight asked.

"This... is the pentacle of harmony itself- given to those who perfectly match the six elements of harmony- this one has all but one of the original elemental gemstones. Surely, it looks familiar?" Aldred asked, Twilight stared in shock.

"The indentation at the center-" She was cut off.

"The gem was ripped out a long time ago... take a guess as to where it is? See how it's shaped like a six rayed star?" Aldred explained, he pointed at the gems.

"Loyalty's lightning bolt, honesty's fruit of life, laughter's water of health, generosity's shield of strength, and the wings of kindness- the five powers of these gems set itself apart from any counterfeit- each has a distinct power within it. All can be used by anyone who has a pure heart... which is why I'm probably a disappointment to whatever gave it to me..." Aldred said, he looked ashamed.

"I don't blame you, Aldred... I don't think Celestia does either." Twilight said, Aldred turned to face the doorway.

"Someone's coming... Twilight?" Aldred said, he held out the pentacle to her.

"I may have only shown you a little of my good side- I'm not a monster, I hope I've proven to you that. So can I trust you to look after this pentacle for a while? I don't think it's safe with me anymore- until I get back the element of magic. Understand?" He said, Twilight stared at him for a few seconds, looked at the pentacle, and looked back at him. She nodded and took it with her magic.

"Thank you."

"And Twilight- it better be back in my hands when I come back. If not, my anger will be the least of your troubles. That thing is cursed, after all."

"What? Wait- there's one more thing I have to-" She asked, she blinked and he was gone, a knock came at the door, she used her magic to hide the artifact between two books on her shelf.

Shoot! I was going to ask him about him and Luna...

She opened the door to find Luna herself standing there, she looked anxious.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight exclaimed, sounding very surprised. She backed up and bowed.

"Is he here? Aldred?" She asked, Twilight shook her head.

"No..." Twilight said, Luna looked around the room.

"I heard you talking to him..." She said, she looked sad.

"...he just left..." Twilight admitted, eyeing the artifact.

Luna was silent, she looked around the room.

"I was a close friend with him... Celestia was, too. I was around the same age as him when I first met him... we were both taken from this world at around the same time... I'm still as young... physically speaking... as I was one thousand years ago... Aldred and I... we both share the same pain... Twilight... where is he?" She asked.

"I'm being honest with you, I don't know where he is- I... blinked and he was gone."

"Did he have a golden plate with him? One with six---- no... five gems on it?" She asked, Twilight eyed the artifact again, Luna didn't notice.

"Yeah...?" She answered, Luna looked relieved.

"Thank goodness..." She said, and she smiled, she turned and began to walk away.

"Princess-!" Twilight exclaimed, Luna turned around and looked at Twilight with sad eyes.

"Yes?"

"...Who was Aldred? Who was he really?" Twilight asked, Luna looked sad.

"...you know about his sister, Cyra?" Luna asked, Twilight nodded.

"...Aldred probably still doesn't know the truth... it was a complete accident, what happened... Aldred's mother defected, carrying a strange amulet with her- when Celestia fired a spell at her- it deflected off the amulet and fatally injured Cyra... I took her back to the hospital... but I was too late... Aldred doesn't believe Celestia when she says it was an accident... it was all too much for him... would you mind giving him this letter from me? It would help our situation." Luna said, her horn glowed and a letter materialized in the air.

"What is it?"

"...Don't read it, okay?" She said, looking nervous, Twilight nodded and set the letter down on her table, she turned to walk out the door.

"Princess-!" But the door shut. Twilight stood there, dumbfounded. I wonder... She thought, she took the letter and ran to the Everfree forest- Aldred emerged from behind a tree.

"How did you get here so quick?" Twilight asked.

"An unnecessarily painful teleport..." He said, and clenched his hip.

"What happened?"

"Lost focus thanks to that knocking sound, and I landed on my side..." He said, Twilight held out a letter.

"What's that?" He asked.

"A letter from Princess Lu-" She was interrupted as Aldred snatched it away.

"Yikes!" She exclaimed, Aldred read line after line, his eyes following each and every word with care, Twilight watched as he went pale... then, his face turned bright red, then, his eyes watered.

"Aldred?" She asked, Aldred flinched, then, took off like a rocket.

"Wait-! I need to ask you something about Princess Lu-!" She exclaimed.

"I'll tell you later!" He said, and he disappeared, like a blur.

There goes my opportunity to ask him... She thought.
--------------------------------------------

Aldred ran as fast as he could down the path to the five-way fork in the road.

"Luna?" He called, a zap could be heard in the distance, he ran towards it- down the second-to-leftmost path. He found himself at a bridge over a quiet river. It was peaceful and crickets where chirping. The moon hung high in the night sky.

"Luna!" He called, the moon shone down on him with a pale, silvery light, Aldred looked back down the path which he had taken, and then to the other side of the bridge.

Did I take the wrong way? He thought, but as soon as he turned to walk away, he heard a voice that begged his eyes to yield tears of joy.

"Aldred!" It called, he turned around to see the majestic Princess of the night, standing there. It was silent for a few moments... then, Aldred stepped forward, Luna took a few steps toward him, then, they ran toward one another. When they reached each other, they wrapped themselves in each other's embrace.

"I thought you were dead..." Luna said.

"As did I think the same for you... thank God I was wrong..." Aldred said, and they left each other's embrace.

"It's been too long... I missed you." Aldred continued, Luna smiled.

"I missed you, too... I'm sorry that this happened to you." She answered, Aldred gave her a sad smile.

"You weren't to blame." Aldred answered, a tear rolled down Luna's face.

"...We have much to catch up on." Aldred continued, Luna nodded her head.

"Come with me, I'll show you the place I've been staying." Aldred said, and they walked down the path and towards the old hut.

---------------------------------

"This is beyond Equestrian territory..." Luna remarked.

"Yes. A no-man's land of sorts. It's the one place I'm safe."

"Celestia offers you no harm-"

"Her guards chased me all the way to the edge of the forest... one shot an arrow in my back..." Aldred said, his face growing angry.

"...Oh... I didn't... know..." She said, she looked somewhat distressed at what he had said, Aldred loosened upon seeing her in her state.

"...Sorry- that was immature of me." Aldred replied, Luna's frown left her face, she gave him a sad smile.

"It's all right... I know your upset with my sister... but she really never meant for this to happen to you." Aldred gave Luna a dead-blank expression.

"I know you don't believe me... I hope one day we can mend this." She said, Aldred looked at her with a sad expression on his face.

"Aldred?"

"How did it feel... being up there for a thousand years... sleeping angrily...?" Aldred said, he looked up at the moon through the skylight.

"...I probably felt worse then you do now... Aldred... your not... mad at me, are you?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Aldred said.

"I didn't get your sister to the hospital in time... if I had moved quicker..." Aldred put his hand on the back of her neck in an effort to comfort her.

"You know I'm not mad at you. You didn't kill my family. You really did show the element of loyalty- to me... you never abandoned me and my kin- that's the reason people looked up to you. You brought laughter to the weeping- without you, my kind wouldn't have even come close to surviving. You brought us peace- didn't you notice how we only perform our high rituals during the night?" He said, Luna looked at him with wide eyes, then, she blushed.

"Y...you mean that was because..."

"You wanted your night to be appreciated- we owed it to you, and vowed to practice our high magic only during the night, if we could." Upon hearing this, Luna couldn't help but feel flattered.

"But... why?" She asked, Aldred knelt down to come to eye level with Luna.

"I owed it to you for all that you did back then... also..." Aldred said, Luna looked anxious.

"Also...?"

"Well... about your letter... let's just say that those rumors back then... they weren't completely inaccurate." Aldred said, he turned away to hide his face- which had turned bright red.

"A...Aldred..." Luna said, she was surprised that Aldred had the courage to admit what he had admitted.

"You remember that package you got that one Christmas? The one without a tag to tell you who it was from?" Aldred said, Luna's eyes went wide.

"That was you...?" She said, Aldred nodded.

"I wanted to give something back to you, Luna. That was my true intent- the rumors just misinterpreted it." Aldred said, but it was obvious he was hiding something.

"Aldred... you..." Aldred turned to walk away, but he didn't take four steps before his body was covered in a blue glow, and was yanked back to his original position- right in front of Luna.

"Thank you. I never got a chance to say that..." She said, Aldred's face went bright red, Luna smiled, and then walked away. Aldred looked down at the floor.

What should I do... what should I say? 'Luna... I meant more then what I said...' no! 'Luna... if there's anything you need----' no! Come on Aldred, think of something! He argued with himself mentally, but then realized Luna was gone. Then, he knew what to say.

"Luna?" Aldred said, Luna was at the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. Thanks for listening to me."

"I was about to say the same thing to you." Luna replied, and the door shut as Luna left. Aldred sat down on the couch with mixed feelings.

Author's Note:

Tell me what you think of this chapter in the comments- everything helps.

Comments

[Dragonlover553]

I am slowly getting more and more confused with this.