Celestia was in her bed reading, or rather studying on minotaur psychology. She was wondering how she could apply some of the reading abilities from the book over to Ethan. Was that even an option? Ethan never mimicked minotaur behavior, yet he looked somewhat similar to them. Celestia closed the book, realizing that whatever was written in that book couldn’t really help her. Ethan was too specific of a case, and the book was too broad in how to approach somepony with the knowledge one would obtain from the book.
Celestia wasn’t sure on much regarding Ethan anymore. Those years he spent away from Celestia, it had changed him. After Celestia admitted to what she had done to him, he just… left. He was gone, and it wasn’t until many years later that she would see him again, only with an ancient dagger standing over her with one intention. To kill.
The dagger was said to be one of nine relics that could truly kill an alicorn. The relic’s origin has never been uncovered, and probably never would. How Ethan came about the relic he wouldn’t tell. He said that he just had heard tales, and decided that if that was the only thing that could kill Celestia, then he had to find it. It is what drove him at the time, it made the situation he was in seem simpler when he had a simple goal.
Celestias lip began to quiver. She remembered how Ethan had looked at her when he was about to kill her. It wasn’t a face of a man who had claimed his victory. It was a face of a man who was disgusted. He had later explained that it was directed somewhat at her, but also towards himself. He felt disgusted by what he was about to do, he felt like he was doing something worse than what Celestia had did to him. When he was to kill her, he would condemn an entire country to lose a leader whom the people had revered for a thousand years. He would be written down in the history books as a villain, even if they would get the story wrong seeing as they would never know the whole truth had he succeeded.
She remembered that just as he was about to go in for the kill, one of her guards came to the rescue, shooting Ethan with a paralyzing spell. That is when the worst feeling kicked in. Celestia knew what she had done to him, but seeing him in the state that he was. The despair Ethan was in, it was truly gruesome sight to behold for Celestia. She suddenly realized truly what she had done, and how much what she did was affecting Ethan. It was after he had tried to kill her, and she had seen his face that she had to acknowledge that, no matter how hard she tried to repent for her sins, she might be alone for the rest of her life.
Luna respected Celestia. They were equal, but it felt as Luna had some hidden layer of fear towards her. She was the older sibling of the two, and if they ever were to go against each other, they both knew Celestia was the stronger alicorn and would win. She was her sister, but Celestia wanted something more. Twilight, though getting better still acts as if Celestia is the superior of the two. That is not what Celestia wanted, but she wasn’t going to force Twilight into anything.
Ethan, along with the four others are the only ones whom truly fulfilled her wishes, but all of them left her. And Ethan only came back to try and revert what Celestia had done to him, and the others.
All of this guilt and hate combined should be enough to break anypony. But Celestia, she decided to ignore these facts, and instead decided to believe that Ethan could come around. That one day they might go back to what they used to be. That on that day, she could truly be happy with Ethan by her side. And if Ethan could forgive her, maybe the others could too.
…
There it was. Celestia thought sadly to herself. “That SHE could be happy.” Everything involved her happiness. Ethan wasn’t happy. From where she laid right now, with all her reflection, it seemed as if nothing could ever truly make Ethan happy again.
Are these the thought that goes through Ethan? The thought that he might never be truly happy again? No matter how much you try to rationalize the subject, there doesn’t seem to be an ending where everypony is happy.
Celestia tried to change her mindset, she couldn’t begin to think like Ethan. It would serve nopony any good. Time has a tendency to change things. Time can fix most problems. Maybe that is what Celestia needed to give Ethan? Time to think, to come up with some other form of purpose rather than trying to kill… than to do what his purpose is now.
Celestia was brought out from her thoughts by the knocking on her door. Celestia realized she had been crying, and needed to look proper. She quickly cast the first spell that came to mind that would hide what she had been doing. It was an illusion spell. It was the simplest to cast, and it did the job well enough.
Before Celestia answered the door she coughed a bit, warming up her voice. “Yes, come on in.”
The door opened revealing the brightly lit hall outside Celestias room, whom had the blinds closed and just a single light on by her bed where she had done her studying.
The maid stallion nervously took a few steps into Celestias room. Maids rarely if ever were nervous around the princesses. But they knew of the prisoner in the dungeons and how that was driving their princess to be a bit more emotional than usual. But at least the maid had the comfort of bringing good news to their ruler.
“Good morning princess.” The mare maid shot out her chest just a little to seem more business oriented. “A message from the construction team, the room you asked for. It has been refurbished after you instructions, now all that remains is you coming and confirming it is done after your tastes.”
Celestia smiled relieved at the little mare in front of her which in turn made the maid relieved as well. “Thank you my little pony, I’ll be straight down to check once I tidy myself up a bit. Thank you for bringing these news to me.” Celestia nodded, silently dismissing the maid, and letting her return to her other duties.
Celestia, quickly got up and into her bathroom to clean herself up. She couldn’t be bothered to keep up her illusion spell all day, so she fixed herself up and went out into the hall.
The light from her sun washed over the white alicorn. The sunlight made Celestia feel refreshed. It was a welcoming feeling after all the heavy thinking and discussing she had been doing for the past few days.
The room wasn’t far away from hers, just as planned. It would make it easier for her to access it once everything was in place.
From her bedroom it was just a measly two rooms to her right, making the trip very short and uneventful. Though, once outside the doors leading in to the room she noticed the runes carved into the door, and around it. They served a magical purpose, to keep outsiders out from entering without Celestias express permission. Though they weren’t active yet. They needed Celestias magic to properly work as intended. And Celestia was planning on casting a few incantations of her own as well.
She entered the room, and was greeted by the chief of the project. Work Force.
“Greetings princess!” Work Force beamed at Celestia. He was clearly happy with how the room had turned out.
This in turn made Celestia happy. Seeing one of her subjects being proud of something they were passionate about was always something that would brighten her day.
“Good morning to you to Work.” Celestia looked around the room. The walls were colored a very dark royal purple, with the floor tiles being made of marble like every other room in this castle.
The roof was shaped like a half bubble, with a chandelier in the middle, lighting up the whole room with a nice shade of warm orange. Not unlike the orange you see in during sunrise.
“You really outdid yourself Work. It seems that with every project you just get better and better.”
Work beamed at the praise, from his princess ruler no less.
“Well, let me give you the tour. Everything is secured and bolted to the floor, like you asked, so pretty much everything you see is more or less immoveable. The things we couldn’t screw tight or bolt we cast an enchantment on, so only unicorn magic can move said objects. The Room has its very own bath, as well as a small kitchen area, though with no tools as if I recall you wanted to solve that yourself”
Work took a moment to recollect his thoughts.
“We also cast the runes on the door, and the doorframe like you asked. Alongside that we also made sure that the… uh… security measure was in place should the need arise.” Work Force finished.
Celestia was pleased, tough the reminder of the extra security measure reminded her of the harsh truth that still ached in the back of her mind. No matter how cozy this all seems, it still serves the same purpose as the cells in the dungeons. It just has a nice coat of paint covering the true purpose of the room.
“Thank you Work Force.” Celestia took a moment, wondering if she should admit what the room was about, but Work Force beat her to it.
“If I may ask Princess, but what do or who do you intend for this room to be used by.”
“I think you know.”
“The human.” Work stated.
“Correct. Believe it or not Mister Force, but you are doing me a huge favor by doing this, even if you do get compensated for it. Though I trust said compensation is enough for you to keep your digression regarding this room.”
Work nodded understandingly even though he didn’t see what his princess saw in the human. To go to such lengths for somebody that tried to kill you. The human must have left quite an impression for the princess to forgive him or something like that.
“For all I know, this room has been here all along princess.” Work stated. Clearly a lie, but Celestia understood what he meant by the statement.
She nodded appreciatively to Work Force.
He took notice in that Princess Celestia was lost in thought while she looked around the room. He took this as his queue to leave. “Thanks for doing business with you Princess.” He said and then he left Celestia alone in the room.
Now all that was left was to cast the spells that would bind this room to Celestias command, and and getting some utensils for the kitchen.
Celestia just hoped she would never have to use the security measure that she had asked to be installed.
Meanwhile down in the dungeons, Ethan laid in his cot thinking.
Wondering.
How would his life be had he just been able to forgive her. He was so tired of fighting. But if he didn’t fight for something, then he was afraid he might just lose his mind. What would he even do if he were to forgive Celestia, what would the outcome of that be. Would Celestia even trust him if he were to say he did forgive her? It has been years after all.
“What even drives me now?” Ethan muttered. Going after Celestia now seemed hopeless. Celestia wasn’t going to give up on trying to turn him over to her side, and so long as she was trying to do that he would never walk free until he did forgive her. He would be her prisoner until the end of time.
Ethan recalled the day she told him what she had done. It was fifteen years after they had realized they were something more than friends. Ethan was 39 at the time, and had resigned his hope of ever returning home in favor of building a new home, here with Celestia.
To Ethan this day felt like a lifetime ago. The day Celestia revealed what she had done.
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Celestia and Ethan were eating dinner together. It was something they rarely had time for as Celestia often needed to work during the evenings. It didn’t bother him much seeing as she was a ruler of an entire country after all.
They sat next to each other, the twilight sun just managed to shine through the windows. Still, candles were lit and the chandeliers hanging from the roofs would light up the room to a nice comfortable level for both parties.
Contrary to the beliefs of many, Celestia rarely ate in the main dining hall. That was usually reserved for the Grand galloping gala. Celestia ate in a smaller room, close to her office area, and with a decently sized table with enough room to have up to eight visitors. She felt it was more personal when she got to eat at the smaller table, as not only were she physically closer to her guests, but it was also easier to interact and talk to her visitors.
Ethan now had a permanent spot right next to Celestia, where they would eat together whenever she wasn’t working.
Celestia would often ask how Ethans day was, and he would answer with him still looking for something to do. The two years he had been living in the castle had been somewhat underwhelming for Ethan. He had tried to work in all sorts of businesses, both in the service industry, and to some degree the manager and leader industry. But it all seemed pointless, he just found that he didn’t really know what to do as he didn’t need the money. He was the boyfriend of a princess, so he had all the money he could ever want.
He had tried to paint, learn instruments, and while that kept him entertained for a while he still had a hard time coming up with new things to try and accomplish with all his newfound freetime. When Celestia was there, she always cheered him up, telling him the next thing he could try. His plans ahead were to try and write a book about his life. Seeing as he was an alien and he was the lover of the princess. A biography about himself was pretty much guaranteed to be a success, no matter how poorly written it would be.
After that he wanted to make a movie. Not cause he needed to, or wanted to, but it would be a long term project that he could work on. And if he didn’t like making a movie, Celestia suggested he could try and start up his own company. So many thing he could do. And if he failed at everything, at least he could say that his life wasn’t boring with all the things he got to try out.
The food they were eating was nothing extravagant. Celestia went with a salad with some turnips in it, whilst Ethan took a pair of eggs and a steak.
“So, how has your day been?” Celestia asked Ethan.
“Eh, not much has happened. I’m trying to come up with a script for the movie that I’m thinking about making. But I don’t really have a solid story in mind, and I don’t want to write a book and make a movie about myself as that would be kind of boring.”
Celestia smiled. Ethan wanted to achieve great things ever since he got together with her. He had all these big plans.
“Well, I think that no matter what you come up with, it will probably be a good movie.” Celesita said, wanting to encourage Ethan to do what he wanted.
“But maybe you should read a few books, get some inspiration. Maybe even ask the author of the book if you can make a movie based on their work?”
Ethan instantly lit up from his moody demeanor. “There’s an idea!” He exclaimed while pointing his fork at Celestia.
“Do you have any suggestions?” Ethan queried.
“This is your project, you’ll just have to read books and try and find the right one. If you don’t find it then you will still have gotten some ideas on what the story could be. Not only that, but you will have seen how ponies write, so you could get a better understanding on writing. A win regardless of the results.” Celestia smiled.
Ethan had listened intently. Celestia always seemed to have all the answers. “What would I do without you?” Ethan said, smiling as well.
Celestias heart just upped in tempo. There was something so satisfying about getting a complement from Ethan. He didn’t usually praise her unless he felt like she got him out of a sticky situation, or whenever she did something big, like finish big projects or get done with all her work in one sitting.
Celestia dropped her utensils, and walked behind Ethan, wrapping him up in her big wings, and leaning her head into his cheek. “You are a part of me Ethan, I would never let anything bad happen to you. I couldn’t imagine a life without you anymore.”
At first Ethan didn’t think much of it. He interpreted it as her just saying that she loved. He didn’t realize just how right and wrong he was at the same time.
Celestia let go of Ethan and sat back down in her seat. She looked expectantly at Ethan, wondering if he was going to say anything. But Ethan kept on eating like nothing had happened. It was only when he noticed how silent it was that he looked up to Celestia, wondering why she looked at him like she ecpected something from him.
“What?” Ethan asked, wondering why Celestia was so quiet.
“I… I just thought you would say something.”
“What do you mean?”
Celestia wanted to say something, yet she didn’t want to say anything. Every time she had admitted to what she had done, they often lashed out, and left.
“Celestia, what are you talking about?”
“I… Ethan, I’m curious. How long does humans live?”
Ethan, wasn’t sure what was going on. He was going to further question her.
“Depends what kind of lives we live. But I’d reckon about 80 is the average. Why? Does this have something to do about how I still look young?”
Celestia had figured he would catch onto it at some point, but she found it odd that he hadn’t asked about it before now.
“How young would you say you look?”
“Well, I look like I’m still 27. I thought it had something to do with the ambient magic that I kept hearing so much about from Starswirl The Bearded.”
Celestia was now unsure of yourself. Ethan seemed scared. Unsure about himself.
“Ethan… what would you say, hypothetically, if I were to tell you would live forever?”
Celestia was good at keeping a straight face, but Ethan could see that Celestia didn’t want to say it out loud. He was going to live forever.
“You… You made me immortal?”
Celestia knew he would see through her question.
“You made me immortal without taking it up with me first?!”
Celestia didn’t want to be here right now. But she was responsible for what was about to happen.
Ethan looked at Celestia completely dumbfounded. He seemed confused. Hurt. Then without a warning he stood up and left the room in a hurry.
Celestia wanted to follow, and she was just about to, but she was scared of what she might see. What she might have caused. She wanted to comfort him when he seemed so broken, but she was the cause of the pain he currently felt. She instead voted to just sit where she was and wait for a while. Maybe tomorrow they could talk about the subject further.
Ethan looked at the wall. To this day he didn’t know what he could have done differently. The damage was already done by Celestia. And judging from the fact that he still looks about as old as a guy in his late twenties, she must have given him immortality long before he could even think about the subject and bring it up to her.
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Ethan had spent many years wandering. Wondering on how to approach his now unlimited time. He had done everything he said he would do. He published his biography, he made a movie which got rated average. He even made a company, but it ended up failing, losing to competitors who had access to way more resources than Ethan.
He met many griffons, minotaurs and dragons. He had decided that leaving Equestria was the best approach. He didn’t want to be found by Celestia. He was scared, afraid of what she would do if she found him.
He did everything he set out to do, only without Celestia. He was miserable the entire time, casue he couldn’t help but think that when he was done, what was he going to do next?
He was way over 100 years old when he decided to actually go through with his plan. He had done everything he could think of to try and burn time. To find some purpose in life. The only thing that he felt truly gave him some purpose at this point was the thought of his story coming to an end. To End it all.
It was only in his later years that he met Twilight. He got to learn that she was the student of the Princess he used to love, but she didn’t know him. It left him in a favorable position to learn what Celestia had been up to. He made friends with Twilight, and claimed he was a deformed minotaur so that she wouldn’t accidentally call attention to himself should Twilights letters involve him somehow.
He later learned from Granny smith that there were tales of the “period of searching”, from a generation ago. The story went that Celestia had initiated a country wide search for her long lost sister who didn’t really exist. The ponies had though that Celestia might had gone mad, but when the search stopped ten years after it had been initiated, the rumors died down, and most ponies chose to ignore this dark period. It was only when Luna truly returned that the ponies acknowledged that Celestia hadn’t gone mad, but had just lost track of when Luna was supposed to return. Ethan knew this wasn’t the case however.
What the ponies didn’t know was that Celestia had been searching for him for those ten years.
Ethan is a very old man at this point. Tough, part of him hates himself for not being able to throw away the notion of killing Celestia. He had tried to kill himself many times, through many different means. Even when he found the dagger he stabbed himself, hoping it would be the thing that would kill him. But nothing worked. “You are a part of me Ethan…” That part still lingers, and is what gave him the idea that killing her could make him mortal again.
How he so hated the situation he was in. He hated the pony he loved the most, and no matter what he does, there doesn’t seem to be a happy ending for all parties involved.