Chapter 48 (slightly modified)
Though it pained me, I separated from Fluttershy when we reached the gate once again. I watched her for as long as I could, but sadly, I had to stop or learn a non-existent x-ray vision spell. Not that it would have mattered for long anyway, as I still had to give up my ring at the entry. It seemed unnecessary since there was no contests today.
The closing ceremonies were scheduled to stretch out over the whole day. The morning had a huge song and dance number scheduled that was meant to celebrate the Crystal Empire as well as the unity of Equestria. Then, after a two hour intermission, there would be the city awards. That was when the mayors and some competitors from the different towns would receive their plaques and trophies for different things, i.e. overall medal count and sportsmanship. Once the sun was set, there would be a fireworks display, lit by my favorite, tiny dragon.
The next day, the train station and airship port was going to be extremely busy, so my friends all decided to stay an extra day. Celestia, Luna and Gurfon did as well. Besides, who could possibly be in a hurry to leave someplace as beautiful as the Crystal Empire?
The girls and I had all decided that a trip to the spa would be the best way to relax after the Games. Besides, Cadance had volunteered to cover the bill for us.
Currently, I was enjoying a crystal mud bath with the girls, a strategically placed towel hiding my bits. Fluttershy was in the process of telling them about our discovery from the night before. “…it was the most amazing feeling. It was completely indescribable.”
“It sounds absolutely romantic, Darling, but I can’t help but wonder if it would work for anypony or if it’s something unique,” Rarity pondered. Honestly, I was starting to wonder that myself.
“I don’t know,” Twilight answered, “I’ve never even heard about of it before. I mean, what would you even call that?”
“Soul Link?” I asked with a shrug.
“I simply have to know. Chris, would you mind trying it with me?”
“Uh, I don’t know, Rarity. It’s kinda personal.”
“Oh, I know it’s dreadfully forward of me, but I cannot slate my curiosity otherwise.”
“For crying out loud, just touch her butt and get it over with,” Rainbow ordered.
“Only if Fluttershy is okay with it.”
“Um, I think I’ll be okay with it, as long as it’s just this once.”
“Alright, but only for a second.”
Rarity nodded and scooted closer to me. Same as before with Fluttershy, I channeled magic into my ring hand and placed it over her cutie mark. Despite using my magic, all I could feel was fur and toned muscle.
“Hmm, I didn’t feel anything. Did you, Chris?”
“No. Not a thing.” I looked to Fluttershy and saw the look of concern on her face. Had we really experienced something so beautiful just to have it stripped away from us?
I quickly reached for Fluttershy’s cutie mark and charged my magic. Thankfully, I was once again answered with a gasp and a pleased moan. Same as two nights ago, I felt the blanket of warmth and love. Even better, I got to watch her blush and smile, both making her even more beautiful than before.
I removed my hand and shuddered a little. “It still seems to work for us,” Fluttershy said as she leaned into me. The combination of both physical and emotional contact was making me glad I was wearing my towel.
“Interesting. It must be because of your relationship,” Twilight contemplated while rubbing her chin. “Here, try it on me.”
The sight of my cousin wiggling her flanks in my face was among the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve ever had with her. “Fine! Just get your butt away from me.”
I repeated my technique and once again, nothing happened. “Hmm… that is strange.”
“Look, let’s just not worry about it. It’s apparently nothing to worry about as Cadance said she experienced the same thing.” I squeezed Fluttershy closer to me side. “All I care about is that she’s here with me.”
Shortly after that the girls had all gotten out of the mud bath to move on to other spa activities. Rainbow was getting a massage, while Twilight was having her horn filed. Pinky was getting a hooficure and Applejack was having a deep mane scrub. Fluttershy and Rarity were both having a mud mask applied. I couldn’t help eavesdropping thanks to my alicorn hearing.
“Ooh, Fluttershy, I’m so happy for you. Tell me everything, all the details,” Rarity then remembered who she talking to, “the ones you’re willing to share, that is.”
“Um, well, what do you want to know?” I both didn’t want to hear this, but at the same time, I was very curious.
“Well, I know it was your first time,” that was news to me, “were you scared?”
“Oh not at all. He was very-”
“Alright, I’m done,” I said as I climbed out of the bath. “I’ll meet you girls at the café on the corner. I can’t handle your filly talk anymore.”
“Okay, Chris, but don’t forget your towel,” Twilight said as she pointed with one hoof and hid her eyes with the other.
*****
I was happily enjoying a nice cup of tea at the café when I saw the girls exiting the spa. Even from this distance, I could tell that they each benefited from their visit. They were each beautiful, but I only had eyes for one. Especially when the wind caught her mane and made it flow. A sight that made my heart melt.
Pinkie spotted my and waved frantically, screaming my name. I waved back and then beckoned to a waiter in anticipation of their pending arrival. When I turned back, I froze at what I saw.
A griffon was addressing my friends, and they all seemed none too happy about it. I could see Rainbow and Applejack getting ready for a fight and Fluttershy was hiding behind Rarity and Pinkie Pie. I couldn’t just sit there anymore and jumped from my seat, left some bits from my pocket, and rushed over.
“…and we still coulda been friends if you weren’t being such a jerk to my friends in Ponyville,” Rainbow Dash scolded the griffon.
That was about the time I reached the group. Under other circumstances, the griffon may have been attractive, in her own right. She had purple highlights on her otherwise white brow and more purple feathers around each eye that kind of looked like flames, the effect was quite fetching. Her huge, long wings and trim body made it very obvious that she was also an excellent flyer, probably almost as good, though not as fast, as Rainbow Dash.
“And I’m saying you and I are way too cool for these dweebs or that lame little town. Especially that little scaredy pony back there,” the Griffon pointed at Fluttershy. I stepped in front of Fluttershy and she curled up behind my legs. “And what’s this? Your little pet?”
“Watch it, Gilda,” Rainbow Dash warned. At least now I knew her name.
“Yeah, I heard about your little friend there and how much she just loves animals,” Gilda said with disgust. “You finally get so desperate for a mate that you trained a monkey to take you to bed.”
The sound of Fluttershy’s whimper was getting me far more angry than anything this Gilda was saying about me. “Listen, I don’t know who you are, but I suggest you drop this and continue on your way,” I warned her.
“So she trained it to talk too.” I was starting to see red now and knew what would happen if I couldn’t calm down. Thing is, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop it. “You must be more pathetic than even I thought you were.”
“That’s it!” Rainbow shouted as she landed and took a fighting stance in front of Gilda. “If you don’t high tail it right now, I’m gonna-”
She didn’t get to finish her thought as Gilda had snatched a clawfull her mane and dragged her to eyelevel. “You’ll what? I whooped your flank in school and I’ll do it again right here too.”
I had had enough. I rushed forward to the front of the group. The girls were all pleading for Rainbow’s release, but I was taking matters into my own hands, literally. As soon as I was within reach, I grabbed Gilda’s claw and pried it open, dropping Rainbow Dash to the ground where she was quickly surrounded by her other friends.
“I’m only going to say this once, leave now or things will get bad for you.”
“So, the monkey speaks. That’s a neat little trick there, monkey. Did your master teach it to you so you could give her a little dirty talk in the sheets?” Gilda prodded both my emotions and my chest, the latter with sharp talon.
I lost my temper a little and punched Gilda square across her beak. “I warned you what would happen. Now go.”
Gilda rubbed her sore beak and found it to be bleeding. “Oh, that is it. I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m gonna whoop your flank and then I’m gonna whale on your little, yellow whor-urgk…”
She couldn’t finish her sentence because she couldn’t breathe anymore. I lost control again and had knocked her onto her back and was doing everything I could to choke the life out of her. The thing that made this time different was that I didn’t black out. Instead, I was fully aware of everything I was doing and saying and wanted nothing more than to stop it.
My hands were too small to reach all the way around her neck, so my magic was used to create a garrote of sorts. “I am the prince of Equestria. I am Celestia’s child. I am the Son of the Sun. I am Christopher Sol.”
Gilda’s face was starting to change color and I could see pure terror on her face as she realized she might very well die here. She kicked and scraped at me any way she could, but my body healed itself just as quickly as it was damaged. I could even feel the others trying to pull my hands away from her throat, but their efforts were all for naught.
Fortunately, there was one who could still reach through my murderous rage and pull me back to the surface. Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around my chest and held on for dear life. The sounds of her sobs and pleas managed to calm me enough so I could take control of my body again.
When I was finally able to release my grip on Gilda’s neck, my knuckles popped and cracked from the strain. As soon as she was free, Gilda pushed herself away from me and took flight, hacking and coughing the whole time. For my part, I collapsed onto the street’s curb. I sat there in shock at what I had just tried to do. When Fluttershy tried to speak to me, I snatched her up in my grip, sat her on my lap, hugged her tightly and rocked back and forth.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I sobbed over and over again.
“Shh… it’s over now. Everything will be okay,” Fluttershy tried to console me as she rubbed my back.
The other girls could only watch in slack jawed shock. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen. How could their friend, who had always done everything he could to avoid hurting anyone, have been so determined to end the life of another living creature?
“There he is! Arrest him!” Gilda yelled at the guards she was leading to us.
“Him? Are you insane? That’s the prince,” the guard protested.
“I don’t care if he’s Celestia herself, He tried to kill me and I want him arrested!”
The six mares around me were now glaring at the griffon, I, however, simply stood up after placing Fluttershy on the ground and walked over to the guard and Gilda. Gilda was trying her best to stare me down without letting it show that she was trembling like a small dog in a kennel. She even flinched, as did the guard, when I dropped to me knees and presented my hands.
“It’s true, I tried to kill her. Take me in.”
“Um, your highness, is this an order?”
“Yes, now do it.”
“Very well,” he said before he attached the hoofcuffs. I could hear him whispering “Celestia, protect me,” as he did so.
I could also hear my friends shouting their own protests at what was taking place. I looked over my shoulder and shook my head to indicate that they shouldn’t intervene. It nearly broke my heart to see the tears in Fluttershy’s eyes.
*****
I was kneeling in the throne room of the Crystal Palace, still in cuffs, and surrounded by royalty. Cadance and Shining were by my side, Twilight was pacing the floor, and Gurfon was sitting on the opposite side of the room with Gilda. He did not look the least bit entertained.
Suddenly, the large doors were enveloped in a golden magic aura and were nearly ripped from their hinges. In stormed Luna and Celestia. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! REMOVE THOSE SHACKLES RIGHT NOW!”
Shining used his magic to remove the hoofcuffs from my wrist, while Cadance told Celestia about the events that led up to this point. “…and so Chris ordered the guard to take him into custody and bring him here. If I may say so, I think it shows great maturity on his part to have done this.”
Celestia’s face dropped and Luna’s expression changed from rage to placid. “And where is the guard that took my baby boy into custody?”
“Um… we felt it was probably for the best if you didn’t know, Princess Celestia,” Shining informed her while he slid behind me a little further.
“You will defy your princess?” Celestia started to get angry again. “I am not in the mood to have my orders questioned. You will give me the name of this guard, now!”
Shining was clearly torn. He knew he couldn’t resist Celestia’s orders, but he was terrified of what might happen to said guard if he gave him up. He was even stuttering.
“Mom, stop it.” The room froze and fell silent. Celestia turned to me with sympathy in her eyes. “I did wrong. Any other pony would have been arrested for what happened, so why shouldn’t I? I ordered the guard to take me in.”
“But, why?” she pleaded as she closed the gap between us.
“Because I shamed you. I let my temper get the best of me and tried to kill her,” I indicated Gilda.
Celestia was shocked. “What? No, Honey, no. You haven’t shamed me. Your friends were in trouble and you tried to stop it. It’s not your fault you couldn’t control your Alicorn Instincts. They’re still new to you after all.”
“This is bull!” Gilda shouted. “That monkey tried to kill me over some teasing and it’s ‘not his fault’?”
“Shut up,” Gurfon warned her. “As far as you’re concerned, I would just as soon serve you up as dinner for the dragons than punish him for a fight you started.”
“Yes, my king,” Gilda said as she lowered her head.
“Princess Celestia, I apologize for the uncouth behavior of my subject. Please know that I will see to it that she is properly punished for her transgressions against your ponies.”
“Thank you, King Gurfon.”
“Hey, what about him?” Gilda shouted before she could stop herself and she clamped her beak shut with her eagle claws.
“Oh please, you start a fight and then, when you lose, you demand he be punished. You’re a sociopath,” Twilight scolded.
“Princess, if I may, I propose you allow me to take Chris into custody in my palace. It will serve as a punishment for his crime while allowing him to be kept safe at the same time,” Gufon suggested.
“Absolutely not!” Celestia practically screamed.
“Calm yourself, Sister,” Luna said as she stood beside Celestia.
“Believe me, Princess, I don’t want to deal with this mess at all,” Gurfon pleaded, “but we have to do something. A member of the royal family of one nation has assaulted a citizen of another. Even though the fight was started by my subject, if something is not done about this, it will be demanded of me to do something, and soon.”
Celestia sighed deeply. “I fear you may be correct.”
“What? But, Princess, she was the one who forced his hand! The whole thing is her fault!”
“I understand that, Twilight, but the king is correct. If we do not nip this in the bud, than this incident may be considered as an act of war.”
“Right,” Gurfon agreed. “But don’t worry, Princess Twilight, Chris shall be kept in comfort and treated as a guest the whole time he is in my country.”
“What!? He tries to kill me and he gets waited on hand and claw?!” Gilda protested.
“SHUT UP!” was the chorused reply from almost everyone in the room.
“I’ll go.” I stood up and walked over to Gurfon and then kneeled before him. “King Gurfon, I humbly submit myself into your custody,” I told him meekly.
Gurfon laid his eagle claw on my shoulder, “very well. We shall be leaving for the Griffon Kingdom in the morning. I suggest you spend this night with your friends and loved ones, for it will be a full moon before you return to them.”
“And what about visits?” Celestia asked.
“Of course, all prisoners are allowed visits. I see no reason to make an exception.”
“Very well,” Celestia finally gave in, “but know this, if any harm befalls my son, no place on Equus can hide you from me.”
My chuckling broke the tension in the room. I stood up and approached Celestia. “You’re always so overprotective,” I said as I poked her snout, thus causing her to go cross-eyed for a second. I then hugged her tight and started to cry into her fur, “I’m so sorry I let you down. I promised I would never do that, but I did any way. I’m sorry.”
Celestia didn’t say anything for a while. Instead, she wrapped her wings around me and held me tight to her barrel, nuzzling me affectionately. Then she said to me, “there is nothing to be sorry for. You only wanted to defend your friends from someone stronger than they are. It’s not your fault your instincts took control. It simply means you need more training in control.”
“True enough, Sister,” Luna stated, “but I feel we should allow dear Christopher to go to his fillyfriend as I am sure she is very worried about him.”
Celestia eventually agreed and released me. Twilight and I left the room and went to meet up with our friends. I spent the rest of the night trying not to be a downer. Fluttershy refused to release me through the night and into the morning. If circumstances had been different, I would have enjoyed that a lot more.
The next morning, Gurfon, his guards and servants, myself and Gilda loaded onto Gurfon’s airship. We were well under way before Luna, Twilight, Celestia and Cadance stopped flying alongside. Fluttershy actually had to be ordered to return to the Crystal Palace, and even then she had to be fetched by Rainbow Dash. After that, I felt more alone than I had in many, many moons.
And that was how I wound up getting myself arrested.