//------------------------------// // 12-I'm so sorry // Story: The Tales of Prince Onyx // by Stanislas //------------------------------// Chapter 12 I'm so sorry Celestia followed the guard outside the castle until they arrived at the alley, to see a little crowd of ponies trying to see why the Royal Guards blocked the alley, but when they saw the Princess, all the ponies bowed to her. “My little ponies, I will have to ask you all to return to your homes, I promise to give you more information to what is happening here tomorrow.” The ponies accepted the answer and they all returned to their business. The guard let Celestia go into the alley, as she walked through, the lingering smell of blood started to fill her nose the further down she went. As she approached Strong Shield’s dead corpse she could clearly see his body laying there, propped up against a wall, in a pool of blood. She felt her heart drop, just like that, detective Celestia was on the case, many questions arose in her head, like: what was he doing in Canterlot? Why did he go into this alley? And what did he do to deserve this fate? “Guard, I want the patrols doubled to find this murderer, I will not let a murderer loose in my city.” Then she walked closer to inspect the body of Strong Shield. A guard walked up to her silently. “Your highness, may I help you? I’ve already sent.” he asked. Celestia still trying to find some evidence only nodded to him, then they both were off, trying to find who murdered Strong Shield. It took several minutes before the guard called Celestia over to show her something. “Princess Celestia, please come look at this.” The guard was holding a broken bolt in his hoof, Celestia could clearly see blood on it, and a little piece of black cloth stuck on the bolt’s tip. The guard took the piece of cloth before he hoofed it to Celestia. “Do you think we can ask the Zebras to identify the one who have worn this? I have heard they have created a powder to identify the DNA on certain items... But this now means we have two victims.” Celestia took the broken bolt and the piece of cloth. “I don’t think it will be necessary, you see the uppermost part of the bolt is covered in blood, so that means the wound was deep, and the pony who got hit by it, should be in a hospital, I will need to send a guard at each hospital in Canterlot and look for anypony that has a wound of this type.” “Yes your highness!” The guard started to run to go advise his superior. “Wait, you’re a new recruit, right? Can I have your name before you go?” She asked him. “Yes, your highness, my name is Shining Armor, tonight was my first patrol.” “Shining Armor... I will remember that name, now go report to your superior.” Then the guard ran from the alley. Celestia closed the eyes of Strong Shield with her magic. “You where a good captain Strong Shield, I will never forget the sacrifice you have made for Equestria, I will add a statue of you in the garden.” She close her eyes and let down the barrier holding her tears, and tears fell from her face, then she got up, and walked towards the castle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia was in front of the coffin holding the corpse of Strong Shield. The body was waiting to be buried, a circle of ponies and guards were surrounding the coffin, some were friends, members of family, or just co-workers. Onyx was silently crying under the wings of Celestia, he wanted to look strong but his heart was broken, he already knew that each living thing needs to die, but it’s still traumatizing to him. Then Celestia started her speech. “My dear ponies, today we are gathered here in honor of the memory of Strong Shield. He gave his life to protect Equestria, and everypony in it. He trained the guard of today and protected my son.” She took a break to regain her breathing. She could feel her coat, wet by the tears of Onyx, she coughed and began her speech again “In all his years of service, he have always shown a loyalty like no other pony has, he followed each and every rules and always gave his best, and never failed a single mission... This is why I will have the sculptor make a statue of him like all the other hero’s of Equestria that had been made for them, so we may never forget him.” She then placed the coffin in the hole and guards came to cover it with soil. Most ponies placed something on the top of the soil where the coffin was. Then each guard take off their helmets and pulled out a feather from the top, before they place it on the soil. When everypony said their goodbyes to the captains grave, Onyx walked next to the burial and let his tears fall freely. Celestia went to his side, sat down next to him and hugged him, trying to give him comfort. They both sat there silently, trying to comfort each other. Onyx took out a scroll from his pocket. “I drew this for you... I wish you could see it from where you are now” He placed the scroll with all the other items, the drawing was Onyx eating ice cream, with Strong Shield hugging him. “This one is really good Onyx.” She say between sobs. “If you want you can go see your friends. I have somepony to meet, I will see you at dinner okay?” Celestia rose up and helped her son to do the same. Then both hugged each other before they headed into different directions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia entered the throne room, but the Gryphon Emperor was already there waiting for her. “What do you want this time Gryffin, the deadline is tomorrow, so why are you here?” She asked with a harsh voice with a hint of venom. “I’m here to close the deal, I heard what happened to your captain and I’m very sorry about that.” “St-s-stop the deal... What do you mean by that?” “I mean what I mean Celestia. I don’t want to take your son away from you, you are a mother and we all know how that it had been hard to banish your own sister, but for you to lose your son, too... I don’t even want to think what could happen.” While he was talking, he was walking in circles around Celestia. “This is why I ask you this, will you let me ‘borrow’ your son for some time? I will train him so he can pro-” Celestia cut him off. “Listen Gryffin, I don’t know what you are playing, but you coming here, saying that you cut the deal off and then, you ask AGAIN to take Onyx! This does not make any sense!” Gryffin stopped walking and looked at Celestia. “YOU’RE playing, you’re playing with the life of your son! Listen to me Princess, why do you think somepony would want to kill Strong Shield? We aren’t at war, and your captain was too strong to be killed by a normal thief! The only reason to kill him is to reach your son, he was the bodyguard of him and now Onyx is all alone with nopony to protect him! This is why I ask you again Celestia, let me take your son, I will train and protect him, during this time you will be able to try to find the murderer.” Celestia didn’t answer, in a way the emperor was right, but she didn’t want to give her son to him. “He will not be a prisoner Celestia, you will be able to send him letters and we will treat him like a prince, but if he stays here, you just put his life at risk.” “Listen Celestia, we both rule our country differently, I find the way you rule too soft, and you find the way I rule much too hard and military like, but for one time, we should put these differences aside and you should give me the right to train your son until he is ready to defend himself. I promise on my right to rule, to take care of him.” Celestia was in tears, what the Gryphon had said made sense to her, but she didn’t want to admit it, she needed her son, but if he dies, it was because she didn’t want him to be go... “Y-you know, for the first time since I’ve known you Gryffin, you remind me of you ancestor, he would’ve said the same thing, and even if I didn’t really like him... He was a good emperor and I respect him for that... Even if he always had the habit to send me letter after letter, all filled with random questions.” She let out a sigh and thought about all the things her and Onyx had done. “But what about his friends? He just started school and now he has to leave?” “Celestia, do you really think that your sons friends are more important than staying alive? I dare say, maybe the murderer is already his friend. We don’t have time to think about every good and bad point.” “Please Gryffin... Come back tomorrow... I will give you my answer tomorrow... I need to be alone, I lost a friend and now you tell me that my son could be next… I need to think.” The Gryffin walked away. “As you wish, Celestia.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gryffin the Gryphon had rejoined his group outside the city. Celestia had asked him to stay outside of Canterlot if he wanted to hunt or eat meat, she did not want her little ponies to get scared. Many Gryphons bowed to him when he entered the camp. His general was sitting around a fire, eating a rabbit from the forest. When he saw the emperor come close to him he bowed. “My Emperor, if I may ask, what did Celestia say? Do we need to call the capital to send us more soldiers?” The Emperor laughed and sat next to him. “No my general, we will not need to kidnap the creature. If all goes how I’ve planned it, Celestia will give us her son tomorrow when I go to see her again. Tonight is a night of festivity, because tomorrow we go back to our home.” He say loud enough for all the camp to hear. This night no rabbit would be safe in the woods. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Cadance, can I come in?” Celestia asked in front of the door of her niece. After the Gryphon Emperor had left, she decided herself that the Emperor was right, Strong Shield alone was able to take 10 royal guards when in a sparring match, so how would a thief be able to kill him? Now that Strong Shield is dead, Onyx is all alone, she had tried to find Raynor, because he was supposed to watch, him but when she called him, he never showed up. Then she realised that, unless Onyx stays in her room all his life without going out, she wouldn’t be able to guard him all the time, and the Gryphons are the best for training somepony to fight and defend themselves... well the second best. The dragons would be the best to train Onyx, their knowledge is infinite and they are the hardest creatures to kill. But since she had banished her sister, the Dragon Kingdom did not see Celestia in a good way, saying that ‘She broken the balance of the world’. “Yes auntie you can come in.” Celestia entered the room of her niece, she was sitting in her bed and Twilight was playing with a plushie. “Twilight, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at your house?” but instead of Twilight, it was Cadance who answerd her. “I’m foalsitting her, I need more bits, I wanted to gain my money by myself... Unlike my brother...” Celestia gave a warm smile to Twilight who stopped playing to listen what they werewere saying. “Twilight... Did you finish your homework on levitation?” She asked. “Yes, and I’ve read the whole book too, it was really interesting!” She answerd proudly. Both Cadance and Celestia were surprised that she read the entire book. “Well... You could go to the library to take the second book if you want, here take it, it will give you access to the library in the south tower.” Celestia said, hoofing a scroll to Twilight. Twillight lets a squee out of her and quicly go out of the room to go read more book. “Auntie, do you really think she has the potential... I mean what if sh-” Celestia cut her off. “Don’t worry about that, I’ve seen what she can do and I’m sure she will pass all the tests I will give her... Just like you.” Cadance sighed. “Sometimes I wish my little brother could’ve passed the test instead of failed... Since I became an Alicorn and not him, he stopped talking to me, and he acts like if I’m not here...” Celestia hugged her niece and sat on the bed with her. “Cadance... what do you think of Onyx?” She asked her with a sad tone. Cadance, was caught off guard by that question, it took her some time to answer that. “I... I think he’s a good... whatever he is, if he was a pony like us, I’m sure he will be a great one, but I’m scared... I’m scared of how the population will react when he will be old enough to claim the throne, he doesn’t have magic, and because he is not like us, some could try to reject his access to the throne.” Celestia stayed silent, and thought about what she had said. “Thank you Cadance, now if you don’t mind I have some things to do, I will see you at dinner, right?” Cadance blushed a little. “Well you see auntie, I was wondering if I could go eat outside of the castle today... I have a... A friend to go meet.” Celestia smiled to her. “Well okay then.” But before Cadance walked out, Celestia spoke again “Go have fun with Shining Armor.” Right then and there, a new shade of red was made. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Onyx was hiding in a bush, he rejoined his friends, he pushed all his sadness in the back of his mind so he could play hide and seek with his friends. Axandrea was hiding in a tree close to him, Vallis found a spot under a table and Aurora was... Well nopony really knew because she used one of her spells to hide from her brother Orion, who was it. “Guys, I don’t want to play anymore, it’s been an hour and I still can’t find you.” Onyx silently laughed, Orion wasn’t really good at this game, even from this spot Onyx could see Vallis. Orion looked behind a shed for the seventh time, and by the way he would look every time he went behind there, it would take him a good 8 minutes before he come back. “Psst Aurora... where are you?” Suddenly Aurora appeared behind Onyx, he let out a little squeak of surprise. “Hi!... Heh, heh, heh, you should’ve seen your face, you were like ‘AHHH!’ and I was like ‘Hi!’” Onyx facepalmed to the commentary of Aurora, sometimes she was so... random? “Hey! Can you please hush down over there? I don’t know about you, but I want to win!” Axandrea said, who was still in the tree. “Guys... I’m starting to get cramps... do you think we could stop playing this? Orion will probably never find us anyway.” Vallis asked, still under the table. Onyx, wanting to get out of the bush, nodded and walked towards Axandrea in her tree. They all talked with each other waiting for Orion to return. But when more than 15 minutes passed, Aurora got up and sighed. “It seems I will need to go find him now, he’s probably lost, I hope to see you guys soon.” Then Axandrea climbed down from the tree and followed Vallis. “Me too, I will need to go, Pa and Vinyl are probably waiting for me for at dinner.” At the word dinner, Onyx practically fell down from the tree, he forgot that his mother was waiting for him, so he quickly said goodbye to his friends before he ran towards the castle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia was waiting her son, all day she had thought about what the Gryphon had told her and she had finally made her decision. When her son finally showed up, she already ate half of her dinner. “Sorry mom, I didn’t see the time pass.” He said before he took some food from the table and put it on his plate. They both started to eat silently, Celestia was trying to find a way to bring up the subject with him. “Hmmm... Onyx my dear, you know I love you right?” “Well yeah, you tell me everyday...” Celestia felt her heart brake, she will hate herself for going through with this... but Cadance and the Gryphon were right, Onyx does not have magic and unless he learns to defend himself, he will not be able to protect the kingdom, Or himself. “Onyx... I... I-I have decided to... well to...” She felt her eyes start to moisten, Onyx was looking at her, wondering what was wrong with her. “A friend of mine... he asked me for his permission to send you with him to train you so you can be safe...” She was trying as much as she could to hold back sobs “He will come here tomorrow to take you with him.” Onyx let his fork fall. “What?... but I just started school... and my friends... a-and Twilight... W-Why would I need to be safe?” He asked, on the verge of tears. “I don’t want to do this... but this for your security. And you will be able to continue school there with a private teacher, and you will make plenty of new friends too.” Onyx just looked at her, his anger was visible on his face. “But I don’t want to make NEW friends, I want to stay here. with you! I want to learn with my friends, I don’t want to go!” Celestia was in tears “Please Onyx, don’t make this more difficult than it already is, I will show you how to send letters to your friends if you want to keep in touch with them, but you need to go with my friend for your own safety... y-you’re not like us, you don’t have magic and if you were in danger you would not be able to defend yours-” Onyx interrupted her before she could continue. “So that’s it isn’t it, because I’m different, right? I’m leaving Canterlot because I’m not like everypony else, is that it?” “NO! No, that’s not what I meant... I mean that because you don’t have magic, you will need something else to compensate for this, I promise you that you will not be gone forever, just a couple of years, at the most...” “A couple of years!?, You want send me away for a couple of YEARS!? But why, what did I do to deserve this?!” Celestia tried to reach her son but he just run away from her. She use her magic to grip him and then she pulled him into a hug. Onyx listen me, I’m not sending you there because you have done something wrong, it’s for your own protection, and trust me, I also don’t like this idea, but I hate the idea of you dead even more.” Onyx stop trying to fight the magical grip of her mother and looked at her. “D-d-d-dead?... Why are you scared of me to d-d-dying... I’m still too young to die.” “I know but... the one who killed Strong Shield... I think he had done that to reach you, and I’m scared for you. This is why I’m sending you with the Gryphons, The Emperor himself will teach you to how to protect yourself. During this time I will try to find the murderer of Strong Shield.” Onyx was thinking about what she had told him. “So... Strong Shield... had... like sacrificed himself... f-for me?” He asked, unsure if he was right. “...You can say that, if you want...” Onyx sighed, and remember what Strong Shield have said to him about the Gryphon Empire... and the promise he had with him. “well... okay... I will do it for Strong Shield... I will become strong like him... I don’t want hi to die for nothing.” Both Celestia and Onyx hugged each other before they took their last dinner together. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* “Can I come in?” Twilight asked at the other side of Onyx’s room door. “Yes! Please, I-I wanted to see you too.” Twilight came in and looked at the chamber. Onyx there were some packages scattered every where, and Onyx was sitting on his bed. “I’ve heard what have happened... I will miss you Onyx” Onyx patted beside him, telling her to come sit with him. “Will you send me letters when I’m gone?” He asked slowly, trying to find the right words to say what he really wanted to say. “Well sure, I will ask Celestia to send it to you, but only if you send me some letters back with what you’ve learn.” She say with her habitual smile. Onyx seemed happy with her answer but then his face became red and he took out his general Philomena from his bag. “Twilight... C-can I ask you to take care of her when I’m gone. I know you‘ve already have Smarty Pants, but I’m sure Philomena and him will get along easily.” Twilight took the plushie with her hooves and looked at Onyx, and then she did something he never expected, she gave him a light kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, I will take care of him.” She told him as her coat gained a red tint to it. She then took Philomena and went out of his room, leaving a blushing and confused Onyx behind her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia, Blueblood, Cadance, Onyx and Gryffin the Gryphon was in the throne room in Canterlot. The rain outside the castle was beating down upon the castle roof, lightning would flash time to time, Onyx was trying to hold back tears and held on tight to Celestia’s leg. “Let me guess Celestia, you‘ve asked me to come here because you’re ready to give me your answer, am I right?” Celestia was quiet, she asked herself about her choice, still wondering if it was the only or best solution, but before she could say anything, Onyx approach the Gryphon. “So... you will take me with you for training... right?” The Emperor looked at Onyx and smiled. “Yes, my little one, I have offered your mom, the choice to teach you how to defend yourself, but before we will try to find what type of fighting style is the best for you, maybe we could show you how to-” Onyx cut the Gryphon off. “It’s all good Mister Gryffin, but will I have the right to send letters to my mom and friends when I’m there.” The Emperor was a little frustrated to be interrupted by him but he did not show it. “Yes, you will. You will not be in jail my dear, in fact you will be treated as if you were my own son.” Onyx nodded then returned to his family. “Mom... Can you please tell my friends why I won’t be there please?... And don’t worry, I will write to you everyday.” Then he turned towards Cadance. “I will miss you Candance, and thanks again for the backpack... By the way, a green mane is really cute with your coat.” Cadance laughed and hugged Onyx. “Take care of yourself Onyx. When you come back I will show you how YOU will look with a green mane” They both shared a laugh, then Onyx turned towards Blueblood. “See ya Blueblood, when I come back, I’ll show you all that I will learn.” He said with a little smile, Blueblood gulped and fell back on the marble floor. “Mom... I love you-” Celestia ran to him, as tears fell from her eyes, she hugged him as if she would lose him forever if she didn’t, Onyx’s clothes were starting to act like sponges, hold and absorbing all of Celestia’s tears. “I’m so, so, so sorry Onyx! Please forgive me, and take care of yourself, and if the Gryphon don’t treat you in a good way, p-please write to me a-an-and... I just love you so much my son, I’m proud of you.” She said in between her sobs. Onyx hugged her tightly for a couple of minutes, then returned to the waited Gryphon. “I... I-I’m ready.” was all that he had said. The Gryphon smiled, as if he had won a million bits. “Good, now come with me... It’s time to show you your new home.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END