Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BPq5C3AevY

"Twilight, a word please?"

The lavender alicorn gulped, a chunk of ice materializing in her stomach. She hesitantly approached, eyes to the floor. Twilight Sparkle...After all the lessons you have learned, how could you have failed so?

Pushing the memory from her mind, she forced herself to look up at Celestia. "Ye...Yes Princess?" She stumbled over her words, her throat tight with worry.

Celestia's mouth was drawn into a grim line, her eyes showing an inner turmoil instead of their usual warmth. She refused to even meet Twilight's gaze when she curtly muttered, "walk with me."

Walking side-by-side with her once-mentor was proving to be a test of Twilight's nerves, made far worse by the separation from her friends. The Princess' unshakable calm had been shattered thoroughly, exposing a side Twilight had only seen when she had confronted Discord. Twilight shuddered at the memory. Celestia had expressed displeasure, true, but that was the only time she had been openly angry.

Twilight was certain Celestia was angry. Perhaps even banishment angry...

Celestia stopped at a door familiar to Twilight. The room she had often passed out from exhaustion in after a day of intense magical training. Why did she bring me to her room?

To Twilight's confusion, Celestia knocked instead of simply walking in. "Jason? I've brought a friend. I want you to stay calm when you see her, alright?"

Jason? The human? Oh sweet Celestia, he's in her room? A muffled too-deep voice grumbled from behind the door, before it was opened. Twilight immediately looked up, the wet-haired human glancing quizzically at Celestia before his eyes landed on her. A brief flash of terror ran through his eyes, followed by an inequine fury that faded as quickly as the fear. The human's flat face and too-small eyes settled on a tight, impassive expression before he turned without a word and walked back into the room.

Twilight gulped and looked pleadingly up at Celestia, the princess' eyes still glued to Jason with a mix of worry and pity. Sighing, the lavender mare let herself in.

"Any particular reason you brought her here, Princess?" Jason rumbled, his voice harsh and unpleasant to Twilight's ears. He sat down in the chair—the only chair, Twilight noted with a twinge of annoyance—with his stilt-like legs crossed.

Twilight bit back a response, letting Celestia's disapproving gaze shut him up in her stead.

"You made several serious accusations, Jason," Celestia spoke, "these matters are best dealt with as quickly as possible. Twilight is here to give her side of things."

"What did you tell her?" Twilight growled through clenched teeth, eyes narrowed and ears folded back against her skull.

His own eyes hardened, his perpetual scowl turning into a grimace. "The truth, you little..." A glance at Celestia and the word was recalled, though he continued on unhindered. "It's hardly my fault if being honest paints you in a bad light." His spindly arms crossed over his chest, leading Twilight's eyes to the uneven scar her resuscitation spell had left over his heart.

"Bad light?!" Twilight shouted, horn lighting unconsciously, "I saved your life you ungrateful—"

"SILENCE!" The booming command was delivered with such force that both human and alicorn flinched back. Twilight and Jason blinked owlishly at the clearly angry Celestia, silent as the grave. "Twilight, antagonizing Jason will not be tolerated. He deserves the same respect as any other living thing." She swung her head towards Jason. "The same goes for you. You will respect one-another. Am I understood?"

"...Yes ma'am."

"Whatever, let's get this over with."

Twilight bristled at the blatant disrespect, but refrained from speaking out. Celestia nodded, closing the door.
-----

Why?

Why the flying fuck would Celestia do this to me? This is NOT helping! "Princess," I muttered, gripping the armrests of the chair until my knuckles went white. "With all due respect, this is entirely unnecessary. I would like to avoid a legal scene...provided you keep her and her friends as far from me as possible." I tried my hardest not to look her in the eyes, but I could feel her glaring at me.

"I'm afraid this isn't your choice, Jason," Celestia replied evenly, "the fact stands that Twilight is accused of criminal negligence that, as you said, caused extreme trauma and nearly resulted in death."

"Then I take it back, just get her out of here!" I nearly shouted, my heart pounding away in my chest. Just stop looking at me!

"Jason, please calm down," Celestia said. I assumed she was trying to keep me from causing a scene.

It wasn't working.

I shot to my feet, the chair tumbling back behind me. I honestly didn't give a damn. "Celestia, please..." I gulped, trying to calm my trembling. "I'm kinda freaking out here...Can we do this some other time?" Like never?

Twilight tilted her head and took a step forward, her confused expression growing when I gave a very manly shriek of terror and backed away until my back was to the wall. "YOU STAY BACK!"

She just kept coming. "Why are you so afraid of me?"

My mind screeched to a halt.

"...I..." I pushed off from the wall, staring down at the purple mare. Staring down...I towered over her by a good two feet. I glared, teeth clenching. "I honestly don't know. I definitely know why I'm pissed, though." For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt something clear, something there. And it burned at me. "First day in Ponyville, you slammed the door in my face." My voice rose despite my best attempts at control, and I found my body taking a step forward. To my sick satisfaction, the fledgeling alicorn matched my movement with a retreat of her own. "But that wasn't good enough, was it? You spread word of the 'monster'. I've been beaten, struck by lightning, turned away, and starved by the ponies you turned against me!"

"Jason, wait. This isn't how we're going to do this," Celestia demanded, stepping between Twilight and I. "I thought you were better than this..." I could almost feel the disappointment...

If we were in any other situation, I would have listened. "I did my waiting, Princess," I growled out, stopping my advance. "Three FUCKING years of it!" I leaned forward, face twisted into a mask of rage. "I'm going to get closure, with or without your help."

"Princess Celestia...?" I heard her voice from behind the fuzzy white obstacle, mockingly shaky and weak. Oh please, just drop the act...

"Jason, listen to yourself!" Celestia pleaded, widening and solidifying her stance in front of her pupil. "This isn't you. Remember how happy you were when I brought you into the castle?"

I wasn't having any of it. "Get out of the way, Celestia."

"You told me yourself that you loved Equestria!" The Princess' voice wavered slightly, raised almost to shouting. "You're no villain, Jason..." I know. Because YOU'RE the villains here. "You know hurting ponies won't make you feel better."

"LIKE HELL IT WON'T!" I shouted, grabbing the solar diarch and shoving her out of the way. She hardly moved, but it was enough for me to get past. "You have no idea how long I've wanted this!" I raised my right arm over my left shoulder, palm flat and fingers rigidly together, before starting a downward arc towards a cringing purple mug.

It never connected. A golden light filtered through my eyelids, and the unpleasant prickling of hot wool scratched over my mostly bare skin. "...Let me go, Celestia." I forced my voice to even out, coming out as a dead, robotic monotone.

"I can't do that. Not until you calm down." Celestia had switched her full attention to me, her horn glowing yellow like a funeral pyre. Her own voice had taken to a dangerously even tone, though the tension underneath was unmistakable.

I turned my head to look at her. It seemed even in her magic I retained at least that much mobility. "Then kill me."

Her grim expression didn't waver. "You know I won't. This is for your own good."

"Let me go or kill me, I will NOT be kept in a cage!" I was becoming erratic. If I had a mind to, I'd be concerned about that. "Just give me a knife, I'll do it myself."

The tension melted away from the Princess' eyes back into pity. "I promise Jason, this is for your own good." I stiffened for a moment, before thrashing wildly as she approached.

"You stay away!" My shrieks were panicked, completely out of control. I was completely helpless when Celestia pressed her horn to the crown of my head.

"Sleep."

Despite my best efforts, my limbs turned to lead. I barely had the energy to look Celestia in the eyes before darkness crept over me.

"I hate you..."