The Gift of Life Chapter 16
Three days later...
“She should be brought to justice for the crimes she has committed! The unicorn of the century now lies dead by her hooves! Don’t you all think there should be a punishment for such an injustice?” shouted an Earth Pony from across the delegation chambers.
A roar of cheers and angry exclamations erupted across the entire congress that had been gathered. The order of the hearing had been disrupted by this pony’s speech against her own sister, causing Celestia to sigh and rub her hooves on her temples. She stared across at the pony who was continuing to shout even as the roar of cheering drowned him out.
“I should hope Fanatic will cease with his incessant preaching,” said Orion, one of the members of the High Unicorn Council. “There is enough civil unrest as is. There is no need to put more kindle to the flame or we shall soon have a bonfire on our hooves.”
Celestia sighed again and lay her head down on her hooves. “Starswirl was loved by many of the ponies who are present today. It doesn’t matter if they are an earth pony, a unicorn, or a pegasus; they all want justice in the same barbaric manner. Blood for blood. An eye for an eye. They don’t even understand the complications that were involved with his death.”
“Nor will they ever.” Orion said as he stood in his seat and cleared his throat. He levitated a mallet and began to slam it on the gavel that was on his desk. “Order in the house! I repeat, order in the house!” he shouted, increasing the volume of his voice.
Everypony that was present quickly silenced their voices upon hearing one of the members of the High Unicorn Council. They sat back into their chairs and directed their full attention at Orion, who merely cast his hard gaze across the room. He then sat back down and shuffled some of the papers he had on his desk before he began to speak.
“We did not come here to discuss the death of our beloved Starswirl the Bearded,” he said, “We did not come here to rant and demand that justice be served to a filly who, as far as we know, was not in control of herself at the time. I would like all of you to keep in mind that she is to be one of the successors to both King Sol and Queen Galactica. I suggest you treat her as such.”
“That is the exact reason why she should be brought to justice,” Fanatic said from across the room. “One of our so called ‘future leaders’ has openly killed the most powerful among us mortal ponies. We should not sit idly by and assume that we have been told adequate details about the story that has been spun. Instead, we should asks ourselves the reason as to why Princess Luna killed Starswirl. Why did she choose to kill somepony as popular and as powerful as he?”
“Mr. Fanatic, if you could please sit down so that we-” Orion started to say, but was cut off by Fanatic.
“No, Orion. This issue needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed today. Have you forgotten that Starswirl was on the High Unicorn Council with you? Have you no sorrow for your fellow compatriot? Have you no bitterness for the villain who murdered him? How can you continue to lead this congress with such stoicism?”
Celestia ground her teeth, but she remained quiet as Orion replied to Fanatic.
“You are speaking of matters that do not concern you nor do you have any knowledge of. I suggest that you silence your tongue and allow us to proceed to the topics of the day.”
“I believe Starswirl’s death concerns all of us, sir. The unicorn was wise, powerful, and charismatic. He hosted charities for the poor, healed the sick, improved living conditions in Fillydelphia, and created over a hundred new spells over the course of his life. It would be an understatement to say that he was merely a hero of the ponies of Equestria.”
Fanatic hopped up onto the table.
“So, why did Princess Luna kill Starswirl the Bearded?” he asked. “Did she do it out of fear? Out of spite? Did she do it because her parents, King Sol and Queen Galactica, told her to do so? Did that come across any of your minds?”
There was a murmur rising up amongst the ponies of the congress, and Fanatic turned to fix his eyes directly on Celestia. She met his gaze with eyes as cold as ice while the feathers of her wings stood on end. He spoke again, slowly walking towards her.
“The diarchy of Equestria telling their daughter to murder the most influential and powerful mortal pony in existence. Sounds like something out of a suspense novel, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t put it past them. Look at what they did with the drought two years ago. Instead of finding an alternative source of food for us to eat, they instead passed a bill to limit the amount of food everypony was able to purchase.
“Ponies starved, fought, even killed to get enough food to feed their families. The citizens of Equestria began to grow restless as the months dragged on. We never received the increased rations of food we were promised every day.”
Fanatic stopped in the middle of the table and looked to everypony that was staring up at him before continuing.
“There was one pony that was keeping our hopes high through the months, however. Starswirl the Bearded distributed food to the ponies in Fillydelphia with unmatched generosity. As many of us know, in any other city, the richer you were the more rations you could get at the market through bribery. Starswirl prevented that in Fillydelphia, managing to give equal and healthy rations to everypony who came to the market each day.
“He was a hero of the ponies, able to keep everypony’s hopes high through the harshest of months. He received no help from the alicorns that stayed cooped up in their castle, afraid to meet the faces of their increasingly angry citizens. What more of a motive was this to remove him?”
Fanatic turned to look at Celestia again and began to make an even more confident advancement towards her. Murmurs of agreement and surprise began to build up through the delegates of the congress.
“Queen Galactica and King Sol meant to remove Starswirl three days ago. They invited him into the castle, bribed or threatened the other members of the High Unicorn Council, and then had Princess Luna kill him in cold blood in the castle throne room. He didn’t die from some magic accident, a falsity that has been spreading around the tabloids. It was our beloved king and queen, our beloved princesses, who murdered Starswirl the Bearded.”
Another round of cheering erupted from the delegates of the congress. Fanatic stopped directly in front of Celestia, both ponies staring into each other’s eyes with pure hatred. Celestia’s wings were fully extended, making her seem much larger than the earth pony that stood before her.
“You will pay for what you have done, Celestia,” Fanatic said, “You, your mother, your father, and your precious little sister. The ponies of Equestria shall see you hung from the gallows before the year’s end.”
Celestia gave Fanatic one last look and then turned to leave. She could feel his eyes carve into the back of her neck like a knife, but she never turned around to meet his eyes again.
~~~
Celestia stood in front of the doors to her parent’s study. She gazed at the intricate carvings that decorated the door, as she had many times before. It never failed to amaze her the amount of time and effort that probably went into creating these magnificent doors. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
The echo of the knocks rang through the halls of the castle, and Celestia waited patiently until the doorknobs clicked and turned. Her father stood at the door and looked down at her. The light that was pouring in from the windows behind him gave a slight shimmer to his hair. She once again reflected how handsome of a stallion her father really was.
“Celestia! What are you doing back from the delegation hearing so soon?” Sol asked.
“The meeting never took place, Daddy,” Celestia replied, looking down and scraping her hoof on the floor.
“Oh, what happened? Come in and we’ll talk about it.”
Celestia walked in after her father and heard the massive door shut behind her. She took a seat over by the far window and looked out over the city of Everfree. She saw that there were ponies walking to and fro along the many streets that snaked their way between houses and shops. Smoke rose from the many chimneys, no doubt filling parts of the city with the sweet smelling smokiness of burning wood.
Her father took a seat next to her and gazed out at the city with her. “So, what is the matter?” he asked.
“There was an earth pony at the delegation today. He managed to bring the whole meeting to a halt so that he could give a speech. All of the ponies cheered to his cause.” Celestia paused and looked at her father.
“What was the speech about?”
“H-he accused us, you, Mother, Luna, and I, of conspiring to kill Starswirl the Bearded. He said that because Starswirl had become such an influential pony among the citizens of Equestria that we felt the need to remove him. He said that we were afraid of the power and charismatic aura Starswirl had, so both you and Mother had Luna kill him and bribed the other members of the High Unicorn Council to remain silent.”
When Celestia had finished there were tears forming on the edges of her eyes. She tried to hold them back in front of her father, but one managed to slide down her cheek and drip down onto the floor. She looked down, hiding the tears that were now streaming down the side of her face.
Celestia heard her father get up and then sit right next to her. He extended one of his massive wings around his daughter and gave her a gentle kiss at the tip of her horn.
“What else did he say?” Sol asked.
“He... Threatened all of us, Daddy,” Celestia replied, “He said that the ponies of Equestria will see us hung by the end of this year.”
Celestia rubbed her face against her father’s coat, soaking his fur with her tears. He hugged his daughter close and gazed out across Everfree again. He spotted a couple of carriages leaving the vicinity of the city and turning different directions towards the cities of Equestria.
“What was the pony’s name?”
“His name was Fanatic,” Celestia said, as she too turned back to gaze out across Everfree again.
~~~
“Sir, there is no sign of Fanatic anywhere within the city,” said a Royal Guard, “We think he may have returned to Fillydelphia.”
“Are you sure you have checked the entire city?” King Sol asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Alright, return to your post.” Sol sighed.
The guard gave a salute and quickly left the throne chambers. Sol and Galactica had seated themselves on their throne chairs in front of the window overlooking the city of Everfree while Celestia and Luna took their seats to the right of their mother. Luna stared at the ground while Celestia tried to comfort her sister by putting a wing around her.
“We’re going to need to contact the mayor of Fillydelphia and tell him of Fanatic. I hate to have to do this but the very structure of Equestria is at stake,” Sol said, looking over at Galactica.
“I agree with you, Sol,” Galactica said. “Fanatic is dangerous and charismatic. No doubt that if he returns to Fillydelphia he will begin to rally ponies to his cause. We need to send an emissary as quickly as possible to the city.”
Galactica looked over to her daughters and her eyes immediately softened. “Celestia, could you hurry and get one of our messengers?”
Celestia nodded and then looked at Luna. “I’ll be right back, little sister. Sit tight.”
When Luna didn’t respond, Celestia frowned and got to her hooves. She quickly trotted out of the throne room and turned down the hall that would lead to the barracks. When she reached the door, she gave a knock and waited for somepony to answer. The door opened.
“Hello, Celestia! What brings you to the barracks?” Firemane asked.
Celestia smiled slightly and leaned forward to give Firemane a kiss on the cheek. “We need one of our fastest pegasus messengers,” she said.
“Oh, okay,” Firemane said. He turned back to look inside the barracks. “Cloud Breaker! Get your flank to the throne room immediately!” he ordered before he turned back to Celestia. “You look distressed, is something wrong?”
Celestia paused for a moment and looked down at her hooves. “Could we discuss this later tonight?” she asked.
“Of course, honey,” Firemane said, leaning his head down so he could meet Celestia’s eyes. She looked at him one last time, gave him another quick kiss, and then trotted back to the throne room.
When she entered she saw that Orion was now standing before the two throne chairs. She quickly trotted over next to her sister, noticing that Luna had now slightly glanced up as their parents and Orion were talking.
“Your majesties,” Orion started, “if you could please hear me out for a second. What you are attempting to do right now will not quell the situation. If anything, we might have an even more dire problem on our hooves.”
“The problem is already dire, Orion, but please, speak your mind,” Galactica replied, leaning a bit forward in her chair.
“The pony known as Fanatic is more clever than any of us would think. I was present as he recited his speech in the quorum today. Although he may have looked like another pony who revere Starswirl as his idol, behind his words there was an underlying motive that couldn’t have easily been picked out. I’m not sure if Celestia saw it, but I spotted it as soon he looked at the princess.”
Orion looked over at the two princesses, who were hugging one another. He turned back to look at Sol and Galactica.
“His words were not those of a common conspirator. No, they were well drawn out and even had motivation at their roots. They didn’t seek to plant ideas into the other minds of the ponies present at the congress, they sought to rally the ponies under a cause that had all captivated their hearts.”
Orion started to pace back and forth in front of the throne chairs. Sol and Galactica remained completely silent, watching the elder unicorn walk back and forth.
“By Starswirl’s beard was he successful. The ponies inside the quorum were practically shouting for the removal of you four from the throne. I don’t know if many of them will follow through with what they were chanting inside that room, but if Fanatic is able to lull some of the leaders of Equestria into a near riot, imagine what he can accomplish with the masses?”
“And why would us sending an emissary to Fillydelphia to apprehend the pony be worse off than doing nothing at all?” King Sol asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I never said you should do nothing at all, but Fanatic is a leader, your majesties.” Orion began, “He isn’t the type of leader that the ponies of Equestria are looking for or are in need of right now. No, he is the type of leader who needs the ponies of Equestria. By the looks of his face and the maliciousness of his voice, he has his own agenda and the ponies who will follow him are just a means to an end.
“Fanatic has the charismatic power to lead ponies to their deaths if he has to; ironic considering his name. In that room with all of the other pony delegates, I could feel the dissension and anger in the room caused by one pony’s words. If you were to remove him quickly, the citizens of Equestria would only see his words to be the actual truth rather than the true falsities that they are.”
Queen Galactica and King Sol remained quiet for a few long moments. Neither said a word as they continued to look at Orion. Celestia and Luna looked on as the air felt tense enough to constrict their throats.
“What would you suggest we do, Orion?” Galactica finally said, standing up from her chair with her husband and walking to the foot of the stairs.
“I suggest that you two wait out the initial onslaught of Fanatic’s preaching. I have a feeling that if you ignore him-”
Orion was cut off as the doors to the throne room were suddenly pushed open an a pegasus came galloping forward with two Everfree guards following behind him. He stopped behind Orion, causing the High Unicorn Councilman to move out of the way. The pegasus took a moment to catch his breath.
“You’re from Fillydelphia, aren’t you?” King Sol asked.
“Yes, your majesty. I flew here as quickly as I could. I assure you of that.” the pegasus said, straightening himself out and giving a salute to the king and queen.
“What news do you bring us?” Galactica inquired, raising an eyebrow.
“Riots have broken out in Fillydelphia, your majesty.” the pegasus said, “Ponies are congregating in mass in many parts of the city and are violently threatening to overthrow major buildings of the city. The guards have managed to restrain from using force to keep the ponies back, but there is only a matter of time before the citizens of Fillydelphia grow too restless.”
“How could riots have broken out so quickly?” Sol asked, looking over at Orion. The pony looked dumbfounded at the news. “Do you know who is leading these riots? What are they for?”
“The ponies demand retribution for the death of Starswirl the Bearded. They want Princess Luna dead.”
~~~
Night had fallen upon Everfree. Celestia stared out from the balcony of the highest spire of the castle, the Tower of the Stars. She could see every building from her view, as well as the forest that surrounded the city and then the little cottages beyond. Smoke rose from those cottages as the ponies who lived in them were burning freshly cut wood to keep themselves warm against the chilly night air.
Celestia felt Luna shift her body closer to her to try and keep warm against the cold. She extended a wing around her little sister to shield her from the slight breeze that picked up. She could feel Luna rub her freshly dampened cheeks against her chest and Celestia sighed.
“Everything will be okay, Luna.” Celestia said, looking down at her sister.
“How can you be so sure, ‘Tia?” Luna asked, still staring out across Everfree, “The ponies of Equestria hate me for what I did. I didn’t mean to kill him. I didn’t even know that I had killed him. He entered my mind and was looking into some of my memories trying to find his way around.
“H-he found what he was looking for, b-but the black mare didn’t like his intrusion. She urged me to close all of my mental defenses. S-she told me horrible things and showed me h-horrible visions. I couldn’t bear looking at them. No matter how many times I see Everfree, i-it never gets any easier. I just wanted them to stop.”
Luna looked up at Celestia and put one of her hooves around Celestia’s stomach.
“So... So I relented, ‘Tia. I allowed for the mare to take power over some of my magic, a-and she shielded my mental defenses for me. She sent the b-bolt of electricity from me into him, severing his mind from his body.”
Luna rubbed her face against Celestia’s chest some more and cried silently. Celestia tightened her wing around her sister and then looked back out across the city. She saw the flickering of candlelight in the windows of many of the houses scattered through the city. Tears started to fill her vision and she blinked, causing one of the tears to slide down her cheek and land on top of Luna’s horn.
Celestia heard the sound of hoofsteps walking on stone behind her.
“Knock knock, I brought my two lovely ladies dinner,” Firemane said from behind them.
Celestia turned and gave her coltfriend a sad smile. She saw that his face changed from one of hopeful joy to that of dejected misery, and her smile waned. She turned to look down at Luna as Firemane moved from the door to sit next to Celestia. She heard him set the plates between them, but didn’t take the time to look at the food as she didn’t feel hungry.
“How is she doing?” Firemane asked quietly.
Celestia turned and gave him a stare that caused him to sigh and gaze out over the city. He pushed the food away, noticing that the two princesses were not going to eat, and put his wing around Celestia.
“Your mother and father are still in the throne room conversing with the Everfree delegates over the whereabouts of Fanatic.” Firemane said, “It seems as if they don’t know where he is, but they are all pleading for forgiveness from their majesties. Some are sincere in their apologies, I can tell, but many are doing so out of fear. I can hear the anger and authority present in your parent’s voices, and the delegates must hear it as well.”
“They threatened Luna. I’m surprised that my parents haven’t thrown any of them in the prisons,” Celestia replied, a coldness creeping into her voice. Firemane winced.
“I believe that they wish to do the same,” he said, “but doing so would be folly and only cause more civil unrest. Especially here in Everfree where we need to try out best to keep the ponies happy.”
“You’re right.” Celestia sighed and leaned onto Firemane. She felt her sister’s chest rise and fall in a steady beat, and so she felt the need to rest herself now that her sister was asleep. “Firemane, what is happening to us? What is happening to Equestria?”
“I wish I knew, honey. I really do.” Firemane sighed and laid his head down upon Celestia’s, “For years now this nation has been slowly crumbling. The political and social infrastructures are no longer sturdy. All we need is one small push in the wrong direction and everything we have grown up around with come tumbling down.”
“It doesn’t seem natural, does it?”
“What do you mean?” Firemane turned to look at Celestia.
“Why is it that Equestria was the happiest and most prosperous nation this side of the Eternal Sea for near a thousand years until Luna and I came into contact with those Elements? The nation may have had it’s wars over the years or its disagreements with the neighboring nations, but never have ponies ever become so unhappy that riots start to break out amongst its cities.”
Celestia turned to look back at Firemane.
“When Luna and I touched those Elements, we came upon a vision that showed the destruction of this entire city as well as an evil black mare. Ever since then there have been forces within the nation that are causing civil strife for all of the citizens in Equestia. The drought, Germaney, the Ration Bill, and this latest problem with Starswirl the Bearded. In a matter of a decade Equestria has gone from the most powerful nation to something filled with unrest and discord.”
Celestia’s eyes widened and she looked down.
“What is it?” Firemane asked.
“I need you to promise not to tell my parents anything I am about to tell you,” Celestia said, looking at Firemane almost apologetically.
“Celestia... If what you are going to tell me is important to helping keep Equestria stable, your parents might need to know.”
“They have their hooves full with a riot in Fillydelphia and then severe unrest in both Stalliongrad and Manehatten. They don’t need to have another weight placed upon their shoulders. Please, Firemane.”
Firemane sighed. “Okay, Celestia. I promise not to tell them.”
“During my vision back in the forest when I was with my father, there was an... entity that entered my mind at the time. I could make out what it was, for it only had a pair of red, mismatched eyes and a toothy smile. However, it gave me a riddle that is supposedly a prediction of the future. It says: ‘At the end of magic’s lord, will there be a clash of sword upon sword. Each strike paints the picture red, until the king and queen have nothing more to be said’.”
Firemane slowly looked away to stare out across Everfree again. “You think ‘magic’s lord’ was Starswirl the Beard?”
Celestia’s eyes slowly drifted to look out upon Everfree as well, and then beyond to where she could faintly see the distant lights of Fillydelphia illuminating the night sky. “I know he was.”
~~~
Here you guys go! A quick update chapter to keep the story moving. I might get one more chapter out this week before I go dark on writing until December 9th. Finals and volunteering. (Whatch, I say this but I'll have three chapters out before then.)
Anyways, a big thank you for Naes1114 and whisperingsage for editing!
Next chapter is Chapter 17: The Equestrian Riots