Heart of Destruction: Part 12

Part 12: Good News and Bad News

>Alright Anon. Just stay calm. So Spike told Princess Celestia about your magic nullification, and now she’s coming here. To deal with the problem. To deal with you.
>You take a deep breath and look at Twilight.
“Ok, let’s not panic. What do we know so far?”
> “Not much,” she says, pulling a small scroll out of her saddlebag and floating it over to the dolly for you to pull it over to your side of the barn. “here’s the reply she sent to Spike.”
>You pick it up and begin to read.
> “Dear Spike,
> This is very troubling news. Even if it is unintentional, this Anonymous is a danger to those around him. I will be coming to Ponyville tomorrow afternoon to meet him personally. Once I have a better understanding of the situation, I will take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of my subjects.
> Yours truly,
>Princess Celestia

>PS. Please tell Twilight that I said Hi.”

>You read the letter again, and then close your eyes to think.
“Twilight, Princess Celestia says Hi.”
> “Yeah, I saw that,” says Twilight, “Are you taking this seriously?”
“No, Twilight, she said Hi to you. She wanted you to know about this,” you say, holding up the letter, “I think that’s a good sign. If she was planning to execute me or whatever, she probably would have wanted to keep this visit a secret, right?”
> “…I guess so, yeah,” she says, brightening up slightly, “I think you’re right.”
“You say she’s a good and understanding ruler, yes? Surely she’ll do the right thing.”
> “But Anon, what if the right thing is locking you away? The safety and happiness of her subjects is top priority for her, and the safest thing would be to get rid of you!”
“At least I won’t have to worry about hurting anyone anymore.”
> “How can you say that?” shouts Twilight, “You aren’t really okay with her taking you away, are you?”
“Twilight, I nearly killed you. It was…I can’t let that happen again. I can’t.”
> “Anon, please,” she whispers, “I don’t want to lose you.”
>You look away. The sadness in her eyes is just too much.
“I know. And I don’t want to lose you either. But this is bigger than us. We can’t let our emotions guide us on this. We’ve got to use logic.”
> Twilight sighs. “So what are we going to do?”
>You unroll the scroll and read it again.
>Think, Anon, think. You’re a genius, now use that fucking brain of yours. What’s the princess going to do? She’s practically a demigod. Incredibly powerful and thousands of years old. She’s smart. Clever. She already has a plan, and this letter almost certainly has some hints about it. So what’s her plan? What’s her game? Read between the lines, Anon. Try to think like she does. If you had power and wisdom like her, what would you do?
“I’ve got it,” you say.
> “What?”
 “I think I know what I have to do, Twilight.”
> “Alright, so what’s the plan? Are you going to run? If you leave now, you could probably get far enough into the Everfree forest that they won’t be able to find you and then you could head for-”
“No,” you say, interrupting her, “No running. I’m going to face the princess.”
> “What?” she says, shocked. “Anon, what if she imprisons you? Or kills you?”
“Just trust me, Twilight. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing.”
> “You don’t sound very sure.”
“I’m sure enough. There’s one thing I need you to do, though.”
> “Anything.”
“Twilight, you need to forgive Spike.”
> “What? But he’s the reason you’re in this mess! He ratted you out!”
“He did it because he loves you. He was worried about you and wanted to protect you. It’s what I would have done.”
> For a moment, she says nothing, then nods her head.
“Alright then. Well, I better get this place tidied up. Got royalty coming over. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
> “Yeah, I’ll be there. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
>Once she’s gone, you say to yourself,
“Yeah, so do I.”

>The next morning, you get to work on preparing the barn. After an hour of clean, it…well, it still looks like a barn, but a slightly nicer one, at least. The tools gave you some trouble. You couldn’t decide if you should move them to your side of the barn or leave them by the entrance. Any farm implement could be wielded as a weapon in the hands of a creative fighter, and if you were wrong, you may need a way to defend yourself. On the other hand, leaving them on the far side of the barn would show that you trusted them, and a gesture like that could go a long way. In the end, you decide that insulting the princess would be a bad move, and you leave them where they are.

>At noon, Twilight arrives with a picnic basket.
> “Hi Anon. I, uh, brought some lunch. I thought we could eat together,” she says quietly. You can see she still worried about this afternoon.
“That sounds great,” you say, putting on a calming smile despite feeling worried yourself.
>She spreads out a blanket and sets a tea set and some food for herself, then levitates the basket over to your dolly so you could pull it over to your side of the barn. Inside, you find some fresh fruit and vegetables and a bag of nuts.
“Hey Twilight, remember the first time we had lunch together?” you say, chuckling.
>She cracks a small smile.
> “How was I to know your species can’t digest grass!” she retorts, “besides, it’s not as bad as that time you left the zipper down on your pants for two hours!”
“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” you say, laughing.
>Lunch continues in this way, with both of you reminiscing on your time in Equestria, trying to forget that this lunch may be the last you have with her.

>Shortly after you both finish eating, you hear the sounds of hoofsteps outside. Four large ponies in armor walk into the barn, followed by a white unicorn stallion with blue hair and a stern expression. He shoots a glare at you but is interrupted by a shout from Twilight.
> “Shining!” she cries, running over to embrace the unicorn.
> “Twilight! How are you?” he says, returning the hug, “When I heard what happened, I was so worried about you! What are you doing here?”
> “I’m fine, I’m fine. I was just having lunch with Anon.”
> “He put you in the hospital, and you’re having lunch with him?” he says in disbelief.
> “It wasn’t his fault!” she protests.
> He sighs. “Twilight, go home. I’ll come by to visit later, but right now I have to deal with this…thing.”
> “He’s not a thing, Shining Armor!”
> He ignores her and signals to the guards, who advance towards you. Three of them are pegasi, but the last is a unicorn.
“Hey, you need to stay away from me,” you say, pointing towards the unicorn guard.
>He sneers at you. “What’s wrong? You afraid that I-”
>Before he can finish, his face scrunches up in pain.
“I told you, man. You can’t get close to me.”
> “Whatever it is you’re doing, stop it!” roars Shining Armor.
“I can’t.”
> “I said stop it!” yells the unicorn captain, his horn glowing, “Stop it now, or I’ll blast you!”
> “No!” yells Twilight, jumping in front of her brother, “I won’t let you hurt him!”
> “Twilight, go home!”
>As the siblings argue, the pegasi guards unsling the spears strapped to their backs and level them towards you.
> “You heard the Captain,” says one of them, “stop what you’re doing and get on the ground!”
“I can’t stop it. It’s not something I can control,” you growl, “Now get those spears out of my face.”
> “Go home Twilight!”
> “Don’t make us hurt you!”
> “Call off your guards, Shining!”
“Don’t make me defend myself.”
>“ENOUGH!”
> In an instant, the barn falls silent. The voice is feminine but authoritative, the voice of an angry mother. It’s a voice that cuts right through the bravado of even the strongest man or horse, for it speaks directly to the ashamed child deep within. As one, all the occupants of the barn turn toward the  door, ghosts of scoldings past echoing in their thoughts.
>In the doorway stands a magnificent pony, pure white, with both a horn and wings. Her multicolored hair dances in a breeze, despite being in a windless barn.
> To his credit, Shining Armor has the guts to break the silence.
> “Y-your majesty, we haven’t secured the area yet! I still need to cast my barrier spell!”
> “If what Spike told us is true, that won’t work,” she says in a gentler voice, “but I don’t think it will be necessary. Nor will the spears. Guards, please give Anonymous his space.”
>They immediately back away from you and bow their heads toward the royal pony. You follow suit, dropping down on one knee and lowering your face.
> “Princess, this is Anonymous, the human,” says Twilight, “he’s-”
>Before she can get any further, the princess holds up a hoof, silencing her. She says nothing, but looks at you, expectantly.
>Now or never, Anon. Time to see if you were right.
“It is an honor to finally meet you, your majesty,” you say, “I am Anonymous, and I offer to you my loyalty and service.”
>For a moment, Princess Celestia says nothing. Then she gives you a small smile.
> “So you figured it out. Well done. I hereby accept your offer, and take you on as one of my subjects,” she says, turning her head slightly towards Shining Armor, “And as a subject, you are now under my protection, and by extension, that of the Royal Guard.”
> “Princess, you can’t be serious!” protests Shining.
> “I am completely serious,” she says, grinning with levity, “and you are not to harm him so long as he obeys the laws of Equestria.”
> “As you wish, your highness,” he says, grudgingly.
> “In addition, as your ruler, it is my duty to help you with your magic nullification problem,” she continues, “although, to be honest, I would have helped you even if you hadn’t pledged loyalty to me.”
> “Then why did you-” begins Twilight.
>Princess Celestia giggles, “Oh, the letter was just to see how clever he was. If he hadn’t figured it out, I’d have wondered what it was you saw in him.”
“I’m not sure what you mean, Princess.”
> “Oh, and you were doing so well,” says the princess, “You should know better than to lie to me, Anon. I’m thousands of years old. I can read your heart like a book.”
>You and Twilight both blush at the monarch’s casual reference to your feelings. Shining Armor’s face also reddens, though not from embarrassment.
> “You and I are going to have a long talk about this later,” he murmurs to his little sister.
> “Unfortunately, Anon, your emotions are not the only thing I can see,” continues the Princess, suddenly becoming grave. “I’m afraid I have bad news.”
“What is it?”
> “Your magic-nullifying aura is growing.”