//------------------------------// // Saving the Sun // Story: Homonis (Hom-on-is) // by AsianPon3 //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Leo’s House (7:00am) A brilliant burning sun was starting to gently peak its way over the horizon of the white snowcapped mountaintops in the distance. My internal clock had already awakened me, edging me to get up and start the day about half an hour before the sun was visible. As the sun was making its presence known for the day, I was walking out of the bathroom, freshly bathed and ready for what was sure to be a very long day. I placed my dirty clothes in a small laundry bin that was located next to the bathroom door before looking towards my bed. Luna was still peacefully sleeping, stirring once every few minutes, but quickly relaxing and resuming her peaceful slumber. I smiled at the sight in front of me, quietly making my way towards the door and slipping out without a sound. A few minutes later and I was in the kitchen downstairs making breakfast. Twilight soon arrived and seated herself at the table. I soon joined the mare, accompanied with slices of toast and fruit that I promptly shared. “How well did you sleep last night?” I asked, Twilight nibbling on her toast before staring up at me with a rejuvenated smile. “Surprisingly, I slept very well,” she happily replied, taking a larger bite out of her piece of toast. “I'm glad. We both have a very long day ahead of us,” I reminded. Twilight finished off her first piece of toast before giving me a hearty smile. “That we do. And by the time that today is over, Celestia will finally be free and in caring hooves,” Twilight stated. I nodded my head in agreement before downing the rest of the water I had in my glass. Twilight continued to nibble on her fruit and toast as I got up from the table and walked down into the basement. I slid my hand against the grainy wall until it fell upon a light switch. I switched on the overhead lights and began to walk over to my workstation that housed my computer and devices that were instrumental in the rescue effort of Celestia. I walked up to my computer and examined the main screen. I had left the power diagnostic system scan running and as I moved the mouse pad on the laptop, the results of the power diagnostic system came up. I smiled and grabbed the midsized ring attached to the computer before pocketing it. I then turned my attention towards another device before I picked it up in my left hand and examined it. Everything seemed to be in order and I was confident that it would get the job done if something went wrong with the plan to rescue Celestia. Though it was a little bulky, it would be the perfect weapon to protect Twilight. Its outer appearance would deceive any guard or person that happened to look at it. I smiled to myself before I turned around and ascended the stairs from the basement, turning off the light switch as I did. I then walked back into the kitchen and set the medium sized briefcase next to Twilight before I pulled out the ring from my pocket. I looked at Twilight before dropping down to one knee, the ring in my hand. Twilight had stopped eating and stared incredulously at me as I cleared my throat. “Twilight. I know we haven’t really known each other for a long time, but I feel that this is the best time. Twilight Sparkle, will you marry me?” I asked, Twilight blushing profusely red before she began to stutter over her own words. “Le... Leo. I... I don’t know what to say. I mean this is so sudden and I think you are a great pony and everything, but...” was all Twilight could say before she noticed my straight face had faded and I was on the verge of laughter. It took her a few moments, but once she finally pieced together everything, she slugged me in the arm with hoof before responding. “Very funny Leo?” Twilight commented, sarcasm plaguing her voice. It was then that I let out a little chuckle before taking a seat next to her, holding up the ring so she could see it. “This is a fake inhibitor ring. It was designed to look and function like a real one, but only until I tell it otherwise. Once I give the signal, the ring will emit a high frequency pulse of electricity, frying every electrical device in the vicinity. It isn’t audible to humans so the guards won’t know you have disabled their video surveillance and Walkie-talkies, giving you around a two-minute window in order to rescue Celestia. Luna will be upstairs in the living room casting a spell that will let you easily teleport to her, since the distance to Canterlot is many miles and will strain your magic. I will be downstairs in the basement providing assistance and communications with you, via the fake inhibitor ring and also this thing,” I said, pointing to the metal briefcase that seemed like an ordinary briefcase to Twilight. “Um, Leo. That is just a briefcase,” Twilight responded. I began to shake my head with a smirk on my face. “It may look like a briefcase Twilight, but believe me when I tell you that it is much more than that,” I smugly said, Twilight looking at the briefcase over again before agreeing with me. “I can't really tell what it is, but you have never lied to me before, so why would you start now,” Twilight added, both of us laughing for a few moments before we got serious again. “Ok Twilight. After I drop you off at the castle and collect my rewards, I'm going to go into town and gather as many supplies as I can. This may be one of the last times I will be allowed to show my face in Canterlot, without being hunted that is,” I said, Twilight nodding her head in understanding. “Good. I'm going to try to stock up on as much food and ammunition as I can get my hooves on,” I stated, Twilight making mental notes of everything I was going to do. “During that time, you may be subjugated to a few... types of torture by these people, but it will only be light. You will have to wait till night time in order to spring Celestia from her jail cell,” I mentioned again, Twilight nodding her head as she already knew the plan. “Ok, and after that, I will disable your inhibitor ring and help you find Celestia. You will then teleport both Celestia and yourself to Luna, who will be in the living room of the house and awaiting your arrival. Then Celestia will once again be in safe and loving hooves,” I stated, Twilight nodding her head and making a mental note of everything I said. “Alright, any questions on what to do?” I asked, Twilight shaking her head. I took that as a no, and before long, we were on our way to Canterlot, our plan finally set into action. Canterlot Castle (Two Hours Later) “Ah, just the person I was hoping to see. Tell me, do you have the pony with you,” an overly eager man asked, me moving to the side to reveal a muzzled Twilight with an inhibitor ring nestled on top of her horn. The man quickly examined the unicorn and after a few minutes of thorough investigation, he was sure that the unicorn standing in front of him was Twilight. “Splendid, just splendid. If you would please wait right here, I will go fetch him for you,” the man said, quickly scampering off and returning around five minutes later. “If you would please. Mr. Carreras will see you now,” the man said, leading Twilight and me to another room in the castle. Two armed guards were stationed outside the door, military style M4’s at the ready. The man in front of me gave them a slight nod before the guard on the left reached over and opened the door for all of us. We all filtered through the door and into the room. I was quite shocked by the room itself. Inside was a large, dark-wood table that would be used for conferences. Leather chairs surrounded the table. As I glanced around the room I noticed a man was sitting on the sitting at the far end of the table, his feet reclined on top of the table and a cigar hanging from his mouth. He stood up from the table and started to walk over towards me, his arms outstretched like a friend I had known my entire. “Ah, my friend. It is such a pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Carreras said in a thick accent one would use to describe a man of military power. He firmly grasped my hand and shook it before his eyes narrowed themselves onto the unicorn to the right. “And this must be the famous unicorn, Twilight Sparkle,” he said, examining Twilight before his focus returned to me. “So tell me, how did you manage to capture this unicorn?” Mr. Carreras asked, a smile forming on my face. “Well sir, I was actually tracking this unicorn for several weeks. I had heard rumors of her whereabouts and that she was close to Ponyville. Seeing the reward, I decided to take my chances and see what I could do. Stalking the outer border of Ponyville, I realized that she would leave every Wednesday and Saturday. I do not know the reason why, but I didn’t particularly care. A few days ago was when I struck. I had followed her from a distance for some time and gotten familiar with her path of entering and exiting Ponyville. I waited for the opportune moment and took it. While a section of foliage blocked the view of the path from Ponyville, I knocked her out and dragged her body into the thicket of woods. I slapped an inhibitor ring on her and dragged her ass all the way over here,” I finished, Mr. Carreras laughing at the story. “Seems like you went through a lot of trouble to capture that pony,” he said, me giving a small nod of my head before I undid my shirt. Within a few seconds the front part of my button down shirt was open, revealing the injuries I had sustained over the past few years, but more prominently, there was one injury running along left side of my chest near my heart. Twilight had never really seen me with my shirt off before and was somewhat curious as to what caused the nasty scar. “Seven years ago, I was training to become a slave hunter. My family owned many slaves and it would be beneficial for them if they had a family member retrieve there runaway slaves. Well, I excelled in learning the tools of the trade and was even granted a license to hunt slaves at a young age. I was then sent out to retrieve my first slave one week later. I had followed protocol and tracked the slave from a distance, finding the slave’s camp about a mile away right as it was getting dark. To play it safe, I decided to wait until early morning to strike,” I clenched my fist tightly and my gaze turned to one of cold and hatred. “I was visit by a certain pony that night. The named, Luna, the previous monarch’s sister,” I said, slightly calming my body but keeping my cold eyes. “She came into my encampment with an intent to kill. She used her horn to carve this nasty scar into my flesh, puncturing my heart, or so she thought. Turns out she missed my heart by mere inches. When I was finally found I was on the verge of dying from lack of blood. It took me six months to recover from the incident. My life has never been the same after that day. That fucking pony changed my life, and this is a permanent reminder everyday I wake up and look in the mirror. I will always see this scar,” I coldly stated, peaking Mr. Carreras’s interest. “The reason I tracked down this mare was so I could hopefully find the so called, Princess of the Night, and return the favor she so graciously gave me.” All was silent for a few moments before Mr. Carreras motioned for me to follow him. “Come my friend. I may be able to help you in your endeavors for finding this mare, and in return, you will also be helping me at the same time,” he stated before stopping and looking at his assistant. “Mr. Miles, please take Twilight down to the dungeon. I have a feeling she is missing her mentor. We will be joining you shortly,” he said, Mr. Miles quickly nodding his head and taking Twilight by her collared muzzle. “Come on you stupid horse. Let’s go see your almighty ruler,” Mr. Miles evilly voiced, harshly dragging Twilight in the opposite direction that Mr. Carreras and I were going. Once Twilight was out of sight, Mr. Carreras continued on his path and motioned for me to follow him again. I was led down a long corridor with colorful stained glass and tapestry designs all over the walls and windows. I continued to walk next to Mr. Carreras, keeping a slow pace while taking in my scenery. “There is something I wish to talk to you about Mr.?” he paused for a moment and waited for me to inform him of my name. “Leo is fine Mr. Carreras,” I said, the man quickly smiling before he started walking again. “Leo, there is a matter I wish to discuss with you that will be most beneficial for you and me,” he spoke, my interest now peaked. “And what would that offer be?” I asked, Mr. Carreras stopping in front of a large tapestry with the picture of the sun on it. “We are about to unwilling thrusted into a revolution Leo. Ponies are becoming more independent and defiant everyday. They are even becoming hostile, which you have already experienced first hand. I want you to find the Princess of the Night, Luna, and I want you to bring her back to me. I want you to show everyone what you showed me. Your story, your legacy. A poor boy almost killed by the supposedly peaceful ponies of Equestria, and one of their princesses no doubt. I then want you take your revenge on her in front of thousands of humans and ponies alike. Show them what happens when they try to match force against a superior race. We will put down this revolution before it even begins. You, of course, will also be rewarded handsomely for your contributions, as well as allowed access to my personal armory that you will probably find to your liking. So what do you say Leo? Do we have a deal?” Mr. Carreras asked, me thinking it over for a few seconds before I grabbed the man’s hand and firmly shook it. “When do we start?” I asked, a smile and laugh coming from Mr. Carreras. “I have a feeling I'm going to like you kid,” he spoke, my heart fill of malice every moment I had to spend with this dictator. “I am glad to have your support and cooperation. First though, let us have a little bit of fun shall we?” he asked, turning around and walking towards the direction Twilight had been taken. My instincts told me that I was mostly likely heading towards the dungeon. They also told me that the next few minutes were going to be... hard so to say. Not wasting any time, I quickly fell in line with Mr. Carreras and within ten minutes, we had reached the dungeon level of the castle. As the door opened, we stepped through it and the temperature fell a few degrees, causing me to shiver lightly to myself. What was really bothering me was the stench that was coming from inside the dungeon. It smelled like several decaying bodies, and as we passed a few jail cells, I noticed why. Dead pony carcasses were strewn about some of the cells in the dungeon. Some ponies even had the misfortune of living in their tiny cell with a dead pony carcass still lingering with them. I had to hold my hand over my nose and mouth to prevent myself from gagging. Another minute or so and we had finally arrived at the main jail cell areas. Most of the cells were empty, say for a few dead ponies, but at the very far end of the hall, a heavily modified jail cell was present. Getting a better look at the cell, I noticed that the Princess of the Sun, Celestia, was chained down with magical inhibitors, as well as multiple inhibitor rings along he horn. She slowly opened her eyes and noticed the two of us staring at her. Her eyes quickly fixated themselves on the other man before she let out an audible low growl. “Whoa, take it easy there Princess. I haven’t come to torture you today... oh I actually have. But I am only going to watch this time. I would like to introduce my friend to you. His name is Leo, and he has brought a very special present with him today,” he said, motioning for Mr. Miles to drag Twilight out from her cell out of view. “Leo here has been looking for a particular pony, your sister that is. Years ago she gave him a permanent reminder of how cruel your kind can be, he is only looking to return the favor. If you have any information about where your sister is, then you will tell us or your friend here is going to have a... fun time with Leo,” he spoke, Mr. Miles brining Twilight into view as Celestia saw her student being dragged into the cell next to hers and chained down. Celestia began to violently thrash about, trying her hardest to reach Twilight. It was to no avail though and tears were soon pouring from the God’s majestic face. “Please, don’t hurt her. Torture me all you want, but please don’t hurt her,” Celestia begged. Mr. Carreras laughed loudly as Mr. Miles finished chaining Twilight in her cell. She was now incapable of moving and Celestia could see how terrified Twilight looked. It was then Mr. Carreras banged on the cell door to get Celestia’s attention. “Alright, this is how things are going to work. My friend Leo here is going to have fun with Twilight in any way he seems fit, unless you answer our questions to the best your abilities. If we have any indication at all that you are lying to us, then we will torture Twilight anyway,” the man spoke, Celestia still having tears pour down her face. “Mr. Carreras, if it would be alright, I brought some stuff with me just for this occasion,” I spoke, showing him the briefcase in my left hand. “Splendid. Did you hear that Celestia? This is going to be so fun. It’s going to be like a game show, where if you answer a question wrong, Twilight gets tortured instead of you losing money,” Mr. Carreras said. During the time he was talking to Celestia, I set down my briefcase and opened it. Inside, were a several inhibitor rings as well as a large cattle prod with an electrical tip at the end. I took out the cattle prod, knowing full well I was going to have to use it on Twilight. My stomach churned on the inside from what I had to do, but in order for the plan to work, I couldn’t show any sign of weakness or hesitation. “Alright Celestia, first question. Where is your sister?” Mr. Carreras asked, Celestia shaking her head. “I don’t know,” she spoke. At that response I lunged the cattle prod into Twilight before she gave off a loud shriek of pain from the electricity flowing through her body. I then pulled it away from Twilight as I heard Celestia yelling and begging for me to stop. “I promise you I don’t know. Please, just please don’t hurt her,” Celestia once again begged. Mr. Carreras was not satisfied with that answer, and I soon struck the cattle prod against Twilight again. The same audible scream was heard and Celestia thrashed about in her chains, tears once again streaming down her face. “Please, I beg of you. Please don’t do this to her. If you must, do it to me. I'm the one who doesn’t know,” Celestia, pleaded, Mr. Carreras laughing. “But this is too much fun Princess. I haven’t seen you this active in years!” he happily exclaimed. Celestia was trying her hardest to not break down in front of Twilight. Seeing Twilight about to share a similar fate that she had been forced to endure for the last Twenty years made the God’s heart weep. “Leo, this may take a while, I think it is time we move to more drastic measures,” he said, pulling out a handgun from his holster and handing it to me. “Alright Celestia, this is your final chance. If you don’t tell us where your sister is, you will have one less pony to worry about,” Mr. Carreras stated, the pistol firmly in my hand. I knew the instant I had the pistol in my hand, what I had to do. Celestia continually begged, tearing up and saying to take her life instead. Mr. Carreras still didn’t receive a sufficient answer, so he gave me one look and I knew what that meant. I held the pistol up to Twilight, her face pale and scared. She knew I had to put on an act, but she didn’t know how far I was willing to go to make it look good. I turned to Celestia with a coy smile on my face, her eyes narrowing on my cold gaze. “Any last words?” I smugly asked, Celestia still begging and thrashing around in her cell. “None? Ok then. Time to end this little unicorn’s life,” I said, pulling the trigger to the gun that was aimed at Twilight’s head. Celestia let out the most heart-stopping scream I have ever heard. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that Celestia realized her student was still alive. I turned my head back to Mr. Carreras before staring at the gun. “I don’t understand. I thought you gave me a loaded gun?” I asked, unloading the magazine to see that the magazine itself was empty. The man across from me let out a smug laugh before nodding his head. “I gave you a real gun, but never loaded it. I needed to see if you were truly on my side or not. Judging by what you did though, I would say you have proven yourself,” he said before I handed the gun back to him. He holstered his empty pistol and turned towards Celestia. “Looks like you get to spend a few more days with your beloved student. I would used this time to catch up on old times, maybe even establish a will,” he said, laughing as we both turned around and headed out of the dungeon. I took one last look behind me at Celestia and Twilight before ascending the rest of the stairs and catching up with the man who was now convinced I was his friend. The plan to free Celestia had been going perfectly. What everyone failed to notice was that I no longer had my briefcase with me. It was still sitting in the dungeon next to Twilight and Celestia, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Six Hours Later A newly acquired truck had pulled up into the driveway of my house. It was packed to brim with different assortments of supplies, including new weapons and ammunition that I would surely need. I also had many bags of groceries in the back of the truck, well over two months worth of rations for everyone. I turned off the engine and jumped down from the driver’s seat. I was greeted with Luna in the driveway. Assisting me with the groceries, we managed to take everything into the house and store it so that the pantry was now gushing with food. I then turned around and headed back to the truck to fetch my weapons and ammo I had gotten from Mr. Carreras. Taking those inside, I pulled the truck into the garage and inspected it again. Content with everything, I then moved into the house where I was greeted by everypony. “Leo, how did everything go?” Rainbow asked. I looked at her and sighed before I turned to everypony that had made their way into the kitchen. “It... it wasn’t good for Celestia and Twilight. I saw the conditions she has been living in the last twenty years, and in all honesty, I couldn’t fathom what I saw down there,” I said, Rainbow quickly losing a little bit of her spirit. “The good news is that everything is going according to plan,” I stated, everypony breathing a sigh of relief. “That is wonderful darling. When can we expect the Princess back here?” Rarity asked, me shaking my head. “I don’t know. It won’t be for another couple hours or so, but I need to get everything set up. We only have one shot at this and I don’t plan on bucking it up,” I responded, Rarity taken slightly aback by my language, but knew that is an appropriate time for the usage. I grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and walked downstairs into the basement, setting up my equipment before waiting... waiting for the perfect time to initiate our plan. Canterlot Castle (11:45pm) “All right, there should be a guard shift right about... now,” I said to myself, the hidden camera in my briefcase capturing all the audio and video of everything happening in the dungeon area of the castle. I smiled and moved the camera over to face Twilight. The guard was several meters away from her, so if she were to whisper very faintly, then the guard wouldn’t hear her. Seeing this as one of the best times to strike, I called up to Luna to activate her spell. I heard several hoof stomps from above, indicating that she had the spell up and ready for Twilight. I turned my attention to the computer monitor that was giving me a live feed of the dungeon. I then pressed a small button on the laptop and spoke softly into the headset I was wearing. “Twilight. Hey Twilight you there?” I asked, Twilight quickly looking up at the inhibitor ring on her head. “Ok, listen to me. I can see you right now. Are you ready?” I asked, Twilight nodding her head before she heard me again on the inhibitor ring. “Ok, on the count of three, I'm going to deactivate the ring and fry all the guard’s electronics. Ready, one, two, three,” I spoke, hitting another button on the laptop. A moment went by before the electrical pulse killed every electrical device in the area, besides everything I had made. Seeing how I was expecting this, I made sure that my devices would be able to withstand the extra surge of electricity. “Ok Twilight, go, right now. I will take out the guards and cover you while you get Celestia out of there. Luna has the spell up and running as we speak, so just lock on and teleport to her when you have Celestia,” I said, hitting a button on a separate laptop. The briefcase that was setting peacefully on the ground began to hum. A guard noticed this and walked over to the briefcase, examining it. A second or so went by before the guard’s face filled the targeting screen of the device. I quickly pulled the remote trigger, a 5mm round impaling the man’s face, causing the man to fall lifeless on the ground. The second guard quickly took aim at the briefcase but was defeated as I let out a three round burst into him. He fell to the ground with a loud thud before I trained the machine gun briefcase at the door of the dungeon. Within thirty seconds, a wave of guards were hauling ass down the stairs, only to be pumped full of lead. By this time, Twilight had successfully gotten out of her chains, opened her cell door, opened Celestia’s cell door, and was working on getting Celestia’s chains off her. “How you doing Twilight?” I asked, Twilight hearing another barrage of bullets spew from the device I had made. “I'm working on Celestia’s chains, then the inhibitor rings and we are good,” she stated, another barrage of bullets sounding from the device protecting her. “Hurry up please. I'm about to run out of ammo,” I said, Twilight finally getting all of Celestia’s chains off her. Twilight then gripped the inhibitor rings in her magic and crushed them with minor ease. After that happened, the sound of hundreds of footsteps came echoing through the corridor of the dungeon. Twilight’s horn grew a bright purple and by the time the guards had made it to the two ponies, they had vanished from view, many miles away and in the safety of a loving home. Leo’s Home (12:00am) “Yes! Yes,” I excitedly yelled, fist pumping in the air because of our victory. I turned back to the screen of my briefcase and noticed that the 5mm machine gun had been disabled. I smiled to myself and pushed another button on the laptop. Within a few seconds the device began to beep sporadically before it detonated, blowing most of the guards away and killing them. Only a handful of guards lived through the explosion. I made sure to pack as much explosive powder as I could inside the briefcase. From upstairs I could hear the excited voices of everypony, especially Luna, who was using her Royal Canterlot Voice, but realized this and returned to her normal tone. I took off the headset connected to my laptop and ran a hand through my hair. I did one more victorious fist pump before getting up from the chair I was seated in and making my way towards to stairs. I made sure to turn off the light switch on my way up the stairs, before I hurriedly made my way to the top of the stairs. I opened the door to the basement and walked through it, hearing the voices of my friends in the living room. I quickly made my way into the opening of the door and saw that both Twilight and Celestia had made it. I smiled to myself before walking into view of the everypony. Twilight and Luna quickly noticed me and greeted me with warm smiles. Celestia also happened to notice me, but her reaction was distinctly different. Remembering me from earlier, and the persona I had to keep, the Princess of the Sun turned from peace to hostility. The next moment I found myself levitated in the air and forcefully flung across the room into the wall, a large grunt of pain resounding from me as I hit. Celestia quickly rushed to where I was still pinned against the wall, a look of complete rage filling her eyes. Luna and Twilight were shocked by the initial reaction of what happened, but Twilight soon realized why that was. “Celestia wait, he is a friend,” Twilight yelled, running towards me. Celestia was in such a state that she didn’t even hear Twilight. Her focus was undivided and was unfortunately targeting just me. “I'm going to kill you for what you did to Twilight. You had every opportune moment to stop but yet you persisted, even to the point of almost killing her,” Celestia coldly spoke, followed by a nasty snarl. Luna was now accompanying Twilight and trying to calm her sister. “Sister, please release him. He means us no harm and is a friend,” Luna stated. Celestia turned her head to Luna before directing her attention back to me. “He is not a friend Luna. You didn’t see what he did to Twilight. The look in his eyes of enjoyment when he was torturing her. His kind are all the same and can't be trusted,” Celestia yelled in her rage. Twilight and Luna desperately tried to convince Celestia that I was in fact a friend, while everypony else knew that it would be best to let them handle it. “He needed to do that Celestia. If he showed any sort of hesitation, the plan might not have worked,” Twilight said, still trying to convince Celestia. “Yes sister, everything that transpired, happened because he needed to gain their trust. Without that, you may not have been here with us right now,” Luna sincerely stated. To my dismay though, Celestia had been molded by twenty years of torture and seclusion by humans. She had also come to realize how deceitful us humans can become in order to get what we want, making it even harder for her to trust us. “He is fooling you Luna, all of you. He is no better than the humans that kept me in captivity for all those years,” she stated, her eyes narrowing back at me. “But sister, please listen,” “ENOUGH!” Celestia boomed, somewhat frightening everypony in the room. “He needs to pay for his crimes, and I need to make sure he will not be able to harm anypony ever again,” Celestia reasoned aloud. Everypony was about to interject before they heard a faint laugh coming from the magically pinned human. I looked at Celestia with a calm smile on my face before speaking. “Then do it Celestia. Kill me. Make me pay for all the atrocities I have committed during my life,” I calmly spoke, Celestia becoming more infuriated with the answer I gave her. I could feel the pressure of the magic intensify and he pain increase, but still held my cocky attitude. “You can't kill me Celestia. You don’t have it in you. You are weak and pathetic and that is why you can't you kill me,” I spoke, Celestia pulling me several feet from the wall and forcefully slamming me back into it. I let out another grunt of pain as Celestia continued her stare. “Don’t you dare call me weak. I have suffered more than you could ever imagine by the hoof of your people,” Celestia claimed. “Then killing me shouldn’t be a problem. Come on Celestia, put me out of my misery,” I almost begged, Celestia throwing me across the room with her magic and quickly closing the distance as I landed on the ground with Celestia’s horn at my throat. “I am going to make you suffer first. Put you through the same pain I was forced to endure,” she stated. “I have suffered enough in this lifetime Celestia,” I emotionlessly stated. This comment seemed to only aggravate the goddess. “What could you possibly know about suffering? I bet you grew up with a loving family who gave you everything you wanted,” she remarked, striking a nerve. “Take that back,” I defensively retorted, Celestia noticing the change in my attitude and deciding to press the matter. “I bet you owned numerous slaves and were pampered like an aristocrat,” Celestia said, my anger starting to build. “Stop it, now!” I yelled, Celestia smirking when she noticed her comments were really affecting me. “You lost nothing in your life and when something was lost, your loving parents would replace it without a single thought,” Celestia smugly said. This was the turning point for me. I couldn’t hold it in anymore and my hand shot up from its position on the ground and wrapped itself around Celestia’s neck, not choking her, but enough to hold a decent grip. “I LOST EVERYTHING!” I bellowed, tears starting to stream down my face. Everypony in the room was shocked by my sudden hostility. I slowly got to my feet, my head hung low as I held Celestia’s throat in my right hand. Tears were still flowing from my face and my arm started to shake. “Le... Leo...” Luna softly spoke, walking next to me before I felt a wing placed over my body. I slowly lowered my hand from Celestia before I fell to my knees with Luna trying to comfort me. Celestia was actually shocked at the scene in front of her, and didn’t really know what to do. Twilight put a soothing hoof around her mentor to assure her that everything would be ok. “Leo, are you ok?” Luna asked, my sadness turning to that of rage. I quickly shoved the mare away from me and stood up to face her. “This is all your fault. Everything in my life was just fine until you came along,” I yelled, Twilight becoming defensive for Luna. “What do you mean this is all her fault?” Twilight yelled, me turning to her and then to everypony that was staring at me. “Oh, she didn’t tell any of you did she? She never told you what happened all those years ago and what happened to make me have a change of heart,” I said, Luna shying away slightly. “Leo, what are you talking about?” Twilight asked. “Well I think this is a good time to tell everypony what happened, don’t you think Luna?” I asked, directing the question at Luna who pinned her ears back before taking another step backwards. Everypony was now trained on the Princess of the Night. “Leo, please,” Luna pleaded, my harsh stare not relinquishing any of its ferocity. “Tell them what happened Luna, or I will and I will not be gentle with the details,” I demanded, Luna staring at all the different faces that were staring back at her. Knowing that she was backed into a corner, the mare let out a heavy sigh before proceeding with her story. “It was seven years ago when I met Leo,” Luna began.