The Price

It was dusk when he arrived in Canterlot. The sun had just disappeared beyond the horizon, yet the sky still held light that blocked out the stars. A soft gentle breeze blew, cooling the air from the warm summer day. It was one of those weeks that could not have been more perfect. All the little fillies and colts had been spending the days of their summer vacation in the nearest creek or fountain, whatever was more accessible. The hour was too late for swimming, but not late enough for the older ponies to take romantic walks in moonlight. The streets of the Equestrian capital were barren under the sourceless glow of the sky.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and blew a dark cloud over the city; the peaceful streets took on a more sinister feel. Window shutters closed all across Canterlot, and doors locked. The elderly who had been sitting on their porches went inside grumbling about rain. No rain would fall that night. The breeze died to nothing the moment he stepped into the city.

No guard saw him pass the through the gate, for he entered within a two minute window between rotation. He wore an ancient looking, but surprisingly well-kept cloak that echoed ones worn by nobility of old. The cloak hid most of his body including his head, back and flank. It could not conceal his size, however. He was significantly larger than any earth pony, but nowhere near as big as Celestia.

Despite his size, his hoof steps were surprising silent on the smooth stone streets of Canterlot. Each step made a little click that was only audible for five feet. His legs were strong, but did not appear to get much exercise aside from an occasional sprint. His legs were a dark burgundy, and so were all but one of his hooves. His rear right hoof lacked any pigment altogether giving it a clean white hue.

He proudly held his head high as he walked. His confidence charged the air around him with an energy that silenced chirping birds as he passed. Early rising bats and nightbirds abandoned their hunts to follow him from the sky. They dispersed when he flicked his tail out from under his cloak.

It was a very well kept tail, one that flowed gracefully from his flank to the tidy knot at its tip. It was a dark, consuming violet in colour and had thin black streaks shooting through it. There were various gems braided into the hair. The gems were expertly cut and perfectly caught light at any angle, giving them a false glow. He had made it across the drawbridge that connected the palace when he was finally noticed.

“Halt! Who goes there?” a guard shouted from the wall. The mysterious pony did not stop or call back. He kept his pace instead.

“Halt!” the guard ordered again, but again got no response. The guard started to get nervous. His training had taught him dusk was the best time to assault Canterlot.

“HALT!” the guard demanded once more. When he got no response, he called to the ponies in the courtyard, “Close the gate! Enchant it! Get a troop ready to hold it if the gate falls! Damn, of all times for the captain...”

The hornets’ nest had been kicked. A barred iron gate fell over the entrance to the courtyard, and it gave off a magical glow. Snipers were posted behind arrow slits and all trained their aim on the bridge. Soldiers in full battle gear flooded the courtyard in ranks. The front row all had their spears pointed at the gate. The cloaked pony did not change his pace.

He stopped once he reached the gate and did not move. The snipers lined up their killshots, and the foot soldiers stiffened, ready to charge. The tableau held for five minutes. Each second grew more tense than the last, and some of the defenders even started wishing the cloaked pony would make a move. He held up his head and granted their wish.

“Can I please speak to the one in charge?” His voice was low and his tone polite. He was calm and in control. He did not seem worried that he stood but a twitch away from death. His demand sent unrest throughout the ranks as an aisle was formed down the centre of the group, and a decorated soldier walked down toward the gate.

“Are you the acting captain?” the cloaked pony asked.

“I am,” replied the soldier uneasily. Nopony outside the guard was supposed to know Shining Armour was taking personal days to spend time with his wife.

“You went through all this trouble for just for me?” laughed the cloaked pony, “I’m touched, really.”

“Identify yourself and your business,” demanded the acting captain. “No games here.”

“Why, I have an appointment with the princess I must keep, for I am on a tight schedule. If you could be so kind as to stand aside-”

“I am afraid I can’t let you do that. I don’t care who you think you are, or your schedule. I wasn’t told about no visitor at this hour, so there shall be no visits at this hour. I encourage you leave. Now. You want audience with the princess? Well, get a real appointment and come back during visiting hours. Turn around now, otherwise you will be shot down.”

The cloaked pony did not budge. He stood there shaking; he was laughing. The acting captain was about to give the kill order when the cloaked pony spoke.

“Nice show, nice show indeed. Any other pony would have run with their tail between their legs, but not I,” he laughed.

“You find this amusing!” screamed the acting captain, “I hold your life in the balance, and you act like this is some show for your enjoyment!? All I have to do is give the order-”

“An order that if you value your colts you will not give,” interrupted the cloaked pony.

“Really, and why would that be?” laughed the acting captain.

The pony took off his hood and revealed his face and mane. His mane was the same colour as his tail. It was tied into many tiny braids with great care. Every sixth braid on each strand had a small onyx bead woven into it. His face was round in a way that gave all his features a slightly feminine look. He had emerald green eyes that sat behind very angular eyelids. His face was a shade lighter than his legs. At his head sat a long, straight horn that had a thin ribbon of gold colour spiralling down it.

“Because,” the black unicorn explained, “If you give them that order, I will destroy all who attack me. The snipers, the herd behind you, I’d kill them all. I don’t want a massacre and I am sure the families of Equestria’s finest would agree with me.” The unicorn bowed his head sorrowfully but smiled evilly, “So many widows, so many foals with only one parent. That would be a tragedy! It is also a shame that one of your snipers is exactly seven hours, twelve minutes from being a new father. Such a shame...” he trailed off.

“Do you really think that little threat is going to intimidate us?” jeered the acting captain, “You are but one stallion against the Canterlot army. Die an arrogant fool!”

This was taken as the signal to fire. In almost perfect unison, nineteen crossbows let loose their bolts at the confident unicorn. In a split second, his horn started to glow and all nineteen bolts stopped and hung suspended in mid air. The unicorn held them there for a moment, then flung them without warning with deadly accuracy back into the slit from where they were fired. Nineteen simultaneous blood curdling whelps were heard, and rang in the ears of the soldiers in the courtyard. The unicorn turned to the twentieth slit where no bolt was fired.

“Good boy. Go, be with your wife and count yourself lucky.” He then turned to the soldiers behind the gate, “That was supposed to intimidate you.”

A murmur of unease spread amongst the ranks. The spears in the front started shaking, and even the acting captain was starting to get nervous.

“Strengthen the gate spell! He does not get into the castle!” The glow around the gate grew more intense, and the magical glow around the black unicorn’s horn appeared once more.

He closed his eyes and began walking towards the gate. The acting captain shouted threats and cursed, but they fell upon deaf ears. A strained expression appeared on the unicorn’s face once he reached the gate, but he did not break his stride. A gap in the glow surrounding the gate appeared in front of the unicorn, and he touched the iron bars with his horn. The bars did nothing to stop his advance, for he walked through it as if it wasn’t even there. Once he had fully passed through the gate, the gap in magic closed itself and the unicorn opened his eyes, but kept the flow of magic from his horn flowing.

“What the- th-that gate was supposed to be impenetrable!” gawked a very shocked acting captain. The awe was also shared by the unicorns that had been powering the spell. A few of them started to slip off.

“I told you,” the unicorn said loudly, “I am on a tight schedule and must keep to my appointment.

“Like hell you will!” shouted the acting captain as he drew his sword, “Atta-ACK!”

The acting captain suddenly began to choke. He coughed, and coughed until finally he spat out what was stuck in his throat. It was blood. Each breath made a gurgling sound much like the sound of bubbles in water. Blood then started to flow swiftly from his eyes and nose, forming a neat, bubbling red pool on the ground beneath him. A dark aura surrounded him, and he was gently lifted into the air. He hovered ten feet above his troops for a few seconds before he was violently flung against the castle wall. He fell to the ground in a mangled heap, leaving a red stain where he had impacted the wall. The unicorn turned to the soldiers.

“You heard the captain, attack,” he mockingly commanded them. Morale had died with the acting captain, for most of the soldiers and the remaining enchanters turned tail and fled.

Five soldiers did not flee, however. They surrounded the unicorn with their weapons drawn. He was much less showy in killing his foes this time. He managed to kill three of them instantly in quick succession with deadly blasts of magic from his horn.

The fourth blast, however, never found its mark. The pegasus it was aimed at was narrowly able to avoid death by taking off. She then dive bombed the unicorn with her spear pointed sharply ahead. The unicorn narrowly avoided getting skewered by teleporting three feet to the right. In a split second, the pegasus was able to recover from her dive once her target had moved, and with all the grace and skill of a Wonderbot, she dodged a counterattack from the unicorn.

A black aura surrounded both the pegasus in the air and the earth pony sneaking up on the unicorn, restricting any movement whatsoever. The unicorn lined up his third shot at the pegasus.

“Flying targets are so much harder to hit,” he said before he killed her. Gently he brought the flyer down to the ground and laid her peacefully on the ground. The unicorn then turned to his final helpless challenger.

“Wait,” said the soldier. He was an old earth pony who held the weight of many battles and lost friend on the lines of his face. “Before you kill me, I request that it be in combat.”

“What purpose would that serve?” the unicorn asked flatly.

“I would rather die with honor, than by some magician’s cheap trick,” replied the veteran.

“I guess I do have time...” mumbled the unicorn. He picked up the sword of the acting captain and released the earth pony from his spell. The veteran lunged at the unicorn to begin the dance of death.

The unicorn swiftly and gracefully blocked, dodged, and parried every blow from the earth pony, but did not counter or even attack. The veteran grew tired and frustrated, for he expected the unicorn to be inept with a weapon.

“Enough honor for you?” the dark unicorn asked evenly. He was not short of breath.

“Y-yeah...I guess,” replied the exhausted earth pony in defeat.

“Good,” the unicorn blasted his opponent with a beam of magic, killing him, “But if you think I am going to help you live out your heroic death fantasy, you got another thing coming.”

The courtyard was still around the black unicorn. The blood on the wall had began to dry, and flies were starting to appear on the body of the first fool who had opposed the black unicorn. Without a word, the unicorn began his journey to the throne room.

He walked with dignity through the halls of Canterlot Castle. Weight had been added to his step and ominously echoed down the halls. He cast no shadows as he passed windows, for the twilight was too soft to shine.

Guards were posted at every doorway connecting hallways. A few tried to fight him, and they met the same fate as the five who tried to fight him in the courtyard. Most guards, however, let him pass with their weapons drawn but otherwise unabated. He did not kill these ponies.

He seemed to know where he was going, and even knew that the garden maze could serve as a shortcut to the throne room to those who knew the way. He knew the way, and passed through the maze with ease. He was stopped for the second time that evening once he reached the grand doors to the throne room.

“Halt!” barked one of the elite soldiers guarding the doors. The unicorn ignored the command and teleported directly into the throne room. Celestia was standing on the other side of the throne room and was looking out a window. The unicorn started to make his way toward her.

“That is far enough,” she said once the unicorn had made it halfway across the room, and the unicorn stopped. Celestia turned to face her guest, “That is a nice cloak you have there. I haven’t seen one like that in many, many years.” Celestia studied the unicorn for several moments. “I am sorry, but I don’t know who you are,” she concluded.

“So you let a stranger see you alone, even after that same stranger has proven both willing and capable of murdering some of your best soldiers? I must admit, Celestia, this does confuse me so,” the unicorn respectfully replied.

“This is what you want, is it not? I am not worried about your power. Though it is impressive, it does not make up for your foolishness. I am the last mare you want to see right now.”

“How so?” the unicorn asked, holding back a smile. Celestia spat, and disgust radiated from her stare.

“In all my long years, I have never come across one so arrogant as you. You come to my castle claiming some illegitimate appointment with me, you murder the officer in charge in front of his troops, you kill all who bother you without the slightest hint of remorse, and then you stand in my presence and test my patience. What the hell is so damn funny!”

The unicorn was laughing. His cackles boomed throughout the the hall. They echoed off every nook and cranny in the hall.

“It makes Discord’s chaos seem rather juvenile, doesn’t it? As much as I respect his style, it does lack a certain-” the unicorn looked up to the ceiling as if searching for the right word, “maturity.”

“CHAOS!” Celestia spat and started pawing the floor.

“You are more of a social call, Celestia,” the unicorn continued, “I figured I at least owe it to you to let you know in person how things are going to be from now on.”

“No,” the white alicorn declared, “I don’t care how powerful you think you are or what spells you think you know! Your arrogance is what killed you, for I will not stand by and let you destroy harmony!”

A brilliant, deadly beam of magic shot from Celestia’s horn at the arrogant stallion. The stallion threw off his cloak into the air, revealing two large, dark wings on his back. His feathers were all straight and as well-kept as his mane and tail. He took off to avoid the beam.

His technique for taking off was quite awkward, but seemed to be effective for him. He jumped into the air without a flap of his wings, almost as if he forgot he had them. Once he reached the peak of his jump, he seemed to remember, and started to flap his left wing, then his right wing half a flap after. It then took three quick flaps to stabilize, and then he flew as well as any pegasus (though he was no Wonderbolt.) The whole process took about a second. Celestia was speechless, so the black alicorn spoke.

“It’s been, what, 1000 years, give or take since your last battle with another alicorn? It has been even longer for me. Oh don’t you worry, I’ll go easy on you. It is all part of the game.”