The Stallion Who Can Never Die

Music blared and ponies stamped their hooves to the beat as numerous lights flashed in many different colours. It was all entrancing to the stallion as he stepped into the bar, seeing stallions and mares throw aside personal space and let the music flow through their veins. With a touch of alcohol, of course. After he had settled in a decent enough hotel—nothing fancy, but it was cozy enough—White Stripe had suggested that he take to seeing the sights of the city, which the stallion agreed to. However, White Stripe thought that he should see the ceremony of a museum's reopening, that was where the stallion disagreed with. Now, here he was, in a bar that had its music on so loud he could hear it several blocks away, drawing him in.

He walked up to the counter, where a unicorn mare with a golden mane used her magic to levitate numerous bottles and pour many concoctions in the air. While still twirling and spinning bottles and glasses, she glanced at him with deep blue eyes and a one-sided smile came to her lips, the Stallion found himself mirroring her smile, liking how a part of her mane was curled up, giving her an illusion of innocence, an illusion that was broken by the lust he saw in her eyes.

"What'll it be?" She asked, her voice sounding clear over the music.

He shrugged. "Depends, what do you think I can take?"

She placed one of the bottles behind her and slid several glasses of liquid to their waiting patrons, lightening her workload as she brought her full gaze on him and looked him over, up and down. The smile remained. "Well, you look like you could take a fair amount, but looks can be deceiving..."

"To be honest," he replied, leaning in across the counter, she leaned in as well, their muzzles almost touching. He whispered. "I don't know what I can take."

She giggled. "Is that so? Well, why don't we find out? I think I've got just the drink for you. I'll be right back."

She turned, placed everything she was levitating down, and walked off. He turned and leaned back against the counter, watching the crowd dance away. This was far more preferable then what White Stripe had in mind. As he glazed over the crowd, he found his eyes drawn to the mares, how they moved so fluidly, confidently yet gracefully, looking absolutely free. At the same time, however, he also felt his eyes draw to the stallions, most stamping their hooves loudly and with great strength, showing off for the ladies, and some possibly showing off for the guys. His eyebrow rose as an idea came to him, but first he had to test it out.

His head turned to his right, two mares were busy chatting away. He turned to the left, and found an earth pony stallion take a small glass and down the liquid within in a single gulp. He shook his head and sucked in a breath, the drink must have been tough. The Stallion looked his neighbor over, soft green coat, and a darker green mane, nicely kept and smooth, and he wore a set of straps around his chest. He smiled, he really liked what he saw, so far it looked like his idea was right. The other stallion noticed he was being looked over and glanced at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked, his tone not particularly hostile, as the Stallion noticed his eyes widening slightly.

"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't help but like the uh..." He faltered as his mind looked for a word that suited the set of straps around him, then he found it. "...the harness, it's quite bold, if I may say so."

He blinked. Harness... I like the sound of that... "Would you believe me if I said my name was Harness?"

The other stallion glanced back to Harness,  who noticed he was looking him over, a want in his eyes, a want that was turning into a need. "I'd say I do." He replied, a smile appearing. "You can call me Strap, ain't my real name, but it's what everypony calls me here."

"Can't imagine why." Harness joked. Strap chuckled and took a step towards him.

"Tell me, Harness... I've worked in this place for quite awhile and I've never seen you around before. You new in Vanhoover?"

"Technically, yes." Harness answered, taking a step towards Strap. "I'm somewhat of a lost pony right now."

He raised an eyebrow. "Lost? In what way?"

"Oh, recent discoveries about myself, not sure what I'm doing, what I should do..." He answered in a very casual tone. "It's a little scary actually."

"Is that so?" Strap smirked, taking another step, their chests now touching, Harness. "Well, I can help put those fears to rest, I've been in your place before."

Harness raised an eyebrow, noting the pounding in his heart and the adrenaline that was pumping in him, his breathe heavy. Okay then, I'm definitely into both stallions and mares and you know what? "Can you?" He leaned in close to Strap's muzzle and, in a barely audible whisper, breathed out. "Prove it." ...I'm cool with that.

Immediately, their lips pressed against each other, hooves wrapping around one another as they passionately kissed. He felt Strap moan into his mouth, while he himself was feeling his eyes roll back, wings opening straight up...

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused their session to abruptly stop. Harness looked and found the bartender holding a glass of dark brown liquid, her face straight, but he could see the disappointment in her eyes, as well as frustration.

"Flux," Strap muttered, a hoof rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh..."

"Shouldn't you be working, Strap?" The bartender, Flux, asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Y-yes ma'am." Strap stuttered and leaned close to Harness, speaking in a whisper. "If you're still here in an hour, come see me, I'll be in the back entrance."

The silver pegasus smirked. "I'll think about it."

Returning the smirk, Strap turned and left. Harness watched him for a moment before turning back to Flux. "I thought he was working."

"Don't start." Flux replied, though her straight cracked briefly in a smile. She levitated the drink to him. "Let's see if you can take this."

"What is it?" He asked, looking down at it, giving it a sniff, before pulling his muzzle away, it stank!

His revulsion to the smell caused Flux to grin, then spoke in a quiet whisper. "That there is Gryphon Ale, smuggled from across the sea and Equestria, this stuff is pretty illegal."

He raised an eyebrow. "Illegal? What makes it different from the other drinks?"

"Well, you already know about the smell, but it is also very strong, one of the strongest drinks actually, but our systems aren't as strong as a gryphons, one shot is enough to send most ponies tumbling around like... well, they actually would be drunken idiots, two can send them to the hospital. Still, the ale is in high demand, high enough to be smuggled all around to the major cities."

Harness stared down at the drink. I probably don't want to know what this stuff would do to my liver. Is this worth it? He blinked, then shrugged. Eh, you only live once... With that, he took the glass with his hoof, and gulped down the drink. Instantly, his vision swam and he stumbled back. Flux leaned forward, ready to use her magic to soften his fall, but was genuinely surprised that he shook his and started to regain his balance. He leaned on the counter, a long smile on his face as he felt the warmth spread throughout him.

"I'm impressed," Flux said. "I'd thought for sure you were gonna lose it when you lost your balance like that."

"Guess I'm full of sur-*hic*-prises. I'll have another..."

But Flux shook her head. "Sorry, buddy, we only serve one drink per privileged customer, besides you probably won't be able to last through another one." A signal from a group of customers drew her attention and she moved away without a word to Harness. He turned and leaned his back against the counter, standing on his hind legs as he looked back at the dancing crowds, enjoying the view.

Until his ears perked at the sounds of a heated conversation not far from him. He casually turned his head and saw a bright red-coated mare with blue eyes glare at a group of stallions who stared back at her with fearsome expression. "I told you before, Team, and bringing your thugs won't change it; We're through, so leave. Me. Alone!"

The lead stallion, an earth pony with a dull tan coat with an unkept black mane, glared down at the mare. "I'm not playing around Scarlet! Nopony just goes and leaves me hanging!"

"Well, maybe you should've thought about that before going off into the bushes with that harlot unicorn! Did you honestly think nopony wouldn't notice or hear you two in the most public park in the city on a Saturday!? In broad daylight!"

Harness stared, not liking the way the other four stallions were moving to both sides of the lead one, effectively surrounding Scarlet. She noticed too, and her eyes darted to each of them, nervousness appearing for a second, before it hardened. "I'm warning you, Team Player, try anything and I'll-"

"Do nothing." Team interrupted sternly, glaring down on the mare.

"Excuse me..." All heads turned to Harness, who stood confidently facing them, his wings instinctively stretched out in an aggressive stance. "...but there's more then one fine mare in this place, I'm sure you can manage one rejection and find another equally fine mare."

"Buzz off, twigwings! This is none of your business!" Team snapped, Harness raised an eyebrow in response. Was that... a racist insult? One of the stallions in Team's group turned and stepped in Harness' line of sight, hoping to intimidate the amnesiac pegasus away. It didn't work. Team, meanwhile, turned back to the mare and whispered to her. "Now you listen to me, we are leaving this place and you are coming with me, is that understood?"

"Buck off, Team!" Scarlet shouted.

Harness knew things were about to violently explode, was it Scarlet who was going to strike first, or Team or one of his buddies? His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed her quickly glancing to him. He smirked, winked to her, then punched the stallion facing him. Team and his friends looked away from Scarlet, who took the opportunity to grab a bottle and smash it over the stallion's head. Before one of Team's friends could react, she pounced on the nearest one and aggressively beat him down. From there, all Tartarus broke loose.

It seemed there was a lot of pent up tension in the whole bar, as, like a spark to a gasoline tank, the whole place exploded into violence and Harness found himself caught in the middle of it. A blue Earth Pony dove at him, but the silver Pegasus dropped the ground and delivered a powerful kick with his hindlegs, he felt contact with the pony's legs and felt him buckle from the blow. Harness spun around and delivered a punch to the stallion's face. But as quickly as he taken one pony down, another turned to challenge him. With a snort, Harness made to lunge at the stallion facing him, only to be grappled from behind and held up, his forelegs locked away from the pony behind him. The stallion facing him grinned and punched Harness in the face once. Twice. When he pulled back to strike a third time, Harness lifted up his forelegs and, using the pony holding him as leverage, kicked off from the front stallion's gut, sending them both to ground. He quickly recovered and dealt a powerful punch into the face of the pony who had grappled him. Hey, I'm pretty good at this. He realized, just as he turned and saw a white blur and felt half his face go numb as he was sent flying back over the bartender's counter, shattering the glasses and bottles behind him.

"YEAH!" Cried out a giant, muscle ripped Pegasus with abnormally small wings and blood shot eyes, and a crazed look on his face. With a groan, Harness brought himself up on his hooves and stared at his opponent dumbly.

"What the hell are you taking!?" He asked.

In response, the giant pegasus snorted and scuffed his hoof, Harness replied by extending his wings in an aggressive stance, before leaping into the air and diving down. With a roar, the giant Pegasus grabbed a nearby pony and flung him into the air, Harness sucked in a breath in surprise before dodging the thrown pony just as he was about to hit his head. Placing his forehooves in front of him and closing his wings, Harness dived down at the Pegasus, who looked around frantically for anything else to throw, but the other fighters had no intention of getting close to him and a small space cleared around him. Harness heard the very satisfying thud of his hooves connecting into the Pegasus' face, sending him sprawling on the floor, knocking down several ponies in the process. Harness quickly recovered and smiled in victory before he felt a tap on his shoulder. Before his mind could scream for him to not turn around, he turned around, only to be uppercut by a pegasus mare, leaving him exposed for the critical blow as the mare turned and struck out with her hindlegs.

Harness' eyes shrunk to pinpricks as he fell to his knees. "That was... Low..." He gasped out at the mare who was giving him a smug smile before she punched Harness in the face and sent him stumbling back, into a hard, bumpy surface. He felt a hot breath on his head and his ears fell.

"You recovered fast." He muttered before he felt the giant Pegasus grab his sides and fling him into the ceiling, Harness had no time to recover before his head smashed into one of the lights, knocking numerous black wires down. He barely registered the pegasus shouting "YEAH!" as he fell, but his fall was cut short. Dazed, he noticed that the wires hung in a loop, and he was lying on them, hanging above the fight, no pony noticing him. He shifted slightly, and several wires snapped, causing him to fall a few metres, in that brief instance, the wires wrapped around his hooves and one of his wings, and his neck, cutting the air from him. He coughed and gasped and his eyes widened upon the realization that he was trapped and choking. He tried to open his mouth and call for help, but any noise that managed to come out were drowned by the fighting ponies below. He struggled, but that only seemed to make the wires tighten around him, like snakes. His one free wing flapped desperately, trying in vain to break him free. Harness' mind panicked when his vision began to go dark. He needed to break loose! He needed to figure a way out, or he was going to die! He needed something, anything to cut through the wires!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a snip from the giant scissors, magically levitated in a dark blue aura, the red line collapsed and the crowd of ponies stamped their hooves in approval.

"I hereby announce the Museum of Vanhoover open for business!" Magi Straight spoke on the podium over the crowd, a beaming smile on the unicorn's face. Princess Luna stood on the side, a contented smile on her face as she magically made the scissors vanish into thin air. As the crowd continued stamping their hooves and slowly making their way up the grand steps of the large cerulean stoned building, Magi Straight turned to face the Night Princess and bowed. "Your highness, you were excellent in how you spoke to the crowd."

"It was nothing, fair Magi Straight." Luna replied humbly. "The speech was, after all, written by those writers of yours."

"Yes, your highness, but it was written specifically with you in mind, only you could have given the power of those words..." Magi smiled and a glint was in her eyes.

At the corner of her eye, Luna saw a police pony run towards the Chief of the Vanhoover police, who was in his dress uniform for the occasion.

"Chief!" He yelled out, coming to a stop in front of the Police pony, panting. "We have a -*huff*- a situation -*huff*- sir..."

Chief raised an eyebrow. "What sort of situation?"

"-*huff*- The bar -*huff*- the Black Sea -*huff*-"

Chief groaned. "Another fight there? This is the third time this week! Celestia damn it! Alright, I'll need a squad from reserve as well as the response team already getting in place, the last time we brought things under control,almost a dozen officers were hospitalized so we'll need the extra numbers."

Luna quietly cleared her throat as she approached the two police ponies. Chief turned and Luna caught his eyes widening in surprise before he bowed. "Your majesty, I apologize, but there is an emergency that I must deal with-"

"I overheard, officer, and I wish to offer my assistance in the matter."

Chief stared dumbly at the Alicorn before he shook his head. "Your highness, the ponies there are drunk and are quite violent-"

"I'm sure I can handle a few drunken ponies, officer and perhaps with my presence, they will cease their violent actions."

"Perhaps..." Chief muttered before quickly. "I have no authority to refuse you, highness, even if I wanted to. Your help is greatly appreciated."

Luna immediately turned to museum curator, who nodded that she had heard. With, that, Luna quickly followed the two police ponies down the street.

Outside the entrance of the bar, a line of officers in dark blue uniforms stood ready to charge in. However, the moment they saw Princess Luna approach, their jaws hung down and their disciplined posture collapsed. Murmurs broke out amongst the police ponies at the arrival of one of the princesses. Luna's face was neutral and didn't stir, but she was surprised at how their stature broke down, they were certainly not like the Royal Guard, they didn't even wore armour or wield spears or swords, only blunt, polished sticks.

The sounds of shouting and smashing bottles heard from inside drew her attention.

"Chief," She said. "Do bar fights like this happen all the time?"

The lead police pony nodded. "Every few weeks or so, a small scuffle breaks out in the establishments in the city, but usually only a single Unicorn officer has to cast a spell to temporarily dismiss the alcoholic effects and then safely remove the ponies involved and get them home. However, the Black Sea has had numerous and particularly violent fights over the last little while and for some reason none of our spells seem to have any affect on anypony inside, so we have to send a squad to break up the fighting, which results in some pretty bad injuries for everypony. Our most serious was a Unicorn who had a glass bottle stabbed into his belly when he was accidentally shoved to the side, last we heard he was still recovering in the hospital."

Luna nodded and her ears perked at the sound of a huge crash from within the building. "We best not waste anymore time, then." Her head turned to the officers, some of who had recovered from the shock of her arrival, while others still stared dumbly at her. "Stay close behind me, my little ponies, but do not fear, we will have this little issue solved quickly."

With that, she turned and strode confidently in, her wings raised in royal fashion as her hoofsteps clopped onto the smooth floor. Almost immediately, the police ponies recovered their senses and drew out their blunt weapons as they followed the Night Princess inside.

Luna's step faltered when she saw the mess before her in the bar. Crowds of ponies were mercilessly striking each other not seeming to care who they hit. One pony stumbled back from a nasty sounding blow to the face and almost bumped into the dark Alicorn. He turned and blinked almost tiredly as he looked and stared into Luna's eyes. His own widened, before he screamed and turned, hoping to escape from Nightmare Moon... only to collide with the wall and collapse, groaning into unconsciousness. With a raised eyebrow at the drunk pony who now lay onto the floor, she strode further in and stopped when a familiar scent caught her nose, a scent she hadn't smelt in over a thousand years. I know that smell...

She closed her eyes and her horn began glowing, before a wave of dark blue magic exploded from her horn, briefly engulfing everypony in the room. Immediately, when the wave vanished, they stopped and stood completely still, before collapsing ungracefully into heaps. Moments later, snores began emitting from several of the collapsed ponies. The entire bar was silent as the police ponies ran in. They stared in shock and bewilderment at the scene around them.

"Your majesty..." Chief muttered. "...what did you do?"

"A simple sleep spell, Chief." Luna answered, a small smile on her lips. "I told this issue would be solved quickly. And I think I know what is causing all these fights to break out in this establishment."

"You do?" Chief asked as the other police ponies moved to check on the downed drunks. Luna nodded and walked closer to the Earth Pony.

"Do you smell that?" She asked, gesturing around her.

Chief sniffed but shook his head. "With respect, your highness, all I smell is alcohol."

"Ah, but this particular alcohol has a unique scent to it and I recognize even with all the other drinks here. This place has been serving Gryphon Ale."

Chief's eyes widened. "Gryphon Ale?" He placed a hoof on his chin as he thought. "Yes, that would explain the extra violence and why our anti-alcohol spells had no effect. The spells were only created to alter Equestrian made drinks, not foreign ones."

Luna nodded. "I remember when my sister discovered the drink's effects on our subjects, she immediately placed a nation-wide ban, I wonder why she removed it..."

But Chief shook his head. "She didn't, it's still illegal, but they fetch quite a price on the black markets across the country, and every now and then we discover warehouses containing some bottles of the stuff, but this is the first time we've had someplace actually serving the drink. We'll have to question the manager and employees and figure out what's going on."

The Alicorn nodded approvingly. "That sounds like the correct course to take, Chief, perhaps-"

She was interrupted when a shocked gasp caught her attention.

"Hey!" A police mare shouted as she stared up. "Up in the ceiling, somepony's trapped in the wires above us, he's not moving!"

Luna's eyes darted to where the mare was pointing, and she saw the clear outline of a silver coated Pegasus, hanging with wires tangled all around him, including, her eyes widened, his neck. "Get him down from there, quickly!" She shouted. Immediately, several of the Pegasi police ponies flew up and drew out small knives, cutting through the wires like butter. After a few key wires were cut, the Pegasus fell limply into the legs of one of the police ponies, who gently lowered him down to the floor, laying him flat on his back.

"Out of the way!" Shouted one of the Unicorn ponies, his horn glowing crimson as he looked over the silver stallion. He quickly placed his head on the Pegasus' chest, and his eyes widened. "Oh sweet Celestia... He's dead." His horn fell quiet and he stepped away slowly as everypony stared at the body in stunned silence. Luna quietly walked forward, moving past the police ponies and standing next to the body. Her horn began glowing as she looked him over with his magic, seeing his completely still form, not a breath from him. With her magic, she not only saw his heart not beating, but could not feel any life within him. She sighed, and cut off her magic, turning back to Chief, who shook his head, his face a combination of shock and sadness.

"This is the first fatality we've had from this place..." He muttered.

"Chief..." Luna spoke, her voice heavy. "Find out who this Stallion is, and make to contact his friends and family, they should know about this as soon as-"

She never finished as the dead stallion's eyes opened up and he gasped for air.

"SWEET MOTHER OF EQUESTRIA!!!" Luna shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice as she spun around and stumbled back hastily from the silver Pegasus, her fur standing on end, her wings outstretched defensively and her breathing erratic as she stared wide-eyed at the pony who was dead not moments before.

Harness stared around at the shocked faces of the Princess and the police ponies (the ones not knocked over from Luna's outburst). He panted as his mind tried to piece together what had happened, the last thing he remembered was being tangled up from the wires, struggling desperately to get out. Did he? Maybe he lost consciousness but the police arrived and got him out before anything worse could have happen to him, that must have been it! But, a small whisper in his mind told him no, they didn't arrive in time. He had died, it said.

He blinked. That couldn't be right, he was alive here and now, there was no way he had died. You died, the piece of his mind whispered. He shook it off, that was when he heard the whispers of the police ponies around him.

"He was dead, wasn't he?"

"Maybe he was just unconscious?"

"No way, the Princess looked at him, nopony can fool a Princess!"

"I looked him over with my magic, he was dead, no question!"

Harness' eyes grew wide, he had died, and come back to life, but unlike the time of him relearning how to walk on his hooves and eat with his mouth and fly with his wings, this feeling of having 'died' felt very familiar...

Luna took a cautious step to him and subtly looked him over with the same spell from before, his heart was beating and she could feel the life flowing throughout him. Her eyes widened. T-that's... impossible, he was dead moments before!

One of the officers approached him. "Hey, you okay?"

"Uh, yeah" The silver stallion lied, nodding his head quickly. "Look, I think I should go."

Several officers looked at each other, confused at how he had seemed dead, and knowing that standard protocol was to keep him detained along with the others as he was almost certainly involved in the fight, but he didn't have a scratch on him and he seemed completely shaken up. Their thoughts stopped when Luna cleared her throat, regaining her composure.

"Very well, I will escort you back to your home. Officers, you can continue your work here."

Chief and most of the police ponies saluted in response, having no quarrel with the decision of a Princess. His legs shaking, Harness stood up and unconsciously ruffling his wings, which the winged ponies knew as nervous agitation. Luna watched him with a concerned eye and followed him outside, there, he stood completely still on the street.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not... I should've died, I had died. Didn't I?" He looked at her with wide, pleading eyes.

Luna sighed and nodded. "I'm afraid so, I had looked at you with my magic, your body was without any semblance of life. Now, though..."

He looked down, unable to believe what he was hearing, before looking back up and seeing her for the first time. His eyes widened again, seeing her dark blue eyes that shone in the night, and her dark blue coat and swirling mane that was dotted with the stars, and yet almost translucent. She was beautiful, the royal regalia she wore was only a passing thought.

"Y-you're one of the Princesses of Equestria, right?"

Luna nodded. "Indeed, I am Luna, and what is your name?"

Her voice... he looked away, not because he was frightened. "I-I don't remember... I lost all my memories, I can't even remember my name, though I took up the name Harness in the bar before... Anyway, it had a nice ring to it."

She raised an eyebrow. "You lost your memories?"

He nodded. "Apparently I was found after some kind of explosion late last night, and I don't have any friends or family here, nor do I seem to exist in any government documentation. An Internal Affairs agent is looking after me until he can find something that can point to who I was. But do you know what's terrifying? I feel like this sort of thing has happened before, me dying... If it has..." He stopped when Luna placed a hoof on his back between his wings, he looked up to her.

"Perhaps you should go rest, Harness, where are you staying?"

"The Lucky Day Hotel, it's not far from here."

"Then let us take to the skies, can you fly?"

He nodded. "I'm still getting the hang of it, but I think so yes."

His wings opened up in preparation, the Alicorn moving next to him. Moments later, the two ponies flew into the air, Harness flying ahead of Luna, where she noticed the stallion's cutie mark. An infinity symbol? Could that be the reason... How is that possible?

In a few moments, they landed out next to an old building, the initials of Harness' hotel shining at the building's entrance.

"Thank you," Harness said.

"You really don't remember anything? Nothing at all?" She asked.

Harness shook his head, his ears folded down. "I just don't know what's going on. How can I just come back, what could've happened to me to cause this?"

"If I knew, believe me, Harness, I would tell you."

He looked down, defeated, causing a surge of guilt to tug on Luna's heart. She quickly spoke, "I will look into this Harness, and if I find anything, you will be the first to know. I promise you that. Now go and get some sleep."

"I don't know if I can sleep after all this..." Still, he smiled at her, and slowly walked into the building. Luna stood where she was for a moment, watching him. She could only imagine what it must have been like to die and then come back to life. She walked ahead, her mind heavy with all that has been going on, when a gust of wind blew past her, whistling. She thought she heard a voice amongst the wind, but quickly shook the thought away.

"Majesty..."

She stopped completely still as she heard the faint whisper that echoed around her.

"I do not have long, your majesty, but you must be warned... Dark forces are moving, your presence has forced them to rush their plans. You must be careful, or else this whole city will suffer..."

Lune turned to where she heard the voice, but saw only a dark empty alleyway, a few rose petals twirling in the wind. As if the chill in head, the creature of the Realm and the stallion who came back to life wasn't enough, now there was this! Oddly, she found herself smiling. Well, sister, you were right about one thing... This is certainly more exciting then Canterlot...