Chapters The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Wind Heart yawned as she pushed the cloud away lightly with her hooves. Hopefully the cloud would stay where it belonged. The light brown pegasus glared at the large numbers of dark clouds hovering over the city, all of them in the wrong area. It wasn't the weather team's fault. But the coastal winds conflicted with the winds from the mainland, thus making it very difficult to keep the clouds where they were over Vanhoover. Still, she was getting paid for overtime, and that money would be needed to help get her idiot brothers out of the debts they got themselves into. She wondered if perhaps she should dawdle and extend her work time so she could get more money, nopony else was around and her boss already felt guilty for sending her out. She checked her mental clock, 1:03 AM. Then again, maybe not, it was ridiculously late and she had been sleeping very poorly the last week.
She yawned again as the thought came that she may pass out, so she flexed her wings and got back to work, deciding it would be best if she tried to get it done as fast as she could. A loud rumble was heard that echoed all around her. Oh no she groaned inwardly. Did a thundercloud get drawn off course? Upon trying to find the source, she grew confused. Pegasi had the ability to sense the vibrations of thunderclouds and other weather phenomena that would go completely unnoticed to the other ponies, and they could tell when a thundercloud had activated long after it had happened. But when Wind Heart tried to sense the thunderhead's activation, she found nothing. In fact, her sense told her they were normal clouds with a small of rain collecting in them.
She scratched her head, maybe she was imagining things? That was when a bright flash of silver light blinded her. She gasped and closed her eyes, rubbing them intensely and a loud boom exploded around her. But she also heard something else in the boom, it almost sound like... someone screaming. She gasped and opened her eyes, frantically looking around, did somepony get hurt!?
Seeing nothing but the clouds in the sky, she looked down and saw something on the street that wasn't there before. Diving down at full speed, her heart pounding in her chest. She slowed and landed, her hooves clopping hard on the cement. That was when a horrible burning smell hit her nostrils. She shuddered, the smell giving her a bad feeling. She looked to where it was coming from, and saw a pile of clothes and- Wind gasped, ash.
"Oh sweet Celestia!" She cried out, the scream she heard before now echoing loudly in her mind, she felt she was going to be sick. Her knees shook and her legs felt weak. She knelt down and stared intently at ground, taking deep, heaving breaths. After a while, she looked up and her eyes widened. The ash was gone and the clothes were no longer laying flat on the ground as she saw a skeleton underneath. A pony skeleton, the skull facing ahead, the eye sockets vacant.
But then, she saw something forming in them, eyes began to appear in them. She screamed and shook her head, this was a nightmare, she had passed out and was having a horrible nightmare. She clutched her head and rocked herself.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" She said repeatedly. But she was still on the road, next to a body that was rebuilding itself. She opened her eyes and the skeleton no longer in sight, covered in skin and a quickly growing silver coat of fur. A dark gray mane growing on his head. Wind Heart watched in horror and shock as the body lay still on the ground, and she screamed and jumped into the air when the stallion's eyes opened up and he gasped for air, coughing. He clutched his chest with his right forehoof, groaning and coughing. Wind Heart stared, petrified as he looked ahead and began crawling, abandoning the clothes that seemed far too big for him, towards a black object on the ground not too far from him. Wind Heart had never seen anything like that before, it had a handle and a trigger. The Stallion, whom Wind could see was a pegasus, his splayed out uselessly on his sides, crawled to it like his life depended on it, he groaned and reached his hoof out to it, before collapsing, his head falling on the ground, his eyes closed as he fell unconscious.
Wind Heart stared in confusion and fear at the stallion that seemed to have rebuilt himself from his ashes, and the rumbles from before came again, echoing ominously all around her...
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Princess Luna stared out into the waving green hills and farmland as the train passed by them. She turned her head back to the inside of her spacious compartment and a small smile formed. She realized she quite liked trains, her sister had made them out to be nasty, uncomfortable things that sometimes were slower then just flying. I wonder what may have happened that caused my sister to dislike these contraptions so... The only downside she could think of was that they were too noisy for her to sleep and, considering it was high noon, she was exhausted.
The Princess of the Night sighed quietly. Why couldn't this have waited till sunset? She thought as her mind drifted back.
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She sat on the porch of the highest tower in the palace, gazing out into the fields and forests that stretched around them for miles and miles. Her dark blue, starry mane blew in the ethereal wind, never stopping, never slowing its pace. Her ears flicked to the back of her head upon hearing the sound of approaching hoofsteps. In her golden regalia, her snow white form towering over Luna even if she stood up, Celestia smiled as stepped out onto the balcony. Luna turned her head and smiled at her elder sister.
"Sister," she greeted. "You're up early. I thought it was next to impossible for you to do that."
"I allowed myself to sleep in this morning so I could spend some time with you and your night." The Sun Bearer replied.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "But what about your royal duties? You couldn't do them all, unless you gave some of them to..." Her eyes widened at the realization and her smile turned into a smirk. "Oh, you're evil."
"Now now, Luna..." Celestia said in a chided tone that gave a hint of mocking, sitting down next to her sister. "I didn't do it for some practical joke, I just know it does the nobility some good to get some outside time."
Luna gave Celestia a knowing look, the elder sister keeping a straight face. For a moment, before she broke down under her sister's gaze enough to let out a small chuckle. "I will admit, though, it was fun to hear them whine- I mean- 'respectfully announce their displeasure'."
Luna chuckled, and looked up at the numerous stars that lighted the night sky, the moon being the center piece. Celestia looked up and smiled when she saw a shooting star zoom by. "I'm glad that you were able to adjust quickly after you came back, you were always better at making the night beautiful then I could."
"What can I say?" Luna said, her voice brimming with pride. "I'm gifted like that."
The two royal alicorns were silent for a moment, with Luna looking up and thinking about what new improvement she could make to the sky. Celestia glanced to her and saw the look in her sister's eyes. It was a look she saw many times before, a look she had dearly missed for 1000 years, but it caused her worry. She saw how her sister became absorbed in making the night sky beautiful and friendly and inspiring, it was exactly the same way all those centuries ago. She became so focused in her night that it would be all she would work on, closing herself off from many of her subjects, save for a small number of ponies who would be fanatically loyal to her. But too many ponies would sleep through the night, and it would frustrate her, that frustration would turn into anger, and that anger would turn into jealously, and that jealousy would- Celestia shook off the thoughts, not daring to imagine what could happen.
She looked at Luna, who remained fixated at the sky. Times had changed, many more of her subjects had come to enjoy and celebrate the night as many celebrated the day. That was proven when many ponies volunteered to serve and protect Luna shortly after she was reinstated into the throne, her Night Guard was now almost as big as Celestia's own Royal Guard, a vast improvement from 1000 years ago. And then there was the ecstatic night life in many of Equestria's major cities, where before Luna's name was silently celebrated, and now openly spoken since she had returned and taken her place. But was it all enough? Despite all that, despite Celestia's subtle encouragements, which had varying results, a majority of her subjects slept through and feared the night, and the thought that history could repeat itself troubled the Princess greatly. And it was all because Luna kept mostly to herself, not going to any of the festivities save for Nightmare Night, which would have been a disaster had her Faithful Student not been there to put things right. She never mingled with any of her subjects, even the ones who were more loyal to her then Celestia herself. She had a feeling that was where things began to go wrong, perhaps...
She cleared her throat. "Luna..."
The dark alicorn blinked and looked at Celestia. "Yes, sister? What is it?"
"You know how I mentioned that outside time was good for the nobility?"
The smirk returned. "Yes, and the thought of the nobility running around outside doing your chores entertains me greatly. After all these years, they still seem to have their noses high in their air, believing themselves to be above everypony else." She chuckled and shook her head slowly. "I guess some things never change..."
Some things don't, my little sister, let us hope that your good heart remains one of those things. "Yes, well, have you been active yourself? Have you attended to any royal duties or events?"
Luna looked at her with a puzzled look. "Sister, you know not many things happen in the night. Besides, those..." She paused, thinking of a polite word so as to not insult her sister. "...'formalities' never interested me."
"Well, you don't have to spend your time here in the palace, there are plenty of exciting places that simply are amazing during the night."
Luna scoffed. "Sister, Canterlot has absolutely nothing going on during the night, save for a few... legally questionable shops that seem to move around each night."
Celestia frowned at that, remembering that the Canterlot Black Market was still active despite her attempts to shut them down. She mentally shook her head to keep herself on the subject at hoof. "But what about other cities, such as Manehatten or Las Pegasus?"
"I imagine they would be the same as Canterlot, sister, even though I've never gone to them."
Celestia's mouth opened up a little in shock. I had to have misheard that . "Luna, are you telling me you haven't gone to any of the major cities of Equestria since you returned?"
Luna shook her head. "I have not, why bother? I'm sure they're lovely when the sun is high up in the sky, but I'm also sure they're no different then Canterlot is when the night comes."
Celestia maintained a completely straight face, staring at her sister for several moments. Luna titled her head to the side. "Uh... Sister? Is something wrong?"
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Luna sighed. The next night she was told about a museum being reopened in Vanhoover and that Celestia thought it would be a lovely idea for Luna to go and commemorate the reopening ceremony, which was taking place at night. Her sister's words echoed in her mind.
"The first Vanhoover Museum had many lovely and mysterious artifacts before it burned down, I'm sure you will enjoy this new museum greatly. So go there and celebrate with your subjects on this occasion, and spend a few days in the city, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. Please? For me, sister? "
For you, my sister , she said silently, seeing the approaching buildings of Vanhoover, it wouldn't be long now.
It was only when the train made a complete stop in the Vanhoover Station that Luna got up from her seat and made her way from her compartment to the exit of the train. The moment she stepped out, a chill ran all across her and she shivered, the dark feathers on her wings bristling from the chill. As suddenly as it appeared, it was gone, well mostly... the chill remained in her head, stubbornly clinging to her mind. She rubbed the side of her head, what was that? The gasps and shocked stares from many of the ponies nearby brought her back to focus. Luna paid them no heed as she walked on, eager to get out of the station to avoid the stares. In her tired state, they made her uncomfortable. At the corner of her eye, she saw something move, like a shadow. She turned her head, but found only a shadowed corner. My mind is playing tricks on me now in protest for the lack of sleep , she realized, and continued on. Perhaps that's what the chill was, as well...
At the station's entrance, a gray coated Unicorn in a gray suit with a smooth yellow mane sat at the bottom step of the flight of stairs. She perked up at seeing Luna exit the station and approached her cautiously.
"Princess Luna?"
Luna stopped halfway down the stairs and looked at her with a curious face. "Yes?"
The mare bowed. "My name is Magi Straight, I'm the curator of the Vanhoover Museum, I was given a telegram earlier telling me you were coming for the reopening ceremony tonight."
Luna nodded slowly. "Ah yes, a pleasure to meet you Magi."
Magi Straight's face brightened and she bowed in respect. "I must say, your highness, it is a true honour to meet you, and it is an even bigger honour that you wish to commemorate the museum's reopening, or 'rebirth' as some of the employees are calling it." She sighed. "I remember going to that place when I was very little before it burned down; it will be so nice to have it back in business after all these years."
Luna nodded politely as Magi followed her down the stairs.
"Uh, your highness, may I ask something of you?"
Luna looked down at the Unicorn and gestured with her hoof, giving her permission to ask. Magi rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"Well, I'm wondering if perhaps you would be willing to give a speech during the ceremony, I'm sure that will help with the museum's publicity greatly."
The Princess put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Perhaps, but I'm not sure what I would say, as I don't know much about this place and the museum's history."
Magi quickly shook her head. "Oh, that's okay, your majesty, I have a ring of writers who I'm sure would be more then willing to write your speech down for you. We can have it ready for you hours before the ceremony."
"Is that so?" Luna raised an eyebrow, that seemed difficult on such short notice. "I don't want to be adding to any stress for your writers, Miss Straight."
"Oh, I assure you, Princess, it will be no trouble at all. In fact, they're quite excited of the possibility."
Luna opened her mouth to speak when she caught another moving shadow at the corner of her eye, quickly turning her head, all she saw was a dark and deserted alleyway. Supposedly deserted Luna told herself before she mentally sighed. Great, now I'm becoming paranoid .
"Your highness?" Magi looked up at her with confusion and some concern. The alicorn brought out a small smile and looked at her, hoping to put her fears to rest. It seemed to work as she saw the worry leave the mare's eyes.
"Very well, then, Miss Straight, you may have the speech prepared for me."
A wide smile came on Magi's face. "Oh, excellent! This is wonderful news! I will have that speech ready for you well before the ceremony begins!"
"We'll see it soon, then." Luna replied, before realizing she had spoken with the old Royal Canterlot 'we'. Old habits die hard ... "The hotel I am staying at is the Golden Wing Hotel, you can deliver it there."
Magi Straight nodded enthusiastically, turning around. "I will go tell them at once, thank you, your highness!"
With that, the curator turned and galloped down the street, away from Luna and leaving her with the chill in her mind.
The moment Luna walked in through the golden handled doors of the hotel, she was beheld with a line of stallions and mares standing at attention, almost like a military display. The floor was covered in a soft red carpet and the floors sparkled in a deeper shade of red, while the curtains hanging by the windows were made of a gold silk. Clearly, the hotel had some cleaning done in preparation for her arrival.
"Princess Luna," A stallion in a red tunic approached her. "Welcome to the Golden Wing Hotel, we are truly honoured that you have chosen this lovely establishment for your stay in Vanhoover."
"The honour is all mine." The princess replied politely, gently shaking the stallion's hoof while the other employees bowed. "I do not wish to be rude, but the trip here was a little exhausting, and I will need to rest before the reopening ceremony tonight."
"Of course, your majesty." The stallion said quickly, elaborately gesturing a hoof towards the flight of stairs that led to the upper levels and a very fancy looking elevator. "Your suite on the top floor has been prepared and is ready for you. Should you need anything, our staff will always be ready to get you whatever you need."
"That is appreciated." She said as she walked up the steps. "I am expecting somepony to arrive with a written speech, please direct them to me when they arrive."
The stallion bowed. "We shall, your majesty."
With that, Princess Luna walked up the stairs and entered the elevator, idly looking around as the unicorn handling the controls used his magic to push a level. Machinery began whirring as the doors closed and the small cube began elevating up the floors. Then, she saw right in front of her eyes, a pony wearing a dirty gray cloak, black shadows swirling around it. Luna gasped, blinking in the process, when she opened her eyes, the pony was gone.
"Your highness?" The unicorn controlling the elevator said in a slightly nasally voice. "Are you alright?"
"Did you see that?" She asked, her eyes wide.
"See what, your highness? Do you want me to stop the elevator?"
Luna continued staring straight ahead, even though they had now passed the floor where she saw the po- no, not a pony, some kind of creature. She shook her head. "No, keep going. It must have been my imagination."
But she knew it wasn't, now she knew her mind was not playing tricks on her, she was seeing somepony, something follow her, trailing a dark, dark magic with it. Could that be the reason she felt a chill in her mind? No, that was... something else, it felt different then whenever she saw the glimpses of the thing that was following her. Soon, the elevator stopped, and the unicorn levitated a gold key to the princess.
"Your room is just down the hall, your highness." He said. Luna simply nodded as she took the key in her own magic and stepped out of the elevator. The doors closed behind her and the elevator began its descent back down. Wasting no time, she immediately made her way into her hotel room, paying no attention to the beauty as she magically shut all the windows and covered them with the curtains, bathing the room in darkness, the only light being the faint glowing from her horn as she locked the door and sent out a silent pulse, a special signal that only she and the Night Guard could sense. It's radius wasn't long, but if she knew her guardians...
After a few seconds, two forms emerged from the shadows, wearing dark luminescent armour that almost glowed under Luna's magical light, their bat-like wings flared open as they landed silently. The two Night Guards bowed.
"Your majesty," One of them spoke, her voice brimming with respect and absolute loyalty, her fangs flashing against the intricate dance of the room's darkness and Luna's dark light.
"Nightingale," Luna greeted, nodding to the mare, before turning to the guard next to her, whose armour was the same save for the mouth guard he wore over his muzzle. "And Silent Hill, I'm glad the two best of my guard were sent to watch me."
"It is unorthodox for you to be traveling so far from the capital, especially in the day, your majesty." Nightingale answered, maintaining her bow.
"Rise." Luna commanded, her guards obeyed and she looked at them both eye to eye. "Have you noticed anything odd in this city?"
"Indeed I have, your majesty, the dark form that is tracking you, it is part of the shadows, able to traverse among them and remain hidden." Nightingale answered. "I do not know what it is, nor what its intentions are, as it was difficult to watch it in the daylight."
Silent Hill shuddered and Nightingale continued speaking. "We can only remain in your sister's sun for so long, Princess, her light cuts through our armour and burns through our coats."
Luna frowned. "I apologize for this, you should have remained in the darkness until nightfall."
"We vamponies can survive the tribulations of the sun, your majesty, ever since you returned. You need not fear for us."
Luna shook her head, hearing the horror stories of the some vamponies burning into dust by being in the sunlight for only a few moments. Although there were no proven cases of such, it made the alicorn wonder if Celestia had a ruthless side in her. The thought made her shudder. "In any case, it is no doubt that that is a creature of the Realm, how it got to our plane is unknown, but it could be hostile, I want you to keep a close eye for any sightings of it."
The guards nodded in response.
"Also, look into any strange happenings that may have happened recently, if a creature from the Realm is here, this will tell us if it is simply lost and wandering, or if it has more malicious purposes."
"It shall be done your highness." Nightingale answered, briefly bowing.
Luna nodded. "Now, I need rest, I have a lot to prepare for."
The two guards nodded, and stepped back, disappearing into shadow. Luna immediately cut off her magic, the darkness immediately descended and surrounded her. With a sigh, she stepped up onto the large bed and let her head fall rather ungracefully onto the pillow, immediately falling into a welcoming slumber.
In the darkness of the suite, Dark Cloud shifted uneasily, watching the slow breathing from the Princess as she slept. While everything was silent save for the quiet and steady breath from the dark alicorn, inside its mind, the voice that calmly warned it of Luna's arrival now shouted at it, seething in anger.
"...I never thought you could make such foalish mistakes! Not only did you let her see you four times, but you revealed yourself right in front of her! You may have jeapordized everything now that she has her servants on alert! And now we have to work even harder to keep them from finding anything, which not only may be impossible, but may put us in more danger of discovery! and it will be all because of you, Dark Cloud. Leave the Princess' suite immediately, you are not worthy of being in her presence."
Dark Cloud bowed its head in shame and vanished, leaving the darkened room and a cold chill behind it.
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The Dream World, the place where the beauty of her wondrous world seeped into the Realm, the place of eternal darkness and fear. In the Realm, many dark things stirred, the children of a grave Horror that slept in the Within. It was in the Dream World, that Luna's loving subjects took the tiniest of steps into the powers of the Realm, unknowingly using its powers to shape their empty void into the fantasies they so desire. It did not matter what they dreamed, but as they shaped their world, uncontrollably or not, they brought with them just the smallest of pieces of their happy, peaceful, and beautiful world. All the positive feelings bled into the Realm, bringing the tiniest amount of light that scared the children of Horror and empowered the Within, keeping it sleeping. Although a child of Horror could affect a pony's dream, bringing their fears to life, creating a nightmare. There, it would have the exact opposite effect, weakening the Within and causing an ever so slight stir in Horror's sleep. Thus, Luna kept a constant vigil, protecting her subjects and keeping their dreams peaceful. But the Dream World was a conscious being, mysterious in its presence, but it was a key ally, wanting nothing more then to keep the Within powered. The Dream World would speak to her in all manner of ways, showing her of the things to prepare for. Sometimes they would be clear, other times she would understand what it was trying to tell her.
Everything was murky, blurred, she saw numerous shapes and sounds, but could make none of it out. Every now and then, however, she could briefly see the shapes and sounds clearly. Among them, she saw a tower of white light and heard the sounds of terrified screams, then she saw a burning flame, it's wooden torch holding strong against the storm, but it was growing weaker, and weaker, before it finally died amongst the sounds of children screaming in agony. Then, in a flash, she saw a creature she did not recognize, a creature with white skin that wore a great grey coat. It was of nothing of her world, but there was sentience in its eyes, sentience and great pain. Then she saw blue and heard the sound of the traveler. Then she heard a loud bang, saw blood, and saw a pony with silver fur, his face covered in blood, looking up at her with the same eyes as the creature she saw earlier. Then, she saw the moon, with the face of a mare trapped on it, the mare then burst from it, taking the form of the Jealousy that turned her, lunging at her with its fangs and eyes full of malice. But in its eyes, she saw the same torch with the burning flame, this time the flame was blue, and the storm was only just approaching...
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Luna's wings flared open as she lunged out of bed, wide-eyed and panting. She blinked when she saw only the darkness in her room, what had caused her to wake? The sound of knocking answered her question.
"Your highness," a voice called out through the door. "A stallion arrived with an envelope, he said it was the speech you had mentioned earlier, he asked me to deliver it to you."
In her still frightened mind, Luna wondered if it was a trick, but she quickly shook her head. Her night guard were keeping a close watch on her and anything approaching her, if they even suspected that something was dangerous to her, they'd stop it, or at least warn her somehow.
"Your highness?"
She cleared her throat, and with her magic opened up the windows and blinds, bathing the room in the daylight. She checked the clock on the wall. 4:56PM... Impressive, I didn't think they'd get it to me so early, it's almost as if... Luna's magic enveloped the door and opened it to allow the hotel worker inside, a white sheet held carefully in his hoof. He gave it to her before bowing and turning to leave, closing the door behind him.
Luna opened the paper up and began reading the lettering written with such careful precision. She only got through the first few sentences when she glanced out to the open balcony door, the wind blowing in, causing the gold curtains to billow softly in the air. Standing from her bed, she put the sheet away and made her way towards the balcony. She could see almost see the entire city stretched out around her. She could hear the clip clop of the numerous ponies travelling to wherever they needed to go in the city. To the side, she could see the ocean stretching out and the port that was foundation of the city. It was a relaxing sight, but Luna was anything but relaxed. The chill in her mind was still there, it wasn't her tired mind playing tricks on her. It was a feeling, a feeling trying to tell her something. But what was it trying to tell her?
Something is wrong in this city . She realized. Something is very wrong...
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!!!
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...
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Chapter 4: Too Many Unknowns
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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..."
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
In the quiet office of the Vanhoover Police station, an Earth Pony mare walked around the desks of other officers, towards the closed door, where Chief Chief's office was. She knocked on the door lightly.
"Come in." Came the voice from within. She opened the door enough to let her head fit through. Chief stopped his packing up and looked at the pony intently.
"Sorry to disturb you, Chief, but Princess Luna is here, she wishes to speak to you."
Immediately, the Chief police pony stood up and followed the mare out the door, rubbing his hoof through his mane. On the other side of the room, he saw the dark Alicorn standing regally, her wings tucked in as she idly looked at some of the pictures displayed on the wall, the police force throughout the years. Upon hearing his approach, she turned to face him, and he saw the look in her old eyes, the look of a pony hard at work. Looks like I'll be working overtime... He thought as he quickly bowed.
"Highness, what brings you here?"
"I apologize for the intrusion Chief, but I require your aid in a matter."
Chief stood up straight. "Of course, what do you need?"
"I need you to find me the address of a pony named Candlelight, as well as any documents on strange 'explosions' in the city's history."
The police pony raised an eyebrow, but nodded and moved to a silver drawer, pulling it out, he sifted through the numerous folders and pulled out the one he was looking for. Luna's eyes widened when she saw the title on the folder. Missing Ponies .
Chief placed it on a nearby table and opened it up, pulling out the documentation of the Earth Pony. "Candlelight was a stallion who worked in the city's electricity department during the nighttime shift. He went missing a week after he began claiming there was some sort of explosion in the city's power station."
"He's missing?" Luna asked, shocked.
Chief nodded. "We've no idea what happened to him. He's been missing for almost 2 months now."
Luna frowned. "What about the explosion he mentioned?"
"We investigated the power station, but we found no evidence of an explosion, no damage whatsoever to the station. We did, however, find a strange object on the ground. From what I know, it was donated to the Museum's 'Mysterious Artifact Collection'." He raised his forehooves to emphasize the fake quotations. "As for these explosion stories... Well, they've been happening throughout the city's history. And almost every time they have been told, a strange object is found nearby and the pony or ponies who witness it go missing shortly after."
Luna's eyebrow's raised at this. "They all go missing?"
Chief nodded. "Never to be seen again. It's a classic horror story if I ever saw one and, frankly, I don't know what to make of it."
Luna looked down at the folder, which gave a description of Candlelight and where he lived and when he was reported missing, all useless compared to the information she had learned. She looked up slowly. "Chief, have any strange ponies been found after an explosion instead of an artifact?"
Chief gave the Princess another odd look, thankful she wasn't looking at him. "No, Princess, only strange objects. Why do you ask?"
"What was the last reported case then?"
"It was just a few nights ago, actually, by a Pegasus named Wind Heart. She found a set of strange clothing on the road."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "But no pony? Not a certain silver stallion that we saw at the Black Sea bar?"
Chief opened his mouth to ask what she meant, when his eyes widened. "You're kidding... But, who was that stallion?"
"Apparently he doesn't exist," the Night Princess answered. "He said he was found after a strange explosion, he has no memory of himself and the government has no documentation of him."
Chief blinked. "W-why weren't we informed of this? We'll have to question Wind Heart immedia-" He stopped and he felt the blood drain from his face, his eyes shrinking into pinpricks. "Oh no..."
"What?" Luna turned to look the police pony in the eye. "What is it?"
"I'm so stupid... If every pony who has reported an explosion goes missing, then Wind Heart..."
Luna didn't need him to finish. "Where does she live? Give me her address."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seconds later, Luna was in the air, zooming towards the apartment. She was there in a matter of moments, landing hard on the pavement, she quickly walked through the front door, up the stairs, until coming to the appropriate door. She tapped her hoof lightly on the brown wood, and stood waiting impatiently in the silent lobby. After a moment, she knocked more forcefully, and waited. Still no answer came. Not wasting anymore time, Luna closed her eyes, her horn glowing a dark blue, before she vanished in a silent flash, reappearing inside the dark living room of Wind Heart's apartment. The Night Princess looked around, feeling the cold air throughout the room. She looked in the nearby rooms, all of them deserted, including the Pegasus' bedroom.
Luna cursed, her eyes flashing in anger. She was too late...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harness stared glumly up at the ceiling as he laid on his bed, unable to sleep, despite his exhaustion. When he tried to sleep, he found his mind too busy in asking the innumerable questions, over and over again. Yet, even then, his mind eventually stopped, too tired to continue on, but he still found himself unable to sleep. So, here he was, staring at the ceiling, too tired to think. A cold breeze caught his attention, and he turned to see his window open.
He blinked as he sat up. I don't remember opening that . With a quick stretch of his wings, which were sore from hours of being laid on, he stepped down from his bed and moved to the window, the curtains billowing gently from the wind. He lifted his hoof and grab the window, but quickly stumbled back with a yelp of surprise. Just outside the window were numerous rose petals, swirling around and... taking a shape... a shape of a pony.
"What the buck...?" He muttered, his eyes widening as the rose petals changed colour and form, the coat becoming a cream coloured, while the mane became two different shades or red, one a deep crimson, the other a light pink. The mare before her opened her eyes, revealing their pale green colour and staring straight at the shocked Pegasus. Although at first glance she looked like an Earth Pony, every few seconds Harness saw the petals ruffle from the wind slightly, revealing what she was made out of. It was quite beautiful, he realized, but his wings remained in a defensive position when he saw the hostile gaze within those fake eyes.
"Who... What...?" He asked, trying to find the words. The strange pony made of rose petals stared, before she opened her mouth, an odd echo coming from her lips.
"I am a messenger bearing a warning. Your presence here bodes a terrible omen on this beautiful land and its inhabitants. Leave this city, preferably this country, before They come for you..."
Harness stared, his mouth partly opened, his brain processing this. "Woah woah woah, you come here, all mysterious and creepy-like, though admittingly very gorgeous, and then you tell me I'm some sort of terrible omen? I don't even remember who I am! How am I a danger?"
The Earth Pony glared. "They have something planned for you... I can't say who they are or what they're planning, it's taken me years to infiltrate their ranks, and I'm risking it all just by speaking to you..."
Harness raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you speaking to me? Why can't you tell me who 'they' are?"
"Because you've worked for them before and I fear mentioning even their name will trigger your memories to return... and make you an enemy..."
Harness snorted. "Why come here in the first place, then? Give me a reason why I should leave this city?"
"They need you... For what I am not sure, but I know what they intend to do, what their whole purpose is and it cannot come to pass. For this, you must leave... now!"
The Pegasus scoffed. "Sorry, not buying it. You'll need something more solid to convince me."
The mare sighed. "Fine, you leave me no choice but to show you. Follow me..." With that, the mare disintegrated back into the red rose petals, blowing away in the wind. Harness immediately flapped his wings and jumped over the ledge. It wasn't hard seeing the mass of petals flying around, a small cloud that stayed just in his eyesight. After flying over rows and rows of buildings, the petals began descending towards a dark alleyway, Harness followed but slowed when he wondered if this was a trap. He shook his head though, he couldn't die and he wasn't as scared as he probably should've been. It was actually exciting... addicting even... He landed hard on the rough cement, grunting as his hooves felt sore. I need to work on my landings...
He looked around where he was. The alleyway was thin, barely big enough for two ponies to fit through, garbage bins leaned against the brick walls, and several dark green bags sagged next to them. And among the bags-
"Oh god!" Harness cried out, his eyes widening at the sight of a light brown Pegasus pony laying completely still, her wings splayed out. He galloped over the still mare, the petals swirling around overhead. He placed a hoof on her neck and the blood drained from his face. He leaned his head against her cold chest and pulled back a second later. "S-she's dead..."
"And that will be nothing compared to if they succeed, but they need you for their plans. I ask you, I beg of you..." Her words echoed around him as the petals began drifting apart, flying away in random directions. "...Leave..."
Her voice faded away as the petals flew off, leaving Harness next to the body, staring wide eyed into the darkness. Someone died... because of him? How could this have been his fault? Who was this mare? The slow clip clop of hooves drew his attention. He turned his head and his eyes widened at the sight of Luna, her mane blowing away slowly in an invisible wind.
"There you are!" She said as she turned and stepped into the alleyway towards him. "I saw you fly overhead, listen, I heard about-" She gasped and stared in complete shock at the prone Pegasus mare next to him. Galloping towards the body, her horn glowed as she looked the mare over with her magic and she stared in horror.
"No... This can't be..." She immediately turned her gaze onto Harness, who stared at her with wide eyes. Her own immediately transformed into one of suspicion. "Did you do this?"
"Wha- No, I-" Harness stuttered but stopped when Luna's eyes flashed briefly and her wings flared open.
"Do not think to lie to us, Pegasus! You will answer honestly and clearly this instant!!! "
Harness shook his head quickly while simultaneously struggling to maintain his balance from the Alicorn's Royal Canterlot Voice. "I swear, Luna, I only found her like this! It's-" He stopped. "Argh, you'll never believe me, but there were these rose petals, they formed into a pony, she took me here and told me to leave the city because I'm a danger to it, somehow!"
Luna stared in surprise. "Rose petals..." The memory of the mysterious voice and the rose petals twirling in the wind flashed through her mind. She looked over the dead mare again with her magic and found something. "She's been killed by Unicorn magic..." Her features softened as she looked down. "Forgive my outburst, Harness. It was wrong for me to jump to such a conclusion so quickly."
Harness looked from the body to Luna. "Don't be. I probably would've assumed the same thing in your place."
They were silent as Luna walked up to the body and placed a hoof on the mare's head, softly stroking it with a sad look. "This was Wind Heart... She was the mare who found you after the explosion."
"Oh sweet Celestia..." The silver Pegasus muttered as his breathing quickened again. "So I do having something to do with this..."
Luna looked up and gazed straight into Harness' eyes where she stared. His eyes... They've seen so much, like my sister's... How many years of experience could be locked away behind them? She also saw the sadness in them, and the guilt. She felt the same tugs on her heart to pull. "I promise you, Harness. I will find out what is going on, and I will make the ones responsible for this pay dearly for their crimes."
He nodded, her voice calming his beating heart and his face hardened. "I'm going to head back to my hotel..."
Luna nodded. "I shall escort you, I do not think it is wise to be alone at night anymore. But first..." She closed her eyes and her horn glowed, a small orb of light appeared for the briefest of seconds before vanishing.
"What did you do?" He asked, his wings opening in preparation for the flight.
"I cast a beacon that only Unicorns of the police force can detect, they'll be drawn here and take care of the body, I'll explain to the Chief what is going on after I make sure you are safe."
They took off into the air, flying close by to each other. Despite the situation, Harness found himself chuckling a little and smiling. "So... You want to keep me safe, huh?"
"But of course." Luna said simply, causing a frown from the Pegasus.
Ah, who am I kidding? He told himself. She's way higher up then me... literally...
Luna continued. "As Princess it is my duty to protect our subjects," She frowned and added under her breath, "...whenever we can..."
"Well," Harness said. "There aren't any documents whatsoever on me, I'm not a legal citizen of the country so technically I'm not even really one of your subjects."
"Even so," Luna replied. "I would not want any harm to come to you. Which reminds me..." She glanced at the silver Pegasus who flew next to her, and saw his form clearly in the night, the moonlight shining brilliantly off of his silver coat. She quickly got back on track and gave him a stern look. "I wish for you to cease your attempts to take your life."
Harness stared in shock. "What? How did you-"
"I had a guard keep an eye on you while I slept during the day. Your emotional plight last night left me..." She hesitated for split second. "...concerned." She puzzled over the sudden hesitation before shaking her head. "Regardless, you will no longer make such attempts. Suicide is something I will not tolerate, regardless of your immortality, understood?"
Harness nodded. "Alright, it's not like I was going to do it again anyways. Coming back to life is..." He shuddered mid-flight. "Not pleasant."
They were silent for the rest of the flight over to Harness' hotel. When they approached, he flew into the open window that went into his room and landed... halfway in. His flank hanging out, he kicked his hindlegs frantically as he fought to push himself in. After a few seconds, he managed to climb in, landing on his stomach with an 'oof!' and quickly getting back onto his hooves and straightening himself. Good thing no one saw that... wait...
He turned to see Luna hovering where she was, her head tilted as she gave the Pegasus an odd look. Harness blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh... still working on my landings."
Luna chuckled, causing a flutter in Harness' chest. "Apparently..." Her smile dropped. "Rest well, Harness, and be careful when you're outside."
Harness nodded and grinned. "I think I'll only go out during the night, that way I know you're awake and out there somewhere."
Luna nodded. "I will make sure you are adequately protected." With a respectful bow of her head, Luna turned and flew off, heading towards the Police HQ building. I may need to call more Night Guards here... things are far worse then I thought they were.
Harness looked out the window and saw the dark Alicorn fly away, admiring her beauty. "Damn she's not bad to look at..." Putting it mildly there, don't you think?
He silenced his conscience before closing the window and turning around. "But you're not the only one who's gonna be looking into this, Princess..." He opened the door and moved down the lobby, keeping his eyes peeled for a certain door. This pony made of roses says I worked for these ponies before... and someone already died because she found me after that explosion... He stopped at the door he was looking for and knocked on it in four, loud taps. ...So, if I can get my memories back, I may be able to figure out what's going on, or at least know who's responsible.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal a surprisingly well groomed White Stripe, still wearing his suit. He blinked. "Oh, hello there-"
"It's Harness."
White's eyes widened. "Y-you've got your memories back?"
Harness shook his head. "No no, it's just a name I chose, I can't walk around without a name, can I?"
"Oh... no I suppose not..."
Harness' eyebrow nearly raised as he saw White's posture lower. Did he... relax? Shaking the thought off, he continued. "What are doing up so late?"
White shrugged. "Well, since I'm staying here with you, I've got to get some work done early, needless to say it's kept me up but this isn't the first time, I've gotten quite used to it actually."
"Ah, well, speaking of my memories, I am wishing to get them back and I think I have a lead on how I can..."
White Stripe raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yes, you see, I was found with some clothes and items, but the Police ponies confiscated them while I was unconscious because there was some 'dangerous magical properties' or something like that. I'd like to see if I could get them back."
White Stripe nodded and placed a hoof on his chin. "Well... They might have finished sterilizing them by now, it depends on what sort of magical properties they were contaminated with. Still, we can certainly pay the police a visit in their HQ. But, uh, does it have to be now? Cause I'm..." He yawned. "...Quite tired as of this moment, it is very late, after all."
Harness nodded in understanding. "We can go tomorrow."
"Great..." The old Unicorn yawned again. "We'll go first thing tomorrow then. Have a good sleep, Harness."
"You too, mister Stripe."
With that, White Stripe closed the door and Harness made his back to his hotel room, yawning as he felt exhaustion creeping back into his limbs. Hopefully getting those clothes will be easy... and hopefully I'll be able to sleep...
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!?
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Chapter 8: The Broken Pegasus
Purple, blue, green, red. Purple, blue, green, red. Looks like there was a pattern in the light show flashing on the dozens and dozens of dancing ponies on the stage set. Standing on a podium above them, bobbing his head to the beats, stood one of the many DJ-P0N3 wannabes, who took one of the famous DJ's tracks, added a few different spins to it, and claimed it as his own. Sitting in a dark corner on a wide table, holding a tall glass of liquid warmth in her hooves, sat Scootaloo. The orange Pegasus leaned back in her seat, watching the dancing crowd with a sly smile on her face. Today had been a good day. A tough one, but a good day nonetheless.
After all the hard work she did today, she felt she deserved a reward, and one of the biggest raves in the city, where shyness and self-restraint was flung aside like useless clothing, was just the place. The smells of alcohol, sweat, and raw carnal lust brought the adrenaline to course through her bloodstream like no life-or-death situation could ever hope to accomplish. She took a long swig from her glass as she saw a stallion and mare going at it amongst the crowd, not caring about the numerous ponies who watched them approvingly. No doubt there were others having their own fun, and why should she miss out on hers?
She sat up from her seat, and prepared to search for a stallion or mare (she wasn't picky) for some good rutting, when she noticed a couple of rose petals on the table.
"Aw, come on!" She cried out as she stared at the petals angrily. "Seriously!? Luna damnit..." Taking a final swig from her glass, she made her way not to the dancing and rutting crowd, but towards the exit.
Outside on the quiet and empty street, Scootaloo spotted the cream-coloured mare and deep red mane standing elegantly on the street. Her form of coloured rose petals shifting slightly from the small breeze.
"Alright, Roseluck..." Scootaloo muttered angrily as she approached the form, who turned and glared at her. "Why the hell did you bother me? Couldn't this wait until morning?"
"And speak to you with a terrible hangover?" The mare replied sternly, her voice echoing. "I think not."
Scootaloo scoffed. "What the hay do you want?"
"I wanted to ask you something...." Roseluck stepped towards the Pegasus, whose eyebrows raised, perplexed. The pony made of rose petals stopped only inches away from her. "What in the name of Luna were you thinking!?"
Scootaloo stumbled back from the sudden outburst. "Aww," she said in a disappointed tone. "And here I was thinking you wanted company in bed."
"Damnit, Scootaloo, I'm serious!"
"So am I..." The Pegasus replied, smiling deviously. Roseluck sighed in frustration before the Pegasus rolled her eyes. "Look, I saw an opportunity to buck up their plans and I seized it."
"Do you not remember all the trouble I went through to convince them you had escaped all the way to the Gryphon Kingdom!?" Roseluck shouted. "Now that they know you're back, they'll do whatever it takes to take you down."
"Pfft, so?" The Pegasus asked. "At least I messed with their big bad, evil plan, right?"
Roseluck sighed. "You don't even know what it is."
"I know it's bad, it endangers the city, possibly the whole kingdom, and that hot stallion is the key for them to accomplish it. I don't need details, just the gist of it."
"And how, pray tell, does trying to bring back his memories mess with their plans?"
Scootaloo began to chuckle, her sides quivering, then her chuckle turned into a laugh, and then she collapsed from the intensity of her laughter. "Oh dear Luna, you didn't think this through, did you?"
"What do you mean? I've manage to learn a few things about him, he's worked with this organization before, if he gets his memories back, he may just side with them."
Scootaloo stared in genuine surprise at Roseluck. "Wow, I know you can be dense sometimes Rose but, come on! Even you have to see the problems with this."
"Then please, oh great Pegasus, enlighten me with your vast, infinite knowledge of recklessness and bold stupidity." The Earth Pony asked, the sarcasm dripping from her echoing voice.
Scootaloo shook her head slowly, grinning. "Okay, just think about it for a moment, if this guy is their ally and will sign up with them when his memories come back, why are they being so secretive with him? And why are they trying to keep his memories from coming back, hmm? If I were one of you guys, and not just a secret operative doing a piss-poor job at sabotaging them but an actual member, I would try to get the guy's memories back... unless, he isn't an ally but potentially an enemy who could threaten the whole operation should he remember who he was."
Roseluck opened her mouth to retort, but closed it when she could think of no way to counter Scootaloo's argument, Luna curse it, she was right!
"Besides," the Pegasus continued. "I knew the moment I saw that stallion that he was going to be mine, so I had to help him."
Roseluck shook her head. "Damnit, Scootaloo, can't you think of anything besides sex?"
The orange mare shrugged. "You only live once, Rose."
The Earth Pony sighed. "I can't believe that you're the same pony as the little filly who goes all around my hometown trying to gain her Cutie Mark with her friends."
"That reminds me... What was the latest scheme you saw me and the other Crusaders try?"
"I'm not sure, I heard it had something to do with blow torches, though."
Scootaloo chuckled from the pleasant memory, "Oh yeah, I remember that one..."
Roseluck looked at the Pegasus, concern on her face. "You devoted your childhood to finding your Cutie Mark, in a sense you still are, what happened?"
The smile on Scootaloo's face wavered and slowly dropped, looking to her flank, which was completely devoid of a Cutie Mark. "I saw something nopony, certainly a filly that young, should never ever see... and after I got sent back in time, it made me realize how pointless finding my Mark was, how useless it was in the grand scheme of things."
"But your Cutie Mark defines who you are, what your destiny is, it is you, in a sense."
Scootaloo looked back and stared at Roseluck intently, her signature smile gone and a hard look on her face. "Exactly..."
Roseluck stared in shock at the young mare, unable to believe what she was hearing.
"It wasn't just what I saw, or what I will see in a few years from now, but falling back in time, being a prisoner to you people while you did your experiments on me, eventually escaping and living on the run, with no family or friends to turn to, and seeing all the horrors your organization has seen and done and recorded. I realized that life is ultimately pointless and that you should make the most of what you've got." Her hard look vanished and she grinned once again.
"So you live recklessly, doing stupid things that could end your life far sooner than if you don't?"
Scootaloo shook her head, and turned back towards the building where the rave was taking place. "Whether I live a fun life or a boring life will change absolutely nothing about how soon I die, because-"
"Hold it right there!" A voice called out. Instantly, Roseluck disintegrated, the numerous petals blowing away. Scootaloo turned and saw two stallions, one a Unicorn, in white and black camouflage armour and helmets, wielding two black objects around their hooves. The Pegasus smirked, and raised a hoof in surrender.
"Wow, that was quick." She said as the two soldiers approached. "Like the guns, by the way, are those semi-automatic, were they stolen from some ship you shot down, or did you actually make these?"
They didn't answer as they stepped closer, one of them levitated a pair of cuffs, holding them in a blue aura in front of the Pegasus.
"Just hold still and things won't get ugly..." The Unicorn ordered as he moved to the side. Then, before either of them could react, Scootaloo grappled the Unicorn and sent him sprawling to the ground, then flared her wings and jumped, diving down on the other soldier just as he was raising his rifle. It was too late from him to fire, as the Pegasus slammed her hooves into his chest, then recovered from her dive, grabbed the stallion's neck, and snapped it. As the Unicorn got back to his hooves and his vision came back into focus, he found himself staring into the small barrel of the gun.
Scootaloo smiled as she idly examined the weapon, nodding in approval. "Ahh, an SMG, you guys are improving, I wonder how much the Griffon Kingdom would pay to get their claws on these."
The soldier stared wide-eyed at the Pegasus. "Y-you shoot that, you'll attract half of the city."
Scootaloo nodded slowly. "True, guns are never quiet things, so I guess I can't-" She gasped quietly and sarcastically as she pretended to make a discovery. "Wait a minute, what is this on the barrel? A magical enchantment? Perhaps a silencer spell? Otherwise, what would be the point in bringing these if you couldn't use them, since you're all trying to be so secretive and quiet..."
The Unicorn's eyes widened and he began shaking. "P-please, don't kill me... You can't!"
"Oh, I can..." Scootaloo replied, her smile dropping as she gave the soldier a hard look. "And I will." With a twitch of her hoof, she fired a short burst, only a quiet, rapid tinging the only indication that she had fired. Oh, and the bloody corpse no lying in front of the Pegasus.
Breathing a sigh, the orange mare dropped the gun and turned back to the building, Roseluck reforming by the entrance. Scootaloo saw her staring at the bodies disapprovingly and sighed.
"They almost certainly saw you, do you want your cover blown?"
"This will only make them more determined to catch you, or they won't even bother. You keep this up, and you'll be dead in a few days."
Scootaloo shook her head, walking pass the pony made of rose petals. "I've got a lot more then a few days, Rose... I know when I'm going to die... I've seen it... Now leave me alone and go back to your useless spying in Ponyville."
Roseluck sighed and looked down at the bodies, they'd be retrieved before anypony found them, like all the times before, how could the little orange filly she saw in Ponyville grow up to be a cold, reckless, killer? Then again, if what she heard about the Pegasus was true, if those experiments were as brutal as she had explained they were... and if she had seen her own death... then it was no wonder she was called 'The Broken Pegasus'. She sighed again, her Majesty would be ashamed of how far this organization had fallen, and it was her duty to stop them, in whatever way she could. As her form fell apart, she thought over Scootaloo's words about the stallion, maybe she was right, maybe he wasn't on their side, and maybe he could help... but he's already got the items he was found with, if those don't bring back his memory, she didn't know what else would.
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Harness placed the box down on his bed and stared at it for several moments. How Scootaloo managed to get it he did not want to know, and he wondered briefly if her theft would make the news. His mind quickly returned to the box before him. Inside could lay the key to his memories, he'd finally know who he was, and why he was immortal. Maybe he could even help Luna in figuring out how he fit in with all that was going on in the city and why an innocent pony was killed because of him. So why was he hesitating now?
"Come on..." He told himself. "Get a grip!"
He took a deep breath. Then a second. Then a third. He placed his forehooves on the box lid, mentally braced himself, then lifted the lid. Inside, lay a folded deep gray fabric. Noting his pounding heart, he pulled the fabric out, unfolding it in the process, and stared at it confused. It was a large coat of some kind, but it was far too big for him and didn't seem to have been made for a pony. He ran his hoof over the fabric, looking at the different buttons and pockets, nothing seemed to be in them. This coat... it wasn't made for a pony, but he knew this coat... he wore it all the time, but how? It was just too impractical for him to wear, there wasn't even holes for his wings to come through. He could sort of see where his forehooves would go, but there was no way they could fit all the way through, just by looking at them. This made no sense, how could he have been wearing this often, when it seemed almost impossible for him to put on?
Nevertheless, the inklings in his mind caused excitement to surge through him, he was on the right track. Turning back to the box, he pulled out more odd clothes, a simple buttoned shirt and overalls and black pants. Like the coat, they were far too big and seemed not designed to be worn by a pony. Yet they too seemed familiar. The silver Pegasus stared at the assortment of clothes before him, his confusion growing. He scratched his head as he tried to figure the odd clothing out.
"What on earth would I be doing with these?"
Sighing, he looked back in the box and found not clothes but two items. A brown strap of some strange material and a large silver object. Taking the silver item in his hoof, Harness looked if over closely. A word suddenly flashed in his mind. Pistol . This was a pistol. He knew what it was, somehow. What its purpose was, however, remained a mystery to him. There was some sort of handle, and it had a small barrel, similar to that of a cannon, was it some sort of miniature cannon? He held the barrel close as he looked into it, wondering what on earth it could fire and how it was-
BANG
With a sharp gasp, Harness sat up, panting as he looked around and seeing the pistol on the floor, a distinct scent in the air around him, gunpowder and something else that he couldn't figure out. What the hell happened? Did I die? From what? He turned and saw a large amount of blood and other bits splattered against the wall. The Pegasus stared wide-eyed at the drying blood and the bits of skull and brain. He now knew what that other smell was. A wave of nausea washed over him, he stumbled and struggled to breathe through the overwhelming smell of his own blood and brain.
After a few minutes, his breathing became normal as the nausea faded away. When he looked back up at his drying blood, he sighed. I'm gonna have to clean that up...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nightingale groaned in pain as the light of the now setting sun stung her coat. She had been flying nonstop back to Vanhoover since delivering her message to Celestia. Her bat-like wings ached, sweat dripped from her forehead, and the burning pain from the sun was starting to get to her. Nevertheless, out of stubbornness and devout loyalty to her princess, she continued flying, just reaching the edges of the city. This city, which had so many secrets hidden under its dark shadow, she could smell old spilled blood, deaths and murders that have accumulated over the centuries. Despite the pain from Celestia's sun, the Vampony smiled, she liked this city. I should maybe ask the Princess about coming here more often.
She looked around, trying to pinpoint the hotel Luna was staying at, when she smelled pony blood, freshly spilled pony blood. She sniffed the air, managing to pinpoint where it was exactly, it wasn't far off. Instinctively, she licked her lips, realizing it had been a while since she last ate. The Night Guard decided that a quick snack was needed before seeing her Princess. After all, she thought as she banked and began descending towards a (thankfully) shadowed alleyway. Who'd miss a murderer?
The intoxicating smell of the blood became near overwhelming as she landed in the alley, it made things difficult to focus on. She shook her head and reined her instincts in, using her military-trained discipline to steel her senses. She turned a bend and saw the body of the poor murdered pony, a young Earth Pony mare, lying still in a growing pool of her own blood. The Vampony's eyes widened when she saw the body lacking a throat and left foreleg. She could instantly tell that it was ripped off.
"Sweet merciful Luna..." The Night Guard muttered. Nightingale had seen a lot of brutal things, but never a murder as barbaric as that. What kind of pony could even think of doing something like this!?
A growling sound caught her attention, her ears perking and flicking ahead of her. She looked and saw a hunched figure, its back to her as it leaned over something. A sickening crunching sound was heard and the Vampony's eyes widened when it made the connection. Is it... eating the mare's leg!!? Quickly composing herself, she took a step forward, slamming her hoof into the ground. She saw the hunched form tense, stopping its grotesque feasting.
"In the name of Princess Luna and Equestria, you will turn around and be apprehended for your crimes you... You..." She faltered when it turned and faced her, it's small eyes having a faint red glow to them as it growled. Though it was equine in shape, it was no pony, but some kind of hideous monster. "What are you...?" Nightingale asked, her voice hollow. In reply, the beast lunged at the Vampony with a roar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Harness was finished scrubbing away the last of his blood, the sun was already setting. It took a lot of doing getting the cleaning equipment without any staff spotting him and asking as to why he was taking them. Now all he had to do was get rid of the bloody and soapy water in the bucket and return the equipment back. He looked at the door, then to the window which showed the orange sky, a few stars already appearing, and sighed. I'll deal with it later...
As the Pegasus turned to his bed, rubbing the back of his head and making sure a hole still wasn't there, he noticed the brown strap on the sheets next to the clothes. Picking it up with his hoof, he examined it closely. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, but he could almost feel stirrings in the black void of his memories, whatever it was, he was familiar with it. Seeing a small clip holding it together, he opened it up and wrapped it around his left forehoof, clipping it into place, it fit perfectly, settling in nicely against his fur. It felt right, having it strapped around his hoof.
He frowned. All these objects and items were familiar, very familiar, but all it did was raise more questions, not answers. He was still in the dark on his past life, no memories came rushing back. Frustration began to grow as it sunk in.
"Damnit..." He muttered. After all that trouble, he still was just as clueless as before, it not more so. "What the hell am I supposed to do now!?"
At that moment, a shrill scream rang outside, causing his ears to perk and his head to spin to the window. Looking down at the street, he saw a couple of mares running out of the way of a large muscled pony charging by, only to be rammed by a dark blur from the shadows, the two forms rolling across the street. As they both got to their hooves, Harness noticed the larger pony's face, and instantly realized it wasn't a pony. The face was flattened, the eyes were shrunk back, and the Pegasus could see its numerous fang-life teeth, which it bared at everything around it.
"You two!" The other form, who Harness recognized as a Night Guard from her armour, shouted at the two cowering mares. "Get out of here!"
Immediately, the beast spun around and roared at the Guard, who hissed and bared her fangs in reply. Immediately, Harness grabbed his pistol with his teeth and dived out of the window, his wings flaring open to slow his descent as he attempted to land on his hooves. He landed on his face. Ow! Damnit! He cursed as pain lanced through his muzzle. I gotta work on my landings! Quickly getting up to his hooves, he grabbed his weapon with his right hoof and aimed it at the two forms threatening each other with growls and hisses. The Night Guard stopped mid hissed as she saw Harness and his weapon.
"Get down!" He shouted before he flexed his hoof in just the right way to push the trigger back far enough to-
BANG
The beast yelped as it stumbled back, shaking its head in an effort to shake off the pain. The Night Guard meanwhile had rolled and covered her ears, feeling the shock of the gun being fired. Keeping his pistol trained on the dazed beast, the silver Pegasus made his way over to the gray Guard, until he stood next to her.
"You alright?" He asked, keeping his focus entirely on the creature.
"Yeah, thanks," Nightingale answered as she stood up, before she recognized the pony. "Wait a minute, you're that stallion the princess is interested in, the one who's immortal."
Harness grinned. "Is that the only thing about me that interests her?"
"I beg your pardon?"
He was about to reply when the beast shook its head and and roared at the two, causing Harness to flex his hoof-
BANG
Nightingale flinched from the explosive sound of the weapon's fire, but quickly steeled herself and saw the beast stumble back, before roaring and turning around, galloping down the street.
"The beast is retreating!" She cried out, her bat wings flaring. "It can't be allowed to escape!"
"Agreed." The Pegasus nodded. "That thing survived two bullets to the head, and it looked like it could hurt someone."
"It's already killed one pony, I found it feasting on the poor mare."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Harness asked as he reared up his forelegs. "Let's go catch it!"
Stomping back on all fours, Harness galloped at full speed after the beast, his wings flapping as he began to take flight, Nightingale just behind him.
"What was that thing you used?" She asked. "Was that some sort of musket?"
"It's a bit more advanced then a simple musket, don't ask me how I got it cause, frankly, I don't know..."
Looking ahead, the Pegasus cursed when he saw they weren't gaining on it. "Damn, that thing's faster then it looks."
"What is it?"
"No idea... I think..."
The Vampony gave a perplexed look to the silver Pegasus. "What do you mean?"
"It seems familiar... I think I've encountered something like this before, I just reacted on instinct when I saw it. But I get the feeling that it is very dangerous and that we should stop it from doing more damage."
Suddenly, the creature stumbled as a shadow struck at its side and appeared before it, the beast skidded to a halt before looking at the Vampony and roaring. The second Night Guard merely snorted and scuffed a hoof, ready to charge. However, the beast merely turned to the alleyway next to it and ran. A moment later, Harness and Nightingale had caught up.
"Silent Hill!" She said, "I was wondering when you'd show up."
The Night Guard raised an eyebrow and gestured to the alley where the beast ran in.
"I have no idea what that thing is," Nightingale answered.
"You've probably noticed that it doesn't seem very good at communicating," Harness added.
The Vamponies turned towards the alley. "This is where I first encountered the beast, there's a dead end there, we have it trapped."
"Unless it can smash through walls." The Pegasus said, although something told him that was doubtful. Without another word, the three ponies charged into the alleyway, moving past the body of the mare killed earlier, and the wall where Nightingale had seen it feasting, only to find it empty.
"No..." The Vampony growled. "It can't have gotten away, where could it have gone!?"
Silent Hill placed a hoof on her shoulder and the she glanced at her fellow guard and friend, noticing him sniffing the air. Following his signal, she took a deep sniff of the air. Blood, the air was saturated in it, her vampiric hunger called out in desire, but her military discipline squashed it, there'd be a time for feasting later, with a pony who deserved to be feasted. She sniffed again, trying to look past the blood, and began getting another scent, a much less pleasant scent. Her face scrunched up briefly.
"Ugh, the smell of the sewers..."
Meanwhile, Harness had looked around as the two guards sniffed the air, where he noticed a slightly open metal hole on the ground, a disgusting smell rising from it. For some reason, he wasn't surprised that the creature had fled here, but for some odd reason the thought of a ponyhole to the sewers in an alleyway struck him as odd architecture.
"Well, everypony." He announced with a sarcastic grin, "Who wants to take a dip in the sewers?"
A few moments later, Nightingale descended into the dark tunnel, landing in complete silence. Her nose overwhelmed by the stench, she glanced around her surroundings for the slightest hint of movement, her ears scanned for any sound that was out of the ordinary. "Clear," her voice called out, barely a whisper.
It was enough for Silent Hill's expert hearing to pick up, and he too descended gracefully and silently. A moment later, Harness landed, his hooves clacking loudly despite his best efforts. Nightingale mentally cringed. She considered having the stallion leave, but it was thanks to him that the beast was driven into retreat, giving time for Silent Hill to arrive. A growl echoed around them, causing all three to tense.
"Stay close," she whispered, loud enough for the stallion to hear. Harness merely nodded and readied his gun as the Night Guards stepped forward into the pitch darkness. Although the eyes of the Vamponies adjusted almost instantly to the darkness, Harness' had trouble, he could barely make out the moving shapes of the Night Guards, which was very difficult. They seemed to become part of the darkness, before emerging, then falling back in again. He wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, or if it was something else, since he was sure they were no normal ponies. More growls came around them, although it seemed like it was everywhere to Harness, the Night Guards were able to pinpoint where it was coming from.
"There's more then one of them." Nightingale said, her ears flicking about.
"Oh great," The Pegasus muttered. Then, he realized something, he had spent a long time cleaning the blood from the shot to his own head, and the beast survived two bullets to the head . He wasn't sure how many bullets were left in his pistol, but if-no, when-he ran out, he was going to almost helpless against a group of them, and the idea of being ripped apart again and again by them was not at all pleasant to him.
Nightingale's mind, meanwhile, was buzzing with concerning questions. There's more then one down here... how many are there? How long have they been here? How do we stop them? She glanced to her fellow Guardspony and whispered, "Silent. The Princess will be waking any minute to raise the moon, she may be awake even now. Maybe you should go and inform her of the situation, we'll-" She stopped when they came to an old wooden door, poorly constructed and looking very weak.
"This was added in recently," The Vampony muttered.
"What was?" Harness asked, trying to figure out why they had stopped.
Cautiously extending a hoof, Nightingale pushed the door open, she sucked in a breath instantly when she saw not one, not two, not three, but over a dozen of the creatures sitting or sleeping on the other side, a few tending over the one that was, presumably, the one that was shot twice in the head. Instantly, they all turned their heads to the intrusion, and all roared.
"Oh shi-" Harness cursed before he reacted instinctively, pulling out his pistol and-
BANG BANG
If anything, the gunshots agitated them even more, and they all rose and charged at the three ponies.
"RUN!" Nightingale shouted, turning and pulling Harness behind her as she galloped, with Silent Hill right behind them. They didn't go far when a bright orb of light suddenly flashed, Harness covered his eyes while the Vamponies hissed and did the same. It seemed to have the same effect on the beasts, as Harness could hear yelps behind him.
"Get out of the way!!!" A voice shouted. Immediately the three ponies ran as far to the wall as they could, the light dimming down enough to be bearable for the Pegasus' eyes. He opened them slightly to see two stallions in black and white camouflage armour and helmets, each carrying a rifle of some sort, they both raised their guns as the beasts blinked and regained their composure.
"Open fire!" One of the soldiers shouted before he flexed his hoof, flashes of light and a quiet, but rapid tinging sound emerged from their guns as they unloaded what may have been dozens of bullets into the beasts, who whined and backed away, howling. The soldiers advanced, firing short bursts to keep the beasts from getting too brave, Harness watched them as they herded the beasts past the makeshift doorway, before they looked at each other.
"Ready a Plasma grenade," one of them said. "They're too wiled up now." The other nodded and pulled out a bluish orb from his belt. Harness got a very bad feeling.
"What are you-" He was interrupted by the soldier firing another burst from his SMG, before his partner clicked something on the grenade, and tossed it in, the first soldier then immediately slammed the makeshift door shut and both turned and dived away from it. There was a loud cry from the beasts, before they were drowned out by a bright blue flash and a sickening splashing and sizzling sound, the wooden door being blown apart and landing just short of the two soldiers. All was silent for the sizzling noise.
After a moment, the two soldiers began to regain their footing, while Harness walked slowly to the smoking doorway, and a horrific smell hit him. The smell of cooked meat. Figuring what was in there, Harness turned to the two soldiers as they stood up.
"You just killed them! Why did you-" Once again, he was interrupted when the soldiers aimed their SMGs at him, his eyes widened and he made to raise his gun against them when they fired.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With a sharp gasp, Harness leaned up in shock as his body was jumpstarted back to life, he was stopped by a firm hoof on his chest, a dark blue hoof.
"Harness?" Luna's voice calmed the Pegasus quickly, slowing his heart rate and steadying his breathing, his chest beginning to rise and fall at a slower speed. He looked up to see Luna looking at him, her eyes showing concern. "Are you alright?"
"I-" He started, before he looked around. He was no longer in the sewers, but in the alleyway. Several policeponies stood by a dark bag that covered the body of the mare killed earlier. Behind Luna were her two Night Guards, leaning against the wall. Harness could see them panting and struggling to stay upright, many bandages wrapped around their legs and bodies, covering their wounds. "What happened?" He asked with a hoarse voice.
"You mean, after you were shot?" Luna asked. "Nightingale and Silent Hill reacted quickly, they pulled your body up and retreated, the weapons did a lot of damage to them, they barely got out with their lives. I noticed something was off when I did not see anypony watching over your room, and began searching when I heard of a strange monster seen in the streets. I saw my Night Guards pulling you up from the sewer hole and had the police check over their injuries."
Harness opened his mouth to speak, but coughed. When he cleared his throat, his voice began mostly normal. "What about the soldiers that attacked us?"
"Gone," the alicorn answered. "They didn't pursue my guards for long, at this point they could be anywhere."
Harness groaned in frustration. So we're still at square one .
"Now I must ask you some questions."
The silver Pegasus raised an eyebrow at the Princess, her horn glowed slightly as she levitated his pistol in front of him. "I want you to tell me where you got this..." She then pointed to the brown strap. "...and what it is that you have around your hoof?"
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
"My sister believes in trading with the neighboring kingdoms, seeing how we could help improve life in other lands while also seeing how those lands could improve life here. But my sister has seen many things the other kingdoms have in their possession that have the capability of destroying life in ways more monstrous then many of the most dangerous creatures in Equestria.
"The Gryphon Kingdom is one such place. My sister has told me of their main weapons of combat, muskets they are called. Ranged weapons that fire tiny projectiles that can easily pierce the toughest armour we have and rend through the flesh, embedding deep into the bone and causing excruciating pain. Though they are only capable of firing a single shot before needing to be reloaded, a process which takes several minutes, and I am told they are woefully inaccurate, they are devastating when used in numbers. My sister has done everything in her power to keep weapons like these out of the hooves of our subjects and bringing about untold pain and fear."
Luna displayed the pistol in front of Harness. "So to find a musket capable of firing more than one shot and being incredibly accurate is very concerning, and from the description by my guards, our enemies have weapons that are able to rapidly fire their projectiles in the dozens, which is, to put it bluntly, a terrifying prospect. So you can understand me when I ask you, with the utmost importance..." She leaned in close, her muzzle barely touching the Pegasus', Harness would've blushed were it not for her gaze, which seem to stare right deep into him. "...Where did you get this?"
The Pegasus sighed. "Luna, all I know is that it was found with me the night I appeared."
"Found with you?" The dark Alicorn leaned back from him with a raised eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell me you had something like this?"
"Because I didn't know until today." Harness hesitated before continuing. "The clothing and items I was found with were given to me just after you left last night."
Immediately Luna's eyes widened. "Did you..." Her voice faltered and the look of hope in her eyes dissipated when Harness shook his head slowly, his ears folding down.
"No... I felt like l was touching the surface, but I couldn't even scrape it." He sighed again and looked at his hooves. "Now... All I can do is hope for a miracle."
Luna placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, causing him to look up, and see her sympathetic face, her eyes no longer hard and serious, but soft and showing concern. Concern for him, he realized. The knowledge of that brought his spirits back. His ears perked up and his chest puffed slightly and he smiled confidently.
"I'll be fine, your highness, it'll take more then one little disappointment to keep me down." With that, he pushed himself up to his hooves, and looked out at the two wounded Night Guards. "Will they be alright?"
"Hm?" Luna turned and blinked when she saw the two vamponies. "What are you two still doing here? I thought I told you to go and rest."
Her voice wasn't raised, but it was stern. Nightingale stood up straight, before cringing and slumping again. "We feel it is unwise to leave you alone, your highness, what if our enemies strike when we are not nearby?"
"If they do, then you will both be killed, you are too weak and injured to fight. All you'd do is make things harder for us."
"But, your highness," the vampony protested. "It is our duty to-"
"-To protect me?" The Alicorn asked with a raised eyebrow. "That was never your duty, I am more then capable of defending myself. Your duty is to be the extensions of my will, to act as my eyes and ears and blades and claws. Since you are unable to be my extensions in your current state, you must go and rest and heal. Those are my orders, now go."
Harness could tell that they considered arguing further, but one glare from Luna silenced their opposition. With a sigh, Nightingale nodded and the two made to take off before Nightingale stopped and turned to face her Princess. "I almost forgot, your highness, your sister wanted me to tell you to take as much time as you needed in the city and she said that she hoped you enjoy yourself."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "So my sister doesn't know?"
The guard shook her head. Luna nodded after a moment. "Alright then, thank you Nightingale, now go."
Flapping off into the night, Harness noticed they didn't seem to vanish completely as before. Luna continued looking after them, making sure that they took her words to heart.
"They'll be fine, all they need is some food and rest, and they'll be in good condition again." She turned back to Harness. "Let me apologize for the questioning, Harness, but it is of grave importance that these types of weapons do not become common knowledge to our subjects." She sighed. "But it seems my sister has failed, as our enemies have weapons of even greater power than what the Gryphons possess."
She brought a hoof out to the Pegasus, who gratefully took it, being brought back on all fours. "But this need not concern you, Harness." She turned to the officers who stood solemnly around the body bag. "I will take my leave now, officers, tell your chief not to send an investigation team into the sewers." The police ponies looked at each other oddly, before nodding silently to the Princess, who turned back to Harness. "Come, I shall escort you back to your hotel."
Harness quickly shook his head. "No no, you probably have a lot to do, I don't want you wasting time on me."
"Is making sure that you, one of my subjects, safe and protected wasting my time?" Luna asked with a look as the two left the alleyway and walked down the empty street.
"Well no," the silver stallion stuttered as they walked out of the alley. "But there must be more important things you need to do, like helping to figure out what the hay is going on here?"
"Are you saying you don't want my presence?" The Alicorn asked with a smile.
Harness stuttered. "N-no! Of course not! I just- argh!"
So this is what it's like to throw somepony for a loop . The smug thought caused Luna to chuckle. "Consider that payback for last night."
She smiled in victory to Harness, who frowned, until he realized what she had said, he smiled deviously.
"Oh, was I too rough last night?" He asked with a low voice.
"No, I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." The Princess replied, completely missing the hidden meaning in the words.
The Pegasus chuckled. "Well, I do tend to surprise ponies with my skills, you saw first hoof what I was capable of." He gave her a knowing look, which Luna misinterpreted as the memory of last night and how he was able to break through her composure so effortlessly with his words and questions.
"I will admit," she said. "You do have impressive skill with your tongue."
Harness stared at Luna in complete shock. Did she just.. She did! Oh man, that was far better then what I hoped! unable to hold back, he began laughing. Hard. So hard, in fact, his sides were heaving and he had trouble standing. All throughout the next few minutes, Luna stared at the laughing stallion in complete confusion, wondering idly if a sneaky Unicorn had cast some sort of laughing spell on him.
"Pray tell, what is so funny?" She asked when Harness seemed to calm down, though he was still chuckling. The question nearly drove Harness back into another laughing fit, but he steeled himself with a surprising amount of composure before he gave the Princess of the Night a look.
"Come on, Luna, you're smart, you must've seen the innuendo there, haven't you?"
Luna stared. Innuendo? What is he talking about...? She thought back over their conversation, before she saw what Harness had really been saying and how she had set herself up, her last words repeated themselves in her mind. Her eyes widened in horror, her ears folded back, her wings unfurled slightly in shock, and a bright red blush quickly appeared, easily visible even against her dark fur and the little light around them. Seeing Luna's look of horror and embarrassment drove Harness back into his laughing fit, this time rolling on the ground while Luna wanted nothing more than to fly away and hide in the night sky. But her hooves remained steadfast on the street, and she gathered the sad remains of her dignity and pride before glaring at the now wheezing Pegasus.
"Harness..." She said, trying to put in the same sternness in her voice as she had with her Night Guards moments before. For some reason, she wasn't quite as successful. Nevertheless, the stallion managed to stand back up, still chuckling. "Never do that again." She said simply.
"Sorry, Luna, but you set yourself up for that one, I just seized the opportunity." The silver Pegasus replied.
Oh sweet stars, give me strength... The Princess placed a hoof on her face. "Can we just... continue please?"
Chuckling, Harness nodded and the two continued down the street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
White Stripe frowned as he looked out the window to his hotel room. Today had been a bad day, no, this week had been a bad week. So many things had gone wrong, were still going wrong, and the situation kept getting worse. Just one thing after another, and they showed no sign of letting up, even after the order had went out, something had still gone wrong, and now everything was in grave danger of falling apart, he could only imagine how her Majesty would cringe if she knew what an embarrassment everything had become. Ironically enough, it was her unexpected arrival to the city where things started going downhill.
He felt a vibration in his pocket, and sighed. Levitating out a small black rectangle, he flicked it open, revealing a shining blue screen that simply said 'incoming call '. He pressed a single key and held the cell phone to his ear.
"Yes?" He said simply.
"Shade..." The voice in the phone said, the Unicorn could feel the anger behind his calm voice, he cringed. "Did you not hear me when I said we put a pause on all operations and lay low while the Princess was investigating us?"
"The stallion had stumbled into one of the Rat's nest in the sewers," he answered. "The guards were just following standard procedure. If they didn't act, the rats would've gone berserk and start attacking the city openly, that would most likely set off a chain reaction with the other nests, causing the city to be overwhelmed and many innocent ponies killed, not to mention us being forced to reveal ourselves to protect the base."
The voice was silent for a moment, White Stripe knew he made the right choice on the matter. "Why did one of the rats go wild?"
"They're all wild, sir." White answered. "And you know one of them occasionally gets a taste for pony flesh. This one just happened to be discovered by one of the Princess' Night Guards, then began the chain of events we could not control, until we had no choice but to eliminate the nest."
The voice sighed. "It's gone wrong... It's all gone wrong..."
There was silence for a few minutes before the voice spoke again. "Shade, what I'm about to ask you will be the most risky task I've given you yet, but we cannot wait any longer. You must make haste immediately to Canterlot and find a way to draw the Princess away from the city, we must begin setting up the Extractor and initiate the final phase of the plan, but first you must draw Princess Luna away from the city, I don't care how it is done, I don't care if it means revealing your true loyalties, just do it. The fate of the Night, of our Majesty, of Equestria rests on the completion of this task, are we clear?"
"Perfectly, sir." White answered. "But what of the stallion? Don't we need him?"
"We still do, but first the Extractor must be constructed. We'll worry about the stallion once we are fully prepared, and then we will bring him in, even in front of her Majesty, or in broad daylight if we have to... Once the Extractor is built, then our Majesty will be victorious and her glory will be finally assured."
White nodded. "Understood, I will leave immediately."
With that, White Stripe shut the phone off, placed it back in his pocket, and immediately left his hotel room, if he left now, he'd be in Canterlot by morning, and hopefully by then he'd figure out a plan to draw Luna out of the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Much to Harness' amusement, he could still see the blush on Luna's muzzle, which caused him to smirk. "Look on the bright side, Princess. At least nobody was around when I make you blush like this."
Luna merely grumbled in reply, when she realized what he had said. "Wait... 'nobody'?" She gave the Pegasus an odd look.
"Uh, sorry, I meant nopony. Where did that come from?"
"That's not the first odd thing I've heard you say." Luna said, looking through her conversations with the stallion. "You've said quite a few odd things actually... Hell in place of Hay, God instead of my sister's name, and you are far more prone to swearing then many ponies I've met. What's odd is that you say them so naturally, and you don't even seem to notice."
Harness blinked. She's right... Could that have something to do with who I was? His thoughts were abruptly stopped by his stomach, which loudly growled. The Pegasus chuckled sheepishly. "Hey. uh, Luna? Could we take a quick detour and get a bite to eat? I don't think I've eaten all day."
"Certainly," the Princess said with a chuckle. "You should take better care of yourself, Harness, you may be immortal, but that doesn't excuse you from eating."
"Obviously..." The stallion replied. "What about you? Are you hungry?"
"Oh no, I'm fine I-" Another growl interrupted her, and it wasn't from Harness' stomach. The silver Pegasus laughed.
"Luna, when was the last time you ate?"
The Alicorn opened her mouth, then closed it when she realized, save for one time, that she hadn't eaten since leaving Canterlot. Her silence caused Harness to scoff.
"You're such a hypocrite!" He taunted. "Telling me that my immortality is no reason to skimp on meals, and yet you're no better."
"Please, I get enough of that talk from my sister, I don't need any more of that from you as well."
Harness chuckled and waved a hoof. "Relax, you've been busy figuring out a mystery surrounding this city, no big deal. And I'm sure your sister is just as big a hypocrite as you are when it comes to food."
Luna shook her head slowly. "Not the same kind of hypocrite as I am with food... (It isn't a nibble if it's half the cake)"
Harness chuckled. "Alright, well, the good thing about being hungry is that it's an easy thing to fix, you'll just have to eat with me then."
"Are you just saying that because I'm the one who has money?"
"Details, details..." Harness answered as he dismissively waved a hoof.
The Alicorn laughed, a feat which made Harness' heart jump. "Very well, Harness, if you wish, then we shall go and eat. Do you have any suggestions?"
The silver Pegasus opened his mouth, before closing it again and shrugging sheepishly. "I don't really know any place to go to..."
"No matter, I believe I saw one or two fine looking restaurants during my stay here, shall we take to the skies?" She smiled at him as her wings unfurled slowly in preparation. Harness stared, completely lost in the mare's beautiful face and form. Luna then turned away.
"Let us go then." With that, she took off.
Harness blinked, confused, he hadn't answered her, just stared at her like a dumb idiot (he made a mental note to berate himself later). He then noticed his wings were completely open. A blush came over his face when he remembered being told about how his wings can show his emotions, including sexual attraction. He quickly took off after her, glad that she had misinterpreted the meaning in his wings.
Luna, however, did not misinterpret the meaning, she was well apt in seeing the emotion in a Pegasus pony through their wings, and the blush that was just starting to fade from before had returned in full force. Luna was fully aware of her beauty, and it was not the first time she had seen a pony goggling over her, but her own uncertainty about her feelings for Harness brought about a strange feeling in her, a feeling that brought a smile to her face. Giddiness. Oh, it had been so long since she felt that fluttering feeling within herself, she had all but forgotten it. Even though she was incredibly beautiful, and that anypony could be just as attracted to her as that stallion, the fact that he was brought a feeling of elation to her. Harness was attracted to her.
And she was going out to dinner with him.
The Princess stopped mid-flight as the realization hit her like a shockwave. She shook her head and continued flying on, looking down at the city as she tried to find one of the high class restaurants she had seen before. Does it matter if it's a high class place? She asked herself. After all, this is just for Harness' sake, right? You could always eat later and on your own time ... but she didn't want to leave him, not just because the stallion was key to the mystery over the city and was possibly in danger. Her heart continued beating furiously at the idea, she took a few breathes to calm herself. It's just a simple meal, she told herself. Nothing more! We'll just sit down, eat our meal, maybe trade a few words, and then I'll pay and escort him back to his hotel and that will be that! Do you hear, disobedient heart? We aren't courting. This is just. A simple. Meal! . Nevertheless her heart kept beating hard and she still felt giddy.
Moments later, she spotted the small, two story building, painted a dark green with a lighter green outline. Many large leaves adorned the walls, and acted as an overhang protecting the tables and seats laid outside in case it rained.
The Princess landed quietly on the street, standing before the restaurant. She admired its natural look as she stepped towards the building, but stopped when she heard a rather unsettling smack! next to her. Turning, she found Harness face first on the road, his wings still out, and his flank pointed to the sky. He groaned, then fell to his side. Luna eyed him with concern, looking him over for any serious injuries. When she didn't find any, she allowed her amusement to show in the form of a small chuckle.
"You really must work on your landings, Harness." She teased. "Honestly, I've seen children fly better then you."
The silver stallion merely grumbled in response as he got to his hooves, when he felt warmth flow from his nose.
"Oh dear," Luna said as she saw the blood. "We'll see if the staff inside can get you a paper towel to clean yourself with."
Harness frowned and used a hoof to cover his bleeding nose as the two ponies approached the restaurant.
Using her magic, Luna pushed the doors open, her wings open in royal fashion, a single bell jingled as the door knocked into it, signalling her arrival. Behind the registry, a cream coloured stallion with a gelled black mane, a small mustache adorning his muzzle. Upon seeing the dark Alicorn, his small eyes widened and he gaped, before closing his mouth and stuttering.
"P-p-p-p-Your majesty! Welcome!" He quickly bowed, before quickly looking over a small notepad. "I-I apologize, but I never saw your name on the reservation list."
"That's because I'm not." Luna answered simply. The waiter looked at her confused.
"I apologize for our unannounced arrival and I hope I'm not imposing on this fine looking establishment by requesting that my friend and I dine here." She glanced back at the silver Pegasus. "Also, can we get something for my friend, he injured himself on the way here."
"O-of course!" The waiter stuttered, before quickly grabbing a box of tissues and bringing them to Harness, who took them with a grateful look. "We were about to shut down for the night, but I'll talk to the chefs, and see if we can't extend our work period for you, your highness."
As he stepped around the registry, Luna spoke. "If it is too much trouble, we can return later."
The waiter continued on without a word, moving past the beautifully carved wooden tables and turning around a bend, vanishing from sight. The two ponies stood where they were, patiently waiting, Harness carefully rubbing his nose with tissues, cringing when he felt a twitch of pain. Luna eyed him curiously.
"It seems your immortality does not fix your injuries when you are alive." She commented as she stepped towards him. "Curious."
Harness stopped his cleaning as he looked up and stared at the Princess of the Night. The dark Alicorn raised a hoof, gently placing it on Harness' and pushing it away. The Pegasus' eyes went wide as he felt tingles travel up his leg and spine.
"What are you-?"
"It's alright," Luna whispered softly as her horn glowed. "Just a little something to help you."
Harness felt an odd tingle in his nose for a moment, then Luna's horn became silent. The silver stallion touched his nose tentatively, he still felt pain, but the blood had stopped coming out of his nostril.
"A temporary barrier to prevent more blood from coming out." Luna explained. "By the time if wears off, that little injury should heal enough so that it is no longer necessary."
"Wow, thanks." Harness smiled gratefully, to which Luna returned with a beaming smile of her own, her horn glowing again, levitating the box of tissues.
"Now, let's clean off the rest of that." She pulled out a tissue with her hoof and began vigorously, but not uncomfortably, cleaning off the rest drying blood, though Harness was embarassed slightly, he didn't protest. When she was finished moments later, she stepped back to examine her hoofwork, nodding approvingly. "Now you look presentable."
Before Harness could reply, the waiter returned with a triumphant smile. "The staff have decided to extend their work for you, highness." He moved past towards the podium, grabbing two brown folders underneath, before gesturing them to follow. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your table."
"Perks to royalty, huh?" Harness whispered, leaning in so the dark Alicorn could hear.
"mm," Luna simply muttered, keeping her eyes straight, prompting the Pegasus to give her an odd look.
The table the waiter led them to was intricately carved with numerous leaves, each one highly detailed and completely different from each other, swirling around in the wind. When Harness stared at it for a few moments, they looked like they were moving slowly, but a blink later and he saw that it was just a trick of the carving.
"Very fine work on the table here," Luna commented as she sat down on a plush green cushion, noting how the waiter most likely chose the table that was next to a window that had a clear view of the night sky, the near full moon shining high above, partially covered by the night clouds. Harness sat on another across from her.
The waiter smiled in reply as he handed them their menus.
"They were carved from a family of tree carvers," he explained. "It was said that long before Vanhoover was formed, a magical and sentient tree rooted here saved their lives and provided shelter and nourishment for them until it died. To honour and thank it, they made this building out of its remains, so that it could continue providing shelter and nourishment for them. Personally, I think we are honouring its name by having this establishment being a restaurant. Now, I leave you to choose your meal in private, call me when you have both decided."
The two ponies nodded and the waiter walked off, leaving them alone as they looked over their respective menus. At least, Harness pretended to, as he had no idea what he would want, never remembering eating any of the items before. He pondered Luna's reaction, or lack thereof, to his earlier remark. A thought came to him, causing him to glance up at the Alicorn. He placed his menu down and cleared his throat.
"Luna?"
She looked up and gave him a curious look. Harness opened his mouth but hesitated. Is this a good idea? What if it's another sensitive topic? Then again, we did spend last night talking about her sister's sex like and her lack of a sex life... You can't get more sensitive then that... Well, you can, but-
"Harness?"
The silver Pegasus jerked his head up, returning his focus on Luna. "Hm?"
"What is it?"
"Uh, well..." Fuck it, I'll bite , "...do you enjoy being a Princess?"
Before Luna opened her mouth to answer, the waiter returned. "I trust you have made your decisions?"
The Princess looked to the stallion, nodding. "I have, I'll have the Everfree Garden with a glass of water, please."
"I'll have the same." Harness commented.
The waiter jotted down their orders, took their menus and turned for the kitchen. They were silent for a minute before Harness cleared his throat. "Luna? You didn't answer my question."
"I know." The dark Alicorn replied, looking up at the night sky. "Did I ever tell you how old I was when I discovered my special talent?"
The stallion shook his head, not wanting to question her change of topic. Luna smiled softly as the pleasant memory came to her. "I was 6 years old. Back then, I always had trouble sleeping at night. You wouldn't believe it now, but it scared me as a child."
"The night scared you?" Harness couldn't help but snicker a little, Luna nodded with a small smile. "Back then, there was nothing but darkness in the sky; a big black void that looked like it would swallow you whole if you stared too deeply into it. There were no stars, no comets, no lights of any kind. Even the moon was dark, barely visible in the black. It terrified me to look up to it. It was hardly better when I looked around me, I saw the black pushing against the light from our fires, never ceasing its relentless assault. To make things worse I had trouble staying awake in the day, where my sister was most active. Most of the time I would sleep through the day, and awake with my mother and sister asleep, leaving me all alone in the dark.
"I practiced my magic, mostly illumination, to push back the darkness, but I would eventually tire out. One night however, my sister began tossing and turning in her sleep, she moaned occasionally and her face was contorted with fear."
"A nightmare..."
Luna nodded. "Yes, I had never experienced a nightmare, my dreams were always quite pleasant, and I remembered them all vividly. When I realized this, I tried to wake her, but my sister was always a heavy sleeper. She seemed so scared, I wanted to help her so badly, but there was nothing I could do. The next morning, when she awoke, I asked her about it, but she didn't want to tell me, feeling that I had enough fears with the dark already. This continued for a week, with the nightmares coming back to haunt her. It got so bad, she refused to sleep one night, and she and I stayed awake together. It was very nice, actually. But, as the sun rose, she fell asleep along with me and I knew her nightmare would return. I didn't enjoy my dream as usual because I knew my sister was suffering."
"You knew you were dreaming?"
"Every time. Anyways, I wanted so badly to help my sister, that was when I started to see her forming before me, like a mist that was taking her form. I focused on it and she came into view, and the scenery around her changed. She was surrounded by darkness, a pair of deep red, evil eyes pursued her, and her cries for our mother and me echoed around her. Somehow, I knew instantly what her nightmare was, what her fear was."
"Red eyes?"
Luna chuckled and shook her head. "No. It wasn't the creature chasing her that scared her, but it was the fact that she didn't know where she was and, worst of all, she was alone. Immediately, I leapt to her aid, my horn glowing brightly, illuminating the area around me, and bringing aspects of my dream with me, chasing away the monster and surrounding my sister in the wondrous ribbons of blue light that always followed me in my dreams. My sister looked at me in shock, as if she couldn't believe I was here. When I looked into her eyes, I knew instantly that she wasn't a figment of my dream, that it was actually her. I told her she would never, ever be alone. That was when I got my Cutie Mark, a crescent shaped moon. I had the power to go into other ponies dreams and help them face their fears. Celestia and I played in each other's dreams for the rest of the day." Luna smiled and chuckled a little as the memories floated through her. "She was also very jealous of me."
Harness raised an eyebrow. "How come?"
"Because I had discovered my Cutie Mark before she did."
Harness did a double take. "Woah, wait! Celestia was how old then?"
"11 years old, she wouldn't discover her special talent for quite some time afterwards. And I never stopped bragging to her about it. I occasionally still bring it up." She leaned in closely and whispered. "It's one of the few things that can get under her skin."
Harness chuckled. "That's amazing... but, I thought your special talent was night itself?"
"It is," Luna answered. "But when dealing with something as big as this, you have to take small steps in learning to control it. That was when my mother knew that I was destined for great things. Over the next few years, I faced my own fear and, with my mother's guidance, I created the first stars. Suddenly, ponies were far less terrified of the night, and many actually came out and spent hours watching the sky." She took a deep breath. "Oh, times were so much simpler back then..."
Luna was silent as she stared back up at the moon again. "There is a reason I'm telling you this. It was shortly after my sister and I, under our mother's guidance, had moved the sun and moon for a full day when we transformed."
"Transformed?"
"Oh yes, we weren't born Alicorns, you know. We were Unicorns, powerful ones, even at our young ages. After my sister controlled the sun completely for the first time, and I the moon, we underwent a magical transformation, becoming the first Alicorns in recorded history. Our strength and durability increased immensely and our wings allowed us the ability to fly and expertly control the weather. That was when our mother explained our destinies. We were to be the symbols of Equestria, and to guide the young nation and its populace. You asked me if I enjoy being a Princess of Equestria, of the Night." She looked at him straight in the eye, and smiled. "I do, for it's what I am. It's what my sister is, it's my true special talent, to guide and protect our subjects. It's exactly the same as my sister's, we just have different methods."
Harness nodded. "It's just that you didn't really respond to my remark about perks to royalty."
"Oh, I'm just not used to this..." She paused as she looked for a word. "...this closeness royalty has with its subjects these days. Before I fell and was imprisoned in the moon, we made almost every single decision in the kingdom and kept our distance from the populace, having them be in awe of us from afar. Now, it seems my sister lets many small decisions be made within the different communities and is only involved in the large politics of the kingdom. Yet, now she seems closer to her subjects then ever before."
Harness glanced around him, and noticed the waiter staring at them from the other side of the room, he immediately turned away from them when he thought he was being looked at. "Funny, it seems they still hold you in awe."
"Yes, but a thousand years ago, I would never have even considered coming to an establishment such as this, in fact I wouldn't have even left the castle unless the conditions were dire, the idea would've been preposterous otherwise."
"Why would it have been?"
"Harness, back then, the memory of Discord was fresh on the minds of our subjects. To them, we seemed like the only ones who weren't harmed by his reign of anarchy. If we tried getting close with them, they'd be far too reminded of Discord, as he got himself personally involved in the affairs of ponies all across the kingdom. After awhile, we got used to it. And now, I have to adjust heavily to this change of attitude in interacting with our subjects. I've gotten better now (they aren't fleeing in terror from me anymore), but it still feels odd to me."
Harness nodded and glanced down as his flank, examining his own mark. He frowned. "Our Cutie Marks represent our special talent, who we are, and what we're destined to do, right?"
Luna nodded slowly, already realizing where he was going with this.
"My Mark is the infinity symbol, but all it tells me is that I can't stay dead. I always come back. What does that tell me about my destiny? Am I just meant to die over and over again? What's the point of that?"
Luna bit her lip as several memories came to her. "I've... heard of many legends about ponies and their Cutie Marks, including some which tell of a pony whose destiny was changed after an incredibly traumatic and painful experience, thus changing their Mark. Perhaps you underwent some traumatic event that changed who you were, what your destiny was. It may have been so terrible that your mind couldn't handle it, thus the memory loss."
"It's... possible to change a pony's Cutie Mark?"
Luna hesitated. "That... is a very dangerous question, Harness. Attempting to change one's special talent, a vital aspect that makes us who we are, can have disastrous consequences. I don't know about the validity of the legends regarding the subject, but deep in the most secure archives, my sister holds the Puzzle of Starswirl. It's an incomplete spell that one of the most powerful Unicorns in history tried to create, he failed because he did not understand a vital aspect about magic. I don't know what the spell's intended purpose is, but in it's incomplete state, it had the dangerous effect of switching the Cutie Marks of at least two ponies."
"So they were suddenly good at different things?"
Luna shook her head. "No Harness, we are born with our special talents, nothing can take that away. Our Cutie Marks merely show what we can do, what we want to do, and what we are willing to do. Our Marks are a part of us, a pony spends their early life finding that missing part of themselves, upon realizing it, the pony and their Mark live in harmony with one another. But if the Mark is taken, and suddenly forced onto another, then they are no longer in harmony, they clash against each other. Because with the Mark also comes the memory of how they got the Mark. The ponies would find themselves unsure of what to do, memories of how they received their Mark conflicting with everything they've wanted to do after or before they've discovered their talents. They may go and attempt what they believe is their destiny, but they would not have the skills they were born to do to accomplish them, they wouldn't understand why they were terrible at it, and deep down, it would feel wrong to them in doing it and they wouldn't understand why.
"Not only would this affect those around the afflicted ponies as well, but I fear that, given enough time, the afflicted ponies would go mad, their once harmonious lives ruined beyond repair. When it comes to the magic and altering Cutie Marks, it can have disastrous consequences for everypony involved."
The silver Pegasus stared in shock. "All from an incomplete spell?"
Luna nodded. "Everypony that has tried completing it has accidentally activated it, so my sister has kept it locked away, for everypony's safety, but now she has a plan involving it..."
"A plan to solve it?"
"That's one of the end results, but it's not her goal..."
Harness sat still, waiting for the Princess to continue as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Forgive me, Harness, but I'd rather not discuss that particular subject."
Immediately, Harness nodded. "Sure, of course. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"It's not about me, it's... Well, it doesn't matter right now, it's certainly not important for what's going on in the city."
The two ponies were silent for a moment before Harness remembered what one of her Night Guards told her earlier.
"Does your sister know about what's going on here?"
The dark Alicorn shook her head. "Neigh, and it's best she does not, for now. To face our enemies, we must move carefully, else they'll make themselves disappear."
"You don't think your sister is capable of moving carefully in a situation like this?"
Immediately Luna shook her head. "No, she is not. She relies heavily on her magical abilities and her combat experience, no subtlety or careful planning. When there is a threat to her home and ponies, she will become almost single minded in eliminating that threat, ignoring just about any advice given by anypony. If we told her, she would have guards scouring the city and possibly bring the Elements of Harmony in, that would force our enemies to vanish, never to be seen again until it is too late."
"You're sure they can just vanish without a trace?"
"I wouldn't put it past them," Luna answered. "They've been here for sometime, I am sure, without anypony knowing of their existence. I've been studying the city's history in detail and they're just little things that, were it not for all that was happening, I would've ignored them entirely, but now, there is some connection... Ponies disappearing, unsolved murders, strange sightings of odd creatures, all of this has been going on for centuries."
Harness grinned and shook his head. "And we're at the center of it all."
Luna smiled. "I am afraid so, my friend."
They both chuckled before Harness gave the dark Alicorn a concerned look.
"Won't your sister be upset when she finds out you haven't told her?"
"She might be perturbed, but she will know that I acted with Equestria's best interests in mind, she knows I care about our land and subjects as much as she does. But, like I said before, we both have different methods of protecting them." Nevertheless, it was a conversation Luna was not looking forward to.
Harness nodded. "Right, right." He chuckled. "You'd think someone as old as her would've learned how to be cunning."
"Well," Luna replied. "With the very sun at her control, it's not surprising that she relies on her power to see her through. There are few things more powerful then the sun itself."
"...Such as?"
Luna placed a hoof to her chin as she thought back. "Let's see... there's the Elements of Harmony, there's Discord, the Horror, and the Traveler."
Harness raised an eyebrow at the last one, something about it... "The Traveler?"
Luna nodded. "My sister and I control the night and the day. These are powerful things indeed, but the Traveler had control, or at least knowledge, of something far more powerful. Time itself."
Harness blinked. "Woah, seriously?"
Luna nodded. "Indeed, I didn't believe it at first, but he saved our lives and the kingdom more then once, and he showed me and my sister things we never imagined were possible, both good and bad. His knowledge was vast and almost unending, and it was his greatest weapon against whatever tried standing against him." She chuckled. "The first time we met him, he recognized us immediately, even though we had never seen him before, this was before we had revealed ourselves to the land, mind you, so hardly anypony knew us. And apparently just before 300 years after my banishment, my sister ran into him again, only he acted as if he had never seen her before. And, from my sister's description, he had hardly aged."
The silver Pegasus whistled. "You know, a time traveler doesn't sound that unbelievable in comparison to everything else."
Luna laughed softly. "Speak for yourself, even today I find myself still amazed whenever I think about that stallion and his quirks."
"So, did he have an actual name, or was it just 'traveler'?"
"Only I called him Traveler, everypony else called him-" Before Luna could finished, she noticed the waiter approaching and clearing his throat.
"Excuse me, your highness." He said, bowing. "Your meal is ready."
As he spoke, two more staff carrying large silver trays and too tall glasses of ice cold water approached, walking gracefully next to the table and carefully placed the trays before their customers. With a flourish, the two staff ponies removed the silver domes, revealing Harness' and Luna's meals. An assortment of vegetables in many different colours. Peppers, Tomatoes, onions, and all kinds of leaves. The staff pony that had carried his meal immediately sprinkled some black spice and lightly drizzled a clear sauce onto his salad. He nodded in appreciation as the three ponies backed off, bowing.
"Enjoy," the waiter said as he departed. With that, the two ponies lowered their heads to their dishes and began to eat. The salad was very nice, each bite gave off a satisfying crunch and an explosion of exotic flavours. Though Harness didn't feel he was picky, he felt it could use more of that sauce. As the meal progressed, Harness' thoughts mulled over the day, from the clothes, that pistol, the beast, and its disturbing familiarity, and how he just reacted by shooting it. The soldiers, with the strange weapons, obliterating the beasts and their nest. And now here he was having dinner with the Princess of the Night. Harness briefly wondered if he would ever have a predictable day, before he began wondering about something else.
"Hey Luna?" Harness said after swallowing a bite of his salad, deciding to just be blunt.
The dark Alicorn merely looked up at him in reply, waiting for his question.
"Is this a date?"
Dear Celestia, that blush... Luna didn't answer for several seconds as she stared, wide-eyed at the silver Pegasus, who merely smirked. She swallowed her bite before finally speaking.
"Really, Harness..." She said, her tone surprisingly neutral. If it weren't for the blush and the staring, it might have fooled Harness. "In light of everything that is going on, why would I start dating you?"
"Because you find me attractive and had an opportunity/excuse to do so."
Luna stuttered indignantly. "May I remind you that this was your idea, Harness?"
"Yes," Harness said, his smirk only growing. "Your opportunity right there. Your excuse being you can pass this off as just a simple meal."
The Alicorn stared in complete shock. What is he, psychic!?
Harness meanwhile continued smiling. Damn, I'm good at this. He shifted his face into a pout. "What's wrong? Are you suggesting you do not want my presence?"
Luna gawked. He turned my own brief victory against me... I can't win against him, can I? "Harness... I assure you, this is not a date and we are not courting."
Harness nodded slowly, hiding the fact that those words hurt. His ears folder down slowly as he went back to his meal.
"However..."
His ears perked up and he looked to the beautiful mare biting her lower lip, a blush on her face. "If thou wouldst-argh- if you want to... and if nothing happens that requires either of our attention... we could... court... tomorrow..."
Harness felt his heart jump and he smiled. "I would be honoured to, your beautifulness."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was one of the best dinners Luna had ever had, but it wasn't because of the food. When she was working up the courage to ask him, her heart was beating at a rate faster then she could remember and when he said yes... its rate nearly tripled she was amazed that she had maintained her composure after that. After paying for hers and Harness' meals, and providing a generous tip for their extra time and work, the two winged ponies took off into the night sky, flying towards Harness' hotel room.
During the flight, Luna's mind began to conflict with itself. Part of it was berating her for allowing her heart to get in the way of such an important task as solving the mystery of the city and defeating the ponies who no doubt posed a threat to her home. But, as the other part of her mind argued, Harness is likely at the center of it all, and his protection is key, her feelings for him would only motivate her protection of him. And then... what? Once the mystery was solved and the ponies defeated, what would become of her and him? And what about his amnesia? What if he regained his memories and found out he was married or had a family or... she shook her head as they approached the hotel. They would cross that bridge when they got to it.
After they landed (for Harness, it was a face first landing), the two ponies looked at each other.
"So, when and where should we meet?" Harness asked, keeping his voice steady.
Luna thought it over for a moment. "I will come meet you here just before the sun sets."
The Pegasus nodded, looking at her for a moment, before turning towards the entrance doors. He took only a few steps before turning back. "Hey Luna."
"Yes?"
"You mother... What was her name?"
Luna hesitated. She had never told anypony her mother's name and wondered if Celestia would approve if she did. "Her name was Clover. Don't tell a soul..."
Harness nodded and smiled softly. "Sleep well." He said.
"You shall." She replied with an equally soft smile and watched as he entered the building, before unfurling her wings and flying into the night sky. She had no intention of turning in early tonight.
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Chapter 11: Silver and Blue
The bustling noises of the city outside were barely heard as Harness stared at the long grey overcoat spread out over his bed. It was easily twice his size and still there was no way for him to effectively wear it. Yet he knew, deep down, he wore it all the time in the past. How? How did he do it? The more he stared at the coat, the more confused he got, and the more confused, the more frustrated he became. He sighed, before looking down at his hoof and the brown object strapped around his leg. Yet another mystery on top of everything.
"Why did I even put you on?" He muttered. It didn't even look that good on his coat. But, deep down, something told him it was needed. Flopping onto his bed on top of the coat, the silver Pegasus looked up at the ceiling. He was so close, he could feel it. It was like only a thin veil stood between him and his memories, and he could almost see the shapes moving behind it, as well as hear what lay behind. It almost seemed like... screams... pain... passion... fear... sorrow... and loss, so much loss, and it was all his fault...
A series of knocks caused Harness' eyes to pop open. When had he drifted off? How long was he asleep? Wait, he had slept!? His gaze drew to where the knocking originated, his hotel door. With a small grumble, Harness pushed himself off the bed and made his way over to the door. Opening it up, he found a young Unicorn stallion wearing the hotel's uniform, levitating a small dark envelope.
"This is from Princess Luna." The Unicorn said, eyeing the envelope like he couldn't believe it was there. "She said it was to be given to you at this time."
Floating the note over, Harness took it with his teeth, mumbling his thanks through it. The Unicorn nodded before walking down the hall, Harness closing the door and placing the envelope in his hoof. A dark blue seal with a crescent moon symbol emblazoned on it, sealing the letter inside. With a flick of his hoof, the stallion ripped the envelope open and pulled the letter out. Harness' grey eyes scanned the contents of the letter, fancy hoofwriting was carefully drawn into the paper, creating a short message.
Harness,
Meet me on the highest cloud above the city at sunset, there is something I want to show you.
-Luna
The silver Pegasus stared at the note for a moment, wondering what Luna had in store for him. Ah well, so much for her meeting me here. Placing the note down on a nearby table, Harness turned towards the bathroom and examined himself in the mirror. Despite how little sleep he had gotten, he looked quite good, his mane needed a brush, but that was it. He raised his left foreleg and sniffed the underside of it, and was surprised to find that it smelled... pretty good. And he showered only once since waking up in that hospital. Deciding not to dwell on yet another strange fact about him and just simply count his blessings, Harness grabbed hold of a nearby brush and set to work on his mane. Later, he would take a shower anyways, can't be too careful.
When the sun began setting, Harness jumped out of the hotel window and flew straight into the air, glancing around for any sign of the dark Alicorn. It wasn't long before he spotted a small cloud significantly higher then the rest, and he could make out the Princess' dark blue outline on top of it. As he got closer, he could see the small smile on her lips at his approach. Grinning in return, Harness spread his wings out as he neared the cloud, before raising his upper body to slow himself down (and show himself off to the Princess). Landing roughly on the cloud, he was surprised at how firm the cloud was, as evidenced by his sore hooves. He long since knew that Pegasi could stand on and manipulate clouds, but had imagined them to be more fragile, more easy to give, but the cloud held strong as if it was solid stone.
"Good evening, Harness." Luna greeted, her smile and eyes remained trained on him. "You're just in time."
Twisting his hooves to help shrug off the pain, Harness grinned at Luna. "Good day to you too, Luna, what have you got in store for me?"
Luna's answer was a gesture with her head toward the sunset. Following her gaze, Harness stared in silent admiration at the sight. The horizon ahead of him practically glowed a bright orange, the clouds taking a similar shade. Far ahead, Harness could swear he could make out a single distant mountain, perhaps it was the mountain that held the capital, where Celestia was slowly setting her sun. It was a pretty sight, but nothing compared to the reason he was here, slowly, his gaze shifted over to Luna, who continued looking at the sunset.
Despite the light of the sun shining on her, Luna seemed to be almost glowing in her own light, a softer, more subtle light then the overpowering and blinding light of the sun. Her blue, starry-filled mane continued to slowly wave in an intangible breeze.
"You look absolutely Beautiful, your highness." He said, almost in a sigh.
Luna chuckled quietly and smiled as her horn began glowing. "You haven't seen anything yet, Harness."
Slowly, with precision, Luna's wings unfurled themselves as she slowly lifted herself from the cloud, her horn's aura brightening in intensity. Harness glanced back at the sunset, and sucked in a breath as admiration turned into awe. The sun was halfway past the horizon, but next to it rose a near-full moon. The silver, friendly light did not clash with the bright, intense orange light of the sun, but almost seemed to greet each other as the sky behind them turned from orange to a dark purple. Before he realized it, the sun vanished beneath the horizon and the moon rose higher and higher to take its place. As it did, the stars followed in its wake, covering the dark blue sky with tiny white lights. But there were more subtle, yet equally amazing, changes to the sky that Harness witnessed.
High above, beyond any distance a Pegasus could hope to reach, Harness could make out distant, luminescent clouds among the stars, which seemed to make them dance in the sky, but it was the moon that shined brightest of all, bathing all of Equestia in its silver light. Harness had seen the night sky before and the stars, but never so many, with such clarity, and never with such a sudden change. He wasn't the only one to notice this change. All across Equestria, ponies stared up at the night sky in awe at the intense beauty. Many stopped in their tracks, briefly forgetting where they were going or what they doing, parents let their children stay up to watch the sky with them and many other left their homes to get a better look.
In Canterlot, the Royal guards murmured to each other at the mesmerizing changes done. Even Princess Celestia, who had sensed the change in atmosphere and went out to the balcony to see what had caused it, was taken aback by the stunning sights, before a proud smile adorned her face and decided that, perhaps, she'd sleep out on the balcony tonight.
I don't know what caused this, sister , she thought as she gathered a pillow and blanket. But I'm sure I'll hear all about it when you eventually return .
Harness continued staring, slowly turning in an effort to take it all in, before he suddenly faced Luna, who slowly descended back onto the cloud and, instantly, all the beauty in the night sky paled in his eyes as he saw the Night Alicorn who shined under the moon's light. Her mane practically glowed as it waved much more quickly then he had ever seen it move before. Harness was speechless as he stared, starstruck at the beautiful mare, wings folding back into place as she opened her ey- Good god her eyes! Pools of infinitely deep blue, with such care and love in them, leaving Harness profoundly stunned. She was right, he hadn't seen anything.
"W-wow..." He miraculously managed to say. His head quickly darted to himself as he looked his body over, feeling so damn pathetic next to her. He knew he was attractive, but next to Luna... Words could not describe the disparity between them.
"I-I-uh..." he stammered out desperately, feeling the urge to explain himself, before he took a deep breath and straightened his thoughts. "Did you..." He glanced up at the sky. "...do all this for me?"
"Partly that," Luna answered. "But mostly as my own way of celebrating."
"Celebrating what?" Harness looked up at Luna as she stepped closer to him, her eyes and loving smile directed at him. "Because, since my return, I've found somepony who I feel I can completely, and utterly, trust. Not just with my physical being, but with literally everything about me. Somepony who, when I'm in the presence of, I feel..." She paused as she struggled to find the right words to convey her meaning. "...At peace, like 'all is well'. I'm celebrating because maybe..."
She walked to his side and, extending one of her wings slightly, brushed her wing against his, sending chills down each other's wings and backs as individual silver and blue feathers brushed and mingled with each other. Though Harness didn't know much about Pegasi body language, he felt that this was a sign of deep affection shared only to a few. "...just maybe..." Luna continued, her voice a whisper as the two stared into each other's eyes. "...I may have found somepony to love."
There was silence as the two stared at each other, mesmerized by one another, before Harness blinked and looked away, shocked at what was happening. She's serious... my god, she's serious! "W-why me?" He muttered. "I mean, don't get me wrong, this is great, but, why me? I'm just an amnesiac Pegasus."
"You are far more then just that, Harness." Luna replied. "You have an acceptance for all things that I find endearing, you have kindness in you that wants to see good happen to all, and you bear within you a certain strength that seems to call to those around you. A strength that pulls you and others around you through the worst, as well as inspire those to perform great feats. It is the strength of a leader, a father, and a protector. Traits I admire and respect."
Harness blinked, trying to comprehend it all. "I-wow... You know, for someone who usually has you on the ropes with just words, you kinda have me in a corner here."
Luna chuckled, before draping her wing over him and guiding the stallion to sit down with her. Following without question, Harness folded his legs inward and sat down next to the Princess, feeling her fur on his. The two ponies sat there admiring the starry sky, how long, Harness didn't know, minutes? Hours? Who knew and who cared? Eventually a question came to Harness' mind.
"So," he began. "Is this what we're gonna be seeing every night from here on out?"
"Well..." Luna said as she looked up at the moon. "Although I try to make the nights as beautiful as I could before, honestly I must say even I am surprised by how well I pulled this off. I guess all I needed was an emotional boost." She smiled before continuing. "Perhaps I'll save this for very special occasions, after all, a sight like this shouldn't be ignored."
They were silent again before Luna's smile faded slightly. "Harness? This night, what I said, is it... too much? For you, I mean?"
The silver Pegasus blinked in surprise. "Wha? No no! Well, maybe a little- I mean - No! It's just-" He stopped, took a deep breath, then continued. "I just wasn't expecting this..."
"What were you expecting?" She asked with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, I never thought I'd actually be on a date with the Princess of the Moon only days after meeting her."
Luna chuckled. "For all your bold words and your silver tongue, you're quite insecure about yourself, huh?"
Harness chuckled in return and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh heh, I guess I am. Still, it's hard to believe that I'm here, with a mare so vastly beautiful and powerful, and wise." He paused as an odd, yet amusing, thought came to him. "And... so much older then I am, even if you don't count the years in the moon."
"Look at me." Obeying without question, he turned and saw her deep blue eyes looking at him again. Beneath them, he saw centuries of experience, centuries of living, and the lessons that came with living.
"When I see your eyes Harness, I see a Stallion who is just as old as I am." She leaned in close to his face, so close they were only inches apart, and slowly getting closer. "If not older." Slowly shutting her eyes, Luna pressed her lips against Harness', the stallion's eyes instantly closing shut as his body moved of its own accord. The kiss wasn't like the one in the bar (Harness couldn't even remember the stallion's name), which was just simply lust, Harness could tell the kiss was deeper, far deeper then that. There was genuine feeling behind it. Maybe... He thought as they pulled away, once again looking in each other's eyes. Maybe this could work .
The two were silent as they admired the sky once again, though now affectionately nuzzling each other and ruffling their wings, causing their feathers to brush against one another. They sat there, neither wanting the moment to end. But Luna's mental clock was ticking the time away before the sun would rise again. Though it was still a few hours before it was time to set the moon, Luna, almost painfully so, stood up, separating herself from the Pegasus, who frowned and stood up too.
"I guess we're parting ways, now?" He said, not bothering to hide the sadness in his tone.
Luna opened her mouth to agree, when it came to her, she felt herself blushing as she closed her mouth and looked away from Harness. "Well... Perhaps, Harness, but... if you wanted to, you could come with me..."
Harness blinked, fully understanding what she was implying. "Y-you want me to..." He stopped when Luna nodded, then turned, walking to the edge of the cloud and unfurling her wings, before turning her head to Harness, looking at him expectantly.
Harness unfurled his wings in response and the two jumped off the cloud together, flying side by side towards the Golden Wing hotel. As they approached the top floor, Luna used her magic to unlatch the windows, as well as guide the silver Pegasus in without hurting himself. Harness didn't get much of a look of the large fancy room before Luna closed the window and blinds, causing the room to be pitch black. The stallion couldn't see a thing as he took a tentative step forward, his ears swiveled about as he heard hoofsteps around him, he could hear her pass in front of him, before feeling what he guessed was her ethereal tail moving against his chin. It felt almost like cool water, only rather then splashing against him, it simply moved with him, leaving no wet spot behind.
His eyes immediately fixated on her horn as it glowed suddenly, lighting only her head and the immediate space around it. Her eyes were closed as she took hold of her shoes, slipping out of them one by one before telekinectically grabbing her chest regalia and unclipping it from her, gently placing it on the floor. Mesmerized, Harness only vaguely realized she was making her way to a large bed as she levitated her dark, simple crown off of her head and placed on the small bedside table. As she slowly stepped onto the bed, Harness slowly followed, unclipping the brown strap around his leg while doing so and tossing it carelessly on the same table. He then stepped onto the bed and approached the Alicorn, lying on her side and eyeing him anxiously. Gently, he unfurled his wings and gingerly moved them along hers. Immediately, her wings opened up and, feeling more confident, Harness moved to kiss her.
Not holding back, both quickly had their chests against each other, hooves gently caressing their coats as their wings embraced each other.
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."
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Chapter 13: Captain Jack Harkness
The sun shone high in the sky, barely a cloud in sight, as numerous ponies walked through the streets, the memories of last night pushed to the backs of their minds as they went to work or school. Many chatted with one another as they went to similar destinations. The sounds of ponies outside were barely heard in the Lucky Day hotel room, where Scootaloo warily watched as the silver Pegasus placed a hoof on the bed as leverage to pull himself up, his face scrunched up as if the effort were difficult.
"You okay?" She cautiously asked.
The stallion nodded, before opening his eyes and Scootaloo instantly saw a change in them, like, there was far more age in them then before. He glanced at the great gray coat partly folded up before him, frowning a little, before glancing at the orange Pegasus, as if noticing her for the first time. He smiled and extended a hoof. "Captain Jack Harkness, very nice to meet you Scootaloo."
She blinked, not noticing that she had bumped his hoof with her own. "Y-you remember?"
"Just about every little bit." He grinned slightly.
"Well," She shrugged. "I have heard stranger names."
"I'll bet you have," Jack chuckled, before turning back to his clothes and folding them up. Moments later it hit Scootaloo.
"Hold on! I could've brought your memories back this entire time by just saying 'Torchwood'!?"
"You or anyone else, I guess, yeah."
She sighed. "Whoop-dee-bucking-doo... I still got you those clothes for nothing!"
Jack shrugged as he placed the pants and shirt in the box. "I still would've wanted them." He grabbed hold of his pistol, spun it around a few times, before checking its ammunition.
"Four shots left." He muttered, clicking the clip back in place. "Gotta make them count."
"So you have worked with them before," Scootaloo commented as she saw Jack examine his gun.
"Not this Torchwood, no..." He said as he placed the pistol back into its holster.
"What?"
He didn't answer as he placed his coat in the box and shut the lid. "So, Scootaloo..." He turned and faced her. "You still planning on coming with me and telling Luna about all this?"
"Well..." The Mare hesitated, looking out the window before back to the silver Pegasus. "Now that you've got your memories back, what would you need me for?"
"I don't know," he answered honestly. "But you are involved in this, and you've had history with this Torchwood, you might have a little piece of information that I don't have."
Scootaloo bit her lip and looked away as her mind briefly warred with itself. "I can't." She said, shaking her head. "I know I just said I would, but that was as a backup when your clothes failed to jumpstart your memory, now... I can't risk her recognizing me."
Jack nodded slowly. "Why is that? Had a history with her before?"
She didn't answer for a moment. "That depends on how you look at it."
"You fell back through time, didn't you?"
Scootaloo blinked, and stared up in shock, and found him looking at her with a sad frown and pity in his eyes. "How did you-!?"
"I'm experienced with time travel, trust me. Where's the other you?"
The Broken Pegasus turned towards the window. "In a small town, far far away from here. She'll be turning 11 in a month. It won't be much longer before she goes through the worst hell in her life... and becomes me."
Jack saw the lack of a Cutie Mark on her flank as she passed him, and Luna's words echoed through his mind. I've heard of many legends about ponies and their Cutie Marks... whose destiny was changed after an incredibly traumatic and painful experience, thus changing their Mark.
"I'm sorry." He said as he placed a comforting hoof on her.
She shrugged off the hoof. "Don't go all sappy on me, it ain't cool." She said as she struggled to hold back a sniffle. Damnit, mare! Pull yourself together! She mentally berated herself. Crying like a baby never does anything but waste time! "Besides, this isn't about me, this is about stopping them!"
She took a deep breath and calmed herself before looking at him again. "Can you stop them?"
"I'll do my best, and with Luna and me working into this, I'm sure one of us will get ideas as to where they're hiding."
She nodded. "Good. Then I'll leave you two to it." She turned and made her way to the door, but stopped next to the stallion, leaning in close to his ear, she whispered in a seductive tone. "Don't hesitate to call on me if you need backup, though." Continuing on, she had her tail brush against his chin, leaving Jack staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
For a few moments, Jack simply stood where he was, glancing at the white box and outside the window. "Well..." He muttered to himself. "Here I am."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna's eyes popped open as she heard something knock hard against one of the windows. Sitting upright in her bed, she used her magic to levitate the curtains away, revealing daylight and a silver Pegasus who was struggling carrying a long white box while flying. Without hesitation, Luna used her magic to open the windows and guide him in.
Placing the box down, the stallion took a breath of relief. "Thanks, still not used to this whole flying business."
"It is no trouble, Harness." Luna replied with a smile, but noticed several subtle, yet significant changes in him. He carried himself differently, the way he spoke was slightly off from before, and he never hesitated looking at her before.
Before she could comment anything on that, he spoke. "It's not Harness."
Luna blinked in confusion. "What?"
It was then that he looked at her, a one-sided smile on his face, which seemed to almost shine, and also seem so much older. "Time for a reintroduction! Hi, Captain Jack Harkness, very nice to meet you, Luna." He extended a hoof to her, who stared at him incredulously.
"You've regained your memories!?"
Jack grinned and nodded. Luna's face exploded into pure joy. "Harness, that is wonderful! We must celebrate this momentous occasion!" She giggled. "and I mean we, as in we , this time."
The Alicorn moved to embrace him in a hug, but Jack raised a hoof. "Sorry, Luna, but we've got more important things to talk about first."
She blinked, surprised at his response, considering his distress at not remembering who he was, she had expected him to be ecstatic. Instead, he seemed cheerful, but also closed off.
"I know what it is we're dealing with." Those words put those thoughts on hold. She blinked in surprised.
"You do!?"
"Turns out, I was the key to all this." He said as he sat down. "It's an organization called Torchwood."
"Torchwood?" Luna rolled the word around in her head, it sounded familiar...
"I met someone who stands against it, she was the one who liberated all the items I was found with." Sensing what she was about to say, Jack continued. "She wants to remain anonymous, and I'll respect her wish, but she's an ally, and it's thanks to her that I now remember."
Luna nodded, suddenly remembering the mysterious voice she heard the first night she met Jack, wondering if that was the one he was talking about. "So what is Torchwood?"
"From what she's told me, it's a secretive organization that wants to remove Princess Celestia from power, probably also you as well."
Luna's eyes widened and her nostrils flared slightly. So this was a threat, but to her and her sister.
"They also are not above experimenting on little fillies for many years, as they did to her."
"What!?" Her wings flared open in shock and anger, later on, she would be surprised she had not used the Royal Canterlot Voice then. But now, her mind was processing the terrible knowledge. "What kind of experiments?"
"Nasty ones," Jack answered with a frown. "She wouldn't give details."
Luna's lips curled in a silent snarl at this, she was going to make them pay for this, she was sure. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she calmed herself before gesturing for the stallion to continue. "She's also told me that they've been around for a long time, centuries I'm thinking, and Torchwood is not their only name, just their most recent one."
The Alicorn nodded. "Makes sense, it wouldn't be smart for a secretive organization that stood against my sister to maintain a single name for too long a period. It would make them more easily trackable."
"She mentioned that, by choosing this name, they were 'returning to their roots' as she read from a message she intercepted."
"What do you mean, 'returning to their roots'?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know, but it coincided with your return from the moon, she said that your return somehow motivated them to work harder, hence why they've been more active as of late."
Luna tilted her head in confusion, and a little bit of worry. "Why would my return motivate them?"
Again, Jack shrugged. "Maybe they thought that one Alicorn Princess was bad enough, now suddenly they've got to deal with two."
"There are three Alicorns."
He blinked. "What?"
Luna nodded. "She's very young compared to my sister and I, not even a century old, and she is the new ruler of the Crystal Empire, which is, officially, its own State."
"Huh..." Jack muttered as he thought this over. "She never mentioned her before, I just thought it was you and Celestia until now."
Luna nodded with a frown, this Torchwood was motivated by her for a different reason, and it worried her greatly.
"In any case," Jack said. "They've been more active, and they've got a plan of some kind, hence why they've brought me here."
"What do you mean?"
Jack stood up, and unfurled his wings. "This," he gestured around himself. "Isn't me. I wasn't born a Pegasus, or even a pony. I was another species entirely. Have you ever heard of race called Humans?"
Luna shook her head, not recalling that from anywhere in her memory. The Pegasus sat back down. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think this place is an entirely different plane of reality from my own, an alternate dimension, if you will."
"An alternate dimension? I don't understand, you mean another world?"
"In a sense, yes." Jack answered, before thinking how to better explain it. "There are infinite numbers of universes, worlds, some very similar to our own, with only a few changes here and there. Others are much more radically different, like my universe and this one. I think, because Humans don't exist in this dimension, I was changed into something more appropriate, thus I'm a Pegasus."
They were both silent as they both processed this information, before Jack shook his head slowly, chuckling. "I used to think travel to other dimensions was impossible, though considering how I got here, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."
"How did you get here?"
Jack didn't answer as he got up and looked out the window, and the city buildings outside. "Time isn't a static thing, it's fluid, constantly changing due to the actions of, well, everyone. Because of that, sometimes there are faults, like with earthquakes. Rifts in time and space where things and people can accidentally slip in and out of."
He turned and faced Luna again, who stared in shock. "There's a Rift going right through this city, that's how I got here."
It then dawned on Luna. "The mysterious objects! That's why they keep appearing!"
"Exactly! They're pieces of alien tech and/or junk that's fallen from other worlds to this one. You have a whole museum dedicated to that stuff, your Rift's practically become a tourist attraction for this city."
"Incredible..." The Princess muttered.
"Amazing, huh?" Jack grinned briefly, before it faded. "But I'm not the first living thing to fall through here."
Luna's smile evaporated as well. "You're not?"
"Remember that beast your guards and I encountered? That was a Weevil, only it too was changed partially to suit this dimension. They're aliens that tend to hang in underground sewers, they mostly keep to themselves, they've got everything they need in there. Of course, every now and then, a Weevil gets restless, or gets a taste for something besides what's in the sewers (usually some poor soul), and they get out and attack whoever's nearby." He glanced out the window again. "It seems this Torchwood has been keeping an eye on them as well."
Luna raised an eyebrow at that. "This Torchwood? You mean there's one in your world as well?"
"Was..." He muttered. "In my world, Torchwood wasn't some secret terrorist group out to wipe out the crown, rather it was created by the royal family of Great Britain to defend the land against the Strange, the Paranormal, and the Alien. It was to salvage alien technology and recreate it for arming the Human race against a potentially hostile future."
"So, your Torchwood was created to defend its kingdom rather then destroy it?"
"Supposed to, yeah, it kinda fell from that at some point and ended up nearly destroying itself. After that, I picked up the pieces worth picking and reformed it to how you described it. We based ourselves in another city called Cardiff, which had a Rift much like this one, and kept a watchful eye out for any aliens or alien tech that came through. There were only a handful of us then."
His features dropped and, for a moment, Luna saw a stallion who had seen and experienced much horror and loss, before they hardened. "But now my Torchwood is gone, dead. Everyone involved buried or living another life."
Luna wanted to ask what happened but, not wanting to bring back painful memories, instead asked. "What about the Rift in your world?"
"After my world's Torchwood died, I found a way to seal the Rift, preventing anything from falling through it. With it closed off, I was free to wonder and... and move on. But then, I got warning signs from alarms I left behind, warning me that the Rift was opening up again. I rushed back to investigate but..."
"But you fell through."
The stallion shook his head. "No, it felt more like I was pulled through. When I got back to the city, I found out it was a very specific point, way too specific for the Rift to be opening itself up in its entirety. I followed the point to its source then-" He stomped a hoof on the ground. "That was when I felt something grab me and pull me through, next thing I know, I wake up on a different street, feeling all wrong everywhere. I reached out for my gun with an unfamiliar limb, before I lost consciousness. Next time I woke up, I was the amnesiac stallion you met just a day later."
"It was a trap!"
"It seems so, though I don't know how they even knew about me, much less pull me through."
"But why? Why go through all that trouble to bring you, and you specifically, here?"
Jack shrugged, not knowing the answer. "They must need me for something, though, and they didn't want me to remember. I guess they must've put some powerful Retcon in me while I was unconscious."
"Retcon?"
"It's a drug that causes selective amnesia, though in this case, it wiped out my whole memory rather certain ones."
"Why would they do that? Wipe out your whole memory, what does that accomplish?"
"Well, if you don't remember who you are, you don't know what you're capable of," He grinned at her. "And I'm capable of quite a bit."
For a brief moment, he stared right into Luna's eyes, just as they did the night before, but almost immediately, he looked away. "When you don't have any memories," He muttered. "You're lost, confused, and vulnerable, don't know when you've made a terrible mistake..."
Luna could almost see the guilt exuding from him. "Jack..." She began as she lifted a hoof to him, only for the stallion to stand up suddenly and turn towards the window.
"You know, the more I think about it, the more I feel they weren't motivated by you, exactly, but by desperation... I think I know what we should do."
The Alicorn blinked, and stood up. "What should we do?"
"Leave."
It took a second for her to process that. "I beg your pardon?"
Jack smiled. "It's simple, there Hub is here in this city somewhere, they need me for something specifically, why else would they grab a specific individual from another dimension? It's obvious they're desperate, desperate enough to pull a guy like me through here, a guy they need, so if the guy they need leaves the city where their Hub is..."
It then dawned on Luna. "You're not leaving to hide, you're leaving to draw them out!"
"Exactly!" He laughed. "Nabbing me from the shadows in their base city is easy, but in someplace like Canterlot, it would be a lot harder for them to get me without drawing attention to themselves."
"That's it! My sister could place you under Royal Protection, if you stayed with us in the palace, they would have no chance of taking you undetected."
"And once they reveal themselves, it would be all over for them. The only reason they're still around is because they've kept their existence a secret. So they now have two options: Let their biggest chance of victory go, and considering the risks they've done to get me here, I don't think they'll take that. Or, make the most daring move they've ever made and risk revealing their whole operation, even if they are successful in grabbing me."
"Harness, that's brilliant!"
Jack grinned, and opened his mouth to correct when he stopped suddenly, and ran the words in this mouth. "Harkness... Harness... huh, you know that still works."
Excited in having a plan of attack, Luna stood up and immediately set about putting her royal regalia on, levitating the brown strap to the silver stallion. "I believe this is yours?"
Jack's eyes lighted up at seeing it. "Ah, my Vortex Manipulator!" He chuckled happily as he took it and wrapped it around his right foreleg. "This handy thing is my little screwdriver right here and, no, that is not a euphemism for anything."
Luna blinked in confusion as she placed her crown on her head. "What does a screwdriver have to do with a... Vortex Manipulator?"
"You tell me." He said with a condescending look to her, before looking back at the white box and sighing. "I'm gonna miss wearing that coat. Ah well, can't have everything."
Curiosity piqued, Luna opened the box and pulled out the large gray coat, and eyed the other strange shaped clothing in there, it made her wonder what Humans looked like. "Your species wore clothing often?"
"Heh, all the time." Jack answered, then stopped. "Although, there was this one planet I visited where it was illegal to wear clothing of any kind. Very fun place, got a lot of exercise while I was there."
They were silent for a moment before Luna gestured to the window. "We should head out. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can end this."
Jack nodded in agreement. "Train station, then?"
Luna nodded. "I'll meet you there, I'm going to inform the hotel of my departure."
With that, the silver Pegasus jumped and flew out of the window, leaving Princess Luna alone with her thoughts. He remembers... but he seemed reluctant to be close to me... why? Glancing at the large, oddly designed coat, Luna turned it around and examined it from several angles, noting the buttons and markings on the sleeves, before placing it back down and quickly pulling out a quill, ink, and some parchment. I hope this will work...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Ponyville: 2 hours later]
Tap-tap-tap-tap
A tall, light brown stallion in a postage uniform stood awaiting only a few moments before a snow white Unicorn with a vibrant dark purple mane opened the door. "Yes?"
"Miss Rarity?" The stallion pulled out a small folded envelope. "Urgent telegram from Princess Luna."
Surprised, the mare took the envelope and hastily opened it. Quickly reading through it, her eyes widened and she gasped dramatically. "WHAT!?"
The outburst caused the stallion to cringe. "Is something the matter?"
"Is something the matter!?" She shrieked. "I've got only a few hours to fill out an order from the Princess!!"
And then she slammed the door, again causing the stallion to cringe.
"I'm starting to get tired of having doors slammed into my face." He muttered as he walked away, hearing a few crashing sounds from inside the Boutique.
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
He came to consciousness with a pained groan, his head was pounding as he heard a beeping sound next to him. He opened his eyes, but everything around him was blurry, a shape moved in front of him and he blinked.
"H-hello?" He said as he began rubbing his eyes.
"Take it easy," a motherly voice spoke to him. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts like nobodies business..." He answered, he saw the blurry form in front of him move and he felt something soft push against his chest ever so gently.
"Lie back down, it's just the medication."
He nodded and allowed himself to be gently pushed back down onto the soft pillow. "W-where am I?"
"You're in the Vanhoover General Hospital." The voice answered.
He blinked when he noticed his vision clearing up. He was in a small room with white walls and a white ceiling, a heart monitor stood next to him, beeping calmly and the form before him- he sucked in a breath- she was an earth pony with a bright yellow coat and a mane of a dark brown hair tied up in an adorable bun. Her big blue eyes sparkled and she smiled at him. "Good morning. Glad to see you awake."
He blinked in stunned silence, this woman was gorgeous! He quickly shook his head, forgetting all about his headache. "H-hello..."
She chuckled lightly. "Hello to you too, my name is Wisp, I've been watching over you for the last few hours."
"W-what happened to me?"
She maintained the smile, but the sparkle in her eyes seemed to dissipate a little. "You were found on the street after some kind of explosion sounded, a pegasus who saw you brought you here. She didn't know you though, so could you please tell me your name?"
"Uh..." He tried to think back, but all he saw was a murky cloud, not just recently, but all of his memories were shrouded, gone. His eyes widened. "I-I don't remember..."
Her eyes filled her concern. "You don't remember your name?"
"None of it, not my name, not what happened, or any part of my life... it's all just blank." He looked away from Wisp and stared ahead, trying to sift through the cloud, but failing to.
"Oh dear..." Wisp muttered as she placed a hoof on her chin in thinking. "Well, I'm afraid we don't have any medical records of you here, and we've inquired to some other sources, but so far we've found nothing on you."
"Nothing?" He looked at her in surprise and she nodded sadly.
"I'm sorry, we can't even understand your cutie mark to help figure you out..."
He blinked and stared at her. "My what?"
She gestured to her flank, which his eyes immediately fell on, happy for the excuse, and pointed at the medical symbol on it. "Everypony has a special talent, when they discover it, a symbol representing it appears on their flanks, proudly displaying their talent for all to see." She pointed a hoof to him, and he looked down to see an infinity symbol on his silver fur. "We don't know what your mark means, I'm afraid. I'm sorry."
He shrugged, and looked back at the beautiful mare, smiling. "Don't worry about it, it's not like it's the end of the world for me to not remember."
She returned the smile and nodded. "I guess you're right."
Wisp then moved next to him and unhooked the machine from him, and he cleared his throat. "So uh... What's going to happen now?"
"Somepony is on their way from Canterlot to see you, hopefully they'll have found something on you that can help you get back to your life."
"And if they don't...?"
Wisp looked at him and placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "The pony is a representative of the Equestrian kingdom, they will have something on you, at least a birth certificate that can point you to your hometown, where no doubt there will be somepony there who knows you."
He nodded, hoping that she was right.
"In the meantime," she said. "I'll get you some breakfast and then you can wait in the lobby until the pony from Canterlot arrives, which should be soon."
"Thanks."
Wisp turned to leave but stopped just short of the door, she turned. "Oh, I almost forgot, you were found with some clothes and items, we had kept them safe for you but they were confiscated by some police ponies."
The stallion blinked. "Really? How come?"
"Something about them carrying hazardous magical properties and they needed to be sterilized. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to pick them up soon, maybe they'll have something about who you are there."
He nodded. "I hope so."
She smiled to him, before turning and leaving. With him now alone, he leaned back in his bed and sighed, lifting his left forehoof and staring at it, examining the silver fur that almost seemed to shine. Well that's one way to wake up... no memory of who you are, where you're from, what you do... Not even a name to give you a clue... Wait, did I just make a rhyme?
He sat back up from the bed and brought his hooves to the white tiled floor, hearing them clop lightly. It all felt... unfamiliar. Cautiously, he took a few steps forward, his steps were awkward and he felt extremely clumsy as he walked. Glad that the nurse wasn't around to see him, he began to walk in a circle, trying to get used to his legs once again, when he noticed a mirror on the wall next to him, giving him a perfect view of himself. His mane was a little spiky and a dark gray colour, and his eyes had a certain... allure to them that he quite liked. But it was the wings that caught his attention, they gave him a very angelic look that made him look incredibly attractive.
"Damn, I'm hot..." He muttered as he stretched one wing out and examined the feathers, a smile forming on his lips. "Not bad, not bad at all."
The door clicked open, and Wisp entered carrying a tray of different grains in her mouth. Upon seeing him, her eyes widened and a blush came on her face, she quickly placed the tray on a nearby table and kept her eyes away from him. "I-I'm sorry."
"About what?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"W-well, even though I'm an Earth Pony, I know a lot about Pegasi body language and it's usually inappropriate to look when they're preening."
"Oh, I wasn't preening, I was just looking at my wings, and myself in general."
The Stallion folded his wing back to his side and Wisp turned to face him, a hopeful look on her face. "Did seeing how you looked bring back any memories?"
He shook his head and looked at himself in the mirror. "No. While I really like the way I look, it doesn't seem... familiar."
"Oh, I'm sorry." She replied with a sad look.
In reply, he smiled confidently. "Don't worry about it, it'll all come back, I'm sure."
She nodded. "I guess so, if you need anything, I'll be right outside."
With that, she left, closing the door behind her, and leaving him alone with his thoughts. The meal of assorted grains went through quickly, tasting quite bland but feeling very filling. He exited his room feeling content with the meal and found Wisp speaking to another stallion, a unicorn whose curly mane was a bright white and coat a light brown, though his chest was covered in a black suit and red tie. Upon hearing the door open, both he and Wisp turned to see the stallion. The pair walked up to him and the suited stallion smiled and lifted his hoof to him.
"So you're the mysterious stallion I've been hearing about." He said. "My name is White Stripe, I work for the Equestria Internal Affairs, on behalf of our majesties Princess Luna and Princess Celestia."
Upon hearing his introduction, he took White's hoof and shook it, rather unsteadily.
"Nurse Wisp tells me you don't remember anything about yourself, is that so?"
The stallion nodded and White Stripe took a deep breath. "Well, this just got a little complicated then."
"What do you mean?" Wisp asked.
"Well, you see, after I was informed of the situation, I looked into all the government records based on this stallion's description, unfortunately I have found nothing. Absolutely nothing, no medical or dental records, nothing from the educational archives, none from the police and guard archives, nothing."
The Stallion blinked. "A-are you serious?"
White nodded with a sad, yet perplexed expression. "I'm afraid so, you don't seem to exist. And we keep track of foreign visitors from outside the kingdom, but you never came through our Foreign Affairs agency."
The Stallion blinked. "Maybe I," he gulped. "I snuck in..."
White shook his head. "That wouldn't make sense, it's not like we try to keep ponies or other species outside, and if you were some kind of criminal then whatever land you came from would've informed us and we would work to apprehend and return you to wherever you came from."
Wisp looked between White and the Stallion. "So what is going to happen now?"
White rubbed the back of his head. "Well, we have no name, no form of identification, nothing. I guess the best we can hope for is to find you a place to stay and wait for somepony who may know you to contact you, somepony like a friend or family member."
"How are we going to find a place for me?"
"I represent the Kingdom of Equestria, and as that representative, I can assure you that you will be provided a salary given by the kingdom that will allow you to live comfortably. You can consider yourself a ward of the state."
The Stallion blinked. "Wow... that's... that's very generous of you."
White Stripe smiled. "Think nothing of it, the princesses wish for every one of their subjects to live as happily and peacefully as possible." He turned to face Wisp. "If it is alright with you, I will take our friend and help find a place for him and get him adjusted."
Wisp nodded and White gestured for the Stallion to follow, as he passed her, she smiled. "Take care, and don't be afraid to contact me, I'd like to see you around sometime."
With that, she turned and went the opposite direction. Is it just me? He asked himself as he stared at her. Or is she swaying her hips a little more then needed. He stared at her flank as she walked down the hall, before he heard White clear his throat. Quickly, the Stallion turned and followed White Stripe out of the hospital.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He took a large bite out of the hay burger that he held in his hooves, enjoying the flavour immensely. A light breeze blew across his mane as he sat on his flank in front of a mushroom table, where a shake and hayfries sat ready to be eaten. Across from the table, White Stripe searched through his bag. As he took another bite from his burger, he gazed at the city, enjoying the sights and the smells of the ocean the winds carried. He liked Vanhoover, it was a nice place to think as his mind processed all the information he had learned from White Stripe over the next few hours, some questions that were simply common knowledge to anypony else, such as who the Princesses were and what Equestria was. Unfortunately, none of the information jogged his memory in the slightest. It was odd, considering he could speak perfectly, and walk (relatively) well, and knew some things that everypony else knew, like don't put your hoof on hot stuff etc etc. And then there was the manner of how he was found...
"So," he said, his mouth full of burger. "White Stripe, I've been wondering..."
"Hold on a minute..." White muttered as he dug deeper in his bag. "Come on, I know it's in here... Ah hah! Here it is."
With a victorious smile, White levitated a large piece of folded parchment. As he began unfolding the parchment, the Stallion forced to move his lunch off the table to make room for it, he looked down intently on it, realizing it was a map of the country.
"Okay," White began. "This, here in the corner, is where we are, Vanhoover city. Here, near the center, is Canterlot, the capital of Equestria and where the princesses reside in. I'm telling you this because I'm considering requisitioning a place for you in that city, it would be very easy to contact you as it is the seat of government."
"Hmm..." The Stallion as he looked closely on the rather detailed drawing of a massive metropolis/palace. "It's built on the side of a mountain?"
"Don't worry, the city is a symbol of the unification of Equestria in more ways then one, it was constructed with all three of the pony tribes working together, the Unicorns planned out the design of the place, the Earth Ponies provided the materials and the heavy labour, and the Pegasi implemented weather magic to make the castle lighter then it normally would be. The city is very secure in its foundations, do not worry."
The Stallion stared at the map and thought for a moment, from the one drawing it certainly looked nice, and it probably had one hell of a view, but... White saw his expression and cleared his throat. "If you do not wish to live in a crowded city, perhaps somewhere smaller, more rustic perhaps?"
The unicorn's hoof pointed to another place on the map, very near to Canterlot. "Ponyville is a nice homely town, it's only a short train ride away from Canterlot, so getting to you wouldn't be too much of a hassle, and the population is very friendly. Why, when I was there not too long ago, I was given a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party by a very eccentric Earth Pony. Ah, I had such a lovely time there, I should think about spending a vacation in that town sometime soon."
The Stallion stared back at the map and continued thinking. "It sounds nice but... The place sounds a little too boring, if you ask me."
White shrugged. "Well, how about... Ah, how about Appleloosa? It's a fairly recent town, and there was recently a conflict between the ponies there and the native Buffalo tribe, I heard it was resolved in a... rather creative fashion. So that place definitely has the excitement. But, it is far to the south as you can see, a train ride from Canterlot would take almost a week. And since it is a new town, they need all the help they can get in keeping things running smoothly, so be expected to be put to work if you plan on living there."
The Stallion nodded but agreed with White that it was little far out of the way. White looked back down at the map. "You could try Las Pegasus, although technically a city (quite a large one), it does have a small village built underneath the cloud metropolis, and I hear that that village is no less exciting then the main cloud structures. Plenty of casinos, bars and some..." He blushed and pulled at his collar, clearing his throat. "...unique entertainment services. I can guarantee you won't be bored while over there. Just be sure to have money on you, as you will be spending a lot, I'm sure."
A smile came to the Stallion, so far Las Pegasus sounded like the place for him, especially the part with the 'unique entertainment services'. He frowned, however, when he noticed something. "It looks about as far down as Appleloosa, wouldn't it be a little far from the capital?"
"Well, yes, the city is about as far away as Appleloosa, but the trains use a completely advanced system that's used only between Canterlot and the city, those trains go at such incredible speeds that a week long trip only takes a day."
He nodded, it seemed like he found the winner. He looked up and around the city where he was, seeing the sea ahead and the port and a few large ships. Again, another breeze from the sea blew in, carrying its wonderful scent of the ocean. He liked this place. "What about this city, White Stripe?"
White blinked, surprised. "Vanhoover?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's not a bad city by any means, but it's... Well, boring... and I know that from personal experience, nothing happens here, hay you're the most exciting thing that's happened since the museum burned down here twenty years ago."
"Yeah, but... I don't know." The Stallion looked around again, something about this place seemed for him, almost urging him to stay. "This place just seems... nice. And it's not too much trouble coming to check up on me here, is it?"
White shook his head. "No, it's not. It's about as long a train ride to here as taking one to the Crystal Emp-" His face brightened up. "Oh! What about the Crystal Empire? You thought Appleloosa's story was exciting? That's nothing compared to the Empire's. You see, a thousand years ago-"
"White Stripe." The Stallion interrupted in a polite tone, the unicorn immediately closed his mouth. The Stallion smiled. "Thank you, really, but I'll stay here, I already made a friend with Wisp," hopefully we'll become more then friends... "and I'm already here and I know I like this place, it's fine."
White stared at him for a moment. "A-are you sure you won't reconsider?"
"Positive." The pegasus answered with no hesitation in his voice.
White sighed and his ears drooped. "Very well, I will go book a hotel for you to stay in until an apartment can be requisitioned. Now, let's get to talking about which hotel to stay in..."
The Stallion listened with less interest, deciding that a hotel shouldn't be his choice, and simply nodded when the time was appropriate, noticing White's mood improving, though his ears remained down. Across the street from the two, hidden in the shadows of an alleyway, a cloaked form watched them with worried eyes, having heard the whole conversation. He was go to stay in the city, that can't be good. What if he remembered? What if he discovered what was going on? What if they lost him?
"Do not fear, Dark Cloud... " A voice whispered in his mind. "With him here, we will have no trouble keeping a very close eye on him without drawing suspicion. Besides, we have another issue that is worth worrying about... "
The form tilted its head in confusion, not understanding what the voice was meaning. When the voice answered, the form went rigidly still as fear gripped its heart.
"Her Highness approaches, Luna is on her way to the city... "
The Stallion Who Can Never Die
Chapter 14: The Gift of a Coat
The train ride was mostly done in silence as Luna and Jack sat in their compartment, completely alone. Jack gazing out of the window and watching the farmland and plains roll by, and Luna glancing at him worryingly again and again. His silence unsettled her greatly, before he was quite chatty, happy to have any reason to talk to her, but now... Unable to stand it, Luna cleared her throat.
"So Har- I mean- Jack." She corrected herself, the Pegasus didn't respond. "Your world, what's it like?"
"Crowded." He answered immediately. "Loud... Tense, is what I would describe the feeling on the planet. Very tense... As well as quite dirty too. They've been sending all sorts of nasty things into the atmosphere."
Luna blinked in surprise. "Why in Equestria would they do that?"
"This isn't in Equestria, you see." He corrected with a small grin. "But it's just the result of powering all of civilization, providing them with electricity, transportation, and enough food to feed everyone, or at least enough to keep society going."
"That sounds awful."
"Yeah, the Human race isn't pretty right now, but at this stage, they're like a child with no parents to supervise them, and thus they're making a bigger and bigger mess. But, eventually, they'll grow up, clean up their mess, figure out what they want to do (more or less), and go exploring and meeting the neighbours."
"You talk about them like you're not one of them."
"Well, in a way I'm not. I was born thousands of years past that time, then I signed up for the Time Agency, and got sent on one hell of a joyride. But when it's over, I find myself stranded on my species' home planet thousands of years before my time, with no way out except waiting through it the long way. That, and being immortal has given me an interesting perspective on the Human race."
Upon mentioning his immortality, Luna was posed with another question. "Were you born as an immortal? Or did something happen?"
Jack didn't answer right away. "Something happened."
Before Luna could ask more, he spoke. "There was a battle. We were being assaulted by a virtually unstoppable alien force. An alien force that was insane, and hated anything that wasn't them. They had no concept of love, no concept of compassion, no concept of mercy. Billions of lives were in danger and we were the only ones who could stand against them. I gathered a group of volunteers to buy time, time so that a solution could be made to stop them. In the end, I was the last one left, surrounded, no way of escape, and no hope of surviving."
He was silent for a moment before continuing. "They killed me like all the rest. Then I woke up, the aliens around me were gone, turned to dust."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Dust?"
"Dust. I had originally thought that whatever happened to them simply knocked me out. I had thought the original solution worked and I miraculously survived. It was a long time before I learned what really happened. A friend of mine I had been travelling with somehow looked into the heart of time itself."
The Alicorn blinked in surprise. "How did your friend do that?"
Jack shook his head. "I don't know, but she did it, and it gave her some pretty amazing powers. She destroyed the Daleks and brought me back to life. But she was only Human, she couldn't control those powers completely, she brought me back to life permanently, by accident. Then, she lost her powers completely, apparently no one's meant to look at Time itself, otherwise they die. She was saved, but that left me with immortality."
"These aliens, what are they like?"
Jack turned his head and looked at Luna, the first time since they got on the train. "Not something you ever want to meet. And I hope, for you and your world's sake, you never do."
He turned back to look outside, leaving Luna with the ominous answer. They must be truly terrifying creatures indeed .
Again, there was silence between them, worrying her again. But underneath that worry, just bubbling into form, was irritation. "So, how old are you Jack?" She asked, making another attempt to strike up some idle conversation.
"It's complicated..." He answered.
Barely holding back a sigh, Luna tried another tactic. "Well, I've been asking you all sorts of questions since you regained your memory, do you have any for me?"
"Actually, I do..." Jack replied. Luna looked at him, ready for whatever he had to ask.
"The Traveler," he said, glancing at her again. "Why didn't you call him Doctor like everyone else?"
The question sent her reeling, she was not at all prepared for that. "You knew him!?"
Jack nodded with a smile. "Traveled with him for a bit."
Getting a hold of herself, Luna took a deep breath as she remembered him, the light brown Earth Pony with the most remarkable qualities about him. And terrible ones too. "Because he's not a Doctor. Not to me, at least." She answered, her face turning grim.
"He's saved mine and my sister's life many times, and Equestria as well. He's a remarkable stallion but... there are times when I see what lies deep within him. And what I see worries me."
This time Jack was not looking away from her, as he watched with great interest. "What did you see?"
"Rage..." She muttered as the most fearful memories of the Traveler passed through her mind. "Rage and anger... of a kind I've never seen before or since. And, considering the power he wields, that is indeed worrying. Should he ever give in to his anger..." The Alicorn shuddered. "Then I'm not sure if the world, if any world, would survive."
Jack nodded, very slowly. "I see..." Was all he said. Silence once again came in the compartment, but Luna didn't mind so much this time, her mind occupied with memories of the Traveler, some pleasant, but most not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
White Stripe took a deep breath of relief as he finished his work and began making his way out of the old Diamond Dog caves. He silently congratulated himself for having the foresight to evict the Diamond Dogs out of the caves shortly after their discovery, in case the caves could be used for something. Truthfully, he had expected the caves to eventually be turned into a forward base of sorts for them, but this purpose would do just as well.
A vibration in his pocket interrupted his thoughts. He wasted no time in pulling out the phone, flicking it open, and levitating it to his ear with his magic. "I've just about finished with setting up a suitable diversion-"
"It won't be necessary, Shade." The voice said, causing the Unicorn to blink.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Her highness has already left the city, taking Harkness along with her."
"Damnation!" White cursed, he remembered that the three leaders would not utter his true name unless he had regained his memories.
"On the contrary, my friend, this is exactly what we needed." The voice replied, White could tell he was smiling. "With both the Captain and her Majesty no longer around, we can safetly move the various pieces of the Extractor from their hidden locations across the city, I've already sent out units to collect them and bring them back to the Hub. We'll have it fully operational in a matter of hours."
White sighed. "It's about time things started going our way, but now there's the matter of Harkness, if he has regained his memories, why is he leaving the city?"
"He's likely told Luna all he knows of Torchwood, and I imagine they're leaving in an attempt to draw us out, we do still need him."
"Of course... Without him, the Extractor is useless to us."
"Shade, am I correct in assuming you were planting the Gemstones as the diversion?"
White nodded, he knew him too well. "Yes."
"And I assume you were only having them at a quarter of their power?"
"...Yes...." He could feel the blood drain from his face slowly, he knew where the voice was going with this.
"Here's what you're going to do, Shade..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the train approached the station of the small town, Luna couldn't help but smile as she felt her mood brighten. Ponyville truly was a nice town, in fact, Luna felt the town represented the absolute best of Equestria. In no other parts of the land were all three different kinds of pony truly accepted. Despite every one of both her and Celestia's attempts, there was still an air of racism within other parts of the kingdom. In Canterlot, the high percentage of Unicorns carried the old ignorant belief that they were superior to all, thanks in no small part to the Unicorn nobility. Cloudsdale was just far too limiting to non-Pegasi, which fit well with the ancient Pegasi isolationist culture. Even Vanhoover was said to have some anti-Pegasi sentiment among the populace, despite a sizable percentage being Pegasi.
Indeed, Ponyville was the only place Luna could think of that had no hints of racism whatsoever, it represented Equestria better then the capital itself.
"Nice looking place," Jack commented as the train came to a stop at the station.
"Why don't you go take a look around, Jack?" The Alicorn suggested.
Jack gave her an odd look. "The train will be leaving in a few minutes."
"The trains pass through this town towards Canterlot often, go explore for a few hours, I will make sure an escort will be waiting for you in Canterlot."
Luna could see the suspicion in his old eyes. "Remember how I'm still needed by this Torchwood? I don't want to put this town in danger."
"This town has seen and gone through a lot," Luna replied as one of the few clear memories of her as Nightmare Moon passed through her mind, her 'grand appearance' at that fateful Summer Sun Celebration. "And the town is home to the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, you're as safe here as you would be in Canterlot, perhaps even more so."
Jack raised an eyebrow, the argument was good, but he didn't seem entirely convinced. "Why are you really sending me here?"
The horn whistled and Luna could faintly hear the conductor making the final call, she didn't have much time, but she certainly wasn't going to spoil the surprise. "Go on, explore the town." She said with a mischievous smile. "You might be surprised."
Not letting up with the odd look, Jack relented nonetheless and made his way off the train. By the time he stepped off, it had begun moving. He stood there as it left, leaving him in a silent station with his thoughts.
Well, may as well play her game . He thought as he stepped off the station.
The town had a nice, quaint charm to it. The atmosphere was friendly, calm, and altogether quite nice. Ponies of various colours smiled and waved to each other as they passed by, and didn't hesitate to wave to Jack, who promptly waved back with a more... flirtatious smile of his own. He liked this world, hell, of all the dimensions he could've ended up in, this certainly wasn't a bad place by any stretch of the means. He began paying less attention to the town and more to his equine body. He missed his human form a little, but being a man of the 51st century, with all the species and genders he's seen and experienced (both intimately and not), it wasn't that much of a challenge for him to accept this transformation.
True, he didn't have thumbs, but he did have wings. Sexy, sexy wings. He grinned as he extended a wing and briefly examined it. A pair of thumbs for a pair of wings? He thought before nodding and folding it back. That's a fair trade .
He stopped suddenly as he remembered something. Wait a minute... how the hell did I hold my pistol with a ho- it was then that he was knocked over by something Fast, Soft, and Pink. Before he knew it, he was on his back with a pink mare standing over him with the widest grin he had ever seen... in this world, at least (he'd seen far wider in his).
"Hi!" She exclaimed happily. "I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you!?"
Ah, the forward-type, he knew what to do. Despite being rather painfully knocked down and effectively pinned to the ground, he smiled. "Captain Jack Harness," he greeted, he was partially surprised that he referred himself as Harness without thinking before deciding to stick with it, it did sound more appropriate for this world then 'Harkness'. "Very nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie."
The mare looked like she could hardly control herself from bouncing on the spot. "Oh, I'm so excited! A new pony in town!" She gasped suddenly. "Ohmygosh! I gotta get started setting up for you Welcome-to-Ponyville party! Do you like cake? What's your favourite flavour? I hope it's lemon, cause we have a lot of lemons right now, I don't know where they came from but, hey, who am I to look a gift-monkey in the mouth?"
"You're very talkative, aren't you?" Jack commented with an amused smile, before raising an eyebrow. "You throw welcoming parties for every newcomer, or am I just special?"
Pinkie giggled, stepping off of the Captain and helping him up. "Everypony's special, silly! That's why I gotta throw parties for every new pony coming to town, whether it be a visit or actually moving in! That reminds me, are you moving in or are you visiting?"
"Just a short visit, apparently Luna's got some sort of-"
At the mention of the Princess, Pinkie gasped dramatically. "Ohmygosh, you know Princess Luna!? That means I gotta throw you an extra special super-duper party!! How'd you get to know her!? Are you one of her special guards!? I heard her guards are all Vamponies, but you're clearly a Pegasus and-" She stopped when her nose twitched. "Hold on..."
The pink mare suddenly pressed her nose against Jack's leg, taking a deep, impossibly long, sniff. Jack quickly pulled back, chuckling, but Pinkie continued to take deep whiffs of his scent. "Hey, I'm flattered, and I don't mind, but 51st century pheromones can be a bit overwhelming to the untrained nose. If you want, we can find a room together and then you can-"
He didn't finish as Pinkie suddenly stood up and gasped again, it was hard to tell with her fur, but it looked like she was blushing. "You're Princess Luna's Special Somepony!!"
Jack blinked, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "What? Woah, I never said-"
"Her scent," Pinkie said. "It's alllllll over you! Strong too, I'd say just last night! Ooh, ooh! I bet that was why we had that absolutely beautiful starry sky last night!"
It was a mistake, I didn't remember... "Now, hold on-"
"Just between you and me," she suddenly whispered, her eyes darting left and right, making sure there were no eavesdroppers. "Way to go! Being a Princess and all, I'm sure it wasn't easy asking her, or did she ask you? That would be even more amazing!"
"There is nothing between me and Luna!" Jack said forcefully.
"My nose disagrees." Pinkie replied, unphased.
"I-" He paused, and sighed. I didn't have my memories, and that left me vulnerable... I can't love another person like that, not after... "It's complicated."
Pinkie gave a puzzled expression, before a strange look of understanding came to her face. She nodded slowly. "I see... You should probably talk to her, get everything settled out. Talking can be the first step, sometimes the only one, to solving any problem."
"Thanks for the advice, but..." I still remember everything about last night... I can't just carelessly smash that all aside. Not to her . He mentally groaned. Jack, what kind of a mess have you gotten yourself into? "...I've got it covered." He lied.
Pinkie nodded, smiling cheerfully. "Okie-Dokie-Lokie! Anypony who's Luna's Special Somepony has to be smart enough to talk to her about Everything! So, about your Welcome-to-Ponyville party-"
"I don't think I'll be staying long enough for a party, sad as that may be." Jack replied, some of his charm returning. "Next train passing by, I'm taking to Canterlot to meet back up with Luna, whether or not I figure out why she sent me here."
Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. "She sent you here and she didn't tell you why? That's pretty weird, I wonder-" And then her face instantly lit up. "Ooh! I got it! She must have some sort of surprise waiting for you here! Why else would she not tell you? Aww, that's so sweet..."
Jack shrugged. "I guess that makes sense, too bad I don't have any clue on where to start looking."
"Hmm..." Pinkie muttered as she placed a hoof on her chin in thought. "Well, Rarity apparently got a surprise order from the Princess and she only had a few hours to complete it. That was a few hours ago so maybe it's done, or she's tearing herself apart trying to get it done right now, either option's just as likely."
"Really, is that so?" Jack raised an eyebrow at that. "And where would I find this 'Rarity'?"
"Oh, you'd like her!" Pinkie said excitedly. "Her house/workplace is Carousal Boutique," She pointed a hoof to a large, carousal-like building that stood a little apart from the other houses. "Right down there! Why don't you go meet her and say hi?"
Jack grinned, surprised at how refreshing it was to be given permission to say 'hi' to anything. You hear that, Doctor!? He mentally shouted. I'm saying hello and you're not around to stop me! Hah! "I think I'll go do that, thanks Pinkie."
"No problem, anything for a friend!" She answered with a smile. "Oh! Before I forget..." She reached a hoof into her poofy pink mane and pulled out a small cupcake with silver icing on it, much to Jack's surprise. "Since you don't have time for a full Welcome-to-Ponyville party, here's a Welcome-to-Ponyville cupcake, I always keep extra cupcakes in case of situations like this!"
Handing (or is it hoofing?) the cupcake to him, Jack was further surprised to see no pink hair of any kind on it. "Thanks," He muttered. What, is that mane bigger on the inside or something? I wonder what else she's got hiding in there...
"Anyways, I've got to go, plenty of ponies who need smiles on their faces! Nice to meet you, Captain! Hope to see you again soon!"
"Yeah, you too, thanks again!" He called out as she bounced away happily. Nice mare... He thought to himself pleasantly as he took a bite into the cupcake, enjoying the flavour.
By the time he arrived at the Boutique, he had finished the treat, leaving a hoof available to knock on the door. He barely tapped it before it slammed open and he was staring at a white Unicorn mare with a dark purple mane, a mane that had stray bits of hair popping out all along it. Despite her haggard appearance, Jack was taken aback by her looks.
"Sorry, can't talk! I have to... to..." She had instantly forgotten what she was going to say or do when she noticed Jack, her eyes instantly widened as they practically drank from the sight of him. "Oh... my..."
Ah, the easy-type, he knew what to do. "Captain Jack Harness," He said, not hiding the shock from his tone. "And who, might I ask, are you?"
"Oh, who me?" She asked, eyes darting left and right while a hoof rapidly fanned her face. "I-I-I'm R-rarity. Lady Rarity."
"Well, Lady Rarity, might I just say..." He took her hoof and gently kissed it. "...You look gorgeous."
He grinned upon seeing her swoon. "Oh, please, I'm an absolute wr-" She stopped and her eyes widened. "I'M AN ABSOLUTE WRECK!!! A handsome stallion such as you shouldn't be looking at my depraved form! OH WOE IS ME!!"
"Woah, hey, relax." Jack said, though still grinning.
"No!" Rarity said, dramatically placing a hoof over eyes and turning away. "Do not look at me! I am unfit for the eyes of a gentlecolt such as you!"
"That's me and my eyes business, miss drama queen." He replied with a playful tease.
"Drama Queen!?" She cried out indignantly, her dramatic sad tone and posture dropping immediately. "I'll have you know I am a very respectable mare who treats her appearance very seriously!"
She blinked suddenly when something occurred to her. "Wait... Harness..." she muttered as she played the word through her head. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about the name Captain Harkness, would you?"
Jack raised an eyebrow at that. "Yeah, why?"
"A few hours ago, I received a telegram from Princess Luna, a request to have a special order done by around this time, I was then to look for a 'Captain Harkness' and give it to him."
Jack nodded slowly. Looks like I found what Luna wanted me to find . "Yeah, that's me, Harkness is just a misspelling, you'd be surprised how often that happens."
"Oh my, I had no idea you knew the Princess, please," She stepped to the side. "Come in, your order is inside."
Following her request, Jack stepped inside the Boutique, and looked at all the various dresses and suits on various pony mannequins.
"I must say," Rarity said as she closed the door and made her way to a long case. "Princess Luna's instructions were very specific, it's a rather interesting design, almost military-like. I suppose that makes sense, given that you are a Captain. Nevertheless, I followed her instructions and I am quite proud of the result."
Enveloping the case in her magic, she levitated it to the silver Stallion.
"What was the order?" He asked.
Rarity didn't answer, but rather flicked the case open, revealing its contents. Jack's eyes widened at the sight. "I don't believe it..."
The Unicorn smiled and gestured with her head behind her. "There's a changing room behind me, so you can-"
Wasting no time, Jack grabbed the case and bolted behind the red curtains.
"I do hope it all fits," Rarity called out as he pulled out the dark gray fabric, his eyes practically shining. "I only had the measurements the Princess gave me for reference."
Wasting no time, Jack went to work placing his hooves into the sleeves the specially designed coat, his coat, his trademark clothing that he had worn for literally centuries. "Oh yeah, it fits beautifully!" He called back as he maneuvered his wings through the appropriate holes.
"Oh marvelous!"
In no time at all, the coat was on him and, as he examined his reflection in the mirror, found his smile growing more and more. Now, he looked right. Now, he looked ready. Now, he was back. Proudly, he pushed away the curtains, revealing himself to the fashionista, who's eyes practically sparkled with pride at the sight.
"You look absolutely magnificent, darling! How does it feel on you?"
"Right!" He answered with the widest smile he had since regaining his memories. "Absolutely right you brilliant, beautiful mare you-"
Overwhelmed, without thinking, moving faster then she could react, he kissed her. Rarity's eyes widened in shock and she made a surprised noise as Jack pressed his lips against hers, but she most certainly did not resist. It lasted less then a second, but for Rarity it felt a lot longer and ended far too soon. With a loud smack, the Pegasus pulled away from the Unicorn, still beaming. "All in the span of a few hours! You are amazing, Rarity!"
"Y-you just... b-bwuh..." She sputtered, trying to regain her senses, it was a losing battle. "I... You...Ohhh-" Her eyes rolled back and she dramatically, yet genuinely, fainted, landing hard on the floor. Jack stared, his giddy mood dissipating slightly, his smile changing to a slight frown as he looked at her now unconscious body.
"Ah, whoops," He muttered. "May have overdone it a bit, sorry. I'll, um, I'll just show myself out."
Quietly, he stepped over the mare's body, careful not to disturb her. "Sorry," he muttered again. "But thanks, you're amazing!"
He felt a breeze of cool air hit him as he exited the Boutique and noticed a couple of red rose petals. His smile and happy mood instantly dissipated at the sight, reminded of some painful memories of close friends... Turning his head in their direction, he found a mare staring at him in disbelief, a mare he had seen before made out of rose petals, though now he could tell she was flesh and blood.
"You know," He called to her, making his way slowly in his direction. "Whenever I saw rose petals lying on the ground, that was always a very bad sign to me."
She stared and said nothing as he approached her. "You have your memories back, don't you?" She said when he stood in front of her, her eyes showing wariness.
Jack nodded. "Thank Scootaloo, and you must be Roseluck. Captain Jack Harness." He wasn't smiling when he introduced himself, but stared at her intently. "I need you to tell me what Torchwood plans on doing to me."
"I don't know." She answered immediately. "They never told me except that you were the key to victory for us."
"Why wouldn't they tell you?"
"Because it's not my job! I was stationed to Ponyville years ago to keep an eye on the Bearers of the Elements as they're potentially the largest threat to us due to their loyalty to Celestia!"
Jack sighed, before he realized he may get an answer to a different question. "Why is this Torchwood so determined to remove Celestia from power, and where does Luna fit into all this?"
Roseluck opened her mouth to answer, before her eyes focused past him and back to him again. "I'm sorry," She said. "I can't blow my cover, not yet."
Jack blinked. "Wha-" and then she struck him in the face with her hoof, sending him to the ground with a pained grunt. He coughed, blood dripping from his nose as he looked up dazedly at Roseluck. "What the hell are you doing!?" He shouted.
"Good work, Roseluck." Came a familiar voice from behind him.
"Shade," Roseluck said, standing at attention. "This is him, right?"
Jack turned his head and found, to his horror, White Stripe standing there, a small, foreboding smile on his face. "Indeed it is, but now I suggest you return to your post, I can take it from here."
"But sir, shouldn't I-" She began to protest, which was cutoff with a stern wave of his hoof.
"Maintain observation of the Element Bearers, if you witness any unusual activity from them, if any of them leave the town, inform us immediately, our Moment is at hoof and we cannot have any of them interrupt us, understood?"
Reluctantly, Roseluck nodded. "Yes, Shade." She walked passed him, before turning and giving Jack an apologetic look. White Stripe was too busy examining the Pegasus to notice. As she walked away, Jack coughed.
"White Stripe..." He muttered angrily.
"It's Shade, actually." The Unicorn corrected in an indifferent tone, before gesturing with his head. "Get up, you wouldn't want attention drawn to us, it would be most tragic for the town if that were to happen."
The Pegasus glared at him as he got up from the ground. "So, you are a part of this Torchwood."
"More then that, Captain Harkness, I'm one of its leaders."
"Then what's to stop me from creating a scene and revealing your whole operation?"
"Quite simply, Captain..." Shade said, his horn glowing a faint gray colour, pulling out from his suit a large red ruby. But it wasn't a ruby, not to Jack's eyes, which widened at the sight of them. "...This."
"A Gemstone mine..." He muttered in horror, before looking Shade in the eyes. "Do you have any idea what you are holding?"
Shade grinned evilly as he brought the mine close to his face, examining it with interest. "What did your universe call it? A 'weapon of mass destruction'? That term has a nice ring to it, don't you think? And it certainly is a pretty thing, isn't it?"
Jack wanted to move, he wanted to slap that thing out of Shade's magical grasp, but he held completely still, knowing that that would detonate the bomb the mad Unicorn held and destroy the entire town. And if it was set at full power-
"We stumbled across a cache of these things a long time ago," Shade explained. "That was how we found out about the Rift in Vanhoover, as well as your universe, Captain. I have spent the last while lacing the tunnels underneath this town with the entire cache, it was originally to be a distraction, destroy the town and draw the Princess away from our operations, leaving you vulnerable for capture. But then you regained your memories and left with the Princess, it was nice attempt, but that just simply caused me to alter the plan with a more... drastic option."
"No..."
"I have reset the mines to their full power, rather then at a quarter of it. Should I detonate them with a special spell, the resulting explosion will disintegrate the town, the surrounding forest and area..." He looked away and saw Canterlot in the distance. "It may even destroy a part of Canterlot as well," Shade mused. "But even if the Tyrant Sun herself were at the centre of the explosion, it would only injure her superficially. We need something far more powerful these simple bombs... something like the Rift to do the job."
Jack's heart skipped a beat at that. "You're insane! You can't control the energies of the Rift! You'd rip the entire planet apart!"
"Which is why we need you, Captain Harkness, you're the key, and the Rift is the door. Should you refuse to accompany me back to Vanhoover or do anything to compromise us, I will cast the spell and have the entire town destroyed. I am very willing to end my life should that be necessary. From there, Torchwood will open the Rift, and Time and Space would flow through uncontrollably, tearing the land asunder."
"You would destroy yourselves and the entire planet to kill one mare!?"
"Yes!" Shade shouted, the first time he had raised his voice. "For a thousand years, we have toiled and launched only pathetic attempts to eliminate the Tyrant Sun. But no more! This war will end tonight, one way or another! We will liberate Equestria from her grasp, if that means destroying it then so be it!" He took a deep breath. "Either you come with me, or I destroy us all... it's your choice, Captain."
Jack stared, his nostrils flaring, as was his anger. He wanted nothing more then to snap that damn stallion's neck, but he knew he would cast that spell should he make any sudden moves, and he knew Shade was perfectly willing to kill himself and the town. He had the eye of a fanatic, a fanatic to a cult. Is that what this Torchwood is here? He wondered. A cult!? Nevertheless, he knew he had only one option, he couldn't allow this town of innocents to be killed, not because of him. Closing his eyes slowly, he lowered his head in defeat. "You win. I'll go."
Shade smiled. "I'm glad you saw reason, Captain, considering what you did for your world, I knew you wouldn't let this town be destroyed."
With that, the two ponies made their way back to the train station, ready to get on the next train back to Vanhoover. As they left, neither of them noticed the rose petals on the ground, twirling around in a small gust of wind. Roseluck, in her home, stamped a hoof in frustration, having heard the whole conversation through the petals.
"Luna curse it all!" She shouted. What am I going to do?
Meanwhile, a small orange Pegasus filly drove her scooter pass the station, where she saw a glimpse of two unfamiliar stallions. Paying them no heed, she continued on. But miles and miles away, sitting on the roof of one of Vanhoover's apartment buildings, the same orange Pegasus, now a mare, suddenly remembered a memory she did not have before. "Oh shit!" She cried out, her wings flaring open as she jumped and glided down to the street.
