//------------------------------// // To be no one // Story: I am no hero // by CeresBane //------------------------------// A once great and proud pony told me that a hero is not born but they are chosen. They live their lives in servitude of the people and often times it was merely their fate to be and not because they chose to serve themselves. I had that honour, but because of it I will never forgive myself. And she will never forgive me. The Canterlot streets were a complete disaster. The worst of the tragedies of hard times always starts with the aftermath. Ponies around you died, homes were destroyed, livelihoods are gone overnight and a single filly will never be the same again. That hope of the worst having passed, that feeling of hope for a better tomorrow feeling so far away from reach. The feeling of being one of those that survived. Here I was, cloak hooded over my face and myself hidden in the throng of people. Beside me, she watched as they all did, the royal guard and various stewards stood in the remains of the market square. They were helping the ponies who lined up single file into a long snake of equine vagabonds. Nobles and commoners for a short window of time united in their efforts to help their endless fellow ponies, handing out food for the homeless and alms for the poor. While the royal guard kept a sombre vigil of any riotous happen-stance should they occur. But her eyes were not looking at those things. She watched intently as a royal guard hammered a nail into the square's grand bulletin board while his colleague stood atop a soap box to proclaim to the masses. In all actuality, there were just two posters among hundreds of missing that stood to garner the attention of the mare by my side. "Wanted! A nameless ne'er do well who's charges include treason against the crown and kingdom, murder, subterfuge and espionage. A reward of fifty million bits are available for the pony who captures this person dead or alive. He is grey coated, silver maned and golden eyed and of this likeness." The town crier cried out. He pointed to a poster of such menacing demeanour as to almost seem to not be me. But that likeness was me all right. Undeniably, but a little unfamiliar. Perhaps it was a demeanour I had worn in the past, or even a past life. It was such a long time ago for me to recall with certainty. "So she refuses to even acknowledge my name." My help. My heroism. She will forever want me gone. For you see, heroes are not killers. The little filly tried to speak but I put a hoof over her mouth. The crier had more to say. And honestly, there would be too much to explain. "Missing! Twilight Sparkle. Personal pupil of princess Celestia. Reported to have been kidnapped. A ninety billion bit reward for her return and a significant percentage for any confirmed information given onto her whereabouts." The crowd who were previously a raucous of jeers and chaotic mumbling and whispering became dead silent for a short second. The element of magic and by extension, the elements of harmony was no longer around to defend the kingdom. Everypony saw, they were instrumental in the saviour of Canterlot. With Twilight Sparkle gone the other elements were useless. The money was the last thing on their minds. Equestria did not have a saviour. "This is your last chance to return. We'll never come back." I said to her. Twilight Sparkle merely bowed her head down. I could hear her sobbing ever so slightly, tears were spattering on cobblestone floor. And then she inhaled deep, raising her head holding back the feelings in her heart, the doubt and fears and sadness. She looked at me, her eyes focused with her determination to remaining unyielding to her weakness. The determination to ignore the temptation to return to the ponies she loved and adored. Because she knew despite her hopes, that not a single one of them loved her anymore. "I need to leave this place. I am no hero. I am a murderer." I smiled a sad smile. For you see I was the one who created the chain of events that would lead to this child's first sin. Maybe someday I can tell her that, but until then I will take care of her until she is ready to return to defend Equestria. Just as I was. Unashamed but not unafraid, -Somewhere in the ambiguous past- A mournful cry echoed across the dark and stormy night. Before the throne I held my bloodied sword, feeling and tasting the iron tang of an evil pony. Celestia held the torn asunder carcass of a once great unicorn. Her pale snow white coat in ruins as the redness of her blood splashed across her features. Her once mighty horn snapped in two, no longer protruding from her beautiful ebony mane. My sword clattered to the ground. "Snow white is dead. Equestria is saved." I proclaimed coldly and matter of factually. No one was alive to cheer at the proclamation. I was too late to stop the worse of it all. Over the din of Celestia's horrid, sorrowful crying my words rang out within myself and I almost felt regret. "Your majesty. She was a traitor. She sought to overthrow you. She undermined our military, she made plans for an invasion. She killed countless members of the court. I saw with my own eyes!" She ignored me completely, in her eyes her whole world was in her arms, dead and murdered. "Your highness..." I hesitated to speak the necessary words, but I held just enough steel to brave what I was about to say. "Your daughter was a changeling." I was afraid, when I said those words. But I had faith. The truth is pure. It was cruel, but truth was the face of justice. Celestia would understand, surely. Her grief was so strong as to stain the very walls for eons. She didn't want to acknowledge anything but the ideal. The truth was far from her mind at the moment. In her eyes she must still see the beautiful unicorn filly that was once Snow White. But I see the black incompleteness of a changeling. Her corpse stinking of the citric acidic blood that carried the corrupt love in her veins. "Queen Celestia!" I shook her. Desperate, almost panicking. How do you calm a pony who you have never seen so distraught? To my relief I finally received a response. She levitated me with her telekinesis and instantly I let my instinct dispel her magic. Had I not stopped her, there was enough force in her magic to smash my ribs into fractures. I pulled her away, her futile attempts to throw me made useless by my special talent against magic. She struggled against me at first but she eventually relented, her head bowed, her mane deflated and flat and her white coat ruined with gore. "Your highness the invasion starts within a few hours. We need you to get to safety, rest assu- What?" Celestia mumbled something. "-urderer... Murderer! MURDERER!" Celestia shone like the sun of her divinity's claim. Her eyes aglow with power and wisps of solar energy seeping from her eyes. There was rage there that spoke of worlds ending in fire and brimstone. "WE, PRINCESS CELESTIA, PROCLAIM YOU EXILED FOR CHARGES OF MURDER OF OUR OWN DAUGHTER, OUR COURT AND INCITING INVASION ONTO OUR KINGDOM." Her voice boomed of such magnitude that it made the foundations of the palace rumble. "I order you to flee from this place, for if you set foot in Equestria ever again. I will kill you myself." I didn't want to, but I heard and obeyed. I ran and never stopped.