The Stallion Who Can Never Die

Harness awoke to feel Luna stirring next to him. He cracked an eye open to see her sitting up, her horn glowing as she lowered the moon. It was a sobering thought to Harness that that beautiful night had to go, but as Luna leaned her back to rest again, he had a feeling he'd see it again, and possibly sooner then either of them expected. Harness couldn't help but smile as the Alicorn nestled up against him.

He thought back the last few days since waking up in the Vanhoover hospital and was quite surprised at how things had turned out for him, he wondered if his life had always been that hectic. He blinked when the memory of his clothing and items came to mind, he probably shouldn't leave them lying around in his hotel room. Harness attempted to move as carefully as he could without waking her. However, considering how she had a hoof around him and a wing draped over him and the fact that she only recently laid back down, he failed miserably.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked, looking at him curiously.

Harness couldn't help but feel like a child caught with a hoof in the cookie jar. "I was trying to get off the bed without waking you."

"May I ask why?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The clothes are in my hotel room, I figured I should grab them and bring them here since I might be staying now."

"Oh," Luna said, nodding tiredly. "Okay sure."

The Alicorn made to get up, but Harness stopped her with a hoof to her chest.

"You go back to sleep, I got this." Harness could see the internal debate going through Luna's mind, but sleep quickly won out, and she laid back down and closed her eyes. "I'll be back soon."

With that, Harness pulled one of the curtains open, letting dawn's light through as he opened the window. Spreading his wings out, the silver Pegasus leapt from the window and flew into the sky, scanning the buildings for the Lucky Day Hotel, he quickly spotted it in the distance and flew straight towards it. As he approached it, he could see the open window to his hotel, telling him that the housekeeping mare hadn't yet come to his room.

Flying towards the window, Harness attempted to fly through, but his hindlegs got caught on the sill and he ended up slamming face first into the floor. His mental grumblings were cut short however when a rough feminine voice shouted at him.

"Where the Hay have you been!?"

"Wha-Who-!?" He looked up and saw getting off of his bed an orange Pegasus with a rough, unkempt purple mane. And she was glaring daggers at him. "Scootaloo?"

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting here!?" She snapped as she stepped towards the silver Pegasus, who struggled to get back up on all fours. Sighing, she reached out a hoof and helped him up. "What were you doing last night, admiring the stars?"

Harness stared at the mare for a moment before answering. "Something like that, yeah."

Scootaloo sighed. "Sorry about that, hotwings, it's just the longer I stay in one place, the more tetchy I tend to get."

"It's fine," Harness said with a shrug, before glancing at the great gray coat on the bed. "Thanks for getting those clothes for me, by the way."

"Heh, no prob, hotwings, they get your memory back?"

Harness blinked. "How did you-"

"Come on, you think I offer to steal something from the police station for every mare and stallion who loses something there? I know a lot about the guys you're dealing with, and I know they need you for something."

Harness blinked. "You know who they are?"

Scootaloo stared, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "Shouldn't you know by now? You supposedly worked with them before."

Harness moved around her and walked towards the clothes and other items splayed out across the bed, frowning at the sight of them. "I still don't remember who I am."

Scootaloo gawked and stuttered as the words struck her like knives. "Wha- no! You can't-!" She walked up next to him, struggling to put together a comprehensible sentence. "You're joking! Please tell me this is some terrible joke! That I didn't risk my neck over you for nothing!"

Harness sighed and looked at Scootaloo with a sad expression. "Sorry, Scootaloo."

The Broken Pegasus stared with her mouth open, before she shook her head. "Buck..."

She turned away from the stallion and walked towards the wall, struggling to think up a way around this problem, she couldn't find a solution. "We're screwed." She muttered, before turning back to Harness. "You know, you were my best chance to really hit them where it hurt."

"What do you mean?"

"I was hoping that, with your memories regained, you could help me in properly fighting them and stopping them from doing whatever it is they plan on doing."

Harness stared for a few moments before sitting down. "What can you tell me about them? Who are they? How do you know I worked with them?"

Scootaloo took a deep breath before she sat on her haunches. "I don't know much about them, hotwings, and it doesn't matter what they're called now, they've gone through many names over the years. What I do know is that they've been around for a long time, they don't like Princess Celestia, in fact they want to get rid of her, and they have a nasty habit of performing sick experiments on traumatized little Pegasi fillies."

Harness stared in shock at what he had just heard. "They performed-"

"Focus, hotwings," Scootaloo chided with a tap of her hoof. "What they did to me doesn't matter right now. As for how I know you worked with them, I found out through a trusted friend of mine, you may have seen her before. She has this annoying habit of astrally projecting herself as some sort of ghost made of roses."

Harness blinked, recognizing the mare that warned him to leave the city. "Yeah, I've seen her... She doesn't seem to like me much."

"Roseluck just doesn't trust you, she thinks you'll side with them if you regain your memories, I profoundly disagree. Honestly, I'm surprised how many risks she's taken here, she's working undercover trying to take them down, but it's hard to mess with their base of operations when you're in a small town hundreds of miles away."

"Wait, you mean this city-"

"Somewhere in this city hides the leaders and control centre for the entire organization, but even I don't know where they are. If that hub was taken out, pfft, they're done for."

Harness stared, unable to believe it. "Luna has to know..." He muttered.

Scootaloo blinked. "Huh? Princess Luna?"

Harness stood up. "You have to come with me, I know where Luna is, if we tell her their main base is here she can-"

"Oh no no no!" Scootaloo stood and walked a few steps away from Harness. "Luna can't know about me! If she does, they'll be questions about me and that's just..." She struggled for a moment before settling for a word. "...bad. It's just bad, okay?"

"Scootaloo, Luna's been investigating this city pretty much since she arrived, that's why she hasn't returned to Canterlot yet, what you've told me won't help much, but if you tell her everything you know."

The Pegasus mare blinked, before looking down in thought, pacing back and forth as she thought. "Maybe... since her return they've stepped up their operations quite a bit. It's almost as if her return motivated them or something... A few days after Luna returned, there was part of a message I intercepted that said they were 'returning to their roots', that was when they renamed themselves, as far as I know they still have that name..."

"Scootaloo, if the royal sisters are their target, Luna's presence in the city has made them nervous, probably moreso since she's trying to find out what's going on here. She has to know about this, then she can come up with a plan or something to deal with this."

Scootaloo didn't say anything for several moments as she thought it over. "Maybe..." she muttered. "It can't hurt... and if you can't be much of a help, I guess an Alicorn Princess is just as good!"

Harness smiled as Scootaloo nodded. "Alright, let's just hope she doesn't recognize me."

"Great!" The stallion grinned as he looked back at his clothes. "Let me just gather these up and then we'll-"

"Pfft, why bother?" Scootaloo asked. "They weren't much help."

But the silver Pegasus paid no heed as he hastily folded up the coat and other items. "They're still pieces of my past, who knows, maybe with time they'll bring my memories back."

Scootaloo sighed. "Alright, but hurry up, the sooner we tell Luna about Torchwood the better."

Suddenly, everything stopped. He heard no sound save for his own heartbeat and a voice in his mind. His voice.

"It's a con... I was conning you, that's who I am, I'm a con man!"

"W-what did you say?" His breathing was heavy, his heart pounded in his chest as foggy images and sounds came to his mind. He glanced at Scootaloo, who eyed him oddly.

"It's... it's what the organization calls itself. Torchwood."

And suddenly, the floodgates opened. He quickly sat himself down as his mind was overwhelmed by millions of images, experiences, and emotions.

"I was the first ever to sign up for the Time Agency..."

Boeshane Peninsula, the clear waters splashing against the smooth, sandy beach, he could see a cluster of shiny buildings in the distance...

"Hey!" Scootaloo rushed over next to him as he panted, cautiously placing a hoof on him. "You okay?"

But he didn't hear or feel anything from her, too lost as his mind desperately tried to cope with the onslaught of memories, one after the other...

"...Wish I never met you Doctor, I was better off a coward..."

"...You've got twenty seconds, maximum!"

Every bullet was fired, every gun used, and the bronze monstrosities weren't even dented. Their blue eyestalks stared at him, with one emotion, and one emotion only: Hate.

"<>"

"Might've figured!" He cried defiantly as he stretched his arms out, providing them the best shot possible-

He stared, slightly out of breath, unable to believe who he was looking at, after so many years waiting.

"Doctor." His brown eyes looked deep into him, but he seemed to be struggling to look him in the eye.

"Captain." He greeted simply.

"...You work for Torchwood!?" The Doctor stared at him, the anger plain in his voice alone.

"It's changed, I reformed it." He said defensively. "I did it for you, in your honour!"

"Jack, behind you!" The warning came just in time for him to see the Weevil pounce onto him, sending him to the ground.

"Who are you, Captain Jack Harkness!?" Owen Harper yelled as he aimed the gun to his head.

"...Looking at you Jack, you are wrong... Do you want to die, Jack?"

"I remember..." He muttered, panting heavily. "I remember it all!"

"A thousand years from now..." Dying, tear-streaked eyes looked up at him, as he watched the man in his arms slowly die, powerless. "...you won't even remember me."