Ghosts of the Past

CHAPTER 11 – King of Fools

Date: 24th of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Train tracks between Trottingham and Ponyville.

Along the charred iron bars that pierced the land, thousands of tiny pieces of coal and gravel vibrated in unison under the shadow of sunflowers. Their slight movement became stronger and stronger until finally, the train passed by and went away, its hulking metallic carcass almost falling off the tracks as it sped past a tight turn.

Shortly after, the little rocks died away and melted under the unnatural fire spread around by the train’s pursuer. Each of its dozens of exhausts was spitting more fire than industrial-sized blowtorches, but they weren’t the only thing on fire. Two red circles of flame surrounded the machine’s wheels as it accelerated towards the train.

Its sole visible occupant started to panic. [“Hey, is that fire normal? It’s starting to get hot here!”]

[“I don’t know,”] answered my disembodied voice.

Cursing silently, the pony retorted: [“You said you knew how to drive!”]

[“I never said I knew how to drive this vehicle in particular. But I have to admit, Mercury seems to like Marvel comics a little too much. Who knew gods would enjoy that kind of things?”]

[“Not me! Now get me out of here, I don’t want to get roasted like some kind of rabbit!”]

As he yelled in the wind, Louis grabbed the bike’s rear handles even harder and removed his legs from the pedals.

The gap between the old-fashioned train and Mercury’s magical speeding bullet was getting smaller by the second.

Seeing as I was going much faster than needed, I released the throttle a bit and went back to acceptable speeds. Catching up with the train wasn’t enough. I also had to be stable enough to allow Louis to jump on a train car, and that required the bike to have the same speed as the train.

Concentrating on finding a place for Louis to go, I spied on the train and its wagons. Each one of them had little stairs on the side when the train was in the station, but all these stairs had been folded back inside the wagons after the train’s departure. That made everything much more complicated. The only two viable places I saw were, on one hand, the tiny ladder on the locomotive, but it was too small; and on the other hand, the bridges between the train cars, but they required Louis to jump. And if he failed, I would be responsible for the death of my brother. That was out of question. But then, it struck me that the train didn’t need to be moving.

[“Don’t move. And don’t be scared.”]

Turning his head around instinctively, my brother asked: [“Of what?”]

[“This.”]

The entire train was suddenly plunged into darkness. The passengers and drivers didn’t have to wait before understanding why the sun disappeared. Immediately after the shadow appeared, extremely loud wing flaps could be heard. Less than a minute later, an ear-shattering scream that only Japanese city-destroying monsters could emit was heard for the first time by everyone in the train.

The shadow disappeared shortly after, and a terrifying crash was heard next. A colossal dragon the size of a mountain sat in the middle of the train tracks, its maw opened wide in front of the incoming vehicle. The black scales around his mouth looked sturdier than diamond and as big as tower shields, yet they were the smallest ones he had.

Not quite liking the idea of being eaten alive, the drivers immediately slowed down the train as fast as they could. Immediately after they understood what was in front of them, everyone in the train was shouting: “Dragon! Dragon! Get out!” But there was no way to escape such a beast. When the dragon inhaled, the subsequent gust of wind could be felt by all of the train’s passengers, who even feared during a second that their monarch herself wouldn’t be up to the fight.

Screeching, the train’s iron wheels projected thousands of sparks in all directions, their light competing with that of the bike nearby. However, the bike in question did not stop and, instead of trying to flee, outdistanced the braking train. A minute later, Louis, sitting on the back of the bike, finally let his hooves touch the ground again after the engine was shut off.

As soon as the train was entirely immobile, the dragon let out a deafening screech and disappeared in the sky, its mighty shadow getting smaller by the second.

While the train drivers were busy trying to see where the beast went, Louis climbed up in the locomotive thanks to the tiny ladder on its side.

He was welcomed with an accusation. “You? Now? I… This was your fault!” screamed the chief driver.

But, to the driver’s surprise, it was not Louis who answered. He kept his mouth shut and instead, the echoing voice feared by the crew simply declared: “No. It was me. You have something that belongs to me in the last wagon, and I need it. Do not try anything like that again if you want to keep your job. Understand this: I am on my way to Canterlot, and I will have a talk with Celestia, an old friend of mine.”

Their faces already were contorted in terror at that point, but the voice kept talking. “If you try abandoning us once more, not only will you lose your job when I tell her about what you did, but you will also probably lose some parts of your body, if I’m angry enough to call my dragon friend Deathwing back. I wouldn’t like to do that but I can. Is that clear?”

None of the drivers could say anything. They simply nodded, sweating in fear, their hearts beating even faster than those of the passengers.

“Good.”

The voice then said something they did not understand: [“Go back to the last wagon.”]

[“Meh. Okay. I’ll stay there. I don’t want to see any of these idiots.”]

It was the last time that the crew heard about the two weird strangers.

When we reached the last wagon, Louis asked me: [“What the hell was that dragon? Was it an illusion too?”]

[“That’s how I work, indeed.”]

[“Heh. That was great!”]

[“And you haven’t seen the best yet. Magic is awesome.”]

Date: 27th of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Canterlot.

Finally, after a short pause in Ponyville, we reached Canterlot. During the travel between those two cities, I spent my time transmitting to Louis my knowledge of the world we were in and of the show’s history. He was a little confused, but I managed to make him understand most of what happened so far and what was going to happen.

During the rest of the time, we practiced speaking English. I wanted him to polish his accent and syntax before we reached Canterlot. We didn’t have a lot of time, but at least he would try to get better.

When he felt the train slowing down, Louis asked me: [“It seems that we are approaching the terminus. What are we going to do there?”]

[“You’re going to meet the queens. Or, uh, rather, princesses.”]

Suddenly, he looked much less enthusiastic about going to that town. [“H-how is that going to help us? And how would I even get to them? There’s going to be guards and all that, right?”]

Sighing, I explained : [“We need to meet them because I’ll try to gain their favor. That’ll allow us to have your bike repaired quickly, and they might even let us fly to Gallopoli with a military zeppelin. It’s the closest city to the Black Marsh, and that would allow us to avoid an overly long train travel. As for the way we are going to get past the guards and earn an immediate audience, I have an idea already. For this, I’ll need to cast a few spells on you. Wait a few seconds, and… Done.”]

Dubious, my brother asked: [“I didn’t feel anything. What did you even do?”]

[“It’s easy… I have a plan. Here’s what you’re going to do when we reach the guards.”]

An hour later, a certain yellow and extremely tall pony was in front of Canterlot Castle’s inner gates.

The two stoic guards didn’t even react when they saw him enter the castle’s yard with a huge sled behind him; but they jumped in front of the gate when he came closer. One of them raised a hoof and laconically stated: “Halt, citizen. The Queen currently is in an audience. State your name and appointment number.”

The inquiry’s target answered, with a smirk: “Citizen? Oh, no. I’m no citizen. I’m a cousin! My name is Louis. Louis the fourteenth, called the Sun King by many, King of the land of Prance and descendant of the great alicorn Ignistus.”

Both of the guards’ faces remained stone-cold for a few seconds before one of them laughed silently. The other, displaying disdain, gauged Louis before declaring: “You don’t look like royalty to me. And I’m sorry but I don’t think Prance has a king.”

Feigning disappointment, my brother declared: “It’s really a shame that Celestia didn’t teach Prance’s history to her subjects. Prance is on the other side of the planet, though. I guess not everyone can know about it…”

Suddenly smiling, Louis added: “As for my appearance, it is because I prefer travelling incognito. I know I should have sent a message earlier, but, well… Announcing what I look like isn’t exactly practical if I want to remain unseen, since news travel faster than me.”

Right after he finished talking, he levitated slightly and a bright flash of light blinded the guards for a second. When they could see again, it was not a regular pony that stood in front of them, but a gloriously regal unicorn with an overly long and sharp horn, wearing a majestic blue and white cape covered in golden heraldic lilies. His mane, instead of being the tame brown it was before, now stood out as a magnificent multicolored flame flowing in the air.

Back on the ground, he finally declared playfully: “May I enter now?”

The second guard’s eyes widened as he answered: “Please go on, y-your majesty.”

“Very well. Could you please announce my venue?”

The guard quickly did a military salute, yelled “Immediately, my lord!” and bolted through the door. Calmly, Louis took the sled’s rope in his mouth and dragged it inside, smiling at the stunned guard.

When the door closed behind him and no one was left near him, he dropped the rope and quickly asked: [“How was I?”]

[“You’re doing great. And remember: don’t freak out when in front of Celestia or Luna. The worst thing they would do is to try to hug us.”]

Looking at the ground, my brother weakly laughed. [“Heh. Okay… But what would happen if they refused to let me use the zeppelins? I don’t want to die…”]

[“It’ll only last- oh, here they come. Remember: Gallopoli.”]

[“Yeah, right.”]

The door opened suddenly, two ominous figures standing in the doorway. Unfortunately for him, it was the taller one who spoke first.

“Greetings, distant kindred! It is I, Luna Everfree, who hast ye privilege to lead thou over yonder!”

Pushed back by the sound wave, her so-called acquaintance hit the sled and fell on the ground. Luna brought her hoof on her mouth and whispered in shock: “I may have overdone it.”

“Ouch. Well, I have to say, I wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic welcome,” Louis said, scratching the back of his head. “As for me, you already know who I am, if your armored friend here did his job well.” Glancing at the sweating soldier for a second, he then looked straight in the eyes of Luna, smiled, and declared: “Anyhow, I’m delighted to meet you, my lady,” before bowing slightly to grab her hoof and gently kiss it.

Putting the flustered princess’s hoof on the ground, he said: “Although the ancient ways of speaking aren’t something I would use myself, it certainly is nice to see that the olden manners have been preserved to some extent in Equestria.”

Finally, Luna managed to answer him. “I am absolutely delighted to meet you as well, and I am sure that my sister will be too.”

“Princess Celestia, is it? The ‘main’ ruler of Equestria, if one could say so?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

My brother pointed at the fire on his head. “Does she also tend to set things on fire with this?”

Luna gleefully answered: “Oh, no, her mane isn’t nearly as dangerous as yours, haha!”

Noticing that she didn’t mention the sled, the princess asked: “Pray tell, what is that package over there?”

“Oh, that? It’s my personal vehicle. Unfortunately, it’s been broken, I need to find someone who can repair it.”

“Oh, I’m sure we will find someone. Canterlot has some of the best engineers there are in Equestria.”

“Really? Very well! But be aware, this is a one-of-a-kind machine. Your engineers will have to work on it for a while before being able to repair it. I call it a ‘motorcycle’.”

“A ‘mo-tor-cy-cle’? I’m sure Celestia will be interested. We should go to the throne room, though. She’s waiting for us.” Looking at the soldier, she said: “Captain, please get your subordinate to help you drag the King’s sled into a storage room.”

The soldier finally breathed, yelled “Yes, princess Luna!” and bolted through the room.

Meanwhile, Louis and the princess opened the door leading to the throne room and walked into the corridor.

While walking, Luna, worried, asked: “Tell me, King Louis… Why didn’t you ever send us a message? Pardon me if I’m too curious, but we thought we were the last of our species for more than a thousand years! I can’t even find the words to tell you how happy I am, but this truly is mind-boggling… Weren’t you a little lonely?”

“Ahh… Unfortunately for you, I think you are mistaken. I am not an Alicorn, merely the descendant of one who died long ago now. I may look like one, but really, I am not nearly as powerful as any of you… Hm, this is the door to the throne room, I guess?”

Luna nodded and used magic to simultaneously open both doors. “Hear, sister! Welcome our valued guest, Louis the fourteenth, King of Prance!”

Dismissing the peasant talking to her with a smile, Celestia ogled straight into Louis’ eyes and walked down the stairs in front of her throne. “Greetings, Sir Louis. Please make yourself at home.”

Suddenly regretful, she added: “I knew that a kingdom called Prance existed somewhere in this world, thanks to petty rumors brought here by merchants; but never did they mention that it was ruled by an Alicorn king. And, because of my involvement in my own regal duties, I never took the time to find out more about this country. I know I should have. But, you know, it has been several hundred years since I saw another Alicorn... I was so desperate that I lost all hope of finding one. Yet, here you are... A stallion, moreover. Please accept my deepest apologies for not finding you sooner, my liege.”

She then bowed in front of him, as if she was waiting for something, while Luna went and sat near her.

“Damn, damn, damn, what is she doing! That wasn’t part of the plan! Wait… Is it because of this that she’s calling herself a princess? I’m going to make him ask her. This is too weird.”

A voice only Louis could hear resounded in the room. [“Okay, tell her this.”]

Louis, after waiting desperately for a few seconds in front of the prostrated Celestia, regained his composure and stated: “I was sure something like this would happen. Please, Princess Celestia, I beg of you, stand up. Not only am I not worthy of such attention; but I highly doubt that these traditions are anything today’s people would respect. ”

Before the surprised Luna could say anything, he told her: “And no, I am not talking about the royal voice here, but about much, much older traditions. I am talking about traditions that apparently date back to the First Era, if my hypotheses are correct. Because I believe that mares deserve as much respect as stallions do. No more, no less. And judging by your behaviour, this wasn't the case when Alicorns still were numerous.”

Seeing as Celestia still wasn’t moving, I told Louis to grab her hoof and lift it.

A few seconds later, the Sun Princess was sitting on the ground in front of Louis, amazed and bewildered at the same time. “Please, excuse me for asking such a question, but why would you not know about the old ways of Alicorns? I mean, your hypothesis is correct, but I don't understand...”

“Sister, I-“

Luna was abruptly cut off by Louis who simply stated: “Because I am not an Alicorn.”

Celestia glanced at his mane, unable to think coherently. “But- this. I- you-“

Wordless, Louis unbuttoned his cape and let it fall on the ground. “See? No wings.”

“How can you even…”

“I am what happens when an Alicorn falls in love with a normal pony and has children with her. I am, as one might say, a hybrid. This is also why they call me ‘the fourteenth’. Because there has been an extremely long list of ancestors of mine who were kings too. Simply put, I am as mortal as any of your subjects. All this, because my ancestor didn't wait for another Alicorn to find love.”

“But- How could your family preside over an entire country without being immortal? What happens when one of you dies?”

“Well actually, we innovated, and our subjects are mostly autonomous. We call it ‘democracy’. But we’ll talk about that later, Princess. For now, I would like to tell you about the reason why I am here.”

Intrigued, Celestia asked him: “As long as you promise me to tell me everything about you later, I think I can wait.”

“Then it is a promise: I will tell you everything, later. For now, I have a much more urgent problem than history.” Swiftly, he jumped and turned halfway, in order to let Celestia and Luna take a better look at his side.

Luna was the first to react. “Curses! What caused this?”

“I know, sister… I remember… One of my friends died to such a curse, long ago. It was during the ancient war… Tell me, Louis the fourteenth, where did you find a live basilisk?”

Luna’s eyes widened. “Celestia, are you sure? A basilisk, really?”

Louis answered her directly. “Yes, it was a basilisk. As for where I found it, let’s say that I’ve literally been to Tartarus and back.”

“I guess that I'll have to wait for that story… But we have a problem, if you came here for a remedy. Sadly, we have none. No one ever found one during the great wars, and nowadays basilisks aren’t exactly common,” said Celestia.

“Don’t worry about the remedy, Princess, I know of a holy shrine located deep in the Black Marsh that could heal it. I am short on time, though, and this is why I came to see you directly.”

“The Black Marsh is a dangerous place, and it’s not renowned for its magical shrines. What kind of holiness are you talking about?” Celestia asked.

“This shrine can heal anything, but it remains invisible to those whose soul isn’t pure. I know it is the only thing in the world that can heal this; and I am sure that it does not involve any sort of black magic, rest assured. Now, there is no time to lose, I’d like to hurry up. The disease is spreading every day, and I have to search for the shrine. This is why I came here: I need you to let me use one of your airships to get to Gallopoli quicker than with a train. Since my motorbike is broken, I can’t use it, even though it’d be the best way to go through a giant swamp.”

Celestia’s ear twitched. “Motorbike? What is it?”

“Oh, right, sorry. It’s my vehicle. Let’s talk about that later, though. Would you help me to reach the Black Marsh with one of your airships?”

Nodding, Celestia answered: “Absolutely. However, I would not let them lead you to Gallopoli, but to Den Dekza. It is a Diamond Dog den recently claimed by the Equestrian Army as a temporary outpost. Since it’s right in the middle of the Black Marsh and usable as an airport, your task will be considerably easier. Isn’t it?”

“I think it will. I can’t really properly express my gratitude for now, but thank you, Princess.”

“No need to thank me, King Louis. I can’t remain unfazed at the sight of one of my kin dying slowly, no matter the distance there is between us.”

Turning towards one of the soldiers on the far side of the room, she suddenly shouted: “Captain! What is the fastest ship currently stationed in Canterlot?”

The officer promptly answered: “The Green Lightning, Princess!”

“Fine! Then, summon all of its personnel! I want them all to be ready to go tomorrow, at dawn! Their target will be Den Dekza, and they will be bringing King Louis there! Is that clear?”

“Crystal clear, my lady!”

The pony darted through the door before Celestia could say “dismissed”.

“Now that this has been taken care of, would you mind relaxing for a while and telling me about that story of yours over a cup of tea?”

“Not at all.”

“Then let us go to the salon. Guards! Today, the audiences exceptionally end sooner. Please notify the people concerned and give them appointments for tomorrow.”

Grabbing his illusive cape, Louis followed the two mares into a corridor leading to the insides of the castle.

Five minutes later, they reached their destination. The “salon”, as they called it, probably was the coziest place of the entire castle. Several huge puffy pillows were neatly piled in a corner, bookcases covered all the walls, and a large ebony table sat in the middle of the room, its varnish reflecting the light almost as well as a mirror.

Celestia made a few pillows hover through the room and motioned Louis and Luna to sit. Coincidentally, a maid appeared, carrying a plate onto which were a steaming teapot and three porcelain cups. She gracefully levitated the plate to the table, bowed down and left silently.

“Very well. Now that we are here, Louis, please, tell me more about that ‘democracy’ you talked about earlier. The concept seems interesting,” said Celestia while pouring tea in the cups placed in front of Louis and Luna.

“Ah, democracy. It truly is beautiful, although it’s much harder to set up than a monarchy into which the ruler is immortal. Well, you see, its main principle is to let the people lead the country, by making laws, choosing the various political orientations taken, et cetera. Of course, you might say that you already have that here, but it’s not the case at all, because in Equestria, politics are still subjected to a caste system. There are the nobles, who can make laws, be judges, vote; and then there’s the rest of the people, who have no real rights. This is where democracy is different: everyone can be elected as a lawmaker, vote, or even be the ruler of the country. Or, almost everyone, I'd rather say. These rights are only given to citizens, and to people old enough to understand what they do. For now, this limit has been set to twenty years old. This means that everyone who is older than twenty and a citizen may be a part of the government, or even lead the country. These limits may seem unfair, but we can't let strangers or youngsters play with our political system...”

Celestia asked, between two sips: “That must be a nightmare to organize. How do you do it?”

“The elections, you mean? Oh, it’s quite complicated indeed, but we managed to find a viable system. Everyone who has the right to vote can choose between several candidates. They vote in their city. Voters write their choice on a paper and put the paper in a sealed envelope; and when everyone finished voting, governmental agents come in and count the number of votes for each candidate. Then all the agents go back to the capital with the numbers they have, and we calculate the amount of votes for each candidate. The one who gets more votes can be the ‘president’ for 7 years; and then we do it again. As for the laws and all that, the chambers are elected but all the chosen ones work in the same place, near the capital. You know, I think you should try something like this, someday. You seem pretty stressed by your duties. When was the last time you took some holidays?”

Closing her eyes for a moment, Celestia finally declared: “I don’t really know… Maybe I should try this ‘democracy’ of yours, indeed. Although I am not sure that my subjects would be able to accomplish such a task…”

Luna intervened. “Celly, do you really have so little faith in our people?”

“Oh, you know, I am sure that the people fundamentally can do this, but what about the situation they’re in? What about the nobles? They’ll constantly try to win their privileges back if I do such a thing… And I don’t want to fight them.”

“And that’s when a little bit of history can be useful. A long time ago, in a country far, far away, the common people wanted democracy so bad that they revolted against the King, and, ultimately, he was beheaded, as well as most of the nobles who opposed the people’s projects. Trust me, you don’t want that to happen. It is best to let the people choose their destiny as soon as possible. Because when they decide it is too late, there is no stopping them. So even if you have to fight the nobles, it is better than seeing them decapitated by angry mobs.”

Shocked, Luna said: “But that’s terrible! Why would they do that?”

“To be fair, the King was terrible at his job, and the life conditions were terrible. People were starving everywhere; the prices were going through the roof even for basic food; and the nobles used their privileges to exploit the common people.”

“Hmm. I see why they would do this, although war never is the path I prefer to take,” Celestia said.

After drinking some tea, Louis stated: “Maybe it is time for Equestria to change. Maybe not. I do not know. But you two have to keep this in mind: although benevolent monarchs aren’t a bad thing, you must teach your people how to lead themselves. If something happened to you as of now, they’d be lost, and Equestria would fall into chaos.  With democracy, there’s a chance that they’d manage to maintain the kingdom in shape. If you don’t teach them that and then disappear, there’s going to be clan wars between the unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies again, just like in the old times. Do you want them to kill each other in the hopes of crowning their leader, or would you rather have them survive without changing their society too much?”

“Well, I must admit that this looks important when put this way. Maybe I should ask some scholars to do some research on the matter.”

“I concur,” said Luna between two sips.

Celestia’s eyes wandered through the window for a few seconds before she asked: “Oh and, I almost forgot. What was that vehicle of yours exactly?”

“My motorbike? Well, it’s a rather odd means of transportation for someone who’s used to run rather fast or use magic, but I can assure you that it can go faster than you and without any magic. In fact, my motorbike could go twice as fast as your trains when it still worked, and it isn’t even the most powerful of all bikes there are. Some of them can go up to five times the speeds of your trains, even though they require flat roads for such speeds.”

Celestia almost spat her tea. “Five times?! How is that even possible?”

“Well, I have to say, I can’t really be accurate on the matter because it’s very complicated, but essentially, we’ve found a very efficient liquid fuel that allows our engines to output an enormous amount of power. It’s much more efficient than coal or even standard magic gems, although it requires refining. The problem with that kind of engine, though, is that it is extremely capricious regarding fuel, so if you have the wrong kind of fuel, it doesn’t work at all.”

“It sounds interesting. And what can we do to repair this vehicle?”

“Actually, my problem is that someone ate the engine. So you won’t be able to let your engineers study it, sorry. The best thing I can hope for is a miniature version of the magic-powered engines you use on some airships, I guess.”

“Eaten, you say? Are these engines made of vegetables?” Celestia said, snickering a little.

“No… It was a pack of Diamond Dogs. When they kidnapped me, they thought it would be a good idea to eat my motorbike.”

Luna was on the edge of her seat. “Kidnapped, you say? How? Tell us! How did you get out?”

With stars in her eyes, the monarch looked more impatient than a kid waiting for a bedtime story.

“All right, all right, Luna, I’ll tell you everything. It happened after a mostly uninteresting travel, where I spent my time riding my bike near Equestria’s northern frontier. At some point, I reached the outskirts of the Changeling Wasteland, and I had an accident. I fell off of my bike and I lost consciousness. When I woke up…”

Date: 28th of August, Second Year of the Game. Location: Canterlot.

[“Wake up, Louis! Hey! It’s almost time to go! I know that yesterday’s ‘story time’ was long, but now you have to wake up!”]

[“Nghr.”]

My brother was as lazy here as I knew here on Earth. Unfortunately for him, I had magic.

[“Hey! No! Don’t fly away, blanket! Come on, Phantom, stop this!”]

[“Stop lazing around. The ship will be ready very soon.”]

[“Fine, just let me get ready… Oh, right. I have no clothes except for that fake cape. Meh. Let’s go, then.”]