Richard Pound
In:
The Return Pt. 2
Twilight and I sat alone in the throne room. It had been hours since the last prisoner was set free. Twilight had managed to keep the rest of them alive. That was good at least. I finally broke the reverent silence.
“You did well, Twilight,” I said to her softly.
“Do you really think so?” She asked as she looked at me. I nodded. I could almost hear her familiar voice, it warmed me up. Every prisoner who had, in honesty, done nothing was set free. I thought it to be a great first step. I nuzzled her mane. Twilight sighed.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“It’s not enough, Richard. They won’t love me.”
“This takes time. Eventually everypony will love you like I do.” Twilight smiled for the first time all day.
“Thank you, Richard. What do we do now?” she asked.
“Well,” I said, thinking back on a common problem, “A lot of ponies complained about taxes. Can we repeal them?”
Twilight shook her head, “No way! The reserve has little money as it is.”
“Why is the crown poor? You don’t fund things.”
“A lot of bits were used in bringing you back,” she admitted. Of course that’s where it had all gone. I rolled my eyes. Twilight must have been obsessed, no, that wasn’t quite strong enough.
“We can talk about it tomorrow,” I assured her. I kissed her muzzle gently.
“The time to act is now!” I could tell the crowd agreed. They had waited for this, wanted this; they had needed it with their very cores.
“She gets what she wants, but we are made to suffer silently! With Richard back in the picture, we are under the hoof of a tyrant and a dictator! The way we must eke out our lives is unbearable,” I shouted out to them. They were mine, I could tell. They were putty under my hooves; I shaped them to my whim.
“Daisy, are you in here?” I asked. A petite mare raised her hoof. “No one can forget the day Twilight’s guards took her precious children away, can they? No! And who’s children next? Will it be Silver’s, Brunt’s, or perhaps even Gallant’s? No one is safe!” A few mares wept at the thought of losing children.
“Yesterday Twilight and Richard tried to appease us, to make us back down. They fear us now, this I tell you. They want you to think that they are falling to our demands, but this is a lie! They want us to let our guards down, become complacent. Then the strike will happen, and it will be swift. Nopony will live through it!” I gave them a moment to comprehend what I’d said.
“Tomorrow, we will meet again, and we will finally get what we have asked for all these years,” I said. The crowd gave a final cheer as I walked through the back of the stage. I grabbed a small bottle and gave a small chuckle. I began to run the cream it contained over my body. The scars began to fade slightly. A terrible trick indeed, but it adds a kick when the person you fight against gives you burns you horrifically. I looked at the mirror on the wall, normally reserved for actors, but tonight, it was for me.
“Look at you, you’re finally going to get what you’ve wanted all those years, Xavier,” I told myself. I felt like crying.
“When they made you do those things… they had no idea.” I looked at myself, I was quaking.
“It’s going to be perfect. The look on his face when he realizes that he can’t push over whoever he wants.” In the mirror, I was laughing.
“It’s so easy, isn’t it, Xavier?”
Twilight and I poured over the taxes and laws she had passed. All of them were, to say it lightly, insane.
“A tax on flowers?” I asked.
“At the time it was prudent. You had to be there,” Twilight explained.
“I’m sure.” I tossed it into the pile for repealing. It was already a huge pile, and it seemed unlikely to get any smaller. I picked up a law that had been passed last year. “A ban on skipping? What does this even do?”
Twilight thought hard for a second, “I’m not sure.” I threw it on the pile. These laws were insane. How could it have gotten so bad, I wondered.
“Twilight, why did you try so hard to get me back? Was I that important?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said flatly, “you and Sunny were the most important things in my life. Something made me focus on you though. I let our son… die.” Twilight finished talking with a squeak.
“What’s done is done, Twilight. We can’t undo it,” I told her, trying to offer comfort. I decided it would be best to change the subject now, lest she break down.
“When will this be passed?” I asked.
“Today. I can get them all repealed by tonight if we finish up with the rest of these,” Twilight said. A few minutes passed of just sorting the reforms. Finally, Twilight spoke up. “Richard, I’d like to see Sunny.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” I told her. Her horn started to glow as I felt the magic take hold. Suddenly we were in Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie, who was behind the counter, leapt back in surprise.
“What did you tell her, Richard?” she squealed.
“He told me nothing, Pinkie,” Twilight admitted. “I’d like to see what’s left of my son please.” Pinkie looked confused, but led us into the small garden behind the café. A few leafy plants dotted the ground. In the center was a stone statue; a statue of Sunny. I nearly dropped to my knees in agony. Twilight maintained composure, but I could see the hurt in her eyes. She walked up to him and touched her horn to him.
“I’m so sorry, Sunny. This was all my fault. I… I can’t… can’t…” her words were lost as she began to cry deeply. I stood next to her, wrapping myself around her, doing whatever I could.
“Don’t cry, Twi,” said Pinkie. “It’s not your fault. Cockatrice’s are vicious.”
“I want every cockatrice rounded up,” commanded Twilight, her voice hardening. “Please,” she added softly.
Pinkie nodded and walked away. Now it was just Twilight and I, mourning in the garden.
“I missed him so much,” I said bleakly. The only son I had ever known, and it was hitting me hard that he was gone.
“I’ve made mistakes,” Twilight blurted out. “I did things, terrible things. I’m almost glad Sunny wasn’t there to see it.”
“Everypony makes mistakes,” I told her. “It’s what we do after that defines us.” I only hoped that it wasn’t too late for
Twilight. I could see that she was still in there somewhere. If only everypony else could as well.
The crowd was waiting, hungry. They wanted what I had, and I would feed them.
“Relax, my children. I am here,” I told them. I walked onto the stage. There was no applause, no cheering. Only a ravenous silence greeted me. This was it, the final push. If I had them here, I had them forever. They would follow me for all time.
“We all know the true horrors that Richard and Twilight have committed, and we talk mostly of Twilight. Tonight, we should talk about the other half of evil, Richard. Was it not he that destroyed Canterlot long before Twilight had power? He led the griffons in an attack which killed many innocent ponies. He did this only to free an evil prisoner, Bastion, so that he could supersede Celestia! Those two had craved power since the beginning.” The crowd murmured softly. Nopony wanted to interrupt me now.
“Richard did this to me,” I said, indicating my scarring, “he is a stallion that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Together, he and Twilight will destroy Equestria. Something must be done.” This was the final moment. An ultimatum. A crescendo of years of work, and it had to work.
“Those two cannot be in power another day. Tomorrow we will march onto them, and demand our freedoms, and we will not stop.” The crowd gave a familiar roar. The tremendous applause followed me off stage.
My mirror was there, waiting for me as usual. I looked deeply into it as I applied the cream to lessen the scars.
“I’m coming for you, Richard. My parents smile upon me. Do yours?”
Twilight and I woke up together. It was almost normal. Just as it had been. I knew one thing though, when we left the bed, things would be different. Twilight smiled; a normal reaction. Dear god I loved her. She started to get out of bed, I held her back.
“What’s the matter, Richard?” she asked. I looked into her eyes. They were beautiful.
“I want to stay here, forever.” She smirked.
“We have duties, Richard. I cannot miss them.” She got out of the bed. I rolled onto where she had just been lying. It felt comforting in a world that felt so strange. I wondered why. Why had the world become to different. I knew the answer. Of course it was me. I was always at fault. I looked at Twilight; she was humming to herself as she put on her crown and shoes.
Slowly I slipped out of the bed. The carpet felt softer than usual. I rubbed my hoof over it, feeling the luxuriousness of it as if for the first time. I closed my eyes visualizing it. It felt good, being with the carpet. When I opened my eyes, Twilight was gone. I started out the door, walking slowly to the throne room.
Today felt different. I didn’t feel like helping Twilight with her duties. Twilight shouldn’t even have duties, I thought. We should be in Ponyville, with Sunny. This wasn’t what I’d wanted at all. That was what I wanted, time with my wife and son. Was my wife my wife? She was different now, even looking beyond the wings and height she was different. She thought different.
There was the sound of yelling in the throne room. I started to gallop, trying to hurry. Hopefully Twilight wasn’t yelling too much already. I let out a gasp when I saw inside the room. A crowd of ponies stood before the throne, a heavily scarred pony sat on the throne. I trotted up to stand next to Twilight. The crowd blocked her path to the throne. Everypony was yelling at her, and now me.
“What’s the meaning of this?” she called out. The scarred pony stood up and trotted amidst the crowd and stood in the front.
“We are tired of this, Twilight. You have to step down,” he said coolly.
“Why should I do that? I am changing everything, making it all better,” Twilight said. The crowd laughed, they had prepared for this. The scarred pony laughed and came closer.
“Twilight, please see it our way. We’ve lived for years under your control, and it had been terrible. Nopony felt safe, nopony felt happy,” he said. His voice betrayed no emotion. He was walking towards me. “Don’t you remember me?” he asked.
“No,” Twilight said.
“I do,” I told him.
“Ah, yes. So who am I?” he asked.
“You’re Xavier.” He smiled as he stood in front of me.
“Hmm, not quite.” Before I could even react, his hoof swung at me. A small blade pierced my chest. As I fell to the floor, I knew it had hit home. Everything went to chaos after that.
Twilight roared and magic started to fly everywhere. The crowd of ponies became hysteric and rushed her. Similar blades swung out from their hooves. I could see the magic tossing ponies to the wall here and there, but there were too many. The crowd leapt onto her body in a pile of wild movement. They were screaming with glee. The scarred pony stood in front of me, smiling as I felt the ebbs of life fleeing. He brought his head down low. I felt another blade cut open my flank. The pain was excruciating.
“Richard, I want to let you know you deserve this. You both did,” he said, a smirk on his face. I felt the warmth of the blood on my coat, but it was getting colder.
“W-who are y-yo,” I sputtered.
“You killed my parents, Richard, and now I kill you.” He twisted the blade through my heart. He was the last thing I saw before everything faded away. It looked like he had wings.
Dear Twilight and Richard,
We have been searching the spot where Sunny was found. Fluttershy said cockatrices aren’t in that part of the forest. What do you want us to do?
~Pinkie Pie