Windy Loo
I longed for Twilight to stay, but it was nearly time for first meal, and she insisted she had research to do. Her gentle hooves carried her to the top of the stairs, and the door shut quietly behind her. A faint trace of her scent lingered, and I breathed it in hungrily.
When I could no longer detect her aroma, I slouched back and brought my tail up between my legs. I hugged the mess of tangled hairs and pretended it was Twilight. She was mine, all mine.
A sense of dread slowly crept over me, taking away the pleasant warmth I was feeling. What if she talked to Celestia? What if she found out about Windy Loo? The questions didn't have pleasant answers.
She'll want you locked up even after you're dead. She'll hate you. She'll never understand.
"I'll make her understand," I whispered to myself. She knew more about me than any other pony ever had. And even if she didn't realize it yet, she loved me, and would help me get out. In fact, I bet she already knew of a way I could apply my skills in a constructive way.
But even if there is something you can do, it's probably not what you want to do.
"I'll do it for her."
----
I don't recall falling asleep, but when I woke up, first meal was being slid through the bars of my cell. The guards responsible for bringing us our meals filed back up the stairs and the door shut behind them. I looked down at the plate in front of me with disinterest. Always biscuits and gravy. The hard, tasteless biscuit sat in my stomach like a rock, and the watery gravy did nothing more than make me thirsty. Complaints aside, I was full.
There was nothing I could really do aside from pace my cell at that point. It would be hours before I saw Twilight again, and I still had to get through second meal. That's what I thought before the door at the top of the stairs suddenly opened. It was something that had never happened before, and all the other Marked Ones stood up to look out of their cages.
Over a dozen of Celestia's Royal Guards trotted down the stairs, completely silent except for the rattling of their armor. Several thoughts crossed my mind. Maybe they're just going to kill us, and be done with this nonsense forever. Or maybe they have a bunch of new ponies to mark, and can't wait until after third meal.
"Which one, your highness?" a voice asked from the top of the stairs. I didn't recognize it, I mean, most the guards never even spoke around us.
"The first one on the right," a heavenly voice replied. I knew it was Twilight, but she sounded…uneasy. There was dread in her voice—anxiety, fear, maybe even shame. I wish I could have seen her face, but I knew whatever she was feeling was because of me.
The hinges on my cell door creaked for the first time in a decade, and I was rushed by three guards. They pinned me to the ground and I felt metal shackles being clamped around my legs. She found out about Windy Loo—she must have. Now I'm going to be punished for wasting Twilight's time.
Finally, a blindfold was tied around my head and I was hoisted to my hooves. Yup, I'm being executed, I thought. The guards led me up the stairs (I counted exactly thirty-two steps), and I tripped when I got to the top. I was picked back up and forced to walk blindly.
Two hundred steps down one hallway, sixty down another, up a spiral of fifty steps—Suddenly, I could no longer smell Twilight. She'd split from the group, leaving me with the guards. Without Twilight present, they handled me with much less regard for my comfort. At points, I was dragged great lengths before being allowed to stand up.
When we came to a stop, I heard a door open, and I was pushed through it. Wherever we were had a pleasant aroma, not unlike Twilight's. I heard a pair of hoof steps approaching, and the guards on either side of me grabbed my front legs.
"Do whatever you have to. Princess Celestia isn't going to want this in her presence," a gruff voice commanded. The guards released me without warning and I fell to the floor. Their armor rattled as they spread out across the room. Whatever ponies they'd thrown me to must have been looking at me in disgust, because I could feel their eyes upon me.
I didn't know what to expect as they undid my shackles. Maybe they're going to let me get a running start. The blindfold came off next, and just as my eyes were focusing, a torrent of hot, soapy water dumped over me. Oh, how it stung! I opened my mouth to scream as another wave of the water splashed against me.
It was like they were trying to drown me—the water just didn't stop. I gasped for air only to get mouthfuls of suds, and my eyes burned in their sockets. When it finally stopped, I lay gasping and coughing in a puddle on the floor.
A glob of something cool squirted onto my coat, and I felt the bristles of a brush begin working it into a lather. I was getting a bath, I figured out at last. A second brush started working its way through my tangled mane, yanking painfully almost every inch.
I kept my eyes closed as I lay there, just listening to the scrubbing noises and the occasional whispers from the ponies surrounding me. The two ponies cleaning me were mares, and most likely unicorns. I could hear the distinct sound of magic over the scrubbing noises.
The guards watching me being scrubbed clean remained silent for about the first ten minutes, and then a few got restless. They paced, and made small whispers to each other, usually followed by a quick Ha-ha.
I managed to tune out the sounds of the brushes to listen in on the guard's conversations. One voice in particular caught my attention, and I recognized it as the orange pegasus that had been with Twilight during her lesson.
"So, what's this one's deal?" Orange asked.
"Rookie, believe me when I say you don't want to know," Gruff Voice replied.
"It'd keep you up at night, kid," Guard Three added in. It was followed by one of those quick little Ha-ha's.
"Well, what does Princess Sparkle want with him?" Orange asked, clearly resenting being called kid.
"It's best you don't question my sister, Sentry."
I didn't recognize the fourth voice, but I was surprised to learn it belonged to Twilight's brother. (He and I would get to know each other fairly well, but we were never friends. I think it's because he knew how our relationship would play out in the end, even if he'd rather deny it.)
The scrubbing, rinsing, combing, trimming, and grooming went on for nearly twenty minutes. "Clean" was a sensation I'd never truly felt before, and I enjoyed every part of it. The best part was smelling like my lavender love, and I thought I may pass out from the overwhelming fragrance. Before I had the chance, I was once again lifted to my hooves and a blindfold was put over my eyes.
This time I was allowed to walk without restraints, but the guards pushing on all sides indicated they were taking no chances with me. It was comical really. I possessed no extraordinary strength, and without my horn, what could I possibly do? Most of all, why would I run? I had a very good idea of where they were taking me.
It must have been Twilight's idea to have me made presentable before pitching her idea to Celestia. She's so smart. But the dread in her voice…it wasn't over me…it was over Celestia. She doesn't think Celestia will listen. Celestia knows everything. Twilight knows only what I'd told her.
Even with murder on your hooves, Twilight still loves you, a reassuring voice told me. It was in the past and you'll never do it again.
"Stand right here," Gruff Voice commanded. The little parade of guards came to a stop and I felt them step away from me. A door opened somewhere in front of me and I heard hooves approaching. The hooves of the guards all clicked together in unison as the pony that was approaching walked up to me.
The blindfold around my eyes magically lifted and I could see the smiling face of Twilight in front of me. Her smile quickly faded and she wore an expression of determination. "Please follow me," she said.
I kept my eyes focused on her as we walked toward the opulent double door. The hallway was decorated with large stained glass windows, but I was barely concerned with them. There was no sight I could have passed more glorious than the mare in front of me.
One of the large doors was already open and Twilight indicated for me to pass through. She and the guards followed right behind me, and the door shut behind us. Up at the top of a large staircase sat Princess Celestia. Even she couldn't hide her surprise when she saw me.
"Twilight, why have you brought this stallion before me?" she asked. It was at that point I noticed the fifty or so guards lining the throne room walls. They all stood at the ready as if I may go supernova at any moment.
Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat and approached Celestia to bow before her. "Princess," she said, standing back up, "this stallion deserves a second chance."
Celestia's nostrils flared and she stood up on all fours. "This stallion was marked for a reason, Twilight. There's no rehabilitating him."
"I…I don't believe that's true."
The way Twilight defended made me believe it was hurting her to do so. I was just some stallion she'd met in a prison, but Princess Celestia was Princess Celestia: ruler over Equestria. How could she have felt so strongly for my cause as to challenge the most powerful alicorn of all?
"Please," Twilight continued, "his talent—dissecting—he could be a science teacher, or a veterinarian, or—"
"His talent is macabre," Celestia interrupted. "He makes art of it, takes pleasure in it—"
"He was young!" Twilight shouted. Celestia was very taken aback by Twilight's outburst, and she descended the steps to approach her. Twilight continued talking. "I talked with him, I know everything—his parents, his upbringing—it wasn't his fault!"
Celestia now stood over Twilight and turned to look at me. It pained me to do it, but I managed to look her in the eyes. She was judging me, and I tried to show that I wasn't afraid of her. It didn't work—I broke eye contact and stared at the floor after only a few seconds.
"Please bring him back to his cell," Celestia commanded the nearest guards, and they stepped forward.
"Give him a chance," Twilight begged, stepping between me and the guards. "Give me a chance!"
The guards looked from Twilight to Celestia, debating on which princess they should obey. I stood completely still, indifferent to their decision. Going back to my cell would have been preferable to standing around being talked about. I felt like I was in pre-school again.
"I don't want to sit next to him, he's weird!"
"Please, give him a chance. I'm sure you two can be friends."
"No!"
I'm not entirely sure how or why I attended school. After the incident in the swamp, I'd returned home to find it empty. My mother and father were gone, so I remained there, alone. Sometimes, the town fillies and colts would come and throw rocks through the broken windows for fun. I would go outside to join them, (I hated the house just as much as them, and wanted to throw rocks at it too), but they would run off.
One day, I followed them to the schoolhouse. The teacher had spotted me while I hid in the bushes, and made me attend her class. She was nice enough, but my classmates weren't. The only nice one was Windy Loo.
"He can sit next to me," she had said, raising her hoof. The classroom filled with whispers and giggles as I took my seat. "My name is Windy Loo," she smiled, "What's yours?"
She was a pretty, little filly—blue eyes, yellow curls, white coat—but what I truly admired were her wings. They were so big compared to the birds I'd worked on, and I wondered if they worked the same.
"Macabre," I whispered quietly.
The lesson started and the teacher began writing a bunch of squiggles on the chalk board. I didn't pay attention to any of it, I was too focused on my classmates. Most looked away when I looked at them, but others looked at me angrily. They didn't like me looking at them.
Out at recess, I went back to hiding in the bushes where I could safely watch the others. They paid me no mind as they played on the jungle gym or the swings. I thought about finding a bird to keep myself occupied, or maybe a squirrel.
"What are you doing?"
Windy Loo had spotted me and broken from her group of friends to join me. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. She looked at me with a curious smile and then down to my flank.
"You already have your cutie mark? That's so cool!" she had said. "How did you get it?"
I got excited. I can impress her with my talent!
"I can show you," I replied. She was more than happy to follow me as I walked behind the schoolhouse. I’d seen some berries growing on some bushes and knew that there would be birds. Sure enough, as we got back there, there were several brightly colored birds singing and chirping all around.
She thought my special talent was catching the birds, considering how quickly I caught one. "That was really cool!" she had said, watching me hold the bird beneath my hooves.
"Watch this," I said, focusing my magic. She stared intently as I began to use my magic to open the bird up. It chirped and squirmed as it's feathers began to spread apart in the middle. Just as its chest parted, revealing its organs, Windy Loo let out a shrill scream.
"What are you doing?!" she yelled. She pushed me off of the bird and it managed to get airborne before falling into the bushes.
"I was showing you my talent," I had tried to explain, but she looked at me with fear. She didn't understand, and she began backing away from me. Every step I took toward her, she took another back. Finally, she decided to run from me.
I chased her further into the woods, wanting only to explain, or to ask what I had done wrong. She shouted for me to stay away from her, but still I followed. I lost sight of her so I followed the sound of her voice. Suddenly, her cries stopped and I ran toward where I'd last heard her.
When I found her, she was sprawled awkwardly at the base of a large tree. One of her front legs was twisted at an angle it shouldn't have after getting snagged on a root. She was very still, and I approached her with caution. That's when I saw the blood. It was pooling beneath her head, leaking from a large gash across her brow. The culprit was a large, jagged rock jutting from the ground.
I tried calling her name but she didn't respond, so I straightened her body and lay it against the base of the tree. She was still warm, and I pressed my ear against her chest. There was a faint thumping noise as her heart beat weakly.
She wasn't dead, but I didn't know if she would make it. I thought about running for help, but I was too distracted by my curiosity. What do pegasi look like on the inside? Just a peek—that's all I wanted. I knew how to keep birds alive as I poked around inside them, and I'd even managed to close a few up without them dying—I could close Windy Loo back up and no one would know.
The birds chirping, the distant sounds of the playground, even my own pounding heart—it all faded as I focused my magic on the filly's chest. Her coat, skin, and muscle parted slowly, carefully as to not cause too much bleeding. Once the opening was large enough, I pried her ribcage open. Then, little by little, I worked the incision down to the base of her stomach.
At the time, I didn't know the medical terms for the things I was looking at. Lungs were just air sacks, intestines were just tubing, and everything else was just insides. I knew what a heart was though, and suddenly, her heart began pounding rapidly.
She screamed, and I tried to hold her still as she flailed at me. I pressed myself into the warmth of her open body and felt her exposed heart pulsing against me. The more she struggled, the harder I pressed. Something inside her ruptured, and hot liquids began squirting out.
I tried to find the source and use my magic to fix it, but she used the opportunity to push me off of her. As she stood up, her intestines and several other things dropped from her and hit the ground with a sickening plop! She tried to run, but her broken leg was not willing to support her weight.
When she went down, several of the things that had been hanging from her popped. She lay on the ground in a puddle of blood and other fluids as I simply watched in a mixture of horror and fascination. I knew then that she was truly dead.
If I had left and just kept running, maybe I never would have been caught. Instead, I tried to put her back together. It was like a jigsaw puzzle with a bunch of broken pieces. Maybe, if I clean this up, I can still claim she just tripped, I thought.
All the pieces were laid out around her body, organized by color or shape, or by how much damage had been done. Everything was where I could easily access it, and I got to work. I was so focused on the task that I didn't hear the teacher's voice shouting just behind me.
The details are a bit hazy from that point, but I remember lots and lots of screaming. Most came from my classmates and from those that had gathered to see the remains of Windy Loo being carried out of the woods in several bags. I remember the Royal Guards showing up and asking me all sorts of questions before I was whisked away and marked.
"He was marked for a reason, Twilight," Celestia reaffirmed. "I understand where your heart is, but you don't know where his is."
Twilight looked to me as if I could convince Celestia to let me be rehabilitated. Just let me go back to my cell, I thought, hanging my head in defeat. Suddenly, I felt Twilight's warm embrace around my neck and my legs nearly gave out from the surprise. The guards that had been standing by rushed forward, but were stopped by a single command from Celestia.
"Stop," she said. The guards looked at her in confusion, but obeyed regardless. Celestia sighed and I heard her hooves walk over toward me. "Twilight, you have never questioned my judgment, and I have never questioned yours."
I felt Twilight's hooves slide out from around my neck as she turned to face Celestia. The two alicorns looked at each other, saying more with their expressions than they could with words. Celestia was the one to break the silence.
"If you truly feel that you can find a use for this Marked One, then I will allow it," she said with a small smile. "I know you must already see something in him, but I still ask that you use caution."
I would never hurt Twilight. We were in love, after all. Love. I loved her, and I knew she loved me. No pony would get between us—not Princess Celestia, not her brother, and certainly not members of the Royal Guard.
"Princess Celestia, permission to speak?" It was the orange pegasus again, and he'd stepped forward from the formation. "I personally volunteer to guard Princess Twilight during the Marked One's rehabilitation," the guard said, standing at attention before the alicorns.
Celestia nodded. "I think that is wise."
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I don't know why but I really like this story...
Princess Celestia should be marked
4856012
That would be an interesting tangent to go on actually.
4856012 Maybe her special talent is sending groups of civilians to almost certain death!
Why do people never understand that things are for a reason? Why does emotion always have to get in the way of logic? Oh, Twilight, you pitiful traitorous fool. How could you betray your lifestyle, mentor, and country so quickly?
Aww, poor guy was only trying to help...
GAHHH!!!
I don't want any unnecessary feels before bed! 
I don't know what to do! should i read chapter three tonight or tommorow!?!?
4856277
4856012
4856061
Well, I assume there's still going to be bloody retribution to come, yes?
(Sorry, been otherwise occupied, have to catch up with this story again)
Love the new cover!
Celestia's strict régime
1.Kill all who oppose her highness.
2.Jail or kill those with questionable cutie marks.
Prediction: By the end of the story, Macabre will get to see what an alicorn looks like inside (or it will be heavily implied by the ending).
It's been very clearly hinted at that his curiosity and insatiable hunger for new knowledge is what really drives him. Whatever occupation Twilight finds for him, he'll eventually exhaust what he can learn about animals and regular ponies.
I'll admit there's a chance that the story might twist in a different direction, but the foreshadowing is so heavy I don't think it's very likely.
On the subject of ethics: It's not his fault that he is what he is, and Celestia knows that. Clearly she doesn't have the heart to just execute the Marked Ones, even if it would be a mercy compared to the way they're treated, so she must have some doubt about whether she's doing the right thing (which is also made clear by the fact that she gave in to Twilight so quickly). But she is doing the right thing. It's not that trying to save the Marked Ones is wrong, it's that the world is an imperfect place, and it forces us to make hard choices about who we spend our time trying to help.