//------------------------------// // Broken // Story: How many have you forgiven today? // by Sarcastic Brony //------------------------------// Twilight is sitting next to Celestia and Blueblood as the three of them wait for their meals to arrive. Even though she should be ecstatic about eating with the princess, her thoughts are currently somewhere else. She can’t fight the feeling that something major transpired when she was in the dining hall. There’s a pain inside of her that she can’t explain. Why does she feel like this? There’s no logical reason for her to feel the way she does. Sure she didn’t get to talk to the thestral that was eating but it wasn’t the end of the world by any means. Yet there’s a sense of regret and failure. Perhaps with her studies on gaining Anon’s forgiveness, she’s also become a bit worrisome over trivial things? It’s a thought, but it does little to help. “Twilight?” Twilight flinched slightly as she feels something rest of her withers. She looks over to see the princess giving her a look of concern. Looks like the princess can read her as easily as any open book. “Yes?” “You seem a bit lost in thought. Is something the matter?” Twilight shakes her head. “No, I just feel odd is all.” Celestia looks at Twilight a bit before accepting her answer. If her student doesn’t want to talk about it then she can’t force her. It’s not like Twilight is the only one feeling odd today. That small feeling inside of Celestia that she felt before is now in full force. It’s a pressure inside of her that she cannot put her hoof on. Should she check to see if Anon is alright? Usually, when she gets an odd feeling it’s related to Anon, but she knows that Luna’s captain is protecting him. She wouldn’t want to undermine her sister’s judgment on the matter. Still, maybe just a quick check couldn’t hurt? Celestia lights her horn slightly and connects with Anon. She instantly doubles over and covers her mouth with a hoof. “Princess!” Twilight shouts as she notices the Princess sudden change. Celestia’s eyes are unfocused as she takes a large hit to her psyche. She can feel her body shaking and a great amount of panic and danger filling her. Not to mention she feels like throwing up everything she’s ever ate. Her heart hurts so much and her body is on fire. She quickly breaks the connection and tries her best to bury what she feels. It takes her but a moment to return to her normal position and apply her princess mask to hide away the pain. This wouldn’t be the first time she needed to act normal in a time of emergency. Everything about her has returned to her normal serene look. “Aunty?” Blueblood looks afraid. Celestia looks at him with a gentle smile. “Sorry about that, I haven’t been feeling well.” Celestia says. “Just a bit of a tummy ache.” Blueblood isn’t too sure about that, but he accepts what his aunt says anyways. Twilight is looking at Celestia still alarmed. Whatever happened to her had to be serious to make the princess double over like that. She can’t help but be concerned about her mentors wellbeing. “Do you need to see the doctor?” Celestia shakes her head. “I’m fine.” She then stands up. “I’m sorry to do this, but I just remembered I have to check on a few things.” Blueblood and Twilight are confused by this sudden change. “Are you sure it can’t wait?” Twilight asks. Celestia shakes her head. “Sadly, it cannot.” Celestia rests a hoof on Blue’s mane. “We’ll do this again, so don’t worry. I just need to check something.” Blueblood understands and gives a nod. “Do you need any help?” Twilight asks. “There’s no need, Twilight. I’m sure you and Blue can have a nice meal together. The two of you rarely talk.” Twilight looks over at Blueblood. It’s true, Twilight spent most of her time learning when she was a filly, so Blueblood and she have never really gotten to know one another. Even after that she heard a few things from Rarity that makes her hesitant to get to know him. Yet, why would the princess treat him so well if he is as bad as Rarity says? Perhaps this is a test? To see if Twilight is ready to face Anon? Alright, Twilight won’t judge, she’ll get to know Blueblood and make her own decision. “Alright.” She agrees. Celestia nods at that. “That’s good to hear. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Celestia walks off towards the castle as Blueblood and Twilight give her a wave. Now they are left alone and neither one knows what to say, an uncomfortable silence builds between them for a few minutes as they simply look everywhere but each other's direction. “So...” Blueblood decides to act. “Do you like animals?” A simple question and one that Twilight is grateful for. The silence was starting to become too much for her. “Not as much as my friend Fluttershy, but I do own an owl.” “You know Fluttershy?” Blueblood asks. Twilight finds herself surprised by how casually Blueblood spoke her name. Do they know each other? Twilight nods. “Yes. Do you?” “We talk a lot in the garden. She’s very nice.” Twilight finds this entire situations interesting. Something isn’t right here. If Blueblood is as bad as her friend made him out to be then why would Fluttershy spend time with him? “That sounds like Fluttershy.” “How long have you know each other?” Blueblood asks out of interest. So far this is going great. Blueblood seems like a good pony but there’s much more she can learn. If Blueblood is open to hearing her story then perhaps this is a great opportunity to get to know him as well. “I guess our friendship started when I first came to Ponyville.” Luna is deep in thought as she walks down the hallway of the castle. She’s been thinking about what she is going to say to Anon. Just trying to figure out the right words seems like a losing battle for her, something she isn’t used to. She above all wants to avoid sharing her memories of that time in her life. She fears how that would come to affect him if she were to do such a thing. It would be best to simply lay herself bare, put all the cards on the table, as the saying goes. Yet she fears what will come of this. Trust is a tree that takes time to grow but seconds to cut down. If Anon loses trust in Luna, she doesn’t know how she’ll handle something like that. “Why do you care what that human thinks?” A voice whispers inside of her head. “I thought I told you to never talk to me again.” Luna speaks to herself. “Your thoughts are giving me a headache.” Nightmare moon mocks. “Well, seeing as it’s my mind, I can think about whatever I please.” “Pointless thoughts is all I see. Forget what that creature thinks.” Luna notices a certain hostility to Nightmare’s tone. “It seems that you’re in a sour mood.” Nightmare scoffs. “I just find your infatuation with that beast annoying.” Luna grits her teeth at hearing that. “I will say this once, Nightmare. When it comes to what I care for, hold thine tongue, lest you wish to part with it.” Luna threatens. Nightmare gives another scoff but doesn't say anything else. Luna has no idea what’s with Nightmare today. Usually, she keeps her silence for the most part. It’s just another thing she doesn’t understand. Pointless to waste thought on that mare, as Anon is far more important. It then hits luna like a ton of bricks. She places a hoof to her chest as her heart weighs heavy. The very air itself becomes so thick that one would think it were made of sludge. Something’s wrong with Anon, there’s no time to lose. She looks over to a corner that has a shadow and quickly runs into it. She needs to find out what’s happening with Anon. Blossom is stroking Anon gently as he continues to hold her. He’s been like this for a few minutes but she doesn’t have a problem with it. It’s almost as if a mother is comforting a child in a way. This reminds her of a time that has long since passed. Before her thoughts take her away, what happens next isn’t what she expects. Almost like a light being turned on, Anon suddenly moves away from her and quickly sits in his seat. He moved so fast that Blossom was impressed he didn’t break the sound barrier in doing so. Now she can only stare at him as he looks down at his plate. A thousand yard stare and a blank expression. Blossom has seen that look on the battlefield many times before. Nothing is said between the two as Anon looks at his plate and Blossom continues to face him. It feels as if an eternity goes by before Anon opens his mouth. “Thank you.” Anon says with an emotionally dead tone. “I said I was going to protect you. I never break a promise.” They’re left in silence. Anon is stuck in his own mind trying to sew his sanity back together. Everything that happened just happened too quickly for him to comprehend. It was all normal and then she showed up. The thought of her sends a chill down his spine. Every time she is near Anon doesn’t feel like himself. It’s almost as if he turns into a animal. He needs to run when she’s close. Thinking about it is just going to make the feeling worse. He needs to calm down before he gets sick. Yet his thoughts start to turn on him. Falling into a darker area of his mind. Why is he so weak? Why can’t he just be a man? He’s pathetic. Being afraid of a pony. Needing others to save him. He feels his fists clench as those thoughts take over. They’re right, he is weak. If it wasn’t for the sister’s he’d probably still be in his home avoiding ponies. They probably think of him as nothing more than a child to take care of. That’s why they do it, isn’t it? They do it because they pity him. As his thoughts become all consuming, he feels something settle on the top of his left hand. He looks over to see that Blossom put her hoof on his hand. She’s giving him a gentle smile, a smile that reminds him of Celestia. Blossom... She really did come through for him. She said she was going to protect him and that’s what she did. Even after she was willing to stay to try and calm him down. Anon can feel the darker part of his mind starting to settle. The fact is, Anon has a lot of friends that want nothing more than to see him safe. It’s not because they pity him, it’s because they actually care. Maybe he is weak, but there are ponies around him that are strong. Humans became great because of their willingness to make groups, and for most of his life, Anon has been alone. So now that he has people he can depend on, as long as he’s with them, then maybe he doesn’t have to be afraid? He can feel a smirk grow on his face as he looks down at Blossom’s hoof. “I know you can’t keep your hooves off me, but please, keep it in the bedroom.” Blossom is thrown off by his comment, but quickly feels a smile on her face. “You can’t blame a mare for wanting all this.” She motions to Anon’s entire form. Anon chuckles a bit. “I guess not.” He feels as if everything is back to normal as he looks down at his plate. “I’m starved.” Blossom agrees. “Yeah, let’s eat.” Just as Anon and Blossom are about to eat, the door the dining room is kicked open. They both look over to see Celestia is standing there while panting heavily. Not only that, but the two of them hear something coming from the other side of the room. They both look over to a dark patch in the corner and see Luna run out of it. “Anon?!” Both Celestia and Luna shout. “Yeah?” They both gallop over to him until Anon is sandwiched between them both. They’re hugging him with enough force to crush his spine, but thankfully, he’s only taking half the force. Blossom is also being sandwiched between them as well. “W-What’s wrong?” Anon grunts out. “I felt that something was wrong.” Celestia and Luna speak at once. “Can you let go of us?” Anon asks. “Us?” They speak in unison again. Luna and Celestia let go of Anon and see Blossom there as well. Both Anon and Blossom gasp for air. It was a really tight hug. “Terribly sorry about that.” Celestia apologises. “No problem.” Blossom fixes her fur some. Luna rests her attention directly on Anon. “What happened?” She asks. Anon isn’t too sure if he wants to tell any of them about what happened, but he knows they’ll find out eventually. Blossom, after all, is Luna’s captain. So he might as well get this out of the way. “Twilight came here.” Luna feels her features hardened and Celestia finally understands what she felt earlier. While Celestia is filled with concern, Luna is filled with anger. “What did she do?” Luna asks. “Nothing.” Anon looks at Blossom. “Blossom hid me until she left. I was a bit shaken up, but I’m fine now.” Luna looks over at her captain with a questioning gaze. Blossom nods in confirmation. Luna feels her expression soften as she returns her gaze to Anon. “Are you sure you’re alright?” She asks out of concern. “Yeah.” “I’m sorry, Anon.” A voice speaks up. Anon looks over at Celestia as she turns away from him. What’s got her in such a bad mood? “What do you have to be sorry for?” “I sent Twilight here.” The entire room falls silent. Anon can feel his thoughts explode into thousands of questions, his emotions wanting to shift to anger but he calms himself. There’s more to this than meets the eye. He needs to know what happened. “Go on.” Celestia can feel everyone in the room looking at her, yet she has not turned back to meet their gaze. She can’t. “I invited Twilight to have lunch with Blueblood and I. When I was going to send the order to the chefs, Twilight offered to come here and tell them herself. I had a feeling that something was wrong, but I still let her go.” Anon takes a few seconds to take in what Celestia said. A sigh leaves him. It’s not her fault. Even if he wants it to be, he can’t blame her for an honest mistake. Maybe she could’ve checked the castle with her magic for his location, maybe she could’ve told Twilight not to go. These are things she could’ve done, but even then, she’s not at fault for what happened. Anon gets up from his seat and walks over to Celestia. He doesn’t pause as he takes her into an embrace. “Just an honest mistake.” Anon says. Celestia feels her heart skip a beat as Anon holds her. She can feel her eyes glisten some at his words. So instead of saying anything, she simply wraps him into her wings and holds him tight. Anon can feel some dampness on his shoulder. He hates it when Celestia cries, especially when it's for his sake. “I still feel responsible.” She states. “I don’t know what to tell you, Tia. I don’t blame you, so there’s no reason to feel responsible.” He then looks over at his meal, then at the two sisters. “You two want to have lunch with Blossom and me?” That catches their attention as they give shallow nods. Celestia and Anon break from their embrace. Anon returning to his seat while Celestia cleans herself up a bit. After everything has calmed down a new voice speaks up. “May I take your orders?” A waiter asks. Anon flinches, he swears that damn pony is a ninja. With everything settled, Celestia and Luna both give their orders to the waiter. Luna quickly takes the open seat beside Anon and Blossom notices a jealous gaze Celestia is giving her sister. Blossom gets a smirk on her face as she takes in the scene. Well, perhaps now is the time for her to take her leave. “I need to get back to the office and finish off the paperwork that’s leftover.” Blossom speaks up. “Are you sure?” Anon asks. She nods. “Positive.” She gets up from her seat and walks over to the dining room door, stopping briefly as she turns back to face Anon. “Enjoy your meal, Stud.” Blossom quickly departs and leaves Anon alone with the two sisters. They’re facing the door just before they look back at Anon. “What does she mean by stud?” Celestia asks. Anon feels his face fall into his hands. That damn bat! He’ll make her pay for that. Gilda is hiding on top of a building as she watches the mare from the shop talking to the guards at the front gate of the castle. So that thing really does knows the rulers of this place? Gilda vaguely remembers what happened last night, as she decided to get smashed soon after, but she does remember that creature. How it wrapped its arms around her, stroked her plumage. It even had the gall to make her purr! Gilda has never been so embarrassed in her life! Gilda is filled with so many emotions right now. Mostly anger. It probably did that on purpose. If it knows the rulers, it’s bound to know the elements as well. Gilda feels her beak click at a certain thought. She wouldn’t be surprised if he only did that because of Rainbow, she probably put him up to it! To make her look like a fool again! Well, Gilda is no fool and she’ll teach that creature a lesson! Then she’ll find Rainbow and teach her a lesson about loyalty when she pounds her muzzle in! “Should you really be sneaking around on such a fine day?” Gilda quickly whips around and finds an orange pegasus mare in front of her. “Who in the hay are you?” Gilda asks. “Spitfire. That’s not important. What is important is your interest in Anon.” Gilda feels her eyes narrow. “You know that creature?” “Somewhat. I was in the shop while you were having a “chat” with the owners.” Spitfire lands on the roof a few hooves away from the griffin. “Now, I don’t like it when someone gets hurt. So I’m going to convince you not to lay a claw on Anon.” Gilda rolls her eyes. “Like I’d listen to what you say.” “Is that so?” Spitfire chuckles a bit. “What if I told you that I’m doing this for your sake, not Anon’s.” Gilda looks at the pony with a raised brow. She must be joshing? “Why help me?” “As I said, I don’t like seeing others get hurt.” “And you think I’m the one that would get hurt?” “Think?” Spitfire shakes her head. “You misunderstand... I know you will get hurt.” Gilda rolls her eyes as she waves Spitfire off. “Yeah, if you’re done wasting my time, I got some face to pound.” “If you want to get turned into ash, then be my guest.” Gilda freezes in place when she hears that. “Excuse me?” Gilda turns to face Spitfire again. “You’re not from around here, so I’ll let you in on a secret. The two rulers are very close to Anon. I doubt you’d get within hoofs length of him before one of the sisters blasted you into ash.” “You’re bluffing?” Gilda squints at Spitfire. “Yeah, I am.” Gilda relaxes some. “Chances are slim you’d get past his friends. Let me tell you, ponies that know Anon are passionate about his safety.” Gilda wants to refute that but then her mind drifts back to her interaction in that candy shop. Those two ponies from before weren’t bluffing when they said they were ready to duke it out in their own store. It’s one of those very rare moments when a pony actually stands up against a griffin. So this creature has a lot of friends that are willing to fight for him? Gilda feels her beak click as Rainbow Dash briefly flashes in her mind. Gilda scoffs. “Must be nice to have friends in high places. I bet he even goes on adventures with the Elements.” “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” “Why is that?” “Are you really that dense?” “What was that?” Gilda feels her claws dig into the wood of the home below. Spitfire casts a brief glance at her paws before she returns her sights on Gilda. “Have you not heard about the punishment in Ponyville?” “Why would I care about that place?” “Well, seeing as that’s where the elements were punished, I assumed a lot of creatures would care.” “Punished?” That catches Gilda off guard. “Indeed, a lot of them were punished.” “Was Rainbow Dash one of them?” Gilda asks. “Yeah, she was.” Gilda feels her eyes widen. When did this happen? For the most part, she’s just been drifting around Equestria for a while thinking about if she should go home or get revenge on Rainbow Dash. Yet to hear that she’s been punished, by the rulers of this place no less, is enough to make her pause. “Tell me everything.” Gilda demands. Spitfire feels a smirk on her face. “Go ask Anon yourself.” Spitfire walks past the griffon and to the edge of the roof. “He’s not as bad as you may think.” Spitfire looks over her withers at the griffin. “I’m sure you two have a lot in common.” Spitfire walks off the edge and glides down to the street below. She feels that it isn’t her place to tell others about what happened with Anon. That’s his choice if he wishes to share that information. She’s confident that she left the griffon more curious than hostile. She wasn’t lying though, if that griffin does hurt Anon, it’ll be the last thing she does. Spitfire chuckles at that thought a bit as she walks back to her home, it seems Anon will be rather busy today. Perhaps she’ll stop by some other time? Gilda is standing on the roof as she watches that pegasus walks off into the crowd. She feels her features shift into a snarl. Tartarus! Gilda is putting her plans on hold for the moment. There seems to be something else she’s interested... Rainbow’s punishment. Gilda can feel a certain thrill inside of her at the thought of hearing about what happened. She can only hope that mare got it good. Her thoughts of harming the creature are currently on hold, there’s bigger fish to fry.