//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 // Story: The Monster of Canterlot // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 23 “Mom, you need to calm down. It’s not that bad, just a scratch. I didn’t even know it was there ‘til you said something.” I tried to reason with her, but right now, her temper was hotter than her own sun and she wasn’t listening while she paced. “Nopony harms my precious baby.” She wasn’t even looking at me, she was just watching the door for her target. “Wow, I… I don’t even… ‘baby’? I was six when we met. You don’t even know what a human baby looks like.” “Great,” Luna had heard her sister’s roar and come to the throne room to investigate, “she is already mad, now you are trying to make her jealous too.” “I’ll drag him through briars by his tail!” “Huh? Why would she be jealous?” “I’ll rip his fur off, one strand at a time!” “Seriously? Sister loves you deeply and often speaks of how cute you were when you first arrived. However, she never got to have the experience of true motherhood like so many other mares. It may seem silly, but she feels cheated sometimes.” “Thinks he can hurt my family!” “Mmm… fine, I’m her ‘baby’, but I don’t have to like being referred to as that.” “Fair enough. By the way, I heard all about your actions in the marketplace today. I am very proud of you.” “…I’ll rip the horn from his head!” Celestia’s venomous tone and promise of cruelty was starting to get very disturbing. Besides, windows shouldn’t frost over this early in the fall. “I’ll make him eat his own horseshoes!” I had had enough. I walked up to her and poked her snout with a single finger. She crossed her eyes and scrunched up her nose like she always does. “Mom, you’re taking this too seriously. It’s only a scratch and you’ve already healed it. Please, don’t let this incident ruin your reputation as a fair and just ruler.” The doors began to glow with magic, signaling that somepony was being led in by the guards. Celestia locked onto the new development immediately and tried to burn a hole through the door with her glare. I turned her head back to me, “the ruler I love and respect.” She sighed deeply, I had finally gotten through to her. “Fine.” Celestia giggled a little, “who taught you to be so diplomatic?” “Some wise old pony I know.” The doors opened and the family went into serious royal business mode. We all approached the stallion and met him halfway, it was proving difficult for him to walk with the chains on his legs. He wasn’t struggling, pulling, shouting or even looking around. He was completely defeated and, from the look of it, shamed. “Your highness, this is the thief that was arrested in the marketplace earlier today. He’s told us his name is Auburn Skies. He’s also told us many, many times that he is sorry,” a guard who had escorted Auburn Skies in informed us. Auburn was simply mumbling his apologies to the carpet over and over again. “Thank you, you may leave him with us.” The guards bowed and left. Celestia approached the prisoner, I was right beside her, just in case. “Tell me, Auburn Skies, why did you see fit to assault a member of the royal family?” Her words were stern but not loud. She was still mad, but it was fading. “I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I was starting to get worried that we were going to have to replace the carpet if Celestia pressed him any harder. This guy was pathetic. So pathetic, in fact, that Celestia seemed to almost completely forget her anger toward him for ‘injuring’ me. “Then, pray tell, what was it that you did intend to do?” “I… was just trying to get something to eat.” “You were stealing to feed yourself?” “No, Princess, my daughter, Jasmine.” “I see. Tell me more.” Auburn explained everything to us. He had recently lost his job, which had paid just enough to pay the rent on a one room apartment, and could no longer afford to put food on the table. He had tried to find a job, as had his wife, Sandy, but it can be hard to find work when you are an earth pony mare and a unicorn who could only levitate small objects. He had come from earth pony parents and his magic was weak. He and his wife had resorted to digging through the trash behind restaurants… “…but I couldn’t bear the thought of feeding trash to my daughter. I didn’t know what else to do, so I… stole some fruit to give her. I didn’t want to, I had to. Please, forgive me.” Celestia and the rest of us were silent for a short time before she spoke again. “While I can appreciate your plight, I cannot overlook your crimes. I must give this some consideration. Give me a moment to decide what to do about this.” The three of us walked back to the throne, leaving Auburn alone in the middle of the room. I looked at Celestia, she seemed exhausted. “What are you going to do, Mom?” “I… I don’t know. This is not an easy situation to deal with. If he had simply stolen food for himself, then I would sentence him to community service until the debt was repaid, but…” “…It was not for himself,” Luna concluded, “if his story is true that is.” Celestia nodded. “I got a good look at the apple he stole today, it was bruised and virtually unsellable. It was like he was deliberately trying to avoid costing the shopkeeper a sale.” I thought about this conundrum for a moment. “Now I know what you meant about the crown being heavy with duty. Oh! I have an idea. Will you let me handle this?” “I don’t know. Are you sure you really want to deal with this?” “Yeah, but I’m going to need some help. I need to send a letter to Applejack.” “Applejack?” I nodded. “Very well. If this what you really want to do.” “Thanks, Mom.” I rubbed the side of her neck, had to keep it professional after all, so no nuzzling. “I won’t let you down.” Celestia smiled at me. “Never crossed my mind.” A scroll, pen and inkwell floated over to me from the throne, there was always a small stockpile in a drawer behind it. I wrote down a couple paragraphs before holding the scroll out for Celestia to read and, if she approved, send. Once she finished reading, the scroll was rolled up, sealed and magicked away along with a blank one for the return letter. “Once again, you make me so very proud of you.” We turned back to Auburn and walked up to him. I could actually hear the chains rattling. This was just getting sad now. I stepped forward and stood before him. “It has been decided that I will be responsible for your sentence. We are waiting on a response from a third party at this time.” There was a small flame in mid-air and a scroll fell out of it. I looked back at Celestia, who had received the scroll, and watched her read it and then nod at me. “Ah, good, she’s agreed.” “‘She’?” Auburn was clearly confused. “Yes. I have decided to sentence you to a form of community service. My friend Applejack owns a farm in Ponyville and could use some help getting everything ready for winter. While there, you will receive a fair wage and lodgings,” I could see something new in his eyes, hope. “However, if you even think of running away or doing anything negative toward the Apple family, I will take it as a personal affront. Do I make myself clear?” “Perfectly clear, your highness. Thank you for this opportunity.” “You’re welcome. Though you may not be thanking me afterward, Sweet Apple Acres is very large and the work will be hard. We will be leaving in the morning. Tonight, be with your family.” His chains came off thanks to Celestia’s magic. I walked with him to the large doors to the throne room. Outside them was a maid with Celestia’s cake and the bag of apples given to me by Applejack, my suitcase had already been taken to my room. I picked up the bag of apples. “Don’t think this means that you are off the hook. Applejack will give you orders, you will obey them, I will be watching. You will have a guard that you will report to on a regular basis. This is your chance to not only make right, but to also pull yourself out of the gutter, so to speak. Do you understand me?” “Yes, Prince Chris, I understand. I promise not to let you down.” “Glad to hear it,” I proffered the bag of apples to him, “because Princess Celestia will be the one to handle your sentence after that, and… let’s just say you don’t want that.” Auburn risked looking back into the throne room. He shivered when he saw Celestia. She clearly did not trust him. “I, uh, I will take your word on that.” “Good. Now, go home, pack some things, get some sleep, and be ready bright and early in the morning.” Auburn bowed in between his backwards steps. With the bag of apples floating in his magic, he made his way out the doors and into the streets. Both princesses approached me and stood one on each side. “This is a good thing you’re doing for him, Chris.” “Thanks, Mom.” “Do you truly think he can be trusted?” Luna asked. “Nope. That’s why I was hoping to borrow one or two of your night guards. I wanted them to keep an eye on him and make sure he stays true to his word.” “And if he doesn’t?” Celestia asked. “Then I will have no sympathy for him and may just hand him over to Uncle Gurfon.” “That may be going a bit far,” Celestia nuzzled me, “but if he hurts you again, physically or otherwise, I may just load him into the chariot myself.” A smell wafted to my nose and reminded me of something. “Oh, I almost forgot, I brought something for you, Mom.” “Oh, and what’s that?” “Just a little baked delight from the one and only Sugarcube Corner.” ***** “Your mother’s not the only one glad to see you home you know.” Dust Bunny was helping me unpack my suitcase. “Really? Were you worried about me?” “Of course I was. There isn’t a very long history of ponies greeting you with open hooves.” “True enough. Luckily, Ponyville was very friendly and it only took a couple days for them to get used to me. I even got to speak at the school and play with a couple of very cute foals. Speaking of which, where’s Fluffy?” “Cotton’s home with Iron. I’m sure she’ll be ecstatic to see you.” Bunny held up one of my new shirts and admired the craftsmanship. “By the way, a little birdy told me about your homecoming. Very funny.” “I thought so.” Thanks to Bunny’s help, my suitcase was emptied very quickly, but it was still getting a bit late in the afternoon. “I think that’s everything. Why don’t you call it a night?” “Alright. It’s good to see you home safe and sound.” “Thank you, Bunny.” She was about to leave when I stopped her. “Hey, I’m actually going back to Ponyville tomorrow, do you think Cotton would like to go? It’d be a chance for her to see a whole new town and even see an apple orchard. I’ll be with her the whole time and there’ll be guards too. She’d be completely safe.” “I think she’d love that. Do you mind if I tag along too?” “Of course you can come. What kind of monster would I be if I just took your daughter and made you stay behind?” “Probably worse than the papers ever said you were.” We chuckled as she headed for the door. “I’ll see you bright and early then.” “Sounds good. ‘Til the morning.” And she left. With no one to talk to, I got bored and decided to see what Celestia was up to. It had been a few days since I saw her and I missed her. I got up and walked out my door and began the extensive fifteen step trek to her room. When I knocked on her door, I was only mildly surprised to hear a muffled and garbled ‘come in’. I knew right away, she was doing her best to destroy her baked adversary. I opened the door and entered. “Kwifth!” “Ah, no talking with your mouth full.” She giggled and, with the aid of some milk, swallowed. “Chris, what brings you in here?” “Nothing, I just missed you and wanted to spend some time with you.” “Oh… I missed you too. Why don’t you join me?” She patted the bed with her wing and I did as instructed. “Now, I want to hear all about your time in Ponyville. Tell me, did you have fun? Were the ponies there nice to you? Did you make some new friends?” She then lowered her head and her expression took on a conspiratorial look, “did you meet a mare?” I almost got up and marched over to Luna’s room to raise Tartarus, but stopped myself. Luna said she wouldn’t tell, and I knew I could trust her. I’d tell Celestia about Rose, just… not right now. Instead, I told her about everything else. I told her all about the big welcome I got and got her to smile. She cooed when I told her about playing with the Cake twins. Celestia even told me I made her very proud when I told her about speaking to the school foals, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in particular. The highlight was when she guffawed about Twilight guarding me like a junkyard dog. She actually laughed so hard that Luna heard her while she was walking to her own room and joined us. Somehow, I had wound up spending the rest of the night preening and massaging both princesses while they listened to my tales. “… and if I hadn’t managed to turn Twilight’s head in time, Lyra would have been in some serious trouble. Hey, did you know clouds could explode?” “Lightning Strike told us, it had come as quite a shock to him.” “Heh, that was pretty good, Aunt Luna. You’re adapting well to modern vocabulary.” “What are you talking about?” She was honestly confused. I decided to change the subject rather than embarrass her. “Um, so uh, Mom, do you believe me now that I can travel safely?” “Mmm… maybe if you move up about three inches. Yeah, right there. But to answer your question, no. I’m glad Ponyville was fun for you, but Ponyville is a lot friendlier than other cities in Equestria. I have no problem with you traveling, but I don’t want you to go alone. Okay?” I had to concede her point. I’d heard about how cruel cities like Manehattan can be to even Equestria natives, let alone a creature from another world. “Fine, as long as I don’t have to spend the rest of my life stuck inside the castle.” Celestia surprised me by suddenly rolling over and hugging me tightly to her barrel. “I just want to keep my baby safe." She was rocking me back and forth now. I hugged her just as tight. “I know, Mom. I know.” Luna stood up and began to leave. “Well then, it is getting late and I must attend to my duties. Chris, I am glad you are home and I hope the two of you sleep well. For now, however, I must wish you a good night.” “Goodnight, Sister.” “’Night, Aunt Luna. We’ll see you tomorrow.” After she left, Celestia and I curled up with each other and fell asleep soon after. And that was the end of my first vacation.