I was running from something, what I was running from I didn't know but I knew if I stopped I would die. My breathing was rapid and jagged, my legs were on fire from the constant running and my lungs burned from overuse,
“Monster...” an incorporeal voice spoke, I couldn't see where I was running because everything was black, not dark but black, it didn't matter what direction I was running in but I just needed to run, “Monster...”
that voice was even louder. A figure then appeared out of thin air, it looked like a stallion but I couldn't make out his face, it terrified me to be looking at him,
“Don't be afraid of me.” his voice, I knew whose voice that belonged to, “Besides it was you who did this to me.” he placed his hooves onto his chest and he opened it, it was empty, no heart, no lungs, nothing, just empty. I froze in place, I didn't even want to scream, there was a light next to me and it showed that stallion being ripped open by a monster who looked like a bird. It was in ecstasy hearing him wail in pain, it grabbed every organ he could reach and tossed them away like trash,
“You left me to die at the claws of that monster. After everything I did for you.” the stallion said while being gutted, “I-I'm sorry, I-I would’ve helped b-but...” my voice was that of a small, frightened colt, I backed away in fear. I bumped into something cold, before I could turn it wrapped a vine around my neck and choked me, my eyes were watering and I felt lightheaded.
“I told him to leave you there, I told him to just keep walking. Now we all paid the price.” I did my best to look at the mare who was strangling me but to no avail, “Because of you he's dead! Because of you my daughter is an outcast!” she pulled on the vine even tighter, “And because of you I am now among the dead!” she leveled her face to mine and showed me the gaping hole in her right eye. Another light spawned this time showing how she died, she had a bullet go in under her chin and out her eye,
“I never loved you, I've always despised your with all my being! Whoever were your birth parents should have their genitals ripped out and burned!” she cursed. The vine vanished and I was able to breathe only to have the air leave my lungs as I got a kick to the gut, “How shameful. To think that we were killed by the likes of you.”
I looked up and see a headless minotaur speaking in a raspy voice, he moved his neck and his head jumped back into place, it was hanging on by a piece of flesh, “All we wanted was money, I'll admit our method of a quick bit was heinous but you could've just beat the living hell out of us and left, instead you decided to slaughter us.” behind him were more mutilated minotaurs looking at me in disgust.
“Now look at you. It's funny how you're trying so hard to repress everything that you've done.” they began to laugh at me. I ran away from them until I could no longer hear their laughter, then I just kept running. I heard sobbing coming from the vast blackness, “Why couldn't you just stay?” a mare appeared next to me, “That was all you had to do. I told to just stay here, instead you packed your things. You just love the taste of blood don't you?” she continued to sob.
I felt something stab into my back and felt the weight of somepony on me, “At least you're happy right!” she yelled angrily, there was another light and it showed how she died, she had a bullet to the head, “Not only did I die but the entire town had to go with me!” behind me were unrecognizable ponies wielding spears, “Remember Callidus, you get what you give and you give what you get!” all of them started stabbing me with spears. As they were stabbing me mercilessly a speck of white shined out in the distance, it started to grow bigger and it shined more furiously,
“Endure with me...” the voice sounded familiar but the ponies stabbing me didn't let me think straight. The light then reached a hand out to me, “Reach...” I extend a free hoof to try and grab the white hand.
I felt something warm on my face, I open my eyes and was blinded by the morning sun,
“He's waking up!” I heard a mare gasp out, my eyes adjusted to the bright room and standing in front of me were two nurses, “Inform the guards.” one of them scurried out the door. I tried to get out of bed but the mare placed a hoof on my now bandaged chest, “You shouldn't move at the moment. Right now we aren't sure if you are able to do anything strenuous.”
“I feel fine.” I tried to take her hoof away but my hand was cuffed to the bed, “And you are to be restrained until further notice.” I take a good look at the cuffs that bound me and I slump back to bed. The mare came back in but very cautiously, “They're on their way.” she glared at me throughout the whole sentence, “No need to be scared Springwood, I can assure you he won't be of any harm. Right Mr. Callidus?” she said as she looked at me with a smile,
“Right, what happened?”
“Well you came in with large lacerations on your right shoulder, a few broken ribs, a concussion, an extremely large wound on the pelvic region and appeared to have been poisoned.”
“Poisoned?”
“We found traces of it in your blood system, we think it may have came from the wound on your shoulder. But what surprised all of us was the wound on your hip, something that deep should have killed you. It's a miracle you survived something so fatal” I thought back to what happened the night before, “Is my sister okay!?”
“Sister?”
“Yes she's a zebra.” I said as I sat up a bit, “Oh yes Zecora. She is fine.” I relaxed knowing she was still alive, “Are you going to kill us or are you waiting for the right moment?”
“Springwood!” she glared at the other mare who simply looked at me, “We must be going now, Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you.” she said as she pushed the mare out.
The room was silent now, all I could hear was the commotion outside, “How can you say such a thing!?” the nurse yelled from outside, “You know we can't trust him for shit! Do I have to remind you why he is a wanted criminal?! Back in Minyochnaed he destroyed an entire military base and killed everypony with a pulse! They even went as far as putting a price on his head and asking Princess Celestia to help hunt him down and when she did give them help he killed those soldiers.”
“Even if it were true he risked his life to save all of Canterlot! Not only us but he saved many other cities from certain doom before!”
“It's probably just a ruse to buy his way out of the death sentence. Plus rumor has it that he had something to do with the Dodge Junction Incident.”
“Those are just rumors Springwood, he may have done some unspeakable things in the past but he was willing to save those who were lucky enough to survive, all I am is grateful.”
“I don't care what he did, he's a monster plain and simple, it's only a matter of time before he starts his massacre.” I heard them walking away finally leaving me alone with my thoughts,
'I was actually planning to get our stuff back from the Royal Guard somehow and if possible loot some houses then leave just as soon as they started another search for me. I didn't plan on getting captured though.' I look back at the cuffs examining the key hole, 'I'm pretty sure I can pick it, I should do it before the princess comes.' I shake my head and felt the paper clip behind my ear move, 'One more should do it.' I shook my head again and it fell on my pillow. I grab it with my mouth and carefully aimed at my hand and spat it out to my palm, once I got a hold of it I bent it into an abstract shape and stuck it into the keyhole. Nearly seven minutes later I finally felt the cuff unlock and went on to pick the other one,
'First find Zecora, second kidnap one of the guards and interrogate him, third-' I heard the door open and a golden aura surrounded the paper clip and it flew out of my hand. At the door stood a tall, slender white mare, “Shit.” I never actually seen the princess but it didn't take a genius to know it was her, she had this presence that just screamed “the highest authority” and the air around me was commanding me to bow to her, even though she just stood there I could tell how over 1,000 years of her life have helped her hone her magical abilities and how powerful she can really be, while I was looking at her my muscles tensed up and my breathing slowed as a cold sweat rolled down my forehead, it was strange, for some reason I was fearing her.
Two guards came inside ready to shoot me down, “Is everything fine princess?” one of them asked, “Yes everything is fine, now if you would please unbind him.” her voice was gentle and motherly, something in my mind told me not to fall for it, “As you wish princess.” the other one unlocked the cuffs and I was able to get out of bed. I rubbed my wrist and the stallion aimed his rifle at me, “Stand on your hooves.” I looked at him and thought about subduing him and try my best to escape using him as a hostage, 'Don't, you won't get very far, just play along and find an opportunity for escape.' I relaxed and changed to my pony form.
He lowered his gun and stood next to the princess, “Thank you, carry on with your duties, I want to speak with him in private.”
“But princess-”
“That's an order.” she said sternly, they bowed and they walked out of the room. It was just the two of us and it was silent, it was getting a little awkward so I pushed aside the unknown fear and spoke up, “So how many years am I getting? Or am I just gonna be executed?”
I stared daggers into those magenta eyes, her eyes widened a bit at my response and suddenly she broke down into tears. Saying I was surprised would be an understatement, never in my entire life would I expect the princess, the very same princess who spent the last five years trying to capture me, to just bawl in front of me, 'Why is she crying?' “Uh...eh...” I had no idea on what to say to her, this was the most awkward position I've ever been in, “It's my fault *sob* it's all my fault...”
she kept repeating that phrase over and over. I had enough of her wailing and looked around for something she could use, I look at the nightstand next to my bed and on it conveniently lies a box of tissues, “Stop your crying.” I said with irritation clear in my tone as I nearly shove the box in her face, her horn glowed and she took a few, “Thank you.”
“Whatever, so why did you want to talk to me in private?”
“Nopony has told you yet, good, I want to tell you myself.”
“Tell me what?” I was about ready to jump out the window, “Callidus was it? Do you know the real reason why I was willing to side with Minyochnaed despite the both of us being at the edge of going to war with each other?” she said as she dried her eyes, “Because I committed some major crimes and since you have a strong sense of justice you thought it was only right to bring me down?” I gave her a deadpan look and she nodded no, 'Wait no?'
“I wanted to bring you home.” she started crying again, “Home?”
“Callidus, I am your mother.” the silence came back and I was flabbergasted, 'Princess Celestia? My mother?' I felt a sickening emptiness in my stomach, my hooves felt light, and I'm pretty sure my coat went a few shades lighter, I was feeling horrified at what she just told me for an unknown reason, “This is insane, you're insane, there is no possible fucking way that you are my biological mother. I don't have neither wings or a horn and not only that some of your soldiers that you sent tried to kill me on more than one occasion.”
“I never ordered them to kill you! I merely wanted them to find you and transport you back to Canterlot.”
“Tell that to your lapdogs.”
“That would explain a lot. Look at how tall you've gotten, you grew into a handsome young stallion.” she smiled at me about to cry again, “So what's gonna happen?”
“Are you skill skeptical about me being your real mother?”
“Very.”
“We do have a lot of time to spare, why don't we start by catching up?”
“What about Minyochnaed? Won't they be pissed once they find out you have me in custody?”
“They can wait, why don't we go to the palace gardens?”
“Why not?” 'Damn, she not giving me any chances for escape, just go with it a bit longer.' the two of us walked out of the room and in the hallway were hundreds of patients in the midst of dying or being treated. As we passed by most of them bowed before Princess Celestia and others glared at me, as we were walking instinct told me to get as far away from her as possible and I kept ignoring them, suddenly I felt something grab my hoof and when I looked down it was a unicorn filly, she had one of her eyes covered by bandages and her left forehoof was in a cast, “Thank you for saving us mister.”
“Frost get away from him!” she was pulled aside by her mother who gave me the most evilest look and I kept walking. We were outside and waiting for us was a carriage being hauled by two pegasai guards, “Princess are you sure it's safe for him to be unchained?” the pegasus readied his pistol, “I'm sure Razorwind, he will not be of any trouble for me.” he opened the carriage for us and we sat down. I felt the carriage take flight and nearly fell face first to the floor, “Not the most stable method of transportation.” I said as I did my best to keep myself seated,
“It takes a lot of practice before you even begin to sit properly.” she snickered as I used both of my hooves to keep myself from falling, I was able to look out the window and below I see the Royal Guard piling bodies onto a large cart and most of Canterlot's buildings have been reduced to nothing, “They did a lot of damage.”
“It's baffling, they just broke through our defenses, not one demon should be able to even get within an inch of the wards.” I started remembering what happened last night, right before I passed out I saw the demons retreating.
“Last night I saw the remaining hordes retreat. That never happens to any demon in general, they stay and fight to the end.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Right now it's only a theory but I think somepony was leading them. Have demons broke through your wards before?”
“Not in years, this is the first invasion in over a decade.” I felt us land and one of the pegasai opened the door, “We've arrived princess.” the two of us got off and we were met by two rows of soldiers who saluted us “What's this?” Celestia asked, “We apologize princess but we just wanted to show our thanks.” front and center was that same hotel clerk from The Horseshoe Inn wearing armor, “I know you!”
“Nice to see you're in one piece Callidus.” he said as he removed his helmet, “My name's Ironsight.” he held out his hoof for me to shake, “So you were the one who gave that anonymous tip to the Royal Guard?” as soon as I said that his hoof snapped back, “Um well...yeah sorry about that, you see I'm in an undercover unit in charge of capturing you. I was stationed at Ponyville in hopes of finding you.”
“An undercover unit huh?” I glare at Celestia who averts her gaze, “We wanted to thank you for what you did, if you hadn't come along who knows what could've happened.” behind him I see his comrades giving me smiles, “Don't mention it.”
“That's kind of you all but I'm afraid we must be going.” all of them bowed and walked away, 'Ironsight, now I know who to talk to about getting my stuff back.'
“Did I not mention the spies I sent after you?” I glared at her as she sheepishly smiled.
We finally entered the garden and it was even more massive that I thought it would be, the grass was a beautiful shade of emerald and everywhere I saw well sculpted statues placed where there were lush, exotic plants and right at the center of everything was a very large maze, “Do you like it?”
“It's a nice garden.” I plainly state, “You and Nero used to play here all the time when you were just colts.” it still amazes me how I used to actually tolerate that asshole. She led me into the maze and she shot a magic blast at a nearby wall of vegetation and revealed a pond with a table and four chairs just sitting near the rim of it, “This is my little sanctuary, nopony except my sister and I know about this place.” the two of us sat down and she spawned a teapot and two cups with her magic, “Now, what do you want to ask me? Oh before I forget.” her horn glowed and she spawned Persuasion and Reason, “I believe these belong to you.”
She levitated them to my hooves, “How did you know?”
“Zecora told me after I returned her things, I thanked her for looking after you.” I kept looking at my guns feeling relieved that I got them back, 'Now all I gotta do is escape.'
“Callidus?” I snap back to reality, “Sorry what?”
“I asked who is Gunpowder Smith?” I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and I stopped breathing, I felt nauseous and my body felt weak, I felt my mind forcing me to remember who he was and I quickly force those memories back, “No pony, just a pony who was willing to make them for me.” I said very quickly and I started to take deep breaths.
She looked at me very suspiciously but ignored it and took a sip from her cup, “Who was my father?” she sighed, “Your father was Saleel Beydoun, the first alicorn prince ever recorded in history.” I noticed that pang in her eyes, “What happened to him?” she began to cry, again, “Ten years ago, there was an attack, but it was caused by only one thing. It merely walked right through the wards and killed everypony in sight and in just seconds it turned Canterlot into a war zone. You were so young at the time, he wanted me to stay with you until it was over and I did what he told me. I was so worried about your father I went to see what has happened, I found him...he was just...lying there, there was so much blood *sob* when I got there it was already too late...” she cried even more and had difficulty just remembering that experience,
“The monster who attacked was nowhere to be found but when I returned to you...you were gone, no trace of any kind you just vanished, I've never felt so broken, so alone, so defeated in my entire life.” she stopped crying and smiled, “But now you returned, and I could never be more happy than I am now.” I couldn't look at her anymore, I was having a hard time believing her, “How come I can't remember any of this? How come I can't remember you or Violet or anypony I've ever met as a kid?” she projected two pictures of MRI photos, “The one to your left is the brain of a standard pony, and the one to your right is yours.” I compared the two and my brain had more dark spots, “You see the difference?”
“What do the dark spots mean?”
“Those dark spots represent what's missing. Your brain literally has holes in it, this spot here is where the other half of your hippocampus should be, it is responsible for memory storage, somehow somepony was able to remove it and tamper with your memory. Not just the hippocampus but some parts of the frontal lobe are missing as well, it's should be impossible for you to even be breathing!” I kept staring at the photos in disbelief. I remembered what I was about to ask Violet before they came and tried to kill us,
“Am I a demon?” she went quiet, the very same silence from the hospital came back to us and the only thing that could be heard was the gentle breeze, “Well, forgive me but this is a little hard to explain, I don't know what you are.” I raised both my eyebrows and gave her a very stupid look, “Come again.”
“It's the truth, I never really knew what you or your father were. Your father always seemed so, angelic, as if he were some ethereal being who flew down to earth, at first sight you would think he was an angel, but his power. Something of that magnitude would surpass even the most eldest of demons, it was so dark and malicious but at the same time gentle and benevolent while a demon's was just pure agony and hatred, I asked him what he was exactly but either he dodged the question or just never answered. But it's strange, with you I don't sense it, I don't sense any of it at all.” I thanked God I wasn't a demon at least, “Callidus, that name really suits you well. Would you like to know your real name?” she had a weird glint in her eye that I recognized all to well, she had hope in her eyes,
“Stop right there. I will admit when I was a colt I did have questions about myself like who were my real parents, why did they abandon me, and why was I able to do things other normal beings couldn't. It did kind of hurt that I had no idea who I was until today and I am grateful that you were willing to answer some questions, but never once did I dream to become a family with my real parents, I never dreamed of how different life would be if I lived with you or did I dream of you coming back for me one day. I never even bothered looking for you, the only thing you were to me was a general question, so before you get any ideas about how you and I will be this one big happy family I want to tell you right now that I don't want anything to do with you.” as cold as that sounded, and as dumb as it was considering she's the princess, it was the truth, I absolutely wanted nothing to do with her. That glint vanished in a second and she had this solemn expression,
“I see.” was all she said, she got up from her seat and started walking away, “Come with me.” she said in an serious tone. I followed her back into the palace, “Swiftstrike.” she nearly yelled, “Yes princess!” he saluted in fear,
“Take Callidus to the armory and equip him with whatever he wants, when he is ready take him to the training grounds.” “As you wish princess.” she walked away and I followed the unicorn, “She seems upset, what did you do to her?” he said angrily, he looked as if he were about to kill me, “All I did was tell her the truth.” he snorted and kept quiet the rest of the way.
He led me under the palace and when we got to the bottom of the steps I saw rows upon rows of swords, axes, shields, spears, bows and arrows, at the end of the hall there was a large armored door, “What's behind that door?”
“Heavy weaponry; guns, explosives, forbidden magic.” he answered. I change to my human form catching the guard by surprise and grab two swords, “So why am I getting prepared to fight?”
“It's what the princess wants.” I grabbed a few daggers and shove them in my shorts, “Any chance you know who I'll be fighting?” he nodded no, finally I grab a spear and shield and we walk back up to the palace. When I made it to the training grounds and I see a crowd of ponies, I get past and there waiting was Celestia, “Are you ready Callidus?”
“Cut the shit, who will I be fighting and why?” I felt my blood boil as I said it. She walked a few feet closer to me, “Your opponent will be Canterlot's reigning champion.”
“And that would be?” I looked at each of the crowd's faces, “Me.” she summoned her armor and spawned a glowing claymore sword earning her gasps from the crowd, “I would like to make a wager with you Callidus. As you should know you are in custody of the Pony Monarchy and I am more than willing to hand you over to Minyochnaed if you do not comply.” she smirked making me even more furious, “And what's the wager?”
“If you best me you will be set free and you will never be pursued by the Royal Guard ever again. If I win however, you are to remain here in Canterlot as a prince and only address me as “mother”. Do you accept?” I grab the spear and point it in her direction, “Fight me with everything you have.”