The Stallion Who Can Never Die

Harness wasn't able to sleep all night. He grumbled as he sipped the large cup of coffee that White Stripe so graciously bought for him as they walked down the busy street. Despite his exhaustion, all night he found himself twisting and turning, unable to sleep through all the thoughts that rushed through his head. All around him, ponies were talking fearfully of the news. Murder in the city, the story had spread like wildfire and Harness saw the worried looks in many of their eyes.

The pair stopped at a salad bar where two mares were reading through the newspaper together, as they stood in line waiting to order their breakfast, Harness couldn't help but overhear the mares conversation.

"...Absolutely dreadful that something like this could happen!" The Unicorn, a cream coloured mare with a long, smoothly burshed dark blue mane, said. Her friend, a Pegasus with a short, roughly cut light green mane with the same cream coat, nodded.

"I know! Half of the city's in a panic by now, I bet."

"Indeed, at least the police are looking into it, hopefully they'll find the murderer."

"It's not just the police, look..." The Pegasus pointed to a small paragraph, where Harness could pick out Luna's name in it. "Princess Luna gave a statement saying she's personally investigating this. That murderer is as good as caught!"

She smiled triumphantly but the Unicorn merely scoffed. "That's hardly a comforting thought, Current, if anything that's worrying. This... thing who dares call herself a Princess can't be trusted, after all, she tried to bring about Eternal Night!"

"Well, yeah, but that was years ago, look how she is now-"

"She's only biding her time Current, if a thousand years being trapped in the moon didn't turn her, how come six mere ponies did? Once a monster, always a monster, and Nightmare Moon is the worst of them."

Harness cleared his throat and tapped on the Unicorn's shoulder, who turned to see the silver stallion glaring behind the smile he put up. "Sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing and I have to ask, have you ever even met the Princess?"

The Unicorn shook her head quickly. "Oh good Celestia, no of course not! I don't want that monster anywhere near me! She's vile, frightening, and has no place here. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that she caused this!"

Harness' eyes widened. "Excuse me!?"

He felt a hoof placed on his side and saw White Stripe shaking his head. "Harness, let's not cause trouble, we'll just get our salads and then continue onto the station, it serves no purpose to have an argument here."

The stallion looked back and glared at the Unicorn, who returned it with one of her own.

"Think about it," She said. "She shows up to this city, after so long being quiet in Canterlot, and she stays even after the opening ceremony in the museum is done, and all of the sudden there's a murdered pony found in an alleyway, in the middle of the night." She drew her last words out to set her point. "Mark my words, she will try again, and she will keep trying as long as she's free, Celestia should've kept her on the moon, where she belonged!"

Harness growled and opened his mouth to shout, but he felt a strong prod on his side, he turned to see White Stripe glaring him a warning. Without another word, Harness stormed off down the street. White sighed, hoping that there would be another chance to get a breakfast soon, and galloped to catch up to the Pegasus, nearly running into a pony wearing a brown cloak and hood.

Harness fumed as his temper reached its bursting point. The harsh words from that Unicorn about Luna echoed in his mind. The idea that someone with such beauty, with such a caring voice, and the kindness in her eyes... He shook his head, there was no way was like that... but what did he know?

"What was that all about Harness?" White asked him as he stopped next to him.

"White, how much do you know about the story of Nightmare Moon and Luna? You gave me a brief rundown before but I want details now..."

White stared perplexed at the Pegasus. "Well... A thousand years ago, the two princesses ruled Equestria together, until Luna renamed herself Nightmare Moon and attempted to keep the night lasting forever. She was defeated by the Elements of Harmony and banished to the Moon."

"But why did she do that? What happened?"

White shrugged. "The story claims that Luna was jealous that Celestia's day was more enjoyed then her Night, she did put a lot of work into it as you can clearly see when the sun sets. That jealousy grew and festered until it transformed her into the Mare of Darkness. When she returned a few years ago, she still made the attempt, but was defeated by the Elements and cured of the jealousy in her heart."

"'The story claims'" Harness repeated. "You don't believe in it?"

"Until Luna's return, almost all of us believed the story was just an old ponies tale, a made up fantasy to tell to little foals. and it has been a thousand years... with Celestia in control. I can't think about that without the famous saying coming to mind..." He looked straight into Harness' eyes. "...'History is written by the victors'."

Harness raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying there's more then what is being told?"

White shook his head suddenly and walked on. "I'm not implying anything, I wasn't there so I can't say, just keeping my mind open to the possibilities, that's all."

Harness followed, watching the old Unicorn with an odd expression. They turned a bend down the street, and Harness saw a large silver and gold badge hung up over the entrance of a large building, several ponies in dark blue uniforms and caps stood by casually conversing as Harness and White walked up the steps and through the glass doors. Inside the Police station, multiple ponies sat at their desks writing and reading through numerous papers. At the front desk, a Unicorn mare looked up at the two guests.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

White smiled kindly. "Yes, hello, my name is White Stripe, I'm with Equestrian Internal Affairs and this is Harness, there are apparently some clothing and items of his here and he's eager to collect them."

The mare nodded and looked through some papers attached to a clipboard. She frowned when she came to slip of blue paper. "Hmm... one moment please."

She stood up and walked to the back of the room, where a door stood. Harness saw the mare open the door, lean her head in for a few seconds, before nodding and coming back out. Following her was a tired looking Earth Pony stallion with a white bushy mustache. Harness could tell the stallion was exhausted.

"Good morning," the stallion said as he approached. "I'm Chief, head of the Vanhoover police department." His eyes widened in recognition on Harness' face. "Ah, I remember you from the bar on the night the museum reopened."

"Bar?" White Stripe asked, looking between Harness and Chief. "I thought you went to the ceremony?"

Harness shrugged. "I wasn't interested, the bar seemed more lively and interesting."

White nodded slowly, but Harness saw the look of disapproval in the Unicorn's eyes. Chief meanwhile looked at him warily. "How are you doing, by the way? I still can't figure out how you survived that night."

"'Survived'?" White asked, his eyes widening slightly. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"There was rather bad bar fight that night," Chief answered. "We found him unconscious and tangled in some wires, we thought he had died."

From the look on his face, Harness wondered if the blood had drained from the old Unicorn's face. "You alright, White?"

"Oh, yes, just fine..." He stuttered, and turned to the silver Pegasus, "and so are you, obviously."

Harness looked away. "It wasn't that simple..." He muttered under his breath.

"We were so sure he was dead," Chief continued. "Our Unicorns looked him over and found no sign of life in him."

White wiped his forehead, removing the sweat that was building on it, doing his best to maintain his composure. "Well, odd for them to make a mistake like that."

"Indeed," Chief answered. "Even the Princess looked him over and-"

"THE PRINCESS WAS THERE!?"

Harness flinched and several ponies looked from their desk at the sound of the elder Pony's outburst. Chief nodded as he looked over the Unicorn, noting his wide eyes and seeing the panic in them. "Yes, she was, she helped us break up the fighting and then escorted this stallion home."

White looked at Harness, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to recover his vocabulary. "Y-y-you... Met her...?"

Harness nodded.

"I see..." White Stripe stared at Harness with his wide eyes, before he hastily shook it in an attempt to recover his composure. He was somewhat successful. "Forgive me, I'm just surprised to hear this news, that's all."

That wasn't surprise, Harness thought. That was worry and fear... He was on the verge of panicking. Why?

The Pegasus cleared his throat. "Anyways, we're here about the clothes I was first found with."

Chief nodded, but frowned. "Yes, odd looking things mind you, not designed for a pony... Unfortunately they haven't been sterilized yet, and we've been sent a telegram from the government just last night that an expert is on his way to take care of it and we are to not release to anypony under no circumstances."

Immediately, White blinked and tilted his head, his face showing confusion and looking like he had not shouting a moment before. "Really?" He said in a well mannered voice. "Just last night?"

Chief nodded and Harness groaned. "Argh, are you kidding me? Please, those clothes may be able to get my memories back, surely you can at least let me look at them?"

The stallion shook his head and Harness felt his hopes crumbling. Damn it! He looked desperately to White Stripe. "White, can't you do something."

But the elderly pony closed his eyes and sighed, perfectly and calmly. "I'm sorry, Harness, this is outside my jurisdiction, there's nothing we can do until they've been sterilized."

The Pegasus looked back at the police pony. "How long will it take?"

Chief didn't look hopeful. "If Canterlot's sending an expert, then it must be serious. If it's bad enough, they may just take the clothing back to the capital and sterilize it there, and they are very thorough with their work, the process could take days."

Harness sighed. Damn it! Someone was murdered and I have something to do with it, I can't wait days for this!

"Look Harness, we'll just have to wait this out." White Stripe said in his perfectly calm voice. "Come on, I'm starving."

Bit quick to get out, don't you think? Harness wanted to say as he nodded his goodbye to Chief and slowly followed White out the door. In fact, you were a bit quick to become worried and fearful, to calm and collected. It was almost like you were expecting me to unable to get the clothes back, almost like your reactions were... rehearsed. His eyes widened at the realization. Could White Stripe... be sabotaging my attempts to get my memories back? Why?

He pushed the door open and glided down the stairs, with White Stripe following him.

"I'm gonna fly around for a bit, I need to work off some stress." He lied.

White nodded. "Next time, let me know when you've met with royalty."

Harness didn't smile when he took off and ascended above the police building. He flew over the roof and saw a large glass window on it, giving him a perfect view. He wondered if perhaps it was possible to get in the building through there. If White Stripe has something to do with this... I don't think I'll get those clothes back at all... I'll have to take matters into my own hooves.

He flew around the building several times before landing across the street from the front entrance. After rubbing his sore hooves from his hard landing (he still needed to work on them), he casually looked at the building, noting a few places of entry and thinking about what time to break in.

"You won't succeed." A slightly rough feminine voice spoke. Harness spun around and saw a pony in a brown cloak, her head covered with its hood, covering most of her face, but he could see the smug smile underneath. He stared at her suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

The strange mare turned and face the building. "Do you even know where to look for whatever you are looking for in there?"

Harness glared at the pony. "I asked you a question."

"And I dodged it." She countered. "I'm thinking you'll get five minutes before you are spotted and arrested. Breaking in a police station requires a lot of planning and skill at this sort of thing."

Harness scoffed. "Oh, and I suppose you're an expert?"

He could imagine the mare smiling as she answered. "Somewhat, yeah."

He sighed. "Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

"I'm here to make you a deal..." She turned and pulled back the hood, revealing her orange coat and rough, unkempt purple mane and eyes, she grinned again. "I'll go in and steal whatever it is you want me to from that place, and you can repay me later..."

Harness couldn't help but chuckle, he liked her rough look and her confidence, but... "How do I know I can trust you? Word's going around there's a murderer in the city."

"Pfft, there's a lot of murders going on in this place, that was just one that went public. This city has one hay of a dark side. Plus, I'm not afraid of death, he can't catch me."

"You're one cocky mare, aren't you?" Harness chuckled, even though he had no idea who she was, he liked her. "Why are you helping me?

The orange mare shrugged nonchalantly. "Cause you're interesting, I've been paying attention to what's been going in this city. I've heard the stories of mysterious objects appearing in explosions, but never a pony who magically rebuilt himself from his own ashes." She smiled. "Something tells me you don't have to fear death either, hotwings. Do we have a deal?" She held out her hoof.

Harness sighed, and extended his hoof, tapping it against the mare's. "There's some clothes of mine in there, they may have something to do with my life and can help get my memories back."

She nodded. "Alright, I've stolen from that place before, I know where to go. You sit tight in your little Lucky Day hotel room until I come around. I'll have your clothes before the next morning."

She pulled her hood up and walked down the street.

"Hey wait!" Harness said. "You never told me-"

"It's Scootaloo." She answered, not slowing down her step. "Don't go shouting it out, okay hotwings?"

Harness stood where he was as he watched the mare walk down the street and turn around a corner, disappearing from view. He blinked. "Damn, this all just gets weirder and weirder..." He turned around and walked up the street, but stopped after a few steps. Wait... How does she know where I'm staying!?