Far reaching punishment
“Is it always so cold down here Twily?”
“Pretty much so, Shiny. The guards don’t use this level a lot.”
Shining Armor let his gaze take in his surroundings. There was not much he could see. It was so dark. There were no lights and even the few torches on the wall were unlit. He could spot shining web strands reflecting the guard’s spell of pale light. Even the cell doors added to the heavy atmosphere of the lower dungeons. Made of iron, with traces of rust, thick and heavy, they looked as if they were forged to hold armies, not prisoners.
He addressed the stoic Royal guard that accompanied him, Twilight, and Spike. “How come you don’t use this place?”
“There is no need. The upper level has enough security due to the magic wards. This place is reserved for non-magical or too dangerous creatures at which point we do add wards as needed.”
“Ah. Ok.” Shining Armor shivered. This place was depressing in its silence. And the smell! Something really stunk in here. “What’s that dreadful smell?”
“Oh, Raegdan uses one of the cells to prepare his… ah, more special meals. That’s, uh, I think it’s the blood you smell. There’s a lot of it, he usually gets it out in buckets...” his little sister informed him.
Shining Armor felt bile rising up at his throat. That was disgusting. Ok, he ate meat, he knew that. That didn’t mean he wanted to be anywhere near where he was doing the… preparation.
“He’s in his usual cell. You have fifteen minutes as always.” The guard pointed towards one of the furthest doors, the only one that was closed.
Spike moved with haste and started banging the iron surface with his tiny fists. “Dad? Dad, it’s us! Are you awake? It’s visiting time.”
A tired voice that soon filled with enthusiasm answered back. “”Little flame? It’s you? How long has it been?”
“Three days Raegdan,” Twilight answered while Spike was getting on all fours, trying to catch a glimpse of his adopted father through the tray slot. “Did you lose track?”
“It’s kind of hard to tell the time in here. Heavens, it feels so good to hear your voices. Are you both ok little one?” Raegdan’s fingers crawled through the thin slot. Spike latched on to them, holding onto what little contact he could. Shining Armor felt sorry for the little guy. Raegdan’s punishments were always hitting him the hardest.
“We’re fine. Plum Seat is out of danger now but he will be in the hospital for a long time.”
There was a beat of silence from the other side of the door. “Who?”
Shining Armor made his presence known. “Plum Seat. The guy you smashed on the wall? Does this ring any bells?”
“Hey, Shining!” Raegdan’s voice was excited. “Thanks for escorting them. How are your parents?”
“Raegdan!” The young filly scolded the much older individual that currently lay imprisoned.
“What?”
“Don’t you care? About Plum Seat?”
“He isn’t dead, right? That means Celestia will let me out sooner or later. Did she happen to mention…”
“Six months in isolation,” Spike answered, sadly.
“Oh. I’m sorry little flame. At least you can still visit, right?”
“Only once every two weeks for fifteen minutes,” Shining Armor provided the details of his punishment. “Apart from that, no contact with anyone, not even the guards. One meal every day. Your water will be replenished daily. No lights. There will be silence spells around your cell to stop sounds from reaching you. Princess Celestia will be coming over once every two weeks too.”
“I’ll look like death when I come out… Shining, remember, give me a week or two to heal after I come out before you let them see me. So, two visits every two weeks? I don’t know if I can afford all this social activity. What if I run out of topics for conversation?”
“Dad!” Spike yelled.
“What?”
“Are you…” Spike sniffed, “are you gonna be ok?”
“Relax little flame, I’m gonna be fine. I’ll be out before you know it. Six months sounds long but Celestia will find ways to occupy your time,” Raegdan tried to settle the baby dragon’s fears.
“But… what are you going to do while you are in there? You’ll be all alone.”
“I’ll pass the time somehow. I’ll count the cracks in the stones, make some cracks of my own. I’ve got enough room to lie down so I can do some exercise while I still have the stamina. I’ll come up with a dirty song for Celestia to sing in front of the Solars… I’ll be fine, really.”
Shining Armor saw his sister biting on her lower lip anxiously. “This might not be enough. Isolation is hard according to my books. Without proper stimulation…”
“I can’t exactly play frisbee while I’m locked up little one. Look, I’m staying here until Celestia comes and lets me out. That’s it. We don’t have a lot of time. Let’s go over the important stuff. What about you two? Are you both doing your homework?”
“...Yeah. We are doing fine,” Spike answered reluctantly.
“Spike…” Raegdan warned.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to pay attention.”
Raegdan’s voice was apologetic. “Alright. I take the blame for that. You are both staying at Celestia’s room now, right?”
“They do,” Shining Armor said. “Mom is upset with you.”
“Because I got caught?” Raegdan speculated.
It made Shining Armor nervous that his mother didn’t mind Raegdan’s violent confrontations. On the contrary, she seemed to be praising him for it sometimes. “She said you should have waited and get him later.”
“Right. Cause Velvet would have done so. Tell her she is full of- of herself.”
“She also said that she is in charge of feeding you back to health after you come out.” Shining Armor checked behind him. The guard wasn’t watching. This was the best time to do as his mother ordered him. “She told me to give you this.” He quickly slipped a small bundle through the tray opening.
“What’s this? I can’t see in here.”
Twilight pushed her muzzle almost into the small slit and spoke lowly. “Cookies. Mom came to the castle yesterday and we all made them together in the castle kitchen. Mom, Spike, and I. We, uh, burned most of them. Those three look to be ok though. We made them for you.”
A few seconds passed in silence as the ponies waited outside for the biped inside to answer. “Thank you little one. Thank you little flame. This… this will help. Thank you.”
“Mom says she will try to convince Celestia to let her come along next time,” Shining Armor informed Raegdan.
“Oh no. She wants to yell at me, I just know it.”
“She said she is gonna bring the spoon.”
Shining heard Raegdan knock on the iron door from the other side. “Unless she plans to slide it through the slot and order me to hit myself, I don’t think it will do much good to her.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what she said she would do. Mom says that you’ll either smack yourself to her satisfaction or she will get back to you in her own way,” Twilight told him.
“...crap. ”
“Cadance wanted to come too but-”
“She doesn’t like seeing me locked up, I know. That girl has the weirdest sensitivities I’ve seen. Tell her it’s ok. I understand,”
“Raegdan?”
“Yes little one?”
“...can you stop doing this? Please? We don’t like seeing you locked up either. We miss you.”
Twilight, Spike, and Shining Armor waited in vain for an answer, wasting precious seconds for nothing.
“Raegdan? Please?” Twilight tried again.
“I try little one. I swear, I try. It’s hard. I know you want me to be normal but… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be so. I’m sorry.”
“But why?” Spike was still holding on the hand through the slot as he cried out. “Just stop hurting ponies. Why is that hard?”
“Little flame, it’s not that simple-”
“Yes it is. Just stop. Why don’t you stop?”
“...I can’t. It’s like sneezing. You try to hold it in, and try, and try… and then you just… sneeze.”
The baby dragon sniffed, wiping his eyes.
“Come on kids, we keep talking about me. We only have minutes left, I want to hear about you. Little one? Have you learned anything interesting lately?” Raegdan sounded desperate to move to a less traumatic subject.
“Well… Princess Celestia has started teaching me about teleportation.”
“Teleportation?”
“Yes. It means moving one object or person instantly or near-”
“I know what it means little one. That- that sounds very dangerous. I don’t think you should be messing with that kind of thing.”
“We are only going through the theory. It will be years before I can even attempt these spells.”
Raegdan sounded relieved. “Good. That’s good. I’d like to take a look at that theory myself when I come out. What else?”
“I’m learning division,” Spike said.
“Already? Wow. I never was any good at math. I’m proud of you little flame.”
“It’s not that hard.”
“And that’s why I’m proud of you. I know it’s not, not for you.” Raegdan’s fingers tightened their hold on Spike’s little hand.
“Time’s up,” the guard shouted from the respectable distance he kept.
“Already? I guess you have to go now,” Raegdan said sadly.
“I don’t want to leave yet,” Spike complained.
“We have to Spike. Come on. Goodbye Raegdan. We will be back in two weeks.” Twilight pushed her muzzle against Raegdan’s fingers.
“Goodbye little one. Goodbye little flame.”
“Bye dad.”
“Celestia is going to be over in a while too. Goodbye Raegdan.”
“See you soon, Shining. Look after them, ok?”
Celestia came alone, with no guards escorting her. She didn’t bring a torch or cast a spell to illuminate her surroundings. She simply concentrated her magic on her horn. It was enough to light up the dungeons far better than most unicorns would be able to manage even with spells.
She should have been here days sooner but the fallout of Raegdan’s latest assault required careful handling. Plum Seat had almost died. What’s more, the whole incident took less than two seconds. The sheer realization of how easily and how fast Raegdan could, even unarmed, seriously hurt or even kill anypony he wanted had brought an uproar to her little ponies. The only saving grace in all this was that Raegdan had a reason, as flimsy as it was. A small bruise on two children shouldn’t be punishable by death but Raegdan’s protectiveness over his charges was well known in the castle.
This enabled her to spin the case enough that Raegdan could avoid charges for attempted murder by portraying his actions as those of an overprotective guard and swiftly instituting a harsh punishment against him. There was an outrage over the length of his sentence but it had soon quelled when the details of his imprisonment were revealed.
Maybe she was too harsh. Celestia doubted herself deeply now that she could reconsider his punishment in peace. Six months in complete isolation… He would be denied any semblance of contact with the outside world. He wouldn’t even be able to hear anything while in there. Combined with the near starvation…
Celestia knocked on the cell door, letting the inmate in there know she had arrived. What if this was the last time she talked to him while they were still friends? Were they still friends after what Celestia had sentenced him with? Right now she was his jailor.
“Raegdan? It’s me. I’m here.”
There was some scuffling from inside. “Sorry. Sorry, I fell asleep. I thought you forgot or had something else to do.”
“The children left only twenty minutes ago.” This did not bode well.
“Ah. I guess I’m more tired than I thought then. This little vacation will do me good.”
Stupid, proud, condescending stallion, never, ever admitting when he was getting hurt. He really made her angry sometimes the way he kept his pains hidden from her. This was not how friendship was supposed to work. It was all his stupid belief’s fault that he deserved every little ache and pain that came his way as if that was the only way he could make up for his past actions. “Have they told you about-”
“The terms and conditions? Yeah, I know. I guess that was the best you could manage?”
“I’m sorry Raegdan,” Celestia apologized. “I’m already showing favoritism as it is. It was either a harsh punishment or a lengthy one. You’ve already told me you’d prefer anything, even death, than imprisonment for years or banishment. I’m so sorry but I had to do something to show my ponies that you are not untouchable as they accuse me.”
“Alright. You chose well in that case. Couldn’t you arrange a public whipping or something instead though? Maybe if you gave me, say, fifty lashes or-”
Celestia was horrified. “Raegdan, this kind of torture is... We can’t do that!”
“...you do realize that this is far, far worse, right?”
“I- I know. I’m so sorry. But if we did it your way…”
“My way, what?”
“Twilight and Spike would see that, you know they would. If not them, then Shining Armor and Cadance. I know you don’t want that.”
“Point taken. It's fine. Six months then.” Celestia felt relief wash over her. She was so afraid that he would hate her for this. She took liberties in choosing for him, hoping she chose right. Thank the heavens, she chose right.
Raegdan spoke again. “We have to make a change though,”
“What do you mean?”
“I need you to halt any visits. No one should be coming over to see me except you.”
“What? Raegdan, why would you want that?”
“I’m might go a bit... loopy Celestia. Maybe not at the first month. Or maybe I will. We can’t have the kids see me like this. Think of a reason to stop the visits.”
“Raegdan, if you can’t handle it maybe we should go the safer route. I can push for just a few years and you will be getting daily visits-”
“No, not while Twilight is still in danger. I’ll be fine Celestia. I’ll bounce back. It’s not my first time in the rodeo. Give me some time after I come out and I’ll come to my senses in no time. Just… You might wanna check up on me every now and then. I might need restraints. Ok?”
“...you believe you are going to go insane…” Celestia could hardly believe the words that came out of her own mouth. He was going to risk his mind so he could continue to protect Twilight against a danger only he believed was still out there.
Raegdan’s voice was calm and soothing. That stupid… “Not the first time… Are you ok? You sound off.”
“Raegdan… Are we still friends?” Princess Celestia let her insecurity show. She didn’t need to upkeep a masquerade of constant confidence and certainty in front of him. When it was only them she was just Celestia, his friend. She was allowed faults and doubts.
Laughter, deep and reverberating, filled the dungeon. “Ah, Celestia. That was a good one!”
“I’m serious!”
“So am I! You think I’d be mad for this? What, “friendship over,” because you haven’t done enough already? Celestia, you could have me executed. You could have me tortured. You could keep me in here for life. I’d still be your friend as long as you’d have me.”
Celestia blinked and smiled, a radiant, honest smile. “This means a lot to me Raegdan. Thank you.”
“Hey, anytime. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine, I promise. I’m gonna sleep now. See you in two weeks?”
“Yes.” No way. Since he wouldn’t get visits from Twilight and Spike she would have to pick up the slack then. Nopony would hold it against her if she kept the letter of his sentence. She specifically said two visits every two weeks. She’d be back to talk to him in one week, down to the minute. “I’ll… I’ll be back soon. Goodbye Raegdan.”
“Bye Celestia. And don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Keep your mind on the kids. Don’t let Twilight out of your sight.”
Stupid, proud, condescending stallion...
“Please tell me he is better. Please tell me he talks.” Celestia begged the doctor who was in charge of the only friend that treated her as Celestia and not the princess for good news.
Six months of isolation of that magnitude was a mistake. What came out of that cell was not Raegdan but a drooling, emaciated animal. He had wasted away to a parody of himself.
The horrible sight of his sunken skin and vacant stare had brought her on her knees. She was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. He kept repeating it and repeating it… he was trying to convince himself as much as her. How could she let this slip? How could she allow him to suffer that way after everything?
The doctor smiled widely at her. Celestia dared to allow herself to believe she would hear the words she longed for. “He is actually,” the aged mare told her. Celestia beamed hearing these words.
“Is there a chance I could visit? I haven’t seen him for almost a week.”
“We hoped you would. He has improved so dramatically that we believe seeing you would be beneficial. He has spent the last day looking at the pictures. We thought he had started recognising them a couple of days ago and he hasn’t left them out of his hands since.”
“What about his episodes?” Celestia trembled at the thought of witnessing one of those again. It was horrible just the one time she was present for one. Raegdan was lying on the bed, passive and quiet, when suddenly with no warning at all he would scream. What followed was beyond words. He screamed in a cacophony of mixed languages, he clawed at his head, he tried to reach the door to… to escape or reach something… Celestia was the only one who dared to try and stop him, to hold him still.
He cried. He cried like she had never expected him to. Great sobs that threw him off balance, struggling for breath. Tears and snot running and smearing across his face. Celestia cried herself at the pure desperation and grief. He only stopped when he exhausted himself to sleep in her tight embrace. Her nights these few last weeks were haunted by questions. He had reasons to cry and scream. Which one of them did he see with eyes full of terror? The dead? His family? The little one? The boy? The one who hunted him? The rifts?
...everything?
“None since last time. We truly believe he is mending. As soon as he passed a threshold he started recognizing his environment and getting better at an astounding rate. Princess… he has sent too many ponies our way, I know, but please don’t do this to him again if you can help it. I don’t want to find out if he can repair himself that fast a second time.”
Celestia hoped she could say she would not. It was not up to her but up to Raegdan. She didn’t have a choice. There had to be a punishment for his actions, and if that was the only one he would accept… She was already doing too much for him. She didn’t answer, opening the door to his room and marching stiffly inside instead. It would have been so much easier if he let her make his contributions public. It would give her a single strong advantage towards his case for once.
He was half lying on the bed, legs under the covers. His eyes were black pits, evidence of his sleepless nights. They really needed to figure out something that worked on him but he refused to be a guinea pig to drugs that he had no idea how they would work on him. His skin no longer hung on him. He had started filling out, slowly but steady. His impressive muscle tone had lost much of its size. If- When he was better she was certain he would spend hours regaining what he lost and then some.
Photographs were spread in front of him. Celestia could see herself, Twilight, Spike, Cadance, and Twilight’s family. There were even a couple of photographs of Raegdan with Twilight and her family. Twilight Velvet must have come by despite her warning and left them here. She and her husband were the only ones of Raegdan’s small circle of friends that knew of his current state.
He was looking at her. For the first time since she dragged him out of that dungeon he was actually seeing her. He opened his mouth and spoke, the words coming out trembling and with intense difficulty.
“Ce… Celestia, right? I- I… I remember you… You are… you… are...”
Celestia didn’t know when it happened. One moment she was by the door, the next she was hugging that impossible, unexpected friend. He remembered her! He was back, like he promised. She felt him put his long arms around her and return the hug with much less strength than he usually possessed.
“I’m your friend,” she whispered. “I’m your friend and I’m here. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
“It’s- it’s ok. I… I told you I’d be fine… didn’t I?”
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Welp, that was dark...
...
...
...
I regret nothing!
JESUS.
That is all.
soooooooo fuuuuuuucking gooooooood
Wow! That is...dark.
Well, at least this one actually acknowledges what extended isolation will do to a person. This kind of thing is outright torture; worse than outright torture. Most people never actually make it back from that. That Celestia could conscion this kind of unmitigated cruelty, no matter what he had done or what her ponies wanted, frankly doesn't make me think a whole lot better of her or her stance of moral superiority.
Raegdan is one very, very broken man...
As someone with some decent experience with nutrition, I have to point out a flaw in this chapter.
One meal every 3 days for 6 months is potentially a death sentence.
He won't just look like death, he'll be buried because he probably will BE dead.
One meal a day is the absolute minimum to prevent the human body (unless you're significantly overweight) from eating into fat reserves critical to keeping you alive.
Anything less, and your body will start to burn the fat layer around your organs that keeps them protected from impact damage.
Burn that away, and even just a punch, bumping against a wall, or falling out of bed could easily be enough to damage and even shut down vital organs.
The human body is evolved to be omnivorous.
We have developed for tens of thousands of years to have a steady flow of nutrition every day, we are not meant to lose our persistent insulation for our organs.
While creatures like bears and other woodland creatures can go for extended periods of time without food of any kind, humans really are not capable of surviving with at least a minimum of regular food without serious repercussions.
If a fit guy who's used to taking rough punishment to his body like Raegdan were to suddenly be forced to go 6 months with only one meal a day, he'd probably die around month 3-4 from renal failure.
BEST case scenario: He waits til after he gets out to "tough guy it", and that's when he'd sustain the fatal injury that otherwise would have been nothing but a slight bruise (or even just a red mark for a few hours) on his skin.
6920956 Yeah, she may consider herself kind but we all know that is a farce.
6920956 6921433
Hmmm, I thought I was clear on that but the whole choice of punishment was Raegdan's choice, not Celestia's. They've had the whole "type of punishment" for his transgressions before and he was all like:
Celestia: Imprisonment for a few months to years - Raegdan: I'd rather slit my throat
Celestia: Banishment - Raegdan: I'd rather slit my throat
Celestia: Tartarus - Raegdan: I'd rather slit my throat
Celestia: Public flogging? - Raegdan: Sounds good but the kids might see. I'd rather slit my throat
Celestia: ...isolation for a few weeks to a few months? - Raegdan: ...Perfect!
So it's not Celestia not being kind or not knowing how bad this was as much as Raegdan giving her no other choice. She had no options left, he literally gave her none. Raegdan was the one who went into it with full knowledge of what would happen to him and forced Celestia to do this.
However the point of this was not that the whole thing was hard on him, it was that because of his actions he made those that he called family suffer. His adopted kids missed him for months, Twilight's parents had to consider that they might have to tell to their children that Raegdan was no longer coming back because he was now insane, and Celestia had to shoulder the guilt for all this.
6921300 I had him on 2 to 3 months before I changed it but I forgot to change the number of meals. Thanks for the catch, gonna change it to your recommendation later.
6921554
Ah, that makes much more sense!
(2-3 months is a long time to go with such little food, but it's nowhere near as dangerous as 6 months solid with such a small nutritional supply.)
Torture chamber session is humanitarian compared to this punishment. In Soviet Lagres (labor camps) the punishment for ones who little don't obey (death for big disobedience) was Karcer, which was litteraly same, that author showed us. After 3rd-4th day peoples howled and begged for release, despite the fact that when don't locked in Karcer, they were forced to work 14-16 hours per day.
6921652
Very good. You know what you speak of.
6921554
It was perfectly clear, don't worry. I just think it makes her look weak-willed and all too ready to abandon those principles of hers when she finds herself in a bind. That he didn't leave her a choice doesn't mean she didn't have a choice - and the choice she went with was submitting to what her ponies want, even if it meant doing that to someone.
Why is this story rated E, again?
We clearly have T-Rating minimum, so...
Not that I care.
Just curious is all.
6922691 It might have to do with the fact that this whole thing was supposed to be something lighthearted. And I just realized I ripped that concept apart and burnt it to ashes now. Ain't I amazing?
6922749 Considering all you've done, yeah. I'd say you are. You gonna change the rating, or keep it?
6922805 I changed it to Teen. I'd rather not get into trouble. I'm a sensitive soul and I don't want to get scolded.
6922826 What happens if you get scolded?
6922900 I crawl into a corner, cover myself with a tarp, and cry while hugging my G1 Optimus Prime toy.
6922935 Ok. Just checking.
*scolds you*
6922952 i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr184/Crimmar/random/waahh_zpsfy8eyzgu.jpg
6923137 AGRISFIDLEBAGLE
6923137 I crie evry tiem
6923137 Swith the toy with a bottle of coke and you got my neighbur whan his girlfriend dumped him.....
6922749
Yes. Yes, you really, really did.
6922749 Tore it apart did'ye. I think it went something like this.
im sorry, but i disagree. is she the princess or some common pony with no power? she has no balls to put her hoof down and make the little ponies understand they have no power.
'she is the princess, she has final say.' that is the point. how could she not know what this would do? ignorance is no excuse. this make she no better than other tormentors he has had to deal with... it's like they're ignoring the sheer bruteness of plum. sure, it was only a bruise, but its a filly- they aren't as durable and can be hurt easily. plum knew they were there. no excuse. i.imgflip.com/15bppg.jpg
This is some torturous shit Celestia is pulling.
7956238 Thing is... he didn't simply punch the guy. The guy mentioned in this chapter is the very same one that Twilight uses as an example of how violent Raegdan can get in chapter two of The Lunar Guardsman. This is what Twilight herself says about the incident:
Basically a guy was distracted and pushed two kids aside as he ran in a hurry, and he almost got killed for that.
7957357 To be fair carelessly shoving a child against a wall is more than enough to kill under the right circumstances.
What goes around comes around.
Not to say that his actions were warranted but it could've been far worse for everyone involved.
Reading the main story as far i did, i can belive Raegdan was in the right.