The Stallion Who Can Never Die

In the dark silence of a circular tunnel, under the surface of the city, Dark Cloud sifted around the rough cobblestone walls, it's form completely invisible in the dark. Not a sound came save for the drip drop of water through leaky pipes. It wasn't that the sewers were devoid of life, it could sense the heat of several rats cowering in their hole just a few metres from Dark Cloud. There were even other creatures similar to the rats, though larger and far more dangerous, but even they cowered and stayed away from the dark creature.

It continued on its way, paying no heed to the heat of the cowering critters. Then, it stopped suddenly when it heard its named called within its mind.

"Dark Cloud... We've just been told of an unexpected happenstance being the Pegasus and her Majesty meeting... We are altering the plan slightly, go out and find the Pegasus. Overpower him and bring him to us. Move quickly, we cannot have her Majesty meeting him again, especially when she is investigating our activities."

Immediately, the shadowy creature merged into the cracks of the walls and ascended up the levels, sniffing the air for the Pegasus' stench.

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Was that really the smartest thing? Harness asked himself as he laid on his hotel bed. He scoffed out loud. Of course it wasn't, you just had a strange mare, whom you've never ever met before, offer to steal something from the police station and all you have is her word on it. You don't know what she's capable of, that cloak she wore covered her most likely attractive flank and her Mark. I don't even know if she's trustworthy, what was I thinking!?

He sighed and turned to his side, staring out through the window showing the sky outside, orange from the light of the setting sun. She is trustworthy... He thought suddenly. I don't know how exactly but... I just know she means to help me... Still, it would be better if I knew what she was planning.

He sighed. ...It would also help if I could sleep!

He stared out the window, watching the first stars appear, his thoughts drifting away from the strange mare Scootaloo, and towards another mare, a dark mare with an almost translucent mane and majestic wings and horn... His eyes slowly drifted shut and his breathing slowed, his mind slowing as he drifted into unconsciousness...

A cold chill suddenly ran up his spine and his eyes popped open. He yelped at the sight of the... thing that stood at the end of his bed. A mass of shadow and dust that swirled around in a miniature hurricane. But it was the pony skull that caused Harness' heart to jump. He leaped out of his bed, his wings extending in a defensive posture as the creature turned to face him.

The silver Pegasus' eyes widened when he saw the rest of the creature, a pony skeleton that sent shivers and made the stallion's heart pound. The creature opened its mouth, no sound came from it, though Harness got the feeling that it was screaming at him. It took a step forward, it's hoof clicking hollowly on the floor. Harness took a step back, his mind spinning on what to do.

There's no way I can fight this thing... He quickly glanced to the open window, only to see it shut and lock. "Buck..."

He took several steps back as the skeletal creature stepped towards him as he contemplated what to do. Deciding it was better to risk dying from smashing through a window then risk dying from the creature, he flared his wings open and prepared and spin and charge through the glass, when he heard a crash from behind the creature and a blinding flash of pure white light. Harness thought he heard a hollow scream as he shielded his eyes with his wing. The light felt cool on his feathers and coat.

"Is thou alright?" A gentle and familiar voice asked.

"What?" He muttered as he slowly lowered his wing and opened his eyes to find the the creature gone, in its place was Princess Luna, her wings flared open as they beat away the remnants of the shadow and dust like an annoying pest, before they gracefully closed. Her horn was also glowing, but its light slowly eased off. She opened her eyes and looked at Harness.

"My apologies," the Alicorn said. "I meant to say are you alright?"

The image of the creature flashed before Harness' eyes and he shuddered. "Yeah, but I think I'll be having nightmares for the next little while."

What an ironic choice of words, brave stallion. Luna thought as she glanced to the Night Guard standing behind her.

"Thank you, Silent Hill, for warning me of Harness' peril, I request you maintain vigil over these premises and warn me of any further threats that may approach us." The Vampony nodded and vanished in the shadows in complete silence.

Her horn glowing, the Princess of the Night gathered the pieces of the door she had smashed through, fused them back together, and placed the door back in its original position, looking better than before Luna smashed it. She turned her attention back to Harness, and her eyes widened slightly as she saw him turn and open the window. She feared that he would leave, but she relaxed when he merely leaned his head out, sighed, then turned to face her.

"What was that thing?" He asked.

Luna took some steps to the middle of the room and sat gracefully down on her haunches. "A nightmare, to put it simply. I had caught sightings of it when I first arrived at this city. I had hoped that it was not hostile, merely lost, clearly I was wrong." She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again as she looked over Harness. "It seems you are not the first strange happening in this city, though they are all linked to you in some way."

The silver Pegasus blinked, his eyes alight with hope, could she have...? "What do you mean?"

"While you are the first living thing to have mysteriously appeared, there are a number of strange objects that have also appeared in similar, unexplainable events, much in how you were reported to have appeared in, Harness."

The stallion's ears folded down and his face lowered in disappointment. "So... nothing about my past?"

Luna felt the same twitch of guilt in her heart as well as an urge to comfort the stallion. "I'm sorry, Harness, I'm doing all I can, but there are so many strange mysteries in this city, and I feel as if I'm blindly wandering about, not really sure where to head to clear away this fog of secrets that seems to be clinging to this city."

Harness sighed, "No, it's fine..." He looked up again. "How am I linked to it all? Why'd this thing come after me? What was it going to do?"

"I am afraid that I have no answer to the first two questions. With the third, I'm not entirely sure, but if it was going to do to you what I think it was going to do..." She trembled briefly, a shudder that Harness saw that the Princess tried, and failed, to keep back. "...Then you don't want to know."

Harness considered pushing the question forward, but decided that if Princess Luna, bearer of the moon and guardian of the night, who so easily destroyed that thing, got such a reaction from just thinking about what it was going to do to him, he was better off not knowing.

"Still," he said, giving a one-sided smile. "No need to worry about it now that it's nothing but vapour."

Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid we may not have seen the last of that creature, Harness."

Way to open your mouth, Harness. A voice in his mind chided. "Why's that?" He asked, his ears folding down and his eyes briefly darting around the room, half-expecting the thing to appear again.

"The creature will require more blasts similar to the one I gave it before it can truly be defeated and banished back to where it belongs."

"Oh great," Harness rolled his eyes. "So that thing's just gonna keep coming after me?"

"If it does, then it is either desperate or foalish, as I will be waiting to stop it."

Harness blinked. "Wait, you're gonna stay here and guard me in case it shows up again?"

"Indeed, Harness, I do not think it is a coincidence that we happen to meet that night at the bar and all of my investigation seems to point to you. Plus, that creature wanted you specifically, when there were plenty of other ponies who are far more helpless than you are, therefore I have little to worry for my subjects and I can keep better focus on your safety."

The silver Pegasus rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Gee, uh, thanks..."

Luna waved her hoof dismissively. "Think nothing of it, Harness."

They were silent for a moment before the stallion cleared his throat. "So, Princess... is it true you are a thousand years old?"

"Not exactly, and if you look at it at a certain angle, you could say I haven't aged a single night throughout my banishment in the moon." The dark Alicorn answered.

Harness blinked. "I'm surprised, I thought the whole 'banished to the moon for a thousand years' would be a touchy subject."

Luna shrugged. "What would be the point in being apprehensive of it? I'm sure it may have been for my sister over the centuries, but it is now in the past, there's no need to focus unnecessarily on it."

The silver Pegasus smiled and nodded in approval. "That's a good way of dealing with things." He chuckled. "I can't believe some ponies still think of you as some kind of monster."

Luna looked down and closed her eyes briefly as the stallion's words echoed through her. Harness, meanwhile, bit back a curse upon seeing the Princess' reaction. Oh well done, Harness, you still ended up hitting a touchy subject.

"Luna, I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"Do not apologize, Harness." She said, regaining her composure. "I am well aware that some ponies still hold grudges for what I attempted to do."

Harness looked around nervously as a question came to mind. "That reminds me... What happened? I mean, I was told the story, but I want to hear it from you."

Luna tilted her head slightly, perplexed by the question, before she shrugged. "I am not sure what I could tell you that you haven't already heard. I was jealous over the fact that mine and my sister's subjects enjoyed my sister's day and shunned my night. That jealousy grew and festered until I was transformed into Nightmare Moon, and attempted to bring about Eternal Night."

"But your sister stopped you." Harness interjected, Luna nodded.

"Yes, she tried to rid the jealousy in my heart by using the Elements of Harmony, but the Elements had to be used by both of us,  so they did not restore me to my benevolent self, merely trapping me in the moon until they could be fully harnessed once more."

"These Elements of Harmony, what are they?"

"The Elements are Equestria's primary and most powerful form of defense against any who seek to harm us, they represent each an element of friendship. Whether they are powered by the magic of friendship or are the magic of friendship incarnate, we do not know, nor are we sure of their origin, my sister and I discovered them during the anarchal reign of Discord when we searched for a way to defeat him and his powers of chaos."

"So, when you found them, they worked for you?" Harness asked.

"They worked for both me and my sister." Luna answered. "There are six Elements of Harmony, and we each had power over three of them. So, when I fell, the Elements weren't supposed to work at all, and yet my sister managed to make them at least partially work, likely through her sheer willpower." The Alicorn shook her head. "I can only imagine how drained she must've been after that night..."

Harness looked up through the window, seeing the blank moon hanging above the night sky, he had seen pictures of the Mare in the Moon and had wondered what it must've been like to be trapped up there. He turned back to face her. "It must've been tough, being trapped up there for so long... and then having to readjust to a potentially hostile society."

"It wasn't all bad," Luna answered with a smile that made Harness' heart jump. "I had help along the way."

Her smiled quickly into a small frown. "I imagine it is worse having no memory of who you are or what your life was."

The silver Pegasus' head tilted in reply. "What makes you think that?"

"No idea who you are, and with nopony who knows you to help you, in a place you have no memories of... I just imagine myself in that position and I feel so... so powerless, vulnerable. Our memories are key in making us who we are, to lose them is worse then losing one's shelter and possessions."

Harness thought it over, and how he felt all the back to when he first woke up in the hospital. "I only felt like when I discovered my immortality, it was then that I wanted to know who I was, I wanted so badly to regain my memories, especially because dying felt... familiar. But no memories came back, and it was... scary." He frowned as the memory of him wounding and killing himself again and again and his fear of his immortality passed by, before shaking his head.

"Still, I have made a few other discoveries about myself that aren't too bad."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "And what are they?"

"Well, for one thing, I know how to fight, I did pretty well for a bit during that bar fight." He raised his fore hooves in the air and pounded them a few times, punching the air.

Luna shook her head, wondering if she should chastise him for his role in that but decided it was not worth it.

"For another," he moved his left hoof over his mane and stood in a dramatic pose, wings slightly spread out. "I am absolutely gorgeous!"

Luna shook her head in amusement, before looking over the stallion. Her smile dropped slightly and her eyes widened a little. He really was good looking, and that was putting it mildly.

"I also seem to be attracted to... Well, everything. Not just mares and stallions, but other species. I saw some pictures of Gryphons and a very sexy looking minotaur and... Uh, yeah you get the idea." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

Luna chuckled as well and nodded in approval. "You're not ashamed of that, are you?"

"Well, no-"

"Good, before I was banished, Equestria was quite... hostile to those attracted to the same sex and other species, my sister and I tried to change our subjects attitude on the matter, as we both had attractions to mares as well as stallions and there really wasn't anything wrong with it. Of course, something like that was difficult to handle, so the process was slow, but I'm glad to see that my sister's efforts are finally showing and ponies with different sexual orientations are allowed to show themselves freely."

"You and Princess Celestia are attracted to both sexes?"

"Indeed, we were initially confused by this, but we both embraced it, despite what the general societal feeling was back then."

"How old were you both when you found out?"

Luna put a hoof on her chin as she looked far back to her early life. "My sister was 15 when she discovered it, I believe, and I was 9 or 10 at the time. I learned about it when I met two mares who were twins at 16."

Harness nodded slowly before a thought came to him, and he grinned mischievously. "Have you ever..." He clopped his hooves together. "...with a mare?"

Luna's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly, feeling the blush on her face and thankful that it would be hidden under her dark blue fur... she hoped. "Good gracious, no! We have considered it yes, and let our minds wander but-"

"Woah woah woah, 'we'? 'Our'?" His grin grew. "So there was somepony else, though, huh?"

Luna shook her head more fervently in denial. "No no no! There wasn't! Why would thou-" She stopped when she realized it. "Curse it all! We-I - didn't mean 'we' as in 'we', I meant 'we' as in myself!"

Harness extended his wings defensively. "Relax, Luna, okay, you haven't done it with a mare, the times were different, makes sense. But what about a stallion?"

"Of course not! I haven't been intimate with anypony!"

Harness laughed, half in amazement, half in disbelief. "Wait, hang on. Are you telling me that you, the co-ruler of Equestria, who is over a thousand years old, are a virgin?"

His evil grin grew even more when he saw the faint red tint on her cheeks. The Alicorn looked left and right, trying to find an avenue of escape. "Y-yes..." She tried glaring back at Harness. "So what if I am? Is it something I should be ashamed of?"

"Well, no, I'm just amazed a mare of such perfect grace and exquisite beauty hasn't taken a stallion or mare for herself."

The unexpected compliment threw Luna for a loop, her heart fluttered and her mind had no idea what to focus on; the fact that she was complemented about her looks by a handsome stallion or the fact that the handsome stallion was asking about her sex life! Not to mention the fact that this stallion had managed to completely bypass her ability to compose herself and maintain a neutral posture (then again, she was never as good at it as her sister).

"H-harness, have you forgotten who you are in the presence of!?" She managed to say.

"Most certainly not, your beautifulness," Harness answered with an overly dramatic bow.

Gah! How is this stallion flustering me like this!?

Seeing the look on her face, Harness bursted out laughing.

"I'm sorry, Luna." He said after a moment. "I'll leave the topic alone now."

Luna breathed a mental sigh of relief, thankful that she now could regain her composure and-

"Surely your sister's taken somepony in bed though, right?"

So much for that. Yet despite that, she couldn't help but chuckle at the stallion's boldness.

"I can't say I've met a stallion like you before, Harness. You're really something."

Harness smiled. "I guess I'm a one of a kind. So, why not answer the question?"

Luna sighed. "Yes, she has, both stallions and mares over the last millenium."

Harness grinned. "Heh, how many?"

Luna blinked. "How many what?"

"How many times has she done it over the last thousand years?"

"Why are you so curious?"

"I'm not, your reactions are making it priceless, though." He smiled widely as Luna stared at him for a moment in shock, before glaring.

"We are not amused..." Much to her annoyment, however, she was.

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Silent Hill stood on the roof of the hotel building, his eyes peering all around him, though he had been standing out for hours, his vigil had not wavered even slightly. If that creature was foalish enough to try and return, he would be able to see it coming, and warn his Princess well before the monster even entered the building.

Across the street, Dark Cloud shifted uneasily, trying to figure out a way to sneak past the guard posted on the rooftop of the building, but the memory of the searing pain it had sustained from Luna's magical blast echoed within its hollow mind. Meanwhile, it head the voice speak, but not to it, to another being that it could not hear.

"There was nothing that could be done, now Luna is fully aware of the stallion's importance and will be keeping a close eye on him."

There was silence for a moment as the unheard voice was no doubt making its reply, soon the voice spoke again in answer.

"We can't, that's the point. Our only option is to put a pause on our operation and hope that something will pull Luna away."

For a brief moment, Dark Cloud thought it could hear the silent voice scream in anger.

"I know it's not the best option." The voice replied sternly. "But it's our only option, maybe we can come up with something to distract the Princess, but in the meantime, we must keep silent and hope they find nothing else. Dark Cloud."

The creature perked its head up in response. "Return to HQ, we're going to have to-" The voice was silent as another silent voice joined in, a moment later it spoke again. "Ah, Shade, good to hear from yo-WHAT!? What do you mean the clothes were stolen!?

If Dark Cloud could speak, it would curse, the last thing they all needed was for something else to go wrong.

"Luna curse it all, by who!?" Silence as the unheard voice Shade answered. The voice growled in anger. "When in Tartarus did she return!? I want that broken Pegasus captured immediately! Scootaloo must be apprehended!!!"

Dark Cloud immediately turned to begin tracking down the broken Pegasus, but the strained voice spoke again. "Dark Cloud, continue on to the HQ, I fear you've drawn enough attention as it is." The creature wanted to protest, it was weakened from the Princess' magical blast and needed nourishment, but it knew the price of disobeying the voice. Reluctantly, it merged into the shadows and left.

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Luna and Harness sat next to each other as the Princess recounted what her sister had told her. "...and then there was Vanilla Frosting. She was a Pegasus mare from Manehatten who was quite infamous, most known for her skills at thievery, she was known as 'The Great Cake Thief'."

"She stole cakes?" Harness asked, Luna nodded.

"She was quite good at it too, always leaving her signature mark at the scene of the crime, she travelled across all of Equestria, stealing only the best cakes from the best bakers of whatever town or city she was in. Then, somehow, she found out about a special cake being made at my sister's request in Canterlot, a city she had yet to leave her mark on."

"Was it a trap?"

The dark Alicorn shook her head. "No, but my sister has always been passionate about cake, her all time favourite food, in fact. And she had heard the stories of Vanilla's heists, so she had decided to protect her specially ordered cake... personally."

Harness leaned forward, riveted in the story. "What happened?"

"Well, after a quick struggle, Vanilla was captured and brought into prison to face justice for her crimes. That night, my sister paid Vanilla a visit in her cell." At this, Luna smiled. "I'm not sure what had happened, but Vanilla was merely given the task of aiding all the bakers she stole from in making new cakes as punishment... Then she and my sister got married two weeks later."

Harness blinked. "Woah, what!? That soon?"

Luna nodded in amusement. "Indeed, I have wondered what could've happened in that cell that night, but my sister was unwilling to give any details. I imagine things must've gotten quite... intimate there."

Harness shook his head in amazement. "That Vanilla Frosting must've been some mare to have managed to bed Celestia after she tried to steal her prized cake. How long ago was that?"

"It was roughly 150 years ago, I believe."

Again, the silver Pegasus shook his head in amusment, when a thought crossed his mind. He frowned. "It must be tough."

"Hmm?"

"When they pass on. Your sister's married quite a few ponies over the centuries, had many children, and she watched them all grow old and pass on. You've probably gone through seeing ponies you loved pass away while you stayed young, right?"

He looked at her and Luna frowned and nodded. "It is... difficult, sometimes, but there was something our mother told us the day she died. 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.' My sister held to this mentality over the many centuries but..." She sighed. "She has confessed to me that sometimes it gets to her, sometimes she only remembers the deaths, and her powerlessness to stop their deaths, and it breaks her for a time. My banishment most likely made her feel even more alone."

She looked down. "Had I been with her all those times, I could've probably helped her through her times of weakness." She sighed again, looking downcast. Harness felt the urge to place his hoof around the Alicorn and comfort her, he was considering doing that when Luna took a breath and smiled at him. Giving Harness a chance to look into her eyes, those deep blue, and very old eyes...

"In the end, however." She said. "We think about all the good times and realize it is more than worth it."

Harness returned the smile. "I guess it is."

Luna looked past the stallion and saw the edge of sunlight through the window in the horizon, she blinked in surprise. "Oh my, dawn is already approaching."

The Alicorn stood up and stretched her legs and wings, while Harness was completely taken in by her form. "You're leaving?"

"I'm afraid so, Harness. The day is my sister's domain and I must rest. But do not fear, my Night Guard shall keep watch over you in case the creature should attempt anything in the day."

Luna made her way over to the door and opened it with her magic. "Farewell for now Harness."

With that, the Princess of the Night left the hotel room, leaving the silver Pegasus alone. "Wow..."

As Luna walked down the lobby, she thought the night over and the things she had told him. She realized that she had told the stallion some very private and personal things, she had never mentioned her mother since her death so long ago, not even to Celestia, the memory was just too painful despite her mother's advice. And the fact that Harness so easily reduced her composure so quickly. The stallion certainly had a way with words but his compliments caused not just her mind to react, but her heart as well, could she have...? She shook her head as she came down the steps, moving around a cloaked pony carrying something on her back.

"I can't have..." The Princess muttered. She couldn't have feelings for the stallion, could she? But why not? He was very handsome, and intelligent, but she hardly knew him. By Equestria, he hardly knew himself! It didn't make sense... Then again, the whims of the heart rarely did, at least for her. She always found her attractions changing constantly, never staying with the same pony for long, and rarely one at a time. However, ever since she had returned, she had not found any attraction to anypony, why now? Why with that stallion? As she stepped outside, she felt a cold breeze blow around her, she looked up to see her sister's sun rise gloriously, the sight caused her to yawn, she needed to sleep. And she needed to focus on more important matters, such as the puzzling mysteries of this city.

Harness found himself lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and mulling over his night with the Princess. She truly was an amazing mare, a mare who had experienced a lot of pain from her long life. It made the Pegasus wonder how long he had his immortality? Did it prevent him from aging? If so, had he been around for a long time as well? Had he met anyone, seen them grow old and die while he stayed the same and alive? It seems all I'm getting is more questions and no answers...

And what about his feelings for Luna? Were they genuine? Or was it just her looks that drew him to her? A quick knock on his door abruptly stopped his thoughts. He stood up and quickly made for the door, opening to come face to face with... Nothing.

No pony stood in front of him. He looked around the lobby and saw it completely empty. Then his eyes were drawn to the floor in front of him. Lying there was a long white box and a single orange feather on top of it.