Lessons for a Benevolent Tyrant

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 12

Flying up and past the spiraling towers of the castle, the Princess saw the burnt remains of what had been the oak doors to the cathedral which held...

”The Elements,” the Princess realized as cold fear rushed through her system, “By the stars, no!”

She practically plummeted to the cobbled street in her haste to get inside the large gathering hall where the Elements were kept. As she entered, the large amount of her vision was taken up by the image of a dragon’s backside, as it approached the pedestal where the Elements of Creation were placed on display. The dragon’s yellow eyes sparkled in anticipatory ecstasy at the exquisite meal it was about to partake in. The Princess bolted at a dead run towards the dragon, rapidly closing the gap between the two of them.

“Keep away from those!” she yelled with equal parts anger and fear; she had absolutely no idea of what would happen if the dragon ate even one of the Elements. Absentmindedly, the dragon swatted its tail at the Princess. The large scaly appendage caught her and flung her across the room, where she slammed into the hard stone wall and lay still for a time. The Princess’ spinal cord had been severed clean through near the base of her head, and she was paralyzed from the neck down. Her regenerative energies had already kicked in, beginning the mending of the catastrophic damage done to her neck and back, but she was in such a great deal of pain that she couldn’t even concentrate on her magic or stop what was about to take place.

The dragon took the Elements, three each to a claw, and shoved them down her large, toothy mouth.

“NO!” cried Princess Celestia plaintively as she saw the Elements had been devoured.

The dragon was quite pleased with itself; that had been a fantastic medley of flavors! Never had she ever tasted such exquisite gems as these! Delicious amethysts, rubies, emeralds, and-.

The dragon lurched forward as waves of pain pierced her guts from the inside out, belching up emerald smoke in a sickly manner as she bent over. She tried to throw up the contents of her stomach, but it was as if the jewels she had eaten were burrowing deeper into her digestive tract as the pain grew. In a cosmic twist of irony, the dragon began to smolder as rainbow flames began to eat away its scales from the inside out. It roared in agony as it experienced the sensation of burning for the first and last time in its long life. One by one, the Elements seared through the dragon’s guts, landing on the carpet decoratively placed on the smooth tile floor of the Elemental Cathedral. Even though the jewels had left the body of their would be devourer, the multi-colored flames continued gnawing at the dragon’s body even after it expired, until not even a crystalline skeleton was left to physically show evidence of a dragon ever having been in the room.

The Princess finally realized that she could move, and she slowly got to her hooves. The Elements of Creation unassumingly sat on the floor, playing the part of innocuous gem stones quite well. The Princess picked up the one closest to her; it was ruby red in color, but she could almost make out a tiny white light coming from inside the crystal sphere. She turned it over in her hoof to examine some other angle, but the light was now gone.

In the corners of her mind, the Princess heard a tiny voice resonant through her head; it was the same voice she had heard when she had fought Nightmare Moon so many centuries ago. These artifacts hold fantastic power, but they cannot be trusted to the possession of any single being; not even yourself.

A detachment of the Royal Guard entered the cathedral, and the last of them called back over their shoulders, “We’ve found her! She’s in here!”
Starswirl hastily trotted in after them after he surveyed the damage done to the doors of the large gathering hall; a red cylinder with a large hose was in his telekinetic grip, “I was out helping to put out the fires with the Brigade. What happened?”

“One of the dragons tried to eat the Elements.”

Everypony was driven to startled silence by this statement.

“And the dragon?” one of the Royal Guardsponies asked.

“Dead. Now, see to cleaning up what’s left of the damage, and summon the minotaurs to me.”

“Yes, your Highness,” the Guardspony saluted, and the team moved out to the city once again.

Princess Celestia was now left alone with Starswirl in the large empty cathedral.

“What’s that?” the Princess pointed to the small red cylinder in Starswirl’s possession.

“Oh this? It’s a fire extinguisher. It’s a very handy tool, though I have been trying to use it discreetly,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “It hasn’t quite been invented yet.”

“Ah.”

“Yes.” The unicorn sage paused before asking, “What truly happened here, Celestia?”

The Princess looked down at the Elements, unsure of what to make of them, “They burned the dragon alive, after it had eaten them.”

Starswirl looked down at the gems with growing wonder as she continued, “I had always thought these were just gems that could save the world from evil in its time of need; just as much a tool as a spade or a sword.” He turned back to Princess Celestia, “Do you suppose the Elements could actually be sentient?”

“I’m not sure,” she said as she lifted the gems up and placed them back on their appropriate pedestals, “But I have a feeling they need to be solely tools used in the most dire of circumstances, and not used under any other circumstance.”

Loud hoof falls announced the arrival of the minotaur force as they walked as one mass through the doorway to the gathering hall. “The deed is done,” the minotaurs said with pride, “the dragons are dead at our hands.”

The Princess noted that there were now fewer minotaurs than there had been, “How many were lost?”

“Twenty, but they are avenged.”

“I will provide five hundred bits to each of the families of those who were lost as restitution. I hold each of your oaths to me satisfied; you are free to do as you please. If you return to Labyrinth, let them know they are free as well; I relinquish my claim to your city.”

The minotaurs nodded their understanding, and they began to silently file out of the cathedral. As the majority left, the Princess could see that seventeen of their number remained in her presence. She was perplexed by the strange actions of these minotaurs, “You may go with your brethren; there is no need to feel indebted any longer.”

“I cannot speak for the others,” one young minotaur warrior said as he approached to kneel before the Princess, “but I wish to stay.” He laid down his pike and his shield at her hooves, “Do with me whatever you wish, and I will obey your command.”

The Princess was still confused, but was very curious about this display of commitment, “What is your name, young bull?”

“Xenophanes of clan Persephone.”

“Why are you choosing to stay, Xenophanes of clan Persephone?”

“Your subjects are weak, but they are also full of culture and life. Even though I have lived a short time in this capital of your Equestria, I have grown to love its herd as a father does a son or daughter. If it would please you, I would train your stallions to be strong; their veins would run with the spirit of my blood through them, that they may make you proud in battle.”

“Your loyalty is a true inspiration to me,” the Princess declared, “I accept your continued service, and that of your brothers and sisters if they choose a similar offer.”

“Thank you, your Majesty,” Xenophanes said as he picked up his gear.

“You may begin the Royal Guard’s training whenever and however you please, but each of you must take a day of rest before anything else.”

The minotaurs that had remained left the gathering hall to return to their barracks. Princess Celestia then raised the sun, its orange, golden light illuminating Canterlot against the dwindling flames the dragon fire had left behind. Starswirl smiled bemusedly, which the Princess noticed, “What has you smiling like that?”

“Loyalty,” he finally said, “It definitely is something you should write to me about.”

The two of them stood for a time to watch the morning sun light up the fantastic colors of the stained glass windows in the Elemental Cathedral.

“Starswirl?”

“Hm?”

“How many more lessons do you have planned for me?”

“Just one. Why do you ask?”

The Princess glanced at the Elements once again from out of the corner of her eye, which the light of the sun was causing to glow in beautiful patterns, “Just curious.”

Comments

[Hustlin Tom]

Haha! The action chapters have been doubled! I hope you all like this set of chapters, it was a blast to write! Next week, I'm going to publish the last two chapters of this story; one on Thursday and the other on Friday. Next Saturday is going to be a big day; this story is an appendix to my first story, A Journey Unthought Of. Saturday is the day I begin publishing chapters to the sequel, which I've called A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos. This sequel will draw from this and all the other appendices I've written to date. If you decide to read it, you may see parts of this story being referenced in it! Well, again, hope you enjoy these chapters, and have a nice evening!

[Csquared08]

It's hard to believe there are only two chapters left.

Also, only one lesson when there are clearly two more left? Starswirl is up to something. I can feel it in my veins.

[Phazon]

The Princess was still confused, but was very curious about this display of commitment, “What is your name, young ox?”

Again with the oxen! By now the Minotaurs are reminding me of the Unsullied from Game of Thrones, and I highly doubt that was your intention. I don't think there's even a single reference to George R. R. Martin's work in this story. Mostly, I've just seen a few references to Tolkien.