Elements of Equestria: Chapter 3

[DivineMist1000 71,102]

Chapter 3: Not Alone

Celestia led Lee down the hallway and back towards his room, telling the guards by the door not to let anypony besides Luna come inside. She closed the door behind her and gently sat Lee down on the bed, with Celestia looking at him with great concern. Celestia tried nudging him with her hoof, but this did nothing to make Lee talk to her or even acknowledge her, making her sigh as she tried to talk to him.

"Lee... you're going to be okay, I know you will" Celestia sat down on the bed next to Lee and placed her wing around him to try and comfort him, but this did nothing to help Lee feel any better.

"Listen to me Lee, you shouldn't let those ponies get to you. They were... very out of line with their actions and you can bet I will be speaking to them about this"

Lee removed Celestia's wing and suddenly started laughing, which confused Celestia.

"You know what? Don't trouble yourself Celestia, because they're right about what they said. I don't belong here and I never will. You and Luna know that, I know that and everypony in this castle knows that."

Lee got up from the bed and started angrily packing his bags, but this only made Celestia get up from the bed as well and pull his bag away with her magic.

"Lee, what do you think you're doing? Don't tell me you're leaving us?"

"Of course I'm leaving! What reason do I have to stay? It's clear that nopony wants me here and that I'd be better off going back to where I belong... Home!"

"But you can't leave now, and you can't just give up either! You just arrived and there's so much more that-"

Lee interrupted Celestia by grabbing his bag from her and heading towards the door. Celestia quickly went ahead of him and tried blocking the door.

"Lee... Don't do this, please!"

"Thank you for the 'opportunity' Celestia, but I think it's better for everypony if I just... go away!"

Lee gently pushed past Celestia and went to the door with Celestia yelling his name. Before Lee left the room, he went face first into something, which made him fall to the ground in both pain and frustration. Princess Luna stood before him and looked down at him with the same level of concern that Celestia had.

"What's going on in here? Is everything okay, sister?"

Luna looked to Celestia only to see her lower her head in sadness as she and Luna saw Lee picking up his bags off of the floor.

"Lee, what's going on? A-are you leaving?"

Lee said nothing as he stood back up and pushed past Luna to go out into the hallway in sadness. Celestia and Luna followed him out and both shouted at Lee to come back, but he wasn't listening. Before Lee made it to the end of the hall, he felt himself being forced to stop by something and then lifted off of the ground. He saw that he was being held by a magic spell and no matter how much he tried to escape, the invisible grip around him only tightened. Lee looked and saw that it was Luna who was casting the spell on him.

"H-hey what are you doing? Let me go!"

Luna nodded in disagreement as she pulled Lee back towards her.

"I can't do that Lee... I won't. Not until you calm down and talk to us"

"N-no, I don't want to talk to anypony! Trust me, the ponies in the throne room said plenty to me"

Celestia and Luna whispered to each other as Lee continued trying to break out of Luna's spell, but it was too strong for him to do anything. Luna nodded to her sister in agreement to something and started walking down the hall alone with Lee being brought along with her. 

"Come on Luna, let me go! Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere more... private. Don't worry, I'm going to help you get through this dilemma, I promise!"

Lee eventually gave up trying to break free of Luna's spell and simply waited for her to release him now.

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Luna continued walked down the many halls of the castle and went up many flights of stairs before she finally arrived at a door with a large moon and silver stars painted over it. Luna went inside the room and locked the door behind her before finally releasing Lee from her spell, dropping him on his feet gently. Lee looked around the room and saw a large moon-shaped bed in the middle of the room, with a very starry looking ceiling above and many other moon themed decorations around the room as well.

"Wait, where are we?" Lee asked.

"These are my chambers. I figured it'd be easier to speak with you in an environment that's less stressful and where you won't be overwhelmed by both of us trying to speak with you"

Luna pulled up a chair and asked Lee to sit down, which he did begrudgingly. Luna looked to the window behind her and quickly went towards it.

"Excuse me a moment, would you? I'll be right back"

Luna went out onto the balcony, which overlooked the entire castle around her and the lights coming from Ponyville below the mountains. Lee peaked his head out the window as he saw Luna close her eyes, only to reopen them as she spread out her wings. Slowly, as she focused her magic on the horizon, a bright and full moon rose from beneath the hills in the distance and slowly made its way to the skies above the mountains. As the full moon settled into place, the sky changed into a black and darkened sky and countless stars and constellations started to appear one by one.

Lee was awestruck by the spectacle he had just witnessed, as he never knew that Luna was capable of such a feat. Luna reentered the room and saw how impressed Lee was by her raising the moon, which made her smile happily.

"Luna... that was amazing! How did you... do that?!"

"It is my duty to raise the moon every night, Lee. Most ponies never get to witness it... even fewer rarely stay awake (heh heh), but it is my solemn vow and responsibility nonetheless. I do thank you for being able to see it, however, and I of course thank you for the kind words."

Luna closed the door and drew the curtains, making the room incredibly dark now, but Luna lit up the room using her magic as she made a few candles appear from nothingness. She lit each candle and placed them to where the room was now dimly lit. Luna removed her crown and shoes and placed them on the desk by the bed, then sat down on the bed as she looked towards Lee.

"Now that all of that has been taken care of, let's talk about what happened. Tell me everything and I will listen, I promise!"

Lee found it difficult to find the words to begin this conversation and looked at the ground as he started figuring out what to say. He then looked at Luna with an angered look. 

"You know what happened, Luna. Everypony was laughing at me, calling me names, making me feel... unwanted. They wanted to make absolutely sure that all my spirit was crushed and assured that I'd never set foot in this castle again! And you know what... those ponies-"

"Are irrelevant! Lee, listen to me, did you hear I or Celestia laughing at you? No, because you know that we would never treat you in such a way... EVER! Nopony should have to go through what you had to and I am deeply sorry for that."

"Yeah, tell that to them! I never want to see their faces again and I never want to come back to this castle again, because I... DON'T.. belong here! I don't belong... anywhere!"

Lee could feel himself getting upset again as he got up from the chair and went towards a corner of the room. He started breathing heavily and held his head as tears started forming in his eyes. Before a single tear could drop, however, Lee felt as something was being wrapped around him... something warm. Lee looked and saw that Luna had her wing placed around Lee and looked at him with great concern.

"It's alright, Lee. I understand your struggle... I really do. I know what it's like to feel this way, to feel like the whole world is against you and that nopony wants or cares about you. You are not alone here, and I swear that I and Celestia are going to make this right, you have my word."

Lee looked away from Luna, only for Luna to say his name and ask him to look at her, which he did as the despair still held him. He looked into Luna's teal colored eyes and couldn't help but blush a little as he noticed how pretty her eyes were, but he brushed off the feeling a moment later.

"Let me ask you something: Do you trust me and Celestia?"

"Y-yeah, I do actually. I might hate everypony else in the castle now, but at least you two are still nice to me... probably the only thing I like about being here."

"Hmm, is that right? So would you prefer to simply interact with us and not as a 'job'?"

"Well, I mean... It'd be a lot nicer if I could just talk to the two of you, b-but you are both princesses! You'd never have time to hang out with somepony like me."

Luna raised her head as an idea came to her. She looked back at Lee and gently helped raise him back onto his feet.

"I have an idea I think, Lee. Please just hear me out about what I have in mind: Would you be willing to return to the castle tomorrow and meet with the two of us?"

"I-I don't know. I really don't want to do this job anymore"

"No no, this has nothing to do with your assignment. We simply ask you come and talk with us, with nopony else to interrupt this time and we promise that all of this will be resolved. If you could do this for us, we would greatly appreciate it and if you still feel the way you do now then we will personally escort you home and never trouble you again. But please, do this one last favor for us... please."

Lee sighed as he looked at the ground, wondering if he should come back or not. He had already been ridiculed once today, and didn't particular feel like going through that again, but he saw how sincere Luna and Celestia were to him both before and after this and how they were the only ones who still cared about him.

"Alright, I'll do it. But I'm only doing this for you and Celestia... that's the only reason. When do you want me to come back?"

"Come back around noon and meet with us in the library where we first spoke to you. You remember the one right?"

"Y-yeah I remember. I'll be there"

"Excellent, and we both thank you for agreeing to returning. We promise that you will have no more troubles after tomorrow!"

"For my own sake, I hope you're right Luna."

Luna walked Lee to the door and opened it. Lee walked out into the hall and Luna stood at the door as he left.

"Good night Lee. I'll see you tomorrow!" Luna closed the door and left Lee alone in the hallway, but he quickly made his way back down the many corridors and stairs to make it back to the front gates.

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As Lee stepped back outside, he breathed a sigh of relief as he looked towards the bright full moon high in the sky. Luna's raising of the moon still amazed him and was still surprised that she could do something so amazing. Lee was interrupted when one of the guards by the gate called to him, which he recognized as the guards who escorted him to castle earlier. He waited to see if they we're going to make fun of him like everypony else was and braced his ears. 

"We uhh... heard about what happened to you earlier in the throne room and we both just wanted to say sorry that you had to go through something like that."

"Yeah, what those ponies said was way out of line! Hopefully the princesses sorted it out and we hope that you're doing alright now."

Lee was surprised by these two guards' concern, but smiled as he looked at the guards.

"I don't know. I mean can't say I'm really feeling any better, but Luna had assured me that all will be well again by tomorrow. She told me to come back tomorrow and speak with her and Celestia."

"Well, if anypony can help make things right again it's the princesses! I'm certain they'll help you through this and hey... if you ever need to talk, we'll always be right here to aid you should you need it."

The other guard nodded to him in approval and stuck his armored hoof out to Lee. He hesitated at first, but after hearing their words, he realized that they meant well and didn't want to make fun of him after all. He shook hooves with both of the guards and smiled as they smiled with him.

"Thank you for your kind words, you guys. What are your names?"

"Maximus! I'm one of Celestia's guards... but you can just call me Max. This here is Midnight Glow and he serves for Princess Luna. It's a pleasure to have you here in the castle, Mister Lee"

"Thanks you guys! I'd love to stay and chat, but I really should get going. Thanks for talking to me."

"No problem at all, Lee. Hope the rest of your evening goes smoothly!"

Both guards waved to him and Lee walked away from the gate as he waved back. Lee looked toward the starry skies and the full moon again and breathed deeply as he took off from the ground.

"I'm not alone in this... I'm not... alone" This was all Lee could think of as he made his way back to his house.

A/N: Chapter 3 finally up and ready! Hope everyone enjoys reading the latest installment in this awesome story!

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by DivineGuard1000

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,411]

Another great chapter! Keep it up, my friend!