Secrets

by Aqua_Breeze

Desperation

“Can I trust that’ll you’ll follow me back to the castle?” Celestia asked.

“Yea, we’ll come,” Twilight said.

“Good, because I’d hate to have to drag you back,” Celestia said as she opened the main door.

As Celestia lead Twilight and Aurora to the castle, she kept trying to convince herself that this wasn’t happening. About halfway, her thoughts were broken when Aurora asked her a question.

“So, what’s going to happen to mom?” Aurora asked.

“She’ll be given a trial, and thus a chance to claim innocence and go free,” Celestia said, “However… if she should lose the trial, which is very possible, then… well, she’ll…”.

“I’ll be executed,” Twilight said.

“You can’t just banish her or something?” Aurora asked, “Not that that’s good either, but it’s better than killing her”.

“The only punishment for treason is death,” Celestia said, “Anything else is considered lenient”.

“What’ll happen to Aurora afterwards?” Twilight asked.

“It… or she, my mistake, will be escorted to the Equestrian border as soon as you’re nice and cozy in the dungeon,” Celestia said, “What happens after that is up to her”.

“Wait, you won’t let us stay together?” Aurora asked.

“I can’t,” Celestia said.

“And why not?” Twilight asked harshly.

“She doesn’t belong here, Twilight,” Celestia said, “She was allowed to live here illegally, and, as such, shall be sent home as soon as possible”.

“So, just like that, huh?” Twilight asked, “Not even enough heart to let me spend my last days with my own daughter?”.

“She’s not your daughter, Twilight,” Celestia said.

“I look at her as my daughter, and she looks at me as her mother,” Twilight pointed out, “Tell me how that doesn’t make me her mother”.

“Regardless, she is still to be sent home as soon as possible,” Celestia said.

“But she doesn’t have a home outside of Equestria,” Twilight stated.

“And that may be, but it won’t dictate what I do,” Celestia said.

“She was barely scraping by in Equestria!” Twilight yelled, “If you send her away with no good destination, you’ll just be sending her to die!”.

“The beings that live outside Equestria can’t take up my thoughts, Twilight,” Celestia said sternly.

“So that’s it, huh?” Twilight asked, “Just set her outside Equestria, and forget all about her?”.

“Do… do I at least get to say good bye?” Aurora asked.

“I suppose you can,” Celestia said.

“Could you at least give her some direction?” Twilight asked, “Or are you really that cold?”.

“If she wishes to live that badly, she’ll find her way,” Celestia said, “But once she is on the other side of the border, her safety and well-being is of no concern to me. She is also an Equestrian enemy, she’s lucky I’m letting her live at all”.

“Then this is where we stop!” Twilight growled, “I don’t like that you won’t even let me spend my last few days alive with her… but to not even care whether she lives or dies alone is where I have to draw the line”.

Celestia could barely open her muzzle when Twilight interrupted.

“Don’t even say a word right now!” Twilight growled, “Even if you did let me spend my last days alive with Aurora, you’d still send her to die alone without even a second thought! If this is really going to be your attitude, then so be it I guess. However, if you want to take her and send her to die out there all alone, then you’ll have to put me down first… right here, right now”.

“Very well, Twilight, you win,” Celestia said, obviously defeated, “You have my word that she’ll be taken somewhere where she can survive”.

“And how do I know I can trust your word when nopony else knows? When nopony will be there to make sure you hold to your word?” Twilight asked.

“Integrity,” Celestia said, “You may think me a tyrant, but that does not mean I will go back on my word. I have not before, and will not start now”.

“Nothing but words without any meaning,” Twilight said.

“Very well, if you do not trust me, then surely you can trust Luna,” Celestia said, “If you so desire, you can speak with her about this issue tonight while you sleep”.

“Let it be known that no restraint will hold me if I find out you went back on your word,” Twilight growled.

It didn’t take much longer to reach the castle. Once at the main entrance, Celestia lead the way to the guard barracks. Though nothing was said during the walk, Aurora stayed as close to Twilight as possible. As soon as the trio reached the guard barracks, Celestia called for two sets of restraints. When the guard came back, he had with him two void rings, two sets of wing clamps, and two sets of hoofcuffs. It didn’t take any effort to properly restrain Twilight, but Aurora was a different story. She was afraid, and she wanted to prolong her time with Twilight as much as possible. It took a little coaxing, but Twilight eventually got Aurora to just relent.

Void rings are black rings that are placed upon the base of a unicorn’s horn to prevent them from casting any spells. Any attempt to cast a spell with the ring on would result in a shock that would last until the unicorn gave up and stopped trying to cast the spell, and the shock would also increase in intensity over time. While void rings were sold in the civilian market as a way of preventing dangerous outbursts from unicorn foals, they were nothing compared to the rings used by the guard. Unlike civilian void rings, those used by the guard came enchanted with the nasty side effect of inflicting a lethal shock to the wearer should they, or anypony but the one who clasped the ring on the offender, attempt to remove the ring. Until now, that was the only known side effect.

As soon as Celestia clasped the void ring around the base of Aurora’s horn, the changeling started to twitch. After only a few brief seconds, it became obvious that the ring was hurting her. She started to itch the ring violently, as if doing so would help the pain, and cried out in pain while begging for the ring to be removed. Celestia, believing this to just be an act, stood where she was and watched. Twilight, however, was overwhelmed by her motherly instinct.

“What are you doing just standing there!?” Twilight yelled, “Can you not see that ring is hurting her!?”.

“Void rings are meant to prevent the flow of magic,” Celestia said, “They only cause pain like this should the wearer attempt to cast a spell with one on”.

“But it’s not even stopping!” Twilight yelled, “That should tell you something’s wrong!”.

“Her magic must be kept in check, Twilight,” Celestia said sternly.

“Please, just take it off already,” Twilight pleaded, “You’re the only one who can take it off of her… please… just, please”.

“And what’s to stop her from casting spells once I remove the ring?” Celestia asked.

“Me, that’s what,” Twilight said, “She’ll listen to me if I tell her not to use her magic”.

“As well, how can you say she’s not going to send something my way the second the seal is broken?” Celestia asked.

Instead of replying, Twilight did the one thing Celestia would have never expected her to ever do. She reared up on her hind legs and pushed herself forward, her fore hooves making harsh contact with the base of Celestia’s neck. In complete shock, Celestia wasn’t able to keep herself from stumbling backwards onto her flank. All the currently present guards immediately jumped Twilight, but where swiftly shaken off as Twilight made her way over to Celestia.

“Take the ring off of her horn, or you’ll have more to worry about than whatever weak spell she could cast in her state!” Twilight growled, “And that’s not a threat, that’s a promise”.

Twilight was no longer just a powerful unicorn, she was an alicorn now. While her being an alicorn did wonders for her magic ability, it also augmented her physical strength as well. By the time enough guards Arrived to even start to successfully hold her down, Twilight would have been able to inflict serious injury upon the princess of the sun. Now fully aware that Twilight was very much willing to fight, but wanting to avoid such conflict, Celestia got up and went about unclasping the void ring that sat upon the base of Aurora’s horn. Twilight immediately moved to Aurora’s side as fast as her shackled legs would take her.

“While her horn is being allowed to go untendered, her wings and legs are not,” Celestia said.

“No need to worry about her wings,” Twilight growled, “She doesn’t even have any as a changeling”.

Now, taking notice of Aurora’s lack of wings, Celestia moved right on the hoofcuffs. It only took a few seconds, but now Aurora’s legs were properly restrained. Well, at least she wasn’t in pain anymore. As soon as Celestia called off the guards who had arrived to help, she lead Twilight and Aurora down into the dungeon. Twilight refused to even glance over at Celestia the whole way, instead keeping her attention focused solely on Aurora, who had finally stopped crying halfway through the trip.

As soon as the trio reached the dungeon, Celestia opened up the first cell and ushered Twilight inside. Before entering the cell, Twilight pulled Aurora into a tight embrace. Aurora tried to hold back her tears, but was unsuccessful as they started to flow freely after only about half a minute.

“I don’t wanna go,” Aurora said, obviously crying again at this point, “I don’t wanna say good bye”.

“Neither do I, sweetheart,” Twilight said, trying her best to hold back her own tears, “But it just can’t be helped, I suppose. Don’t worry though, you’ll be fine”.

“I’m not worried,” Aurora said, still crying, “I just… I just don’t wanna leave you”.

“No matter where you are, Aurora, just remember one thing,” Twilight said, pulling away a tad and holding a hoof to where she felt Aurora’s heart would be, “I’ll always be right here. Never forget that, and I’ll always be right by your side”.

“I know,” Aurora said, “I just… I’m still gonna miss you”.

The sound of Celestia clearing her throat told Twilight that it was time now. She’d said her good bye, now it was time to go into her cell. The cell door did not shut behind Twilight, as it was expected to. Instead, Celestia picked up Aurora and placed her inside the cell by Twilight’s side.

“I thought you said you were taking her away,” Twilight said, obviously baffled.

“It still confuses how you can show such compassion for a changeling,” Celestia said, “However, it is obvious that separating you two would be unjust at this point. I never expected you to hit me at all, but it just goes to show that you and this changeling are very close… so much so that you are willing to throw away your own life to help her. She will be taken to another village outside of Equestria after your trial, but, knowing what I do now, it would unjust for me to do so now like I had originally planned”.

“Think you, princess,” Twilight said, “I may not like this whole situation, or even you at the moment, but… think you”.

Author's Note:

Added a "Sad" tag because I actually almost cried while writing this chapter. Hardest chapter for me to write up to this point.

Also, I do apologize for any Kleenex mounds this chapter may have caused to form on your desk or wherever you read it.

Comments

[dream1990]

i like it this chapter and thunder-dasher i hope they is good stuff/happy stuff that happens to Aurora and Twilight now in the next chapter not anymore bad stuff/sad stuff in this story

[Aqua_Breeze]

5453965 No, she's not like other changelings, she doesn't believe in using mind control.

[harts fire]

exultant story I am vary impressed do keep up the good work.
and I see Celestia is showing her true self I AL wise knew she was a tyrant in hart.
now too see ware this grate story goes from here.
harts fire

[Aqua_Breeze]

5458027 There's actually only a couple more chapters left. Not much action in this story... I'm saving it for later stories.

[calikiki333]

You almost cried? I did cry!

[Bigou]

Shouldn’t it be "Thank you, princess," instead on think? An error you did both at the start and the end of the final paragraph.

Still, it’s a nice story so far, hope the 4 final chapters are just as good.