The Stallion Who Can Never Die

Harness' eyes snapped open from his sleep, his face drenched in sweat and his chest rising and falling as he panted, his death replaying vividly over and over again in his dreams, and still playing as a voice spoke in his mind as he sat up. You can't die... you can never die... nothing can kill you, and yet everything can...

Shakily, he stepped from his bed onto the floor, running a hoof through his mane as he stepped out into the lobby. Turning towards the stairs, he walked down and moved around a tray laden with dirty plates and dishes, and stopped when something on the tray caught his eye. A gleaming sharp knife laid on the topmost plate. He had originally planned to take a long walk or flight and hoped to clear his head, but the sight of the knife caused a terrifying thought to come to mind, a thought that made him shudder. He quickly glanced in the nearby open door and saw the maiden gathering the dirty dishes from within. He glanced around him and, seeing the coast clear, grabbed the knife and immediately turned back into his room. By the time the maiden came out with the dishes and placed them on the tray, not noticing the missing knife, Harness had closed the door to his room.

The Pegasus took a few steps as he examined the knife closely, lightly poking the tip with his hoof. It was sharp. He barely registered his pounding heart and his heavy breathing as the thought of what he was about to do came to him. But the doubt was there. What if it doesn't work? What if you don't come back? What if you hadn't died and everyone there was just mistaken? How long he stood there holding the knife in his hoof as his mind argued back and forth he didn't know. He flipped the knife inward, its blade pointed towards him, he had to know, he had to be sure... He raised his hoof, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and plunged.

He could hear the sickening slice as the knife cut deep into his chest, piercing his heart. He gurgled and stumbled back in pain, his back slamming into the wall as his mind and body fought each other, one wanting the knife to be pulled out, the other desperately fighting to keep it in. He felt warmth spill out over his hoof as he bit his tongue to stop his scream, only a few incoherent sounds escaped his lips. He slumped to the floor, his breathing becoming erratic as he frantically looked around, seeing his vision go blurry, then merge together, and then go dark. With a final sigh, his head leaned softly against the wall, and his eyes closed, his hoof letting go of the knife and dropping to the floor, the blade remaining impaled in his chest.

Not a thing moved in the hotel room, save for the small streams of blood pooling around the dead Pegasus. Not a sound stirred save for the clock on the wall ticking away the seconds.

tick

tock

tick

tock

tick

tock

His eyes opened up and he gasped, his back arching as his entire form was jumpstarted back to life. He panted as he looked around him, then he glanced down and screamed at the knife in his chest. Panting as panic welled up and threatened to overwhelm him, Harness desperately pulled it out of his chest, groaning in pain and fear as he felt the blade move within him. With a final gasp of pain, he pulled the tip of it away from his chest and glanced down to see... no gaping hole in his chest. Only his silver fur, which was stained with his now drying blood. He placed a hoof on his chest to test if his eyes weren't fooling him. They weren't. He could feel the soft fur and his heart beating underneath. He was alive. He had died, but was alive now, the only proof was the bloody knife and the small pool of blood on the floor beside him.

He sprung to his hooves and made for the bathroom, retching into the toilet as his body couldn't take the mental stress. When he was finished, he glanced around at the mirror, seeing his flank and the mark adorning it, the infinity mark. Could his talent be... He turned around and stared at the face looking at him. What are you?

He remained in his hotel the entire day.

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As the sun set over Vanhoover, Princess Luna stood on a large cloud that hung over city's square, looking down at the arrangement of tall buildings around her. She saw the small dots of numerous going about their day, looking just as busy in the afternoon as it did now. Odd, in Canterlot, the streets would normally be emptying out at this time as most of the ponies went to their homes and slept, but here it seemed just as many ponies came out of their homes as those that came in.

I wonder if that Harness pony is out there, right now?

"Your majesty..."

Her head turned to see Nightingale bowing, the Alicorn's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Nightingale, the sun is still out, aren't you in pain?"

"I have handled far worse, your majesty, you need not fear for me." The Night Guard replied, before moving on. "Silent Hill is on the lookout for the Realm creature, but it seems to have vanished."

Luna frowned and looked back down at the city. "This place is large, it could be anywhere... I don't think we'll be able to find it until it makes its move."

"Does this mean it is hostile?"

She shook her head. "I am still not sure, the fact that it is hiding could mean many things. What about the Pegasus Harness? Have you checked on him?"

"I have, Princess, he remains in his hotel room, and what I have seen shocks me."

Luna glanced at the Vampony, who was looking in the direction of the hotel.

"He has attempted to kill himself multiple times."

"He's WHAT!?" The Alicorn spun around, completely facing Nightingale, who flinched from her Princess' outburst. Luna looked up. "By the infinite skies... He's attempted suicide..." The news was shocking and fearful, the idea of a pony taking his or her own life always disturbed her and she had seen far too much of that during Discord's reign. It was one of the deciding factors that made the Alicorns reveal themselves and stand against the tyrant.

"But he would not die, your majesty." Nightingale said. "I have seen come back to life each and every time, his self-inflicted wounds healing completely, I have never seen anything like it. And his blood..."

Luna looked down as she saw the Vampony's bat-like wings twitch. "What about his blood?"

She shook her head. "It didn't smell like a pony's... Not completely, anyways... There was something else in there... Something completely unrecognizable."

Luna frowned. So he is immortal... and his blood's not completely normal... She looked ahead of her when a question came to mind. "Nightingale? Have you felt anything... odd since coming here? Like a chill or a tingle in your skull?"

Nightingale looked up at her Princess, an eyebrow raised. "No, your majesty, I have not, should I?"

"Perhaps not..." She sighed, all too aware of the chill in her mind. "There are so many questions I have and not enough answers..."

She closed her eyes and her horn glowed as she called forth for the moon to rise just as the sun began dipping past the horizon. Nightingale watched, completely taken by the sight, as the moon rose and the sky slowly transformed, the stars showing themselves, helping the moon illuminate the land in a soft reflection of the sun's light.

"Nightingale..." her voice carried a hint of authority that made her guard immediately stand at attention, awaiting the order. "Head to Canterlot and deliver a message to my sister, tell her... Tell her I'll be staying in Vanhoover for more then just a few days."

Her guard nodded. "Should I tell her why you're staying?"

Luna didn't answer for a moment as she thought if over. On the one hoof, her sister would most likely do everything she could to help in investigating this, but on the other hoof, all she might do is scare away some of the mysteries within this city, such as the creature from the Realm. Despite her calm demeanor and kind personality, her sister could be a bit... blunt when it came to possible threats. She made her decision. "Only if she asks."

Nightingale bowed, flared her wings open, and took off, vanishing into the night sky. The dark Alicorn looked down upon the city once again, seeing still many ponies travelling the streets as if it were day, the sight made her smile, despite the worries plaguing her mind. Then, she flared her wings open, and jumped off of the cloud, gliding along with the wind currents. As she banked along in one direction, she saw the museum shining brightly in the dark. She found herself flying towards the building as she thought over everything she had found. A wandering Realm creature... this strange chill in my mind... A stallion who is immortal... and an ominous message from a ghost... She sighed as she gently lowered her altitude, coming ever closer to the museum. What do they all have to do with each other? Do they? Am I missing something?

Her hooves clopped almost silently on the pavement as she gracefully landed. Folding her wings in, she stared at the entrance of the large building. I never had a chance to really see this place... I need to give my mind rest, Celestia said I would enjoy this place, what did she mean by mysterious artifacts? Luna was always interested in the unknown, usually on the scene after an amazing discovery was made. It was so long ago, when Equestria was very much an unknown place, where there were so many mysteries, and before she tried to...

She pushed the door aside with her magic, and the security guard blinked in surprise at her arrival.

"M-majesty!" He said as he quickly bowed. "What brings you here?"

"There is a lot on my mind," the Night Princess answered, not looking at him as she walked past. "I need to give it time and focus on other, less important things for the time being."

"F-feel free to look around, Princess!" The guard called out to her. "If you need anything let me know!"

The halls were lined with glass cases of many objects, some Luna recognized, but there were a large number of strange objects that she did not know of. And none of them seemed to have any connection to the other. She paused at a glass case that held some sort of white metal tile with three large gold orbs. She puzzled over it before moving to the next case, a case that held a green and silver cylinder, she noticed the green was slowly changing into a purple hue. The Alicorn blinked, her eyes widening slightly in fascination.

"Enjoying the place, Princess?" Magi Straight's voice asked.

Luna turned around to see the curator standing there, bowing respectfully to her.

"Indeed. I apologize for my unannounced visit, Miss Straight."

The Unicorn stood up, a smile on her face. "Please, their's no reason to apologize, your highness. This museum will always be open to you."

Luna nodded graciously, before turning back to the object in the case. Magi walked next to her and watched it closely, seeing the purple change to blue.

"I call it the Changeling Tile," she said. "After those horrible insects that attacked Canterlot last year."

Luna frowned from the memory, the attack taking place when she slept, and her waking up inside one of their cocoons, unable to break free as they rampaged across the city. It was only through luck, in her mind at least, that the Changelings were defeated and expelled from the city, but Luna, enraged by their attack, flew with her entire Night Guard regiment and chased down the scattered Changelings, and striking their camp as they regrouped with their Queen. Luna knew that that simple defeat would not be enough to keep the Queen out of Equestria, so she herself gave Chrysalis a... parting gift, a reminder of what the price of attacking Equestria was and a warning should she ever think to try something so foalish again. With that, she had returned just in time to catch the wedding reception.

She moved down the aisle, away from the changing cylinder, idly looking at each of the cases. Magi Straight followed closely.

"Do we know what these artifacts are?" Luna asked.

"Well, we have numerous theories, and managed to figure out what some of them do. But we have little clue about where they're from or who made them. These artifacts have been found all around the city, some centuries ago, while others have been found more recently. The curious thing is that we keep finding things like them throughout the city and that they seem to be made from numerous civilizations. Still, after the ports failed to draw in enough trade, the museum became the city's primary source of income through the tourists who heard about the many strange and mysterious artifacts found throughout here."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't research done on them? Weren't they confiscated for study?"

Magi Straight nodded. "They were, but scientists couldn't figure them out, and with the city failing, Celestia soon had them returned for them to watched by ponies who gladly paid to see them in the museum. It was thanks to this museum that Vanhoover did so well... I remember coming here constantly when I was younger... It was such a marvellous place." She smiled at the memories, but her smile transformed into a sad look. "...and then the museum burned down."

Luna stopped and looked down at the Unicorn. "What happened?"

"Even to this day, we're not sure what happened. But in the middle of the night, we found the building in flames, nopony was hurt, thank goodness, but nopony knows how it could've happened. Some think that it was no accident, that someone wanted it burned down, but who could want such a thing, I have no idea." She looked down. "So many priceless artifacts were lost, destroyed by the flames. Still, some miraculously survived, despite the fire, which only added to the mystery of them, we quickly had them recovered and stored away safely."

"If the museum was so crucial to the city's income, why was it only rebuilt recently?"

"The city didn't have the funds to rebuild the museum, we would have to rely on a donation from the kingdom, but the museum couldn't have burn down at a worse time. You see, shortly before the museum burned down, the county's economy was declining, going into a recession. For the country to pull through with minimal damage, Celestia had to carefully plan out an economical plan that would pull us out of the recession, but that meant making some sacrifices, she was unable to donate any funds for the museum to be rebuilt.

"The city tried hosting a drive to fund for its rebuilding, but we never could get enough money to succeed." Her face brightened up quickly. "Then, a few years ago, shortly before you returned, a rich Unicorn by the name of Stock Price donated a large sum of his wealth into the project. Then, he sold his stocks of the museum to the city for almost nothing! We had our museum back finally, it took a while to build and arrange for everything, but it was thanks to Stock Price that Vanhoover has its main tourist attraction back."

"What happened to Stock Price?"

The Unicorn looked down again. "It turns out that Stock was a very old pony, he was dying from his old age and he wanted to add something to the world with his vast wealth, do a kind thing before he passed on." She smiled sadly. "He didn't get to live to see this place back in business. He died just last year on Nightmare Night." She looked up as they came to a large room, where a large painting of a dark grey Unicorn with shining blue eyes looked down on them kindly. She pointed up to it.

"We honoured him with this as thanks for his contribution to the city."

Luna looked up at the painting, seeing those eyes on her. She felt like she had met that Unicorn before... Her eyes soon fell on another smaller painting next to giant one. A painting of her. Luna walked up slowly to it, seeing her form swirling in the moon, like she was sleeping. It was comforting to her.

"The Mare in the Moon was an inspiration for many artists." Magi Straight said. "Some ponies believed that the tale was true to some extent, and now that it was proven true with your return, there is some speculation on what it was like, trapped there for a thousand years. Some think that it was like a prison, while others believe it was more... peaceful." She looked away, almost bashfully. "I always thought it was quite beautiful, it a way, and hoped that it was like sleeping.... Was it?"

Luna stared at the painting closely, lost in its image, seeing how each individual brush stroke was carefully implemented. "...I'm not sure..." She answered quietly. "...I honestly can't remember what it was like..."

"Then maybe it was like sleeping... a dreamless sleep." Magi said. "That's not so bad a punishment..."

"I guess not..." It seems more hard on my sister then myself... Were you punishing yourself instead of me, sister? Did you blame yourself for what happened?

They were silent for a moment before Luna turned away from the painting. "So, these artifacts, how were they found?"

"Some were found in archaeological digs, some were said to have fallen from the sky, and some were just found on the ground. It's odd, it's like they're falling from somewhere and this city is where they end up. There are even a few stories of them showing up after some kind of explosion."

Luna nodded. "So even how they arrived is strange..." She blinked when a thought suddenly came. "Wait... Did you say explosion?"

Magi blinked. "Yes, why?"

Luna didn't answer as Harness' words echoed vividly in her mind. "...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..."

"Tell me, when was the last time a pony claimed something like that happened?"

The Unicorn stared at Luna with a confused expression. "Your highness, you don't honestly believe those stories are true? They were just made up by ponies trying to grab as much attention as they could with their discovery."

"Magi Straight, it is imperative you tell us! We must know!" The Alicorn said, using the Royal 'We'.

"Uh... Well the last time I heard that happen was with a small item found by an Earth Pony named Candlelight 2 months ago, but Princess believe me when I say it's all just nonsense, these explosion stories-"

"And when did the first story came?"

"Um, the first document tale of an artifact being found after an explosion was written down roughly 100 years ago."

"Tell me, Magi Straight, why do ponies keep claiming the same event happening again and again?"

The curator stuttered for an answer, but couldn't come out with anything comprehensible, Luna nodded and turned to leave. "Your majesty, why is this so important!?" She called out to her.

"Because," Luna replied as she left. "There is something strange going on in this city, and I intend to find out what it is."

Magi stood in the room, alone and in stunned silence. Her look of shock turned to one of determination, hidden by worry. "Oh, your majesty, if only you could be told... but your delusions will hold you back from understanding." She turned and walked to the painting of the Mare in the Moon, sleeping peacefully. "But soon you will be free... Free at last from the blinding light of the tyrant..."